Nonduality Salon Highlights, #1537

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#1537 - Thursday, August 28, 2003 - Editor: Jerry

Mars Sauce. Contributed by Sam to NDS

Movie reviews and comments:

Freyja Harsha Satsangh

Winged Migration - a film by Jacques Perrin

A tremendous heart-opener,
simply awe-inspiring depiction of innate intelligence
and tremendous variety of genetic combinations
and behaviors among birds and other species.
Cinematography is absolutely heavenly.
This film places you right THERE.

Freyja

http://www.sonyclassics.com/wingedmigration/home.html

(please copy and paste url)

'Winged Migration' a stunning global journey
By Matt Soergel

Winged Migration is as close as we'll ever get to flying with the birds. This French documentary of mind-blowing beauty puts you right there with migratory birds, so close there on the big screen that you can see the close-up ruffling of individual feathers in flight, hear the actual beating of their wings.And down below us, zooming by, is the natural and man-made of the Earth: the desert, the tundra, the Arctic, the sea pounding against the coast of Antarctica, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, the skyline of New York (with the World Trade Center towers still standing).

That vicarious thrill is what separates Winged Migration from the various nature shows you can catch on cable. It's almost impossible to overstate how breathtaking much of it is: Many movies hope to build to a couple of mind-boggling visual moments that make your jaw drop. This film is packed with them, so many that it can just sprinkle them almost willy-nilly throughout. And then, as if that's not enough, the filmmakers just casually slip in, oh, say, a huge avalanche or an iceberg breaking apart -- just because they can.

Winged Migration Credits: Directed by Jacques Perrin.Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes.Family guide: G.

Winged Migration is a four-year project for French filmmaker Jacques Perrin and his huge crew, which included pilots in gliders and hot-air balloons who helped him get those rapturous fly-with-the-bird shots.That commitment of time and resources led to all those astounding moments:
Watch for a captured tropical bird trying to escape from a cage on the Amazon. Watch how crabs on the African shoreline attack a doomed, broken-winged bird. Watch how the sky turns black with birds.That's just a start -- almost any scene, any image, could be singled out.

A couple of quibbles: The music might be too New Agey for some (the visuals alone are inspiring enough). And the skimpy narration, by Perrin himself, feels a bit trite; it can't match the power of the visuals. Truth be told, though, what could?

Gloria

This movie review is a forward, but I did see it myself recently,
and I heartily second the recommendation. Seeing it is a unique
opportunity to be one with the birds.

Mark Otter NDS

Bowling for Columbine

Finally!!! Bowling for Columbine is out on video and DVD. I've been
looking forward to it for some months now, and today I finally had a
chance to rent it.

All I can say is thank you Mr. Moore.

I was a member of a small egroup awhile back, in which there were
about 10 posts in the two months that I was a member, pretty much all
of which were a very slow conversation about "enlightenment movies",
with mentions of the Matrix and a few other obvious choices, but no
real discussion of why they were "enlightenment movies.".

Bowling for Columbine is an enlightenment movie. It starts here. We
are the universe's fools. We are the clowns in the big circus. We
should see this and stop this crap.

I also rented the first two DVDs of the third season of the Simpsons.
I'm not sure which is goofier, or which is more true. I'll watch some
more Simpsons now, and if I have more to say about Hatha yoga after
doing so, I'll be sure to mention it.

If you haven't seen it, go rent Bowling for Columbine. It's important.
But go look at Mars first.

Love, Mark

Viorica
Harsha Satsangh

D. How can I get peace? I do not seem to obtain it through vichara.

Maharshi :
Peace is your natural state. It is the mind that obstructs the natural state. Your vichara has been made only in the mind. Investigate what the mind is and it will disappear. There is no such thing as mind apart from thought. Nevertheless, because of the emergence of thought, you surmise something from which it starts and term that the mind. When you probe to see what it is, you find there is really no such thing as mind. When the mind has thus vanished, you realise eternal peace.

-The Maharshi's Gospel

svcs
I Am

Questioner: In the Theosophical Society they meditate in order to
seek masters to guide them.

