There's something about the way animals look so much like people that makes my heart ache and burst forth.
There's something about sitting in the sun on an oval under bright blue sky that feels like bliss.
There's something about the flight of birds that makes my heart fly with them.
Luf
:)
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Friday, June 23, 2006
The following is all from the Free Will Astrology newsletter
"Strawberries are too delicate to be picked by machine. The perfectly ripe ones bruise even at too heavy a human touch. Every strawberry you have ever eaten has been picked by callused human hands. Every piece of toast with jelly represents someone's knees, someone's aching backs and hips, someone with a bandanna on her wrist to wipe away the sweat." —Alison Luterman, quoted in *After the Ecstasy, the Laundry,* by Jack Kornfield
"Strawberries are too delicate to be picked by machine. The perfectly ripe ones bruise even at too heavy a human touch. Every strawberry you have ever eaten has been picked by callused human hands. Every piece of toast with jelly represents someone's knees, someone's aching backs and hips, someone with a bandanna on her wrist to wipe away the sweat." —Alison Luterman, quoted in *After the Ecstasy, the Laundry,* by Jack Kornfield
*
Prayer can have a medicinal effect, according to a study of 990 heart patients at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City. Five prayer teams prayed daily on behalf of half of the patients. Though they did not know they were being prayed for, their health improved faster and they needed fewer drugs than the patients who did not have the benefit of the prayers. The report on the experiment appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine, published by the American Medical Association. (Source: Associated Press)
*
"A major psychiatric study of 1,200 Finnish reindeer herders found midwinter to be quite a cheery time, despite darkness and daily temperatures that averaged a bone-chilling minus 22 degrees. 'All kinds of disorders, including depression, were rare in the darkest season,' Dr. Nayha Vaisanen and his team of scientists concluded in the 1994 issue of the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia." —Lisa M. Krieger, *San Francisco Examiner*
*
MIRABILIA REPORT
Mirabilia n. innovations generated by unseen presences, enigmatic phenomena on the cusp between fake and real, odd acts of deliverance that inspire love or wonder or both; from the Latin mirabilia, "marvels."
* In 2002, scientists discovered a secret underground river running 800 feet below a Mauritanian town in the Sahara Desert. With a flow rate of 8,450 gallons per hour, it is the biggest unnamed river in the world.* Oblivious to dire biblical prophecies about swarms of locusts, residents of Beijing, China, warmly greeted their arrival in 2002. They scooped the insects up in large bags, deep-fried them, and made them the main dish of an enormous feast.
* Two percent of your fears are based in fact and are actually worth worrying about, while the other 98 percent are either imagined or else not yours, having infected you through the psychic version of contagion.
* Astronomers have discovered a crystal as big as our moon at the core of a dying white dwarf star.
* A Japanese genius invented a robot that can belly dance.
* Twelve percent of the population [of the US] believes that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife.
* Because half of the world's vanilla crop is grown in Madagascar, the whole island smells like vanilla ice cream.
* Your body contains so much iron that you could make a spike out of it, and that spike would be strong enough to hold you up.
* Bali has 80,000 temples.
* Some piranhas are vegetarians.
THIS WEEK IN PRONOIAC HISTORY
In an act of random violence, playwright Samuel Beckett was stabbed by a pimp on a Paris street. A stranger, the pianist Suzanne Deschevaux-Dumesnil, found him and got medical help. She visited him in the hospital, and eventually the two were married.
Bach's St. Matthew Passion is a highly regarded musical composition. Yet the score disappeared and the work wasn't played for years after Bach's death in 1750. In 1829, composer Felix Mendelssohn rediscovered the long-lost manuscript being used as wrapping paper in the estate sale of a deceased cheese salesman. He arranged for a public performance of the piece, and its revival began.
SACRED ADVERTISEMENT
This perfect moment is brought to you by the thousand-year-old rose bush that's growing on the wall of the Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany, and by the fossilized remains of a 40-million-year-old wild rose found in Florissant, Colorado.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Everything by Lifehouse (I know I've posted this before, but I wanted to reaffirm it, and this time a different part has been foregrounded)
Find Me Here
Speak To Me
I want to feel you
I need to hear you
You are the light
That's leading me
To the place
where I find peace again.
You are the strength, that keeps me walking.
You are the hope, that keeps me trusting.
You are the light to my soul.
You are my purpose...you're everything.
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
You calm the storms, and you give me rest.
You hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall.
You steal my heart, and you take my breath away.
Would you take me in? Take me deeper now?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
Cause you're all I want,
You're all I need
You're everything,
everything
You're all I want
your all I need
You're everything,
everything.
