Real Talk World - Think Tank For Change

Blueprint for Change

by Worldchangeguy on 05/06/2009

How can we create peace within ourselves and the world?

How can we fulfill our own unique potential?

How can we create a world that is more loving, truthful and joyful?

In other words, how can we have fun without killing each other?

The 21st Century serves as a natural timeframe for building a dream, a vehicle for life in the New Millennium that will help transport mankind through the next 1,000 years in peace and safety.

Real Talk World (life) is about seeing where we are, deciding where we want to be, and getting from here to there. It does not have to be about right and wrong, good and bad, guilt and punishment. It does not have to be about comparing ourselves to one another. It does not have to be about comparing ourselves and one another to outside standards of being and performance. It does not have to be about fear, separation, competition and survival of the fittest. It does not have to be about seeing ourselves as victims and armoring ourselves against a hostile world. It does not have to be about sleepwalking through life or taking it for granted by mindlessly following an arbitrary set of “rules”. It does not not have to be about living by value judgment and being controlled from the outside, in.

Instead, life can be about paying attention to our own unique experience and developing internal values over a lifetime of living and learning? It can be about playfulness, experimentation and paying attention to what works for us and what works against us, what we like versus what we don’t like. It can be about accepting our own unique being and authority. It can be about actively seeking the qualities of life and being we value most, our ideals, and actualizing them to the best of our ability. It can be about valuing our oneness as much as our individuality. It can be about valuing You, Me, Us and All That Is equally. It can be about survival AND evolution. It can be about consciously changing ourselves and the world for the better. It can be about living by value fulfillment and practicing idealism, learning how to control the expression of our energy from the inside, out.

New “Sign of the Cross” Ritual

Like the Catholic Sign of the Cross, touch your forehead, heart, left shoulder and right shoulder while saying: In love of You, Me, Us and All That Is, or simply repeat it in your mind. It includes everyone and everything in a circle of love and appreciation. Try it; the proof of the pudding is in the taste!

External values of right and wrong, good and bad, guilt and punishment are to a child as training wheels are to a bicycle. They help us function until we learn to walk on our own, or in this case, think on our own.

In business and in life, whether we like what we do or get paid to do it, we must ask, is what I do, good? Does it improve the quality of life and increase mankind’s chances for survival and evolution or does it undermine it?

Instead of limiting yourself to the question, what’s going to work best for “ME”, ask:

What’s going to work best for ALL of us? This question takes YOU, ME and US (everyone and everything) into consideration.
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in personal terms? (What’s the best way to fulfill our own unique potential in support of ourselves and the world?)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of business? (What’s the best way to maintain the health and well-being of ourselves and the world? In the United States right now, it’s time to develop a new Business Plan, one that helps us create meaningful businesses and jobs in America.)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of education? (What’s the best way for us to learn and grow? What are the most important things for us to learn?)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of the environment? (What’s the best and most sustainable way for us to relate to nature and the earth?)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of peace? (What’s the best way for us to relate to one another as individuals and nations?)

The growing collapse of our economic and social system (increases in the number of people in the world and in jail, homelessness, joblessness, food shortages, disease, wars, global warming, unsustainable growth and the loss of wealth), can be laid at the feet of putting individuality and self-interest (ego) ahead of oneness and the common good. A similar imbalance occurs when we put the common good ahead of self-interest. Why not create a system that values both equally? By giving equal value to both our oneness and individuality, we make it possible to cooperate, not compete with one another. And by asking questions that include ALL of us, we not only acknowledge our oneness and individuality, we acknowledge our individual and collective role, and responsibility, in co-creating our shared reality.

What defines success for you now - money, power and privilege or love, truth and joy? What do you WANT to define success for you? Whatever you choose will serve as the foundation for the creation of your reality, so choose as though the quality of your life depends on it – because it does! We can walk towards the brightness of light or run from the darkness of fear. The choice is ours.

Responsibility (personal accountability and self-development) is the price of freedom, peace and long-term human survival.

We are both one with, and separate from, All That Is. We are not only the product of creation, we are creation itself!

There is no greater show of LOVE than the acknowledgment of power and worth in ourselves and others.

Conversely, there is no greater show of FEAR than the denial of power and worth in ourselves and others.

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us triggers emotion and forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

It is the power to choose and the will to persevere (“Never give up!” – Winston Churchill) that give us hope for creating the change we want to see in ourselves and the world.

Like everything else in life, take what you like and leave the rest.

Welcome to REAL TALK WORLD!

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Who Are You?

by Worldchangeguy on 03/06/2010

The Inner Journey - Open to new possibilities!

higher awareness home . share the inner journey with friends . contact us

“Please… tell me who you are and what you want. And if you think those are simple questions, keep in mind that most people live their entire lives without arriving at an answer.”

– Gary Zukav

How deeply can you answer this question? Please realize that you are the only one who can answer it. No one else can tell you who you are. You must discover this for yourself. And the challenge of knowing ourselves is no easy task.

We hope this question excites rather than intimidates you. There’s so much more to you than you know at present! Isn’t this intriguing? Perhaps it’s time to go exploring….

“Mysterious and intimidating to contemplate, the human brain is the most complex thing there is and the most difficult task it can undertake is to understand itself.”

– David Noonan

“I don’t think God cares where we were graduated or what we did for a living. God wants to know who we are. Discovering this is the work of the soul – it is our true life’s work.”

– Bernie Siegel

Know Yourself – An adventure in self discovery! Become aware of your subconscious limitations, your character strengths, weaknesses and potentials, your life challenges, gifts, talents, and your deepest desires and aspirations. Take the Know Yourself online workbook now. Join Higher Awareness.

The Inner Journey is brought to you by John & Patrice Robson of HigherAwareness.com. We invite you to take the awareness and consciousness journey to know & grow yourself.

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Evolution of a Dream

by Worldchangeguy on 02/23/2010

Excerpt:

The following dream occurred January 11, 1991 around 4 AM. It was long and complex, containing a lucid dream section about mules and creation, magic and an out-of- body experience. Several days ago, after publishing the Mule Team Dream (the part of the dream about mules and creation) on my website and submitting it for publication to Lucid Dream Exchange magazine, I went back and reread the original notes to make sure my facts were straight. It was then I discovered glaring differences between my living memory of the dream and the notes I had written in 1991, as sketchy and poorly written as they were. How could that be, I thought, with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach?

To read more, click on: Evolution of a Dream

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality

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LIVE & LET LIVE

by Worldchangeguy on 02/13/2010

A Revealing Snake Dream During a Time of War

The secrets of the universe are hidden in the details of our experience. – Pete

I had this dream in 2002 right after a major clash between the Israelis and Palestinians. In the dream, I live in a large undeveloped rural area with few houses, large fields and woods in every direction.

As I walk from the house to my pickup truck in the driveway, I feel loss and sadness. I’ve just been told that the plans for developing the land behind my home have been approved. It was recently bought by a developer with ambitious plans and strong political ties. His Plan calls for thousands of new homes with industry to support them. In essence, he plans to build a new town. Feeling the stone and gravel in the driveway shift and crunch under my boots, I open the door of my beat-up old truck and swing up into the seat behind the steering wheel.

The evening light is dimming as I start the truck’s engine. Pulling out of the driveway, I turn left onto the narrow country road going nowhere in particular. Thinking about the coming changes to the wild land behind my house, I imagine what the future will look like. In my mind’s eye, I see homes, city lights, streets with moving traffic and belching industrial chimneys. It’s a testament to not only man’s ingenuity but his blind ambition, greed and unbridled reproduction.

My thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a rattling sound. Leaning forward to see over the edge of the seat, I’m confronted by a large rattlesnake on the floor near my right leg. How it got there, I have no idea but it looks like it’s about to strike me. Angry and frightened at the same time, I react by raising my foot and smashing it down on the head of the snake again and again until it lies dead at my feet.

As relief washes over me another rattle signals an angry warning, then another, and another. Suddenly I’m fighting for my life with both legs alternately rising and falling with all my might to crush the deadly invasion. How can this be? Where are they coming from? Soon they’re on the seat next me, some in my lap. There are far too many to defeat! First one, and then another strikes me, injecting venom deep into my arms and legs. I fight back even more ferociously until it dawns on me that the harder I fight, the more snakes I kill, the more there are attacking me.

Knowing I’m about die, I stop fighting and begin to think about my experience. What is it trying to tell me? What does it mean? After killing the first rattlesnake, more appeared and attacked me. The more I killed, the more there were until the inside of my truck was filled with writhing angry snakes, all wanting to sink their fangs into me. Why didn’t I stop the truck and slowly get out to let the first rattlesnake go in peace? Instead I reacted with mindless fear and a sense of ownership. This truck is mine and you have no business being here!, I thought. In my fear and outrage, I simply attacked without considering other alternatives.

Quietly, I look at life from the snake’s perspective. In my mind it’s now the symbol for every other form of life on Earth. We, humankind, have been invading and taking habitat away from other life forms for eons. In our pursuit of new territory and “ownership” we have invaded the homeland of countless other species to claim it as our own. We don’t ask permission, we’re unwilling to share – we just take whatever we want and drive out who or whatever lives there! What right do we have to do that? Doesn’t every living thing have a right to life and being?

Overcome by the enormity of humanity’s transgression, my heart goes out to the snakes in my truck and all the other creatures affected by man’s often thoughtless, self-centered behavior. A feeling of sorrow and understanding washes over me and the snakes begin to disappear as magically as they appeared, until there is only one snake left in the truck. I know it’s the first snake I thought I killed. It’s alive and fully intact as it lies on the seat next to me, its head resting on my lap. Gently, I stroke it with the backs of my fingers. In my newfound love and understanding, I can see we’re both one and separate, both healed and friends.

(After writing this piece, I couldn’t help but think about the bipolar opposite of “ Live and let live.” It’s, “kill or be killed!” Pull these two beliefs apart and you create a continuum. Life as we know it takes place between these two extremes. A few of us reside at one end of the continuum or the other most of the time while the majority of us live somewhere in between the two. We unconsciously move back and forth between the two extremes as our thoughts and experiences in the moment dictate.

What do you think will work best for you, an attitude of live and let live or, kill or be killed? What attitude do you think will work best for ALL of us?)

Pete – http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

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Help from a Place of Safety – Seth

by Worldchangeguy on 01/19/2010

Seth, from ESP Class Transcript, 4-8-77

( Also in Conversations with Seth, book two, chapter 8, by Susan M. Watkins)

Seth: You cannot help yourself and you cannot help your species by identifying with your own weakness, or with the weakness of your species. When you are safe, you are safe, and you are in a position of strength, and you can be in a position of tranquility. Then you have the energy and the exuberance to think and feel clearly, and to help others.

When you are in a position of safety, you do not help by pretending that you are not safe, or by taking upon yourself the agony of others. Your reality, when you are safe, is a reality of security. From that framework you have strength, validity, grace, exuberance – additional energy that you can send out to touch the hearts and realities of other people.

