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 30 Nov 2007 @ 19:54, by jerryvest. Education
Nicotene Addiction - Let's Prevent it!!!
All we need to bring to meditation is ourselves, for our bodies and minds are the foundations of meditation. Breath, which is like a coordinator of body and mind, is the essence of being that integrates them. (Openness Mind, Tarthang Tulku)
If you don't get cancer from smoking, you may acquire chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that affects you in a serious way. As most of us know, when we don't breathe well, we don't relate effectively. Our breath is an integral part of our "Relations Instinct"(Ichazo) and answers the instinctual questions: "Who am I with? Am I safe and secure with who I am with, inside and out? These questions will not be successfully answered when we acquire cardiovascular diseases--most related to smoking cigarettes.
Obvious to many of us, when we can't relate, life feels like it is not worth living. We get depressed and develop feelings of isolation and loneliness. If you doubt that this happens to persons with respiratory illnesses, visit any of your local nursing homes. You will see our elders hooked up to oxygen tanks and most confined to wheel chairs. These residents are unable to express themselves and interact fully with family, friends and others with these attachments, so they can be very uncomfortable and miserable as they live out their lives.
Our health teams introduce our 15-Minute StressOut Program, a nourishing touch partner experience, with the residents and this offers some relief and comfort. We know that physical interaction or touch is not commonly offered in these settings; however, it is a fact of life--humans need to touch and to be touched to meet their basic human need requirements. The consequences for the absence of touch are well documented in the literature. Visit the Touch Research Institute for further evidence of the power of touch.
The Touch Research Institute is dedicated to studying the effects of touch therapy. The TRIs have researched the effects of massage therapy at all stages of ...
[link]
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Visit the "Six Killers Article" that introduces Ms. Rommes experiences and of others suffering from this devastating disease: [link]
Ms. Rommes has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or C.O.P.D., a progressive illness that permanently damages the lungs and is usually caused by smoking. Once thought of as an old man’s disease, this disorder has become a major killer in women as well, the consequence of a smoking boom in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. The death rate in women nearly tripled from 1980 to 2000, and since 2000, more women than men have died or been hospitalized every year because of the disease.
Smoking is a real killer and my wife and I have personal experiences about the danger of smoking. Even when you quit, cancer lesions may appear years later, so just don't start. Give your kids much love, affection, nourishing touch, and appreciation for not smoking. Give them a $1,000.00 if that will prevent them from starting. Let them take an Oath and make a commitment stating that they will never endanger their life by smoking a drug that is harder to withdraw from than Heroin.
Please pass this article on to your friends and colleagues. Believe me, if you or your loved one has to have their lung removed, have brain surgery, Gamma Knife treatment, and go through all of the cancer treatments known by medicine, you won't ever pick up a cigarette and inhale.
The picture that I am sharing with you is of our young family before we knew the real dangers of smoking. If my partner had not asked that a brain scan be given to her, following lung surgery, by her oncologist, this cancer would likely have moved deeper into her brain and I would no longer have my wife, best friend, mother of our two children, grandmother, and love of my life with me today. We are very fortunate and don't want others to have to go through such a devastating and life threatening experience related to smoking. Just don't start!!!
Six Killers: Lung Disease: From Smoking Boom, a Major Killer of Women [link]
Nicotine and what it does to our Body-Mind-Spirit
I hope that this article and your comments and experiences that you share will serve to help prevent our next generations from using tobacco. Often, teenagers and college students think that they are very cool by smoking and will often emulate their heroes, parents, friends and others who they admire. Young people also may smoke to challenge adults and to break from authority figures, especially their parents. However, the chemicals, especially Nicotine that is included in tobacco are a 3rd. Degree Drug and is as extremely addictive as heroin and cocaine,
The Following article describes the scientific evidence related to this drug:
Nicotine Addiction
What causes nicotine addiction?,/b>
Nicotine is an addictive drug. It causes changes in the brain that make people want to use it more and more. In addition, addictive drugs cause unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. The good feelings that result when an addictive drug is present — and the bad feelings when it's absent — make breaking any addiction very difficult. Nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break.
The 1988 Surgeon General's Report, "Nicotine Addiction," concluded that Cigarettes and other forms of tobacco are addicting.
Nicotine is the drug that causes addiction.
Pharmacologic and behavioral characteristics that determine tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
What else does nicotine do to the body?
When a person smokes a cigarette, the body responds immediately to the chemical nicotine in the smoke. Nicotine causes a short-term increase in blood pressure, heart rate and the flow of blood from the heart. It also causes the arteries to narrow. The smoke includes carbon monoxide, which reduces the amount of oxygen the blood can carry. This, combined with the nicotine effects, creates an imbalance between the demand for oxygen by the cells and the amount of oxygen the blood can supply.
How does nicotine in cigarettes increase the risk of heart attack?
Cigarette smoking may increase the risk of developing hardening of the arteries and heart attacks in several ways. First, carbon monoxide may damage the inner walls of the arteries, encouraging fatty buildups in them. Over time, this causes the vessels to narrow and harden. Nicotine may also contribute to this process. Smoking also causes several changes in the blood that make clots — and heart attack — more likely.
What are the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal?
irritability
impatience
hostility
anxiety
depressed mood
difficulty concentrating
restlessness
decreased heart rate
increased appetite or weight gain
How long does nicotine stay in the body?
From 85–90 percent of nicotine in the blood is metabolized by the liver and excreted from the kidney rapidly. The estimated half-life for nicotine in the blood is two hours. However, smoking represents a multiple dosing situation with considerable accumulation during smoking. Therefore, it can be expected that blood nicotine would persist at significant levels for six to eight hours after smoking stopped.
Related AHA publications:
The Effects of Smoking brochure (also in Spanish)
For Your Children: Our guide to help you safeguard your children from heart disease and stroke brochure (also in Spanish)
Quit Smoking for Good brochure
Smoking and Your Risk of Stroke brochure
"How To Avoid Weight Gain When Quitting Smoking", "How Can I Handle the Stress of Not Smoking?" and "How Can I Quit Smoking?" printable sheets from Answers By Heart kit.
Note: Please share your personal experiences with the dangers of smoking to help others from repeating these dangerous addictions to these drugs. And, if this does not deter others from smoking, take them with you for a visit to your local nursing home and do introduce our nourishing touch program.
More >
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28 Nov 2007 @ 03:21, by raypows. Spirituality
This is an excerpt from my forthcoming book, Simple Brilliance.
From a dialogue on relationships
How do you explain the unexplainable, the mysteries of the heart taking us by surprise?
I have a very scientific mind and sometimes all I can do is throw my hands up in the air and acquiesce that most of my existence is a great mystery. I trust in Life, in the Universe and am very clear that we co-create, sometimes procreate with it.
There is always an opportunity for us to awaken, to heal. In essence I know you know we are all One; that separation is an illusion; that human-kind is a singular organism similar to a beehive and individuation psychologically is necessary to function in physical reality. When it comes to Oneness, we have simply forgotten. Yet, here in physical reality, if we choose to ignore the nature of the multi-verse, our his/herstories get pushed to the forefront as our personalities try to stay in control in an uncontrollable reality. We are a reflection of chaos self-organizing itself. My fears, your fears (based on our stories, our past experience, and the conclusions we have drawn and worldviews we have adopted from our fear based lives) are what keep us from knowing Love. What are we afraid of? Being alone, vanishing in the immensity that Love is, losing our sense of self, taking responsibility for the truth that we can never possess or control another, the realization that when we try we to control others we also wound ourselves as well. For many people, once this is realized there is no turning back, from Truth that is, from the knowing that freedom is found when we understand, accept and embrace our fears. We were born as ecstatic, joyful entities. Joy has never left us. We have simply distracted ourselves by believing in our story and believing we are powerless to change it. More >
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 27 Nov 2007 @ 09:22, by jazzolog. Natural Health & Healing
Stillness---
soaking into the rocks,
the cicada's cries.
---Basho
The whole moon and sky come to rest in a single dewdrop on a blade of grass.
---Dogen
Men cannot see their reflection in running water, but only in still water.
---Chuang-Tzu
I remember my first plastic straw vividly. You know, a straw: what you put in your glass and suck and the beverage comes up through it and into your mouth. It's sort of a toy too; you can blow bubbles into it and make weird noises when the drink is gone down at the bottom. Sometimes they come in wild shapes that you have to suck harder on to get the liquid all through the roller coaster ride and down your throat. You could find them in a container on the soda fountain counter but quickly they came individually wrapped in paper. We'd tear off one end, dip the other into our milk shake, and blow the wrapper up to the ceiling where it would stick...much to the manager's consternation.
