Who Killed the Electric Car?

From www.WantToKnow.info: A poignant new documentary asks who killed GM's promising electric car project? A new documentary released June 28 in New York and Los Angeles, appropriately titled Who Killed The Electric Car? tries in Clue-like fashion to figure out why GM pulled the plug on its EV1 electric vehicle program, which by most accounts was approaching success when the first prototype was introduced in the mid-1990s. "It was a revolutionary, modern car, requiring no gas, no oil changes, no mufflers, and rare brake maintenance," according to a synopsis of the film. In the 1990s a strict clean-air mandate introduced in California that called for zero-emission vehicles was what led GM to introduce the EV1. Eventually that California mandate got watered down from "zero" to "low" emissions, and the automakers decided to literally blow up their EV programs. GM, which leased out the EV1 cars it produced, called them all back after California changed its policy. The cars were crushed and shredded. Who were the people leasing these vehicles? Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson and Ted Danson, among others, many of whom appear in the movie and talk favourably about their electric cars. If the implications of an advance means loss of future business to a paradigm, the key players of that paradigm will lobby to kill it. The paradigm? Big oil. Similarly, the auto industry has an interest in perpetuating the manufacture of vehicles that require routine, costly maintenance.

Note: For more information and showing times on the highly revealing Who Killed The Electric Car, visit www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com. For even deeper information www.WantToKnow.info/newenergysources

Mercury Retrograde

Hello, readers and fellow bloggers. Usually I like to post little articles or info here but I’ve been busy and distracted lately, so I thought I’d write a short personal entry. We’ve had company this summer; it was nice to see everyone but it kind of zaps my otherwise ‘thoughtful’ energy. Also all kinds of weird things have been going on. Some friends have told me Mercury has been in retrograde since July 4 – I’m not huge into astrology and usually don’t follow these things, but I have to say things have been WEIRD – one thing after another. People getting strange illnesses, cars getting stolen, other various run-ins with traffic tickets and confrontations with authority, relationship weirdness and just basically bad vibes. As my husband puts it, there is a disturbance in the Force! Current events in the Middle East, the earthquake/tsunami, and the heat wave/power outages are just other examples of how things seem to swirl together to create a feeling of general unease.

I have been concentrating on staying centered and unaffected, but it’s not easy. Simple, maybe, but not easy. I’ve been trying to stay under the radar and not make any big movements or decisions, at least until Mercury does its thing, I think it’s until July 28. Again, not that I put all my faith there but hey, better safe than sorry. Maybe I'll be more inspired next month! Anyone else out there had a weird month?

“The Master observes the world but trusts his inner vision. He allows things to come and go. His heart is open as the sky.” –TTC #12

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet, writer, educator and composer who lived from 1861 until 1941. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913 with his collection of poems, "Gitanjali". One of his songs is still the national anthem of India. He exchanged letters and ideas with many other influential people of his time, including Gandhi and Einstein. I would like to offer one of his letters here, written from his school in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India on 26 October 1917, to his friend in England, artist William Rothenstein, for I believe it contains wisdom and relevance to today’s world.

My Dearest Friend,

It has given me a deep pleasure to know that my last three books you like. I had my fear that my American lectures, especially those about nationalism, might give offence to my readers in England. Possibly to some extent they have done so. But most of the reviews that I have seen in your papers are extremely mild. Some critics have taxed me with having misunderstood the meaning of the word ‘nation’. I suppose it is one of those words whose meaning is still in its process of formation. If you really mean by that word the peoples who have the consciousness of a common tradition and aspiration then why do you exclude us Bengalis from its category? For you are never tired of reminding us that we do not belong to a nation. When we try to understand you we find that our tradition and aspiration are of a different character from yours – it is more religious and social than political. Therefore it seems to me that the word nation in its meaning carries a special emphasis upon its political character. Politics becomes aggressively self-conscious when it sets itself in antagonism against other peoples, specially when it extends its dominion among alien races. This convulsive intensity of consciousness is productive of strength but not of health. The rapid growth of nationalism in Europe begins with her period of foreign exploration and exploitation. Its brilliance shines in contrast upon the dark background of the subjection of other peoples. Certainly it is based upon the idea of competition, conflict and conquest and not that of cooperation. The unselfish people have not completely lost their self, only the selfish ones put stronger emphasis upon it and thus have a special designation. And the people with an aggressively emphatic politics is a nation. The [professional man] has very often a special attitude of mind. There he feels an intense satisfaction if he can sell a lame horse at a price which is dear even for a sound one. Because in [his] profession [a] man has no other object before him but success. He may have an exalted standard of life in his private capacity and yet as a professional man his conduct may go entirely against that standard, without disturbing his appetite for dinner. Therefore it is not unusual to find rapacious landlords who are extravagant in their generosity. That grasping professional attitude of mind makes a nation of a people when it furiously pursues success and takes it to be a sign of sentimentalism to budge an inch from its reckless path of power at the dictates of humanity. What I have said in my lectures is that such an attitude of mind in a whole people of a country, such constant self-idolatry by all kinds of ritualism and human sacrifice must go against moral providence of the world ending at least in a catastrophe.

By some unexpected freak of fate I was caught in a dust storm of our politics. I have just come out of it nearly choked to death. I am more convinced than ever that a poet might do worse than write mere verses. Try to be true to yourself by all means but not to be truer which is a hollow temptation set in our path by moral teachers.

Give my love to [your] dear children and tell them not to grow too fast before I come to see them. Because that will be unfair to me who can only grow older without growing at all.

Ever yours

Rabindranath Tagore

Tao Te Ching

If you want to be a great leader, You must learn to follow the Tao. Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, And the world will govern itself.

The more prohibitions you have, The less virtuous people will be. The more weapons you have, The less secure people will be. The more subsidies you have, The less self-reliant people will be.

There fore the Master says: I let go of the law, And people become honest. I let go of economics, And people become prosperous. I let go of religion, And people become serene. I let go of all desire for the common good, And the good becomes common as grass. -#57

Lao Tzu says it so much better than I could. One imagines our world is too far gone now to try not-doing – and yet, we can all learn from this wisdom, and dream of a better world.

The Law of Attraction

“The life force is all-pervasive and its strength boundless. The Art of Peace allows us to perceive and tap into that tremendous reserve of universal energy.” - Ueshiba, The Art of Peace

Today we find much discussion regarding the evolution of consciousness and the realization that we take part in the creation of our reality; books like The Tao of Physics and films such as What The Bleep Do We Know!? and The Secret track our coming of age on these topics. Modern day physicists, spiritualists and free thinkers are beginning to realize that truth lies somewhere between outdated concepts of ‘science’ and ‘religion.’ If we think, speak and visualize in positive ways, the law of attraction plays a role in amassing positive outcomes for our lives.

“Our world is made up of interlocking wavelengths of light. Matter is a matter of opinion. When you speak into this quantum void, you are creating your own reality whether you know it or not, constructing and deconstructing the ‘frozen music’ that makes up our reality.” – Surfing the Tao: A Revolution of Free Will

These ideas are not in fact ‘new’, but can be found within many of our world’s spiritual traditions. Each culture and era phrases it differently, but the importance of this spiritual law hasn’t changed.