If you become so frightened of realities that are not your own, if you take upon yourselves tragedies that do not exist in your reality, in your moment, then you weaken your position and you weaken the position of those you think you are helping. You look about you and you see only hopelessness and helplessness. You organize your reality according to the tragedies of the newspapers.

The tragedies of the newspapers are symbols. Those symbols represent real tragedies, but those tragedies do not exist in your moment unless you are participating in them. Those who are involved in such tragedies feel a sense of hopelessness and the loss of power in the present – and you do not help them by taking on the guise of hopelessness!

What I am saying this evening is indeed simplified… but you must operate from strength, not from weakness. When you stand on a firm shore, you can extend your arm to the man that is in quicksand. You cannot help him by leaping into the quicksand with him, for surely both of you will go down. And he will not thank you!

Class Member Asked: “Then we’re doing this as a nation?”

Seth: Individually. As you read your paper, as you watch your television; whenever you look around you and say, ‘Other men are fools’; whenever you look around you and say, ‘The race is ruining itself — it is insane,’ you are doing the same thing — you are jumping into the quicksand, and you cannot help.

Organize your reality according to your strength. Organize your reality according to your playfulness; according to your dreams; according to your joy; according to your hopes — and then you can help those who organize their reality according to their fears.

There are those who prophesize a great holocaust that will destroy the species. There are those most certain that California, as the new state of sin and iniquity, will be banished from the face of the earth. There are those who prophesize, and have prophesized since the beginning of time, that tomorrow would never come because you are so sinful — because you are such idiots! There is no difference! You can condemn yourself because you are sinful and the daughters and sons of Satan. Or you can say, ‘That is nonsense. We are not sinful nor the daughters nor the sons of Satan. Instead, we are the idiot off casts of nature. We are going to destroy our planet. We are rotten, not because we are the sons of Satan, but because we are insane atoms and molecules gone astray!’ Only the vocabulary is different!

Do any of you actually believe your existence is a cosmic accident? Do any of you really believe that the integrity of this moment is an accident? Do you really believe that all nature is sane but you — that nature in its great holy being had good sense except when it created men and women, and only then did it go astray?

If you organize your reality in that fashion, then you are in the quicksand! If you want to help, stand on the firm ground of your creativity and being! You are only fools if you cast off your clothing and jump into the shifting ground. Who needs a hand that is going to sink beneath the mire? Some help that is!

Seth, ESP Class, 4-8-77

http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

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Response to Comments – Evangelical Atheists

by Worldchangeguy on 01/17/2010

(To view the entire thread on this subject visit the message board on Thom Hartmann’s website.)

Poor Richard to Worldchangeguy (Pete):

Worldchangeguy wrote:…people who only accept empirical evidence as proof of reality, are selling themselves short.

That could sound pretty insulting to some, guy. And pretty naive to some.

There’s a difference between observation and judgment. The questions are, what is “reality” and what is “science”?

What we see through our eyes, hear through our ears, feel through our skin, smell through our nose and taste with our tongue is unique to each one of us even though, empirically, we can agree that all people can see, hear, taste, touch and smell. We can also prove empirically that we all have inner senses and intuitive abilities. We can all dream and imagine. To say that experiences perceived through our outer senses are more “real” or important than experiences perceived through our inner senses is a matter for the individual to determine. I learn as much from my inner experiences as I do from my outer ones; maybe, even more.

In the paragraph below, you say you’ve had many experiences in “exotic states of consciousness”. The fact that you and many others say this is empirical evidence that these abilities do exist even though the subjective matter we experience is unique to us because each one of us is unique. What is science if it is not curiosity and careful observation without prejudice? What is life without curiosity and careful observation. How can we learn and grow without these things?

I have experienced an extensive variety of exotic states of consciousness, religious experiences, and intuitive, creative experiences without experiencing a compulsion to cast off the bonds of science.

There are many kinds of “evidence” and many “standards of proof”. Its great for people to contrast and compare their differences on these. I think it might possibly be framed as information quality control (the badly needed branch of science that doesn’t exist yet).

I agree. We need to be as children. We must keep our hearts and minds open as though we’re seeing things for the first time. As we grow older we tend to become fixed in our thinking. We tend to take shortcuts and eliminate a lot we could learn from.

The only point of view I recommend on the subject of religion is the point of view of “Religious Studies”, particularly evolutionary religious studies (ERS).

Excerpt from Evolution Religious Studies:

“It is important to stress that most religious scholars, regardless of their intellectual perspective, study religion as a human-created phenomenon. Religious scholars (as opposed to theologians) have no more use for supernatural explanations than do biologists. What’s new about the evolutionary perspective is that it provides a conceptual framework for organizing existing knowledge about religion and directing future inquiry. In short, evolutionary theory can do for the subject of religion what it has already done for the biological sciences. This kind of basic scientific understanding is essential for addressing the myriad public policy issues, positive and negative, posed by religion.”

The excerpt above is a good example of how we compartmentalize our thinking. We paint ourselves into corners to create convenient truths. The entire paragraph is designed to frame our thinking, to herd us into a box where only certain perspectives are considered valid. It employs a “this is right and that’s wrong” formula that forces us to draw certain conclusions while denying others. This is not “science” or open thinking, it is something else entirely. Everything we do must be worthy of our ideals or they become something else, something less than ideal.

For the rest, subjective experiences can be extremely compelling. But none of them happen very far from a living brain, so they provide opportunities for cognitive neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, etc. Trying to go from out-of-body experiences or such to a theory of mind or soul or god without using the scientific method will be of limited interest to educated and serious people. Without science, you can produce little more than entertainment.

Aren’t we learning something about who we are and what reality is by developing our imaginations and paying attention to our dreams? They are as much a part of who we are as the keyboard I’m typing this response on. What we imagine and dream often becomes the “reality” we experience, from the buildings we build and occupy, the thoughts we express in word and on paper, the cars we build and drive, the businesses and jobs we create, and the movies we film and watch. Should we consider one aspect of our being more important than the other? Does careful observation, documentation and experimentation only work in the material world? No.

When we only accept “empirical” evidence that is limited to what we can perceive through our biological senses and intellectual abilities, we have effectively confined ourselves to life in a box. No matter how pretty it is, it is still a box.

Everything we think and do changes the world for better or worse, so we are all world change guys.

- Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

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Pete’s Drug Related Experiences

by Worldchangeguy on 01/15/2010

Norske to Worldchangeguy (Pete), Post: Angelical Atheism, on Thom Hartmann’s Message Board:

By any chance did you partake of LSD or Magic Mushrooms in your youth?

Fair question. After reading Inside Ivy several years ago, my daughter, Crystal, asked me if I was on drugs when I had my Ivy experience. The answer is, no. However, I have taken LSD four times and smoked marijuana that did more than make me dizzy, three times in my life. While in the Air Force (1959-1964), after basic training, I drank alcohol almost every day as a “social lubricant”. In truth, it was a crutch that provided me with relief from habitual fears and inhibitions. Just before leaving the Air Force, I had a revelation while lying on the ground under the stars. I decided to go back to school even though I hated it (I hate authority), and I decided to end my dependence on alcohol before it destroyed me. If people couldn’t accept me for who I was, I’d live with it.

The secrets of the universe are hidden in the details of our experience. – Pete

Insight and Laughter on LSD

The first time I took LSD was early 1974. We were living in San Francisco at the time and a friend who lived with us for a while asked if I had ever tried LSD. I said, no. He then asked me if I wanted to try some. Having read accounts of LSD experiences in school made me curious so I said, yes.

Since it was my first time, he broke a small piece off a transparent square (usually considered a single dose) of Window Pane, pure LSD. It took about a half hour for the drug to have an affect on me. Sitting quietly, I began to notice that as I thought about something, an idea or concept, I could see it from almost an infinite number of angles or viewpoints. I could even get inside ideas and see them from the inside out. Exploring this newfound ability, I discovered I could travel from one idea to another as if there were no separation between them. Without realizing it, I was seeing the oneness of everything. Unlike my normal state of consciousness, nothing was truly separate and nothing was closed to question and understanding.

As my euphoric bliss grew, I began to find humor in everything. I started laughing out loud and my wife, Sandra, who had refused to take LSD, asked me why I was laughing. Since I had already shared with her most of the experiences I was now laughing about, I began to share my thoughts with her. Infected by my humor, she began to laugh too. Before long we were both laughing so hard our guts ached. In bed, I continued to share my thoughts with her and point out what was so funny about them. I was seeing things in ways that made it impossible not to laugh. Finally, as the effects of the LSD wore off and exhaustion claimed us, we fell asleep.

Shape Shifting on LSD

In late 1980, I took LSD for the second time. This time it was in the form of a small white tablet. When it kicked in I stripped naked and stood in front of the bathroom mirror. It was daytime and I was home alone. On impulse, I began to Tone, saying, ohm, out loud. Immediately, ornate tattoos began to appear on my neck, starting at the top and growing down. As they spread over my shoulders and started down my chest, I became uncomfortable as I began to think that I might have been an Aztec Priest in another lifetime, one who participated in human sacrifice. At the thought of seeing myself actually kill someone so I could cut out their heart, I grew nauseous. When the tattoos reached the bottom of my rib cage they stopped growing and turned into feathers. I was was now half man and half bird.

I marveled at this unique form until another impulse (?) urged me to raise the pitch of my Tone. When I did, my body transformed into that of a Minotaur. I was now half man and half bull. Not particularly pleased with this form, I intentionally raised the pitch of my Tone again and became a Centaur. I really liked this form and turned sideways to see it better in the mirror. My centaur arms and torso were shorter than my human arms and torso but much more muscular. My blond centaur hair hugged my scalp in tight ringlets. Excitedly, I wiggled my rear and stamped my hooves repeatedly while flexing the muscles in my centaur arms and shoulders. Both my human and centaur bodies were visible in the mirror.

Thinking about this experience later I wondered what would make it possible for me to have an experience like this? The best idea I could come up with was cellular memory. I thought, by toning, I was able to access and control the expression of my body’s cellular memory, cellular memories of other lifetimes in other forms. Over the course of the next two years I took the last two tablets of LSD but nothing of significance happened. I guess I had learned everything I wanted to learn from drug-induced, altered states of consciousness.

Channeling Energy and Seeing Transformations on Marijuana

I smoked marijuana twice while we lived in San Francisco and once in Santa Rosa (we moved to Santa Rosa in 1980). A friend from Sonoma County gave me three joints while visiting me in San Francisco. It was called Acapulco Gold and he said it was really good stuff. By that I mean it was supposed to provide me with heightened sensory awareness and hallucinatory experiences. The first time I tried it I smoked two joints back to back. Almost instantly it kicked in and, on impulse, I began to send energy to Sandra through the palms of my hands. She sat at the other end of the couch from me and had refused my offer to share a joint with me.