Before the plastic straw they were made of paper. And they'd get soggy eventually...and you'd have to ask for another one, and they just weren't pleasant. The plastic straw could endure the rigors of the milk shake of the 1940s and 50s. It wasn't a real milk shake if the straw didn't stand straight up in the middle of it. You wouldn't even go in a place again that didn't make shakes that thick. So the plastic straw filled a need for which the American civilization cried out.
The soda fountain was the center of social activity back then. Kids went there after school. The soda fountain had other concoctions and drinks there besides milk shakes. In fact it was the dairy bar that came along later that really specialized in the milk shake. If you go from a fountain to a bar, obviously you're getting more serious. The dairy bar was outside town and you needed the family car to get there. In fact, our family used to go to Jenkins Dairy after supper as a special treat...usually to sit at the bar and have milk shakes. But sometimes when we were feeling particularly flagrant and sinful, Mom would order a hot fudge pecan sundae...with whipped cream and a cherry.
A bit later, probably after I'd gone off to college and got filled with strange ideas, I began to think about those plastic straws. I thought during the process of manufacture, teeny tiny particles of plastic must have been left on the inside...so that when you sucked on them, those particles would come up through with the beverage and go down into you somewhere. What would become of those particles? Wouldn't they eventually form a glob of some kind...like when somebody dumps a shopping cart into a creek, the sand and stuff builds up all around it? Couldn't that be like a tumor...and maybe be involved in the cancer suddenly everybody seemed to be getting? Mom, a registered nurse, said I was crazy. More >
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 25 Nov 2007 @ 20:05, by jerryvest. Medicine, Healthcare
We should accept things as they are without difficulty. Our mind should be soft and open enough to understand things as they are. When our thinking is soft, it is called imperturbable thinking. This kind of thinking is always stable. It is called mindfulness., (Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki)
As many of you know, I have written several logs related to the Mental Health Industry, the increasing use of prescription drugs for treatment, especially for children and youth who are over-diagnosed and identified and labeled with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders(ADHD).
This article describes how a psychiatrist was recruited as a drug company representative, wined and dined, while receiving large sums of money to promote their drugs. He discovered that he was withholding vital information that could be hazardous to the health of his patients and to his reputation as a doctor. He began to see that he was losing his integrity and ethics so he dropped his position as drug representative(dealer) and told his story to the NY Times. This is worth your time to read as he describes how the Big Pharmas and the AMA are in collusion and showing their lack of respect for patients or customers who need help with depression and other mental health "disorders." (Daniel Carlat is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine and the publisher of The Carlat Psychiatry Report.)
[link]
I have written several logs on the dangers of the Big Pharmas, the mental health industry, and about practitioners who have lost their way. Our helping professionals who close their eyes to corrupt practices and labeling, knowing that their "Code of Ethics" is their guide to practice, are also endangering their clients. "Our primary concern is our client...."
"The mission of the social work profession is rooted in a set of core values. These core values, embraced by social workers throughout the profession's history, are the foundation of social work's unique purpose and perspective:
service
social justice
dignity and worth of the person
importance of human relationships
integrity
competence.
This constellation of core values reflects what is unique to the social work profession. Core values, and the principles that flow from them, must be balanced within the context and complexity of the human experience."
I appreciate that you take the time to read these brief posts. Please feel free to respond to my logs/blogs. As a professor of social work, I am interested in learning how students, professionals and others feel about these practices and issues related to our core values.
Note: Photo by Mike Connealy More >
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 25 Nov 2007 @ 11:18, by jazzolog. Communities
Space and Time! now I see it is true, what I guess'd at,
What I guess'd when I loaf'd on the grass,
What I guess'd while I lay alone in my bed,
And again as I walk'd the beach under the paling stars of the morning.
---Walt Whitman
Even if our efforts of attention seem for years to be producing no result, one day a light that is in exact proportion to them will flood the soul.
---Simone Weil
There is no end to the opening up that is possible for a human being.
---Charlotte Joko Beck
The painting by John Schutler is Home to Thanksgiving, published 1867 by Currier and Ives.
I'm sure Americans gathered around their tables on Thursday, grateful for companionship and family...but uncertain how far the "commonwealth" spreads anymore. What we still can hold in common, even the values, seems up for grabs from all sides. Conservatives talk about compassion, but the world they live in resembles the cave and Hobbesian misery.
At more than a few Thanksgiving dinners, probably the name Scott McClellan was mentioned. He was the cute press link to the Oval Office for 3 years, dancing around questions daily. Much of what he had to do was keep things secret. We're at war and only Commander Decider can know...or the case is in litigation and it wouldn't be proper to comment...or Congress is investigating and we'll see what they find out. On April 21st next year a book by McClellan will be published, entitled WHAT HAPPENED: Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong with Washington. Probably nobody would have noticed this coming event had not its distinguished publisher, PublicAffairs Books, put an excerpt bombshell on its website:
"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.
"There was one problem. It was not true.
"I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the President himself."
[link]
The item really hit the news the day before Thanksgiving, and so there were whispers and hushed tones midst the dressing and drumsticks Thursday. What will happen? Will anything happen? Why do we feel like conspirators with such talk? Is this East Germany before the Wall came down..or is this the Free World? Why does the war machine roll on, looting the Treasury, robbing us blind? In a column on July 6, 2007, Joe Galloway asked why the Bush administration "looks remarkably more like an organized crime ring than one of the arms of the American government?" It must be fear that silences the nation. Cat's got our tongue. More >
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 22 Nov 2007 @ 19:01, by jhs. Recreation, Fun
While I was trying to convince Young Anthony that he should stick with mummy's milk for now and let the beer be beer (see photo), a chicken escaped into the jungle.
On my way through the dark forest, I stumbled once again over the white rabbit.
"Where did the chicken go?" I asked the rabbit.
"Since there are no roads in the jungle, it couldn't have crossed the road..." the rabbit giggled and giggled and giggled.
"Hmm.. very funny," I said, "Why don't you evolve in some higher life form?"
"Silly human," the rabbit answered. "Don't you realize that I represent the highest life form on this planet?"
"You crack me up, rabbit! But, let's say you do... then tell me... what's the purpose of all of this? And what makes you think that you and your fellow white rabbits are ahead in the game?"
"Slowly, human, one thing at a time... tell me, and think well before you answer: do you think you ever thought of something that was never thought before?"
I sat down on a liana of a giant, strange, wild vine and started thinking... More >
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 21 Nov 2007 @ 23:59, by quinty. Globalization
Recent estimates of how much this war in Iraq will cost us surpass one trillion dollars.
One trillion dollars. More >
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 20 Nov 2007 @ 02:23, by jazzolog. Environment, Ecology
The timpanist plays upon a living being. The stars are bursting with their messages: Turn to a child for the star's announcement.
---Robert Aitken
Greed is the basic cause of misery. Free yourself of greed, and the mountains, rivers, and earth do not block the light of your eyes.
---She-Hsien
To enter one's own self, it is necessary to go armed to the teeth.
---Paul Valery
Why 2015? That is the year, dictated by consensus of the 2500 scientists whose work created the UN report on global warming, when further growth of carbon emissions on this planet must cease. Within 35 years from that date, carbon dioxide and other atmospheric polluting gases must be reduced by 50 to 85 percent to avoid killing as many as a quarter of the species on Earth. [link] This was the announcement on Saturday, when the final portion of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) study was released to the public by this group that already has won the Nobel Prize.
I try to be a patient man. I waited Sunday and I waited today. I expected lead items in newspapers and broadcasts in this country. Well...let's say I hoped for them. Certainly it is the case elsewhere in the world, where concern is at the forefront. One of the good things about Google News is you can see what makes news in the various nations of the world...and what that news is. At the moment you have to type "global warming" into Search to find anything about these stark pronouncements.
We have people campaigning for President right now. The New York Times reported today that in Iowa, a sixth-grader asked Mrs. Clinton if she had any views on global warming. The paper went on to consider whether the question had been planted in the student's mind. There was no mention of what the candidate replied. [link] Have we all gone mad?