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” – Proverbs 23:7

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” – Buddha

Oftentimes people wonder about the difficulty of controlling one’s thoughts; or what one should be visualizing for themselves. The good news is, if we can find a grateful, loving and positive frame of mind, we can put these questions out to the Universe, and it will take care of the details for you. Some say “let go, let God” and this is a good way to put it.

“Peace originates with the flow of things – its heart is like the movement of the wind and waves. The Way is like the veins that circulate blood through our bodies, following the natural flow of the life force. If you are separated in the slightest from that divine essence, you are far off the path.” –The Art of Peace

Surfing the Tao refers to simply choosing love for the direction of your actions; allow the Tao (God, Brahman, the Force, the Great Spirit…whatever you call it) to flow through you, and hop on for the ride of your life. Truth is simple - Walk the Walk; Live the Way. Use various methods – you can use a long board or a short board, right-footed or left, but you’re still allowing the wave to carry you. I suggest this revolution of thought, of our free will, is radical and yet of utmost importance in today’s world. Learn to create a new reality in harmony with the Tao. Choose love and watch your life, and the world, transform.

“…There is evil and disorder in the world because people have forgotten that all things emanate from one source. Return to that source and leave behind all self-centered thoughts, petty desires, and anger.” –The Art of Peace

Live and Learn, or You Won't Live Long

I’ll be honest, folks, there are days I just throw up my hands and think, there’s no use bothering anymore. It’s just impossible to open minds that are already set in their ways. I would put my life on the line for free speech and the right of the individual to their own opinions, but where’s the love? Can we disagree and still be civil to each other? Can we respect differing points of view and still be neighborly? Are we willing to learn from each other, to listen, or are we all just talking too loud to hear anyone else?

There are wars going on in every facet of our lives. Military wars with guns and killing are just part of it. There are wars of words here at home, and everywhere, so much so I sometimes wonder, am I the only person who read Machiavelli? Isn’t anyone else out there aware of the fact that while we set our jaws and spew hatred at each other, we are just falling into a trap? Liberals vs. conservatives, people of faith vs. atheists, pro-life vs. pro-choice, rich vs. poor, black vs. white, blue vs. yellow, McDonalds vs. Burger King…hello, people, we’re missing the point here. We’re over-complicating our lives, our society, and our world. We’re too busy arguing amongst ourselves to take a walk outside the box. I don’t care if you’re liberal, conservative, religious, spiritual, atheist, purple with blue lumps or have three arms…choosing to be loving, or at the very least, neighborly, would go a long way towards improving our society. Instead of so freely making assumptions, throwing labels and accusations around, and blaming each other for whatever, we’d be better off setting aside one day a week to really read and listen to others, and maybe keep our mouths shut for a moment while we do. That goes for everyone – politicians, talk show hosts, bloggers, teenagers, senior citizens, celebrities, pet owners, CEOs, homemakers – I don’t care who you are or what you believe, none of us knows everything, none of us is 100 per cent right – and none of us knows the whole truth. We could all benefit from a little continuing education.

Let’s find the love. Let’s find common ground. Let’s listen, learn and open our minds. Or is it already too late?

A real Jurassic park?

From Free Press International

Surfing the Tao

“Surfing the Tao” is a phrase created in an attempt to nutshell what could be the most important aspect of spiritual truth, or the Way of Life. A reader once sent me a great quote, “It is a lot like surfing... you catch a wave by being prepared, timing your move and having your board in position. Like surfing, you have some control, but the Flow has all the power.” Since I live in Hawaii the analogy seemed appropriate; and indeed there is a certain zen to the sport.

If you’re just hearing about “Surfing the Tao” here are a few bullet points. It’s not about any particular religion; it’s about how we choose to live each moment, although it does contain spiritual concepts from all corners of the world. We can argue endlessly about who is ‘right’ – but we could be just missing the point. Each person has their own path to walk, and we all find truth in our own ways. However, as our greatest sages have remarked, eventually our paths will all converge on the Great Path.

Our great spiritual teachers have all encouraged love in the search for enlightenment. Many have defined “God” (or Tao, Father, Force, Beloved, Brahman, Great Spirit; whatever) as that flowing consciousness of love, the goal being to become “one” with this Force. So the basic idea of “Surfing the Tao” is choosing love for direction of your actions. The truth is simple – not easy, but simple. Still your mind and instead listen to your spiritual nature, that which is connected to the Tao, the Force. Allow the Tao to flow through you, and hop on for the ride of your life. Use various methods – you can use a long board or a short board, right-footed or left, but you’re still allowing the wave to carry you.

Surfing is an individual sport, and Surfing the Tao is a silent, inner revolution of spirit. The outer world will not provide the whole answer. Truth is within you; amplify the Voice by tuning in to love. Then, one person at a time, we can change our reality to one of peace and harmony.

Save the Internet

"Your ability to share and consume information online may soon be limited..." Check out Save the Internet for more info.

Vaccines, Mercury and Autism

There are a number of recent articles and studies regarding the connection between immunizations given to children and autism, which is a developmental disability characterized by anti-social behavior and repetitive movements. The main culprits are thought to be thimerosal and other mercury-based preservatives contained in some vaccines, but also include formaldehyde, aluminum phosphate, antibiotics, phenols, aluminum salts, methanol, isopropyl, 2-pheozyethanol, live viruses and “a host of known components considered off-limits as trade secrets,” according to an article in the World Net Daily.

An article in The Hill on June 3, 2006 by Jeffrey Young reports that parents of autistic children are claiming a cover-up by the CDC on this link. The CDC responds on its website, “The weight of currently available scientific evidence does not support the hypothesis that vaccines cause autism. We recognize there is considerable public interest in this issue, and therefore support additional research regarding this hypothesis. CDC is committed to maintaining the safest, most effective vaccine supply in history.”

The National Institutes of Heath has quadrupled its financing for research into this question since 1997. But last year the top three public health agencies held a press conference in which they stated that there was no proven link between vaccines and autism. They maintain it’s more dangerous for children not to receive immunizations from diseases such as mumps, rubella and influenza. But many parents, as well as other researchers, are not convinced. There has been a reported 6000% to 13,000% increase in childhood autism since the 1990s, depending on the location. Before 1990, autism was rare, about one in every 10,000 children; now nearly one in every 150 children is being diagnosed, and this has prompted outrage and lawsuits in many communities. There is an outcry for more independent research, as many claim the government agencies are conspiring to “poison” our children with toxic levels of mercury and other chemicals.