Sri Ramana Maharshi: The master is within; meditation is meant to
remove the ignorant idea that he is only outside. If he is a stranger
whom you await, he is bound to disappear also. What is the use of a
transient being like that? But so long as you think you are separate
or that you are the body, an external master is also necessary and he
will appear to have a body. When the wrong identification of oneself
with the body ceases, the master will be found to be none other than
the Self.

Hari aum !!!

Mary Bianco
NDS News Service

http://www.citypages.com/databank/24/1186/article11456.asp

Fly Me to the Moon

To a house divided and a marriage that keeps going bump in the night

by Jim Walsh

The best love story I know started in the Irish-Catholic ghetto of south Minneapolis on August 28, 1948, and rounds the bend this weekend at a resort in Deerwood, Minnesota, where its makers will somewhat reluctantly celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

The guests of honor don't want any fuss, but they don't have a choice, because what their friends and family and six kids and their spouses have come to know is that marriage is a song that goes bump in the night, and that all sorts of good people with good dreams die and/or change. So if you get the chance to step back and wonder at something this durable, this thriving, you seize it with champagne and wisecracks and everything you've got. And if you can, you write it down for anyone who might happen upon it, because it's a love story worth telling--about soul mates/opposites attracting and drifting and staying together--and because it pretty much explains why I am the way I am and why I still think love is the answer to most any question you've got.

My parents met at the now-demolished Prom Ballroom on University Avenue in St. Paul. She was 17, he was 19. They were with different dates that night, listening to Gene Krupa's big band, and they hit it off immediately. She liked his blue eyes and easy smile and his love of music and the fact that he didn't drink. He liked her blue eyes and easy smile and her quick wit and the fact that she didn't drink. "We got along famously," he said many years later, but at the time a friend told him, "Hey bubby, she's hot for you but you'll never get to first base with her."

They dated for three years, then he went off to fight for his country in Korea. For two years, they carried pictures of each other and wrote love letters. When he came home, they got married and he got a job and they started a family: Four kids in three-and-a-half years, then two more for good measure. "Those were some really tough times, but as somebody said, I'd go back and do it all over again," she said. "When you have a bunch of little kids, it's intense. But never in our minds was there a question that there was any different way to live or any choice to be made, because we'd made our choice. It wasn't as if you couldn't do anything differently, but it was a commitment. A commitment of love."

They were good Catholics. They went to church every Sunday with the kids in tow, filling up one pew in the big neighborhood church that his parents and all their friends and their kids' schoolmates went to. They did the stations of the cross and the angelus and the rosary and the one that goes "remember man that you are dust and to dust you shall return." But something nagged at him. The answers he was getting were too easy, and his questions were getting more complicated. During his lunch breaks from work, he started going to the bookstore, and began devouring what decades later would be known as alternative spirituality--Buddhism, mysticism, Vernon Howard, J. Krishnamurti, Edgar Cayce. He stopped going to church, and, one by one, their kids followed.

She kept going. By herself. She too soon tired of the stuffy neighborhood church and found another family, in the old and young and black and white community at St. Leonard's of Port Maurice, a tiny church in the heart of Minneapolis. She still goes. Every Sunday. She does readings and sings songs and prays and feels the love of God and humanity. She has been known to walk out of the service if something the pastor says riles her. She is unwavering in her belief that there is a God, a creator of all things beautiful. She is a lioness of faith.

"I don't believe in God," he said. "I go back to the quote, 'A hundred monks, a hundred different ideas of what or who God is.' I don't believe there's a creator. It's very hard to explain, but I believe that we are the creators of ourselves. We are it. It's an ongoing process--never started, and it will never end. We are the creators, and we have to figure out ourselves what that is."

"Dad's a spiritual person," she said. "He's seeking God in his way, and I am in my way. We respect each other."

"We've both come to realize that it's very personal," he said. "Every individual goes on their own search. And when you're lowered in that box into the ground, you're alone, and you'd better have it figured out for yourself."

