Tiny House of Stone

This was just too gorgeous to not share...
Tribute to the Tiny House blog - they consistently post "tiny house in a landscape" photos.  There's something about stone I find very compelling.

I'm back after a week hiatus from my blog.  I know you missed me.

I confirmed a new friend on Facebook today named Amber Tucker, from Monterrey, Mexico.  I have many friends in and from Monterrey, in fact.  Amber is a Multicultural Development Specialist in a program called Rainbow Cultural Garden - yet another brilliant program and set of ideas from Keith Raniere.  Keith has such a remarkable IQ he was in the Guinness Book of World Records for highest at 240.  Yes, 240.   It has been one of the best assets in my life!  Seriously, he should be being hailed and protected for the national treasure that he is...instead he's endured the worst case of character assassination I've ever seen.  This type of behavior is yet another example of the Human Experiment failing...so very sad.  That others are noticing this failure is evident in books like The Windup Girl I reported on in my last post.  Will we change in time to save our species?

Back to Amber.  She posted a quote from Steve Jobs on her FB page an hour ago that I just have to share.  I was so delighted with it I had to comment - and now re-post it.  Here's the quote:

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything-all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. Their is no reason not to follow your heart.
-Steve Jobs

And here's my comment:

Wow. This is the main thing I try to remember every day. 
I loved Steve Jobs for many reasons, but this is such a poignant expression of his willingness to feel the vulnerability that we all have (but avoid feeling or acknowledging). Love it, Amber. Thank you for sharing.

I feel inspired enough by it intend today to view the TED talk "How to Live Before You Die" - Steve's keynote speech at Stanford's commencement ceremony.

The Windup Girl

I really do believe we humans are an experiment. 
I'm not sure how we're doing as far as success or failure from the perspective of our 'creator(s)'...hard for me to imagine much of the time that we're 'succeeding'...
My friend Keith Raniere once said something like 'science fiction is simply reality that hasn't happened yet' (not a direct quote mind you).  I agree.  I just read a scifi novel called "The Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi.  It's won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, to name just a couple of it's credits.  An amazing story of a near future dystopia, it reminded me, in part, of the favorite television series I mentioned yesterday, Battle Star Galactica.  Technological creations of humans, who are "humans", play unforeseen and surprising roles in the future of humanity.  Not for the faint of heart, this story, but astonishingly good.  For a more in depth review I suggest you read Blue Tyson's write up on Amazon.  I agree with this comment of his, and I agree with his five star rating:

The novel leaves you uneasy the whole way through, but fascinated. After many thousands of stories I am not easy to surprise. I had no idea what the hell was going to happen in this book, apart from the fact that it was likely to be bloody. The writing is excellent. Bacigalupi is a major talent, if unfortunately not very prolific.

I'm not a big fan of "bloody", but this didn't diminish the wondrous nature of this expression in writing.  Run, don't walk to your nearest book source and buy this book.  It's a masterpiece. 

The Windup Girl

Dance On...

We work the hardest and perform our best when the object of our attention is something we love.  It is our opportunity to be our most expressive - and it's always created by us.  Such an interesting thing to even contemplate.  We are, indeed, the ones to give our lives meaning.

Browsing tonight, I visited my friend Ivy's blog, entitled "set the heart aflame".  (Love the name) A talented writer, Ivy Nevares is also a very talented dancer.   She applies her passion for dance by learning a plethora of different dance styles - well! - and teaching them to others.  Nataraja  Center for Movement Arts is the name of her dance studio.  Recently, she and a group of her students performed publicly at a Belly Dance competition held in Troy.  Her recent post is not only a sharing of her feelings after the event, but contains a beautiful video she was sent from another friend of ours,  Ken.  Please visit and enjoy it for yourself - I posted the link to my Facebook page as well.  It's an exquisite piece - thank you, Ken.

Moving Water - Rumi

I'm so completely in love with poetry of Rumi, I'm going to continue to share.  In my opinion, he says all of the most important things a human can think about or say...  A little more info on him, then another wonderful poem.