Thimerosal was first introduced as a preservative in the 1930s by Eli Lilly. According to a study published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons by Dr. Mark Geier, and David Geier, “U.S. infants are exposed to mercury levels [which] far exceed the EPA and FDA–established maximum permissible levels.” They note a strong epidemiological link between neurodevelopmental disorders and mercury exposure. But despite the outrage, it hasn’t been removed from many of the vaccines. Dr. Geier suggests that the rates of autism would decline so abruptly, the connection would become obvious and a deluge of lawsuits would follow. Several companies have even admitted the mercury levels contained within the vaccines are other than is what is stated on their labels – if this is truly the case who knows what else they’re putting in there without our knowledge.

The United States is not alone in the controversy. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who has written a book and many articles on the subject, stated, “six years ago, autism was unknown in China. We started giving them our vaccines in 1999. Today there’s 1.8 million cases of autism in China.” Australia has experienced a 276% jump in autism disorders. Russia banned thimerosal from children’s vaccines and their autism rates have remained unchanged. In the UK, where the mercury-based vaccine was introduced in 1989, the autism rate spiked from one in 2200 children in 1988 to one in 166 in 2001.

One anomaly exists within the Amish population, which doesn’t take vaccines. Their autism rates are almost non-existent, certainly nowhere near the epidemic 1 in 166 proportions indicated elsewhere.

At least this possible mercury-autism link is being discussed openly today in our major media. However, it remains that parents are often coerced into allowing their children to be vaccinated and not told of these possible complications. In Maryland, parents on welfare lose $25 per month per child without immunizations – even though they are not legally required. Many school systems do not allow unvaccinated children to attend, and physicians often refuse to treat a child without them.

One must consider that the pharmaceutical industry is a business. Is it possible such a business would make even more money should people get sick from their vaccines? Do we really trust them to be working for our best interests, rather than their own? Did you know that Bayer, the company which makes Cipro, the treatment for Anthrax, started out in Germany working for Hitler? These companies are capitalists, not philanthropists. One shudders to think of the day vaccinations are required by law. Until then Surf the Tao, live every moment in love - even if others aren’t.

An Inconvenient Truth

Here's the trailer to Senator Gore's new documentary on global warming.

Weather Modification

"Others [terrorists] are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves. So there are plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon other nations and it's real, and that's the reason why we have to intensify our [counterterrorism] efforts." -- Secretary of Defense William Cohen at the Conference on Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and U.S. Strategy, University of Georgia, Athens, Apr. 28, 1997. SOURCE: DEFENCE LINK

Last year a Weather Modification bill was presented to Congress (March 3. 2005, S. 517, H. 2995) whose purpose is stated as, “It is the purpose of this Act to develop and implement a comprehensive and coordinated national weather modification policy and a national cooperative Federal and State program of weather modification research and development.”

The Weather Modification Organization, which supports this bill, was organized in 1950 “to cultivate a better understanding of weather modification techniques, impacts, and expectations among program sponsors, program operators, and the scientific community, and to promote ethical professional conduct and a free exchange of information. Weather modification can be both planned, as is the case in cloud seeding (cloud modification), or inadvertent, for example, when pollution affects visibility. Planned (deliberate) weather modification is also commonly known cloud seeding, cloud modification, and atmospheric water management.” This association’s stated goals are, “Promoting research, development and understanding of weather modification for beneficial uses.”

Other groups are protesting this bill, trying to stop experimental weather modification without agricultural and public oversight. Global Research reported that this bill is on the fast track, and that it, “would allow experimental weather modification by artificial methods and implement a national weather modification policy, [but] does not include agriculture or public oversight.”

Rosalind Peterson has worked as an agricultural technologist and for the USDA Farm Service. In 1995 she became a certified USDA Farm Service Agency Crop Loss Adjustor. She claims that this bill could adversely impact crops and water supplies, because “if the weather is changed in one state, region or county it may have severe consequences in another region, state or county.” Also, since most weather modification programs use chemicals released into the atmosphere the public could be subjected [to] increasingly toxic or unknown substances that could adversely impact agricultural crops and trees.” Chemtrails are now termed 'exotic weapons ' by the government. She notes that trimethyl aluminum and barium are just two of such chemicals used in recent atmospheric heating and testing programs, according to NASA. Further she writes, “the Alaska HAARP atmospheric heating program may have the capability of changing the jet stream which could also change our weather.” Rosalind Peterson can be contacted at info@californiaskywatch.com.

HAARP, or High Active Auroral Radio Program, is a series of transmitters of sufficient signal strength designed to turn the aurora borealis into a virtual antenna. Essentially it is a giant ionospheric heater, erected for a number of purposes. Publicly its goals are earth penetrating topography and deep sea communications. But its executive summary states, “In 2025 the U.S. aerospace forces can ‘own the weather’…weather-modification offers a dilemma not unlike the splitting of the atom…”

Scientific American also reported that HAARP influences the weather, and may have caused the Florida tornado outbreak in 2000.

An article on “Discovery News” reports that 2005 was a weird year for tornadoes. A NASA article wonders why when hurricanes are typically known to lack lightning, the record-setting hurricanes of 2005 (Rita, Katrina and Emily) had a lot of it.

A fantastic overview of weather modification and its consequences can be found Free Press International, including eye-opening video.

One needs only do a search on “weather modification weapons” to find dozens of sites discussing this horrifying topic. Do some research on scalar weapons for information on developments in this field. Tom Beardon is an expert in this field, and he states, “I guess the first thing to try to comprehend is that a "new" kind of electromagnetic (EM) wave has been discovered in the empty vacuum of space which, when engineered, can be an inexhaustible supply of energy in great magnitude at any place in the universe. The word "new" is in quotes because the discovery really goes back to Nikola Tesla and his discovery of what he called "radiant energy." It is also not "new" because the Russians (KGB) have been working on this technology for over 30 years and have weaponized these "new" longitudinal scalar waves to a great degree. These are the weapons Nikita Khrushchev spoke of in January, 1960.”

"By 1957-8 the Soviets had progressed to the point of a giant scalar EM accident in the Urals which exploded nearby atomic wastes, devastating the area. They had also progressed to development of great new superweapons using their new energetics - weapons to which Khrushchev referred in 1960 when he informed the Soviet Presidium of a new, fantastic weapon in development, a weapon so powerful that it could wipe out all life on earth if unrestrainedly employed.'" Tom Bearden After over 30 years of development, and extensive testing around the globe, these new scalar electromagnetic weapons are up and running and ready to go. Bearden, at his website Cheniere, dicusses the history of these new scalar electromagnetic weapons in his paper "Historical Background of Scalar EM Weapons."

Another very interesting article, entitled, “Weather Modification a Long-Established, Though Secretive, Reality” can be found here: argues, “the new legislation [is] not designed to foster pleasant or productive weather, but planned as tool of weaponized weather control, already well tested and in use since 1976. Amateur and hostile weather-makers alike likely to lose their technology to the military.”

Going back to Secretary Cohen’s remarks in 1997, perhaps we as a country might be well advised to take a closer look at what is really going on with our weather. Global warming? Or weather wars? The truth could be frightening, but increased awareness might help alleviate an even greater fear should the worst possible scenario arrive for you and your community in the future. Surf the Tao to a world of love, peace and harmony.

