Saturday, March 29, 2008

Jack Johnson

A little music from one of my favorites. I will always be grateful to my brother Mike for getting me his first album. Here is one of my favorite songs of his:

And here is Jack Johnson doing another one of my favorites with his friend (and fellow great musician) Ben Harper:

Friday, March 28, 2008

THE FAMILY (and more)

NOT THAT ONE!

Well we've been hearing for awhile about Obama's pastor and all those nasty-nasty, verboten, things he said about Our Homeland the US of A. What you might not have been hearing about are Hilary Clinton's associations with the Christian power cult known as The Family. I just learned about this recently and find it very disturbing. I had no illusions that Hilary was anything more than a closet right winger but this article on her relationship with the Family disturbed me more than a little bit. Harper's magazine also did an exellent piece on The Family a couple of years back. You can find it here.

And then of course we have John McCain who it seems actively sought and received the support of the televangelist Jon Hagee. This is even scarier than the Family because he is one of the Christian types that wants to fulfill (his version of) Bible prophecy by kicking off World War III in the middle east. Unfortunately you can see him almost any time you want on TV.

Here's a taste of Hagee from last year's AIPAC conference:
I also read an interesting blog post on the emerging political philosophy of Pan-Eurasianism (aka Neo-Eurasianism). Think of it as the counter point to PNAC's Pax Americana. It seems that this philosophy may be informing the actions of Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders.


Ideas have consequences.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Being Bodies

The idea or effort for self-remembering or waking up seems to begin in the head -- the intellectual center. I have noticed that if the idea or practice stays in the head it isn't very stable. However, if we anchor this sense of being awake in the body via sensation (moving/instinctive center) then it becomes much deeper and more dynamic. This observation springs not only from my own experience but from what I have read about the practices of the Gurdjieff Foundation as well as other traditions.

This then points the way to another aspect of Gurdjieff's teaching which is as important as self remembering and that is self-observation. My understanding is that self-observation begins with distinguishing the work of the three levels of our being: intellectual, emotional, and moving/instinctive. Initially you practice just to be able to tell the difference between them. Later you shoot for getting a sense of the relationships between the three functional centers in dynamic life situations. I get the sense that it is almost like taking pictures of oneself. Once you have enough of these pictures you begin to understand your habitual mental/emotional/physical postures (egoplastikoori).

But what is the point of this really? Self-knowledge, sure, but to what end? This then brings us to the question of Aim or Wish. Why are we doing this? What is the goal? I think this is essential to the task. I think the answer is unique to each individual. I am still struggling to begin to integrate this. The Aim or Wish is "the big one".

For me the Aim that I defined was "To Be Free". It was very vague at first and only recently have I begun to try to understand what I mean by being free. For me the idea of being free has come to mean being able to control my actions. In fact the inability to control my actions was the reason that Gurdjieff (particularly In Search of the Miraculous) was such a revelation for me. This was a person who was talking about the world of people AS IT WAS. He was coming at it from a postion of observation and honesty and his conclusions were devastating and yet had the feel of Great Truth.

Another aspect of freedom that I have begun to think about is in relation to death. If we don't KNOW what will happen to us how can we ever be free? Obviously it is not possible to know the future absolutely but when it comes to death we don't even know the first thing. It is a great unknown. It is likely entering a wilderness with no preparation and no knowledge of the local flora and fauna. You might survive but if you had a bit of knowledge and training you might be able to do more than merely survive.

* * * *

It appears I have really started to blather in earnest. God help you!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Other (non-podcast) Audio Sources

I love podcasts. I drive a lot for work and it is so much better than listening to the radio. I can listen to people talk about the things that interest me. For a taste of my tastes there is a Podcast Mix section just below My News Feed on the right (my babies!)