They live in a modest house in west Bloomington, surrounded by books and baubles of long-term love and pictures of their children and grandchildren. But it is, as they laugh, "a house divided." He is a staunch Republican. She is a bleeding-heart liberal. He is a bullheaded conservative. She is a fierce feminist. He monitors the Drudge Report and Rush Limbaugh and Eckhart Tolle and the Belfast Cowboys and margaritas. She monitors public radio and Tommy Mischke and Jeopardy! and the Belfast Cowboys and white wine. Her glass is half full, his is half empty. She loves big groups of people, he loves solitude. She likes to travel, he likes the Travel Channel. She golfs, he runs. They read everything that comes into the house, and argue about it--columnists, news stories, facts, figures, minutiae. Nothing is taboo; nothing gets swept under the carpet.

"It's a very flavorful part of our marriage," he said. "I often think of guys who go home to their wives who go, 'Yes, dear' and they agree on everything. I don't know. It's so strange. We argue. And we argue. Not about religion, mostly about politics. And we swear we're not going to do it, but then the next day's paper comes."

On New Year's Day, I set up a video camera and sat them down at their dining room table to ask them about their lives. She wore a Pioneer Press sweatshirt, he wore a blue sweater. She sat with her hands folded in front of her and laughed at everything he said. He played with a Hershey's Kiss that was sitting on the table and joked that I wanted to get them on tape because I think they're going to die soon.

He's a smart son of a gun. Years from now I will look at that tape, as I did the other night, and I'll cue it up to the part where he tears up talking about his definition of love ("Coming in that driveway and seeing her in the kitchen window"), and I will remember the night a couple of months ago, when I went over to their house to watch Punch Drunk Love with him, and, just as I was going into the kitchen to get something to drink, I saw him kiss her goodnight, turned away because it felt sacred, and it will give me a shot in the arm and something to shoot for.

"I can remember times being very sad that that newness is gone, because it's so precious," she said. "Now there's such a peacefulness. It doesn't compare with the newness. They're both wonderful. The middle times were much harder, because we were so busy and there were so many people to care for. And to have this at the end of the road--to be alone together..."

"...It's fun," he said, twirling the Hershey's Kiss like a top.

Joe Markel
NDS

Hatchalas Hachochmah - The Beginning of Wisdom (Chapter 1)

Many people think only Chassidim and Sfardim study Kabbalah. I have a translation of a book written by a student of the Gra (the Gaon of
Vilna - an opponent of the Chassidim).

There is an introduction in the Hebrew book which is a collection of Divrei
RaZa"L (words of the sages) on the importance of learning Chochmas HaEmes
(the true wisdom - Kabbalah).

The Gra's shita (Methodology) is different than Chabad's but since this is a
Primary it's not much different. However I will probably not answer questions on it.

Here is the first part:

The Beginning of Wisdom
A Compendium of Primary Kabbalistic Principles

The first print of the book was in 1893 but more than that is not known
except that it was written by a student of the GR"A.

You are free to disseminate posts of Hatchalas Hachochmah - The Beginning of Wisdom series by electronic or hard copy as long as they are reproduced in
their entirety and include the copyright

Translated and copyrighted by Rabbi Amiram Markel

General Principles of Kabbalah
Chapter one

    (Which explains the matter of the sefirot, their names and G-d's conduct
toward the worlds.)

    1. Since G-d is not confined to time and space or any other
limitations, Kabbalah refers to Him as Ayn Sof - The Infinite. As he is
infinite and boundless, so is the power of His Will.

    2. The prohibition against the contemplation of G-d's essence is widely
known. Whatever is related about   G-d pertains only to His Will and
providence, which are manifest by His actions. This general rule applies to
all Kabbalah, as stated by Rabbeinu Moshe Chaim Luzzatto in his book Adir
Bamarom, "It is self evident that any expression regarding the Emanator,
Blessed Be He, refers only to His actions rather than his essence."

    3. There are ten sefirot by which G-d, Blessed Be He, creates and
conducts the worlds.
They Are:
        KETER - CROWN,
        CHOCHMAH - WISDOM,
        BINAH - UNDERSTANDING,
        CHESES - KINDNESS,
        GEVURAH - MIGHT,
        TIFERET - BEAUTY,
        NETZACH - VICTORY,
        HOD - MAJESTY,
        YESOD - FOUNDATION,
        MALCHUT - KINGDOM.

    4. The Sefirot are those divine faculties which G-d utilizes to create
and conduct the worlds.

    5. G-d governs the world with three general modes of conduct; Pure
Kindness - Chesed, Pure Judgement - Din, and the median conduct of Mercy -
Rachamim.