At that time in my life I meditated regularly and had developed the habit of channeling energy through the palms of my hands as they rested palm up on my lap. I would visualize a continuous loop of energy rising out of my hands and going down through the top of my head before flowing down my arms and out through my hands again. It was part experiment and part practice in control. I discovered this practice had a soothing affect on me.

The energy coming out of my hands felt like solid columns and as I directed energy over Sandra’s body it almost felt like I was touching her skin. After several minutes she began to fidget and look uncomfortable. Suddenly, she stood up and announced she was going to bed. We said good night and she left.

Alone, with no one to talk to except Cindy, our hamster in the cage at the end of the couch, I focused my attention on the lamp sitting on the nearby table. As I looked at it, it flew up into the air and started flipping end over end while transforming itself into other objects, including a glass ashtray. several minutes later, my daughter, Crystal, came downstairs to give me a goodnight kiss. As she walked away, just before she disappeared around the corner of the hallway wall, she turned into a bright golden ball of light.

Skin Sensing on Marijuana

The next day, I asked Sandra why she left so abruptly. She said she could feel the energy I was directing at her and it scared her. A few nights later I smoked the last of the three joints. For some reason I decided to move my chair into the middle of the living room directly off the end of the hallway. The walls in our townhouse were white so I had installed a red light bulb in the hallway for effect. After smoking my joint I closed my eyes and started to meditate. Noticing that I could see the red glow from the hallway light, I shut my eyelids tighter. I could still see the red glow of the hallway light. After more attempts to block out the red light, I was forced to come to the conclusion that I was seeing it through my skin!

Years later, I read a magazine article about an elementary school teacher in South America who conducted experiments with his students. Blindfolded, they would run their hands over images of colorful ads in magazines selected by the teacher and then draw pictures of what they had seen with their hands. According to the article, test results were amazingly accurate. It was evident the students were seeing objects through their skin, the teacher concluded. A quick Google search turned up a website article entitled: Seeing Through the Skin, which describes a study of skin viewing being conducted by Prof. Leonid Yaroslavsky at Tel Aviv University, in Israel. You can visit the website by clicking on the link above.

Chest Cavity Blues – A Role for Marijuana in Therapy?

My final experience with marijuana came in the Summer of 1981. One of our magazine subscribers, C, from Pennsylvania, came to visit us for several days. I can’t remember whether it had anything to do with the fact I had missed publishing deadlines or not.

At the time, I was depressed and suffering from psoriatic or roving arthritis. Joints all over my body, including the toes and bones of my right foot, were swollen and sore. For a whole year I limped around with the middle finger of my left hand locked in a straight position. Whenever I closed my hand, it looked like I was giving someone the finger. When C realized I was depressed, she asked me if I wanted to share a joint with her. Surprised by her request, I said, no. When she asked if she could smoke one, I said, yes.

The next day as Sandra, C and I sat around the kitchen table discussing different metaphysical concepts and magazine articles, I told her we were thinking about discontinuing Coordinate Point. She said she expected as much and again asked me if I wanted to share a joint with her. Since the cat was out of the bag about the magazine and I felt even more depressed, I said, okay.

After a couple of hits (Sandra refused to partake), C started asking me questions. She wanted to know how I felt about myself and the magazine. Even though her questions seemed really personal, I decided to go along for the ride. Suddenly I was Ralph Bellamy (the actor who was still alive at the time) talking with that distinct gravely voice of his. I was telling C, I’m tired and I don’t want to do this anymore (publish the magazine). I’ve worked long enough and hard enough in my life; all I want to do is retire and be left alone.

As Ralph continued to complain to C, another part of me shifted focus, materializing as a shaft of light in the middle of a hollow chest cavity (my own?). Jutting out from the chest walls around me were shadow boxes, which reminded me of the Hollywood Squares show on television. Each contained an old person (I was 39 years old at the time). Some people sat against the side wall of their box while others faced straight out with their legs dangling over the edge. Some of the women wore short cotton summer dresses with their nylon stockings rolled down around their ankles while others wore bathrobes and muumuus. The men were in retirement-home garb too. Some wore bathrobes and others wore pajamas or sweats. Some people looked like they were suffering from strokes while others appeared to be suffering from dementia. Many were drooling. Most looked distant, as they waited to die. They looked tired, done with life. Did this scene, these people, represent the state of my psyche?

Numb with shock, I continued to rotate and absorb the full impact of this depressing scene. On each turn, I began to notice a dark shadowy figure moving back and forth behind the rear wall of my chest cavity. His large hands rested against my chest cavity wall as he moved his head back and forth from one side of my backbone to the other. He wanted to see inside. As I continued to observe him, the back wall of my chest cavity grew less opaque. Finally, it revealed a large, powerful young man who reminded me of the comic book character, Hulk. More than see inside, he wanted to get inside. Before leaving this vision, I popped outside my chest cavity to help him get in.

Summoned back outside at this point, Ralph is just finishing up his rant. The effect of the marijuana was wearing off and my heightened sense of awareness was fading. Despite Ralph’s depressing mood and the nursing home state of my psyche, I began to feel a glimmer of hope. Something inside me was changing.

Although I suspect C was performing therapy on me, I didn’t ask her if it was intentional or spontaneous. Whatever it was, it gave me insight into my current situation and hope for the future. At this time in my life, both physically and mentally, I was in terrible shape. After C left for the airport later in the day, I realized I didn’t know much about her other than she emigrated from Germany and since moving to the United States, she had lived in Florida and Pennsylvania.

The next morning, after Sandra and the kids left for work and school, my thoughts returned to the amazing experience of the day before. In my imagination, I rejoined the powerful young man behind my backbone as he struggled to break into my chest cavity/psyche. Together, we broke through, which visibly disturbed the old people. Before I knew what was happening, the young man grew much larger and in one swift motion raised his arms, sweeping away every last one of the old people.

Just like that it was the dawning of a new day. I had a new canvas to write on! I decided to stop publishing my money-losing magazine and get a regular job. I knew that if I wanted to be healthy and live a long life, I was going to have to change my attitude, exercise regularly and improve my diet. I would just have to do my idealistic stuff in my spare time. Right now, I had an economic future to think about.

For days and weeks afterward, whenever I was at home alone, I would flex my muscles like a body builder and growl with the energy and power of the Hulk. I knew this was my road back to health and happiness in life. Thirty years later I still exercise regularly and eat well, not because I’m afraid of dying but because I love looking good and feeling great! I also do it because I love my family and this world, and think I still have more to contribute.

Even though I’m sharing my drug-related experiences with you, I don’t advocate their use. In many cases they’re considered illegal. Personally, I prefer a clear mind when I explore the nature of my own consciousness. It makes me a better observer. In fact, my most profound experiences in altered states happen when my mind is clearest. Openness, fearlessness and curiosity also play a vital role in experiencing altered states of consciousness.

Many of us have been convinced that looking inward on our own is dangerous. It is not if we refuse to be frightened by it. Like everything else, it’s best to start with baby steps. When we really want to know something it’s as if the entire universe cooperates in making it happen. In other words, we get what we concentrate on whether it’s by design or default. There are no accidents so it’s up to us to be clear on what we want.

- Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

YouTube has a series of videos put together by Dean Radin. (Short Bio: Dean Radin, PhD, is Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychology at Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA.) He concludes that between discoveries in Quantum Physics and personal experience, many academics are coming to believe in the psychic nature of mankind.

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

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Evangelical Atheism

by Worldchangeguy on 01/08/2010

The following article is a response to a post on Thom Hartmann’s Message Board. I’m using the title of the post as the title for this article.

One definition of Atheist: “Atheists tend to lean towards skepticism regarding supernatural claims, citing a lack of empirical evidence.” – Wikipedia

My response:

It seems to me Thom (Hartmann) is saying that people who define themselves as Atheists, people who only accept empirical evidence as proof of reality, are selling themselves short. We are much more than we give ourselves credit for whether we define ourselves as Atheists or Christians, whether we believe in “God” or not. Why put ourselves inside a box – for safety, for comfort?

From We Create Our Own Reality: During the course of everyday events we often forget the role of thoughts in the forging of our material reality. We get lost in the visible symbols, the material by-products of our imaginations, forgetting the invisible blueprints from which they, and we, emerge.

That’s right, “We get lost in the visible symbols, the material by-products of our imaginations, forgetting the invisible blueprints from which they, and we, emerge.” To highlight this point for me, my inner self or higher consciousness presented me (the outer ego me) with three creation dreams that I had enough sense to write down. They’re too long to reproduce here but you can read them by clicking the following link: Pete’s Creation Dreams.

Many of my most valued experiences in this lifetime are spiritual or “supernatural” in nature. Why would I want to deny these experiences or hide my abilities from myself?

Everything we do, we do for a reason, whether we’re consciously aware of it or not.

Does someone who proclaims to be an Atheist believe in atheism because they haven’t experienced the “supernatural” or, do they believe in it because they’re afraid to experience it? Have they been told one too many times to “stop daydreaming and pay attention!”, or have they been annoyed by religionists who talk about “God” but can furnish no real proof that “God” exists?

We can’t argue against someone else’s truth, every idea has its own validity, but we can observe the abilities we all have in common. For example, we all have inner senses and intuitive abilities even though we often ignore or deny we have them. We can prove this to ourselves by paying attention to our dreams as we fall asleep or meditate. When we close our eyes and tune out the physical world, we dream, even if we’ve trained ourselves not to remember. These abilities are empirically provable by anyone willing to take the time to explore the nature of their own consciousness. Instead of clinging to old ideas because they’re familiar, we need to look at life with an open heart and an open mind. We need to keep asking questions like: Who are we? What’s reality? And, what’s the purpose of life? And keep asking them long after we think we know the answers because there’s always something new to learn or understand.

You’ve heard the term: “use it or lose it.” Well, it’s true! Here’s an excerpt from The “Suckface” Incident, which describes the process of guided imagery and what resulted from it when I conducted an exercise with three “normal” (culturally conditioned) people who neglected to develop their imaginations or pay attention to their dreams:

In the late seventies I worked part time delivering desserts to hotels and restaurants from South San Francisco to San Jose for a small San Francisco bakery, Chalet 21. Since I was also editing and publishing Coordinate Point, a magazine that explored the nature of consciousness and being, I often talked about dreams and psychic phenomena with the people I met in my travels. Catherine seemed as interested as any. She was a new friend and business customer from South San Francisco. During an animated discussion about dreams and intuitive experiences late in 1979, I asked her if she had ever participated in a Guided Imagery Exercise (GIE). She didn’t know what Guided Imagery was so I described the process to her and offered to share one of my favorite experiences with her. When I finished, she asked me to conduct a Guided Imagery Exercise for her and some friends. I agreed, and we set up a time for the following week.

Here’s the guided imagery experience I shared with Catherine and her friends. I call it Healing by Fire.

In guided imagery one person acts as the storyteller or guide while the other participants lie down, relax, and close their eyes. Once the participants are fully relaxed, usually through a series of relaxation exercises, the storyteller constructs an imaginary scene and offers suggestions to focus, guide, and stimulate the participants’ creative abilities, just like thoughts and emotions stimulate our creative abilities in dreams. The results depend on each person’s ability to relax and get out of the way of his or her consciousness so it can flesh out the story line and allow the scene to take on a life of its own.