You're all I want
you're all I need.
You're everything,
everything
You're all I want
you're all I need,
you're everything,
everything.
And How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
Find Me Here
Speak To Me
I want to feel you
I need to hear you
You are the light
That's leading me
To the place
where I find peace again.
You are the strength, that keeps me walking.
You are the hope, that keeps me trusting.
You are the light to my soul.
You are my purpose...you're everything.
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
You calm the storms, and you give me rest.
You hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall.
You steal my heart, and you take my breath away.
Would you take me in? Take me deeper now?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
Cause you're all I want,
You're all I need
You're everything,
everything
You're all I want
your all I need
You're everything,
everything.
You're all I want
you're all I need.
You're everything,
everything
You're all I want
you're all I need,
you're everything,
everything.
And How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
War On War by Wilco
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
There's a war on
You're gonna lose
You have to lose
You have to learn how to die
Just watching the miles flying by
Just watching the miles flying by
You are not my typewriter
But you could be my demon moving forward through the flaming doors
You have to lose
You have to learn how to die
if you want to want to be alive, okay?
You have to lose
You have to lose
You have to learn how to die
if you want to want to be alive
You have to die
You have to die
You have to learn how to die
if you want to want to be alive, okay?
Monday, June 19, 2006
Bird Raptures
The sunrise wakes the lark to sing,
The moonrise wakes the nightingale.
Come darkness, moonrise, everything
That is so silent, sweet, and pale,
Come, so ye wake the nightingale.
Make haste to mount, thou wistful moon,
Make haste to wake the nightingale:
Let silence set the world in tune
To hearken to that wordless tale
Which warbles from the nightingale.
O herald skylark, stay thy flight
One moment, for a nightingale
Floods us with sorrow and delight.
To-morrow thou shalt hoist the sail;
Leave us to-night the nightingale.
~Christina Rossetti
The sunrise wakes the lark to sing,
The moonrise wakes the nightingale.
Come darkness, moonrise, everything
That is so silent, sweet, and pale,
Come, so ye wake the nightingale.
Make haste to mount, thou wistful moon,
Make haste to wake the nightingale:
Let silence set the world in tune
To hearken to that wordless tale
Which warbles from the nightingale.
O herald skylark, stay thy flight
One moment, for a nightingale
Floods us with sorrow and delight.
To-morrow thou shalt hoist the sail;
Leave us to-night the nightingale.
~Christina Rossetti
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Where the ocean is deepest
And the sky meets the earth
I rise in tandem to your breath
Oh, morning
Lift me to your prayers
And speak gently with my eyes.
Take my Soul and leave my heart
Next to the pillow of our desire
Near an occasional dream
Love, you have absconded like
A dog with a bone,
A bird with her song,
And if my wings should unfurl,
Take me high and away,
Leave nothing to chance,
Leave nothing at all.
Where is this beat that keeps all this
Together? Is it an echo of Love? Is
It the want of Desire? Please take me home,
Remove these long shadows of doubt, let the sunshine
In and the evening dwell in the honeysuckle of my heart,
Oh, dark Love of mine, touch me, release me
Make me whole again.
Silence. I dwell in thee. I am starlight falling
Into
A hungry flight of wings and creatures that stir,
Ripping the seams of Night, plucking arias from
Heaven from Hell's liquid tongue, flowing in deeper
Shades of twilight memories and ravages of ancient fires
In bodies of Lovers, holding on. Holding On.
Ana
6/8/06
And the sky meets the earth
I rise in tandem to your breath
Oh, morning
Lift me to your prayers
And speak gently with my eyes.
Take my Soul and leave my heart
Next to the pillow of our desire
Near an occasional dream
Love, you have absconded like
A dog with a bone,
A bird with her song,
And if my wings should unfurl,
Take me high and away,
Leave nothing to chance,
Leave nothing at all.
Where is this beat that keeps all this
Together? Is it an echo of Love? Is
It the want of Desire? Please take me home,
Remove these long shadows of doubt, let the sunshine
In and the evening dwell in the honeysuckle of my heart,
Oh, dark Love of mine, touch me, release me
Make me whole again.
Silence. I dwell in thee. I am starlight falling
Into
A hungry flight of wings and creatures that stir,
Ripping the seams of Night, plucking arias from
Heaven from Hell's liquid tongue, flowing in deeper
Shades of twilight memories and ravages of ancient fires
In bodies of Lovers, holding on. Holding On.
Ana
6/8/06
You could be completely wrong in your view of life.
Some humility can do wonders for a person, despite the negative connotations that word has gained.