Jelaluddin Rumi, the 13th century mystic poet, was truly one of the most passionate and profound poets in history.  Now, today his presence still remains strong, due in part to how his words seem to drip of the divine, and startle a profound remembrance that links all back to the Soul-Essence.  Born in what is present day Afghanistan in 1207, he produced his master work the Masnawi which consists of over 60,000 poems before he died in 1273.  The best way to fully say in words his impact, is that he has the ability to describe the Indescribable, Ineffable-- God.

   Moving Water

When  you do things from your soul, you feel a river

moving in you, a joy.

When actions come from another section, the feeling

disappears.  Don't let

others lead you.  They may be blind or, worse, vultures.

Reach for the rope

of God.  And what is that?  Putting aside self-will.

Because of willfulness

people sit in jail, the trapped bird's wings are tied,

fish sizzle in the skillet.

The anger of police is willfulness.  You've seen a magistrate

inflict visible punishment.  Now 

see the invisible.  If you could leave your selfishness, you

would see how you've

been torturing your soul.  We are born and live inside black water in a well.

How could we know what an open field of sunlight is? Don't

insist on going where

you think you want to go.  Ask the way to the spring.  Your

living pieces will form

a harmony.  There is a moving palace that floats in the air

with balconies and clear

water flowing through, infinity everywhere, yet contained

Heroic Human

Some days I need reminders like these from great souls like this man.

Compassion and nonviolence help us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions,
to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic
weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit
from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Heroic Struggle

The human struggle is such an interesting one... it's one often misunderstood and maligned.  But, even humans we may find less than admirable, for whatever reasons, have what my mentor, Keith Raniere, has aptly named a Heroic Struggle.

Each day I find myself in the midst of mine - and so do you, whether you're aware of it or not.
Mr. Raniere created a structure for the company, Executive Success Programs, Inc., that encourages transforming our struggle from one mainly internal to one that is external.  What does this mean?  Most of us thrash about daily with objectives that would have gone well if it weren't for the interference of other people.  Right.  While some of this may be "true", most of it is our own failure to factor in the variables of human behavior and the fact that the real world, reality if you would, rarely matches the picture we have in our head of how we would like things to be.  We don't just prefer this picture.  We're vested and attached to it.  The greatest discrepancy between the two pictures typically falls into the sector of human behavior.  Including, obviously (not?), our own.  We aren't really struggling with the external world, we're struggling with our own beliefs of how we believe the world should be, rather than how it is.

The structure he designed, and the path those of us who have chosen to work with it follow, is merit and value-based, it's predecessor being the martial arts system of earning your way up a hierarchical ladder to higher and higher designations of improvement.  I am fortunate to include these people amongst my close friends - the community of people with whom I work and play.

I love the quote below and find it relative.  Thank you, Tom.

Those of us who attempt to act and do things for others or for the world without deepening our own self-understanding, freedom, integrity and capacity to love, will not have anything to give others. We will communicate to them nothing but the contagion of our own obsessions, our aggressivity, our ego-centered ambitions, our delusions about the ends and means.
-Thomas Merton, philosopher

Poetic Champion 2

About Rumi and Divine Love

I have yet to find a better short description about the essence of Rumi Poetry than by the words of Hazrat Inayat Khan :

The original words of Rumi are so deep, so perfect, so touching, that when one man repeats them hundreds and thousands of people are moved to tears. They cannot help penetrating the heart. This shows how much Rumi himself was moved to have been able to pour out such living words.

Many wanted to consider him a prophet, but he said, "No, I am not a prophet, I am a poet."When Hafiz wrote about Rumi he said, "I am not capable of writing about the verses of Rumi. What I can say is that he is not a prophet, but he is the one who brought the Sacred Book." In other words he wanted to say that in fact he was a prophet.

The painting below is titled Higher Self from tribute to Rumi called Rumi on Fire.

http://www.rumionfire.com/

Poetic Champion

My Hero:



Billboard for Old Ideas at Times Square in New York City. Photo by Robert Kory

Feb 8: Old Ideas debuts in a Top Five Position on Charts in 27 countries - read more!
Feb 10: Platinum in Canada, Gold in Poland
# 1 in the charts in Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland,
Hungary, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Spain!!

Easter...or Ostara?

I was browsing the web last night, gathering nuggets about the origin of Easter.  I knew it's origin was not, of course, as a Christian holiday.  With their usual political panache, Christian leaders adapted various events in the life of Christ to existing pagan holidays.  After all, how did we end up with bunnies and eggs symbolizing the resurrection of Christ?  Or Santa Claus at the birth of Christ? Perhaps he was he the fourth Wise Man - unmentioned until later?

