A spiritual director is a relatively new vocation that one can claim these days. It's not exactly the same as a priest or a rabbi or an imam, but that is not to say that a priest or a rabbi or an imam is not a spiritual director, for in some capacity, certainly they are; to be a "Spiritual Director "one must earn a "Spiritual Director" certification. It seems that spiritual direction is not longer a particular way, but a form of art.
The title earned denotes one who is trained and experienced in helping a person (apparently of any faith or religious orientation) sort through ideas and feelings about the spiritual path they are on. Depending on the religious affiliation and beliefs of the people involved, a “spiritual director” will help another person “find deeper meaning in life;”or “help them hear and trust their own inner wisdom;” and “pray for and with the person they are “counseling.”
A spiritual director acts as a sort of midwife, helping a person give birth to their calling. He or she is one who is instrumental in helping "another person deepen prayer, especially the prayer of contemplation, or simple awareness of God.”
"Got your Spiritual Director Yet?" was the title of a Christian History Corner article by Chris Armstrong and Steven Gertz that appeared in Christianity Today Magazine, April 2003. In the article, the authors noted that many Christian leaders of today are looking at a myriad of ways to understand discipleship including silence and solitude, journalizing, and “spiritual direction.”
Armstrong and Gerts are advocates of such spiritual direction, which they say, is a “voluntary relationship between a person who seeks to grow in the Christian life and a director.” The director, of course, is one who is trained in doing so. The article was to inform the Christian reader that he needs one of these directors in his or her own life. (Note how you do not need God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit, to guide and direct you.. you need another human being in a spiritually hierarchical relationship over you. It's not your dad or mom, it's not a friend and you are of no equal status with this person either; it's your professionally trained, bonefied and certificated, Spiritual Director. Armstrong and Getz say the concept of a Spiritual Director, owes “it’s greatest debt” to the Society of Jesus. (a.k.a. the Jesuit order of priest in Roman Catholicism)
However, since most of Protestantism, many of whom would read this book for information and ideas, would see such a thing as an attempt of Rome to seize Protestant Christianity. Armstrong and Getz also made sure to note, that “several key Protestant writers” have also written on the subject in recent years to validate its “usefulness” to Christianity. Their list included Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, and Eugene Peterson. According the the article, these highly respected “Protestant” men are to be our example that “spiritual direction” is acceptable, something “Christians” should find useful and begin practicing.
Who are these "key Protestant writers?" More importantly who are "Protestants"? Do protestants call themselves Protestants or do they call themselves Christian?
Dallas Willard says that he believes the church today isn’t what it should be. He says that one problem in the church today is that, “the meaning of 'Trust Christ’ has changed. He explains this problem saying, it no longer means trusting Him; it means trust something He did. He continues…”In that way, one theory of the atonement was substituted for the Christian Gospel.” (Subversive Interview Part 1, for Relevant Magazine; accessed at www.dwillard.org.)
So what exactly does this protestant believe about the atonement of Christ? Does his remark infer that what Jesus did for us, ( the atonement of Jesus Christ) is not a central factor and key concept of our Christian faith? Moreover, is it really “a problem” in the church that people actually “trust in,” something Christ did, like… trust that his payment for our sin was sufficient? Willard says, this is one of the bigger problems in the church today. Is it?
Richard Foster has written many books that promote the Jesuit “spiritual disciplines.” of contemplative prayer, breathe prayers, examen and lecto divina; all practices intrinsically and traditionally tied to catholic mysticism. Foster also fanatically promotes catholic mystics, such as Thomas Merton, Ignatius Loyola, Brother Lawrence, and Miester Eckhart. Spiritual formation begins, Foster says, "first by our turning to the light of Jesus. For some, this is an excruciatingly slow turning, turning until we turn round right. For others, it is instantaneous and glorious. In either case, we are coming to trust in Jesus, to accept Jesus as our Life." He says, "Much intense formation work is necessary before we can stand the fires of heaven. Much training is necessary before we are the kind of persons who can safely and easily reign with God." (Spiritual Formation Agenda;Three priorities for the next 30 years by Richard Foster, Christianity Today Magazine,
Christianity Today.com also published a two part interview with Richard Foster and Henri Nouwen titled, Deepening our Conversation with God. In the article Foster says of spiritual directorship, “It means having someone who can read my soul and give me guidance in my walk with Christ.” (But think about this, "Does another person read souls the way a clairvoyant reads tea leaves in a cup?") The point of the article was to show “what it takes for church leaders to know God. ”( Obviously Foster and friend think that all these church leaders, bible teachers, pastors, Sunday school leaders, do not really know God, but Foster and Nouwen do.)
On the subject of retreats, Foster asserted that the “Protestant world needs to rethink” their understanding of retreats. He then goes on to say that the catholic retreat centers are the only places that can accommodate individual people who want to go on retreats without a crowd. He asks, “Why can't we build places for this in our churches?” (Our churches? Foster is a writer, not a pastor with a church.) Foster, like Willard, also endorses Catholic practices like examen, lecto divina and having a spiritual director. He wants Protestants to rethink and begin to do everything Catholic.
Eugene Peterson, is the author of The Message, a book first made popular as a novel, not a Bible. It was presented as simply a retelling of the scriptures, but it has now been marketed as another valid version of the Bible. It is often quoted chapter and verse and it is even called the Message Bible, (MSG) instead of just The Message, as it was when it first became published.
Researchers at Kjos Ministries, maintain that anyone who is willing to studiously investigate and intelligently evaluate Peterson’s work and compare it with a scholarly translation will discover that Peterson’s rendering is full of “alarming deletions, distortions and additions to the original text.” Such additions, omissions and changes may be easily overlooked by a casual observer, but with time-tested scrutiny, such changes and omissions are not scholarly, they are more of a personal interpretation than a translation. Peterson’s version interestingly and deliberately interjects powerfully popular contemporary words like “purpose”… and even “The Message” into its own text.
Take for example John 10:30, Jesus speaking, “the Father is greater than I,” (KJV ) has been changed by Peterson to read, to “The Father is the goal and purpose of my life.” (Msg.)
Another example is Colossians 1:5. It reads, “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;” (KJV) has been changed by Peterson to read, “The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope. The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn't diminish or weaken over time.”
Colossians 1:16 reads, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.” (KJV) In The Message by Eugene Peterson the same verse has become, “For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels--everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.”
Peterson, Foster and Willard are no doubt devoted to leading Christians. They, like many other believe there is a deep need to communicate this concept of spiritual formation to Christians.
They want you to know that simply putting your faith in what Jesus did for you at Calvary, simply reading the word is not enough, nor is simply believing some theory of the atonement that has been substituted for the Christian Gospel. These believe instead that you need a trained spiritual director to help you in the formation of your soul, someone who cares about your soul and can direct you to God.
Well known Universities, Institutes, Theological Schools and Educational Centers now offer certification in Spiritual Directing. They even award diplomas for their two and sometimes four year programs. Certification requires many things including knowledge of Christian Mystical traditions, (and some study of mystics like Teilhard de Chardin,) proper Bible interpretation, studies in Jungian Psychology, and Leadership Training are usually part of the curriculum.
Guiding Spirits
"Spirit Guides,” (or guiding spirits) “are entities from “other planes of existence,” says Ted Andrews, author of several "spirit guide" books including How to Meet and Work with Your Spirit Guide. (2006) People like Ted write books to help others meet these guiding spirits just as they did. Having a spirit guide is a little like having a "guardian angel" only he is not there to guard you, but to guide.
You might simply dismiss this notion thinking that these people are just imagining something outlandish, lost in their own little world, but people who say they make contact with such beings of the spirit world insist that spirit guides are not imaginary, (after all, they talk to them,) or that they are evil, (because they are nice and are here to help humanity.) Ted is one of many who believe that the spirits who guide him and give him wisdom are helpful beings from the some other plane of existence, who come to us to help humanity evolve. Spirit guides sometimes go by different titles. They get called names like light-bearers, aliens, angels, poltergeists, ghosts, totems and even sometimes demons, but whatever you call them they are all the same kind of experience, and like Ted, many people have encounters with beings of this sort, because they want to.
So, are they real?
New Age source, crystalinks.com, refers to spirit guides as being both “physical and non-physical beings.” The word on the street about it is that these entities present themselves to help, teach, advise and coach humans on the path to heavenly, spiritual enlightenment.
People who encounter such beings usually do so when they engage in occult practices like certain kinds of meditation, seances, necromancy, channeling, hypnosis, aura interpretation, dream alchemy, ouija boards, tarot reading and even when they are involved in the use of certain drugs. These being are not always nice either. People who have engaged in these things, who encounter and have engaged "spirit guides" tell of having difficulty when they want to stop. They say that they have found themselves becoming tormented or controlled involuntarily by the spirits.
Ex-channelers, for example, report that these entities first appear helpful, come only come when invited, or sought after., but things change as times go by. They report that these entities do have a mind of their own and that they are often happy to make demands of you, interfere with your life. Some will even take over your mind and body, ultimately your very soul.
So make no mistake, the occult is dangerous to your spiritual well being. Many people who start down this path eventually find themselves torn between two worlds struggling between regaining sanity and losing their minds, in a battle with spiritual forces beyond their control. They find themselves dealing with spirits that are anything but holy.
Many have escaped only because someone told them about Jesus.
People like Joanna Michealson, Ray Yungen and Sharon Beekmanhave escaped the occult and lived to tell about it because somewhere along the way they heard the gospel, put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and escaped Satan's snare. We do not have to be snared though. God tells his people not to believe every spirit, and warns that Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (1 John 4:1-4) In other words, God warned us in the Bible about "spirit guides."
The scripture says, “Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world." Paul the Apostle knew this. He knew that even those who had believed upon Jesus, could be vulnerable when he wrote, “For even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you let him be eternally condemned!" (Galatians 1:8) Spirit guides may very well be angels who preach 'another gospel.'
A lot of time, contact with the spirit world begins by meditation techniques being used. But even simply trancendental meditation is to be considered dangers. Most books that advocate meditation make a disclaimer that a person should receive training from a “qualified teacher” rather than just meditate using an “on your own” technique.
Make no mistake here either, meditation used to alter your state of consciousness and make contact with beings like spirit guides is not the same thing as "meditating" on God’s word, and yet there are "best-selling authors" left and right who are bombarding churches and Christians with the message of meditation and even luring them into having hopes that by meditation they can have some kind of mystical experience and some say, even "feel” the presence of God.
But Christians do not walk by "feel", they walk by faith.
It would be wise, as we hear from these voices about all about the positive effects of meditation, prayer positioning and prayer breathing techniques, to consider what God's word has to say on such matters. In addition to the scripture there are also testimonials from the practitioners themselves as well as documented clinical literature that tells of people suffering from meditation-related problems.
One study, published in the International Journal of Psychotherapy, March 2000, (Meditation: Concepts, Effects And Uses In Therapy) demonstrates that “side-effects” are often reported when these techniques have been used clinically. These run the gamut from mild to serious, but include uncomfortable physical sensations, mild feelings of detachment or depersonalization, depression, relaxation-induced anxiety and panic, confusion, and disorientation. This is just from meditation. Add some spirit guides, you encounter during meditation, speaking to you or through your voice, who take over and control your body, and you will have some psychiatrists to support financially. Some people would even call symptoms of that nature, being demon possessed.
You might simply dismiss this notion thinking that these people are just imagining something outlandish, lost in their own little world, but people who say they make contact with such beings of the spirit world insist that spirit guides are not imaginary, (after all, they talk to them,) or that they are evil, (because they are nice and are here to help humanity.) Ted is one of many who believe that the spirits who guide him and give him wisdom are helpful beings from the some other plane of existence, who come to us to help humanity evolve. Spirit guides sometimes go by different titles. They get called names like light-bearers, aliens, angels, poltergeists, ghosts, totems and even sometimes demons, but whatever you call them they are all the same kind of experience, and like Ted, many people have encounters with beings of this sort, because they want to.