    6. Keter influences great and unabounded kindness and mercy without
discerning the merit of the recipient. This is because Keter represents
G-d's ultimate intention in creation, that is to benifit All, as the talmud
states on the verse, "I will be gracious to whomever I will be gracious," -
even to the unworthy.

    7. Chochmah, too, is free of Judgement, influencing the world with great
kindness including the unworthy, but, not to the extent of Keter.
    The quality of Binah is kindness as well, yet to a lesser degree. This
is because judgements begin to arise in Binah, as mentioned in the blessing:
"Who gives the rooster the understanding (Binah) to discern (Judgement)
between day and night," - For sometimes, in order to prevent anarchy, G-d
excercises judgement upon the world, so that evil, though a necessary
component in creation for the purpose of choise, not be left unchecked.
This judgement, in truth, is a kindness to the world. Moreover, kindness
may be the motivating factor of severity, as scripture states, "For whom the
L-rd loves, He corrects," and, "As a man chastens his son so does the L-rd
your G-d chasten you."

    8. Keter, Chochmah, and Binah are called the first or upper three
sefirot. When any of these are revealed, it is a time of great mercy and
goodwill toward the world. They reflect G-d's ultimate intention in the
world, unobstructed by the deeds of man.

    9. Chesed is Pure Kindness, though only to the meritorious, as is the
reward of the righteous in Gan Eden. Gevurah is Pure Judgement and
retribution to the guilty, as is the punishment of the wicked in Genhenom.
Tiferet is the median conduct of Mercy, between Chesed and Gevurah, but
inclines more toward Kindness than Judgement.

    10.   Netzach is Kindness tempered with Judgement, for example,
sometimes the righteous suffer in this world for their few errors, to be
ultimatly rewarded in the world to come - the seemingly negative being
ultimately positive.

    11. Hod is Judgement tempered with Kindness, for example, sometimes the
wicked prosper in this world for their few virtues, to be ultimately
destroyed in the world to come, as scripture states, "He pays his enemy up
front to destroy him," - the seemingly positive being ultimately negative.
Yesod is the median conduct between Netzach and Hod, tempered by both, but
inclining more toward Judgement than Kindness. The world is generally
conducted through this faculty.

    12. The six sefirot (Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod)
are collectively called the System of Justice in that they are responsive to
human deeds, for even Chesed, which is pure kindness, applies only to the
meritorious.

    13. Keter is called Arich Anpin - Patient, because it represents
unqualified mercy, which will only be fully realized in the world to come.
(This gives the righteous the opportunity to acquire greater merit, and the
wicked the chance to repent.) The six sefirot are called Zeir Anpin - Short
Tempered, because they represent the qualified system of justice by which
the world is presently being conducted.

    14. Malchut is the medium for Divine providence through which the
kingdom of G-d and his presence - Shechinah, will be realized and accepted
by All. This sefirah has a dual function; it is a conduit that accepts mans
good deeds and prayers, and responds by transmiting divine influence upon
them.

    15. The term sefirot means Numbers - Mispar. The concept of sefirot
can therefore be applied to many matters. Everything that exists can be
divided into ten sefirot.

    16. Scripture states: "All the hosts of heaven stand by Him to His
right and to His left." The sages asked, "And are there right and left
above? But rather, the right for virtue and the left for guilt."
Therefore, a sefirah which influences Kindness to the worthy is
allegorically considered "right" and one which influences Judgement upon the
guilty is allegorically considered "left".

    17. A diagram of the sefirot conveying this concept would therefore
appear thus: Keter in the top center position, since it is the root of all.
Under it, Chochmah to the right and Binah to the left, since in Binah
descernments begin to arise. Under them Chesed to the Right and Gevurah to
the left, with the median conduct of Tiferet centered below. Below them,
Netzach to the right and Hod to the left, with the median conduct of Yesod
centered below. Under Yesod, in the center, Malchut which recieves from
All.