I did find a number of new and interesting things in my search last night, however.  Not only related to the rabbits and eggs (I often heard friends ask over the years why a rabbit would be found with eggs - an explanation at last), but to the name Easter, itself!  In a website called "Palos Verdes Patch" there was the winning article (in my personal contest) called "Exploring the Origins of Easter" authored by Shawna Burreson.  I'm not sure if Eastern religions celebrate this holiday, or if they do who their goddess might be...maybe I should have asked the Dalai Lama when he visited Albany.  OK, I'm kidding - but with his personality he would probably have enjoyed the question.  Such a great sense of humor this holy man has...the best giggle...  You can read the article in it's entirety here:

Exploring the Ancient Origins of Modern Easter

Named for a goddess whose symbols include rabbits and eggs, Easter is a mix of modern-day religion and pagan pratices.

   
 

"Ostara" (Eostre) by Johannes Gertes, painted in 1884. Wikipedia says the goddess flies through the heavens surrounded by Roman-inspired putti (angelic babies), beams of light and animals. Germanic people look up at the goddess from the realm below. The main figure was copied as Eástre in 1909 by Jacques Reich.

While most Americans celebrate Easter with pastel gift baskets filled with colored eggs and chocolate bunnies, others know the holiday of light and rebirth by a different name—Ostara.

Celebrated today as one of the eight sabbats of the neo-pagan religion Wicca, Ostara's roots are as ancient as they are varied. Known by many names, including Eostre, Austre and Eastre, the day is named after a goddess of springtime in almost every culture she was found in, including along the Mediterranean Sea, the British Isles and northern Europe.
The word Ostara itself is of Germanic origin, where she was revered as the Great Mother Goddess. But even goddesses of love and beauty—such as Aphrodite in ancient Greece and Freya of Norse mythology—share several characteristics with Ostara, including her notable companion, the rabbit.
Celebrated at Spring Eqinox on March 21, Ostara marks the day when light is equal to darkness, and will continue to grow. As the bringer of dawn to the world after a long winter, the goddess was often depicted with the hare, an animal that represents the arrival of spring as well as the fertility of the season. In earlier times, a crop's fertility was of significant importance, as was human fertility.
A time of rebirth for nature and all its creatures, when bunnies multiply and buds long dormant are coaxed to blossom by longer days and warmer weather, one of the most revered aspects of Ostara for both ancient and modern observers is a spirit of renewal. Round, endless and full of the promise of life, nothing symbolizes renewal more perfectly than the egg.
In Germanic traditions, it is said that Ostara healed a wounded bird she found in the woods by changing it into a hare. Still partially a bird, the hare showed its graditude to the goddess by laying eggs as gifts.
With so many cultures honoring a springtime goddess, countless ways exist to celebrate it, especially when it comes to eggs. For some, it was customary to bake a cake out of them. Still well known today, the saying "that takes the cake!" is actually based on cakes prepared for a traditional Easter celebration in the old days in Ireland and Scotland, acording to Kindling the Celtic Spirit by Mara Freeman.
Touted as a symbol of the abundance of spring, the cake was often decorated with flowers and animals—both real and imaginary—and placed at a crossroads, where people danced around in a circle vying for the title of best dancer. The winner's prize was the cake.
Another way to pay homage to the goddess is simply by connecting to nature. Irish Celtics held a deep reverance for nature that carried over to Christian times, and they believed trees were among nature's most sacred beings. Many of their heros were named after trees, and it was once illegal to cut certain trees down.
Taking a walk, going for a picnic, gardening or even planting a tree are all ways modern observers of Ostara can celebrate the holiday. For many, enjoying nature just isn't the same without a crackling fire, and that's probably as true today as it was in olden times. Luckily, bonfires were also a huge tradition wherever Ostara was celebrated.
Not only did fires siginify the new light brought into the world, the burning of wood released the spirit of the trees and assured fertile lands for future harvests.
While many of these celebrations were practised alongside Christian Easter traditions, they were eventually replaced by the new religion, which shared strong similarities to earlier pagan festivals, such as Roman ones around the spring equinox in 200 B.C. honoring Cybele and the resurrection of her consort, the god Attis.
A later version of the Greek god, Dionysus, Attis was known for being born to a virgin mother and for the remarkable fact that he was reborn every year.
No matter what country or century it's practiced, Easter has managed to retain the same spirit of renewal, rebirth and the return of light. Whether a religious holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ or a time for family to get together, decorate some eggs and revel in all things bunny related, the true meaning of springtime lives on today.

