Expand & Transcend

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds:  your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

Pantanjali

Makes sense when you think about it.

Remember: "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the
intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other -
body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming --- "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

To kill an American

To Kill an American

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was
actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper
an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let
everyone know what an American is, so they would know when they found
one.

"An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish,
Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican,
African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian,
or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho,
Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native
Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim.

In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only
difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them
chooses.

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will
answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to
speak for the government and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the
world.
The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of
Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the
pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every
other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in
return.

When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans
came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their
country!

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any
other nation to the poor in Afghanistan. Americans welcome the best of
everything...the best products, the best books, the best music, the best
food, the best services. But they also welcome the least.

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your
tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the
homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built
America.

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September
11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that
the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different
countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and
abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did
General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty
tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing
yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a
particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of
freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

Sunday Morning

Another Sunday morning. I just finished making breakfast and cleaning up the dishes. I forgot that Cam doesn’t like cheese in his eggs. So sorry buddy. I was able to do a little more reading in the latest (In the Presence of High Beings) of 6 or 7 books I’ve started in the last few months. This one is about a Therapist in Hawaii, and her relationship and experiences with the many hotel kept and wild dolphins. She feels that they have communicated with each other, and to the extent that they have taught her many things about how to live life with joy and fun and love and true thoughts. Interestingly, she comments on the movie “what the bleep do we know?” and the whole manifest your world through your thoughts issue.

It seems that for years I was reading and reading about many different peoples, religions, spiritual practices, scientific studies, etc, and they were all different with occasional similarities. Lately though, this year in particular, things seem to either come together or maybe just come into focus for me. Frankly, I’m grateful for the convergence. I think it started when I started to study Shamanic practices from around the world. More and more commonalities seemed to appear. More agreements from different cultures, from different places, and times. More of “Be present in the moment because nothing else exists” more “The universe responds to your intense desires, be clear about what you want” more “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it”.  

Frozen water crystals that are beautiful when they are around a laughing baby, but are frozen in ugly patterns when they are around conflict. Sub-atomic particles that seem to respond to the expectations of researchers.  Shamanic healing performed from miles away, much less at a distance.  More and more people believing in, knowing about and seeking practitioners of energy therapies such as Reiki. We are clearly affecting our surrounding at a quantum level. Stand by people, something is changing, and it is happening at an incredible rate. Never before in history has any kind of knowledge, idea or information been able to be transferred from one person to tens of thousands in less than 24 hours. It’s almost as if the world was waiting for the Internet. A great tool for knowledge transfer as well as financial equality.

Its funny how many things in this world are “Like” something else. Like, raising a teenager is like fishing. You need to use some kind of bait to keep them close and interested, but you don’t want them to see the attached strings. Or, you want to keep the relatively close (hooked) so you need a adjust the drag from time to time (choose your battles) to give them some room to run (space) cause if you tighten the drag down to much (strict) they’ll rip the hook out (run away, physically or emotionally) and they are lost forever. Unless of course there are others fishing for your child (friends or acquaintances) with better bait (sex, drugs, alcohol, money) and bigger hooks.

I am sitting here on November 6th after a flash thunderstorm, watching the sun reflect off of the most beautiful yellow, orange and red leaves that I can remember seeing. Leaves that in previous years would have been gone a few weeks ago. Not only that, but There is a single gorgeous yellow rose next to my patio just swaying in the wind. Did I mention that it is November? I know that in another few days most of those leaves will be browning up and falling away. Like a light bulb burning more brightly just prior to burning out and going dark. I appreciate the leaves and the roses holding out so long this year. These are living forces that I brought together around my home and I love them all. My maples, roses, cherries, oaks and many many pines. All the plants around the ponds and the yard that contributed to creating a peaceful place for my family to grow. Maybe I appreciate their efforts more this year because in 2 weeks we will be moving away. Not far away, but away none-the-less. I know it may sound silly, but I will miss them all. All my friends that stood almost silently by casting cool shadows as my wife and I raised our babies into young men, as we shared our morning coffee and thoughts of life, as we shared our evening coronas and vented to each other. Burn brightly my friends, and know that you are forever burned into the pages of my mind.