So, are they real?
New Age source, crystalinks.com, refers to spirit guides as being both “physical and non-physical beings.” The word on the street about it is that these entities present themselves to help, teach, advise and coach humans on the path to heavenly, spiritual enlightenment.
People who encounter such beings usually do so when they engage in occult practices like certain kinds of meditation, seances, necromancy, channeling, hypnosis, aura interpretation, dream alchemy, ouija boards, tarot reading and even when they are involved in the use of certain drugs. These being are not always nice either. People who have engaged in these things, who encounter and have engaged "spirit guides" tell of having difficulty when they want to stop. They say that they have found themselves becoming tormented or controlled involuntarily by the spirits.
Ex-channelers, for example, report that these entities first appear helpful, come only come when invited, or sought after., but things change as times go by. They report that these entities do have a mind of their own and that they are often happy to make demands of you, interfere with your life. Some will even take over your mind and body, ultimately your very soul.
So make no mistake, the occult is dangerous to your spiritual well being. Many people who start down this path eventually find themselves torn between two worlds struggling between regaining sanity and losing their minds, in a battle with spiritual forces beyond their control. They find themselves dealing with spirits that are anything but holy.
Many have escaped only because someone told them about Jesus.
People like Joanna Michealson, Ray Yungen and Sharon Beekmanhave escaped the occult and lived to tell about it because somewhere along the way they heard the gospel, put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and escaped Satan's snare. We do not have to be snared though. God tells his people not to believe every spirit, and warns that Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (1 John 4:1-4) In other words, God warned us in the Bible about "spirit guides."
The scripture says, “Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world." Paul the Apostle knew this. He knew that even those who had believed upon Jesus, could be vulnerable when he wrote, “For even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you let him be eternally condemned!" (Galatians 1:8) Spirit guides may very well be angels who preach 'another gospel.'
A lot of time, contact with the spirit world begins by meditation techniques being used. But even simply trancendental meditation is to be considered dangers. Most books that advocate meditation make a disclaimer that a person should receive training from a “qualified teacher” rather than just meditate using an “on your own” technique.
Make no mistake here either, meditation used to alter your state of consciousness and make contact with beings like spirit guides is not the same thing as "meditating" on God’s word, and yet there are "best-selling authors" left and right who are bombarding churches and Christians with the message of meditation and even luring them into having hopes that by meditation they can have some kind of mystical experience and some say, even "feel” the presence of God.
But Christians do not walk by "feel", they walk by faith.
It would be wise, as we hear from these voices about all about the positive effects of meditation, prayer positioning and prayer breathing techniques, to consider what God's word has to say on such matters. In addition to the scripture there are also testimonials from the practitioners themselves as well as documented clinical literature that tells of people suffering from meditation-related problems.
One study, published in the International Journal of Psychotherapy, March 2000, (Meditation: Concepts, Effects And Uses In Therapy) demonstrates that “side-effects” are often reported when these techniques have been used clinically. These run the gamut from mild to serious, but include uncomfortable physical sensations, mild feelings of detachment or depersonalization, depression, relaxation-induced anxiety and panic, confusion, and disorientation. This is just from meditation. Add some spirit guides, you encounter during meditation, speaking to you or through your voice, who take over and control your body, and you will have some psychiatrists to support financially. Some people would even call symptoms of that nature, being demon possessed.
Howdy Pilgrim
One of the best-known, American film heroes was named John (“the Duke”) Wayne. He was the stereotypical rough riding, gun toting, swaggering cowboy figure who was on the side of law, order, and good ol’ American justice. Marion Robert Morrison was John Wayne's his given birth name, but for a tough guy being named named Marion just't seem right. After after appearing in the movie, The Big Trail, (1930) he officially adopted the stage name, “John Wayne.”
John Wayne's movie career began in the silent movies in the year 1920. he picked up movie parts while he was attending college, and then throughout his lifetime he appeared in over 250 movies. Wayne, American movie star, and legendary wild west hero died in 1979 from cancer, but his memory lives on today in videos that captured his characters on film.
Most of the movies Wayne made were westerns or military adventures where he had a leading role, but there are many where he was an extra, a face in the crowd, or had just a short walk-on parts. He hosted a documentary and even has had documentaries made of his life and career. He once played the Roman centurion solder at the foot of the cross in The Greatest Story Ever Told, saying the line, “Surely this man was the Son of God.”
He has also been on talk shows. He was interviewed by people like Barbara Walters and Mike Douglas on their talk shows and has appeared as “special guest star” on television situation comedy favorites like the Jack Benny Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Gunsmoke, Maude, and I Love Lucy with Lucille Ball. He was a very versatile and famous man and he even directed his own film, The Alamo.
The Alamo was a financial risk to Wayne but he was so compelled to make the movie, so moved to direct it rather than star in it, that he mortgaged everything he owned to finance it and make it happen. When making the film, he told the public, almost with religious a conviction, “I hope that seeing the battle of the Alamo will remind Americans that liberty and freedom don't come cheap.” In his day, Wayne had a passion for America and it’s history much like film director/actor Mel Gibson had a passion for the making of his The Passion of the Christ. (2004). John Wayne, like Mel Gibson, knew the power of the film industry and like Gibson, Wayne was compelled to get out the message.
The American people liked John Wayne. He had “good looks,” he was tough and rugged, good with a gun, able to hold his own in a fight, even in a bar and he was gentle with the ladies. He was someone with “morals,” someone with “values,” someone that American kids could look up to; someone who let them know that there was a difference between wrong and right, and good and evil. He stood for justice and the American way. As one fan put it, John Wayne “set the example of what God intended for a man to be.”
It's no secret that in the minds of many people, John Wayne, was considered a true blue American. He was so popular that he was even asked to run for the Republican presidency in 1968, but he declined. He did however at one point in his career make television ads for cigarettes and it seemed only natural, after all Wayne often smoked on screen.
He happily endorsed his favorite brand of cigarettes to a watching world saying, “Mild and good-tasting pack after pack. And I know… I’ve been smokin’ em for twenty years. So why don’t you try them yourself?" Twenty-seven years later, Wayne found himself making commercials for the American Cancer Society, urging people to get regular check-ups if they smoked, to kick the habit if they could, and to support the cause of cancer.
John Wayne died of lung cancer. It took one lung, and then it took his life.
.
John Wayne's movie career began in the silent movies in the year 1920. he picked up movie parts while he was attending college, and then throughout his lifetime he appeared in over 250 movies. Wayne, American movie star, and legendary wild west hero died in 1979 from cancer, but his memory lives on today in videos that captured his characters on film.
Most of the movies Wayne made were westerns or military adventures where he had a leading role, but there are many where he was an extra, a face in the crowd, or had just a short walk-on parts. He hosted a documentary and even has had documentaries made of his life and career. He once played the Roman centurion solder at the foot of the cross in The Greatest Story Ever Told, saying the line, “Surely this man was the Son of God.”
He has also been on talk shows. He was interviewed by people like Barbara Walters and Mike Douglas on their talk shows and has appeared as “special guest star” on television situation comedy favorites like the Jack Benny Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Gunsmoke, Maude, and I Love Lucy with Lucille Ball. He was a very versatile and famous man and he even directed his own film, The Alamo.
The Alamo was a financial risk to Wayne but he was so compelled to make the movie, so moved to direct it rather than star in it, that he mortgaged everything he owned to finance it and make it happen. When making the film, he told the public, almost with religious a conviction, “I hope that seeing the battle of the Alamo will remind Americans that liberty and freedom don't come cheap.” In his day, Wayne had a passion for America and it’s history much like film director/actor Mel Gibson had a passion for the making of his The Passion of the Christ. (2004). John Wayne, like Mel Gibson, knew the power of the film industry and like Gibson, Wayne was compelled to get out the message.
The American people liked John Wayne. He had “good looks,” he was tough and rugged, good with a gun, able to hold his own in a fight, even in a bar and he was gentle with the ladies. He was someone with “morals,” someone with “values,” someone that American kids could look up to; someone who let them know that there was a difference between wrong and right, and good and evil. He stood for justice and the American way. As one fan put it, John Wayne “set the example of what God intended for a man to be.”
It's no secret that in the minds of many people, John Wayne, was considered a true blue American. He was so popular that he was even asked to run for the Republican presidency in 1968, but he declined. He did however at one point in his career make television ads for cigarettes and it seemed only natural, after all Wayne often smoked on screen.
He happily endorsed his favorite brand of cigarettes to a watching world saying, “Mild and good-tasting pack after pack. And I know… I’ve been smokin’ em for twenty years. So why don’t you try them yourself?" Twenty-seven years later, Wayne found himself making commercials for the American Cancer Society, urging people to get regular check-ups if they smoked, to kick the habit if they could, and to support the cause of cancer.
John Wayne died of lung cancer. It took one lung, and then it took his life.
.
Nanoseconds and Nanoscience
A nanosecond is a measurement of time. It's common used today is in measuring the amount of time in which computer files can read or write. The word nano is derived from the Greek, nanos literally means dwarf or very small. In the metric system, it means "billionth," so, a nanosecond is one billionth (10-9) of a second. Measuring that out, that equates to 1,000,000,000 nanoseconds in one second.
If you are doing something like laser technology, that would take too long so you would have to measure time in femtoseconds, or if you are measuring photons you might use attoseconds, but the CD’s and hard disks ion your collection only use milliseconds to determine just exactly how long they take to send chunks of information to your drives.
Besides measurements of time, there are measurements of length, width and height in our new human technologies. In fact there is a whole minuscule industry emerging in the scientific community called "nanotech."This technology in the “nanosphere,”“nanotechnology,” is the science of building microscopic machines, structures and materials with molecules and it's the wave of the future.
Nanotech structures and gizmos are measurable only in nanometers. They are also completely invisible to the naked human eye, but they can be viewed with high-powered electronic and atomic microscopes. The April 29, 2004 issue of Nature, published an article saying that there are teeny-tiny molecular machines at work in places like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (LBNL) The latest news was that scientists at LBNL transformed carbon nanotubes into conveyor belts capable of transporting atom-sized indium particles from one point to another, a technological concept that is believed to have great potential for the future and in giving us more products like stain resistant and wrinkle free clothing, non stick cooking surfaces, sunscreen, and even drug delivery systems.
Scientists would like us to fund their projects and therefore, they urge us to believe that with an ever-increasing knowledge of the physical interactions of molecules and atoms, the day will arrive where all our problems of life on earth are forever solved. In fact these "nano" scientists believe that the day will come when factories on a nanoscale will become a material reality. As you probably guessed already though, while some members of the scientific community are excited about the grandiose possibilities of it all, not everyone is so excited. Some dare to speculate about the possible dangers of having "nano" factories because they "nano" pollute.
Nanotechnology is a new frontier; it’s a whole realm of unexplored territory, and researchers talk about something called “grey goo” associated with nanotech industry. The question people like to ask is, “Are there overall environmental effects or nanotoxicity of materials (like ‘gray goo’) that we need be concerned with?” But such concerns remain speculation and theory because of the newness of this technology and because of its unseeable smallness.
Some scientists warn that there is potential for “nano weapons” of mass destruction to be made, warning that such weapons could be of the “selective” type. You can almost bet there is a whole new world that would emerge from that, a world of nano politics and nano ethics and nano business practices too. Even with all the little concerns being vocalized, many physicists and chemical engineers are very excited about the prospective potential uses of nanotechnologies and envision future molecular manufacturing, where companies would be using nano sized batteries, motors, gears and elevators to help cure diseases like cancer, clean pollution from air and water or even to extract photons from the atmosphere for use as alternative fuel. Speculation is that the whole of society can change with the advancement of the new field of nanotechnology.
Nanoscience has the potential to unleash whole fields of study and jobs to support new economics. Nanobarcodes would be used to label and track products, scientists could microscopically create self assembling living tissue for medical purposes and we could possibly use nano-innovations to process or package food for worldwide distribution. But no matter the hype, or the hope, the truth is that the much of the concepts of manipulating atoms into factories and creating self replicating consumer goods, is still in its primordial stage. In fact, you cannot even see them "naked eye." It's a big dream, the business of nanotechnology, but then all big things do start rather small.