Jesus is resting up...

I was raised in the Lutheran religion.  I went to Lutheran church and school (grades K-8), and my father was superintendent of the Sunday School.  Yet I always felt much closer to God when I was outside - in the beauty and wonder of Nature.  Of creation.  I still do.  Some don't believe in God, and have very good arguments for their belief.  I can't seem to make that work for me, even when I've tried. But I do, now, agree with what my mentor Keith Raniere has said regarding this question:  "Whether I believe in God or not, I would live my life the same way."

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday.   I felt this poem of Rumi's, a poem of ecstasy and love was one well-suited for Easter.  I hope you enjoy it, too.

Love is from the infinite, and will remain until eternity.
The seeker of love escapes the chains of birth and death.
Tomorrow, when resurrection comes,
The heart that is not in love will fail the test.

From Thief of Sleep

by Shahram Shiva 

I just finished watching a movie I saw a long time ago when it first came out, Patch Adams.  I love this man's story.  I missed an opportunity to attend a workshop of his at Rowe Camp and Conference Center in Rowe, MA, a couple of years ago.  I think I would have loved it. 

Whenever we as humans strive to be better, to stretch beyond our boundaries of fear into the infinite embrace of love, it's amazing.  I often believe it's the only reason we're here, that every moving story of a human demonstrating the best of what it is to be human is about this...such a struggle.  So beautiful.

It's difficult to follow a path of responsibility, a path of self-improvement.  We begin life in a body.  I realize this seems to be stating the obvious, but regarding the challenge of choosing that which is noble or idealistic in life - rarely, if ever, does it coincide with the choice our body is urging us toward.

Think about it.  Do you really think all of the people we admire, our human heroes, were going along with the desires of their bodies for comfort and indulgence?  People like Siddhartha, Edmund Hillary, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Roger Bannister, the list goes on and on.  Of course not - au contraire.  Rather, what makes these humans so admirable for all of us is their drive and willingness to override the natural human tendency to choose the comfortable. 

While it's difficult for a person of average means to achieve such greatness, it's even more challenging if one is on either end of the financial spectrum: the bottom or the top.  While it's arguable that these extremes might provide either greater motivation or greater means to supply the financial fuel to actualize one's vision, I tend to disagree.  It is easier to follow the path most taken by one's peers.  For those of slender means, this is what we typically see, no?  For those with great wealth and resources at their disposal it's much easier to simply choose comfort and indulgence.  Why do I think this is so?  Look around.  What do most people in either category choose?  Yet there are always exceptions.  I'm fortunate enough to know a number of them - but two who stand out as "princesses" of our contemporary world, are the Bronfman sisters.  Watching both Clare and Sara Bronfman step into their shoes of responsibility, when clearly this was not only not necessary for them to do so, but contrary to what most in their position would ever have chosen - has been a memorable and inspirational experience in itself.  I invite you to discover more about these remarkable women yourselves.  Please visit the site for the World Ethical Foundation Consortium, as well as Sara's website.

So I love books.  I have since I discovered their many wonders back when I began to read at age 3.  I realize there is a downside to them - but it remains an intellectual realization.  In my body, the way I feel, there is no downside.  Trust me.

I could give an ongoing reading list that all who availed themselves of this blog would and could cherish into whatever infinity there might be for such a thing as writing and literature.  A weird concept in itself.  I don't believe humankind is infinite, so it's hard to imagine one of our inventions would be...

Regardless of it's sustainability, I would like to give a very honorable mention to the latest treasure in my logos chest.  The World As We Know It, by acclaimed and award-winning author, Joseph Monninger.  The New York Times Book Review credit on the jacket reads: "Monninger comes to writing with his five sense wide open".  This with another author's credit: "The combination of romantic love with adventure and a bone-deep understanding of the wild is both compelling and transcendent...With echoes of Hemingway.  The World As We Know It is nothing short of brilliant."  were both what compelled me to buy this book on Amazon.  Amazon deserves a whole separate treatment (or 18) as an enormously brilliant human invention.  Not as enormous a writing, granted, but enormous. 