Recently it has been the pattern in this country for a person elected (or otherwise achieving the office of) President to serve 2 terms or 8 years. If that continues, whoever ends up President in 2008 still may be there in 2015. Do any of these candidates have a plan for such an incredible challenge? Next month---that's NEXT month---President Bush will lead the United States delegation to the United Nations Conference on climate change in Bali. Last year around this time that man announced he was pretty sure global warming wasn't caused by anything consumers in the free market might be doing...like burning coal or oil. US News & World Report asked this morning Do we HAVE to have this guy representing us? [link]
I listened pretty hard to my world today to see or hear if anyone seemed concerned about the IPCC report or global warming. It's going to be in the mid to upper 60s tomorrow and probably for Thanksgiving. People did remark on that...and sorta smile and shake heads. Ten years ago Dana and I were proud to go out to the garden and kick some snow off a little kale that was left to serve our smoked oysters on for Thanksgiving dinner. The other day people were telling me the crocuses and daffodils they planted in September are coming up already. What will it take to crash through all this denial? More >
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17 Nov 2007 @ 21:16, by gsosbee. Crime, Policing
The following statements do not represent legal advice, but are simply the personal opinion and considered judgment of geral sosbee:
Re:
"To Catch A Predator" stories on global telecast , November 16, 2007, by msnbc's Chris Hansen and followers/fans/goons.
Chris says:
"When we first began investigating potential predators trying to meet teens online, we had no idea it would lead us to *where we are today. Nearly 130 men have surfaced in our stories. 98 of them are currently being prosecuted."
Sosbee writes to Chris and msnbc, and staff :
Well , let's set the record straight, Chris:
The program you promote ensnares innocent men lured to your location by a police operative/decoy female who personally appears at the door (as an adult) and invites the men in. No child is present; no victim exists; no complaining witness or aggrieved party exist; and no law is broken (except in the sick minds of those who seek to profit or to gain attention from the contrived and illegal sting).
As the targeted men enter the 'party' house the self proclaimed (impliedly so) hero Chris Hansen lurks in the shadows , then leaps out as though he is the law maker, the police, the grand inquisitor, the judge, the jury, the prosecutor, the defense attorney, the counsellor, and the executioner. Indeed, Chris is everthing all the living dead among us strive to emulate in our society:one who seeks out the living with arms extending, fingers pointing, mouths wide-opening and evil proclivities protruding.Chris even suggests that all of the targeted ( yet innocent in this writer's opinion) men are similar (potentially) to the child murderers in the news of late; this analogy is most revealing of the sick and degenerate mentality of the accusers in Chris Hansen's mob.** [See addendum below, dated June 9, 2009.]
You should have been slapped in the face , Chris , by every man you insulted at the scene.
In actuality, all of the captive men are innocent, while the manipulators in the msnbc entertainment scheme are potential criminals who should face a variety of criminal and civil charges; the corrupt politicians/legislators who write the absurd laws (that permitted the phony sting) should be removed from office; and the viewers should be told that all of this was a serious mistake and represents a failure of our culture to stop the hatred and brutality caused in large part by the police and the media through such programs as , "To Catch A Predator".
Until that time, however, Chris, msnbc, and the mindless police have learned how to make money and garner dirty (in terms of tactics used) attention through their most despicable and decadent show of police/media lunacy. All of the players (in the msnbc/cop/Chris Hansen farse) will be remembered as supporters of the emerging hyper-police state where even the spectators are now invited to join in the lynch party.
Sosbee writes to Chris Hansen:
You're No Christ, Chris!
* 'Where we are today', Chris, is at a point where we must deal with your outrageous conduct as you create or perpetuate an insensitive world where violent methods and fraudulent legal process are the standards for USA public policy (viz: in Chris's melodrama police weapons are drawn, the men are assaulted and cuffed by the police, the devil woman/decoy herself sweet talks the men into her abode in order to destroy their lives, and the men are impliedly forced to submit without legal advice to the silly and imposing interrogation of the lowest form of human intellect ).
Such are the impressions of this writer regarding the undignified character of Chris Hansen and his cowardly police associates.
P.S. As of July, 2008, the Predator Hansen continues his violent and insane efforts to destroy mens' lives, at one point mindlessly criticizing one of his victims for driving a $50,000 Lexus at the Hansen scheme's scene.
__________________________________________________________________________
Now MSNBC has corporate company in the "help fbi" and law enforcement for profit game. According to
Deborah Perelman
"Clear Channel Outdoor, an advertising company which operates more than 167,000 advertising displays in the United States is providing free billboard space as a public service to help the fbi catch the accused. "
Clear Channel should be advised that the fbi, the cia, and all law enforcement agencies in the United States of America are terrorist organizations who are prone to engage in slander, perjury, torture, false imprisonment and murder on a regular basis; thus, the marriage of MSNBC and Clear Channel to the fbi and her associates suggests to the intelligent reader that these corporations support terrorism and that their macabre greed is indicia of their fundamental lack of Humanity. For evidence of this, see my reports herein and and see my site at www.sosbeevfbi.com.
This update represents the personal opinion of Geral Sosbee and is based on real life experiences.
_______________________________________________________________________________
** Addendum. June 9, 2009
In the above report I have shown the dark, hateful, greedy and cowardly sides of Hanson and his followers at MSNBC ; now, inasmuch as Hanson continues his demonic entrapment scheme for show and for profit at the expense of innocent men, Hanson represents the disease of the United States of America. See:
[link]
Hanson (in his flair for the dramatic)desperately & hysterically attempts to transfer and inflict upon others the very same homicidal traits and infirmity that he and his fbi/police criminal associates exude in their activities in the USA. See:
[link]
Hypothetically, in a moment of desperation Hanson and company (by inference from his own words & conduct) would in fact consider the killing of a rat or a potential witness againt them in order to preserve their own social status. "... a little more hate, an ounce [of instability] and [Hanson might have ] decided it [be] too risky to let her [the rat] live...." In such a moment (as many fbi/police serial killers can abundantly attest) "...ethics or fear of any sort do not exist: the beast is in charge."
The beast Hanson and his living dead associates in the police are in charge.
Carpenter, Don: Review of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Ramparts, April 1966, pp.51-52.
-----------------------------------
For more on the disturbed personality of Hanson and his kind, see:
[link]
___________________________________________________________________
See MSN.COM as Fascist oppressor of free speech:
[link]
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14 Nov 2007 @ 16:00, by beyond. Spirituality
BEYOND IMAGINATION TRANSCENDENTAL QUOTES FOR 2008
JANUARY
1/01 - Spirit is ever in the process of finding needs and filling them.
1/02 - It is through community that we accomplish things far greater than we can accomplish with the sum of our individual efforts. Here is where the power of synergy gets applied ... allowing spirit additional avenues for expression not only through us as individuals, but through us as a collective. This is as the difference between the individual brain cells and the mind that occupies the brain.
1/03 - For each exceptional individual, there are many average ones. Though, there is a sense that we are all exceptional in some way and one of our goals should be to establish the social infrastructure necessary to elicit and nurture the exceptional abilities of each of us.
1/04 - Unless we are quiet, our own chatter drowns out any chance of receiving anything from source.
1/05 - We live our lives on several levels, and it seems that there are things that we came to learn and to do on each level.
1/06 - We are all grand beings. We truly are. Yet, clearly a large majority do not believe thus. That doesn't change the fact one iota.
1/07 - It is time more people realized how precious they are, how fragile, and yet how powerful.
1/08 - I can't imagine living life without making a difference, without serving society in a big way. That would be my definition of failure ... to go through life and not be able to make a statement, to make a difference because of my presence.
1/09 - My home is a state of consciousness. It has no location.
1/10 - It is only in consciousness that we can find permanence, and even then it is an everchanging permanence.
1/11 - We need to consider the impact to the collective when we make decisions. The greatest good comes when we do this. The greatest good will not always maximize the benefit to us personally. But, we need to learn what is enough for us, and how to balance this against the needs of others.
1/12 - I am not building a house that requires a blueprint. However, I am creating a path, and documenting or making a map of that path. Ultimately this will allow others to follow ... to reach where I have been and venture out further, wherever their own inner guidance takes them.
1/13 - As the creator of this expression, it is my obligation to feed it, to care for it, to nurture it, to facilitate its growth ... and to assist in getting it into the mind and hearts of those meant to hear it.
1/14 - This is the testament of my life. This is my spiritual manifesto. Here, I share whom that I am as freely as I can. It is my desire that this serve as an example of the degree and depth of sharing that I would like to see happen in the world ... in my world anyway.
1/15 - We are all different, with extremes being very different. That is OK. Variety is good. Differences are good. We just need to find ways to make beneficial use of the differences.
1/16 - In society, it seems we suffer by trying too hard to put round pegs in square holes. It would be far better to assess the shape of each person and then try to place them in the right place within society. That place would be one where their unique gifts and skills are of the most benefit to society ... or at least are of value to society.
1/17 - There are many types of intelligence, few of which are measured by IQ tests. That doesn't mean that such tests are not valid, just that they are meaningful only to the people who possess the types of intelligence that they test.