    18. This diagram is allegorically called the Ten Upright Sefirot -
Esser Sefirot D'Yosher.

    19. There is also a diagram of concentric circles in which Keter
encompasses Chochmah, which in turn encompasses Binah, etc., with Malchut at
its center. This diagram is called the Ten Sefirot of Circles - Esser
Sefirot D'Igulim. It conveys principles in the development of the worlds
one from the other, and indicates that the more essential the conduct, the
more all encompassing it is. But, when the subject is the divine system of
conduct, the quality of its various modes and their interrelationships, the
diagram of the ten upright sefirot is used. (The GR"A states that the
circular sefirot indicate general providence and the upright sefirot,
individual providence.)

    20. Malchut is more severe than the six sefirot of Zeir Anpin, which
represent the system of justice. For since Malchut is called "Righteous
Judgement", it is more exacting. Only at times, through the merit of
mankind does Malchut join Chesed (Kindness) resulting in Rachamim (Mercy).

    21. A general conduct which is an expression of judgement, such as
Malchut, is allegorically considered female. This is one reason that
Malchut is often called Nukve (Female).

    22. Binah is somewhat severe relative to Chochmah, since discernments
begin to arise in it. Therefore, it too, is considered female.
Accordingly, in kabbalistic terminology, when the judgemental aspect of a
particular sefirah is mentioned, the feminine gender is used. For example,
"Arich Anpin and his Female", refers to Keter, which is the quality of
absolute mercy, and the potential judgement dormant in it.
    Gevurah and Hod, though they are expressions of judgement, are not gener
ally considered female. This is because they are integral components in the
reward and punishment of the System of Judgement - Zeir Anpin, and do not
function independently of it.

    23. The sefirot have both revealed and concealed aspects. The revealed
is considered external, and the concealed, internal. An example of the
concealed aspect is a kindness done in secrecy in which the kindness or
goodness is not recognized, as stated in Proverbs: "Good is a revealed
rebuke coming from a hidden love," and as stated in Talmud, "The recipient
of a miracle does not recognize it as such."

    24. Sometimes instead of Keter, Daat is enumerated amongst the sefirot.
The GR"A explained that the inclusion of Keter reflects the inner aspect,
while the inclusion of Daat, reflects the external aspect.

    25. This is because the quality of Keter - Great Mercy is not presently
revealed. It will only be fully realized in the world to come. This is
indicated by the divine name E-H-E-Y-E-H - "I will be," in the future tense,
meaning, "I am destined to be" - after the six thousandth year of creation.
Since the conduct toward the world is preparatory to G-d's ultimate intent
of benefiting all, Keter, though concealed, is its underlying and motivating
force, as stated in the Talmud, "Everything that the Merciful One does is
for the good."
    For this reason, Keter is only counted in respect to the hidden inner
aspect but regarding the external aspect, Daat is counted instead, since it
represents that minute revelation of Keter in this world, on a lesser level.
It is, therefore, centered under Chochmah (which is free of Judgement) and
Binah (in which discernments begin to arise) being a median conduct betwen
them.

    26. All that is revealed and is known to us of Keter is that this world
is preparatory to its revelation in the world to come. Accordingly, Keter
is the root of all present conducts since it was G-d's original intent to
reveal Keter through them - "The last deed being in the first thought."

    27. This explains the above statement that Keter is counted regarding
the inner aspect, but regarding the external aspect, Daat is counted
instead, and Keter is only considered the root. Keter is therefore called
Ayn - Nothingness and Raysha D'Ayn - The Primal Nothingness, because we
comprehend almost nothing of it. Accordingly, the GR"A states that,
"revelation begins with Chochmah." The order of the sefirot would then be:
Chochmah, Binah, Daat, Chesed, etc.

    28. Thus, since the revealed aspect begins with Chochmah and Binah,
they are called Father and Mother - Abba V'Ima, for since discernments begin
to arise in Binah, it is considered female.

    29. The sefirot can therefore be categorized into five general modes of
conduct (Partzufim):
    Arich Anpin - Patient, for Keter,
    Abba - Father, for Chochmah,
    Ima - Mother, for Binah,
    Zeir Anpin - Short Tempered, for the six sefirot Chesed, Gevurah,
Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod (which collectively constitute the System
of Justice,
    and, Nukvah - The Female, for Malchut.

