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 1 Jun 2004 @ 08:58, by scotty. Visual Arts, Graphics
( Scotty)
I did not know that I could love like this.
For ten years I lived with her
And she with me.
She focuses my life.
I wrap my arms and press her flesh to curve into my own.
The rock is soft, the fit time-tempered.
Best of friends.
(a painting I did from a photo of our first holiday in Scotland ) More >
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 1 Jun 2004 @ 07:56, by scotty. Visual Arts, Graphics
( Scotty)
Childe,
You have been borne into unbounded space and boundless
time -- with an Eternity ahead of you to explore a divine
Infinity. Your nativity is from the Womb of Love. Love
is your Mother, Love is your Father, Love is your
innermost essence.
Loved Ones will winkle out of this life (much as You
winkled in!) & on into the Next One. Their departure
(sometimes so sudden) may leave you in the embrace of
writhing shadows of loss, haunted by torn shreds of
nightmare... As with all other pain, you must GROW
thru it... This is the pain that grows you the furthest
-- if you allow it to -- & thus the Deeper Wisdom of
mortality...
"Come from the non-appearing things to the completion
of those that are revealed, and She, the effluence of
thought, will reveal to you how the belief in those
things that are not revealed was found in those that
are revealed, those that belong to the Unbegotten
Father. Whoever has an ear to hear, let him hear."
~ Jesus Christ More >
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31 May 2004 @ 05:48, by ming. Death & Dying
Via Empowerment Illustrated:According to Andrew Cohen ... the most important question you can ask yourself is 'What would you do if you knew that you would die tomorrow?' The answer is that you would want to unburden yourself of feelings of guilt and shame. You would want to become transparent to loved ones and to god. And there are many cases of dying people doing this very movingly. The next question is 'why not start doing it now?' The ego hates the idea of doing this and will avoid it right up to the moment of physical death. And overcoming the ego is the only way to liberate the authentic self and experience the energy of evolutionary enlightenment. Yeah, the things to do today are probably the things you would rush out doing if you knew you would die tomorrow. The mental and emotional exercise of considering what that would be, brings out what is really important. For most people it brings up who you need to tell that you love them. Things you need to apologize for. Somebody you need to be present with, without worrying about what they've been or what they should do or what you should do. More >
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31 May 2004 @ 00:13, by mmmark. Shared Purpose
Well, I don't post here often, yet I always want to believe that this community has more on the ball than those social clones who go through the motions of living without considering the consequences of those actions that nurture corporate culture. Along with the negative energy expended chasing a blind path to money, there are efforts being made to form a healthy consciousness. I write this melancholy note memory of fundamental principles that use to guide us to make good social and political decisions.
It seems we should give thanks for those who fought and died for our nationhood, but the more important thing to ponder, is how we can get out of the cycle of killing to solve a problem.
I have witnessed a few things lately that all illuminate the fact that most all of our systems of economics and government are broken, now failing to produce results that seemed so promising in the beginning. The America I was born into had some corruption, don't know why - it wasn't necessary, yet the lack of ethics in this time is striking.
The 'Arts' are in trouble and artisans are struggling unless they have corporate clients. It is harder than ever for an individual to succeed as a sole proprietorship. The music industry is failing. I have friends that are going into teaching art because they can't survive as freelancers.
I am saddened that only three of the Presidents of the past fifty years made an effort to place us on a course of healthy social change, the most recent being Jimmy Carter. In this election year there is much talk about taking back America without saying how that will be accomplished, or how we will forge a new form of living that is sustainable and joyful. Our heads are not together, We are selfish and ignorant that we are living on borrowed investment without making any new commitments to the future.
I am a hostage to the oil companies every time a fill my car with gas. Gee, how come I can’t buy a car that runs on vegetable products, alcohol, or something renewable, something we don't have to fight for to sustain an unhealthy standard of living?
Diversity in general is vanishing. Large companies are forcing little guys out of business and we are helping them do it. We must make a world that provides grand diversity and supports all the gifts that all people have to offer.
I fear these are some signs of worse times to come, wondering how bad things will get before we get off a dime and do something for the right reasons, considering the rate of inflation we better get off the buck!
Namasté > > > Mark More >
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 30 May 2004 @ 09:29, by ming. Philosophy
In Carlos Castaneda's books, his teacher, the mysterious sorcerer Don Juan Matus, taught him about what he called the "assemblage point". It is thought to be the point where one's perception is assembled, which determines the particular world one is seeing and living in. In normal humans it is considered to be an armslength behind one's back, between the shoulder blades. And that is the point that allows us to live in the normal human world, with our normal limited human perceptions, and our normal attachment to human self-importance. And that we're pretty stuck with that point. But if one manages to shift that assemblage point to a different location, one moves into a different world. A slightly different world, or a very different and bizarre world. Either way, it is in no way easy, but can be accomplished with the right kind of practice.