It seems difficult. How do I not be what a part of me so loudly claims is all me, and indeed has coaxed me into believing ti my whole life, unbeknownest to my conscious self.
I have backed away from really learning this humility a lot. Ostensibly, because it was 'too hard', I simply 'couldn't do it'. But then tonight I was like 'well, I'm just going to stay with this, at least think about it' because even that sort of acknowledgement is helpful - it gives invitation, helps look at something else other than that loud voice that says it knows while a part of you quietly but persitantly insists there's something better, even if you don't know the words to put it into. So I was just being with it a bit, and it became subtly but increasingly accepted, if only a little (hey, a start if great, just one step and then seeing what happens).
So then I get home and Dad, his girlfriend and I get into this discussion. We had different perspectives and different paradigms of reality. But eventually he said something that was so incredibly in line with what I had started thinking. And I decided to let go of trying to get dad to see something and instead just let him teach me. He seems to have such a good idea of how people work in lots of ways.
It took a difficult affront like that to my 'ego' (by that I mean the part of us generally accepted to be the true human mind), an event that was offered to me by life, so I see it, (crazily, coolly, relating my horoscope for the week - I only jusy thought of that - how cool; it's like what I said before, they seem to fulfill themselves and afterwards you realise they have, as if they are prophesising or perhaps setting up the field, effecting the subconcious or something) and also my little step of willingness to let me learn that seemingly dificult lesson. But really it's not that hard once it happens, I guess because when it happens it does becuase your ready. Hm.
So what I'm trying to say is, primarily, just to solidify my ideas, which I have not learnt that well through this...Must think on it more, not let it slip away (by the way, something I've noticed recently is that my mind seems to easily let go of that I believe I really need to learn, like that feeling with dreams, that they just fade away to the edge of your consciousness and into the sunbconscious and you cannot get them back again - what seems to be innate resistance to its giving up sovereignity - but I have found that if I just stop and think 'well, this is important, I intend to get back to it' and sort of relax, try without trying as some have said, not something that can really be consciously explained but can be learned intuitively, that it comes back.
To reiterate what I see to be the little morals here (I stress what I see to be - anyone can get whatever they want out of it):
- the "little willingness", no more than a little at first to get it started, like that mustard seed of faith in christianity
- this can mean actually cinsidering it, giving it the time of day, and not just in a false pretence sort of way, but with the thought that maybe there is something you can learn
- humility - that is, that you don't know everything, you aren't the supreme ruler
- and things just sort of happen, fall into place so nicely that your eyes sparkle and you cannot but marvel at how cool it is to be alive (I mean, you can easily not do that, but if you think of it logically you can seemaybe you're mistaken about that too?)
How do I share without doing it in an ego supremacy, superiority way? "you wonder if it's crap or if it's forced or if it's uninspired..." Keep persevering? Just keep at it. Like that Leunig cartoon which I'm having trouble putting here now, but I've posted it before: http://pastichna.blogspot.com/2006/03/may-you-build-ladder-to-stars-and.html
G'night
Some humility can do wonders for a person, despite the negative connotations that word has gained.
It seems difficult. How do I not be what a part of me so loudly claims is all me, and indeed has coaxed me into believing ti my whole life, unbeknownest to my conscious self.
I have backed away from really learning this humility a lot. Ostensibly, because it was 'too hard', I simply 'couldn't do it'. But then tonight I was like 'well, I'm just going to stay with this, at least think about it' because even that sort of acknowledgement is helpful - it gives invitation, helps look at something else other than that loud voice that says it knows while a part of you quietly but persitantly insists there's something better, even if you don't know the words to put it into. So I was just being with it a bit, and it became subtly but increasingly accepted, if only a little (hey, a start if great, just one step and then seeing what happens).
So then I get home and Dad, his girlfriend and I get into this discussion. We had different perspectives and different paradigms of reality. But eventually he said something that was so incredibly in line with what I had started thinking. And I decided to let go of trying to get dad to see something and instead just let him teach me. He seems to have such a good idea of how people work in lots of ways.
It took a difficult affront like that to my 'ego' (by that I mean the part of us generally accepted to be the true human mind), an event that was offered to me by life, so I see it, (crazily, coolly, relating my horoscope for the week - I only jusy thought of that - how cool; it's like what I said before, they seem to fulfill themselves and afterwards you realise they have, as if they are prophesising or perhaps setting up the field, effecting the subconcious or something) and also my little step of willingness to let me learn that seemingly dificult lesson. But really it's not that hard once it happens, I guess because when it happens it does becuase your ready. Hm.