Anyway, despite the growing popularity and utility of RSS feeds and podcasting there are still some sites out there that have great audio content but do not have a podcast feed. Here are a few of my favorites:

- the Binary Research Institute does a monthly hour-long podcast called The Cosmic Influence. This podcast, and the Institutes's Research, revolve around what is most commonly known as the Yuga cycle. They are also the organizers of the now yearly Conference on Precession and Ancient Knowledge. To their credit they are on iTunes but do not have a generic RSS feed.
- Future-Hi is pretty static but features downloads of people like Terrence McKenna, Robert Anton Wilson.
- Project Camelot has MP3 versions of its video interviews with a variety of people focussed on the subject of UFOs, ETs, and the "Spirit of the Age". They have interviews with people like Richard Hoagland, David Wilcock, Gary McKinnon and others. They have a definite track they are working down with regard to the UFO question but their interviews are fascinating no matter what stand you take.
- Rupert Sheldrake has a collection of Trialogues available. Unfortunately they are streaming audio and not available for download, but still they are thought provoking and well worth the listening

Another great resource is LibriVox. It is basically a community of people volunteering to record audio versions of public domain books. They have a lot of interesting titles although being in the public domain many of the English translations have a bit of a King James feel to them. But hey, they're free!

Google Reader vs. Newsgator Online

On a whim I signed up for Newsgator's online RSS Reader service. I thought it was time to check out other RSS Readers. I was mostly curious as to the features other readers might offer. The one feature that I was looking for was the ability to create multiple new RSS Feeds from items I selected (ala My News Feed to the right).

Sure enough Newsgator has that capability with its News Clipping functionality. I was very excited at first, but the more I used Newsgator the more I pined for the simplicity and reliability (and features) of Google Reader. Here are some of the problems I ran into with Newsgator:

- I found the overall appearance not as pleasing as Google Reader. This is a personal judgement and others may prefer the Newsgator interface
- the News Clipping service feed would only feed 20 items -- the same as Google Reader. And what's worse for me was that the feed did not seem to update as regularly as the Shared Items feed in Google Reader. I like my news feed to be "hot and fresh" so this bothered me
- it turned out that I didn't have a lot of use currently for the ability to do another self selected feed. I spend WAY too much time on the one I have as it is. I admit that sometimes I can't even make time to read some of the items I share because I have to take so much time going through them. Adding one more to the mix would only increase the load and, well, I already have a full-time job.
- Newsgator's interface had bugs! The most annoying of which would not allow me to look at the items in any of my subfolders if all of the items were read. It would default to some other screen. This was really frustrating when I was trying to download my podcasts. It was also slower to refresh feeds and performed slower in general than Google Reader
- Google Reader also has another feature that I have come to enjoy and that is that it will recommend new feeds for you based on what you already have. I know, I know, Total Information Awareness anyone? But I have found a few good new feeds that way and so in that way I appreciate it.

Also, did I say that the Google Reader interface is simpler and easier to look at than Newsgator's?

In short Google Reader is better than Newsgator Online.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Being

I said when I started this thing that I would talk about "spiritual work", of course I can't say that I have posted a thing at all on this subject. It is difficult to write about because it is so personal. I am still not totally comfortable putting myself out there in a public format. I am also uncomfortable that some of my family might read this. If feels like it is time to put something down and see where it takes me.

I don't particularly "do" any spiritual work, at least in the external sense. I don't meditate or pray, I don't dance or sing, or go to church. Perhaps I should. What I do is to try to BE, as much as I remember to. I think that is why Gurdjieff called it Self Remembering because you have to remember to do it. Remembering to do it is the real trick.

Being is simply the sensation of "I AM" without the words. Almost everyone takes this for granted and it is easy to see why. If you ask someone if they are aware of themselves they will say "Yes, of course!" and they will be - for that moment. It is only when you make a concerted effort to sustain this awareness that you realize that most of the time you literally, ARE NOT.

Another word for Being is Awake. A friend was kind enough to give me some advice on the matter that helped clarify things for me. Here's how the conversation went:

"How do you know if you are awake?"
Me: SHRUG
"You ask yourself"

So I did, intensively, for several weeks. During that time I experienced several instances of what I would call being Awake (or being closer to it). The sense of Being or Awakening was accompanied by a sudden intensification or amplification of the senses. Nothing supernatural here, just that everything seemed more REAL.

(Gurdjieff's third book title: "Life is Only Real When 'I AM' ")

My use of this practice lost momentum as all mechanical processes do and eventually it died off. But it left its mark. I began to see that I had so exposed myself to the literature of awakening that I was being reminded by association several times a day that I should try to BE AWAKE. I would experience moments of awakening more frequently but without the sensory fireworks. I was becoming more used to the experience. My ability to remember now goes up and down but it hasn't gone away completely since that talk.