American Patriotism

The Random House dictionary defines a patriot as one who “defends his or her country and its interests,” but it also regards a patriot as a “defender, esp. of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government.”

Our country today is troubled not only with another war abroad, but with a war of words at home. On one side are those who defend the present government without question. They are angered by those on the other side, who speak out against policies and decisions made by those in power today. Both sides claim patriotism, but to what? Could it be that our differing definitions of ‘patriotism’ could be undermining the stability of the very country we are all claim to be defending? Lao Tzu wrote in his Tao Te Ching, “When the country falls into chaos, patriotism is born.” Has it gotten that bad already?

The Revolutionary War was fought by so-called ‘patriots’ – those who sought freedom from a government they didn’t agree with. Did Britain consider them to be patriots? In a sense these ‘patriots’ were actually rebels, engaged in what they considered to be a righteous rebellion against tyranny. Adlai Stevenson said, “Do not... regard the critics as questionable patriots. What were Washington and Jefferson and Adams but profound critics of the colonial status quo?”

And what issues did our founding fathers have with this ‘tyrannical’ rule of the time? Our forefathers sought freedom from taxation without representation; they sought religious freedom; they sought freedom of speech and expression; they sought self-rule. The resulting Declaration of Independence and Constitution attempted to provide a satisfactory alternative to rule by monarchy.

Especially since 9/11, many argue that some of these freedoms have been curtailed, ironically by the USA Patriot Act, and other acts of government in which the general population had no say. Was it done, as they say, to protect our freedom? I suppose, as I believe Donald Rumsfeld once said, that we can have freedom or security, but not both. Of course now we are at war as well, and many cry out in against those who choose not to support our government in this effort, claiming such people are un-patriotic.

I support our troops without question. Those men and women didn’t start the war, they are just doing their duty, which happens to be following orders - many times to the death. I applaud these people for their fortitude and stamina in this seemingly unending war against terrorism. Regardless of the arguments some make about Iraq not having WMDs, or that Iraq didn’t destroy the WTC, or that war is a means to profit for the elite – these men and women in uniform aren’t to blame and should have our gratitude and respect.

But to call someone un-patriotic for questioning their government? Of course the government itself feels slighted, so as Henry Steele Commager said, “Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive.” But going back again to the days of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, certainly these men would support the right to speak out. They hoped the republic they created would provide a balance between the rulers and the ruled. They provided the right to free speech and to bear arms – not so people could run around yelling and killing each other, but so they could defend themselves from a dishonest government if need be. Certainly the citizenry will not always agree on whether this is the case - but don’t we have the right to disagree? Shouldn’t we at the very least respect each other’s opinion, and take the time to listen to each other? Isn’t that really what it means to be an American?

If you research famous quotes on patriotism the result is surprising. Those who refuse to question the policies of our government might be advised to reread a little history. It’s our job as patriots! I saw a bumper sticker once which said, “Sometimes a patriot needs to defend his country against its government.” And along those lines many famous people have spoken out over the years.

From Teddy Roosevelt, “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” (1918)

From Mark Twain: “The government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.”

From James Baldwin: “I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

From Edward R. Murrow: “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”

To be loyal to America doesn’t mean to sit back and allow one administration or another the power to make decisions without debate or dissent. To be a loyal American is to stand up for our original freedoms, to stand up as our forefathers did, as ‘rebellious patriots’, and fight for the rights that made our country great - particularly the right to disagree, without repercussion. This is the heart and soul of America, and when that is gone, then we become Americans in name only. Some argue, this has already happened, but as long as this article remains posted we still have a chance.

Someday soon, I fear, being an “American” could become a thing of the past, in name as well. As Ronald Reagan famously said in 1985, “I couldn't help but say to [Mr. Gorbachev], just think how easy his task and mine might be in these meetings that we held if suddenly there was a threat to this world from another planet. [We'd] find out once and for all that we really are all human beings here on this earth together.” If we are truly on the road to world government, as many believe, we as Americans will have a lot more to fight for someday. If our sovereignty is ever threatened, I can only hope that all Americans – those on both sides of the ‘patriot’ argument today – will come together to defend her from those who seek ultimate power. As Daniel Webster said in 1850, “I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American!”

Al Gore on Saturday Night Live

In case you missed it, here's a link to one of the funniest things I've seen yet...yes, it's really him!! (Click on the title above for the link.)

Free Press International

Free Press International has some great video, pics, and info about some alternative subjects. Check out the video on Weather Control and Mind Control, and under "Breaking Video News" a whole bunch of other goodies. (click on the title above, or the link to your right.)

Beam Weapons

Click on the title above for the MSNBC article. From www.WantToKnow.info: LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - There is a new breed of weaponry fast approaching. They are labeled "directed-energy weapons," and they may well signal a revolution in military hardware — perhaps more so than the atomic bomb. Directed-energy weapons take the form of lasers, high-powered microwaves and particle beams. Their adoption for ground, air, sea, and space warfare depends not only on using the electromagnetic spectrum, but also upon favorable political and budgetary wavelengths too. After more than two decades of research, the United States is on the verge of deploying a new generation of weapons that discharge beams of energy, such as the Airborne Laser and the Active Denial System, as well as the Tactical High Energy Laser, or THEL. Then there’s Active Denial Technology — a non-lethal way to use millimeter-wave electromagnetic energy to stop, deter and turn back an advancing adversary. This technology, supported by the U.S. Marines, uses a beam of millimeter waves to heat a foe’s skin, causing severe pain without damage, and making the adversary flee the scene. By tuning the resonance of a laser onto Earth’s ionosphere, you can create audible frequencies. Like some boom box in the sky, the laser-produced voice could bellow from above down to the target below: "Put down your weapons."

Tagore on Christ and Buddha

I have been reading the letters of Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali writer/poet most famous in the West for the Nobel Prize he won in 1913 for his collection of poems Gitanjali. In May, 1933, he wrote to Mahatma Gandhi, "...In every important act of his life Buddha preached limitless love for all creatures. Christ said 'Love thine enemies' and that teaching of his found its final expression in the words of forgiveness he uttered for those who killed him..." In 1937, E.J. Thompson was writing a book about Buddhism and commented to Tagore, "To me it is increasingly clear that what the world needs is to take both Buddha's and Christ's teaching - the pity and tenderness of Buddhism supplies what Christianity lacks, in a certain 'hard-boiledness' (perhaps the fault of Christian nations). The subtle and many-colored beauty of your own wonderful life interprets Buddhism as nothing else does, and I am glad that I have known you." Tagore replied in his letter of the same year, "....I agree with you that both Christ and Buddha embodied in their lives the only true principles that can work for men's common good; Buddha's insistence on the renunciation of greed creates the necessary condition of the mind in which the love of others ceases to conflict with one's own good. Do you know I have often felt that if we were not Hindus...I should like my people to be Christians? Indeed, it is a great pity that Europeans have come to us as imperialists rather than as Christians and so have deprived our people of their true contact with the religion of Jesus Christ...What a mental torture it is to know that men are capable of loving each other and adding to one another's joy, and yet would not!" (from Selected Letters of Rabindranath Tagore, Ed. Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson, Cambridge University Press, 1997)

Colbert Roasts Bush

Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's Colbert Report, spoke at a recent White House Correspondent's dinner. Here is the clip of his nervy speech, aired on C-Span, with Bush just a few feet away! (Click on the link above)

Monatomic Gold: The Philospher's Stone

In his 2003 book Lost Secrets of the Ark of the Covenant, author Laurence Gardner explained the rediscovery of monatomic gold, which he claims could be the alchemical Philosopher’s Stone, used by the ancients to “feed their light bodies” – or travel to an “alternative dimensional state of being.”