    30. Sometimes the ten sefirot are categorized as the five kindnesses
and the five severities. The five kindnesses are:
    Keter,
    Chochmah,
    Chesed,
    Tiferet, (since it inclines toward kindness),
    and, Netzach.
The five severities are:
    Binah,
    Gevurah,
    Hod,
    Yesod (since it inclines toward judgement),
    and Malchut.

    31. The six sefirot of Zeir Anpin are called Vav Kitzvot (The Six
Corners), corresponding to the six directions in the world:
    Chesed - corresponds to south,
    Gevurah - to the north,
    Tiferet - to the east,
    Netzach - to up,
    Hod - to down,
    and Yesod - to the west.

    32. G-d formed all the limbs and organs of man corresponding to the
supernal conducts. Each of man's limbs hints at a divine conduct. Since
there are ten general sefirot, so too, in man, there are ten general
corresponding parts:
    The Head - corresponds to the first three sefirot,
    The Skull and Membrane - to Keter,
    The Right Hemisphere of the Brain - to Chochmah,
    The Left Hemisphere of the Brain - to Binah,
    (The Cerebellum -Back brain - to Daat)
    The Right Arm and Hand - to Chesed,
    The Left Arm and Hand - to Gevurah,
    The Torso - to Tiferet,
    The Right Leg and Foot, to Netzach,
    The Left Leg and Foot, to Hod,
    The Male Organ (which carries the sign of the Holy Covenant - Brit
Kodesh) - To Yesod
    and the Glans (Ateret Habrit) - to Malchut.

    33. Kabbalah sometimes refers to the sefirot by the names of their
corresponding limbs in man. For example, Keter is called Gulgalta - Skull;
Chochmah and Binah are called Mochin - The Brains; Chesed is called The
Right Arm, etc.. Obviously, these names are allegorical. It should not,
G-d Forbid, enter ones mind that any image or form exists, for this would
certainly be an absolute error, constituting a complete denial of Torah.
----------------------------------------------------------------

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Rabbi Yossi Markel

Moshiach@nauticom.net

The material in this series is copyrighted by Rabbi Amiram Markel

Mazie
Listcology

The Neutrality of Technology.

This site discusses the question of technology's "neutrality," but
also will introduce you to the thinking of such important figures in
the history of technology as Martin Heidegger, Jacques Ellul,
Marshall McLuhan and others. It also deals briefly with some of the
psychological, philosophic and ethical assumptions about technology.
The following are a few of the topics which we would like to pursue.
This list is not intended to be comprehensive nor is it given in any
particular order of importance. As this section develops new topics
will undoubtedly emerge. Let us know your interests and any
suggestions you may have.

1. How the computer is changing our notion of self and relationships
to other selves.

The shifting sense of self as being multiple and how this is abetted
through the Internet. Current theories of self by Sherry Turkle,
Andrew Samuels, James Hillman, Kenneth Gergen, Robert Jay Lifton, et
al.

2. A "disembodied" culture

Through our technology we are in flight from our bodies, the earth,
and mortality.

3. A cyborgean future?

The breakdown of the boundaries between what is human and what is
artificial

4. Virtual reality versus real life

Our culture is increasingly one of simulation in which the
artificial is taken for real and preferred to the real.

5. Surface versus depth

A characteristic of a technological culture is its superficiality,
its surface quality.

6. Linear versus non-linear

The computer employs hyper-text, that is non-linear, linked
discourse. How does this affect the way we think, articulate our
ideas, express our thoughts? How does it affect our attitude toward
literature? Does it make the narrative obsolete?

7. The triumph of the image

Our culture is dominated by the image. It pervades our psyches by
means of television, film, videos, advertisement and computer. What
does this do to our individual imaginal powers? Are they corrupted
or enlivened by this environment?

8. The dark world of "cyberpunk" fiction and films

"Cyberpunk" portrays a dystopian future controlled by worldwide
computer networks, battling artificial intelligences in a world
dominated by global capitalism. Its protagonists are politically
apathetic, alienated, use hallucinogenic drugs, cyborg implants, and
trance states to carry out their criminal and/or heroic missions
within the realms of virtual reality. A good example of this type
are the films "Blade Runners" and "The Matrix."