When we dream at night, the assemblage point is naturally more loose and moves about. The hard part is to do it consciously and deliberately. A person who has an unstable assemblage point in waking life is what we'd call a schizophrenic. Typically one has a very hard time remembering anything that happens in other points than one's normal position. So, if somebody manages to switch you between several points, you might not remember what happened in the other position. You might be somebody who works at night on a secret black government project, while being somebody else during the day, and yourself having no clue about it.
It relates to the more palatable concept of world views. If you have a certain world view, based on certain beliefs and assumptions, you tend to mentally wear a certain set of colored glasses, that makes you see only what fits into that world view. What fits within it seems normal and reasonable, and what doesn't seems crazy and non-sensical or non-existent. But the assembly point idea is really much more radical than that. Not just a set of pre-conceived ideas, but more like the ability to switch between different realities. In a multi-dimensional many-worlds universe, the dial gets turned to a different position, and you perceive a totally different band filtered out from the quantum soup. If you can turn it, that is, which most people can't.
Not that I can see such things as assembly points, and I have no clue if the position given is correct, of if it is altogether more useful as a metaphor. But that kind of thing does fit with my own view of how the multiverse works. And it provides some clues for how to solve big problems. In my own experience, transformative changes happen in the form of shifts, rather than as gradual and incremental change. Personal change happens that way. The actual change is instantaneous. Suddenly things are different. All sorts of things might have led up to it, and there might be all sorts of reasonable explanation for how somebody might have come to change, by working through their issues, or whatever, but the actual change is typically instant. And few people actually notice it themselves, exactly because one kind of becomes a different person, and it is very difficult remembering being anyone different. So, instant shifts give rise to a considerable amount of denial.
Likewise with societal change. Sure, all sorts of trends of change are happening. More of this, less of that. Plans, influences, discussions, memes. But the real changes are usually from a moment to the next. We suddenly notice that things seem different in our culture. And then we rationalize it away, analyze it, coming up with good reasons for believing that it was a gradual thing that logically happened. It usually wasn't.
The most important changes are discontinuous and disruptive. Sure, it might be based on an identifiable event. We see man walk on the moon - the world is different. The IBM PC goes on sale - the world changes. 9-11 - bing - the world is never the same again. But not all big changes have obvious trigger events. And I claim that the real change is the instant shift in consciousness, individually or as a group. The whole world changes in a moment, without going through any steps in-between. It goes from a world with certain rules to a different world with different rules. And most people don't notice, again, because they're not capable of being conscious of shifts, and because it is so easy to explain it away. There are still trees and cars and buildings and cottage cheese in the world, so it must be the same world.
Potentially there's an important point here, which might give cause for optimism on many fronts. On our planet we've collectively gotten ourselves into a great deal of messes that we have no obvious or easy way out of. And if we extrapolate various trends into the future, it is not in any way obvious that we'll solve them, or that we'll survive for very long. But that is because what will make things work is almost all shifts and disruptive changes, which we mostly can't predict.
Or, maybe we can to some degree. Or we can learn how instant world shifts work, rather than trying to master incremental change. But it is a different way of thinking. We might consider how to step into the world that works, where humanity will survive in harmony with ourselves and the world, without necessarily passing through the space in-between. Non-local change. More >
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30 May 2004 @ 01:47, by ov. Personal Development
Serendipity is the gift of being able to make delightful discoveries by pure accident, which is how I came across this article on How to be Likable and Popular. Similiar theme to one of Dale Carnegie that recently arose here at NCN. I've run across the Carnegie material before and it has always been associated with selling things and I've always thought of that as being a con game, and I know he says you have to be honest about it but it always struck me as a one sentence addittion intended to cut off any cricism without really changing anything that had already been written. This article by Cottringer seems different to me, as if he starts with the honest and sincere premise rather than tacking it onto the end like a footnote.
Ten points are listed: be honest, be humble, learn empathy, laugh often, be positive, control hostility, be polite, act smart, appear attractive, and listen more. Cottringer is succinct and explains these points quite well so I will restrict the rest of this article to my own opinions and impressions. More >
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29 May 2004 @ 15:33, by sharie. Communities
I joined the New Civilization Network because the mainstream culture is self-destructing. It's a suicide in living color.
I love humankind and I love this planet, so I cannot participate in the mainstream culture of exploitation and destruction, of people and of the planet.
I grew up on a farm, surrounded by nature, and have always been a happy and contented person. Ever since I can remember, I've wanted a perfect world for everyone.
But most people seem miserable, lost, confused.
They hate their jobs, their children drive them crazy, their relationships don't work, their finances are a mess, they're in debt like you wouldn't believe, they have drug and alcohol problems...
their thoughts are confused, their emotions a wreck...
what a mess.
My circle of friends are the best of friends, honest, kind, helpful, intelligent, and lot of fun.
I don't come online to make *friends*. I'm already fulfilled.