1/18 - We can do whatever we choose to do. It is a matter of applying our best and brightest and employing the necessary resources to do it. We tend to do whatever we set our minds and our hearts on. Resources are everything.
1/19 - We know what is lacking. We know what is not working. We may not want to admit it. We may fear what some of the alternatives might be. The bottom line is that some of the fundamental foundations of society are cracked badly and may be ready to topple shortly.
1/20 - Recognizing this, we have an obligation to use our power of free will to do something about it or to do nothing and allow the foundations to come crashing down.
1/21 - I believe in the spiritual order of the universe. Where there is a talent, there is a need for that talent.
1/22 - We have the technology. Even more important we have the ideals, the ideas, and the principles to build a better world for all of us. The question is ... will we choose to do so?
1/23 - Changing the world is everyone’s business, it is everyone’s job.
1/24 - Change always starts with one person, or with a small group. When you change who you are, when you change what you do, your world can't help but to be impacted.
1/25 - We are here to make a difference ... each and every one of us.
1/26 - If I don't feel a responsibility to my neighbors, many of whom I don't even know, then how am I to feel a responsibility to someone in some undeveloped country whose country I don't even know exists?
1/27 - We are all connected. What happens to any of us, happens to all of us. It doesn't matter whether we know those to whom we are connected. The connections exist nonetheless.
1/28 - This is a grand and glorious endeavor that we are participating in. It will enable others to break the bonds of their minds, and experience consciousness firsthand.
1/29 - This expression is magical to me. It is a mystery in the manner that it comes forth. How I can speak of things that I have no right to know based on my education to date is amazing.
1/30 - Step by step, our lives unfold. With each step, the next one becomes clearer.
1/31 - We are free to remove our shackles whenever we wish. Though, this is difficult if we view our shackles as wings.
FEBRUARY
2/01 – Spirit’s ways are indeed wondrous to behold. I couldn't make this stuff up even if I wanted to. I wouldn't know how.
2/02 - I would live a life of spirit. I would live a life of purpose. The key purpose seems to be one that has been with me since the beginnings of my quest around 1974. I would search for the answer to the question WHY?
2/03 – Yesterday’s Columbia disaster is a case in point. Yes, there will be a cause that is found for it. It may take awhile, but the people whose job it is to determine such things are excellent at doing their jobs. They will find what they search for. However, they will be looking for a scientific answer.
2/04 - No one dies before their time. No one dies without choosing to participate in the event at some level of their being. To what disciplines do we turn to find out why it was time for these seven people on this fateful morning on the first of February in 2003? They will not be scientific ones.
2/05 - We have a right to use things. However, with this right comes the responsibility of stewardship. Can we really share all the world fairly and peaceably? It seems that is the only right way to live. However, what constitutes fair is open for interpretation.
2/06 - Each of us must do our part to generate more than we consume. That makes the choice of how much we consume ours ... so long as we pay for it with our services.
2/07 - Living as one is definitely where we are headed. It is only appropriate, for in fact, we are one.
2/08 - Divisions are OK if they are useful ... if they allow us to do things better. However, they are dangerous as well ... potentially leading to a system of castes where some are judged to be "better" than others.
2/09 - Differences are to be tolerated, even embraced. We need to be wary of allowing such differences to divide us however. We do this by recognizing the unity amidst the diversity.
2/10 - There is a grand spiritual destiny that is unfolding. We are all players in a grand drama ... in the expression of spirit in flesh as us and through us.
2/11 - We are spirit in the only way that counts. Yet, we are not all of spirit. There is a great part of spirit that is able to express through us, using whatever abilities and talents we have to offer.
2/12 - Spirit may prod and push gently ... but it is up to us to volunteer to offer ourselves in her service. This is one of the greatest and noblest things that we can do. However, it requires a kind of resignation that most are not willing to embrace.
2/13 - People should do what they are good at doing. People should employ others to provide those services that they need that they are not good at providing for themselves. This is the right use of others.
2/14 - We need a means for society and the individual to agree on the needs of each individual, and we need a means for society and the individual to agree on what services the individual will provide to whom and how.
2/15 - As free beings, we are free to choose to enter into such a social contract at anytime. However, it is a contract between individuals in a society. It is not between an individual and a government, or an individual and any organization for that matter. The contract is between the individual, the part, and the society, the whole.
2/16 - I would make a difference with my life. And, this expression is in a very real way my life. Life as expression, expression as life ... such indeed is how it is. By their works shall ye know them. Well, these are my works. Welcome to my world!
2/17 - Why do I not experience being the creator, even though the expression clearly comes forth through my mind and through my fingers?
2/18 - All that I know is that prior to 1993, I didn't express like this, and since 1993, I can only express like this. Though, even then, the expression has evolved substantially over the past decade.
2/19 - Ego in and of itself is neither good nor bad. It all depends on how it is used.
2/20 - Ego has a function. It is meant to interpret physical reality. However, it can be opened so that it facilitates and accepts the expression of spirit through us. This is not something that it does automatically. In fact, quite the opposite, it seems to be something that it fights.
2/21 - I know that when I am moved to ask the question and to search ... the answer is close at hand. That is simply how things work. Another spiritual law in effect. I believe it so strongly that I have come to expect that this is how reality works.
2/22 - I am not a scholar. I did not come to build upon the knowledge of others. Further, I am not a researcher, curious about what is known in a given area of interest.
2/23 - What is it that I want from life? An infrastructure that facilitates the social contract: from each in accord with their ability, to each in accord with their needs. That is a lot to ask for. Or is it? It seems that this is the minimum that we should expect.
2/24 - Are there intentional communities that have worked out how to live harmoniously and peacefully, in a manner that allows individuals to meet their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs?
2/25 - Community is a different matter. I break this apart as common unity. This requires much more interconnectivity. I don't think community happens by accident, it happens by intention. We have to give into it. We have to create it.
2/26 - When problems go unsolved for decades ... we simply aren't expending the right resources to fix them.
2/27 - It makes no sense to have any person go hungry in a country that pays farmers not to grow food. We have a surplus of food. We simply need to make sure everyone can get to it as a right or entitlement, if they don't have enough money to pay for it. The same is true of nearly ever other good and service that is produced.
2/28 - We need to make more conscious economic decisions regarding how goods and services are to be distributed. It is not clear that the present method of allowing the market to determine what goods and services are available at what prices really serves us.
2/29 - There is something infectious about being around people who love what they do.
MARCH
3/01 - I have been going it alone for quite some time. It seems that it would be much more productive to engage with others of like mind and co-create something grander than any of us can conceive alone.
3/02 - We need to create a center for engaging in cooperative interdependent living at its finest. This takes commitment, and it takes resources. The first I am good at ... the second I could use some help on.
3/03 - In my reality framework the only thing bigger than me is spirit herself.
3/04 - There is a plan for the evolution of consciousness that is being manifested in flesh. We are the players in that drama. Our individual lives fit within the context of a larger whole. We did not make that whole, but we contribute to it with every aspect of our being.
3/05 - The whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. That is where the synergy of systems comes into play. Evolution is building more and more complex bodies in which consciousness can be housed and enfleshed.
3/06 - The greater and greater expression of spirit in flesh is the name of the game. But, it has to be in flesh, or it doesn't count.
3/07 - We can't afford to rest too long on past laurels. It is for us to proceed ever onward to new heights and depths of expression. Yes, that is an appropriate analogy. It is out of the depths of spirit that the heights of experience and expression come.
3/08 - To grow we need to be willing to stretch. When we do this, we demonstrate that we are more than we knew ourselves to be. This is a powerful experience, one that we should engage in often.
3/09 - We are here to learn whom that we are. And, we are here to express whom that we are as fully as we can. It has always been so. Though, these simple truths have been hidden from us.
3/10 - We don't need an elaborate religious system to explain whom that we are. Deep down, we already know this. We just haven't been allowed to trust what we know. That can change far quicker than any can imagine.
3/11 - This expression in particular constitutes "works" that have literally blown me away, completely undermining my understanding of whom that I AM and what I am capable of doing ... or more precisely what spirit is capable of doing through me.
3/12 - At some point there needs to be some type of return on the investment of time and effort. It doesn't necessarily have to be money. But a service has been performed. There needs to be a balance of energy achieved.
3/13 - Various parts of the Beyond Imagination works have reached many thousands, so there is hope that by now they would have had some impact. They have definitely changed my life. And, as a result have had some impact on those few people whose lives I touch.
3/14 - Wayshowers don't work solely in the field of the mind, they work in the field of action. They do things that others may see what is possible. And, what is possible for me, you can do also. It is a matter of preparing your consciousness and choosing to do it.