Currently these "operational" nano-motors mankind has created out of molecules and atoms only exist in petri dishes in science laboratories. You need a microscope to seem them and they are stuck operating at random in solution. They may be quite interesting to watch anf think about particularly to the scientifically minded, and they may have a lot of potential in the future for all mankind, but such things cannot even begin to compare with the amazingly miraculous intricacy of a single living cell, created out of nothing, by Almighty God.
And to think it may have only taken him a nanosecond... "Bang!" and it was there!
Wow.
If you are doing something like laser technology, that would take too long so you would have to measure time in femtoseconds, or if you are measuring photons you might use attoseconds, but the CD’s and hard disks ion your collection only use milliseconds to determine just exactly how long they take to send chunks of information to your drives.
Besides measurements of time, there are measurements of length, width and height in our new human technologies. In fact there is a whole minuscule industry emerging in the scientific community called "nanotech."This technology in the “nanosphere,”“nanotechnology,” is the science of building microscopic machines, structures and materials with molecules and it's the wave of the future.
Nanotech structures and gizmos are measurable only in nanometers. They are also completely invisible to the naked human eye, but they can be viewed with high-powered electronic and atomic microscopes. The April 29, 2004 issue of Nature, published an article saying that there are teeny-tiny molecular machines at work in places like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (LBNL) The latest news was that scientists at LBNL transformed carbon nanotubes into conveyor belts capable of transporting atom-sized indium particles from one point to another, a technological concept that is believed to have great potential for the future and in giving us more products like stain resistant and wrinkle free clothing, non stick cooking surfaces, sunscreen, and even drug delivery systems.
Scientists would like us to fund their projects and therefore, they urge us to believe that with an ever-increasing knowledge of the physical interactions of molecules and atoms, the day will arrive where all our problems of life on earth are forever solved. In fact these "nano" scientists believe that the day will come when factories on a nanoscale will become a material reality. As you probably guessed already though, while some members of the scientific community are excited about the grandiose possibilities of it all, not everyone is so excited. Some dare to speculate about the possible dangers of having "nano" factories because they "nano" pollute.
Nanotechnology is a new frontier; it’s a whole realm of unexplored territory, and researchers talk about something called “grey goo” associated with nanotech industry. The question people like to ask is, “Are there overall environmental effects or nanotoxicity of materials (like ‘gray goo’) that we need be concerned with?” But such concerns remain speculation and theory because of the newness of this technology and because of its unseeable smallness.
Some scientists warn that there is potential for “nano weapons” of mass destruction to be made, warning that such weapons could be of the “selective” type. You can almost bet there is a whole new world that would emerge from that, a world of nano politics and nano ethics and nano business practices too. Even with all the little concerns being vocalized, many physicists and chemical engineers are very excited about the prospective potential uses of nanotechnologies and envision future molecular manufacturing, where companies would be using nano sized batteries, motors, gears and elevators to help cure diseases like cancer, clean pollution from air and water or even to extract photons from the atmosphere for use as alternative fuel. Speculation is that the whole of society can change with the advancement of the new field of nanotechnology.
Nanoscience has the potential to unleash whole fields of study and jobs to support new economics. Nanobarcodes would be used to label and track products, scientists could microscopically create self assembling living tissue for medical purposes and we could possibly use nano-innovations to process or package food for worldwide distribution. But no matter the hype, or the hope, the truth is that the much of the concepts of manipulating atoms into factories and creating self replicating consumer goods, is still in its primordial stage. In fact, you cannot even see them "naked eye." It's a big dream, the business of nanotechnology, but then all big things do start rather small.
Currently these "operational" nano-motors mankind has created out of molecules and atoms only exist in petri dishes in science laboratories. You need a microscope to seem them and they are stuck operating at random in solution. They may be quite interesting to watch anf think about particularly to the scientifically minded, and they may have a lot of potential in the future for all mankind, but such things cannot even begin to compare with the amazingly miraculous intricacy of a single living cell, created out of nothing, by Almighty God.
And to think it may have only taken him a nanosecond... "Bang!" and it was there!
Wow.
Vortex
A vortex, as you may already know from science class, is the high velocity funnel shape created by the motion of spiraling substances like water or air. A vortex natural occurs in tornadoes, whirlpools, and hurricanes, and you see them in the tub when you let the water go down the drain. In New Age Spirituality there are "vortexes" too. They are unseen and undetectable, but if you are “in tune to the spirit of spirituality’ you can supposedly feel them.
In New Age thinking a vortex is believed to be a place that that emanates spiritual energy or universal harmony. They are described as “subtle, spiraling currents of energy,” and they are formed by the performance of certain rituals and have spiritual meaning when they are sensed or preset.
One of the keys to opening yourself to the mysterious world of the occult is to perform ritual, or to connect with this invisible spiritual energy by visiting a vortex location. Such vortexes claim to offer the touring soul or interested visitor, (usually for a fee,) healing and rejuvenation, spiritual growth and personal enlightenment.
People who have experienced New Age vortexes say effects of the vortexes range from a feeling of peace, to a rush of new ideas and some even claim that their hair stands on end.
In New Age thinking a vortex is believed to be a place that that emanates spiritual energy or universal harmony. They are described as “subtle, spiraling currents of energy,” and they are formed by the performance of certain rituals and have spiritual meaning when they are sensed or preset.
One of the keys to opening yourself to the mysterious world of the occult is to perform ritual, or to connect with this invisible spiritual energy by visiting a vortex location. Such vortexes claim to offer the touring soul or interested visitor, (usually for a fee,) healing and rejuvenation, spiritual growth and personal enlightenment.
People who have experienced New Age vortexes say effects of the vortexes range from a feeling of peace, to a rush of new ideas and some even claim that their hair stands on end.
Pisces Infinity
Pisces Infinity is a fictional term that comes from the zodiac sign called Pisces. The term zodiac comes from the Greek word Zodiakos, meaning "circle of animals," or "zoo." The zodiac is an imaginary sectioning of the night sky into 12 parts, and it has for centuries been used as a means of measuring time and seasons, charting the passing of the sun's ellipse and even fortune telling. In every culture, whether Latin, Greek, Ch9inese or Babylonian, the zodiac is sectioned into twelve parts and each part has a dominating figure or personna, and each is often connecte d to a major constellation of stars that the personna represents. The twelth sing on the zodiac is the two fishes, swimming in oppoiste directions, and the constellation of two fish on two lines connected by a knotted cord is also called Pisces.
The practice of tracking the stars, sun and moons, looking for signs in the heavens, (whether you call it astronomy(natual science) or astrology, (occultic science) is traced far back into the history of many cultures. Each culture has it’s own wise men, watching, counting, calculating, and theoretically exploring the heavenly skies, looking for answers in the stars, looking at the stars and raising questions. He has been doing so since the begining of time when God put him out of the Eden.
In the beginning, when God put the stars in place, he declared them to be for signs to mark the seasons, days, and years; (Genesis 1:14-18) he ordained the lights of night and day to give us light. The sun for photosynthesis and sustainance of life on earth and (Genesis 1:15, 17) the greater light and the lesser light to rule the night and the two of them to "separate day from night." The stars above serve to provide consistent markers, and declare his glory, (Psalm 19:1-6.) They reveal His eternal and mysterious attributes to all mankind mankind, and seeing this and understanding it, all would have an opportunity to consider and even to call upon Him, in truth [Romans 1:20; 10:18] as they cannot deny, that indeed, there is a God.
Even though many has for centuries seen the night sky looked at the stars, and studied them, he sometimes has his own way of interpreting what they are and what they mean. He has even given the the planets and the constellations, human-like qualities and personages as if they were the gods and goddesses themselves, even treated them as such to the point that he would believe these intimate objects, as humans interpret their "signs" and their planetary personalities rule and influence human lives, and they even believe this, instead of God.
Pisces, they say... in astrological terms, is “ruled” by the planet Neptune, which is the eighth planet from the sun. Neptune, a wise aged male from the deep and mysterious, dreamy, mystical undersea world, also known as Poseidon the Greek sea god, is the god of water. It is he who controlled all the lakes and rivers upon the earth from his heavenly abode. and he appears to mortal beings in mythology, as one with a trident (a three-prong fishing spear) in his hand. Pisces, in the zodiac is the twelfth sign, a water sign ruled by Neptune and as such represents is considered chaotic and confusing... indecisive prone to change, like the ocean tide.
Astrologists, those who study the zodiac, planets, sun and moon for divining the future, claim the Piscean age began with the birth of Jesus Christ. In fact astrologists like to impress upon people how astrology is congruent with Christianity. You see, we are living now in the Piscean age, a time of great chaos and the need for decision. Besides, throughout the New Testament there are stories related to “fish.”
Jesus lived by the Mediterranean sea, he walked on water, was baptized in the Jordan, he talked about making His disciples, fishers of men. The apostles were mostly fishermen by trade, and Jesus was known to have fed a hungry crowd with five loaves of bread and two fishes. No doubt, there must be something "fishy" going on. Not only that, but the use of a “fish” has been a symbol of Christianity over the centuries. It was particularly common during the Middle Ages.
The use of a fish as a symbol of the Christian faith occurred partially because the New Testament was written in Greek and curiously enough the word for “fish” is spelled with the Greek letters Iota Chi Theta Upsilon Sigma, (a.k.a, ΙΧΘΥΣ.) These letters became symbolic of the acrostic "Iesous Christos Theou Uios, Soter", which translated into English is "Jesus Christ God's Son, Savior." so, whether or not the astrologists notion that the Piscean age and the God of the Trident have anything to do with the fish aspect of Christianity remains controversial. It all depends on your decision as to who Jesus Christ, the most central figure o human history is, or isn't.
As cultures of people scattered across the earth from the beginning, the Bible tells us that they lived their lives groping about in spiritual darkness. (Duet 28:29; Job 12:25; Acts 17:27) Those who retained the knowledge of God were the children of promise, but fallen man, with no remorse centered their spiritual life on only what they could see and feel. God called Abraham out of such a world, and to Moses He gave His law. God gave the prophets too, and after David, and Solomon, Jesus Christ His Son was born.
After Jesus was crucified, and raised from the dead, Paul the apostle, (and others) traveled to the pagan lands and preached Jesus Christ, not only as King of the Jews, but also as a light in the dark. (Luke 2:32) Wherever they preached many people chose Christ, and left the ways of pagan life behind. We did not see Paul or the other apostles teaching that one could use Christianity to validate astrological practices or false theology, but we do see a resurgence of pagan beliefs and religions and people looking not to God's word for answers to the future, but to the stars.
The Picean age won;t last forever. Astrologically, a new age is upon us, the New Age is the Age of Aquarius, the Water Bearer.
The age of Aquarious, according to astrological beliefs, is to be a much brighter era than indecisive Pisces ever was or ever could be. The age is ruled by the planet Uranus. (You may pronounce that one any way you like.)
Uranus is the God of the sky and the progenitor of all the other gods. Notably though, the planet Uranus itself was not discovered as a “planet” (or wandering star) until the technological advance of telescope in 1690. Uranus, as we call it, was discovered by William Herschel who named it the Georgian Star, after King George, which it was called until 1850. It was renamed Ouranos, (meaning Father Sky) by Johann Elert Bode. Ouranos, in mythology, according to the Mythology of Saturn, was "the first father figure, " but in mythology, Saturn castrated Ouranos, so... so-much for being "dad."
The Aquarian Age is described by astrologers as a time of “knowing” (not being indecisive or confused, not even mystical...) and a time of “service” to the whole of humanity. Astologers and New agers hold out these ideas in terms of serving the world (not serving the Lord) and of humanity evolving spiritually into the next mutation of higher intelligence, (not biblical creation.)
