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9/17/01 Sunday

****************

JAN SULTAN

Mr. bin Laden had a kind of religious experience during the Afghan war. A
Russian shell had fallen at his feet and, in the seconds as he waited for
it to explode, he said he had a sudden feeling of calmness. The shell never
exploded.


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=93624

and sends excerpts from:

A World Out of Touch With Itself: Where the Violence Comes From by Rabbi
Michael Lerner Editor, TIKKUN Magazine

[...]

The narrow focus on the perpetrators allows us to avoid dealing with the
underlying issues. When violence becomes so prevalent throughout the planet,
it's too easy to simply talk of "deranged minds." We need to ask ourselves,
"What is it in the way that we are living, organizing our societies, and
treating each other that makes violence seem plausible to so many people?" And
why is it that our immediate response to violence is to use violence
ourselves--thus reenforcing the cycle of violence in the world? We in the
spiritual world will see the root problem here as a growing global incapacity
to recognize the spirit of God in each other--what we call the sanctity of each
human being. But even if you reject religious language, you can see that the
willingness of people to hurt each other to advance their own interests has
become a global problem, and its only the dramatic level of this particular
attack which distinguishes it from the violence and insensitivity to each other
that is part of our daily lives. We may tell ourselves that the current
violence has "nothing to do" with the way that we've learned to close our ears
when told that one out of every three people on this planet does not have
enough food, and that one billion are literally starving. We may reassure
ourselves that the hoarding of the world's resources by the richest society in
world history, and our frantic attempts to accelerate globalization with its
attendant inequalities of wealth, has nothing to do with the resentment that
others feel toward us. We may tell ourselves that the suffering of refugees and
the oppressed have nothing to do with us--that that's a different story that is
going on somewhere else. But we live in one world, increasingly interconnected
with everyone, and the forces that lead people to feel outrage, anger and
desperation eventually impact on our own daily lives. The same inability to
feel the pain of others is the pathology that shapes the minds of these
terrorists. Raise children in circumstances where no one is there to take care
of them, or where they must live by begging or selling their bodies in
prostitution, put them in refugee camps and tell them that that they have "no
right of return" to their homes, treat them as though they are less valuable
and deserving of respect because they are part of some despised national or
ethnic group, surround them with a media that extols the rich and makes
everyone who is not economically successful and physically trim and
conventionally "beautiful" feel bad about themselves, offer them jobs whose
sole goal is to enrich the "bottom line" of someone else, and teach them that
"looking out for number one" is the only thing anyone "really" cares about and
that anyone who believes in love and social justice are merely naive idealists
who are destined to always remain powerless, and you will produce a world-wide
population of people feeling depressed, angry, unable to care about others, and
in various ways dysfunctional. [...]

So here is what would marginalize those who hate the United States. Imagine if
the Bin Ladins and other haters of the world had to recruit people against
America at a time when: 1. America was using its economic resources to end
world hunger and redistribute the wealth of the planet so that everyone had
enough. 2. America was the leading voice championing an ethos of generosity and
caring for others—leading the world in ecological responsibility, social
justice, open-hearted treatment of minorities, and rewarding people and
corporations for social responsibility.. 3. America was restructuring its own
internal life so that all social practices and institutions were being judged
"productive or efficient or rational" not only because they maximized profit,
but also to the extent that they maximized love and caring,
ethical/spiritual/ecological sensitivity, and an approach to the universe based
on awe and wonder at the grandeur of creation (what I call an Emancipatory
Spirituality)


http://www.tikkun.org/index.cfm/action/current/article/53.html

AND

>ºStudent: "What is the purpose of suffering?"
>ºPoonjaji: "Who would ever search for the truth unless they suffered?"
>
>Those in poor countries, who suffered most from El Nino, still haven't
>recovered...
>Would that make El Nino's predicted next occurrence (6 months from now) a
>savior?
>
>Jan

I agree with Jan. For those of us who live in Africa suffering is a
continual process. There is no logic or fairness in who suffers. Suffering
is heaped on the already down trodden. If I were just to recount stories of
recent occurrences in the newspapers of the unfairness of life, you people
in developed countries would lose your appetites for a long time.