HEALING BY FIRE

The first Guided Imagery Exercises I participated in involved the spirits of Earth, Fire, Wind (air), and Water. Our group met once a week and each week, for a month, we used one of these basic elements to build a story around. My favorite was the Fire Exercise.

After conducting a relaxation exercise, the storyteller describes a scene with trees, green grass, and wild flowers. He encourages us to enter the scene. Because I’m so relaxed and these scenic elements are so pleasant and non-threatening, I find it easy to fully enter into the scene. He encourages us to explore our surroundings, to tumble in the grass, smell the flowers, or float up into the trees if we want. I follow (actualize) the suggestion to float up into the trees to smell the blossoms and after several minutes, the storyteller tells us to “see” the pathway that winds through the trees. He instructs us to follow the path. We can walk, run, float, roll, tumble, or fly, whatever suits our fancy. I choose to float, and after some initial difficulty, do so quite successfully. As we approach an open field, we’re told to see a fire burning off to one side of the path. Again, several suggestions are offered to stimulate our imagination. A roaring bonfire is one suggestion and a burning house, another. Once we see our fire of choice, we’re instructed to enter it. I choose a burning house for my experience.

The house is a short distance off the path to my left. It is nearly burned to the ground but there’s still some debris burning around the sides and in the middle of the house. Walking now, my fear of being burned grows as I approach the flames. Before actually stepping into them, I remind myself that I’m not in my physical body and that the flames can’t hurt my astral form. Without further thought, I step into the flames. They feel cool and breezy against my skin as they lap up around my legs. Delighted, I walk to the center of the house to be among the tallest flames. As I revel in these wonderful new sensations, a large column of flame rises up in front of me and huddles against my chest. As I look at it, an arm-like extension of flame reaches out from the right side of its body and penetrates my left side. Before I can react, I feel something like a hand wrap around my heart and begin to knead it gently and lovingly.

Somehow, in this alternate reality, a doorway for healing has been opened. For many years I’ve sensed a growing hardness in my heart from being so angry at myself and the world for not being perfect. As the Fire Being or Spirit continues to knead my heart, strong feelings of love and compassion are released in me. With a great sigh of relief, I completely relax into the experience.

Soon, the storyteller speaks again and gently suggests we bring our fire experience to an end. As his suggestion slowly filters through my mind, the Flame Spirit withdraws its fiery hand from inside my chest. Growing an additional appendage from the left side of its body, it reaches up over my right shoulder and around the back of my neck. Supporting itself with its left appendage, it leans back and looks up into my face. With the fiery hand it had used to massage my heart, it reaches toward me and gently brushes the left side of my face with the back side of its hand, like a mother expressing love and sadness before parting. After one final hug, it slowly lets go of me and sinks down into the flames still burning around my legs. With great sadness, I turn and walk out of the burning house and back up the pathway. As I retrace my steps to the beginning of this journey and waking reality, I mentally relive my experience with the Fire Being and marvel at the magic and wonder of it all. It was a profound, maybe even a life-saving healing experience for me!

When I arrive at Catherine’s house in South San Francisco she’s home alone but expecting two friends. When they arrive it becomes clear neither one has ever heard of Guided Imagery. They ask me if it’s hypnotism, subliminal suggestion, or something more disempowering. To remove their fears, I explain that Guided Imagery combines storytelling with imaginative role-playing, something that often happens spontaneously when someone reads us a story or tells us a joke. The only difference between old-fashioned storytelling and Guided Imagery is that the listeners are meant to actively participate in the story. It’s about them! The hope is that something important and meaningful will come about as a result of their experience, as it did in my case. Guided Imagery is essentially a waking dream, one that the “dreamer” has conscious control over. I don’t know whether it was their skepticism or a lack of experience using their imaginations, but after the exercise only Catherine said she “thought” she could see something when I suggested they picture a scene of trees, grass, and flowers in their minds. The other two participants said all they could see was the black behind their eyelids. Maybe imaginations need exercise like muscles.

Despite the poor results Catherine and her friends experienced, the longer I spent conducting the Guided Imagery Exercise with them, the more relaxed and intuitive I became, unknowingly setting the stage for what was to come next. When I left Catherine’s house for the drive north up highway 101 to my home in San Francisco, I felt very playful and alive. My body was virtually tingling with spiritual energy! This state of consciousness opened the door to The “Suckface” Incident. During The “Suckface” Incident, I switched between my inner senses and outer senses spontaneously as the situation demanded.

Many of us become ego-bound as a result of social programming and discredit the value of imagination and dreams. Instead of the outer ego (our external identity) being the eyes and ears of the soul, it becomes the center of attention, fearfully clinging to material reality as if it were a rock in the middle of a swiftly moving stream. Fearful for its safety, the ego-bound self reigns in imagination and ignores dreams. Without imagination and dreams, how do we evolve as spiritual beings?

In dreams, I can dance with my long-dead mother and talk to my deceased brothers. I can learn from entities more advanced than I. I can fly, have amazing sex and perform magic. I can see myself in different times, in different places and in different bodies on different worlds. And I can see my many selves all at once. In one dream, I was a debonair James Bond (similar to Pierce Brosnan) sitting in a rocking chair facing a tribal elder. He too, is sitting in a rocking chair. Almost side by side, we rock back and forth trading jokes and stories while laughing our heads off. Meanwhile another me, also a young male, is standing outside the door of a new apartment I just leased. It is early morning and two beautiful young women come out of their apartment next to mine. I say “Hi!” and we quickly strike up a conversation. The blond with curly hair is wearing a man’s dress shirt with tails. Bending over to pick up her newspaper, I can see she’s not wearing a bra. She seems to find me as attractive as I find her. After telling them a little bit about myself and sharing some conversation, they invite me into their apartment for breakfast.

Entering the apartment behind the two women, I see a third young woman. She is a beautiful brunette and she too is wearing a man’s dress shirt with tails. She’s in the process of setting the table for breakfast. After an awkward introduction, and without prompting or fanfare, I begin to help her set the table for breakfast, all the while engaging her in conversation in an attempt to allay her fear. For some reason, I start talking about alternate realities and alternate lives. While eating, I tell them I’m currently aware of two other lives I’m living simultaneously. Showing great interest in the subject they encourage me to continue. I begin by describing my other existence as the man in the rocking chair and finish with the details of this life, including the names of my wife and children.

Not every dream represents another reality. Like sentence fragments in writing there are “reality” fragments in terms of consciousness, enterprises we start and never finish. Many personality fragments exist in our psyches as well, giving us the potential of expressing ourselves in many ways. See: The Ball of Light. In this amazingly lucid dream, with the help of an imagined computer, I create many lives, each one exploring its own interests and values just as we do here! Since each one of us is a unique, individualized expression of All That Is, you can say that everything that appears to exist outside of us is a projection of our own consciousness. From your perspective, I’m another version of you and, from my perspective; you’re another version of me. All That Is is a by-product of consciousness and energy, awareness and action. The grand illusion of separation, the process of individualization that enables us to perceive ourselves as unique and separate individuals with separate identities, is just that, a grand illusion created by the interaction of consciousness and energy, awareness and action. It is how consciousness and energy builds on itself, creating greater and greater diversity and complexity. Welcome to the Matrix where all that can be imagined is created!

One of my dreams may explain why some of us may not want to remember our dreams. It involves my daughter, Crystal. In this dream, what some might describe as a Past Life, Crystal is my wife, Christobelle. My name in this reality is Raymondo and I am a blacksmith living in an Elizabethan style England. Christobelle, a beautiful blond like Crystal in this life, and I have thirteen children, three of which are mine. The rest of our brood has a mix of fathers. As the community blacksmith, I shoe the Kingdom’s horses, including the horses owned by the King’s Knights, that elite band of men who seem to possess a careless disregard for life along with a strong sense of entitlement.

Whenever I shoe one of their horses, they idle away their time having sex with my wife. For many years, she enjoyed the attention of these men, abusive though they were at times. One fateful day, Christobelle, in a state of heightened regret, tells me she no longer wants to be a sexual plaything for the Knights. When the next Knight arrives to have me service his horse, I tell him he can no longer service my wife. Without further ado, he unsheathes his sword and runs me through. If he can’t service my wife, I can’t service his horse!

Later, revisiting this dream reality, I watch as Christobelle grows fat, soft and toothless, eaten up with remorse at a relatively young age. Hungry, destitute and alone in the woods, almost mercifully, she is set upon by a pack of wild dogs and killed. As I thought about this alternate reality many years later, I remembered a time when Crystal was about one and a half years old. We lived in Yarmouth, Maine at the time and Sandra and I were walking down Bayview Street, pushing Crystal in a stroller. Suddenly, a German Sheppard appeared on the road several hundred yards ahead of us. It looked curious and stared at us intently. When Crystal saw it she nearly stood up in the stroller as Sandra and I watched as a visible shiver of fear go up and down her spine. Seeing that she was seriously shaken, we stopped to calm her. When the dog disappeared, we continued walking. Was there some connection between that life and this one for Crystal, some visceral memory of that alternate life? The strength of her reaction at that time made Sandra and I both take notice and it happened almost forty years ago.

How do we handle this kind of information? Who would want to know that in another lifetime their daughter in this lifetime was their wife in another lifetime, or their son in another lifetime is their husband in this lifetime? I told Crystal about this other lifetime and she’s very uncomfortable with the idea that we were once husband and wife. Even Sandra, my wife in this lifetime, is uncomfortable with the thought that Crystal was my wife in another lifetime. Seeing reality the way I do, I am not disturbed by this type of knowledge. It corroborates what I am experiencing in life. In this lifetime, Crystal is playing the role of my daughter and I love her for it. I don’t find it confusing or disturbing. As unique, individualized expressions of consciousness, we are actors playing different roles in different plays, all the while seeking to know more about ourselves, who we are and what “reality” really is.

In yet other dreams, I have come to realize that the four of us have lived many lifetimes together and that in each one, we’ve played different roles, been in different relationships to one another. And, yes, I have been female as well as male in other lifetimes. To grow, we need to face reality, not run away from it. Consciousness wants to know itself in ALL ways. For me, knowing about other lifetimes and other relationships adds richness and dimension to my life. It allows me to keep one foot in inner reality and one foot in outer reality at the same time so I can better regulate and balance the energy flowing between the two. When we can understand who we really are and what “reality” is, we’ll feel greater appreciation for ourselves and see the true magic and wonder of All That Is. What we do as men is great but what we do as souls is even greater.