Recently I commented to my (oft-mentioned) mentor, Keith Raniere, on how weird, really weird, it was to be getting older.  Something seems so "not right" about it.  I suppose with our "wiring" it seems we might live forever, even as our body shows tell-tale signs of this not being at all true.  He smiled as we walked on, saying, "Ah, the end of the book".  He seems to always have the most efficient way of expressing something specific to the individual with whom he's communicating.  When it's many people, he seems to handle it with a proficiency that is enviable to say the least. 

Professional Coaching

Fascinated with what makes us, as humans, 'tick', I have studied many different things over the decades.  Having also developed a strong value of helping people, these two have overlapped in ways that are quite visible in my career choices.  A Health Research Consultant for many years, I still have clients who come to me for advice, even though I've shifted to a different treatment of human dis-order. I've mentioned before the trademarked name for this technological discovery - Rational Inquiry.  The Mind/Body connection is now recognized by even the most prestigious medical schools as a viably strong factor in both ill health and recovery or healing.  With this scientific discovery it's possible for us to change the thinking that is creating the dis-order in our lives...the same dis-order often reflected in our bodies.  It is often 'amazing', but the greatest acknowledgment of the reality of this is the "placebo effect" itself.  A drug isn't considered effective unless it has over a 45% (?) success rate because the effects experienced could be simply created by the recipients mind.  Think about it!

Working with individuals now as a professional coach I have an opportunity to use the tools of Rational Inquiry to help them achieve their goals in relationships, health, finances and career - expression of all kinds.  It is so rewarding it's difficult for me to even express in words.  Today I came across a quote from Carl Jung that reminded me of this inexpressibly rich delight.  Enjoy.

Vision

"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."
~ Carl Jung

Cradle My Heart

Last night,
  I was lying on the rooftop,
  thinking of you.
  I saw a special Star,
     and summoned her to take you a message. 
I prostrated myself to the Star
   and asked her to take my prostration 
  to that Sun of Tabriz.
   So that with his light, he can turn 
   my dark stones into gold.
I opened my chest and showed her my scars, 
   I told her to bring me news
 of my bloodthirsty Lover.
As I waited,
   I paced back and forth, 
 until the child of my heart became quiet.
 The child slept, as if I were rocking his cradle. 
Oh Beloved, give milk to the infant of the heart,
   and don't hold us from our turning. 
 You have cared for hundreds, 
  don't let it stop with me now.
At the end, the town of unity is the place for the heart. 
  Why do you keep this bewildered heart 
   in the town of dissolution?
I have gone speechless, but to rid myself 
  of this dry mood,
 oh Saaqhi, pass the narcissus of the wine.

From: 'Hush Don't Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems of Rumi' Translated by Sharam Shiva

 Taken from a treasure of Rumi poetry at a UK website called Allspirit  - Beautiful. 

 

 

So I'm finding out how difficult it can be to maintain a blog on a daily basis when one is traveling and where one is staying has no wifi.  I finally had my Verizon Mifi fedexed to me and even that has been a challenge in my parents condo where the walls are constructed with approximately three feet of solid concrete.  I added an app on my iPhone called blogpress anticipating this challenge - before I left Albany.  Using it last night took quite a while and the learning curve isn't over.  LOL.

So if you're wondering how yesterday's blog could be a blog when it's simply a title, know that the rest of the data, including a lovely photo of the title star, the Petoskey Stone is looking lovely in my phone.  The stone has quite a history, but I'll save that story for the time I can actually get the photo onto this site.  hehehe.

Petoskey Stone

If you're tracking any of the things I have to say, you know by now I have a high value of humanity - human potential.  I agree with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his opinion that education and science are the keys to moving us, as humans, to a point of evolution where we no longer violate others - where we are driven by love not fear.  You also know my high opinion of my own mentor in this arena, Keith Raniere.  One of the best moments of my life was when these two leaders, who I hold in such esteem - for the nobility of their activities, their representation of the best of what it is to be human - actually met!  There are a number of things to report on here, but I'm going to start with what His Holiness had to say about my friend, Keith Raniere.  He even accepted the offer to have it be at the introduction of Keith's second book, co-written with Ivy Nevares.  Please visit this new site to hear what the Dalai Lama and others, like Sir Richard Branson, have to say.