9. Women and technology

10. The corporate connection

11. The Internet and children

12. What about those who do not have access to the Internet?

www. cgjungpage.org/psychtech/techresources.html - link no longer active

Benny

You know Mazie I am now no longer considering thoughts from important persons I am now considering thoughts from idiots, fools, plants, animals, and unimportant things. I have had it up to my ears with thoughts of overintellectuals who are all as unbalanced and lopsidedly developed as any other beings around. Important thoughts from important folks assist in screwing us up. No thoughts are helping us to escape, they only encourage more thought. Hope you are thoughtless--I know you are!

Gene Poole
Listcology

Up to date ironic parody cartoon

If you think you know what is
going on in cyberspace

Your committed involvement
may help you keep pace

Even if you cannot conceive
of a 'reasonable' goal

The wise surfer senses the
power of a wave and rides
it

Not for 'the hell of it' but
because it is intuited to
be nutritious

Yet if the hunger is dead
and replaced by the blah

It all looks the same

http://www.ubergeek.tv/switchlinux/

Who says like prime time tv news
the traditional vs the new

One characterized as tried and true
and good

The other as 'artificial', new and not
only risky but a waste of time

And not only a waste of time but
also symptomatic of the sort of
blind stupidity that cannot tell good
from bad

This methodology of 'reportage'
pervades our information spaces

We think of it as reasonable and
watch passively in amusement as
the establishment brings down
any challenger to the status quo

We know that we possess 'common
sense' and we reward ouselves with
neato congratulations not only for
our prejudice but also for being on
the winning team

Now we can retire our flaccid fatigued
brains to the potato couch of normalcy
as we cheer on the brave conquistadors
who protect us from the odd

Melody
NDS

This page is now being uploaded to http://www.the-covenant.net:

There was this man.

Even the angels rejoiced at the sight of him, such was the quality of the holiness of the milieu of his beingness. And he never had a clue about his milieu. He went about his humdrum tasks, diffusing goodness as a flower unselfconsciously diffuses it's fragrance. Over the years, people noticed something peculiar about the man. He would immediately forget each person's past and looked at them as if they were just now manifested, ....innocent and blameless and too ignorant to know what they were doing. Anybody entering this man's milieu would always feel benedicted, blessed, supported, ....unconditionally loved, for there was no cognition of any conditions in the first place. One day an angel appeared and said to him " I have been sent to you by God. Ask for anything you wish and it will be given to you. Would you wish to have the gift of healing? "No" replied the man, "I'd rather God did the healing himself." "Would you want to bring sinners back to the path?" "No" replied the man, "it is not for me to touch human hearts". "Would you like to be such a model of virtue that people from all over will revere you as the Messiah?" "No" replied the man, "for that would make me the centre of attention". "What then, you have to ask for one boon at least" "Well" replied the man, "in that case, I ask for this, let good be done without my being aware of it". So it was decreed that the man's shadow would be endowed with healing properties, wherever it fell, behind him. So everywhere his shadow fell, so long it was behind him, the sick were healed, the land became fertile, fountains sprang to life, colour returned to the faces of those who were weighed down by life's sorrows. But the man remained unaware of all this, because the attention of the people were so centered on the shadow, that they forgot all about the man. So his wish that good be done through him and he be forgotten, was fulfilled. The man.

Hur
NDS

"consciousness: that annoying time between naps."

Victory for marine mammals

Dear NRDC BioGems Defender,

A federal court has just handed down its decision in our case
against the U.S. Navy and I wanted you to be the first to
hear the great news. In a resounding victory for whales and
other marine mammals, the court ruled that it will bar the
Navy from deploying its high-intensity LFA sonar system
across most of the world's oceans.

The LFA (Low Frequency Active) sonar system would have
blasted hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean
habitat with noise so intense it can maim, deafen and even
kill whales. In her historic ruling, Judge LaPorte agreed
with NRDC that the sonar's booming noise could "irreparably
harm" the marine environment and threaten the very survival
of endangered populations of whales, sea turtles and other
marine species. Judge LaPorte has ordered the Navy to begin negotiations with
NRDC on a plan for safely testing the sonar system in a
limited area. This is truly a banner day for the Earth's environment. The
court has granted a life-saving reprieve to dozens of species
of magnificent marine mammals. But its ruling also sends a
message loud and clear to the White House that it is not
above our nation's environmental laws. The Bush
administration trampled all over those laws when it gave the
Navy a blank check to operate the deadly LFA sonar system
virtually anywhere in the world.