(Inside Ivy). In another experience, my consciousness flowed out of my body and down into the rootlet of an ivy plant after many months of talking to it lovingly on my way to bed at night. Like Alice staring into the Looking Glass, my entry into the ivy plant, like her entry into Wonderland, was spontaneous and unexpected. In direct communication with the consciousness of the rootlet, I was made aware of the plant’s needs and value system. Primarily, its purpose is to bring beauty and grace into the world. I was completely humbled by the intelligence and wisdom of this being. It gave me new insight and appreciation for the existence of all things. Having had these and many other experiences like them, I would not want to hide or deny any aspect of my being from myself, even though it makes me aware of how illusionary the barriers are between us, being as much psychological as biological.

Should we be afraid of developing our inner senses and intuitive abilities? Based on my own experiences, I don’t think so. I’m more afraid of some guy punching me in the nose than I am of dying in a dream. When I die in my dreams, I still wake up in this reality or another dream. But, if I die in this reality, I’m gone from this reality for good. I can only visit it as a ghost and maybe learn to move a picture on the wall or materialize enough for someone to see me as a ball of light or vague human outline. The experiences I’ve had in altered states of consciousness are some of the most cherished memories I have of this reality. Besides, aren’t we meant to move forward, to evolve? I think so.

In his own way, I think Thom is telling you (Atheists in general) to keep your hearts and minds open for you are much more than you define yourselves to be. We are all much more than we think we are!

Thanks for letting me speak,

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

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Thoughts and Questions for the New Year

by Worldchangeguy on 01/01/2010

Remember how good you are, how much you do and how well you do it!

I paste material like this up on my bathroom wall behind the toilet so my guests and I can have something useful to do while using the loo. Mind if I share it with you? Happy New Year!

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us. Ask yourself: what’s the best way for me to think about myself and the world around me? What’s going to work best for me and ALL of us? We are not only the product of creation, we are creation itself!

The power of choice and the strength of perseverance (“Never give up!” – Winston Churchill) are what give us hope for creating the change we want to see in ourselves and the world.

Believe in yourself and your own unique abilities. NO ONE can do a better job of creating your reality than you!

What’s going to work best for ALL of us in personal terms and in terms of business, education, the environment and peace?

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

Create positive change in the world by creating new and better rituals:

For example, the Catholic Sign of the Cross states: “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.” The Father is God, the Son is Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is the loving bond between God and Christ, Father and Son. I don’t know about you but I feel excluded in this ritual, left outside in the cold. I refuse to accept that so I’ve created a new Sign of the Cross, one that works for me. As I touch the fingers of my right hand to my forehead, heart, left shoulder and right shoulder in a sequential sign of a cross, I say:

In love of You, Me, Us and All That Is!

This ritual acknowledges both the oneness and individuality of All That Is. The reference to “You” can be another person, nature or anything you want to acknowledge in the moment. We need to create new and better rituals, rituals that serve us, not enslave us. We need to be bold and creative! It is time we include ourselves in the Sacred Circle of Life.

Sometimes I vary my Sign of the Cross by saying:

I love You, Me, Us and All That Is, unconditionally; and I remember how good we are, how much we do and how well we do it.

When we want peace more than war, we will have it!

I often wonder if the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) so many of our combat troops experience is the result of “knowing” intuitively that when they kill someone else, they’re killing a part of themselves. More of us are beginning to think that the universe is alive, that “Energy” is not just a mindless, mechanical force that creates reality by accident. It is much more than that!

Energetic Awareness or Awareized Energy is the only answer that explains everything I’ve ever experienced in waking reality, dreams and imagination. It is also consistent with discoveries in Quantum Physics that are bringing us closer and closer to an understanding that the basic unit of anything is a unit of consciousness. Individual units of consciousness act like stem cells and can become anything, forming and dissolving structures in response to the intent and design of thought forms around them, of which we are one. We lose the sense of magic and wonder this process represents when we push it away from us and simply refer to it as electromagnetic energy. When we examine ourselves carefully we can see the fundamental qualities of consciousness at work in our lives and how it unfolds as a direct result of thoughts and emotions – the spontaneous and directed interaction of consciousness and energy at all levels of being.

According to this understanding of creation, we are killing a part of ourselves when we” kill” someone else, even home-invading ants, at the biological level of being because we are breaking their connection to their biological experience, which, as we all know, requires a great deal of time and energy to create. Even though as pure energy we cannot be destroyed, breaking another entity’s connection to their biological experience is a big deal, big enough to make anyone feel guilty for doing so.

- Roger “Pete” Peterson - http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

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Happiness Over Money?

by Worldchangeguy on 12/17/2009

Instead of measuring success by how much money, power and privilege we have, why not measure it by how happy we are – as individuals and as societies? This may sound ridiculous on the face of it but other countries are taking this idea seriously. John de Graaf, in Yes! Magazine, this month, published the article: Putting the Science of Happiness Into Practice. He writes: “…science has found that beyond a certain minimum level of income, greater happiness comes from strong and plentiful human connections, a sense of control over one’s life and employment, meaningful work, good health, basic economic security, trust in others and in government, and other factors less directly connected with monetary remuneration.”

What do you think will work best for you? What do you want more than anything else in All That Is? When I asked myself this question, not wanting to limit myself to material reality only, the answer came back, “Love!” With this revelation, I became aware that more than anything else in All That Is, I wanted to love and be loved unconditionally. That is my ultimate goal or destination. In earthly terms, though, most of us settle for happiness or peace (peace of mind, order out of chaos) as what we want most.

Somehow, we have come to accept objective measurements like money, power and privilege as definers of success, the means by which happiness is achieved in life. They can bring happiness but they are not happiness in and of themselves.

Happiness, sadness, a sense of pleasure, fear, anger, hate and love are subjective emotions attached to what we think and do. We feel them directly. Emotions are the voice of the soul. They serve as a moral compass to guide us spiritually as surely as our physical senses guide us materially. To the extent we allow ourselves to value money, power and privilege over love and respect for ourselves and others, we lose control over our lives.

Look at what happens when money, power and privilege become our primary goals in life! We become people we don’t like. We do work we don’t like. Some of us will lie, cheat and steal for money. We will lie, cheat and steal to gain power and privilege over others. Pay us enough money and we will kill other people for you. Pay us enough money and we will fire any employee you want, including all of them. Pay us enough money and we will fish out the oceans. Pay us enough money and we will cut down every tree in the forest. Pay us enough money and we will write or vote on any piece of legislation you want, no matter the cost to ourselves or others.

Money is a double edged sword. It can either “make the world go round” or it can be “the root of all evil.” Who really wants to sell their soul “to the company store” Who really wants to give up direct control of themselves?

Pure energy like money, its material equivalent, is shaped into matter and experience by thought. It can be used to lift up or smash down, to build character or destroy character, to express love or express hate, to beautify or make ugly. (from We Create Our Own Reality)

Read:

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Change the world for the better with POTS!

(Philosophy On T-Shirts)

__________________________________

The material below is from Thom Hartmann’s message board in response to this article. I post there under the User Name: Worldchangeguy (Google it!). Thom is a great thinker and so are a lot of people who post on his website. He has a syndicated radio talk show, which you can listen to on his website: http://www.thomhartmann.com/, if you don’t have local radio access to it. – Pete

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Re: Happiness or Money?

by Footprint » Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:26 pm

Money is just a tool to open opportunity if used wisely.
I prefer to be happy (which I am) and have enough money to provide for those I choose to support and enjoy those opportunities that enough money can provide to me.
It’s not an either/or.

Name a government program that works well, is financially sustainable and benefits everyone in the country.

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Re: Happiness or Money

by meljomur » Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:09 am

Footprint wrote:Money is just a tool to open opportunity if used wisely.
I prefer to be happy (which I am) and have enough money to provide for those I choose to support and enjoy those opportunities that enough money can provide to me.
It’s not an either/or.

Interesting…
I find you, Saw, and a few other Cons. to be by far the crabbiest, most disgruntled posters on this site, if money makes you happy, I certainly hope you guys are NOT the poster boys for that sentiment.

God Save the Queen!

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Re: Happiness or Money?

by drew013 » Fri Dec 18, 2009 6:57 am

meljomur wrote:

Footprint wrote:Money is just a tool to open opportunity if used wisely.
I prefer to be happy (which I am) and have enough money to provide for those I choose to support and enjoy those opportunities that enough money can provide to me.
It’s not an either/or.

Interesting…
I find you, Saw, and a few other Cons. to be by far the crabbiest, most disgruntled posters on this site, if money makes you happy, I certainly hope you guys are NOT the poster boys for that sentiment.

I’ll second that…

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Re: Happiness or Money?

by longshot » Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:15 am

Worldchangeguy wrote:We become people we don’t like. We do work we don’t like. Some of us will lie, cheat and steal for money. We will lie, cheat and steal to gain power and privilege over others. Pay us enough money and we will kill other people for you. Pay us enough money and we will fire any employee you want, including all of them. Pay us enough money and we will fish out the oceans. Pay us enough money and we will cut down every tree in the forest. Pay us enough money and we will write or vote on any piece of legislation you want, no matter the cost to ourselves or others.

These behaviors don’t sound very nice at all. In fact they sound downright evil. You will lie cheat and steal? You would kill other people for money? Talk about being brutally honest. Yikes. Seriously you guys, please don’t steal and kill for money. It’s wrong.

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Re: Happiness or Money?

by Worldchangeguy » Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:42 am

longshot wrote:by longshot » Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:15 am
Worldchangeguy wrote:
We become people we don’t like. We do work we don’t like. Some of us will lie, cheat and steal for money. We will lie, cheat and steal to gain power and privilege over others. Pay us enough money and we will kill other people for you. Pay us enough money and we will fire any employee you want, including all of them. Pay us enough money and we will fish out the oceans. Pay us enough money and we will cut down every tree in the forest. Pay us enough money and we will write or vote on any piece of legislation you want, no matter the cost to ourselves or others.

longshot wrote:These behaviors don’t sound very nice at all. In fact they sound downright evil. You will lie cheat and steal? You would kill other people for money? Talk about being brutally honest. Yikes. Seriously you guys, please don’t steal and kill for money. It’s wrong.

“Yikes” is right, longshot! When you remove the first sentence from this paragraph (Look at what happens when money, power and privilege become our primary goals in life!) you change the meaning of this article. It’s like seeing a sand painting, and just because you’re alone and you can, you run your fingers through it to destroy its contextual integrity so the next person viewing it sees something completely different than you. Why would you want to do that? The behavior outlined in this paragraph is all around us and in us as potential behavior, deny it though you may. Dishonesty and denial do not help us become better people and they certainly do not help us become a better country.
We’ve been told to believe that we’re basically bad and we can’t trust ourselves (the Bible). It’s time for us to remember how good we are, how much we do and how well we do it. As we think, we create. Change what we think and we change what we create.
Cheers,
Pete

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

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Re: Happiness or Money?

by polycarp2 » Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:54 am

In my line of work, I’ve never seen anyone on their deathbed wish they had made more money or bought more stuff or obtained a bigger McMansion. The regrets are usually what they could have done had they not been so concerned with getting more. That goes for the rich as well as for those less well off.