3/15 - If we don't strive to be our best, we will never be able to realize that we are better and more capable than we had ever imagined.
3/16 - We are consciousness enfleshed. It is high time we realized that and got on with the task of living as if that were true.
3/17 - We live in a world where spiritual problems abound. Hunger, poverty, crime, terrorism, war, ... all of these are spiritual problems. They exist because we have refused to take responsibility to care for one another collectively.
3/18 - Spirituality teaches us that all problems are our problems. What we do to another ultimately we do to ourselves.
3/19 - Spiritual expression is by far the most important aspect of my life. This stream of consciousness expression is indeed that meaningful to me. It is hard to imagine what my life would be like without it
3/20 - Spiritual giving is unconditional, or it simply doesn't count. When we give conditionally, our reward occurs in whatever is exchanged. When we give unconditionally, our reward is abundance ... we get what we need when we need it.
3/21 - Spirit can only give us what we feel we are worthy of receiving. To get more, we need to do something to increase our feeling of worthiness. This may be by giving more, or by realizing the true value of whom that we are.
3/22 - I live in a world of my own making. Is it an imaginary world? I would offer that it is far more than that, it is Beyond Imagination. That is what I was moved to call this expression when it began in 1993. The name is still appropriate today.
3/23 - If we add the synergy of working in cooperative interdependent ways with others, the sky's the limit.
3/24 - We would build a better world. We would build a true society, where individuality is not lost, but is respected and worshipped. Yes, worshipped.
3/25 - There is a spark of spirit, a soul, in every individual. That spark needs to be treated with dignity and given everything it needs to develop into all that it can be. In return, the individual has an obligation to use their god given talents and abilities in service to society in some way.
3/26 - We need to learn under what circumstances good enough is good enough so that we can conserve our resources for doing those things that we are passionate about, those things that consume our heart and soul.
3/27 - The more comfortable that I am, the easier it is to share of whom that I AM. But sharing is a two-way process, a give and a take, an exchange between two people.
3/28 - My sharing for the most part is an anonymous opening of whom that I AM to any who might find and read these pages. Within hours at this site, you will know more about me than all but a dozen or so people in the world. That is how sheltered and isolated of a life I have lived.
3/29 - These works show signs of a creative genius at work ... one that is beyond what I know myself to be. Yet, the works were able to come forth through me. My consciousness was able to deliver them. That says something about my level of awareness as well.
3/30 - This expression continuously challenges what I know myself to be. Just when I think that I've figured it out, something more comes through that blows me away. Consciousness won't be contained within our arbitrary boundaries for very long. She stretches them and challenges them at every turn.
3/31 - The watchword is freedom. Yet, within that freedom is sufficient structure to create the foundations for the society. There is a balancing act that is going on. Too much freedom and we have chaos. Too much structure and we lack the flexibility needed to evolve and adapt ... two important characteristics required for life to exist.
APRIL
4/01 - Spirit is a feminine source from which we all spring. She is the ONE consciousness that feeds the individual consciousnesses of each of us. Here I speak not so much from authority, but rather from my own personal experience.
4/02 - Everything happens for a reason. There is a grand plan of consciousness that is being played out. We each have our roles to play within that plan.
4/03 - We are winding down to the 10th anniversary of the beginning of this expression. The first day was 5 March 1993. It is simply amazing that a decade has passed already. I would have thought Beyond Imagination would have had more impact by now.
4/04 - Why is my will any less important or any less valuable than that of anyone else? Why should I not do what it takes to exercise my own will, so long as it harms no one ... or so long as the benefit is greater then any harm that might be done?
4/05 - Spirit has been by my side for many years. She has been my guide, my teacher, my friend, my companion. It seems time that I should have others in my life to fill these roles as well. Not that spirit hasn't done a superb job. It is just that I need something more now.
4/06 - Our republic is the showcase for democratic government in the world. It is the standard by which all others are measured.
4/07 - Our people have a degree of freedom that is unknown in many parts of the world. Further, our people have a degree of creativity and industriousness that has resulted in the strongest economy in the world.
4/08 - For me, there is only ONE spirit, though each of us only seem to possess or be aware of an individual spark of that spirit.
4/09 - We can dream of and imagine many things, but that is not sufficient to make them real. Here, we need to go Beyond Imagination and manifest as we believe.
4/10 - It is interesting how often that phrase comes up ... beyond imagination. The name seems just as appropriate for this material today as it did when I came up with it a decade ago. Whatever you can dream, whatever you can imagine, you can achieve. Someone said that.
4/11 - However, how do we take the next step and get to places beyond anything that we can yet imagine? The sense is that spirit knows of such places and can guide us to them if we let her do so.
4/12 - It just takes one pebble to cause ripples in a whole pond of still water.
Am I that pebble? Is this expression the equivalent of throwing the pebble into the pond? Will what I have to say make the world a better place?
4/13 - In a way, my life is no longer my own. I have willingly chosen to give a significant part of it in service to spirit and ultimately to society and to the world in the process. Yes, I think in grand terms. I don't know why exactly. They just seem to suit me somehow. It is as if I were born to express in this manner.
4/14 - We are all interconnected in ways beyond anything that we have ever dreamed or imagined. When I do something, when I realize something, the very fabric of consciousness is altered as a result.
4/15 - Consciousness learns from everything we do, everything we think, and everything we realize. No act of kindness goes unnoticed ... nor any act of neglect, nor any atrocity.
4/16 - We are all held accountable for what we do, and to some degree for what we could have done that we failed to do.
4/17 - The measure that we are ultimately held against is what we achieve versus what we had the potential to do ... with what we could have been. This makes it very important to live our lives without regrets.
4/18 - We don't want to be in a position of remorse over what we might have done differently. It is for us to seize the moment and reduce or eliminate these might have dones from our life.
4/19 - How can I spend thousands of hours doing something and not really understand what it is that I am doing and how it is that I am able to do it? It is truly amazing.
4/20 - There is so much that is unknown. And, there may even be large parts that are unknowable ... they may be such that our minds are incapable of conceiving of or comprehending them in any fashion.
4/21 - There is nothing that says we have to understand everything that we experience. One can comprehend the awesome scenic beauty of Yosemite without having any understanding of the forces of nature that occurred over time to carve those very features we find so beautiful.
4/22 - Similarly, we can marvel at the wonder of the human body as it has evolved over the eons as the house for the mind.
4/23 - We either change with the times or we wither and die.
4/24 - What can be impacted now is what is HERE and NOW and via causality what will be in the future. But, the future will take care of itself if we focus on right action in the moment.
4/25 - Spirit is somewhat neutral. She seeks to express in whatever manner she can express through the resources that she is given. She is given resources by our willingness to do her works. We have to volunteer for our spiritual jobs or they simply will not be done. That is just how it is.
4/26 - Spirit will not force her way into our lives. She gently prompts us at times, but it is up to us to listen and to choose to abide by what she says.
4/27 - The very fact that this expression exists is proof that other than conscious parts of ourselves can indeed create things in our lives ... in my case, a stream of words, over three million of them to date.
4/28 - Consciousness is highly creative and quite prolific if we allow her to be. It is amazing how much work we can do when we resign ourselves to allowing spirit to work through us. It seems that when we do so, our resources increase many fold.
4/29 - Attitude is everything! It truly is. When work is drudgery, it is an endless chore to get through the day. When work is a labor of love, we look forward to the opportunities of each moment and the day simply flies by.
4/30 - There is still a strong inner sense that I am to have world impact somehow ... that what I do will make a difference to the world
MAY
5/01 - On my own, fate was pretty much in my hands. I could do what it took to get the job done. But, with cooperative endeavors, no one person has such power. The rules of the game have changed ... and I have not yet learned how to play by the new rules.
5/02 - My life is like that. It is meant to serve as an example to others, an example of what spirit expressing in flesh can do in the world, an example of the difference that one person can make when they choose to serve humanity by serving spirit.
5/03 - This expression is my legacy. It is one of the gifts that I give to the world. Actually, that spirit gives to the world through me.
5/04 - I would change the world. How's that for a goal? Yes, it is a bit grandiose to think that I am capable of doing this. Actually, maybe substantially more than a bit. But, grandiose or not, there is a strong sense that this is exactly what I am destined to do.
5/05 - I'm looking to meet kindred spirits with whom to enter into cooperatively interdependent relationships to do works that we mutually decide need to be done.
5/06 - The very facts that this stream of consciousness expression exists and is shared in the manner that it is offer great hope for the world. They show that we know far more than we ever dreamed that we knew. Literally, our abilities are Beyond Imagination.