It's also a banner day for hundreds of thousands of NRDC
members and activists like you. When we began this fight
eight years ago, we were told that our chances of stopping
the military's classified LFA program were slim to none. But
that conventional wisdom seriously underestimated the
collective power of a determined citizenry.

Your financial contributions and online activism fueled an
NRDC legal strategy that prevailed, in the end, over the
world's most powerful military establishment. There is no
finer example of democracy in action.

The fight to protect our oceans against high-intensity sonar
is not over. The Navy could appeal the court's ruling. And
right now the Bush administration is trying to get exemptions
for the Navy from some of the very environmental laws NRDC
used to block deployment of the LFA system. With your help,
NRDC will do everything it can to ensure that these efforts
do not succeed.

But all that lies ahead. For today, at least, we've won a
significant victory, one worth savoring and celebrating. On
behalf of our entire legal team, I want to thank you for
coming to the defense of marine mammals around the world.

Sincerely,

John H. Adams President Natural Resources Defense Council

. . .

BioGems: Saving Endangered Wild Places A project of the
Natural Resources Defense Council http://www.savebiogems.org

Note: We appreciate the opportunity to communicate with you
and other NRDC BioGems Defenders, but if you would prefer not
to receive BioGems updates or hear from BioGems activists in
the field, you can send an email message to
biogemsdefenders@savebiogems.org with "Please remove my name"
in the subject line.

To update your information, including your email or mailing
address, log in to your Action Visa at
http://www.savebiogems.org/actionvisa/ and click "Update your info."

Jan Barendrecht
NDS

you get beaten up
but your dachshund runs away
blame the culprit yo!
you get fired at the job then the spouse leaves you to sob
blame the culprit so
now pay for the holy man
warmed up wisdom from the can
culprit is your ego!
and that also explains why
silent turtles can grow wings
but loud turkeys fry

Some interesting new websites:

Digital Book Index - Largest Search Engine For Digital eBooks
<http://www.urlwire.com/news/082803.html> [Thu August 28,
2003] The Digital Book Index provides access to more than
73,000 title. It is the sole index that gathers both
commercial and non-commercial eBooks from more than 1,800
publishers and private publishing organizations.

New Site Offers Tips, Specs on Under-$300 Computers
<http://www.urlwire.com/news/082503.html> [Mon August 25,
2003] "A new PC doesn't have to cost thousands of dollars.
Many manufacturers are selling desktop computers for $299,
$239, or even less. Buyers are understandably concerned that
these inexpensive PCs won't live up to their needs." says
Kevin Savetz, founder of the site.

MyBestSeller.com Helps First-time Authors Get Published
<http://www.urlwire.com/news/080103.html> [Fri August 1,
2003] Launched today, mybestseller.com is the place to learn
how to write a personal bestseller. The site offers
information, inspiration, and assistance written in plain
English, making it easy to understand and use. "Everyone does
indeed have a story, as evidenced by recent statistics which
show that 81% of Americans believe they have a book inside of
them," said site founder Marvin D. Cloud.

Swami Nirav Kanan http://br.groups.yahoo.com/group/SatsangNirav/
NDS

When the observer and the observed object
Dissolve in pure observation
There is Realization!

Quando o observador e o objeto observado
Se dissolvem na pura observação
Aí está a Iluminação!

Apel
Live Journal

Monastery Photography
I've posted the pictures I took on my trip to the monastery now. Here is the compilation of links to the pictures.

landscape:

texture:

gardening:

sacredphoto:

Iamkatia
Live Journal

When we get out of the glass bottles of
our ego,

and when we escape like squirrels
turning in the cages of
our personality

and get into the forests again,

we shall shiver with cold and fright

but things will happen to us

so that we don't know ourselves.

Cool, unlying life will rush in,

and passion will make our bodies taut
with power,

we shall stamp our feet with new power

and old things will fall down,

we shall laugh, and institutions will curl
up like burnt paper.

~ D.H. Lawrence.

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