Happiness can’t be found at Neiman Marcus anymore than it can be found at WalMart. Gratification/happiness aren’t the same thing…and people often confuse one with the other.
If gratification was happiness…one trip to Walmart ought to do it,….. one good stock trade would make it complete.

Retired Monk

“Ideology is a disease”.

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Re: Happiness or Money?
by norske » Fri Dec 18, 2009 10:04 am

polycarp2 wrote:In my line of work, I’ve never seen anyone on their deathbed wish they had made more money or bought more stuff or obtained a bigger McMansion.

At Hospice, the number one regret I hear is not spending more time with their family, especially the children. It transcends all classes.

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Re: Happiness or Money
by polycarp2 » Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:10 am

Precisely. It’s about human relationships…not bank accounts to buy those relationships in absentia. The most valuable thing human beings have is their time…and how they spend it.

What is Life ? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the Sunset.”

-Crowfoot….April 1890, on his deathbed”

Don’t waste life on nonsense. The last 20 years were how long in retrospect? Spent how? Gone…. like the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. The next 20 disappear just as quickly.
My own fondest memories aren’t of my wealthy uncle who showered me with gifts…they are about grandma and the time we spent together on trout streams or gorging ourselves on watermelon. Well….I did the gorging thanks to grandma’s garden. She did more slicing than eating!

Grandma had it right and few regrets. I still miss her after nearly 50 years… and we weren’t related by blood. A beautiful, kindly step-grandma. Poor as a church mouse with a joy in living. She shared that joy with others. I miss her.

Retired Monk

“Ideology is a disease”

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Re: Happiness or Money?

by norske » Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:53 am

One of the happiest times in my life was when I was working on a ranch in Texas, living in a broken down trailer, shooting quail for lunch and gathering eggs for breakfast and dinner.
After that it was when my wife and I had our first apt., sleeping on the floor, cable spool for a table, and bricks and boards for bookshelves. Going to the store and buying Top Ramen and a turkey leg for dinner was a highlight. You really can’t go back home.

For a while I was caught up with my motorcycles and books, that was about it. Got rid of most of the bikes and farming out most of the books as I write. Never was into the mass consumerism thing.
My best friend who earns around $160,000 a year or so has a nice little 50 acre spread and a nice house. He and his wife (Mostly the wife) accumulate more worthless items that sit unopened than I have ever seen. His wife has some serious issues. She has every book written about quilts there is. She has a $10,000 sewing machine just for quilts. She goes to quilting meetings twice a week. This has gone on for about 10 years. Every once in a while I will ask him how the quilting is going. “Quilting. You see that quilt on the bed? Bought that at Sears. She has not made one patch of a quilt, not one.” About twice a year I come over and help him toss much of it out or donate it to charity. He works 70 hours a week to buy things he doesn’t need. Not very happy either.

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Re: Happiness or Money?

longshot » Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:56 am

Worldchangeguy wrote:

longshot wrote:by longshot » Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:15 am
Worldchangeguy wrote:
We become people we don’t like. We do work we don’t like. Some of us will lie, cheat and steal for money. We will lie, cheat and steal to gain power and privilege over others. Pay us enough money and we will kill other people for you. Pay us enough money and we will fire any employee you want, including all of them. Pay us enough money and we will fish out the oceans. Pay us enough money and we will cut down every tree in the forest. Pay us enough money and we will write or vote on any piece of legislation you want, no matter the cost to ourselves or others.

longshot wrote:These behaviors don’t sound very nice at all. In fact they sound downright evil. You will lie cheat and steal? You would kill other people for money? Talk about being brutally honest. Yikes. Seriously you guys, please don’t steal and kill for money. It’s wrong.

“Yikes” is right, longshot! When you remove the first sentence from this paragraph (Look at what happens when money, power and privilege become our primary goals in life!) you change the meaning of this article. It’s like seeing a sand painting, and just because you’re alone and you can, you run your fingers through it to destroy its contextual integrity so the next person viewing it sees something completely different than you. Why would you want to do that? The behavior outlined in this paragraph is all around us and in us as potential behavior, deny it though you may. Dishonesty and denial do not help us become better people and they certainly do not help us become a better country. We’ve been told to believe that we’re basically bad and we can’t trust ourselves (the Bible). It’s time for us to remember how good we are, how much we do and how well we do it. As we think, we create. Change what we think and we change what we create.
Cheers,
Pete

Sorry, didn’t mean to butcher the context. I don’t know whether it came across, but I was actually agreeing with you. You described how you guys have made money, power, and privilege your primary goals, and then described all the horrible things you guys end up doing because of this. Even with the first sentence included, I still think that you’re making a mistake to let money, power, and privilege become your primary goal. As you accurately observed, it will drive you to do all sorts of nasty things. That’s my point, and I stick by it even considering the entire quote. Regarding your thoughts on the possibility for change, I agree. If you’re in a place where money, power, and privilege are your primary goals, you should definitely look to change what you think and create. The rest of us (the ones being stolen from and killed) would certainly appreciate it.

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Re: Happiness or Money?

by Worldchangeguy » Fri Dec 18, 2009 1:06 pm

Polycarp2 and Norske,
Great stories! I read them to my wife, and being a very emotional person, struggled not to cry as I read them.
Speaking of emotions, some men object to them but I find they provide me with access to an inner reality few of us ever discuss, even though some of our greatest music and writings have been inspired by dreams and visions. If you have time, read: The “Suckface” Incident. It’s a strange name but it illustrates how our outer senses and inner senses can work together to help us resolve issues or challenges in our lives.
Again, your stories and observations were great. Thank you for expressing them.
Pete

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

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Re: Happiness or Money?
by » Fri Dec 18, 2009 1:46 pm

longshot wrote:Sorry, didn’t mean to butcher the context. I don’t know whether it came across, but I was actually agreeing with you. You described how you guys have made money, power, and privilege your primary goals, and then described all the horrible things you guys end up doing because of this.

Longshot, I think of All That Is as both one and separate. The same holds for the way I look at humanity. I see us all as both one and separate. What I do to you, I do to me, and so on. (I often wonder if the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder so many of our troops experience is the result of knowing that when they kill someone, they know intuitively they’re killing a part of themselves. This presents them a with profound dilemma. On the one hand they’re told they’re doing a good thing and on the other, they sense it is self-destructive. How do you reconcile such a profound conflict of ideas and feelings, especially when it spills over into your imagination and dreams?) Speaking from our oneness, I am suggesting that in our present culture of ideas some of us choose to put money ahead of feeling, not to pass judgment but to acknowledge free choice and how every thought has a consequence. We need to be aware of that, if we want to make choices that serve our best interest both individually AND collectively. I like money! It’s a form of energy and medium of exchange. But, love and happiness is far more important to me.
As souls learning how to create a pleasing reality, we offer one another great opportunities for learning. One of my favorite affirmations is: What an amazing gift we are to each other and what an amazing gift life itself is!
Cheers my friend,
Pete

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

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Re: Happiness or Money
by peewee returns » Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:51 pm

meljomur wrote:

Footprint wrote:Money is just a tool to open opportunity if used wisely.
I prefer to be happy (which I am) and have enough money to provide for those I choose to support and enjoy those opportunities that enough money can provide to me.
It’s not an either/or.

Interesting…
I find you, Saw, and a few other Cons. to be by far the crabbiest, most disgruntled posters on this site, if money makes you happy, I certainly hope you guys are NOT the poster boys for that sentiment.

Mel, that was a pretty crabby response to a pretty reasonable post. Are you in a bad mood today?

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Re: Happiness or Money?

by bdc » Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:45 pm

Money will not for sure make a person happy, but poverty will certainly make a person unhappy and worse……..I favor redistribution of wealth………..

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Re: Happiness or Money?

by Footprint » Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:42 pm

meljomur wrote:
Interesting…
I find you, Saw, and a few other Cons. to be by far the crabbiest, most disgruntled posters on this site, if money makes you happy, I certainly hope you guys are NOT the poster boys for that sentiment.

Somehow….what you “find”, is supposed to matter…. somehow….
Money in it’s form and what it’s used for, doesn’t have anything to do with “happiness”. Money is mearly a tool. I will admit that pre 1898 double eagle gold coins do make me happy, Those minted in Carson City especially, as the gold was most likely mined from Bodie, Ca. which I have explored and studied.
Money as a tool can open great opportunities in the societies we live in. It is the form of commerce. If you have the means (money) you can explore more, purchase more, educate more, empower more, and enjoy luxuries more. It’s not a bad thing and the premise that money and happiness don’t co-exist, is naive at best. To be short, I’ve tried it both ways. IMO, life is more enjoyable when you have more options. It depends on what you want to do.
People will be happy or unhappy whether they have money or not.
I’m far from crabby and/or disgruntled. I’m very satisfied with life and where I’m at. My feet hit the floor 7 days a week and can’t wait to do what is on my busy adjenda. I couldn’t get it all done if there was 2 of me, and thats what I enjoy.

Some of the best times I’ve had have been quality time with family and friends hangin on my deck listening to the wildlife, laughing around a campfire, quiet time reading a book listening to the rain on the roof, hunting with my son, or watching the sunset while walking hand in hand with my wife on Kaanapali beach. On the other hand, cruising at 70mph in a 150K offshore boat sipping a margarita, marlin fishing off Cabo, racing exotic cars at the track, or taking helicopter rides in Kauai for the thrill of it, providing an education for another, buying food, clothing, and housing for those who can’t, contributing to the cure for cancer, and so much more is a fullfilling use of earning money.

Money is just an enhancement to opportunity. Happy is from within.

Name a government program that works well, is financially sustainable and benefits everyone in the country.

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Re: Happiness or Money?

by Worldchangeguy » Sat Dec 19, 2009 10:09 am

I slept on what polycarp2 and norske said earlier on this thread, about what’s been really important to them and the people they’ve known in life. Others have spoken since. It’s love of “being” itself!

When I woke up this morning, I started thinking about the catholic ritual where you touch your forehead, heart, left shoulder and right shoulder to form a cross as you utter the words: In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost – Amen. As I thought about these words, I realized that I/we are being asked to forget about ourselves and give it up to something outside of us, something supposedly better than us, something we can’t see, hear, smell, taste or touch. The words: “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost – Amen”, ring hollow to me. I haven’t practiced the Sign of the Cross ritual since I was a young boy but many people still value and practice it today. My intent is not to replace this ritual. We’re all free to make our own choices. I simply want to create something that has meaning for me.

I thought, what would happen if I replaced those words with: In the name of You, Me, Us and All That Is? Would that be any more meaningful to me? When I recited those words, while imaginatively crossing myself, it did mean more to me! Suddenly you and I are sacred too. We are no longer left out in the cold, to fend for ourselves or follow the dictates of others with “special” authority. It gives real meaning to the feelings I have about life, myself, you and All That Is. Acknowledging You, Me, Us and All That Is, includes all of us in the sacred circle of being. It acknowledges that we are both one and separate, and both the product of creation and creation itself.