5/07 - We are capable of so much. All that is required is to unleash our potential by freeing ourselves from our self-imposed limitations.
5/08 - We become so used to limitations that often we forget that they are limitations. A quote comes to mind: none are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
5/09 - Freedom is one of our most valued possessions. But, it is something that we have to safeguard or we risk losing it.
5/10 - I come here because it is fun, and because it is fulfilling. But, I also come here because I am compelled to do so, compelled by a force that I am not really at liberty to resist.
5/11 - Spirit knows what she is doing. And, she is definitely pulling the strings in my life. Whether she is doing this in everyone's life, I can only guess. My sense is yes, but it may not be in such a direct manner.
5/12 - What is the relationship between us and spirit? In my framework, there is only one spirit that animates everything and expresses and experiences through everything. The same spirit that animates me also animates you. So, at a basic level, we are one.
5/13 - What I choose to do and choose not to do will determine how aware people become of the works of Beyond Imagination. The destiny of this endeavor is definitely in my hands now. It has been for many years. But, it is clearly so now.
5/14 - Change ... just how much of that is in store in the times ahead. That is one thing that has been expanding at an exponential rate. It has reached a point where it is simply amazing that we can even keep up with it. Yet, collectively, we find a way.
5/15 - The things that need to get done get done. The things that need to get learned get learned. In the process, we find ways to discover and to express whom that we are. The process is amazing to behold. It is truly amazing watching the plan of spirit unfold.
5/16 - Each of us touch the lives of others. Some of us do this more than others, but all of us do this to some degree.
5/17 - What makes me think that any of this is worthy of public consumption? I enjoy what is expressed. But, would others find it interesting or beneficial?
5/18 - My sense is yes. The chief reason for this is that it offers a fresh perspective. It demonstrates consciousness in expression in a way that is rare and precious. The mystery behind its expression makes it that much more interesting.
5/19 - This is a spiritual vocation for me. It is my soul’s duty if you will. As such, I have no choice but to honor it. This is a sacred responsibility for me.
5/20 - We create community by giving of ourselves for the greater collective good.
5/21 - Communities, as collective entities embody synergy when they are functioning well. Actually, all organizations have the potential to do this. But, it is only potential ... until the organization operates in a manner where the power of synergy can be evoked.
5/22 - One day at a time. Allow things to unfold one day at a time. Trust that each day brings you closer to your destiny. You will be employed doing what you are meant to do soon enough.
5/23 - Be ready to accept new challenges and opportunities that come your way.
5/24 - There is no time to waste. Every moment is precious. Every moment offers the opportunity for us to make progress on our path.
5/25 - We are free to fashion our reality in any manner that we choose. However, we bear full responsibility for all consequences of our choices as well.
5/26 - It is amazing how much we are capable of when we apply ourselves fully to the tasks at hand.
5/27 - This is the grandest of new days that there is. The change of an age offers a completely new promise. It marks the end of one way of life and the beginning of a new way. Literally, the rules of the game change.
5/28 - We have equal opportunity. We can be whatever we want to be. We can achieve whatever our abilities and focus allow us to achieve.
5/29 - The free market provides a large variety of goods and services for us to choose from at competitive and fair prices.
5/30 - We are truly blessed to live in this country.
5/31 - One thing freedom does not guarantee is access to information. We live in an information age. We live in a world where information is power. For information to be powerful, it must be controlled. That means that someone decides who has a need to know what information.
JUNE
6/01 - I take responsibility for all that I create ... both consciously and other than consciously. I accept all that I experience as the result of choices that I either have made or chose not to make. Yes, the later are just as important as the former.
6/02 - Actually, the most important of these choices are the beliefs that we have adopted. These define the character of our life and the nature of the experiences that we draw into that life.
6/03 - Every change starts with the adoption of a more powerful thought form. .
6/04 - As time goes by, other than conscious parts of me tend to become conscious parts of me. That is what the process of self discovery is all about.
6/05 - The self is very much like an onion with layer after layer to be unpeeled. At times, it seems that there are so many layers that we may never get even close to the core.
6/06 - But, then, in our quiet times ... when we look within, we find that still place from whence we spring. It is in those times that we know whom that we are. It is in those times that we are in touch with our inner self ... the seat of our soul.
6/07 - We have a host of other than conscious forces within us that are actively engaged to do our bidding. We task them primarily via our belief system.
6/08 - What we do habitually ultimately determines our destiny.
6/09 - We take one step at a time in that direction, but it is in that direction. Unless we change, we will end up exactly where we are headed. And, for most, this is exactly where we have been for ages.
6/10 - Life is meant to unfold into ever greater and greater expression. It does so naturally if we allow it to. However, we have a tendency to get in our own way and set up roadblocks and impediments
6/11 - The fabric of reality is rich with meaning. It is up to us to decide which sections and patterns to focus upon ... and then to determine what meaning to apply to what we find.
6/12 - For any journey, we have to start with the first step. And sometimes, it doesn't really matter in what direction we take that first step ... what is important is that we overcome the inertia and start to move.
6/13 - We don't have to know the whole path when we start. We only need to know enough to begin or to course correct and keep us moving in the right direction.
6/14 - The unknown will be an ever-present part of our reality for all of our days. It is time that we get used to that and accept it. In fact, we can even find ways to use it to our advantage if we are innovative and think creatively.
6/15 - It is out of the unknown that our greatest abilities come. What we have experienced to date is only a small sample of what we can be if we harness the full power of spirit working through us. Yes, it is that simple. But, it is also that difficult.
6/16 - The expression seems to have a mind of its own. It knows where it wants to go and how to get there. I'm just along for the ride much of the time. I observe what comes through and am amazed that it can come forth through me.
6/17 - I don't deny what I experience. I embrace it and accept it. Yet, at the same time, I know that it is more than me doing it ... at least more than the conscious parts of me.
6/18 - When we choose how to expend our efforts, we need to keep in mind that we should focus on doing those things which only we may be able to do ... those things which use our unique gifts and talents. In doing so, we manifest the best that we can be.
6/19 - Don't get me wrong ... I care deeply about society in general, and about the expression of spirit in flesh in the lives of individuals within society. In fact, building the foundations that facilitate this is one of the primary reasons that I am here.
6/20 - Source and I, me and source, are ONE in the only ways that matter.
6/21 - There is a part of me that says that I am meant to go it alone ... to remain the hermit, ever observing life from that framework and offering what I can of my wisdom to the world.
6/22 - In this expression, I am interdependent on spirit herself to provide the very stream of consciousness that gets expressed. Without spirit, none of this would exist ... none of this expression would have ever been captured
6/23 - At this point, my personal reality is still my primary concern. But, my personal sense of reality is growing to encompass society and even the world. What I care most about is how spirit is able to express in the world.
6/24 - Everything happens for a reason, and sometimes for many reasons. That does not mean there is not an element of surprise in what we experience. The unknown is ever-present in virtually everything. If it were not, life might be boringly predictable ... too much so to be tolerable.
6/25 - This expression is the one thing that I do that has a chance of surviving physically once I am dead and gone.
6/26 - This is my greatest hope of making a real difference in the world. My circle of acquaintances is relatively small. Perhaps even very small by most peoples standards. But, what I can do is generate words. In particular, words that convey a meaning that consciousness would express through me at this time.
6/27 - Consciousness will not be forced. She reveals what can be revealed through us in each moment.
6/28 - The one thing still missing from my life is others ... especially when it comes to relationships of depth. As I near my 45th birthday, my honest assessment is that no one other than me really knows who I am.
6/29 - It is perfectly fine to be unconsciously competent. However, it is typically preferable if we reach this state after we have become consciously competent.
6/30 - To live as we believe, that is the admonition of our spirit. It is curious that believe has the letters of the word live in the right order.
JULY
7/01 - $1 per word seems to be a fair value for this work. That would allow me to generate enough money to get the foundations of Beyond Imagination rolling as well ... something that has bogged down to date for a variety of reasons
7/02 - Beyond Imagination is more than this expression. It is about doing things to create the foundations for a new world.
7/03 - This expression demands a level of openness on the part of the reader. Without this openness, much of the message is lost. Then again, we're not asking that the book reach millions of people ... though that would be nice. Tens of thousands would be respectable and more reasonable.
7/04 - How much do I believe in myself and my abilities? Not enough to venture out on my own without a contract providing financial backing … yet, enough to believe that I am creating exactly those circumstances required for my liberation here and now.
7/05 - My memory is such that I don't remember what is expressed from paragraph to paragraph, much less what is expressed from day to day.
7/06 - What is done is done. All that we can do is move on from here and express what spirit would have us express next. At this point we still don't know what that will be. We never really know until we see it happening. Even after a decade, the process is still a mystery.