So what I'm trying to say is, primarily, just to solidify my ideas, which I have not learnt that well through this...Must think on it more, not let it slip away (by the way, something I've noticed recently is that my mind seems to easily let go of that I believe I really need to learn, like that feeling with dreams, that they just fade away to the edge of your consciousness and into the sunbconscious and you cannot get them back again - what seems to be innate resistance to its giving up sovereignity - but I have found that if I just stop and think 'well, this is important, I intend to get back to it' and sort of relax, try without trying as some have said, not something that can really be consciously explained but can be learned intuitively, that it comes back.
To reiterate what I see to be the little morals here (I stress what I see to be - anyone can get whatever they want out of it):
- the "little willingness", no more than a little at first to get it started, like that mustard seed of faith in christianity
- this can mean actually cinsidering it, giving it the time of day, and not just in a false pretence sort of way, but with the thought that maybe there is something you can learn
- humility - that is, that you don't know everything, you aren't the supreme ruler
- and things just sort of happen, fall into place so nicely that your eyes sparkle and you cannot but marvel at how cool it is to be alive (I mean, you can easily not do that, but if you think of it logically you can seemaybe you're mistaken about that too?)
How do I share without doing it in an ego supremacy, superiority way? "you wonder if it's crap or if it's forced or if it's uninspired..." Keep persevering? Just keep at it. Like that Leunig cartoon which I'm having trouble putting here now, but I've posted it before: http://pastichna.blogspot.com/2006/03/may-you-build-ladder-to-stars-and.html
G'night
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Friday, June 09, 2006
My horoscope for the week:
This would not be a good week to cast a curse on God in revenge for what you think are his mistakes. Nor would it be a favorable time to draw blasphemous cartoons of saints, or pretend that atheism is any less of a faith-based belief system than religion [my italics]. In fact, if I were you, Capricorn, I would utter a few prayers, purify your motives, and do some really good deeds--just in case there's even a slim possibility that divine help is abundantly available to you right now. (P.S. From what I can tell, there's more than a slim possibility.)
This would not be a good week to cast a curse on God in revenge for what you think are his mistakes. Nor would it be a favorable time to draw blasphemous cartoons of saints, or pretend that atheism is any less of a faith-based belief system than religion [my italics]. In fact, if I were you, Capricorn, I would utter a few prayers, purify your motives, and do some really good deeds--just in case there's even a slim possibility that divine help is abundantly available to you right now. (P.S. From what I can tell, there's more than a slim possibility.)
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123606
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003957.html#more
I would like to support these articles by posing that things are much better than we tend to believe. Think about what life would have been like in any time in the past, not clouded by romantic notions, and surely one cannot deny this.
And in relation to just general existance, is it not true that most of us tend to give more weight to the 'negative' and just sort of gloss over the 'positive'. Too tired to go into this now. Maybe another time.
But, please, just think about it a bit. Maybe you'll come to the same conclusions. Then again, maybe you won't. I'm open to opposition.
Goodnight. I wish you all oodles of blessings
And another article before I go. i haven't read it all myself yet, but it seems worthwhile
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=mg18524911.600
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003957.html#more
I would like to support these articles by posing that things are much better than we tend to believe. Think about what life would have been like in any time in the past, not clouded by romantic notions, and surely one cannot deny this.
And in relation to just general existance, is it not true that most of us tend to give more weight to the 'negative' and just sort of gloss over the 'positive'. Too tired to go into this now. Maybe another time.
But, please, just think about it a bit. Maybe you'll come to the same conclusions. Then again, maybe you won't. I'm open to opposition.
Goodnight. I wish you all oodles of blessings
And another article before I go. i haven't read it all myself yet, but it seems worthwhile
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=mg18524911.600
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Thursday, June 01, 2006
It's difficult to leave what you're used to, but, god, it's worth it
Some stuff to do! Hooray!
22ND CENTURY PRONOIA THERAPY
Experiments and exercises in becoming a bewilderingly enlightened,
ecstatically grateful, unselfishly proud Master of Fiendishly Benevolent
Tricks
1. Philosopher Robert Anton Wilson has proposed that the single greatest
contribution to world peace would come from there being six billion
different religions—a unique spiritual path for each person on the planet.
The Beauty and Truth Laboratory urges you to get started on doing your
part to make this happen. What will your religion be called? What rituals
will you perform? Write down your three core tenets.
2. You'll also need a new name for the Creator. "God" and "Goddess"
have been so overused and abused that most of us are numb to them.