If you’re Catholic, try not to react to this idea. Sleep on it! Experiment with it and see how it feels to be included as a valued, loved and loving part of All That Is. Trust your own feelings for the answer.

All that Is, is sacred. Without it, we could not exist.

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We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

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Open to New Possibilities

by Worldchangeguy on 12/16/2009

The Inner Journey - Open to new possibilities!

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Sing your own song

“Since you are like no other being ever created since the beginning of time, you are incomparable.”

– Brenda Ueland

Great forces are directing you to conform to the patterns of your society. You have DNA that has been handed down from generation to generation, coding repeated behaviour patterns into your being. You have archetypal energies setting the standards for how you behave as a man or a woman, as husband or wife, as father or mother …. You are immersed in consensual reality, whereby the world around you reflects societal understanding of how life has been and is to be.

At the same time, you have an even greater force within you inspiring you to wake up and recognize the reality of who you are. This force, the creative power underlying the entire universe, is urging you to create brand new standards of reality.

The status quo is blind to our creative power. Create a brand new world for yourself, one that meets your deepest needs, and you will help raise the quality of consciousness of the entire world.

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

– Gandhi

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Social Scientists Build Case for ‘Survival of the Kindest’

by Worldchangeguy on 12/14/2009

ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2009) — Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish. In a wide range of studies, social scientists are amassing a growing body of evidence to show we are evolving to become more compassionate and collaborative in our quest to survive and thrive.

Social scientists are amassing a growing body of evidence to show we are evolving to become more compassionate and collaborative in our quest to survive and thrive. (Credit: iStockphoto/Valentin Casarsa)

In contrast to “every man for himself” interpretations of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, Dacher Keltner, a UC Berkeley psychologist and author of “Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life,” and his fellow social scientists are building the case that humans are successful as a species precisely because of our nurturing, altruistic and compassionate traits.

They call it “survival of the kindest.”

“Because of our very vulnerable offspring, the fundamental task for human survival and gene replication is to take care of others,” said Keltner, co-director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. “Human beings have survived as a species because we have evolved the capacities to care for those in need and to cooperate. As Darwin long ago surmised, sympathy is our strongest instinct.”

Empathy in our genes

Keltner’s team is looking into how the human capacity to care and cooperate is wired into particular regions of the brain and nervous system. One recent study found compelling evidence that many of us are genetically predisposed to be empathetic.

The study, led by UC Berkeley graduate student Laura Saslow and Sarina Rodrigues of Oregon State University, found that people with a particular variation of the oxytocin gene receptor are more adept at reading the emotional state of others, and get less stressed out under tense circumstances.

Informally known as the “cuddle hormone,” oxytocin is secreted into the bloodstream and the brain, where it promotes social interaction, nurturing and romantic love, among other functions.

“The tendency to be more empathetic may be influenced by a single gene,” Rodrigues said.

The more you give, the more respect you get

While studies show that bonding and making social connections can make for a healthier, more meaningful life, the larger question some UC Berkeley researchers are asking is, “How do these traits ensure our survival and raise our status among our peers?”

One answer, according to UC Berkeley social psychologist and sociologist Robb Willer is that the more generous we are, the more respect and influence we wield. In one recent study, Willer and his team gave participants each a modest amount of cash and directed them to play games of varying complexity that would benefit the “public good.” The results, published in the journal American Sociological Review, showed that participants who acted more generously received more gifts, respect and cooperation from their peers and wielded more influence over them.

“The findings suggest that anyone who acts only in his or her narrow self-interest will be shunned, disrespected, even hated,” Willer said. “But those who behave generously with others are held in high esteem by their peers and thus rise in status.”

“Given how much is to be gained through generosity, social scientists increasingly wonder less why people are ever generous and more why they are ever selfish,” he added.

Cultivating the greater good

Such results validate the findings of such “positive psychology” pioneers as Martin Seligman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania whose research in the early 1990s shifted away from mental illness and dysfunction, delving instead into the mysteries of human resilience and optimism.

While much of the positive psychology being studied around the nation is focused on personal fulfillment and happiness, UC Berkeley researchers have narrowed their investigation into how it contributes to the greater societal good.

One outcome is the campus’s Greater Good Science Center, a West Coast magnet for research on gratitude, compassion, altruism, awe and positive parenting, whose benefactors include the Metanexus Institute, Tom and Ruth Ann Hornaday and the Quality of Life Foundation.

Christine Carter, executive director of the Greater Good Science Center, is creator of the “Science for Raising Happy Kids” Web site, whose goal, among other things, is to assist in and promote the rearing of “emotionally literate” children. Carter translates rigorous research into practical parenting advice. She says many parents are turning away from materialistic or competitive activities, and rethinking what will bring their families true happiness and well-being.

“I’ve found that parents who start consciously cultivating gratitude and generosity in their children quickly see how much happier and more resilient their children become,” said Carter, author of “Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents” which will be in bookstores in February 2010. “What is often surprising to parents is how much happier they themselves also become.”

The sympathetic touch

As for college-goers, UC Berkeley psychologist Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton has found that cross-racial and cross-ethnic friendships can improve the social and academic experience on campuses. In one set of findings, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, he found that the cortisol levels of both white and Latino students dropped as they got to know each over a series of one-on-one get-togethers. Cortisol is a hormone triggered by stress and anxiety.

Meanwhile, in their investigation of the neurobiological roots of positive emotions, Keltner and his team are zeroing in on the aforementioned oxytocin as well as the vagus nerve, a uniquely mammalian system that connects to all the body’s organs and regulates heart rate and breathing.

Both the vagus nerve and oxytocin play a role in communicating and calming. In one UC Berkeley study, for example, two people separated by a barrier took turns trying to communicate emotions to one another by touching one other through a hole in the barrier. For the most part, participants were able to successfully communicate sympathy, love and gratitude and even assuage major anxiety.

Researchers were able to see from activity in the threat response region of the brain that many of the female participants grew anxious as they waited to be touched. However, as soon as they felt a sympathetic touch, the vagus nerve was activated and oxytocin was released, calming them immediately.

“Sympathy is indeed wired into our brains and bodies; and it spreads from one person to another through touch,” Keltner said.

The same goes for smaller mammals. UC Berkeley psychologist Darlene Francis and Michael Meaney, a professor of biological psychiatry and neurology at McGill University, found that rat pups whose mothers licked, groomed and generally nurtured them showed reduced levels of stress hormones, including cortisol, and had generally more robust immune systems.

Overall, these and other findings at UC Berkeley challenge the assumption that nice guys finish last, and instead support the hypothesis that humans, if adequately nurtured and supported, tend to err on the side of compassion.

“This new science of altruism and the physiological underpinnings of compassion is finally catching up with Darwin’s observations nearly 130 years ago, that sympathy is our strongest instinct,” Keltner said.

ScienceDaily 9 December 2009. 14 December 2009 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091208155309.htm

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We Are God!

by Worldchangeguy on 12/10/2009

We are God (Consciousness and Energy) in flesh seeking to know itself in all ways.

There is no right or wrong, good or bad. There just IS! From both our individual and collective perspectives there is what works for us and what doesn’t, what pleases us and what doesn’t. Each one of us creates and interacts with our own unique version of reality, our own unique version of the universe.

Love YOU, ME and US unconditionally for we are God. All That Is, is God! Without the consciousness and energy (Energetic Awareness) of All That Is there would be no earth to walk on, no air to breath, no water to drink, no fire to warm us and no one to love and hug. You don’t have to like, understand or accept what we do but you can love us for the fact that we are the hope and the promise of creating a better today and tomorrow. We are not only products of creation, we are creation itself!

We Create Our Own Reality

During the course of everyday events we often forget the role of thoughts in the forging of our material reality. We get lost in the visible symbols, the material by-products of our imaginations, forgetting the invisible blueprints from which they, and we, emerge.

The purpose, or challenge, of life is to learn how to use thought in its various forms to shape energy into a pleasing reality. The prize is a sense of satisfaction, a feeling of a job well done. And, like learning to walk or talk, it is a personal, subjective endeavor that requires creative aggression. It is a great balancing act, where one must accept falling down in the course of learning how to stand up.

Remember:

Thoughts are “things” with a reality of their own and you, an artist. With thoughts in the forms of belief, attitude, value and expectation you paint the landscape of your life. Create a great day!

Why is it important for us to know that we are God, that we are not only the product of creation but creation itself? First, this answer is closer to the truth of our being than any other, and second, we’ll treat ourselves and one another better when we see that all life is magical and sacred. Limiting ourselves to the idea that we are only a product of creation instead of being part of it diminishes our understanding of who we are. It makes us dependent on a supreme being beyond our comprehension, and whoever claims to have the authority to speak for it.

Believing that we’re the result of some great cosmic accident like the Big Bang is no better because reason tells us that if we’re the result of an accident, we can disappear at any time as the result of another “accident”; that we have no control over events in our lives. And what about the idea that we’re controlled by our genes? This belief turns us into robots, reactionaries who, instead of thinking about what we’re doing, simply react to whatever is going on around us. Life becomes a matter of action and reaction, stimulus and response, with few questions and little original thought and analysis taking place. It is from our core understanding of who we are, what reality is, and what the purpose of life is that we create our reality. It’s time to wake up and take responsibility for creating our own reality. Responsibility (personal accountability and self-development) is the price of freedom, peace and long-term human survival.

Instead of reacting to the idea that we’re not only the product of creation but creation itself, sleep on it! Give your deeper consciousness a chance to absorb this idea, to mull it over. When you wake the next morning, see what comes up.

Pete

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

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Life Comes With Problems

by Worldchangeguy on 11/27/2009

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“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”

– Fr. Alfred D’Souza

Life always brings problems. We really can’t live without them.

And so it helps to shift our perspective. We can stop trying to avoid the problems. We can stop feeling victimized by what’s happening. Instead, we can consciously work with the challenge of the moment to learn more about ourselves and the world. When we make this shift in attitude, we discover ourselves to be strong and powerful.

“Every lesson is a widening and deepening of consciousness. It is a stretching of the mind beyond its conceptual limits and a stretching of the heart beyond its emotional boundaries. It is a bringing of unconscious material into consciousness, a healing of past wounds, and a discovery of new faith and trust.”

– Paul Ferrini

Offering a 7 step spiritual approach to healing life’s problems. Clearing blocks transforms our lives. Discover a whole new way of working with life’s challenges with our online Block Busting (Self Healing) Workbook with 30 days of email support.

The Inner Journey is brought to you by John & Patrice Robson of HigherAwareness.com. We invite you to take the awareness and consciousness journey to know & grow yourself.

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Of Money, Governments, Corporations and Men

by Worldchangeguy on 11/01/2009

Technorati Tags: Arundhati Roy,Government,Corporations,Media,Enemy,India,Attack,Bauxite,Minerals,Land,CEO,Police,Military

The Heart of India is Under Attack is an article written by Arundhati Roy. I use the title: Of Money, Governments, Corporations and Men, to introduce her article because what she describes in her story is nearly universal. It is the story of how government and media in almost every country often ends up serving the interests of corporations before the country and the people. According to ms. Roy, the Indian government, with help from the media, are demonizing a segment of their own population to justify attacking them to run them off their land, or kill them should they fight back. It’s all being done so corporations can grab the land and extract the minerals from it.