Gurdjieff once defined the path to awakening as follows:

"To Wish, To Be Able, To Be"

I think I am becoming able.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

More Winter Soldier



For more you can go to the website of the Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Obama vs. the Neo-right

On one side we have Barack Obama's speech from yesterday. If you haven't seen it yet you must. I am cynical about politicians but this speech truly does give me hope, and not the kind that fits in a sound bite:






For the wrong side of the debate I give you Mitt Romney's concession speech, or at least blogger and journalist Chris Floyd's translation of it:

If you would like to see just how sick the American elite really is – how morally depraved, how intellectually diseased, how addicted to the taste of human flesh, the scent of human blood, and the sight of human suffering – then you need go no further than the speech given by Mitt Romney to the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 7, 2008.

Now you might say that Mitt Romney is old news. After all, this was the very speech where he declared he was quitting the presidential race. He's toast, he's over, the fork has been stuck into his well-roasted hide; who cares what he says? This is of course the witless "horse-race" view that dominates political discourse in America: who's up, who's down, who's getting the column inches, who's on TV? But in reality, the American elite – or the Establishment, or the power structure, call it what you will (as long as you don't call it what it really is: the ruling class) – is like an iceberg: most of its vast bulk exists unseen, it plows on beneath the surface, unperturbed by the media storms that rage around the small bit of exposed material at the summit.

You can read the rest here and you really should. This guy is one of my favorite writers and his analysis of the subtext of Romney's speech is devastating. It really highlights the subtle bigotry of the neo-right as we have come to know them in the last 14 or so years.




Monday, March 10, 2008

Changes

Well I am not sure exactly how it happened but I have begun to treat my body a lot better. It has only been about a week but here is what I am doing:

- FlowFit 3x weekly; -- 14 minutes of the 2nd flow
- IntuFlow (Intermediate) 3x weekly; alternating days with FlowFit -- Sundays are off days
- on FlowFit days I also do the Ryabko Systema physical/breath work. Doing this then 14 minutes of FlowFit really pushes me to the my threshold of discomfort, particularly in my legs it also gets my breathing going quite nicely
- I have also changed my diet and am following a simple version of the Zone diet.

The simplified Zone diet worked great for me a few years ago and I stuck with it for months. Unfortunately I started having an adverse broccoli reaction that was so bad that the only way I could get rid of it was to return to my old, abysmal, eating habits. I like the modified Zone diet because I am a pretty simple guy and you can make a quick meal of raw vegetables and a decent protein without having to be too picky. The Zone also stresses the timing of the meals so you have to plan ahead a little bit, but not much. In one of his books the creator of the Zone diet says that food should be treated like medicine and taken in appropriate doses on a regular schedule. I say Amen. I love this diet and have been trying to get back to it for awhile but my old habits got in the way. I am not sure what tipped the scale this time but I know that I was not happy with the way I was feeling, or looking. One of the great things about this diet is that your energy level will go up almost immediately. It may not be all that noticeable if you are already eating healthy but if you ate like I did you will quickly notice the difference.

Another good thing about this diet is that it is pretty much in line with the dietary recommendations of Edgar Cayce regarding food combining. The important thing for me is not to get too caught up in the details, and thus the "modified" version that I mentioned. Basically, if I don't have low fat protein available I will substitute whatever protein I can get. With carbohydrates I still prefer raw vegetables but can substitute smaller portions of grains etc. I would rather substitute for the protein because the fruits and vegetables tend to be more filling than other types of carbohydrates.

The Zone diet also recommends a small amount of monounsaturated (or is it poly?) with each meal. This is stuff like olive oil etc. I have found a novel solution to this by taking fish oil capsules with my meals. Almonds, avocadoes etc also qualify.

In short I am going in a positive direction in regards to my physical body. My goals are to:

- feel better (this is already happening but I have to keep reminding myself that what I want is long term feel good, not the short term high that I get from my high sugar/high fat/high caffeine diet)
- look better - I'll know I am succeeding here if I can get some of my old pants to fit a bit better
- be more healthy - normal range for cholesterol and blood pressure. This is for me and my family

Thursday, March 6, 2008

YHVH

This one makes you think:


What happens when the Hebrew letters for God's name (YHVH) are written top to bottom?