And given the spiritual opportunities that will open up for you as you
explore pronoia, you can't afford to have an impaired sensitivity towards
the Great Mystery.
Here's an idea to stimulate your search: The Russian word for God is
"Bog." The Basques call the Supreme Being "Jingo." To purge your
psychic dockets of built-up fixations about deity, you might try singing
improvisational prayers to "Jingo Bog."
Here are a few other fresh names to inspire you:
Blooming HaHa
Divine Wow
Whirl-Zap-Gush
Sublime Cackler
Chthonic Riddler
3. Since ancient times, China has hosted three religions: Confucianism,
Buddhism, and Taoism. The typical Chinese person has cobbled together a
mélange of beliefs gathered from all three. This is different from the
Western way, which is to be faithful to one religion or another, never
mixing and matching.
But that's changing in certain enclaves in North America, where growing
numbers of seekers are adopting the Chinese approach. They borrow
elements from a variety of spiritual traditions to create a personalized
path. Religious historians call this syncretism.
As you meditate on conjuring up your own unique mode of worship, think
of the good parts you'd like to steal from other religions.
4. Most religions designate a special class of people—priests, rabbis,
ayatollahs—to oversee official communications with the Source. This has
led to a prevailing assumption, even among those who don't follow an
established faith, that we can't initiate a divine conversation without the
aid of a professional class of trained mediators. Among some sects of the
ancient gnostics, in contrast, everyone was regarded as a potential
prophet who could experience epiphanies worthy of becoming part of the
ever-evolving doctrine.
As you create your own spiritual path, experiment with this approach.
What might you do to eliminate the middleman and commune directly
with the Source?
5. The chorus of an old Depeche Mode song goes like this: "I don't want
to start/ Any blasphemous rumors/ But I think that God's/ Got a sick
sense of humor/ And when I die/ I expect to find him laughing." I have a
grudging respect for these lyrics. In an age when God has been co-opted
by intolerant fundamentalists and mirthless sentimentalists, I appreciate
any artist who suggests there's more to the Infinite Spirit than the one-
dimensional prig described in the Bible or Koran.
On the other hand, Depeche Mode's notion of the Blooming HaHa is also
disinformation. It's as much a hostage to pop culture's knee-jerk nihilism
as the right-wing bigots' God is to their monumental hatreds. One thing I
know for sure about the Supreme Being is that while she does have a
complicated sense of humor, it's not cruel or vengeful.
Your assignment: Pray to be granted a healing sample of her comedic
genius—a funny, shocking miracle that will free you of any tendencies you
have to believe the age-old lies about her.
6. Will there be prayer in your new religion? If so, we suggest that you
avoid the body language traditionally used by Christians in their worship.
The gesture of clasping one's hands together originated long ago as an
imitation of being shackled; it was thought to be the proper way to
express submission to divine power.
The prayers you make, however, may be imbued as much with reverent
exuberance or ecstatic gratitude as somber submissiveness. An example
of a more apt gesture is to spread your arms as wide and high as they'll
go, as if you're hugging the sky. Any other ideas?
7. What if the Creator is like Rainer Maria Rilke's God, "like a webbing
made of a hundred roots, that drink in silence"? What if the Source of All
Life inhabits both the dark and the light, heals with strange splendor as
much as with sweet insight, is hermaphroditic and omnisexual? What if
the Source loves to give you riddles that push you past the boundaries of
your understanding, forcing you to deepen your perceptions and change
the way you think about everything? Close your eyes and imagine you can
sense the presence of this tender, marvelous, difficult, entertaining
intelligence.
8. At one point in James Michener's novel Hawaii, a native Hawaiian tells
ignorant missionaries, "You cannot speak to the gods with your clothes
on." Whereupon he strips and prepares for prayer. Test this theory. Find
out if your communion with the Divine Wow improves when you're naked.
9. A few Christian sects now enjoy a new addition to their once-staid
church services: holy laughter. Parishioners become so excited while
worshiping that they erupt in uncontrollable glee. Some may crack up so
profoundly that they fall on the floor and flop around like breakdancers.
Others repeatedly leap into the air as if on pogo sticks, or wobble and
zigzag as if trying to dance while drunk.
Imagine that the holy books of your religion prescribe laughing prayers as
a reliable way to know the Divine Wow. Recite one of those laughing
prayers.
10. In Judeo-Christian cultures, many people associate the sky with the
masculine form of God. According to this bias, the Supreme Father rules
us all from on high—up, away, far from here. But if you were an ancient
Egyptian, the sky was the goddess Nuit, her body its very substance. She
was a loving mother whose tender touch could be felt with each new
breath.