Like John Perkins in his book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, Arundhati Roy does an amazing job of describing the role corrupt governments and media play in helping corporations cannibalize the rights and sanctity of others. It is a classic tale of how fear and the promise of money, power and privilege corrupt the hearts and minds of men. It is a story of cynicism, greed, arrogance and contempt, the Law of the Jungle let loose on society by those sworn to protect it.

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The Price of Freedom

by Worldchangeguy on 10/28/2009

Ultimately, who is responsible for what you do? Who is responsible for what I do? And who is responsible for what we do in groups we choose to be part of?

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School Turnaround Strategies – a Debate

by Worldchangeguy on 10/20/2009

Technorati Tags: Education,Government,Schools,Responsibility,Center for American Progress,Debate,The Century Foundation,Educators

Sponsored by The Century Foundation, Center for American Progress

Debate takes place at:

1333 H Street, NW
10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Time: November 12, 2009, 12:00pm – 1:30pm

Dear Marlene,

I’m unable to attend your School Turnaround Strategies meeting but I would like to contribute some ideas anyway. It is my belief that if we don’t make the promise of education relevant to every student, if we don’t make it fun and exciting, we lose before we begin. If the days of using education to sift the chaff from the wheat are not over, they should be. Everyone has something unique to offer others and it should be the primary goal of education to help each student figure out what that is so he or she can start developing it. Assuming we’re basically good and want to get better will go a long way to making education fun and relevant for everyone. When our primary goal is to be the person we love to be, doing the things we love to do, we become driven by natural passion and automatically take responsibility for our own development. The benefit of this to the individual and society cannot be overestimated.

success

It’s not only education that needs to change; our whole system needs to change. It does no good to cultivate one set of values in school while society operates by a different set of values. In business and in life, whether we like what we’re doing or get paid to do it, we must ask ourselves, is what I’m doing, good? Does it improve the quality of life and increase mankind’s chances for survival or does it undermine it?

Educators, and those who would undertake to change education, need to look inside themselves first. They need to ask themselves: what’s going to work best for ALL of us – in personal terms, and in terms of business, education, the environment and peace? Everyone should be asking themselves these questions because we’re all connected. To think otherwise is to perpetuate imbalance. Responsibility (personal accountability and self-development) is the price of freedom, peace and long-term human survival.

Are children blank slates to be written on; chattel to be commanded, manipulated and controlled? Or are we something more than that as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin thinks: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”? Who are we? What’s reality? What’s the purpose of life? Until we’re certain we know the answers to these questions, we should err on the side of optimism. We should learn and teach a loving, playful and empowering form of reality creation instead of creating assembly lines to pump out angry, dissatisfied, unimaginative, preditory souls who can’t think critically for themselves, souls who will do anything for a buck, up to and including, killing others for it.

We open up and blossom in the presence of love. In the presence of uncompromising, do-it-or-else “authority”, we either become obedient, dominating or alienated and angry. I hated school when I was young because I felt like I didn’t matter, that no one (with a few rare exceptions) cared about what I wanted. As a result, I put out the energy of anger, fear, resentment and contempt. It was my Emotional Signature, my Feeling Tone! It wasn’t until my mid forties that I was able to develop a large enough picture of reality to forgive myself and others for the fear, guilt and anxiety I suffered from. So badly inhibited, in the Air Force, alcohol became my savior. Instead of acquiescing to an educational system that stifled free choice and imagination, that seemed to care not one wit about what the individual wanted, I got angry! Many people still react this way because little, if anything, has been done to change the idea of public education since it was first conceived.

I recently wrote an article entitled: Change the World for the Better with Love – a Reality Creation Project. The experience I describe in this article graphically illustrates the difference between how I (we?) react in the presence of conditional love (limitation, value judgment, carrot and stick) and unconditional love (unconditional acceptance). It’s the difference between night and day!

Regarding the meeting announcement, the use of the word “Debate” in the title implies a contest, not a solution. Whether we’re conscious of it or not, we ”debate” more often to determine who’s right or wrong, good or bad, smart or stupid, strong or weak than to find solutions. It’s the byproduct of a belief in separation, scarcity and competition – Law-of-the-Jungle concepts meant to serve the individual, not the whole. Egoism (emphasis on separation, service-to-self values) is one of the primary reasons we continue to recycle tired old ideas that don’t work. Until we acknowledge our oneness as well as our individuality and ask what’s going to work best for ALL of us, true service to others is not possible. Egocentric core beliefs are to the idea of service to others as matter is to antimatter. Meaningful change in education and society will only come after we remove limiting and conflicting root beliefs that blind us from seeing beyond ourselves. As we think, we create. Change what we think and we change what we create!

oneness

Many of us use life-in-the-jungle as our primary model or template for thought and action while some of us intuitively use the body as our primary model or template. This model, our body, survives by recognizing that all cells are both one AND separate. Over a trillion strong in a single human body, every cell knows it must share resources for all to remain strong and healthy in support of the other. As the Three Musketeers say, “it’s all for one and one for all!” Shouldn’t we, as consciousness at the whole body level, be as wise? As someone once observed, “United we stand, divided we fall.”

Good luck with your Turnaround Strategy meeting.

Regards,

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

Change the world for the better with POTS! (Philosophy On T-Shirts)

We Create Our Own Reality – how we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

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Living a Five Star Life

by Worldchangeguy on 10/13/2009

Technorati Tags: Gratitude,Appreciation,Love

Would you like to have more joy and less stress in your life? Do you want to discover the secrets to reaching your full potential? Would you like to make a positive difference in the short time you’re here on this earth?

Life coach, Betty Mahalik, tells you how in her beautiful book, Living a Five Star Life. She challenges all of us “to live a great life by discovering the life we have right now, instead of trying to invent a whole new life.” This little book has more wisdom, common sense and inspiration than any I’ve read in a long time!

Today, I’d like to share her chapter titled: My Life Would be Perfect If…”

Enjoy!

Excerpt from: Living a Five Star Life

by Betty Mahalik

In this day and age, we are surrounded by messages that virtually scream, “Your life would be perfect if…” My life would be perfect if I had a different job, a different house, car, nose, spouse, bank account (fill in the blank). Or my life would be perfect if I could be like some celebrity whose life appears so well-ordered and perfect-o. This week I encourage you to stop playing “my life would be perfect if,” and start playing “my perfect life.” What’s the difference? Three things: being in the present, an attitude of gratitude, taking action with what’s available now.

When we’re caught up in the “my life would be perfect if” trap, we’ve lost touch with the present. And the moment we detach from the present, we can no longer practice gratitude. Think about it: it’s difficult to be grateful for what you don’t have…and what you don’t have is always somewhere out in future-ville.

Look around you right now. Think of 10 things you’re grateful for. Do you have a roof over your head and food to eat? I’m guessing the answer is yes. Do you have at least a few good friends or close relationships? Then appreciate them too, right now. Keep going, and practice being in the present and being grateful for what is here and now at least a couple times a day.

You’re also probably sitting there thinking “yes but.” Yes, but I want more money, a better relationship, more time to travel, to be thinner, happier or whatever. It’s one of the great mysteries I’ll never figure out. The minute you stop focusing on what you lack, start focusing on what you’ve already got, and add the “magic” ingredient of action, you actually begin to attract more of what you want. It’s an amazing formula for really living your perfect life!

Let’s say you want to lose weight or get in better shape, but you don’t have an hour a day to spend exercising at the gym. Therefore, you’ve pretty well resigned yourself to not losing weight or getting in shape. What if you had five minutes though…just about everyone can find five minutes to exercise, stretch, walk around the block or walk the dog. Would you be willing to be grateful for five minutes and make the best possible use of it? Therein lies the beginning of your perfect life!

A simple formula may help you remember how to apply this principle:

The present
+ an attitude of gratitude
+ positive action
= my perfect life.

Try it for a day.
Each time you start dreaming about how perfect your life would be if…come back to this moment, give thanks for what is, and do one thing to perfect what you have and who you are right now. There’s a saying that “when the student is ready, the teacher appears.” If you’re ready to start perfecting your life, your teachers are all around you.
What are you waiting for?

Today, I’m pleased to say we’re offering Living a Five Star Life for only $10.00. This is a 37% savings off our regular price of $15.95. To learn more or look inside the book, just click here.

Note this offer expires October 14, 2009 at 11:59PM CST.

To Life,

Mac Anderson
Founder, Simple Truths

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Banking Gone Wild

by Worldchangeguy on 10/07/2009

From Thom Hartmann’s blog

According to a report released Tuesday by the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending – it is officially ok to kick people when they’re down. Banks and credit unions profited by a whopping $24 billion in overdraft fees in 2008, a 35% increase from 2006! The report claims about 51 million people were hit with fees – meaning that one in six Americans were affected. This is all because, since banking deregulation, these institutions have gone from essentially being utilities to voracious, predatory corporations that make money out of money – and out of every little mistake you may make. We need to re-regulate the banks!

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. - Thomas Jefferson

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Change the World for the Better with Love, a Reality Creation Project

by Worldchangeguy on 10/04/2009

Have you ever thought to ask yourself:

What do I want more than anything else in All That Is?

To read more >>

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The Truth About Jobs That No One Wants To Tell You

October 2, 2009

Thursday, October 01, 2009

By Robert Reich

Unemployment will almost certainly (be) in double-digits next year — and may remain there for some time. And for every person who shows up as unemployed in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ household survey, you can bet there’s another either too discouraged to look for work or working part time [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

How can we change ourselves and the world for the better – RIGHT NOW?

New “Sign of the Cross” Ritual

Responsibility (personal accountability and self-development) is the price of freedom, peace and long-term human survival.

We are both one with, and separate from, All That Is. We are not only the product of creation, we are creation itself!

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us triggers emotion and forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

It is the power to choose and the will to persevere (“Never give up!” – Winston Churchill) that give us hope for creating the change we want to see in ourselves and the world.

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

Chest Cavity Blues – A Role for Marijuana in Therapy?

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

Remember how good you are, how much you do and how well you do it!

The power of choice and the strength of perseverance (“Never give up!” – Winston Churchill) are what give us hope for creating the change we want to see in ourselves and the world.

Believe in yourself and your own unique abilities. NO ONE can do a better job of creating your reality than you!

What’s going to work best for ALL of us in personal terms and in terms of business, education, the environment and peace?

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

In love of You, Me, Us and All That Is!

When we want peace more than war, we will have it!

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

“Since you are like no other being ever created since the beginning of time, you are incomparable.”

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

We are God (Consciousness and Energy) in flesh seeking to know itself in all ways.

We Create Our Own Reality

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which in turn, forms our reality.

What do I want more than anything else in All That Is?

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