Quotes on Science

A dear friend of mine, Brandon Porter, MD, PhD - recently wrote a letter to a fellow scientist, Dr. Dyson, and included these quotes at the end, marking points made in his letter.  I loved them and wanted to share.

Here are the quotes:

“We must regard science, then, from three points of view. First, it is the free activity of man's divine faculties of reason and imagination. Secondly, it is the answer of the few to the demands of the many for wealth, comfort and victory, gifts which it will grant only in exchange for peace, security and stagnation. Finally it is man's gradual conquest, first of space and time, then of matter as such, then of his own body and those of other living beings, and finally the subjugation of the dark and evil elements in his own soul.” - J. B. S. Haldane, "Daedalus, or Science and the Future"

Chapter 24, “The World, The Flesh, and The Devil.” Desmond Bernal’s first book.

“To defeat the Devil, we shall first reorganize society along scientific lines, and later learn to exercise conscious intellectual control over our moods and emotional drives, intervening directly in the affective functions of our brains with technical means yet to be discovered.”

I've started to write something four times and I'm abandoning the effort and handing it to someone else.  Today has been quite an interesting ride to say the least.  I'm looking forward to going to see my family in Florida tomorrow.  With my parents being 83 and 84 years old, it's always a joy just to have the opportunity to see them one more time...

So pearls of wisdom from the Mother Teresa tonight:

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

The Animal Rescue Site

Please consider clicking every day (you can receive a reminder email from them) to help feed animals in need.  It only takes a few seconds, and it's free.  I've been doing it for years, since my good friend and fellow animal lover, Crystal, sent me an email about it.   While I'm not, in most cases, an advocate of supporting "causes" that are really effects, with either time or money - I do make exceptions.  I'm as mindful as possible with these decisions and sometimes even reverse them.  Good intent doesn't change the effects of my decisions to actualize my vision of a world of ethical, humanitarian people.  Currently I support this site and PCRM, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.  I also rescued two dogs via Petfinder.com.  More on these things in future posts.  ;)

The advertising sponsors on the front page of The Animal Rescue Site donate the monies for  bowls of food based on number of hits on the site's "click" button, and purchases from the site's merchandise offerings.

I'm so glad someone named Barbara said this:

Traditions are group efforts to keep the unexpected from happening.  

Barbara Tober

The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be either good or evil.

          ~Hannah Arendt

Enrollment and Humanity

I am a networker and an enroller, and have been for many years.  These choices for a career have become more of a life path, a journey of Self discovery.  Perhaps one could take any career choice and say this is the case, that such a journey is the key choice in itself.  That said, I maintain that enrollment differs from other career choices in relation to discovering oneself more than most other careers - provides greater opportunities for this noble pursuit.

Why?

I've had a number of wonderful mentors in this arena, but the greatest is unquestionably, Keith Raniere. He's had a lot to say about enrollment in the 20+ years I've known him.  Below are some thoughts taken from notes I wrote during a training in 2003.  It's not an exact quote, but pretty close :

The cross between humanity and living your ideological values is enrolllment. 
Enrollment is recognition of alikeness, of that which would resonate with the other person.  It's bringing internal values into form. 
The Nature of enrollment is humanity and the Nature of humanity is enrollment.

"Humanity is the best of what it is to be human" said my good friend, and the person who best fits this description, in my opinion.  Keith Raniere has spoken on this subject passionately and brilliantly many times since I've known him, but my favorite quote on the subject was on the front of our holiday card one year:

What is the best of being human?

Sharing authentic expressions of joy; noble conduct during most difficult times; respecting all people and all things as sacred parts of ourselves; and vision creating a most beautiful human existence - living each moment with unwavering constancy and determination towards these ends.

His devotion to humanity is impressive, to say the least.  The World Ethical Foundation was founded by Mr. Raniere, along with Sara and Clare Bronfman, and has been applauded for its efforts by both Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  To know someone who thinks and acts in the way this man does - with unwavering constancy - has been my greatest honor.