For one day, act as if you and Nuit are in constant contact.
11. In Kevin Smith's movie, Dogma, pop singer Alanis Morissette played
God. Anthony Quinn was Zeus in the TV show, Hercules, and comedian
George Burns performed the role of God in three movies, always "without
makeup," as he bragged. Your assignment is to choose the person you'd
like to portray God or Goddess in the movie of your life.
15. In *Letters to a Young Poet,* Rilke urged an aspiring bard to change
the way he imagined the Supreme Being. "Why don't you conceive of God
as an ally who is coming," Rilke said, "who has been approaching since
time began, the one who will someday arrive, the fruit of a tree whose
leaves we are? Why not project his birth into the future, and live your life
as an excruciating and lyrical moment in the history of a prodigious
pregnancy?"
How would your life change if you made this idea your working
hypothesis?
16. In some ancient Greek dramas, a god showed up out of nowhere to
cause a miraculous twist at a crucial point in the tale. This divine intrusion
was referred to as theos ek mechanes, literally "god from a machine,"
because the symbolic figure of the god was lowered onto the stage by a
crane. In modern usage, the term is Latin—deus ex machina—and refers
to a story in which a sudden event unexpectedly brings about a resolution
to a baffling problem.
Write a tale in which you're the beneficiary of such an intervention.
17. In Frederick Buechner's book, *On the Road with the Archangel,* the
star is the archangel Raphael. This supernatural helper has a tough gig:
gathering the prayers of human beings and delivering them to God. Here's
how he describes the range of pleas he hears: "'There are prayers of such
power that you might say they carry me rather than the other way
around. There are prayers so apologetic and shamefaced and half-hearted
that they all but melt away in my grasp like sad little flakes of snow. Some
prayers are very boring.'"
Compose a prayer that's so powerful and entertaining that it could thrill
an archangel.
18. Thousands of scientists are engaged in research to crack the code of
the aging process. Their coming breakthroughs may allow you to live a
healthy and vigorous life well into your 90s—and even beyond.
How can you contribute to this worthy cause? What might you do to
promote your longevity? Brainstorm about possible strategies.
And now I drink a toast to your coffin. May it be fashioned of lumber
obtained from a hundred-year-old cypress tree whose seed will germinate
this year.
19. Let's move on to discuss the possibility that sooner or later, the
physical body you inhabit will expire. Your heart will shut down. Blood will
no longer course through your veins. The fleshly vehicle you knew as your
home for so many years will begin to rot. Is this the ultimate proof, as
some people bitterly proclaim, that there is no God and that pronoia is a
lie?
I say no. I say that the Creator includes death as an essential part of
evolution's master plan. Lifetime after lifetime, our immortal souls take on
a series of temporary forms as we help unfold, in our own small ways, the
inconceivably complex plot of the divine drama. Each time we die, it's
hard and sad to our time-bound egos. But from the perspective of the
part of us that has always been and will always be, it's simply part of the
epic adventure.
Assume, for argument's sake, that what I've just said is a fact. Describe
how different your life would be if you not only believed but perceived the
truth that your essential self will never die, but will inhabit many bodies
and live many lives on earth.
Some stuff to do! Hooray!
22ND CENTURY PRONOIA THERAPY
Experiments and exercises in becoming a bewilderingly enlightened,
ecstatically grateful, unselfishly proud Master of Fiendishly Benevolent
Tricks
1. Philosopher Robert Anton Wilson has proposed that the single greatest
contribution to world peace would come from there being six billion
different religions—a unique spiritual path for each person on the planet.
The Beauty and Truth Laboratory urges you to get started on doing your
part to make this happen. What will your religion be called? What rituals
will you perform? Write down your three core tenets.
2. You'll also need a new name for the Creator. "God" and "Goddess"
have been so overused and abused that most of us are numb to them.
And given the spiritual opportunities that will open up for you as you
explore pronoia, you can't afford to have an impaired sensitivity towards
the Great Mystery.
Here's an idea to stimulate your search: The Russian word for God is
"Bog." The Basques call the Supreme Being "Jingo." To purge your
psychic dockets of built-up fixations about deity, you might try singing
improvisational prayers to "Jingo Bog."
Here are a few other fresh names to inspire you:
Blooming HaHa
Divine Wow
Whirl-Zap-Gush
Sublime Cackler
Chthonic Riddler
3. Since ancient times, China has hosted three religions: Confucianism,
Buddhism, and Taoism. The typical Chinese person has cobbled together a
mélange of beliefs gathered from all three. This is different from the
Western way, which is to be faithful to one religion or another, never
mixing and matching.