PGMs, or platinum group metals, were first (re)discovered in the 19^th century. But when a wealthy cotton farmer named David Hudson discovered the mother lode on his property in Phoenix, Arizona in 1976, it revived an age-old mystery. Hudson was treating his soil with chemicals, and found that a certain mineral had the unusual ability to “flare up in a blaze of white light and totally disappear” when exposed to sunlight. During spectroscopic arcing, the application of intense electrical heat, part of the atom becomes white light – its weight seems to disappear, but actually it is just removed to an alternate non-physical dimension. It looks like a white powder, but behaves as a stone, is said to change colors, produce brilliant light and deadly rays.

Hudson patented his discovery as ORMEs – orbitally rearranged monatomic elements, in the late 1980s. (Note the 1991 Bruce Willis movie called Hudson Hawk, about a gold machine.) He also began contacting scientists who were researching a new fuel cell technology, and found they had been having problems with white light explosions. In their experiments, the metals seemed to fall to about half their weight, seeming to disappear from sight until cooled, when they would miraculously reappear. They had discovered superconductors. A superconductor contains a flowing ‘liquid’ light, like a plasma, with a null magnetic field. This meant they could levitate, and the magnetic field surrounding the superconductor is called a Meissner Field.

ORMEs are said to have extraordinary powers of levitation, transmutation, and teleportation. The Institute for Advanced Studies in Austin, Texas calls it ‘exotic matter’, capable of bending space-time. They theorized the material resonated into an alternative perceptual vision, another dimension of space-time, and could enable speed-of-light travel.

Science had officially rediscovered the Philosopher’s Stone. In ancient times, the method and manufacture was known only to metallurgical adepts of the Mystery schools. They knew this special ‘powder of projection’ could ‘transmute human ignorance into the spiritual gold of enlightenment.’ Indeed, application of these atoms to human DNA causes the DNA strand itself to become a superconductor. Several articles have been published suggesting its use to treat cancer. It is known that gold and platinum metals in their monatomic high-spin state can “activate the endocrinal glandular system in a way that heightens awareness, perception and aptitude to extraordinary levels.” It also caused those who ingested the material to glow, or shine. There are several mentions of glowing faces or countenances in the Bible.

In the Bible, the substance was known as showbread, the ‘bread of the Presence’, and manna (which means “What is this” for the question continually asked in amazement). The Pyramid Texts call it “mfkzt” or “white bread”, and it is depicted in various hieroglyphs and bas-reliefs as a conical white stone. Some believe it was contained in the Ark of the Covenant, thereby explaining the strange deadly rays said to emanate from it.

This Philosopher’s Stone, called firestone by the ancients and ORMEs by modern science, seems like a rock, looks like a powder and can be eaten like bread. In fact, today you can even buy it online. But though some attest to its healing qualities, I question whether it is necessary for our ascension to the higher realms, or whether it's just a way to artificially ascend without true love or faith. Is it a ‘fast food enlightenment’, a white bread of empty calories? Since this discovery, considerable sums of gold have suddenly been stockpiled, or disappeared into thin air. When the IMF announced the sale of large amounts of bullion, said to benefit poor, gold-producing nations, instead the plan devastated these fragile small economies. Somewhere, noted author Gardner, certain anonymous ‘buyers’ were able to amass huge amounts of gold at a bargain price. As Lao Tzu reminds us, “amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it.” Now who do we know with a lot of money?

Free Will

… the sages: Manage the work of detached actions Conduct the teaching of no words They work with myriad things but do not control They create but do not possess They act but do not presume They succeed but do not dwell on success It is because they do not dwell on success That it never goes away

TTC, Chapter 2, trans. Derek Lin

Free Will is a topic that has always fascinated me. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will for a lengthy definition and explanation of the many aspects and philosophies surrounding this issue. Determinism and incompatibilism, libertarianism and compatibilism, argue one way or the other whether free will truly exists, or whether it is an illusion.

Wikipedia states that the I Ching contains “A shifting flow of probabilities for futures,” and that, “Probabilities take the center of the stage away from things and people. A kind of "divine" volition sets the fundamental rules for the working out of probabilities in the universe, and human volitions are always a factor in the ways that humans can deal with the real world situations one encounters. If one's situation in life is surfing on a tsunami, one still has some range of choices even in that situation. One person might give up, and another person might choose to struggle and perhaps to survive. The Yi Jing mentality is much closer to the mentality of quantum physics than to that of classical physics, and also finds parallelism in voluntarist or Existentialist ideas of taking one's life as one's project.”

I myself tend to agree with the I Ching. I believe that our possible futures are constantly shifting, and that our decisions are based on our various backgrounds and psychologies. Whether Everything is predetermined is hard for me to say – it seems like if it were, life might seem fruitless – if it is, at least thinking we have a choice might be all we need. However, to control the Tao is not our job either – TTC#74, “Trying to control the future is like trying to take the master carpenter’s place.”

But I do believe that within the Flow of things, within the Tao, exists the choice that will ultimately lead to the most harmonious outcome. We work with knowledge of the Tao, allowing it to guide us, not being too attached to the desired outcome. Finding the most harmonious path and allowing it to guide, is what I call ‘Surfing the Tao’ – yet I concede that for many of us, making such choices may require a ‘revolution’ of our (perceived) free will, since it may be against popular notions of ambition and wealth.

Personality Types

There is a discussion at the Tea House about personality types I found interesting. I tested out as an INFP, which is Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Perceiving - as did many others there. I figure like is attracted to like. "Most people describe them as having an "otherworldly" quality. They are almost instinctively pulled toward the mystical and the spiritual, and they are intensely private, which gives them a dark, mysterious aura. INFPs think on an epic scale, particularly with regards to Good vs. Evil." If you want to take the free personality test, check out http://www.sixteenflavors.com/typetest.php or click on the link above. On a similar note (for all you geeks out there), find out which Star Wars character you are! I was Padme. Check out http://atta.sinfree.net/quiz.html.

Upanishads

The Upanishads are a collection of Hindu spiritual treatises, written in Sanskrit from ancient oral transmissions. They are said to be spiritual interpretations of the Vedas, ancient Indo-Aryan religious literature, considered to be ‘revealed knowledge’ by Hindus (“Veda” means “knowledge”). It is believed that the oldest were written around 900 B.C., and the ‘modern’ around 350 B.C. They are said to represent for the Hindu what the New Testament is to the Christian.