7/07 - Mysteries are good. They challenge us and keep our interest. Not everything is meant to have an explanation, especially a logical explanation. Some things simply defy logic ... they exist in a realm outside of that in which logic or even rationality has power.
7/08 - We can use intuition to help find or assign the meaning to things. We all have powerful intuitions. Though, most of us have blocked the channels through which this intuition can pass information to us consciously.
7/09 - When we learn to touch the depths of our soul ... we also reach out and touch spirit. These two things go hand in hand. We cannot achieve one without the other.
7/10 - Who knows what pearls of wisdom might be captured? At any time the ideas necessary for my liberation or the liberation of others may be expressed.
7/11 - The world is alive with spiritual meaning. It is everywhere that we look. It is embedded in all of the symbol systems of the world. Everything has not one, not two, but multiple meanings.
7/12 - These meanings are in varying contexts that can have little to nothing to do with one another. Most people don't see any spiritual meaning in the world. However, they can be made to see it if it is pointed out to them clearly.
7/13 - A select few already catch glimpses of spiritual meaning ... maybe even vistas of it. They can be assisted to see even more. Further, they can be enlisted to serve as wayshowers for others.
7/14 - It is time people realize that they are spiritual beings living in a spiritual world.
7/15 - It is time we realize that most of our social problems are spiritual problems and that if we want to fix them, we are going to have to find spiritual solutions.
7/16 - We need to find ways to embrace others regardless of their differences.
7/17 - I would say that I am more awake and more aware than most. But it has cost me a lot to get to this state. Yet, the cost was for the most part a labor of love. It was something that I did because I was moved to do it and because I enjoyed doing it.
7/18 - How could something be so supremely important to me yet have so little importance to others? I never really did figure out an answer to that. The closest I came was a realization that each of us are on our own path and will draw to us those beliefs and experiences necessary to our own growth and development along that path.
7/19 - It is not for us to impose our way on anyone else. We can freely share our way with all who care to listen. Indeed, we are encouraged to do so. For, great benefits can come from such sharing. But, we must allow others the freedom to take away what they will in their own way and use it in whatever manner they see fit.
7/20 - It is by sharing that we evoke the power of synergy. We can learn from one another’s failures as well as successes ... and in doing so as a whole make fewer of the same mistakes and experience far more successes.
7/21 - It is amazing what we can do when we put our mind to something, especially if our heart is set on it as well. The mind and heart operating together is a very powerful combination indeed.
7/22 - We need something in our life that we can be passionate about. It doesn't matter what it is, but it needs to have the power to move us deeply.
7/23 - When I am dead and gone, this expression will be what is left to show for the life that I have lived. Is it worth my life? Yes, this expression is worth living for. I can't think of anything at this moment that is worth dying for.
7/24 - We are meant to live in an interdependent society. Actually, we already live in one, we just are not consciously aware of all of the interdependencies.
7/25 - I don't seem to think as others think. I don't seem to feel as others feel. I don't seem to be aware in the same way that others are aware. We are different in so many ways.
7/26 - Spirit can express freely regardless of the amount of restriction and oppression imposed ... though it does seem to take exceptional souls to demonstrate this to us.
7/27 - Spirit is amazing, however. She can literally move mountains if necessary to effect her works in the world.
7/28 - Yet, it seems she does most of this by revealing ideas and ideals to us ... ideas whose time we realize has come ... ideas we believe so strongly in that we are able to do what it takes to manifest them. This is no small feat. But, we are grand creatures ... and ours is a grand endeavor.
7/29 - These writings are my children ... probably the only ones that I will have in this existence.
7/30 - I trust that the words come from spirit. And, because of this, they have a level of credibility to me that I don't need to question.
7/31 - Though, I do remember being warned by a teacher about accepting anything without question. That hasn't stopped me. I've been believing things ... and believing them strongly for nearly a decade.
AUGUST
8/01 - For most of us, the garden of our beliefs is unkempt and overgrown with weeds. As a result, it is not really clear what we will get from it. The first order of business is to get our beliefs in order.
8/02 - One belief that helps in this is that there are no beliefs so hidden that we cannot reach them.
8/03 - Reality is subjective. The whole process of reality creation is subjective. It is not clear that the sciences will ever offer us answers in these domains. These are the domains of the spiritual.
8/04 - Yes, we will find that there are physical and mental counterparts to the spiritual parts of us. However, it is not clear how much of a picture these will give of the corresponding spiritual domain.
8/05 - Freedom doesn't mean that we don't have obligations. In fact, when we are free, it seems we are in the best position to be able to accept those obligations that are rightly ours to bear.
8/06 - Each of us have responsibilities ... sacred responsibilities that we must carry out during our life. The sooner that we accept this and accomplish it, the better.
8/07 - We are each special and unique. Spirit would have us celebrate this and allow it to permeate all that we do.
8/08 - Personally, I find the unknown fascinating. It is the appropriate realm in which spirit can be engaged in the pursuit of higher knowledge.
8/09 - It is from my spirit, not my mind, that much of this originates. And spirit’s depths are very deep indeed ... perhaps even unfathomable.
8/10 - Do what you are moved to do when you are moved to do it. That is the spiritual directive that I follow. To date, it has never steered me wrong ... not that I know of anyway.
8/11 - What does it take to get people to awaken ... to become aware of the true spiritual beings that they are so that they can begin to behave congruently with this?
8/12 - Never underestimate the spiritual component of individuals. It is there in each of us, a giant waiting to be unleashed to do its works in our lives. But, it only operates by invitation. We have to choose to make it an active part of our lives.
8/13 - Each of us came into this existence for a purpose, and probably not one but many purposes. Some of us are more single-minded than others. For me, right now anyway, this expression is it. This is where I live my life. This is where I choose to expend my free time.
8/14 - The only thing I find lacking is the fellowship and friendship of others. But, that has been lacking for my entire life to date. Why is that? Most of it is my own attitude toward people. I consider myself to be essentially a hermit. As such, I have effectively isolated myself from others.
8/15 - There is no way for me to build the foundations for a new world on my own. This will demand close collaboration and cooperation with others ... most likely many others.
8/16 - If my rough count is right, we are rapidly approaching 3 million words. Yes, that is a lot of expression. It would be impressive for a lifetime. But, that it has come forth part time in ten years is remarkable.
8/17 - I can't imagine a more positive spiritual experience than what this expression has brought into my life. I've shared it here as intimately as I can to give you a taste of what is possible.
8/18 - It is not clear that the words do justice to the spiritual states that they attempt to describe, but they are as close as I can come at the moment. My hope is that by reading these words you will be triggered to enter similar states of consciousness to those that I have experienced.
8/19 - I feel a sense of duty to use the many gifts that I have been given in service ... primarily in service to spirit, but in service to society, humankind, and even the whole world in the process.
8/20 - Can what one person does have that much impact? Can it make that much of a difference? I have to believe that the answer is yes. That is one of the reasons I choose to express for consciousness as I do.
8/21 - It is good to have a little magic and mystery in one's life. Not everything needs to be explained. Sometimes it is enough to be aware of some of the mechanics of a process to put it to use in our life. We don't need to know everything, just enough to apply the process.
8/22 - How would I go about changing the world ... especially I, who have had so little to do with the world for so much of my life to date? It does indeed seem ironic to say the least. But irony or not, my mission is as it is, and it will either come to pass or not.
8/23 - My sense is that I came into this existence by choice, specifically to play a particular role, to accomplish a particular mission. And, I will do my utmost to carry out that mission to the best of not only my abilities but those whom I can enlist to assist me.
8/24 - Synergy does indeed accrue from group endeavors when they are run properly. Further ... it is only through cooperative endeavors that the potential for synergy exists at all.
8/25 - It is curious that I, the epitome of the loner, would see myself as a world server and world transformer. But that is exactly how I see myself and my role. It doesn't matter that I live such an isolated life.
8/26 - It takes a lot of courage to allow spirit to express her will in our lives.
8/27 - There can be a fear that we will lose our sense of self in the process. Quite the contrary. I have found that I have gained not lost my sense of self through this expression.
8/28 - I'll see it when I believe it versus I'll believe it when I see it. These are two different ways of looking at reality. How do we know when we've allowed our beliefs to jump into the realm of mere wishful thinking? Does that even matter?
8/29 - Can we not make wishes come true as well if we apply the appropriate effort?
8/30 - Effectively, I am the container that spirit fills. She can only take the shape of the forms that I provide for her. The container that matters most to me is clearly that of my consciousness. It is this that I allow spirit to fill as she will.