In fact, in the Aquarian Age, astrologers tell their listeners, man made laws and technology will replace old religious dogma... and science will dominate and enhance human life in ways to wonderful for us to understand in our present condition. The French astrologer, Benedict Elie, put it this way, (regarding the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius,) "These two ages invite us to broaden our soul by showing love to our fellow human beings and taking the available scientifics and technological means to improve our well-being and comfort. Therefore, man will fully realize his role on earth by establishing himself as the King of Creation, by fulfilling himself, by being in control of himself and nature." Gone is the religious dogma, man, just as the serpent of Eden offered, is evolved complete and has become what he always dreamed he could be if he simply put his mind to it, "God."
Pisces ends, Aquarius begins. In the astrology charts, the sign for Aquarius is an “air” sign, and not a water sign like Pisces. It is represented as a man pouring out water from a jar. In contrast, God's well, runs deep and the water is pure, Jesus Christ is living water.
Historically the “Jesus believing” churches have always rejected astrology. They believe that God’s infallible Word was spoken through the prophets and written down, fulfilled in Jesus Christ and as God’s word to mankind, it took and takes precedence over all man-invented interpretations, guesses, suppositions, superstitions and they rejected magical arts, which were and are still to be considered "occult." Christians believe whole heartedly that faith in God, faith in God’s promise was the key to a right life and a right relationship with God, they do not trust in nor are they to practice astrology, channeling, consulting the dead or any form of occult spiritualism.
The age of Pisces, the Age of Aquarius... it's all about water... and Jesus DID tell his disciples that he would make them “fishers of men.” Perhaps it is because without turth men are like fish floundering in an infinite sea, tossed about in every direction by waves of wisdom, pushed about by currents driven by every wind of religious doctrine. How interesting that Jesus called men who knew the sea well, to learn of him and then sent them out to cast nets of truth into the swirling waves of humanity calling them to repentance so as to be saved. No wonder, Jesus is the solid rock that men can stand on, no longer tossed about by the tumultuous sea.
The world in this story cries “Pisces Infinity,” seeking to unite the world as one nation via the God of their own making, (or if they are godless, they can have no God at all,) God already chooses us. He cast the net out, he did not leave us nor forsake us even now. It would seem we are the ones who can choose to submit our hearts to God, or not.
The Piscean age is nothing new. Even Cain when he hated his brother, even he had to decide who he would serve, who would be his master. Men and women have always lived in the age of decision.
There is no such thing as Pisces Infinity, the time of decision will not be eternal. It will not last forever. The Lord has shown us what he requires of us, he had laid down his own life, offered us forgiveness. The Lord is also, not slack as come count slackness, but He is long suffering toward us, yet, it is clearly "we," not he will make the ultimate decision. We can believe God by faith or reject him.
Even Joshua who lived long before Jesus Christ noted, “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15)
The practice of tracking the stars, sun and moons, looking for signs in the heavens, (whether you call it astronomy(natual science) or astrology, (occultic science) is traced far back into the history of many cultures. Each culture has it’s own wise men, watching, counting, calculating, and theoretically exploring the heavenly skies, looking for answers in the stars, looking at the stars and raising questions. He has been doing so since the begining of time when God put him out of the Eden.
In the beginning, when God put the stars in place, he declared them to be for signs to mark the seasons, days, and years; (Genesis 1:14-18) he ordained the lights of night and day to give us light. The sun for photosynthesis and sustainance of life on earth and (Genesis 1:15, 17) the greater light and the lesser light to rule the night and the two of them to "separate day from night." The stars above serve to provide consistent markers, and declare his glory, (Psalm 19:1-6.) They reveal His eternal and mysterious attributes to all mankind mankind, and seeing this and understanding it, all would have an opportunity to consider and even to call upon Him, in truth [Romans 1:20; 10:18] as they cannot deny, that indeed, there is a God.
Even though many has for centuries seen the night sky looked at the stars, and studied them, he sometimes has his own way of interpreting what they are and what they mean. He has even given the the planets and the constellations, human-like qualities and personages as if they were the gods and goddesses themselves, even treated them as such to the point that he would believe these intimate objects, as humans interpret their "signs" and their planetary personalities rule and influence human lives, and they even believe this, instead of God.
Pisces, they say... in astrological terms, is “ruled” by the planet Neptune, which is the eighth planet from the sun. Neptune, a wise aged male from the deep and mysterious, dreamy, mystical undersea world, also known as Poseidon the Greek sea god, is the god of water. It is he who controlled all the lakes and rivers upon the earth from his heavenly abode. and he appears to mortal beings in mythology, as one with a trident (a three-prong fishing spear) in his hand. Pisces, in the zodiac is the twelfth sign, a water sign ruled by Neptune and as such represents is considered chaotic and confusing... indecisive prone to change, like the ocean tide.
Astrologists, those who study the zodiac, planets, sun and moon for divining the future, claim the Piscean age began with the birth of Jesus Christ. In fact astrologists like to impress upon people how astrology is congruent with Christianity. You see, we are living now in the Piscean age, a time of great chaos and the need for decision. Besides, throughout the New Testament there are stories related to “fish.”
Jesus lived by the Mediterranean sea, he walked on water, was baptized in the Jordan, he talked about making His disciples, fishers of men. The apostles were mostly fishermen by trade, and Jesus was known to have fed a hungry crowd with five loaves of bread and two fishes. No doubt, there must be something "fishy" going on. Not only that, but the use of a “fish” has been a symbol of Christianity over the centuries. It was particularly common during the Middle Ages.
The use of a fish as a symbol of the Christian faith occurred partially because the New Testament was written in Greek and curiously enough the word for “fish” is spelled with the Greek letters Iota Chi Theta Upsilon Sigma, (a.k.a, ΙΧΘΥΣ.) These letters became symbolic of the acrostic "Iesous Christos Theou Uios, Soter", which translated into English is "Jesus Christ God's Son, Savior." so, whether or not the astrologists notion that the Piscean age and the God of the Trident have anything to do with the fish aspect of Christianity remains controversial. It all depends on your decision as to who Jesus Christ, the most central figure o human history is, or isn't.
As cultures of people scattered across the earth from the beginning, the Bible tells us that they lived their lives groping about in spiritual darkness. (Duet 28:29; Job 12:25; Acts 17:27) Those who retained the knowledge of God were the children of promise, but fallen man, with no remorse centered their spiritual life on only what they could see and feel. God called Abraham out of such a world, and to Moses He gave His law. God gave the prophets too, and after David, and Solomon, Jesus Christ His Son was born.
After Jesus was crucified, and raised from the dead, Paul the apostle, (and others) traveled to the pagan lands and preached Jesus Christ, not only as King of the Jews, but also as a light in the dark. (Luke 2:32) Wherever they preached many people chose Christ, and left the ways of pagan life behind. We did not see Paul or the other apostles teaching that one could use Christianity to validate astrological practices or false theology, but we do see a resurgence of pagan beliefs and religions and people looking not to God's word for answers to the future, but to the stars.
The Picean age won;t last forever. Astrologically, a new age is upon us, the New Age is the Age of Aquarius, the Water Bearer.
The age of Aquarious, according to astrological beliefs, is to be a much brighter era than indecisive Pisces ever was or ever could be. The age is ruled by the planet Uranus. (You may pronounce that one any way you like.)
Uranus is the God of the sky and the progenitor of all the other gods. Notably though, the planet Uranus itself was not discovered as a “planet” (or wandering star) until the technological advance of telescope in 1690. Uranus, as we call it, was discovered by William Herschel who named it the Georgian Star, after King George, which it was called until 1850. It was renamed Ouranos, (meaning Father Sky) by Johann Elert Bode. Ouranos, in mythology, according to the Mythology of Saturn, was "the first father figure, " but in mythology, Saturn castrated Ouranos, so... so-much for being "dad."
The Aquarian Age is described by astrologers as a time of “knowing” (not being indecisive or confused, not even mystical...) and a time of “service” to the whole of humanity. Astologers and New agers hold out these ideas in terms of serving the world (not serving the Lord) and of humanity evolving spiritually into the next mutation of higher intelligence, (not biblical creation.)
In fact, in the Aquarian Age, astrologers tell their listeners, man made laws and technology will replace old religious dogma... and science will dominate and enhance human life in ways to wonderful for us to understand in our present condition. The French astrologer, Benedict Elie, put it this way, (regarding the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius,) "These two ages invite us to broaden our soul by showing love to our fellow human beings and taking the available scientifics and technological means to improve our well-being and comfort. Therefore, man will fully realize his role on earth by establishing himself as the King of Creation, by fulfilling himself, by being in control of himself and nature." Gone is the religious dogma, man, just as the serpent of Eden offered, is evolved complete and has become what he always dreamed he could be if he simply put his mind to it, "God."
Pisces ends, Aquarius begins. In the astrology charts, the sign for Aquarius is an “air” sign, and not a water sign like Pisces. It is represented as a man pouring out water from a jar. In contrast, God's well, runs deep and the water is pure, Jesus Christ is living water.
Historically the “Jesus believing” churches have always rejected astrology. They believe that God’s infallible Word was spoken through the prophets and written down, fulfilled in Jesus Christ and as God’s word to mankind, it took and takes precedence over all man-invented interpretations, guesses, suppositions, superstitions and they rejected magical arts, which were and are still to be considered "occult." Christians believe whole heartedly that faith in God, faith in God’s promise was the key to a right life and a right relationship with God, they do not trust in nor are they to practice astrology, channeling, consulting the dead or any form of occult spiritualism.
The age of Pisces, the Age of Aquarius... it's all about water... and Jesus DID tell his disciples that he would make them “fishers of men.” Perhaps it is because without turth men are like fish floundering in an infinite sea, tossed about in every direction by waves of wisdom, pushed about by currents driven by every wind of religious doctrine. How interesting that Jesus called men who knew the sea well, to learn of him and then sent them out to cast nets of truth into the swirling waves of humanity calling them to repentance so as to be saved. No wonder, Jesus is the solid rock that men can stand on, no longer tossed about by the tumultuous sea.
The world in this story cries “Pisces Infinity,” seeking to unite the world as one nation via the God of their own making, (or if they are godless, they can have no God at all,) God already chooses us. He cast the net out, he did not leave us nor forsake us even now. It would seem we are the ones who can choose to submit our hearts to God, or not.
The Piscean age is nothing new. Even Cain when he hated his brother, even he had to decide who he would serve, who would be his master. Men and women have always lived in the age of decision.
There is no such thing as Pisces Infinity, the time of decision will not be eternal. It will not last forever. The Lord has shown us what he requires of us, he had laid down his own life, offered us forgiveness. The Lord is also, not slack as come count slackness, but He is long suffering toward us, yet, it is clearly "we," not he will make the ultimate decision. We can believe God by faith or reject him.
Even Joshua who lived long before Jesus Christ noted, “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15)
Interactive TV
"Interactive TV,” (ITV) says David Burke, British Director of White Dot, the international campaign against television, “is any television with what is called a ‘return path." David, author of te book, Spy TV: Just Who Is the Digital TV Revolution (2000) also says, “The whole concept of interactive television is wrapped around the idea of using the TV connections in homes to gather feedback from consumers and boost sales of products. Interactive TV is expected to soon become a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, and it is expected to refine as digital television becomes the standard of use.”
With an interactive TV, information flows not only from broadcaster to viewer, but also back from viewer to broadcaster. Patti Constantakis-Valdez, writing for The Museum of Broadcast Communications says, “The future of interactive television is unclear. No one is sure how ITV will be delivered to homes or even what ITV will look like. What is certain is that when it does arrive, ITV will change the medium of television in ways that audiences and producers have not yet begun to imagine.”
With an interactive TV, information flows not only from broadcaster to viewer, but also back from viewer to broadcaster. Patti Constantakis-Valdez, writing for The Museum of Broadcast Communications says, “The future of interactive television is unclear. No one is sure how ITV will be delivered to homes or even what ITV will look like. What is certain is that when it does arrive, ITV will change the medium of television in ways that audiences and producers have not yet begun to imagine.”