But that's changing in certain enclaves in North America, where growing
numbers of seekers are adopting the Chinese approach. They borrow
elements from a variety of spiritual traditions to create a personalized
path. Religious historians call this syncretism.
As you meditate on conjuring up your own unique mode of worship, think
of the good parts you'd like to steal from other religions.
4. Most religions designate a special class of people—priests, rabbis,
ayatollahs—to oversee official communications with the Source. This has
led to a prevailing assumption, even among those who don't follow an
established faith, that we can't initiate a divine conversation without the
aid of a professional class of trained mediators. Among some sects of the
ancient gnostics, in contrast, everyone was regarded as a potential
prophet who could experience epiphanies worthy of becoming part of the
ever-evolving doctrine.
As you create your own spiritual path, experiment with this approach.
What might you do to eliminate the middleman and commune directly
with the Source?
5. The chorus of an old Depeche Mode song goes like this: "I don't want
to start/ Any blasphemous rumors/ But I think that God's/ Got a sick
sense of humor/ And when I die/ I expect to find him laughing." I have a
grudging respect for these lyrics. In an age when God has been co-opted
by intolerant fundamentalists and mirthless sentimentalists, I appreciate
any artist who suggests there's more to the Infinite Spirit than the one-
dimensional prig described in the Bible or Koran.
On the other hand, Depeche Mode's notion of the Blooming HaHa is also
disinformation. It's as much a hostage to pop culture's knee-jerk nihilism
as the right-wing bigots' God is to their monumental hatreds. One thing I
know for sure about the Supreme Being is that while she does have a
complicated sense of humor, it's not cruel or vengeful.
Your assignment: Pray to be granted a healing sample of her comedic
genius—a funny, shocking miracle that will free you of any tendencies you
have to believe the age-old lies about her.
6. Will there be prayer in your new religion? If so, we suggest that you
avoid the body language traditionally used by Christians in their worship.
The gesture of clasping one's hands together originated long ago as an
imitation of being shackled; it was thought to be the proper way to
express submission to divine power.
The prayers you make, however, may be imbued as much with reverent
exuberance or ecstatic gratitude as somber submissiveness. An example
of a more apt gesture is to spread your arms as wide and high as they'll
go, as if you're hugging the sky. Any other ideas?
7. What if the Creator is like Rainer Maria Rilke's God, "like a webbing
made of a hundred roots, that drink in silence"? What if the Source of All
Life inhabits both the dark and the light, heals with strange splendor as
much as with sweet insight, is hermaphroditic and omnisexual? What if
the Source loves to give you riddles that push you past the boundaries of
your understanding, forcing you to deepen your perceptions and change
the way you think about everything? Close your eyes and imagine you can
sense the presence of this tender, marvelous, difficult, entertaining
intelligence.
8. At one point in James Michener's novel Hawaii, a native Hawaiian tells
ignorant missionaries, "You cannot speak to the gods with your clothes
on." Whereupon he strips and prepares for prayer. Test this theory. Find
out if your communion with the Divine Wow improves when you're naked.
9. A few Christian sects now enjoy a new addition to their once-staid
church services: holy laughter. Parishioners become so excited while
worshiping that they erupt in uncontrollable glee. Some may crack up so
profoundly that they fall on the floor and flop around like breakdancers.
Others repeatedly leap into the air as if on pogo sticks, or wobble and
zigzag as if trying to dance while drunk.
Imagine that the holy books of your religion prescribe laughing prayers as
a reliable way to know the Divine Wow. Recite one of those laughing
prayers.
10. In Judeo-Christian cultures, many people associate the sky with the
masculine form of God. According to this bias, the Supreme Father rules
us all from on high—up, away, far from here. But if you were an ancient
Egyptian, the sky was the goddess Nuit, her body its very substance. She
was a loving mother whose tender touch could be felt with each new
breath.
For one day, act as if you and Nuit are in constant contact.
11. In Kevin Smith's movie, Dogma, pop singer Alanis Morissette played
God. Anthony Quinn was Zeus in the TV show, Hercules, and comedian
George Burns performed the role of God in three movies, always "without
makeup," as he bragged. Your assignment is to choose the person you'd
like to portray God or Goddess in the movie of your life.
15. In *Letters to a Young Poet,* Rilke urged an aspiring bard to change
the way he imagined the Supreme Being. "Why don't you conceive of God
as an ally who is coming," Rilke said, "who has been approaching since
time began, the one who will someday arrive, the fruit of a tree whose
leaves we are? Why not project his birth into the future, and live your life
as an excruciating and lyrical moment in the history of a prodigious
pregnancy?"