While there are said to be hundreds of Upanishads, only about a dozen are considered primary to Hindu belief. The different sages who wrote, or transmitted, these teachings throughout time attempted to answer life’s greatest spiritual questions, including that of a “Reality beyond ordinary knowing.”

The Supreme Being is called Brahman, transcendent and infinite, the universal spirit or sum total of all that ever was, is, or will be. It is ‘Absolute Reality’, found within all things animate and inanimate. “He moves and he moves not. He is far, and he is near. He is within all, and he is outside all.” (Isa Upanishad)

The seeker finds Brahman, the peaceful Infinite, when he/she attains ‘liberation’ from the physical; from agitation of the outside world. That part of each individual which is connected to Brahman is called Atman, and one must simply ‘Know’ this connection for ultimate fulfillment.

I have found that much of the wisdom in the Upanishads resonates with a similar tone to that in the Tao Te Ching, in Buddha’s teachings and also in Jesus’ original teachings. “When the five senses and the mind are still, and reason itself rests in silence, then begins the Path supreme.” (Katha Upanishad) “Those who follow wisdom pass beyond and, on leaving this world, become immortal.” (Kena Upanishad) Also, “He is unknown to the learned and known to the simple.” (Kena Upanishad)

I Know I Don't Know

Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace. Watch the turmoil of beings, but contemplate their return.

Each separate being in the universe returns to the common source. Returning to the source is serenity.

If you don’t realize the source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow. When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused, kindhearted as a grandmother, dignified as a king. Immersed in the wonder of the Tao, you can deal with whatever life brings you, and when death comes, you are ready. (Tao Te Ching, #16)

There are days when I wonder how we all get through it. As blessed as my life is, I still have moments when I wonder, why me? Today I opened the Tao Te Ching and this is the page that came up. It’s amazing how it speaks to me, each time telling me what I need to hear. I need to stop thinking so much and allow the Universe to show me the Way. I need to stop taking things so seriously and take a more lighthearted point of view. When I look out into the world and see so many people with much bigger problems than I have, I know I can handle my own load. Knowing that there is just a bigger Plan than I can comprehend, allows me to breathe a little easier. When I know that I don’t know, that’s when I begin to understand!

Loose Change

The past few days I’ve been hearing about this 9/11 conspiracy video going around called “Loose Change” and finally watched it tonight. It seems to be stirring people up and certainly brings up a lot of questions, true or not. I read a bumper sticker recently that said something like, “A patriot will defend his country against his government.” I hope it will never get to that. To view the video go to http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923762628848 or click on the link above.

There’s no doubt we are wise to review all information that crosses our path, and at the very least form our own opinions. Lao Tzu said, "The master observes the world, but trusts his inner vision."

Be the Magic

The Master allows things to happen.

She shapes events as they come.

She steps out of the way

and lets the Tao speak for itself.

-Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, #45

Once upon a time there was a poor farmer in China who had a son, but no horse. One day a beautiful stallion appeared at his door. "Oh, good luck, good luck," said the villagers. "Good luck, bad luck, who knows," replied the farmer. One day his son rode the horse, fell off and broke his leg. "Oh, bad luck, bad luck," cried the villagers. "Good luck, bad luck, who knows," the farmer said. The next day the army rode through town, recruiting youths for a faraway war. They took many of the villages sons to the distress of their families, but passed over the farmer's son, because of his broken leg. "Oh, good luck, good luck," said the villagers. "Who knows," said the wise farmer.

Taoism is difficult to absorb for the modern, western mind because its tenets are so opposite to what we are taught in the world. Most of us are raised to be ambitious or aggressive about we want in life, and to react negatively when things don’t go ‘our’ way. Taoists believe in a more organic approach; to not label things or events as bad or good, but instead learn to use everything in a continual evolution. If we hold to tight to one aspiration, for example, we may be unable to recognize an even better opportunity when it comes along. Sometimes the best things that happen in life might have been called accidents or mistakes. It's like a silver lining approach to life - whatever happens can be good if we simply decide to perceive it that way. All events can be part of a process of growth and change.

When we attempt to force something out of life, or out of ourselves, we are, perhaps unknowingly, deciding to disregard that the Universe, the Tao, might have something better in store for us. In fact, many people even practice magic, attempting to reroute the powerful flow of the Tao for their own desires. Rather, Taoism teaches one to become at rest in the midst of this universal flow, finding gratitude for the now and allowing the future to take care of itself; allowing the great ‘magic’ of the universe to weave the ultimate web of life. It is much the same idea of living in faith, described in other religions. Many of our great sages attempted to explain this.

Trying to control the future

is like trying to take the master carpenter's place.

when you handle the master carpenter's tools

changes are that you'll cut your hand.

-Tao Te Ching, #74

This doesn't mean we have no say in our own lives. We are still responsible for making decisions and choices every day. But our free will is arguably limited if we are not aware of all our choices. Are we always clear on what we are choosing? Are we following our own selfish desires, to the detriment of other people and the world around us? Are we making the effort to find that stillness and peace within us, and seek the answers there first? Are we aware that this Way of life is truly is an "Art of Peace"?

Peace originates wth the flow of things - its heart is like the movement of the wind and waves. The Way is like the veins that circulate blood through our bodies, following the natural flow of the life force. If you are separated in the slightest from that divine essence, you are far off the path.

-Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace

To Surf the Tao, this flow of all things, we must first become aware of the Surf in the first place. Becoming aware of the Spirit, that vibrating harmonic of life all around us and within us, is different for each person. There is a great flowing Source of energy just waiting for you to choose its Way of love, peace and harmony. When you are in this Flow, your life will naturally become one of prosperity and peace.

Remember, we are human beings, not human doings. I will allow Lao Tzu sum up, for he said it better than I ever could, “The Master doesn't seek fulfillment. Not seeking; not expecting, she is present and can welcome all things…The Master sees things are they are, without trying to control them. She lets them go their own way, and resides at the center of the circle…Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?”

Profiting from Disaster

Throughout our history there have always been those for whom war, disasters and the like have been a means to profit. World Wars I and II, as well as the multitude of post-1945 foreign wars, generated a substantial increase in U.S. corporate profits thanks to the increase in military and defense spending. The New York Times reported in 1940 that Standard Oil and other U.S.Japan) with oil and other technical information. companies were continuing to supply even Nazi Germany (and And, “beginning with 1965, the rapid Vietnam buildup of military contracts gave several years of extra life to the tired boom and raised it to new heights: This added stimulation was primarily for military reasons; its economic consequences were side-effects.” (Victor Perlo, “Economic Aspects of Military Spending”, in David Mermelstein: “The Economic Crisis Reader”, 1975)

When the Soviet Union collapsed, the U.S. emerged as the great world economic power. According to an article on http://abundance.org.uk/ (The Profits of Abundance and War, Part xi), “We are now witnessing the development of a war policy which appears to envisage war continuing for the foreseeable future, not just to boost America’s massive armaments corporations, but the economy as a whole.”