All for one and one for all!
And the Colorful Rooster Crows...
De Colores means “the colors,” in Spanish and this is also the title of a popular Mexican folk song whose lyrics are mentioned in this story. De Colores, (pronounced “day cuh-lor'-ess,”) became the anthem of the Caesar Chavezs Farm Workers Union, (UFW) as well as a theme song for a spiritual movement of the Roman Catholic Church called Cursillo, whose symbol is a rainbow colored rooster. This article will focus on the Cursillo, it's origin and it's practices.
Cursillos are said to be the inspiration of Edward Bonnin and Bishop of Mallorca Spain who were inspired to respond to a plea from Pope Pius XII. They felt it would be a way to restore the then war-torn country to Christian values. The word itself is spanish, and it means “short course;” it means, in this case, a "short course" in Christianity. The first cursillo probably took place sometime between 1944 and 1947, after these men made a pilgrimage to a holy shrine in Spain, called Santiago de Compostela, rivaled only (in the the Catholic mind,) by two other places on the planet, Vatican City and the Holy Land.
The practices of the cursillo then made it's way to the US in 1957, via Spanish Military Exchange Pilots from Spain who were training in Waco, Texas. Since this time, the cursillo movement has not only been used throughout the Roman Catholic Church in the US, but has branched out into other denominations under various names like Tres Dias, Via De Christo, CumChristo, The Emmaus Walk and Chrysalis. Called,"evangelism" as it spreads, all cursillo weekends, even with differences in name, have the same concept and modes of operation, and are commonly thought of as "evangelism."
Today, the National Cursillo website, http://www.natl-cursillo.org/kckcursillo/whatis.html states that the purpose of the Cursillo is: “to make it possible for people to live what is fundamental for being a Christian, and to live it together.” It continues, “it helps people discover and fulfill their personal vocations, and it promotes the creation of core groups of Christians who leaven their environments with the Gospel.” This is surprising verbiage, for in the scriptures, "leaven" has never been presented as a "good" thing.
In the Old Testament as well as the New, “leaven” represents sin. It also represents false doctrines, hypocrisy and evil practices. (1 Corinthians 5-6-8; Matthew 16:12; Luke 12:1) Leaven is always to be put out of the house, (Ex. 12:15) or to be cast out as an unclean thing. Nothing in scripture that is good or desirable, is ever compared to "leaven." (Leviticus 2:11; I Cor. 5:8) So one must wonder why Christians are leavening their environments. More so, why use the term "leaven" and leavening their environments with, (of all things,) with "the Gospel."
Besides the concept of Christians, "leavening" their environments, another interesting thing about cursillos and the cursillo movement, is that instead of unsaved people, or even new Christian converts being openly invited to these weekend retreats, those “invited to attend” are people who are already leaders in some capacity within their churches... people with a committment to their Christian faith. It is these people who are instructed that the weekend and the events that take place there are to draw them into a closer, more personal relationship with Christ than they already have as a believer, thus the cursillo is "evangelizing" or teaching "a short course in Christianity" to people who should already have an understanding of Christian doctrine and their faith.
More specifically, the documents of the cursillo movement say that the strategy of the cursillo-type group is “to select natural leaders within an environment and introduce them to Christ.” (Essentials of the Via De Christo pg. 15. ) The "environment" however is usually church and the persons targeted are often already connected to a body of believers. It's enough to make a person wonder what, or who's, "strategy" is it that is going on in these weekend retreats, and if these people who are already Christian, need to be "introduced" to Christ.
A lot of what takes place at these weekend cursillos is not really ever talked about publicly, and if you ask someone who has been to one, "What takes place at a cursillo?" they will tell you, they can't talk about it. Oh, they might give you some vague generalizations, and emphatically insist nothing stealth or secretive takes place on these three day weekends, but they will also openly admit, and repeat the famous words, that “some aspects of the weekend are simply better experienced without the pre-knowledge of the participant.” (Which interpreted means something like, “Some things are better kept as a secret.”)
In addition people who return from such weekends say, even to the closest of friends, even to spouses, that they cannot tell about their experience, and this, either because it would be too difficult to explain, (perhaps too spiritual) or because it “might ruin it” for others. In other words, and for whatever reason, they do as they have been told, and keep "a secret."
"Secret" usually means “not public; kept private or not revealed; known only to a special group.” Truth of the matter is that you have to attend a cursillo if you want to know what takes place there. Also, you are expected to keep certain "secret" if you are in the "know."
By most standards, and particularly of those who study mind control techniques and cults, this "secret" aspect of the cursillo, as well as other methods cursillos employ can be construed as extremely manipulative even psychologically coercive. Not telling everything that happenes because of a "surprise factor" seems rather benign, but it's a "secret" aspect just the same. To many people, it's simply fun an surprise done in love and affirmation, even when non-cursillo family members and and friends are solicited to write love letters to be presented to the cursillita on their weekend, and asked to keep it secret that they know this person is going on a retreat.
A cursillo is a very special experience, and a person can “make a cursillo” only once in their life. It's a free gift, a gifting of God or of the cursillo community who volunteer their time or pays the expense of the person who attends. Most "guests," are honored as such a gesture, if they are the well-mannered sort, they will desire to be gracious about receiving such a gift. Often also, people are also honored to feel they have been personally selected... if religious, who can refuse a time to "get away" and "focus on God," Few refuse. How can they refuse without feeling guilty for having more important "worldly things, " to do than this, or guilty for rejecting such an awesome gift from God?
It is common for the person going on such a retreat not to know the exact location that they are going to. They are usually asked to simply trust the discretion of the friend who is sponsoring the event. In addition, the weekend comes complete with the elimination of contact with the outside world. There is the removal of watches, the absence of clocks and phones for the duration of the weekend’s activities and this may not be unwelcome by the person who wishes to seclude away from the world and focus on "God." It may be perceived as quite a positive or helpful thing at that, but the truth is that things like this are the very things that are known to be the very tools that make another human being disoriented, and therefore vulnerable to mind maniipulation and control.
As mentioned already, another "secret" during these weekends is the wonderful love letters that have been clandestinely solicited from family and friends. The cursillo plan is to present these to cursilliates during their three-day weekend. This is a noble sounding concept, except that the persons writing such letters often know very little of the Cursillo movement, just that the friend is attending a weekend retreat. Often they simply do so because they are asked and because they love their friend, not because they know anything of cursillo.
While the letter writer can imagine that it is only used for good, the letter writer often has no idea how the letters will be used, when they will be presented or what their "love bomb" will endorse. They are only asked to write a letter telling the person how special they are, how much they are loved and told that the letters will be a blessing to their reciepient... and asked let the note, as well as knowledge of the person going on retreat, be a “surprise.” The result is that such letters validate whatever experience the participant is having without family and friends on the outside of the group knowing what exactly that could or couldn't be. They have no idea what they will endorse with their affirmations. Meanwhile, the recipient thinks the letter came from another soul who was part of the surprise, when they are not.
The events of a cursillo may appear to the participant as spontaneous, and genuine, but cursillos are highly planned, and sometimes even certain elements are often contrived. Everything is done to have the prescribed outcome, a deliberate effect, that of incorporating the newcomer into something even greater, the “heart of the cursillo, ” called "Ultreya."
Ultreya means, "go forth!” and participants go forth, into this new community of weekly gatherings, accountability groups, study groups, the singing of songs, (in particular, "De Colores,") they share in times of food and fellowship, but it's a "church" open only to these now "true" believers, reserved only for those who have had the experienced Jesus in the "secret"(See: Matthew 24:26; Luke 11:33) cursilllo community. Ultreya has very similar elements to the "church" but participants are told they should still attend their home church, as they participate in Ultreya, for here it is that they will now "go forth" and "target" other potential candidates to join their "real Christian" cursillo community.
So forward they go, using their newly found Latin vocabulary consisting of words like "palanca,” “rollo.” “cha” and “ultreya,” targeting friends and family members to sponsor for the blessing of cursillo and asking them to keep "non-secretive" secrets. They are, after all, apostles, leavening their environments with "the gospel," that is, of course, the "gospel" of God's gift, the cursillo.
Cursillos are said to be the inspiration of Edward Bonnin and Bishop of Mallorca Spain who were inspired to respond to a plea from Pope Pius XII. They felt it would be a way to restore the then war-torn country to Christian values. The word itself is spanish, and it means “short course;” it means, in this case, a "short course" in Christianity. The first cursillo probably took place sometime between 1944 and 1947, after these men made a pilgrimage to a holy shrine in Spain, called Santiago de Compostela, rivaled only (in the the Catholic mind,) by two other places on the planet, Vatican City and the Holy Land.
The practices of the cursillo then made it's way to the US in 1957, via Spanish Military Exchange Pilots from Spain who were training in Waco, Texas. Since this time, the cursillo movement has not only been used throughout the Roman Catholic Church in the US, but has branched out into other denominations under various names like Tres Dias, Via De Christo, CumChristo, The Emmaus Walk and Chrysalis. Called,"evangelism" as it spreads, all cursillo weekends, even with differences in name, have the same concept and modes of operation, and are commonly thought of as "evangelism."
Today, the National Cursillo website, http://www.natl-cursillo.org/kckcursillo/whatis.html states that the purpose of the Cursillo is: “to make it possible for people to live what is fundamental for being a Christian, and to live it together.” It continues, “it helps people discover and fulfill their personal vocations, and it promotes the creation of core groups of Christians who leaven their environments with the Gospel.” This is surprising verbiage, for in the scriptures, "leaven" has never been presented as a "good" thing.
In the Old Testament as well as the New, “leaven” represents sin. It also represents false doctrines, hypocrisy and evil practices. (1 Corinthians 5-6-8; Matthew 16:12; Luke 12:1) Leaven is always to be put out of the house, (Ex. 12:15) or to be cast out as an unclean thing. Nothing in scripture that is good or desirable, is ever compared to "leaven." (Leviticus 2:11; I Cor. 5:8) So one must wonder why Christians are leavening their environments. More so, why use the term "leaven" and leavening their environments with, (of all things,) with "the Gospel."
Besides the concept of Christians, "leavening" their environments, another interesting thing about cursillos and the cursillo movement, is that instead of unsaved people, or even new Christian converts being openly invited to these weekend retreats, those “invited to attend” are people who are already leaders in some capacity within their churches... people with a committment to their Christian faith. It is these people who are instructed that the weekend and the events that take place there are to draw them into a closer, more personal relationship with Christ than they already have as a believer, thus the cursillo is "evangelizing" or teaching "a short course in Christianity" to people who should already have an understanding of Christian doctrine and their faith.
More specifically, the documents of the cursillo movement say that the strategy of the cursillo-type group is “to select natural leaders within an environment and introduce them to Christ.” (Essentials of the Via De Christo pg. 15. ) The "environment" however is usually church and the persons targeted are often already connected to a body of believers. It's enough to make a person wonder what, or who's, "strategy" is it that is going on in these weekend retreats, and if these people who are already Christian, need to be "introduced" to Christ.
A lot of what takes place at these weekend cursillos is not really ever talked about publicly, and if you ask someone who has been to one, "What takes place at a cursillo?" they will tell you, they can't talk about it. Oh, they might give you some vague generalizations, and emphatically insist nothing stealth or secretive takes place on these three day weekends, but they will also openly admit, and repeat the famous words, that “some aspects of the weekend are simply better experienced without the pre-knowledge of the participant.” (Which interpreted means something like, “Some things are better kept as a secret.”)
In addition people who return from such weekends say, even to the closest of friends, even to spouses, that they cannot tell about their experience, and this, either because it would be too difficult to explain, (perhaps too spiritual) or because it “might ruin it” for others. In other words, and for whatever reason, they do as they have been told, and keep "a secret."