How would your life change if you made this idea your working
hypothesis?
16. In some ancient Greek dramas, a god showed up out of nowhere to
cause a miraculous twist at a crucial point in the tale. This divine intrusion
was referred to as theos ek mechanes, literally "god from a machine,"
because the symbolic figure of the god was lowered onto the stage by a
crane. In modern usage, the term is Latin—deus ex machina—and refers
to a story in which a sudden event unexpectedly brings about a resolution
to a baffling problem.
Write a tale in which you're the beneficiary of such an intervention.
17. In Frederick Buechner's book, *On the Road with the Archangel,* the
star is the archangel Raphael. This supernatural helper has a tough gig:
gathering the prayers of human beings and delivering them to God. Here's
how he describes the range of pleas he hears: "'There are prayers of such
power that you might say they carry me rather than the other way
around. There are prayers so apologetic and shamefaced and half-hearted
that they all but melt away in my grasp like sad little flakes of snow. Some
prayers are very boring.'"
Compose a prayer that's so powerful and entertaining that it could thrill
an archangel.
18. Thousands of scientists are engaged in research to crack the code of
the aging process. Their coming breakthroughs may allow you to live a
healthy and vigorous life well into your 90s—and even beyond.
How can you contribute to this worthy cause? What might you do to
promote your longevity? Brainstorm about possible strategies.
And now I drink a toast to your coffin. May it be fashioned of lumber
obtained from a hundred-year-old cypress tree whose seed will germinate
this year.
19. Let's move on to discuss the possibility that sooner or later, the
physical body you inhabit will expire. Your heart will shut down. Blood will
no longer course through your veins. The fleshly vehicle you knew as your
home for so many years will begin to rot. Is this the ultimate proof, as
some people bitterly proclaim, that there is no God and that pronoia is a
lie?
I say no. I say that the Creator includes death as an essential part of
evolution's master plan. Lifetime after lifetime, our immortal souls take on
a series of temporary forms as we help unfold, in our own small ways, the
inconceivably complex plot of the divine drama. Each time we die, it's
hard and sad to our time-bound egos. But from the perspective of the
part of us that has always been and will always be, it's simply part of the
epic adventure.
Assume, for argument's sake, that what I've just said is a fact. Describe
how different your life would be if you not only believed but perceived the
truth that your essential self will never die, but will inhabit many bodies
and live many lives on earth.
Capricorn Horoscope for week of June 1, 2006 from Free Will Astrology
"Race car drivers say that if you're heading toward a wall," writes philosopher Jonathan Zap, "don't look at it. Instead, look at where you want to go." That's good advice for you in the coming week, Capricorn. It would be crazy for you to concentrate all your attention on what you don't like and don't need and don't agree with. Rather, you should briefly acknowledge the undesirable possibilities, but then turn the full force of your focus to the most interesting and fulfilling option.
SACRED ADVERTISEMENT
The Golden Rule is a decent ethical principle, but it could be even better. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" presumes that others enjoy what you enjoy. But that's wrong. There are many things you'd like to have done unto you that others would either despise or be bored by. Here's a new, improved formulation, which we call the Platinum Rule: Do unto others as they would like to have you do unto them.
Using this improved formula is not just a virtuous way to live, but is also the best way to ensure the success of your selfish goals. The rituals and spells of various occult orders purport to be supercharged techniques for imposing your personal will on the chaotic flow of events, but I say that practicing the Platinum Rule outstrips all of them as an exercise to enhance your power and happiness.
"Race car drivers say that if you're heading toward a wall," writes philosopher Jonathan Zap, "don't look at it. Instead, look at where you want to go." That's good advice for you in the coming week, Capricorn. It would be crazy for you to concentrate all your attention on what you don't like and don't need and don't agree with. Rather, you should briefly acknowledge the undesirable possibilities, but then turn the full force of your focus to the most interesting and fulfilling option.
SACRED ADVERTISEMENT
The Golden Rule is a decent ethical principle, but it could be even better. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" presumes that others enjoy what you enjoy. But that's wrong. There are many things you'd like to have done unto you that others would either despise or be bored by. Here's a new, improved formulation, which we call the Platinum Rule: Do unto others as they would like to have you do unto them.
Using this improved formula is not just a virtuous way to live, but is also the best way to ensure the success of your selfish goals. The rituals and spells of various occult orders purport to be supercharged techniques for imposing your personal will on the chaotic flow of events, but I say that practicing the Platinum Rule outstrips all of them as an exercise to enhance your power and happiness.
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