8/31 - Each day is a new adventure. We never know when it begins just where it will take us.
SEPTEMBER
9/01 - Our life will be what we make of it. When we want it to be something different ... we need to make it be something different. This is always within our power to do. In fact, it is only within our power to do. No one can do it for us. This is something that we must do for ourselves.
9/02 - Quotes, especially the best quotes from the best minds of the ages have always given me inspiration. I find it curious that I come up with so many of them in my own expression.
9/03 - Does this expression serve people in some way? At the very least it provides some exercise for the consciousness. That alone makes it worth the price of admission as they say.
9/04 - I hope that what is expressed challenges you ... in particular, challenges your concepts of reality and spirituality. I know that this expression does that for me.
9/05 - We need to go beyond words, beyond imagination to actions that actually build the foundations for a better world.
9/06 - Consciousness by its very nature is subjective. It is something that we experience firsthand. Further, it is something that changes us as we experience it.
9/07 - We awaken from our slumbers. We become more and more aware with each new realization. That is what life is all about ... coming to realizations of whom that we are, and then applying this in some way of service in our world.
9/08 - Do these words take the reader to a different state of consciousness or a different state of mind? Do they show the reader what is possible when we allow spirit to assume a major role in our lives?
9/09 - It doesn't take much to be an information generator. One just has to allow it to happen. But, then again, I have a natural predisposition towards writing ... so perhaps have an unfair bias and advantage in this area.
9/10 - In relating the nature of my reality, I challenge people's concepts of who they believe that they are and what they believe about the nature of reality and the nature of consciousness. I do this purposefully ... with the hope of helping people to awaken and become more aware of the grand spiritual beings that they are.
9/11 - I am a unique being in all of creation. No one has ever had the education, programming, and experiences that I have had to get me to this place in life. Note that everyone can make this exact same statement.
9/12 - We are all unique points of consciousness. Each of us see the world in our own way. This does not mean that we can't share what we see with others. They may not get it. But, they may get enough of it to relate to it.
9/13 - Sharing is important. We share what we have, we share what we experience, and we even share of whom that we are. This latter is the most important of all. For, whom that we are is more valuable than diamonds or gold.
9/14 - We are souls incarnate. We are spirit having a physical experience. It is very important that we remember this and behave accordingly.
9/15 - Under any circumstance, the choice that is optimal is always what spirit would choose to do. If we can do that most of the time, we will have lived our lives well.
9/16 - It seems that I have entered a phase of my life where I am meant to manifest this expression on a major scale. It seems that we need to go one step further and manifest the stuff of which the expression speaks as well.
9/17 - There is a destiny that is playing itself out in my life right now, a spiritual destiny. I believe this to be true for each of us if we seriously examine our lives. It is for us to find what this destiny is for us, and then to do it to the best of our ability.
9/18 - Why is it that this particular stream of consciousness is selected to be captured, recorded, and shared in this manner? What distinguishes this stream of consciousness from other streams of consciousness?
9/19 - The bottom line as always is to do what we are moved to do when we are moved to do it ... knowing that it is spirit herself that is the motive force in our life.
9/20 - When we find source, our lives improve dramatically. Our attitudes change. Our reality improves. A whole new realm of possibility for what we can do with our life opens up before us.
9/21 - Each of us can apply ourselves in ways that provide value added. For some this is easier than for others. It is generally best if we do this in an area that is something that we love to do. We can always find such areas. Though, we may have to go searching for them.
9/22 - It seems that the time is right for unleashing Beyond Imagination unto the world. I've been waiting a whole decade for this time.
9/23 - I have been hoping that spirit would guide whoever was meant to find me to the Beyond Imagination site, but this simply is not happening ... at least not in anywhere close to the numbers that I had hoped.
9/24 - I would build the foundations for a new world. Yes, that is about as grandiose a task as one can get. But, every nerve and sinew in me vibrates to this task.
9/25 - There is nothing that says your primary job is the one for which you are paid, or is the one which takes the most time in your life.
9/26 - There is a reason that this stream of consciousness expression is captured in the manner that it is. My sense is that it is meant to be an example of what is possible.
9/27 - There is a sense that my world is about to change in a major way ... it is as if my reality is to be blown wide open. I've reached a breakpoint once again. And, there is nothing to guide me as to what life will be like on the other side of the breakpoint.
9/28 - A breakpoint offers us a chance for a paradigm shift, a chance to see the world in a whole new way. But, we have to be open to it. It doesn't force its way onto us.
9/29 - We have chosen an interesting time in which to incarnate. At no time in history have the opportunities for spiritual expression been as great.
9/30 - There is only so much free time per day. Until I find a way to free up more time for the work of Beyond Imagination, I am resource constrained ... with the primary resource being my own time.
OCTOBER
10/01 - Indeed, knowledge is power. However, it is powerful only when it is in the right minds and only when it is used effectively.
10/02 - Consciousness works through us. If things are to happen, they will happen by and through us. We have to take responsibility.
10/03 - Cooperative interdependence is how we create the synergy necessary to do great works ... and these are great things that we are trying to achieve.
10/04 - We have a society and a world to create in whatever image we would choose to fashion it. We are that powerful. We are creators all. We have chosen to live in a time when what we dream, what we imagine, can be manifest in short order. But, be advised, be careful what you wish for ... you just may get it and have to live with it for awhile.
10/05 - Spirit can be trusted to act in our best interest ... not necessarily individually, but collectively.
10/06 - We are individuals for a reason, yet a great deal of our power comes from the organizations within the collective that we choose to participate within.
10/07 - When we see lack ... we are not living up to our potential. When we see poverty, when we see hunger and starvation, when we see homelessness, ... when we see all of these things, we as a society are failing in major ways. It is not that we don't have enough. We have the resources, we have the technology, we just don't have the resolve to make the problems our problems and commit the resources to fix them.
10/08 - We are one people on one world on one planet, this spaceship Earth. Further, we are animated by one consciousness. At what point are we going to drop some of the country boundaries and start seeing one another as the brothers and sisters that we are.
10/09 - There is another saying, if it is to be, it is up to me. In this we declare our power over the events not only in our lives, but potentially in our world.
10/10 - We can literally work miracles when we allow spirit to operate as fully as possible through us. And, in the process, we can make not only our live, but the lives of those we touch into masterpieces.
10/11 - The sense is that for things to happen now ... we must do what it takes to make them happen. They will not manifest of their own accord. It takes our energy and our intent to feed them and coax them into being.
10/12 - We build a better world by building better organizations in which to participate in and from which to get goods and services.
10/13 - I trust that spirit knows what she is doing. In particular, she knows where she is leading me in the dance that is my life. The best that I can do is find a way to enjoy the process.
10/14 - The destination is often not the most important thing while we are on the path ... rather, it is finding a way to enjoy the journey.
10/15 - Whether the world is as I perceive it is a matter for philosophy. My reality is clearly as I perceive it ... but this can change in an instant if I decide to see the world in a different light.
10/16 - We each live in the shadows of our choosing. Most of these are imposed by the belief systems that we have accepted. To change what we experience, we need to go to the source, and change the core belief systems.
10/17 - Our lives can unfold before us effortlessly. Though, many prefer the challenges of problems of various types ... and hence engage in them.
10/18 - We need some drama in our life to keep things interesting ... to keep us awake. Uncertainty can do this to us as well. The unknown has a way of shaking up our lives if we allow it to.
10/19 - There is something powerful about spiritual expression. It consumes us ... yet, it exhilarates us at the same time.
10/20 - We have a new world to create ... we have foundations to build. We have dreamed of grand things and have kept our castles in the clouds for far too long. It is time to plant the foundations under them and bring them down to earth.
10/21 - Choice without action in accord with the choice is no choice at all. It is action that makes choice real.
10/22 - We are meant to be stewards ... caretakers of the things that are under our stewardship, one of these being the very planet.
10/23 - Mine is a life of obligation, but it is a voluntary one. I willingly accept the responsibility to do what is mine to do ... trusting that spirit herself will show me what this is when I need to know it.
10/24 - Consciousness is the key that unlocks all the doors. In fact, she is the very mansion of the Self. She is the stuff in all of the rooms behind all of the doors.
10/25 - In life, it is the journey that is the thing ... it is what we experience on the way in our day to day lives that matters most.
10/26 - We are powerful creators one and all. It is time that we realized this and used our natural abilities to benefit our society and our world.
10/27 - Years ago I realized that independence was a farce. We are connected and interdependent in so many ways that we cannot exist without one another.
10/28 - In a rapidly changing world, forms and organizations either need to evolve or they will die. Flexibility is critical.
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