"Secret" usually means “not public; kept private or not revealed; known only to a special group.” Truth of the matter is that you have to attend a cursillo if you want to know what takes place there. Also, you are expected to keep certain "secret" if you are in the "know."
By most standards, and particularly of those who study mind control techniques and cults, this "secret" aspect of the cursillo, as well as other methods cursillos employ can be construed as extremely manipulative even psychologically coercive. Not telling everything that happenes because of a "surprise factor" seems rather benign, but it's a "secret" aspect just the same. To many people, it's simply fun an surprise done in love and affirmation, even when non-cursillo family members and and friends are solicited to write love letters to be presented to the cursillita on their weekend, and asked to keep it secret that they know this person is going on a retreat.
A cursillo is a very special experience, and a person can “make a cursillo” only once in their life. It's a free gift, a gifting of God or of the cursillo community who volunteer their time or pays the expense of the person who attends. Most "guests," are honored as such a gesture, if they are the well-mannered sort, they will desire to be gracious about receiving such a gift. Often also, people are also honored to feel they have been personally selected... if religious, who can refuse a time to "get away" and "focus on God," Few refuse. How can they refuse without feeling guilty for having more important "worldly things, " to do than this, or guilty for rejecting such an awesome gift from God?
It is common for the person going on such a retreat not to know the exact location that they are going to. They are usually asked to simply trust the discretion of the friend who is sponsoring the event. In addition, the weekend comes complete with the elimination of contact with the outside world. There is the removal of watches, the absence of clocks and phones for the duration of the weekend’s activities and this may not be unwelcome by the person who wishes to seclude away from the world and focus on "God." It may be perceived as quite a positive or helpful thing at that, but the truth is that things like this are the very things that are known to be the very tools that make another human being disoriented, and therefore vulnerable to mind maniipulation and control.
As mentioned already, another "secret" during these weekends is the wonderful love letters that have been clandestinely solicited from family and friends. The cursillo plan is to present these to cursilliates during their three-day weekend. This is a noble sounding concept, except that the persons writing such letters often know very little of the Cursillo movement, just that the friend is attending a weekend retreat. Often they simply do so because they are asked and because they love their friend, not because they know anything of cursillo.
While the letter writer can imagine that it is only used for good, the letter writer often has no idea how the letters will be used, when they will be presented or what their "love bomb" will endorse. They are only asked to write a letter telling the person how special they are, how much they are loved and told that the letters will be a blessing to their reciepient... and asked let the note, as well as knowledge of the person going on retreat, be a “surprise.” The result is that such letters validate whatever experience the participant is having without family and friends on the outside of the group knowing what exactly that could or couldn't be. They have no idea what they will endorse with their affirmations. Meanwhile, the recipient thinks the letter came from another soul who was part of the surprise, when they are not.
The events of a cursillo may appear to the participant as spontaneous, and genuine, but cursillos are highly planned, and sometimes even certain elements are often contrived. Everything is done to have the prescribed outcome, a deliberate effect, that of incorporating the newcomer into something even greater, the “heart of the cursillo, ” called "Ultreya."
Ultreya means, "go forth!” and participants go forth, into this new community of weekly gatherings, accountability groups, study groups, the singing of songs, (in particular, "De Colores,") they share in times of food and fellowship, but it's a "church" open only to these now "true" believers, reserved only for those who have had the experienced Jesus in the "secret"(See: Matthew 24:26; Luke 11:33) cursilllo community. Ultreya has very similar elements to the "church" but participants are told they should still attend their home church, as they participate in Ultreya, for here it is that they will now "go forth" and "target" other potential candidates to join their "real Christian" cursillo community.
So forward they go, using their newly found Latin vocabulary consisting of words like "palanca,” “rollo.” “cha” and “ultreya,” targeting friends and family members to sponsor for the blessing of cursillo and asking them to keep "non-secretive" secrets. They are, after all, apostles, leavening their environments with "the gospel," that is, of course, the "gospel" of God's gift, the cursillo.
Shambala
Shambhala , or Shambala, (sometimes also referred to as Shangri-La.,) is related to teachings of both Buddhism and Hinduism. The word, Shambala, in Sanskrit, the ancient classical Indian language, means “Pure Land” or “Paradise on Earth.”
Buddhism originated in Northern India, (now present-day Nepal) in a small village at the foothills of the Himalaya mountains. It was in this village that Buddhism began and it was started by a young prince by the name of Siddhartha who lived there between the years 563-483 BC. Siddhartha, disillusioned with Hinduism began a search for truth and spiritual enlightenment and when he found what he believed to be it, he also became the first Buddha, or "Gautama Buddha,"and it has since been called Buddhism.
Being a noble prince, Siddhartha wanted to do what was right and good, so he devoted himself to his religion and wholeheartedly sought to understand the meaning of life the universe and everything. He dedicated himself to meditation and strove to mortify his flesh in order to quench the evil desir, and he submitted to spiritual things instead as good holy and religious man should, in order to attain a mental state of perfection known as Nirvana. He went into seclusion for six years where he did nothing but meditate, pray and fast.
After nearly starving himself for those six years, he finally ended his seclusion, self-inflicted pain and physical deprivation, and washed himself in the Nairanjana River. Then he then began a special seven-day meditation under a Bodhi Tree, vowing never to arise from there until he found the truth.
During this time under the Bodhi tree, he had several spiritual revelations and was even said to have been attacked by evil spirits, however he emerged victoriously with his great understanding of all things and much compassion to all beings in the universe, and he thus became the "the awakened one." Siddhartha then founded "Buddhism" when he went around giving discourses and rules on spiritual things, and leading others into monastic lifestyles so that they could become enlightened too.
The Himalayan Mountains are very sacred to the religions prominent in India, particularly Buddhists, for in Buddhist tradition, there is said to be a place in these mountains called Shambhala, (or Shambala.) It’s believed to be a mystical kingdom, hidden and restricted for enlightened souls, those who have attained to this special wisdom, this Buddhist "Nirvana," those no who not longer have an attachment to the fruits of their bad karma.
To those outside this religious path, Shambala is presented as a mythological kingdom of bliss and peace, a peace that can be known only by those who are enlightened, and to the enlightened ones Shambhala is an earthly society of fearless warriors with a deep commitment to creating an “enlightened society” upon the earth. It stands in direct opposition to the Christian concept that every man is by nature a sinner without hope, and instead is based upon the principal of the basic goodness of every man. Shambala is sometimes spoken of as a force, defined as “the divine energy of will or purpose,” or “the will to do good.” It is, in esoteric philosophy, a fire.
Shambala is also said to be the main city of a place known in Buddhism as Agharta, which is not a mystical clouded kingdom in the sky but a subterranean world that has an inward sky with clouds. It is related to beliefs of a hollow earth, whose ruler is believed to be in close contact with the Dali Lama of Tibet.
For this reason, in years of the past, some people believe Shambala was a real and accesible place on earth, accessible through secret tunnels in various locations asll around on earth. This is similar in concept to the legendary Hyperborea-Thule, which was believed to be somewhere in Greenland/Iceland and in legendary lore, related to the legendary "Lost City of Atlantis."
Some people even believe it to be equivalent to King Arthur’s "Avalon," but Shambala, wherever it is, however one describes it, has always been believed to be a “spiritual” realm, one that is protected by some sort of a psychic barrier, only penetrable by those who make a connection with “special" beings of a hierarchical nature.
This leads us to discuss India's caste system and it's origin.
The caste system in India began when a people called the Aryans, migrated into or conquered
northwest India, and imposed a caste system to organize the new society they wanted to create.
It is noteworthy therefore that Nazism and Tibetan Buddhism have common currents that run between them.
For example, besides sharing the cast concept and the belief that some human beings are only deserving to be outcasts, subhuman and worthless based upon their lineage, Buddism and Nazism share the symbol of the swastika. They both believe that their human leader, is a sort-of God on earth. (In Nazism Hitler was the "Fuhrer," and in Buddhism we see the "Dali Lama." More importantly, both Nazism and Tibetan Buddhism stand in direct opposition to the major monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. It is no wonder therefore when we see how Hitler, a self proclaimed Nazi, was also very interested in the Buddhist concept of Shambala.
The Swedish Explorer Sven Hedin was greatly honored by Adolph Hitler for his expeditions to Tibet. It is believed that Hitler and other important Nazi officials had much interest in finding such a mystical kingdom as Shambala there, for such a discover would indeed validate their belief in a superior Aryan Race. Even Bruno Berger, anthropologist for the expeditions believed that they would find proof of their Nazi beliefs in a "master race" if they were to unccover "Shambala."
The mysteries, myths, lore and legend of such a place as Shambala have been both spoken, kept secret and sung about. Besides Buddhism, Hinduism, and Adolph Hitler, Shambala can be found in the writings of Madame Helen Blavatsky, founder of Theosophy and songs produced by rock bands like; Three Dog Night, (who asked the proverbial question: ‘How does your light shine, on the road to Shambala?’) Donavon and the Beastie Boys’ sang songs about it too.
There are “Shambhala Training Centers” now being opened in mass all over the world, including of course, major US cities. These training centers teach the “path of study and practice of the “Shambhala Warriorship, ” and this through the practices of yoga and meditation.
Azra Haqqie, writing for the Buddhist Times, interviewed David Rook, a teacher at a Shambhala Meditation Center, in Albany New York, July 15, 2006. Rook was asked what distinguishes Buddhism from other religions. He said, “In Buddhism, nothing is accepted as faith, including the notion of "me" or "I." The No. 1 concern is to be fully present with the suffering and chaos in the world rather than viewing it as a problem.”
Buddhism originated in Northern India, (now present-day Nepal) in a small village at the foothills of the Himalaya mountains. It was in this village that Buddhism began and it was started by a young prince by the name of Siddhartha who lived there between the years 563-483 BC. Siddhartha, disillusioned with Hinduism began a search for truth and spiritual enlightenment and when he found what he believed to be it, he also became the first Buddha, or "Gautama Buddha,"and it has since been called Buddhism.
Being a noble prince, Siddhartha wanted to do what was right and good, so he devoted himself to his religion and wholeheartedly sought to understand the meaning of life the universe and everything. He dedicated himself to meditation and strove to mortify his flesh in order to quench the evil desir, and he submitted to spiritual things instead as good holy and religious man should, in order to attain a mental state of perfection known as Nirvana. He went into seclusion for six years where he did nothing but meditate, pray and fast.
After nearly starving himself for those six years, he finally ended his seclusion, self-inflicted pain and physical deprivation, and washed himself in the Nairanjana River. Then he then began a special seven-day meditation under a Bodhi Tree, vowing never to arise from there until he found the truth.
During this time under the Bodhi tree, he had several spiritual revelations and was even said to have been attacked by evil spirits, however he emerged victoriously with his great understanding of all things and much compassion to all beings in the universe, and he thus became the "the awakened one." Siddhartha then founded "Buddhism" when he went around giving discourses and rules on spiritual things, and leading others into monastic lifestyles so that they could become enlightened too.
The Himalayan Mountains are very sacred to the religions prominent in India, particularly Buddhists, for in Buddhist tradition, there is said to be a place in these mountains called Shambhala, (or Shambala.) It’s believed to be a mystical kingdom, hidden and restricted for enlightened souls, those who have attained to this special wisdom, this Buddhist "Nirvana," those no who not longer have an attachment to the fruits of their bad karma.
To those outside this religious path, Shambala is presented as a mythological kingdom of bliss and peace, a peace that can be known only by those who are enlightened, and to the enlightened ones Shambhala is an earthly society of fearless warriors with a deep commitment to creating an “enlightened society” upon the earth. It stands in direct opposition to the Christian concept that every man is by nature a sinner without hope, and instead is based upon the principal of the basic goodness of every man. Shambala is sometimes spoken of as a force, defined as “the divine energy of will or purpose,” or “the will to do good.” It is, in esoteric philosophy, a fire.