Compared to the suffering in Africa, what happened in the USA was nothing.
People die everyday, that is not suffering! Suffering is an eleven year old
girl raped and beaten by her drunken father. When she gets pregnant the
villagers throw her out penniless for having shamed the village. I will say
no more it might affect your peace of mind.
______________________
JAN BARENDRECHT

Thanks for writing that Jan - there are many such stories. A friend who has been
living in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship could write a book on just her
and her children's escape from it...

Millions still are suffering unnecessary because those who could know "better",
objectify human suffering - whereas for sentient creatures, there is but subjectivity...
No creature sees (experiences) the same as another...
A fact, nowadays acknowledged by science too.
Science even acknowledges that worldwide investment to relieve
suffering (the analogy of teaching to fish instead of providing fish),
would result in a net gain and a faster growth after the initial delay
due to the costs of development.

Love,
Jan

GARY MERRILL

For those who are not completely lost in Dogma, why not check out the
Principia Discordia and levitate the pyramid!
at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~tilt/principia/

I blame all those crazy drugs, or was it Robert Anton Wilson disguised as
the Pope?
Here is the opening segment. Die laughing.




A jug of wine,
A leg of lamb
And thou!
Beside me,
Whistling in
the darkness.

Be Ye Not Lost Among Precepts of Order...
- The Book of Uterus 1;5


RABBI J. MARKEL

As I said in a previous post, my series is based on Shaar Hayichud (The Gate
of Unification) of the Mittler Rebbe the Holy Reb DovBer of Lubavitch may
his merit protect us

The reason for this is that the book is known to be THE KEY to Kabbalah and
Chassidus

Posts 1 - 20 are excerpts from Chapter 1


You can find Chapter 1 at

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5245/yichud1.html


Part 1.02.xx is excerpts from Reb Hillel of Paritch Biur Base (explanation
2) of Chapter One Of Mittler Rebbbe's Shaar Hayichud


Reb hillel biur beis of ch1 is at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5245/beis.html


JERRY KATZ

Some significant links by way of Kalemachka on Live Journal:

"It's a mix of appeals for donations, news/information sources, info on
how the crisis affects arab/americans, and about how it affects the pets
owned by WTC victims and what you can do."

http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?itemid=10673960

ERIC BLACKSTEAD

Friends,

I've just sent the following request to president Bush:


Dear President Bush:

In this time of unparalleled tribulation, I know you are doing all you can to console the survivors, provide generous
assistance to the victims, and pursue the criminals who killed thousands of innocent people.

You have asked for, and Congress has provided you with, essentially unlimited power to use our military might to
respond. This is an awesome responsibility, and one rarely provided to presidents except in time of actual war between
countries.

I urge you to act with sober restraint, choosing justice over rapid vengeance, and setting a high standard of moral
certainty before engaging in any military response. Our track record of military responses all too often leads to the
deaths of innocent victims elsewhere, and the spiral of death continues.

Sincerely,
eric blackstead


If you would like to send your own reminder to the President, you can find a similar petition (which has provisions for
individual modification) at:

http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/tips.cfm
We can't complain if we don't make our wishes known.

yours in the bonds,
eric


GENE POOLE

NDS

Topic: Reacting to 911, the arena of human conflict, belief vs
reality; are we all subject to hidden factors which we cannot
overcome? Could an understanding of these factors, lead to using them
to advantage? Could these hidden factors be employed now, to
ameliorate terrorist-inflicted damage, and as guidelines to creative
and constructive reply to terroristic statements and actions?

Power VS Force

Greetings ALL,

Verging as we all are on what could be the most radical departure of
our era, and shunning the certainty which connotes fundamentalist
radicalism, many are looking for help or guidance.

To avoid escalating the current crisis seems to be the way of wisdom,
but what if anything, 'should we DO?' How can we move forward
purposefully, in a state of 'doing', with some assurance that our
doings will not come back to haunt us, or worse, lead to our own
violent destruction and death?

There is a wide call for actions to 'protect our way of life', but if
we choose unwisely the means and ways to implement such protection,
our way of life will be irrevocably lost.

Many people are apparently ashamed of their own inertia and
passivity, and are thus voicing popular opinions, a growing chorus
advocating an escalated reply to the opening volley of our foes.
Certainly, the western powers are more than capable of an out-scale
retaliation, but cooler heads realize that in the long term, control
and occupation of nations which support terrorism is probably out of
the question. The question thus remains, "what to do?".

In my own life, I have for the past several years been blessed with
certain knowledge, which has led to an understanding which has been a
reliable guide in my personal dealings. This understanding is of the
nature of _Power_ and it's active moving aspect, called _Force_.