I don't come online to find *community*. I already have it.
I come online to learn and to share ideas.
I'm grateful to those who understand this.
I suffer the resentment of those who don't.
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 29 May 2004 @ 02:45, by koravya. Communities
May twenty-eighth into May twenty-ninth, Friday into Saturday.
The wealth of reported and analytical information
about the current state of greed, lust for power, and selfishness
is entirely to the point of our planetary concern.
The developing effect of the unfolding causation
shall become our experience.
It is well to keep track of the details along the way, in the pursuit of insight.
Then there is the place where we already are,
where the solution resides,
and there is no way to get there or tell anyone else
how to get there, except to be here.
Who is content and who is not content in this world,
and what on Earth are you or I or anyone else striving for?
The paradigm shift is developing, and there may be a
watershed, each to his or her own. When I am ready,
I will see and understand the path I must take
to fulfill my reason, such as I know it, for being here.
The planet is so much older than our ridiculous little
species, it is ridiculous. Nobody needs to save the planet,
because the planet does not need to be saved.
There will be some people left over, in isolated pockets
of the globe. Will they remember the lessons of their grandfathers
and their grandmothers? Will they remember that the only way to live,
is together? The Earth has plenty of time to experiment with a new species if this one doesn’t work out. We have looked through the galaxy to the furthest corners of the universe and to the beginnings of time and its predecessor,
and think we have a brain that knows something, while
our brothers and sisters are locked into the prisons of servitude and ignorance. The flame of hope illuminates the darkness. More >
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28 May 2004 @ 12:02, by sharie. Personal Development
To grow emotionally, we experience the pain of our past, and grow passed it.
We cannot repress our pain, stifle it, or stuff it and expect to grow. Stuffed emotions keep us locked in the past, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and intellectually.
Growing beyond our emotional pain is vital to our daily life because to be stuck emotionally is to be stuck mentally, to be stuck intellectually, and psychologically, and spiritually, and this undermines our physical health, and our finances, and because of this detriment, it is vital to grow beyond our emotional hurt.
The pain we feel can be frighteningly agonizing, but to become a mature human being with wisdom and understanding, we must resist the temptation to keep painful emotions locked inside us.
We have to feel the emotions, and go beyond them. Without this, we will forever be emotionally, psychologically, spiritually and intellectually immature.
A hot bath can and will help most people to endure the pain as they feel it, so they can get passed it.
I wish you well.
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 27 May 2004 @ 05:37, by ming. Philosophy
I am particularly fascinated by phenomena that "happen by themselves". OK, maybe not entirely by themselves, but stuff that emerges somewhat surprisingly and constructively from its component parts. Phenomena like:
- Emergence
- Flow
- Synergy
- Collective Intelligence
- Dialogue
- Synchronicity
- Paradigm Shifts
- Memes
- Self-Organization
- Smart Mobs
- Creativity
- Resonance
- Collaboration
- Evolution
- Ecology
- Life
- Consciousness
- Diversity
- Harmony
One can say things about it, and one can do certain things to help them along. But generally they just happen, without us being able to say anything terribly coherent about why or how. And that is the very hopeful part. If it were up to us and our individual mental faculties to make the world work, the picture would be really gloomy. We manage to accomplish a lot of things, but at the same time it is our own mental and emotional mixups that put us at war with each other, and at risk of driving ourselves to extinction. The wonderful thing is that, despite that, there are some things that sometimes happen that make things go right, without it being entirely clear how that came about.
Of course there are still plenty of people who would insist that these are either delusions or perfectly logical and predictable phenomena that our scientific minds know all about. It doesn't really matter, because, luckily, we're talking about phenomena that happen whether one really believes in them or not. A person who thinks he's a chemical reaction in a brain will still get creative flashes. Evolution takes place even if it is misunderstood. Groups of people sometimes do great things together, even if their members might think it is a matter of conditioning and chance or of mental logic. But maybe we'd accomplish a lot more if we were more aware of how emergent phenomena happen.
Personally I don't doubt that there is something more. And it is that -more- that will save us. We will understand it more along the way. But it seems to require almost the opposite approach to how we often go about things in our societies. Letting go of our fixed ideas, being open, being present, being comfortable with the unknown, being respectful of that which we don't yet understand, allowing bigger intelligences than our own to manifest themselves.
Possibly, if we look at things from another angle, we can let go of the heavy burden of trying to fit things together that don't seem to fit. And instead allow an implicit order to emerge. Maybe realize that the universe isn't such a bad place after all, and it is inherently structured to allow us to succeed beyond our wildest dreams. If we can discover how to be in harmony with how things work, rather than trying to fix what never was broken.
We're not smart enough. But something is. And it might still be us, but it is a paradox. If we can get our self-centered pride a bit out of the way, we might notice when it happens. Relax, pay attention, get in sync with what is possible. And surf its waves, rather than trying to dam it up. More >
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