Shambala is also said to be the main city of a place known in Buddhism as Agharta, which is not a mystical clouded kingdom in the sky but a subterranean world that has an inward sky with clouds. It is related to beliefs of a hollow earth, whose ruler is believed to be in close contact with the Dali Lama of Tibet.
For this reason, in years of the past, some people believe Shambala was a real and accesible place on earth, accessible through secret tunnels in various locations asll around on earth. This is similar in concept to the legendary Hyperborea-Thule, which was believed to be somewhere in Greenland/Iceland and in legendary lore, related to the legendary "Lost City of Atlantis."
Some people even believe it to be equivalent to King Arthur’s "Avalon," but Shambala, wherever it is, however one describes it, has always been believed to be a “spiritual” realm, one that is protected by some sort of a psychic barrier, only penetrable by those who make a connection with “special" beings of a hierarchical nature.
This leads us to discuss India's caste system and it's origin.
The caste system in India began when a people called the Aryans, migrated into or conquered
northwest India, and imposed a caste system to organize the new society they wanted to create.
It is noteworthy therefore that Nazism and Tibetan Buddhism have common currents that run between them.
For example, besides sharing the cast concept and the belief that some human beings are only deserving to be outcasts, subhuman and worthless based upon their lineage, Buddism and Nazism share the symbol of the swastika. They both believe that their human leader, is a sort-of God on earth. (In Nazism Hitler was the "Fuhrer," and in Buddhism we see the "Dali Lama." More importantly, both Nazism and Tibetan Buddhism stand in direct opposition to the major monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. It is no wonder therefore when we see how Hitler, a self proclaimed Nazi, was also very interested in the Buddhist concept of Shambala.
The Swedish Explorer Sven Hedin was greatly honored by Adolph Hitler for his expeditions to Tibet. It is believed that Hitler and other important Nazi officials had much interest in finding such a mystical kingdom as Shambala there, for such a discover would indeed validate their belief in a superior Aryan Race. Even Bruno Berger, anthropologist for the expeditions believed that they would find proof of their Nazi beliefs in a "master race" if they were to unccover "Shambala."
The mysteries, myths, lore and legend of such a place as Shambala have been both spoken, kept secret and sung about. Besides Buddhism, Hinduism, and Adolph Hitler, Shambala can be found in the writings of Madame Helen Blavatsky, founder of Theosophy and songs produced by rock bands like; Three Dog Night, (who asked the proverbial question: ‘How does your light shine, on the road to Shambala?’) Donavon and the Beastie Boys’ sang songs about it too.
There are “Shambhala Training Centers” now being opened in mass all over the world, including of course, major US cities. These training centers teach the “path of study and practice of the “Shambhala Warriorship, ” and this through the practices of yoga and meditation.
Azra Haqqie, writing for the Buddhist Times, interviewed David Rook, a teacher at a Shambhala Meditation Center, in Albany New York, July 15, 2006. Rook was asked what distinguishes Buddhism from other religions. He said, “In Buddhism, nothing is accepted as faith, including the notion of "me" or "I." The No. 1 concern is to be fully present with the suffering and chaos in the world rather than viewing it as a problem.”
Utopia
Utopia, refers to a perfect place, be it real or imaginary, where social, legal, and political justice exist in "perfect" harmony. The concept was made popular by a book titled, " Libellus vere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus, de optimo rei publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia. This translates, "A truly golden little book, no less beneficial than entertaining, of a republic's best state and of the new island Utopia". which was written by Sir Thomas More of England in 1516.
In the book, Utopia is an island that housed such a perfect "Utopian" society within its walls. There is no private ownership of goods, everyone dresses the same, everyone learns a trade and works 6 hours a day. Every household has two slaves who are weighted down with chains of gold so as not to be the kind who escape, but the community is one in which gold is of little or no value except for holding criminals in chains or making chamber pots.
Utopia, in More's book, is a welfare state, with free healthcare, including euthanasia, provided by the state. It's a moral region where priests are allowed to marry, divorce is permitted, and premarital sex as well as adultry is punished as a criminal act. The law of the land is made so simplistic that there is no doubt to anyone living there as to what is right and wrong, except in the case of religion... they are all right. In utopia, only the atheists are despised. and this because they represent a danger to the state. More’s work, still draws the approval and praise of many people, most of whom are socialists, for their ideal world is much like that place of "Utopia."
Besides being a writer, back in his day, More was a lawyer and he served as Lord Chancellor, the highest judicial position in England, in service to King Henry the VIII. His main focus in upholding law and justice was that of ridding England of so-called "heretics." He was so concerned about heretics in fact that he wrote another book, titled, A Dialogue Concerning Heresies, this in response to the in response Willaim Tyndale's publishing of an English translation of the Bible.
More hated these heretics with a vengeance because they dared to put the bible in a language the common man could understand. Theeheretics believed that scripture needed no church authority to interpret scripture, taught against praying to saints and worshiping images, and denied the necessity of making pilgrimages. He claimed they were those who believed that reason was incompatible with faith. and he worked very hard to remove them from England. Even as he awaited his own death from prison, in writing his own epitaph he said about "heretics, "I find that breed of men absolutely loathsome, so much so that, unless they regain their senses, I want to be as hateful to them as anyone can possibly be." ( St. Thomas More: Selected Letters. ed. by Elizabeth Frances Rogers. Yale University Press, 1961; pg, 180.)
"Heretics", to More's definition, were those who denied the right of the king of England to “make any law or statute for the punishment of theft or any other crime, by which law man should suffer death." (The Complete Works of St. Thomas More; volume 8: The Confutation of Tyndales’s Answer, Yale University Press, 1973 pg 16. To More, "heretics" were criminals, criminals deserving of death too, and this is why, in addition to all the heretics that were publically beaten and privately interrogated, six "heretics" were burned alive during More’s three years as Chancellor. thier names were Thomas Hitton, Thomas Bilney, Richard Blayfield, John Tewesbury, and finally William Tyndale.
As chancellor, More was a man who was entrusted by the king to many positions of authority within the king's rule. However, More opposed King Henry's plan to divorce his wife Catherine and he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, the Preamble to the Act of Succession, in which he would have to swear allegiance to King Henry and state that he held rank over all foreign rulers including the pope. More refused and as a result he was charged with high treason, imprisoned in the London Tower and ultimately he was beheaded. his head displayed on the London Bridge for a month, as an example of what happens to traitors.
The Roman Church considered him a martyr for the faith, and to this day, upholds that More was a saint, not because he was a man of faith, but because he defended the position of the authority of the Pope, or as the St Thomas More Society of Florida says, "because he did not compromise his own moral values in order to please his king, and realized that true allegiance to authority can not be mere blind acceptance of everything the authority wants."
It's ironic that in the end, though he hated pesky heretics who denied the right of the king of England to “make any law or statute for the punishment of theft or any other crime, by which law man should suffer death, "More himself was legally punished for disrecting the authroity of the King to rule and reign, even as Supreme Head of the English Church "as far as the law of Christ allows" and his punishment, was death.
More is often described as a "Christian humanist, ” one which the Roman Catholic Church now recognizes as a "saint." It took a while for More to become a "saint" for though he e breathed his last in 1535, it was not until 1886 that More was beatified. Then in 1935 he was canonized as a "saint" of the Roman church by Pope Pious XI.
Today More, the man with the utopian idea, the Christian humanist is known as the patron saint of lawyers, and politicians is not just "Sir Thomas More", he is St. Thomas More and he is not soon forgotten. Churches and schools bear his saintly name. Even more recently, in October 2000, Pope John Paul II restated a public declaration of More's sainthood to the Roman Catholic world.
It should be noted that the word "Utopia" is derived from the Greek, words, "ou" and "topos" which World Book Encyclopedia, Vol 20, (1980) says means, "nowhere." This is food for thought as men seek to create a perfect society on our iland earth.
Is there a perfect place besides God'shly kingdom? Is there any other place of peace, love and harmony where everyone free gives as they have freely themselves recieved? Where is that perfect place men yern for their hearts, that holy place where justice and love supremely rule the human heart and mind?
Utopia, created by men who reject the knowledge of the truth... complete with the idea of "goodness" existing in a man who refuses to submit his heart to God, is futile, as time and history have proven, for we have seen it played out time and time again. Utopian ideas taken to their end may very well prove to be only a figment of the imagination and nothing real, located nowhere, as the name implies, and this except maybe hell itself.
Heaven, on the other hand, a place created by God for those who love him, is very real and it exists like everything else that is in existence. Heaven exists, and God saves sould from heall, not because we imagine it to be that way, but simply like everything else, because God said it to be so.
In the book, Utopia is an island that housed such a perfect "Utopian" society within its walls. There is no private ownership of goods, everyone dresses the same, everyone learns a trade and works 6 hours a day. Every household has two slaves who are weighted down with chains of gold so as not to be the kind who escape, but the community is one in which gold is of little or no value except for holding criminals in chains or making chamber pots.
Utopia, in More's book, is a welfare state, with free healthcare, including euthanasia, provided by the state. It's a moral region where priests are allowed to marry, divorce is permitted, and premarital sex as well as adultry is punished as a criminal act. The law of the land is made so simplistic that there is no doubt to anyone living there as to what is right and wrong, except in the case of religion... they are all right. In utopia, only the atheists are despised. and this because they represent a danger to the state. More’s work, still draws the approval and praise of many people, most of whom are socialists, for their ideal world is much like that place of "Utopia."
Besides being a writer, back in his day, More was a lawyer and he served as Lord Chancellor, the highest judicial position in England, in service to King Henry the VIII. His main focus in upholding law and justice was that of ridding England of so-called "heretics." He was so concerned about heretics in fact that he wrote another book, titled, A Dialogue Concerning Heresies, this in response to the in response Willaim Tyndale's publishing of an English translation of the Bible.
More hated these heretics with a vengeance because they dared to put the bible in a language the common man could understand. Theeheretics believed that scripture needed no church authority to interpret scripture, taught against praying to saints and worshiping images, and denied the necessity of making pilgrimages. He claimed they were those who believed that reason was incompatible with faith. and he worked very hard to remove them from England. Even as he awaited his own death from prison, in writing his own epitaph he said about "heretics, "I find that breed of men absolutely loathsome, so much so that, unless they regain their senses, I want to be as hateful to them as anyone can possibly be." ( St. Thomas More: Selected Letters. ed. by Elizabeth Frances Rogers. Yale University Press, 1961; pg, 180.)
As chancellor, More was a man who was entrusted by the king to many positions of authority within the king's rule. However, More opposed King Henry's plan to divorce his wife Catherine and he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, the Preamble to the Act of Succession, in which he would have to swear allegiance to King Henry and state that he held rank over all foreign rulers including the pope. More refused and as a result he was charged with high treason, imprisoned in the London Tower and ultimately he was beheaded. his head displayed on the London Bridge for a month, as an example of what happens to traitors.
The Roman Church considered him a martyr for the faith, and to this day, upholds that More was a saint, not because he was a man of faith, but because he defended the position of the authority of the Pope, or as the St Thomas More Society of Florida says, "because he did not compromise his own moral values in order to please his king, and realized that true allegiance to authority can not be mere blind acceptance of everything the authority wants."
It's ironic that in the end, though he hated pesky heretics who denied the right of the king of England to “make any law or statute for the punishment of theft or any other crime, by which law man should suffer death, "More himself was legally punished for disrecting the authroity of the King to rule and reign, even as Supreme Head of the English Church "as far as the law of Christ allows" and his punishment, was death.
More is often described as a "Christian humanist, ” one which the Roman Catholic Church now recognizes as a "saint." It took a while for More to become a "saint" for though he e breathed his last in 1535, it was not until 1886 that More was beatified. Then in 1935 he was canonized as a "saint" of the Roman church by Pope Pious XI.
Today More, the man with the utopian idea, the Christian humanist is known as the patron saint of lawyers, and politicians is not just "Sir Thomas More", he is St. Thomas More and he is not soon forgotten. Churches and schools bear his saintly name. Even more recently, in October 2000, Pope John Paul II restated a public declaration of More's sainthood to the Roman Catholic world.