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former Secretary of State George Schulz each hold millions of dollars worth of in shares of Gilead Sciences, the biotech company which owns the rights to Tamiflu. Fear of a pandemic of bird flu has sent their stocks soaring. (more at http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/newsmakers/fortune_rumsfeld/) Another company, Chiron Corp., was recently awarded a $62.5 million dollar contract by the Department of Health and Human Services to begin producing a similar vaccine. Of course we want to be prepared, but an article at www.WantToKnow.info notes, “Isn’t it interesting that over $60 million dollars has been “awarded for a vaccine against a bird flu that hasn’t even mutated yet?...How do we know these vaccines will work when it hasn’t even mutated?...the pharmaceutical industry…is raking in huge profits…”

Then of course there’s Exxon/Mobil, which announced yesterday it is now America’s largest corporation, surpassing even Wal-Mart. Interesting that their highest profits were recorded in the quarter following Hurricane Katrina. Of course they are a business, but wouldn’t it be nice if during times of human misery, profit might be considered secondary to relief?

Lao Tzu wrote, “Throw away industry and profit, and there won’t be any thieves.” (#19) “When a country is in harmony with the Tao, the factories make trucks and tractors. When a country goes counter to the Tao, warheads are stockpiled outside the cities.” (#46)

Creative Endeavors

One of the ways I get into the 'Surfing' state of mind is through art. This is an oil painting I did for the cover of my book. These days I've been experimenting with watercolor pencils and pastels. I spent nearly ten years working in LA in the movie business building creatures, puppets and props, which taught me a lot about various mediums and materials. It was fun but exhausting...my life in Hawaii is now much more serene, but it takes some will power to get my creative juices flowing again.

When the student is ready, the Master appears.

This saying has had profound meaning for me throughout my Journey. Looking back, I can see that the knowledge I sought rarely arrived before I was able to absorb it – and if it did, it reappeared again later so I could appreciate it with the right perspective. That goes for the people who arrived along my path too. When I was ready for the change a new person would bring, there they were. The better we get at Surfing the Tao, the easier it becomes to utilize this phenomenon. As another proverb so wisely states, "Teachers open the door, but you must enter yourself."

20/20 hindsight is truly valuable, for if we can see the wisdom of our seemingly happenchance pasts, we can understand that the future is bound to bring us what we need, when we need it. What can seem like bumps along the path are merely necessary meanderings. We will only understand why later. "When the Way comes to an end, then change - having changed, you pass through." (I Ching) This is a Way to Surf the Tao.

Krishnamurti

“I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect…” – Krishnamurti

The Theosophical Society (“TS”) was established in 1875 by Helena P. Blavatsky and others interested in the study and explanation of ‘mediumistic phenomena’. Blavatsky claimed to have studied with the 'Ascended Masters' in Tibet, and upon her return to New York City she supposedly engaged in various psychic feats such as channeling, levitation and clairvoyance. Many consider this to have been the first instance of the “New Age” spiritual movement, and its teachings, rituals and symbolism has been linked to the occult. Indeed Blavatsky equated Lucifer with Jesus Christ, writing “Lucifer is divine and terrestrial light…”, and was instrumental in forming the Lucifer Trust in 1920, now called the Lucis Trust, which still works today to carry out a Luciferian “master plan” for establishing a one world government under their “Lord of the World”. The Lucis Trust still has ‘consultative status’ with the United Nations, and carries influence with the world’s most powerful political and business leaders.

As a child, Krishnamurti was ‘discovered’ by leaders of the TS, as they believed he was to be the next ‘World Teacher” or Master of their system. According to Krishnamurti himself, he did indeed experience visions of the “Ascended Masters” and for a time accepted what he was taught in terms of the rituals and system of the Theosophists, as well as his future position as their next “World Teacher”.

However Krishnamurti took his own revelations to a higher level one day when he experienced a powerful vision of the truth, and soon after he left the TS against the wishes of its other members. He began to teach that, “No one can give you liberation, you have to find it within…” He no longer wanted to be part of any structured system, explaining instead that his “Beloved” could be found “in every animal, in every blade of grass, in every person who is suffering, in every individual.”

This caused great upheaval within the TS, as they were used to having someone tell them their Path, and had looked forward to being high-ranking disciples of this Teacher and the rituals that went along with it. Instead, Krishnamurti told them that “all ceremonies are unnecessary for spiritual growth,” and that it is better not to have mediators or gurus who could someday betray the Truth to them. From then on, Krishnamurti refused to be a part of any spiritual organization, recommending instead that people discover the Truth from within themselves.

In other words, Krishnamurti had learned to Surf the Tao. He realized that the ultimate Truths were not to be found in any outer organization, but within the hearts of people themselves, and that it was up to each person to discover this. We can indeed find truth of this “Beloved” in many books, but they are not necessary to our own paths towards enlightenment. Those with ulterior motives of power and control still try to use such truths for their own agendas, creating and maintaining strict ritualistic and ceremonial societies in an attempt to misguide and betray. But the true masters know that the real truths can only be found from within, as we learn to Surf the Tao.

As Krishnamurti told his former followers, “…You can form other organizations and expect someone else. With that I am not concerned, nor with creating new cages, new decorations for those cages. My only concern is to set me absolutely, unconditionally free.”

Quotes from Krishnamurti: The Years of Fulfillment by Mary Lutyens, Avon Books 1983.