Fortean Times news:

Psychic medium contacts Natalie Wells' dead brother
Japanese model gets off thanks to large breasts
New twist in Hobbit-human debate
Go with your gut - intuition more than just a hunch, says research
Pollution helps birds sing better
Black fungus found in Chernobyl eats harmful radiation
NASA baffled by unexplained force acting on space probes
Cemetery full, mayor tells locals not to die
Boriska, boy from Mars, says that all humans live eternally
Herb Charles II used to keep mistresses in shape could help fight obesity epidemic

Daily Grail News:


Intuition more than just a hunch, says research. You know? Somehow, deep inside I already knew that ;-)

Psychologist and Dog Expert, Dr. Stanley Coren says dogs are intelligent, but NOT telepathic.

You & your dog can hear the entire interview here.

Mind-reading machine knows what the eye sees. I hereby propose they call it… The Randitron!! ;-)

The British Astrology Plot against Hitler.

Happiness is partly inherited, according to study. Yo, eggheads! It’s called trust fund, stupids.

World can 'afford' to solve its environmental woes: OECD.

Foggy wars: Over Washington, big industries are embarking in a big lobbying effort to block new, tougher limits on air pollution.

Are the birds on their side? Pollution help birds sing better, studio says. Wouldn’t that be a ‘swan song’ of sorts?

Well, in any case, we can always replace them! Robotic bird makes first flight.

Always two steps ahead: 2,200 Japanese homes run on fuel cell systems now. Goal is one-fourth by 2020.

First Godzilla, now it’s blood-thirsty leeches what’s threatening Japan.

Black Fungus Found in Chernobyl Eats Harmful Radiation. But what about the man-size worm?

Sure, ‘10,000 B.C.’ looks like an awesome flick, but are the paleo-monsters depicted in it based on real science, or mere Tinseltown exaggeration?

Loren Coleman & Henry Stokes (creator of the incredible blog ‘I Love the Yeti’) explore the evolution of the Yeti in popular culture throughout the decades.

What New World?? Primate Fossil discovered in North America may be even older than the ones already found in Europe.

Shackleton Crater: The New Tranquility Base?

Move over shuttle! And make way for Europe’s cargo ship, ‘Jules Verne’.

Those damn aliens and their juvenile pranks! NASA Baffled by Unexplained Force Acting on Space Probes.

Alien graffiti! New alleged Video of Stephenville UFO leaked to the web. You be the judge. More info about this video at Linda Moulton Howe’s Earthfiles, here.

Possible Photo of the Texas UFO, taken by a police officer with his patrol cam?

How lame! British man makes hoax of UFO sighting by using a 13-year-old Mexican photo —which is probably a hoax to begin with. Do your homework you NOOB!

‘Only Fools & Goatsuckers’: The adventures of Jonathan Downes, Graham Inglis & a film crew in Puerto Rico, Mexico & Miami in early 1998 (Thx to Nick Redfern & UFO Mystic for the link).

Say Hello to my little friend! A Goliath Sniper Rifle May Take Some of the Physics Out of War. Well, you know there was this young chap named David…

Great in theory, flawed in practice: 'Virtual Fence' along border to be delayed.

Oh s**t! Quick, act casual! US seeks terrorists in web worlds.

Butterflies Remember What They Learned as Caterpillars. Man, I don’t even remember what I had for breakfast yesterday! (Note to Self: turn vegan).

Let’s spark the controversy: Norwegian whaling lobby alleges that whale hunting is greener than farming livestock.

Don’t have a cow, man? Go get one! California cows start passing gas to the grid. Here in Mexico, we pass cows… to the grill ;-)

On ‘Beyond the Blog‘, Anthony North writes about Cannibalism, and helps us prepare for the day when beef becomes too damn expensive. Mmm… Soylent Green! ;-)

Learn about the ‘Magic Teapot Cult‘, at Cabinet of Wonders.

It has come to this: The tale of a French village where dying… is illegal!