I like to think.  Really think.  But it takes effort, just like all rewarding things.

I also like people who like to think, and do it well.  The top ranking individual in that category for me is Keith Raniere.  One of the world's top three problem-solvers and in the book of Guiness World Records for highest IQ - well, there's evidence I'm not the only one who ranks him this way.  Having the uncommon notion that it's a really great thing to put effort into thinking well, that it's an activity that pays off 'in spades', he discovered a technology in his own thinking time to help anyone who feels like it to be able to think better.  They just need to enroll in the course!  The trademark name is remarkably accurate: Rational Inquiry.  More on this scientific discovery later.

For now, it's good to know that he exists, the discovery exists and it provides a path for joy and ethics that is unparalleled in my search for these things that give human life meaning.

Genetically Modified Humans

It was some time ago I read in a Science magazine how quickly genetic changes occur in a species with the introduction or deletion of even as benign a substance as B6.  The creatures being studied were mice.  The genetic changes, and serious ones, began to happen in just one generation when they were deprived of this critical vitamin.

BASF is a german chemical giant (think German Monsanto) that was just ousted out of doing business in Europe by an enormous public outcry of resistance.  So they moved their headquarters to Raleigh, NC here in the US.  What is their business that Europeans found so upsetting?  They genetically engineer foods.  These GE foods (or GM for genetically modified) are ones we've been consuming for some time now, if you're a consumer of processed foods - at all.  The list of radical damage done to planet and people from this new "food growing technology" is long - and frightening.  If you think it won't affect you because you only eat organic foods, wrong again.  I invite you, once again, to Dr. Mercola's most recent article.  This is huge.  Please note, for those who like the "executive summary" version, he provides one on the right at the start of each of his comprehensive articles.

I love eggs.  I've considered vegan diet (I'm vegetarian for more years than I want to discuss here), but when I think of no eggs and no cottage cheese, my heart droops in sadness.

I shop for foods carefully (and joyfully ;) and eggs are no exception.  I've always been suspicious of the eggs in my local Pricechopper however, even the ones that say "free range" and "organic".  Are the organic ones allowed to roam free and happy, pecking at the bugs and seeds?  Are the free range ones really allowed to?  How do they accomplish this and still turn out such massive numbers of eggs?? It turns out the grounds for my feelings are solid...and not free range.  Just like my suspicions regarding the blanket decision in the medical world that cholesterol is "bad".  Oh, yes, there's a good and a bad cholesterol, but high cholesterol guarantees a sorry fate, so one MUST just bring it down to live long and prosper.  Hahaha.  Not so, my friend.

I invite you, once again, to peruse today's article from number one cyberdoc, Dr. Mercola.  You decide, after educating yourself a wee bit, how you think and feel about the eggs you're putting in your cart and the cholesterol that's gliding through your lovely machinery right now.  I'll bet there's a change in view.

Jane Wagner, a philosopher, said a number of things I'm fond of, and this is a favorite:

I personally think we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain.

I've been exploring some sites that explore justice in commerce, which is to say morality in any exchange.  It has been an area of serious study for me for many years.  I will be sharing the work I find valuable, should anyone be interested in keeping what they have earned to spend in a way that matches their values (as opposed to giving it to others, reacting to fear and lies).  I loved these two quotes that headed the website called Commercial Redemption:

You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. - Ayn Rand

"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom... Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." - Malcolm X, 1965

This video was referred to me by a dear friend - with a wonderful sense of humor.   It has become an all-time favorite that comes to mind more often than I should probably admit.  I love it.  If you enjoy Bob Newhart and don't enjoy human behaviors that are nonsense posing as reality, you'll love it, too.  I promise.  It's called STOP IT.  It's an excellent post for The Human Experiment, actually.

I listen to Coleman Barks read Rumi...a LOT.  When I start listening, I don't want to stop.  Last night as I listened I thought I really had to share this poem that is on the CD called I Want Burning.  It's unbelievably beautiful.  It's also a completely different experience to listen to a poem read than it is to read it.  More on that concept later.  Enjoy.

Keep walking.
Don't try to see through the distances.
That's not for Human Beings.
Move within,
But don't
Move the way
Fear makes you move.

Today, like every other day,
We wake up empty and frightened.
Don't open the door to the study and begin reading.
Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.