Practicing Eternity

“The Tao …is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities.” – Tao Te Ching #4 Centuries ago everyone knew the world was flat, and that the Earth was the center of the Universe. The geocentric, or Earth-centered, view of Reality was the leading philosophical and religious belief during the Middle Ages, held since Aristotle. This view appealed to the human ego, as well as to the powerful religious leaders of the time eager to maintain their authority. Copernicus started no less than a scientific revolution when he suggested otherwise, and later scientists Bruno and Galileo would suffer greatly for it during the Inquisition. Why was the Church so intent on refuting evidence that our world, and our species, were not the center of God’s creation? Of course, because it would disrupt the vast power base they had so carefully constructed, with them in charge not only of the religious, cultural and legal framework of society, but over the concept of Reality itself. In order for them to retain their power, they had to convince the populace that their power and authority came from God Himself. To believe otherwise directly confronted their control over the western world at the time, and could be very dangerous. Surprisingly, in today’s ultra-modern, high-tech world, we find ourselves under similar illusions. Of course, we all know the world is round, and that it is just one of many planets, in one of many solar systems, in a vast and expanding universe. However, even though quantum physicists have known for decades that we live in merely one small slice of a much larger dimensional framework, the world at large is for the most part unwilling or unable to comprehend or accept what this revelation could mean to us. As Lao Tzu wrote, "true wisdom seems foolish." (#45) Such awareness would place us at an even smaller level of importance than we believed we held in medieval times. And human ego is still hard at work, convinced of our self-centered belief that this is the only world, the only Reality, that we can Know. Not to mention, the power and authority of our time has just as many reasons to keep us from knowing beyond or present reckoning of Reality as did the Church during the Inquisition. Our governments and corporations do not want us to acquire awareness outside of their established parameters. They have too much to lose. Our wise and ancient sages long ago attempted to open our eyes to a broader concept of Reality, and our true place within it, but their words mean little to today’s short attention spans, media conglomerates, personal gratification and insufferable egos. If we merely listened carefully to the words of Lao Tzu, Buddha or even Jesus, we might learn that what we term and define as conscious Reality is no more than the resonating ball of light and shade explanation set forth by famous scientists such as Einstein and Tesla. Lao Tzu wrote, "seeing into darkness is clarity." (#52) Whether explained through spiritual or scientific words, what’s important is the realization that things are not as they seem, and we might we wise to look beyond our physical senses for the ultimate definition of Reality. If we could set aside our egos, maybe we could live in harmony with each other and our world. "If you keep your mind from judging and aren't led by the senses, your heart will find peace." (#52) Imagine what an eye-opener it must have been to learn the Earth is round, instead of flat. Some people may have continued to scoff the idea regardless of scientific evidence. Today, even the well-educated scoff at the notion of a multitude of dimensional realities. And this is merely the tip of the iceberg. As a species, we cannot be said to know even one small percentage of what there is to Know. How can we argue which religion is right, or which government is best, if we are not even looking in the right places? Learn from the sages, or learn from the scientists. Understand the Tao, or the Unified Field. The real truth of our Reality is within us, within each and every person. We are part of It, and It is within us. Read between the lines, and Surf the Tao into a higher awareness of Reality, and a new world of peace. It’s up to you. "Of all discoveries and opinions, none may have exerted a greater effect on the human spirit than the doctrine of Copernicus. The world had scarcely become known as round and complete in itself when it was asked to waive the tremendous privilege of being the center of the universe. Never, perhaps, was a greater demand made on mankind - for by this admission so many things vanished in mist and smoke! What became of our Eden, our world of innocence, piety and poetry; the testimony of the senses; the conviction of a poetic - religious faith? No wonder his contemporaries did not wish to let all this go and offered every possible resistance to a doctrine which in its converts authorized and demanded a freedom of view and greatness of thought so far unknown, indeed not even dreamed of." -Goethe

The Tao of Buddha

“Few cross over the river.

Most are stranded on this side.

On the riverbank they run up and down.

But the wise person, following the way,

Crosses over, beyond the reach of death…”

-Teachings of the Buddha (from the Dhammapada, trans. Thomas Byrom)

The Buddha was born a prince in ancient India, and raised in wealthy seclusion. He began to see the misery of much of the rest of the world as he grew older. He left home as a young man to seek the truth of what he found, hoping to find an end to the sorrows of human existence. He lived for awhile as an ascetic in the forests, but soon realized he had found no further wisdom in such a life. He one day realized that peace of mind and freedom of spirit could be found in a simple life of balance. He called his teachings the Dharma, or “Way”. (Remember that “Tao” is Chinese for “Way”.)

The word ‘Buddha’ means ‘one who is awake’. The Buddhist tradition attempts to teach the experience of ‘awakening to the truth of life’. They seek to liberate the body and the mind from the materialism of the world, offering instead a Middle Path of peace and balance.

Buddha’s words are in fact strikingly similar in spirit to those of Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching. Of course the religious practices that have developed down the ages took different angles. However, if we consider the original words passed down by these two sages, it begins to seem as if they were both talking about the same realizations – and indeed much the same Way to live.

Buddha said, “Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate.” (Dhammapada) Lao Tzu taught, “The master…is good to people who are good. She is also good to people who aren’t good. This is true goodness.” (Tao Te Ching)

Buddha taught, “Look within. Be still. Free from fear and attachment, Know the sweet joy of the way.” Lao Tzu may have had a different tone and spoke a completely different language, and yet the spirit of his words is familiar: “Since before time and space were, the Tao is. It is beyond ‘is’ and ‘is not’. How do I know this is true? I look inside myself and see...if you want to be given everything, give everything up.”

“The Master keeps her mind always at one with the Tao, that is what gives her her radiance…she doesn’t cling to ideas,” wrote Lao Tzu. “A mind unshaken when touched by the worldly states, sorrowless, stainless, and secure, this is the blessing supreme,” taught the Buddha.

Both also recognized the futility in the very act of trying to put the great truths into words. Lao Tzu commented, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.” In turn Buddha lamented, “Words! The Way is beyond language, for in it there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.” (trans. Richard B. Clarke)

One cannot but help notice that the teachings are similar in tone to other great teachers of note, including some I have mentioned previously such as Ueshiba and Tagore. Once a student begins to truly internalize this higher awareness, they become aware of a ‘Way’ to live or to be, a simple, loving, unselfish and calm state of mind. They see the divine in the mundane, and allow the Way to spread before them, “If you want to accord with the Tao, just do your job, then let go,” wrote Lao Tzu. Or, as Buddha put it so beautifully, “To live in the Great Way is neither easy not difficult…Just let things be in their own way.”

The Tao of Physics

If you haven’t yet read this book by Fritjof Capra, I highly recommend it. It was of great help to me when I began my Journey, since I come from an analytical and intellectual background, and had no idea what to do with a mystical experience such as I had. Physicists like Capra are attempting to point out similarities between new quantum discoveries and Eastern mysticism (Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism), and it’s changing how we perceive our world. “The further we penetrate into the submicroscopic world, the more we shall realize how the modern physicist, like the Eastern mystic, has come to see the world as a system of inseparable, interacting and ever-moving components with the observer being an integral part of this system.” (p. 25)

Both new physics and mystical experiences are difficult to put into words – they are both full of paradox. Einstein wrote, “All my attempts to adapt the theoretical foundation of physics to this (new type of) knowledge failed completely. It was as if the ground had been pulled out from under one, with no firm foundation to be seen anywhere, upon which one could have built.” Capra wrote, “…discoveries of modern physics necessitated profound changes of concepts like space, time, matter, object, cause and effect…to change them felt something of a shock.” (p. 54)

The discovery that subatomic units were not solid objects sent a wave of disbelief through the scientific community. Further it was noted that the simple act of observation seemed to have an effect on them. They realized they could never predict atomic events with certainty. Thus, “Quantum theory has thus demolished the classical concepts of solid objects and of strictly deterministic laws of nature.” (p. 68) It seemed as if classical ideals of ‘reason’ were thrown out the window; as Capra quoted Chuang Tzu, “The most extensive knowledge does not necessarily know it; reasoning will not make men wise in it. The sages have decided against both these methods.” (p. 113)

Capra states that the mystic and physicist alike arrive at the same conclusion, “one starting from the inner realm, the other from the outer world…” (p. 305) He notes a further similarity, that both “their observations take place in realms which are inaccessible to the ordinary senses.” (p. 305)

For me, this book made the unreasonable reasonable, and the nonsensical sensible. It eased my aching analytical brain, and I was able to open myself to further ‘mystical’ experience – transforming my world and my life.