In the arena of the personal, the veritable equation of Power/Force
is quite workable, and yields predictably good results. I have been,
since the events of 911, attempting to transform the Power/Force
equation into a formula which could give good results on the level of
practical social engineering.

I ask that those who have the time and inclination, join with me to
brainstorm this issue.

Here is some background...

This is the URL for a GoogleSearch using the keywords [power vs force hawkins]:

<http://www.google.com/search?q=power+vs+force+hawkins>

By clicking the link above, you will be taken to several pages of
search results, which focus directly on the book POWER VS FORCE, by
Dr David R Hawkins, MD. This book may at first glance seem to be a
guide to a very advanced type of 'applied kinesiology' or
'muscle-testing'. However, a careful reading will yield
well-researched and hard-won wisdom, far beyond the scope of mere
divinations using the physical body as a dynamic metric for making
moral decisions.

Dr Hawkins contributions are many; take a look at this page, which
reveals 'a map of consciousness' which represents a hierarchical
table of states of consciousness, connoted by the boldcase words in
the centre column. The words may be read as descriptive phrases from
left to right:

<http://www.the-tree-of-life.com/POWERF~2.HTML>

You may notice that 'courage' is BELOW 'neutrality'. Understanding
why this is so, will lead to a deep understanding of 'the human
machine' and our 'hardwired primate nervous system'. I believe that
every thoughtful human would enjoy undertaking a personal study of
the system proposed by Dr Hawkins, and such a study undertaken
starting now, could be a very good thing for everyone.

My understandings of this, condensed. (Please remember that what I
write below is derived from years of study and practice; my
conclusions may not seem logical or 'common sense'. I invite the
reader to perform a study of these things, and to thus arrive at your
own conclusions.)

Context is human Being inner and outer arena of relationship/conflict/survival:

First phase:

Power is 'all that is'

Force is the moving aspect of Power

Power is transferred from one domain (person or group) to another, by
the application of Force

A person who applies Force, is giving away 'their' Power

The person who receives the applied Force, receives the Power imbued
in that Force

Second phase:

One imbued with the Power which was applied as Force, who receives
Power must decide 'what to do' about the situation of the use of
Force.

Reapplication of Power as Force, will deplete the Power of the one
who so applies Force.

Retaining the Power, once it has been received as Force, leaves the
'balance of power' in favor of the one who does not apply Force.

Therefor, the"winner" in the arena of conflict, is the one who is
able to receive power which was applied as force, and who resists
expending Power as Force.

Summary: "Your Force is my Power". You may say this phrase out-loud
several times, to catch the truth of it.

Principles:

Power is emptiness (space); the greater the space, the greater the Power.

Power/space gives rise to form/Force (movement). Movement is Force;
movement occurs in space.

Power may be concentrated as form in emptiness; form may move from
one area of space to another area of space; thus, Power may be moved
through space as Force.

Pure Power is formless, but may produce movement and that is called
energy and matter. Matter and energy are "interchangeable", as are
their parental counterparts, Power and Force.

Force is the moving aspect of Power; movement in space is time.

Power is the mother of Force; Force is the child of space, known as
time; time is the badge of movement, and movement is also known as
entropy.

Conversion of Power to Force results in entropy (loss of integrity by
the one who converts Power to Force).


In my own field of experience, the Power VS Force equation is
perfectly embodied in the way of the 'martial art' known as Aikido:

<http://www.aikidofaq.com/>

Aikido allows the Force of the attacker to complete its natural
circle, resulting in a situation in which the attacker essentially
defeats himself, via his own enacted intention of attack.

The accomplished practitioner of Aikido does not expend Power as
Force, but is perfectly capable of 'absorbing' Force of attack as
Power.


How all of this relates directly to 'nonduality', and to 'what is
Power' (called "Ki"):

<http://www.aikidofaq.com/philosophy/article.html>


I am overall, pointing to a way of life which if understood, leads to
conservation of Power and diminished use of Force in all arenas.

I see that the principles which are indicated in Dr Hawkins book, and
in the way of Aikido, are representative of hidden factors which
inescapably govern us all. Perhaps if you look deeply into this field
of knowledge, you will come to similar conclusions.

Please let me know.


Sincerely,

==Gene Poole==


"If you stop moving, time will stop"

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