It should be noted that the word "Utopia" is derived from the Greek, words, "ou" and "topos" which World Book Encyclopedia, Vol 20, (1980) says means, "nowhere." This is food for thought as men seek to create a perfect society on our iland earth.
Is there a perfect place besides God'shly kingdom? Is there any other place of peace, love and harmony where everyone free gives as they have freely themselves recieved? Where is that perfect place men yern for their hearts, that holy place where justice and love supremely rule the human heart and mind?
Utopia, created by men who reject the knowledge of the truth... complete with the idea of "goodness" existing in a man who refuses to submit his heart to God, is futile, as time and history have proven, for we have seen it played out time and time again. Utopian ideas taken to their end may very well prove to be only a figment of the imagination and nothing real, located nowhere, as the name implies, and this except maybe hell itself.
Heaven, on the other hand, a place created by God for those who love him, is very real and it exists like everything else that is in existence. Heaven exists, and God saves sould from heall, not because we imagine it to be that way, but simply like everything else, because God said it to be so.
Atlantis
Atlantis is reference to an island nation mentioned in 360 BC, by Plato in his writings, one that has since become known as a lost, golden civilization. Located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantis was supposedly populated by a noble and powerful race who possessed great wealth and natural resources, known as the Alantean peaopl.
The Atlantean people lived simple, virtuous lives, but greed and power corrupted them and Zeus (the king of all the Gods,) punished them by sending a violent ocean surge. The island of Atlantis, its people, and its memory was sunk into the sea.
The Atlantean people lived simple, virtuous lives, but greed and power corrupted them and Zeus (the king of all the Gods,) punished them by sending a violent ocean surge. The island of Atlantis, its people, and its memory was sunk into the sea.
Reincarnation
To be reincarnated means for a human soul to be re-embodied after death and come back to life in another form. In this belief system one will experience life after life, until at last the soul is perfected by purification of the flesh and free to return to the source from which it came. One who believes in reincarnation holds the spiritual belief that each individual soul lives many lives in various physical bodies, whether they are animal or human.
With such thinking a person could have been a dog or cow in a past life experience on earth or even simply another human being. Either way, the kind of material life that a person is born into, and the problems they face is indicative of their “spiritual” condition. The role of soul in the universe plays itself out in a sort of hierarchical spiritual system, indicative of religions of the East such as Hinduism or Buddhism, and it has many variations. It is always associated with divine justice being served in regards to the universal law of Karma, or the law of “cause and effect.”
Inn such a system, if you do well, you move on, you progress; if you do not, you have to relearn the lessons before you can advance. A soul may even have as many progressive lives as needed to gain proper understanding of how they are becoming perfected, or becoming God and have the belief that they are getting better and better over time as they continue on the endless cycle of death and birth over time and eternity.
The poor human creature born into such a religious system is in a condition they themselves are responsible for. It they are in affluence, it is their just rewards, if they are in hardship, this too their just retribution for past deeds, known as karma. Good or bad one's work will incur karma, and life as it is for our is not to be altered, for to do so could incur karma, good or bad, upon one's self. Over many lives and though the passage of time they hope that the soul that they are will get better and better until they become one with "god" the ultimate soul.
The people of the book, both Christians and Jews reject reincarnation. They believe, “it is appointed once for man to die, and then the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27) They do not believe they will return to the earth as an animal in another life, nor that they have had many lives in the past to bring them to the wonderful stage of “evolution” they now find themselves in.
With such thinking a person could have been a dog or cow in a past life experience on earth or even simply another human being. Either way, the kind of material life that a person is born into, and the problems they face is indicative of their “spiritual” condition. The role of soul in the universe plays itself out in a sort of hierarchical spiritual system, indicative of religions of the East such as Hinduism or Buddhism, and it has many variations. It is always associated with divine justice being served in regards to the universal law of Karma, or the law of “cause and effect.”
Inn such a system, if you do well, you move on, you progress; if you do not, you have to relearn the lessons before you can advance. A soul may even have as many progressive lives as needed to gain proper understanding of how they are becoming perfected, or becoming God and have the belief that they are getting better and better over time as they continue on the endless cycle of death and birth over time and eternity.
The poor human creature born into such a religious system is in a condition they themselves are responsible for. It they are in affluence, it is their just rewards, if they are in hardship, this too their just retribution for past deeds, known as karma. Good or bad one's work will incur karma, and life as it is for our is not to be altered, for to do so could incur karma, good or bad, upon one's self. Over many lives and though the passage of time they hope that the soul that they are will get better and better until they become one with "god" the ultimate soul.
The people of the book, both Christians and Jews reject reincarnation. They believe, “it is appointed once for man to die, and then the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27) They do not believe they will return to the earth as an animal in another life, nor that they have had many lives in the past to bring them to the wonderful stage of “evolution” they now find themselves in.
The Berlin Wall
Once not very long ago, the Berlin Wall was a literal wall of separation between East and West Germany. Itl stood 12 ft high and created a 28 mile border, (complete with a corridor of death,) The Wall was a physical barrier, a symbol of the "Iron Curtain" that preceded it, and divided the country of German into two parts, East Germany and West Germany.
The wall was fortified with electrified current, covered with barbed wire and it was guarded by armed guards who would kill anyone attempting to defect from East Germany to the West. Now, why was that? (You may wonder...) Well, let me ask, "Have you ever heard of Joseph Stalin?" " Do you know what Communism is?" The Wall was a matter of politics and it was built because communist thinkers like Stalin, had an ideology that stood in direct opposition to that of the west and it was to be an impenetrable barrier, a separator, of two very distinct and opposing political ideas, one that held within it's barbed wire, something known to the world, as communism.
In his lifetime, Communist leader Joseph Stalin dictated policies that made him directly responsible for at least 20 million deaths, mostly deaths of his own countrymen during what is commonly called, "the Great Purge" which rid his world of any known dissenters to his ideas of collectivism or his dictatorship. He rid his world of uncontrollables and undesirables by murder or starvation. Joseph Stalin, who joins the ranks of other dictators like Vladimir Lenin, Mao Tse-tung, Fidel Castro... Communists, have had their share of inducing terror in the minds and hearts of humanity by their political beliefs and practices.
In a communist system, the government rules and owns everything,- every buisness, every industry, every parcel of land, every morsel of food, every stitch of thread, and ultimately every citizen who has a role to play in the machine that feeds and serves itself. Everything is measured, allocated, and properly dispensed, to the point of total control over what business a person will be in and how much product they must or may produce. Politcal incidents like Berlin 1953, Budapest, 1956, Prague 1968, do have some survivors, eyewitnesses and historians who tell the treu tales of communist horrors and oppression.
In a communist country, the leader does not humbly serve, he dictates and rules by force and tyranny, often with an iron fist that can and will smash and destroy everything and anyone that would compromise his political position. Only those who dare not color their minds outside of the Communist's party lines and it's purposes survive another day in such a sytem. The rest are simply, most often heartlessly, eliminated.
For years the Berlin Wall stood as a visible symbol of what had become known in the west as the “Iron Curtain.”This was not a literal "curtain" made of iron, but a mindset. It was the invisible and seemingly impenetrable force of the communistic, totalitarian mindset; impenetrable to western ideologies of personal sovereignty and freedom as well as to the idea of believing in God, and certainly not the God of Christianity or an economic sytem of free enterprise like western Capitalism. The Wall of Berlin was erected because western ideas were fast approaching east, and communists did not want their people to see, or feel the western winds of freedom.
The wall stood, firm, strong, harsh and overbearing, separating east from west between the years 1961 until 1989, during which time many German people longed to escape the darkness they knew in the shadow of the Wall. Many longed for freedom. And many people died as they dared to scale the wall and cross the border to another world that offered a hope that offered them something called freedom.
It was June 12, 1987, when a historical event occurred. Ronald Regan, then President of the United States, stood at the Brandenburg Gate, West Berlin, Germany and said some remarkable words that the world will not soon forget. He said, “Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere--that sphere that towers over all Berlin--the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.” And he petitioned, “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
You might recognize the name, Mikhail Gorbachev. He now resides in the United States but at the time he was a powerful, if not the most powerful, communist leader.
It was Thursday November 9, 1989, when at last, the world watched Gorbachev respond to Regan's invitation. The Border separating Western from Eastern Germany was to be opened. TV cameras filmed as people demolished The Wall with both bare hands and sledgehammers. For the first time in a long time, East Germany and West Germany were physically united.
One witness to this eventful time in history from a German perspective reported that shops stayed open as long as they wanted and transportation systems did not stop. (The usual, mandatory closing time for businesses in 1989 was 6:30 PM.) In celebration of unity, people could travel anywhere east or west on public transport.
To the people of the world watching via television, the fall of The Wall represented an end to communism and a rise to true freedom for everyone all over the world. They listened as Gorbechev told Eastern Europe to chose their own future; They watched over time as what began in Germany spread to Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia, and even to the Soviet Union; They watched as Communist USSR became 15 independent republics and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States, (CIS.) Communism was declared to be dead, and the victor was "freedom."
But once the Wall was no more, some people began to think and vocalize that perhaps the people had too much "freedom." Others said, "The physical Wall may be down but there is still a wall in the heads.” It was a clash, a clash of old ideas.
Communism, is a way of thinking. It's a barrierier to freedom and you cannot always see it.
At it's core, it's a belief. You might even call it a religion as it religiously opposes the notion of God and worships humanity instead, hoping to create a world where everyone is equal and there are no opposing ideas. The funny thing is that while it is so intoleratnt of difference, intorerant of freedom, some people think that Communism and it's sister, socialism, offer people freedom.
Communism today has roots in the Bolsheviks, an organization founded by the predecessor of Joseph Stalin, Vladimer Lenin. They had a catchy political "slogan" that helped them come to power. It was, "Peace, bread, and land." They also offered their citizens their own flavor of "freedom." In their reign, workers controlled the factories, divorce was made legal, freeing a person from the drudgery and responsibility of marriage, and self-determination (otherwise understood as survival of the fittest) was the philosophy of the masses. The people enjoyed the Bolshevik's massive governmental land reforms that put an end to common peasantry and homelessness, decriminalized homosexuality and initiated education for the masses. The Bulsheviks even and freed women from the burden of housework and allowed them to work by setting up communal kitchens, laundries and free nurseries for their children. The Bulsheviks insituted Communism, and became experts in making people think it was the ultimate answer to life's hardships, even the almighty liberator of those who's lot in this life is toil and work.
Communism was said to be dead, demonstrated of course by the fall of the Berlin Wall, but really it was only mostly dead. IT may have changed it's shape and it's colors, but it is still alive. Even today is alive in the good ol’ US of A. This is because in the USA, people do believe in freedom.
It is part and parcel of the American Constitution to allow people the freedom to think and behave under a sense of moral justice dictated by the Law of nature's God and this with justice, not with tyranny and oppression. It was in such freedom that the Communist Party USA was formed in 1919 by John Reed. Even today the Communist Party USA has a webpage and there they proudly announce for us, “Communism isn’t dead!" (CPUSA;.com; 2003) indeed, for there is still a worldwide movement of Communists, who are active in the struggle to control what people think and do, and who apply Marxism to their way of life and desire to “organize international solidarity.” The goal of the Communist program, according to the “28th National Convention” (July 2005) is: “to defeat the Ultra Right and expand democracy on the road to an anti-monopoly coalition and socialism." (The same socialism that built the Berlin Wall and elsewhere. only their clear objective of the Communist Party of The United States of America, (CPUSA) is to implement socialism on American soil.
Following in the mindset of Karl Marx who wrote the Communist Manifesto and his contemporary Friedrich Engels, the communist thinker believes in the doctrines of socialism. They want people to believe that the answer to all the hopes of “women and men shackled by exploitation, poverty, oppression, and war,” is to be a creative, altruistic worker, devoted to the system of the state.
This is where they go wrong.
In a socialist system, life in the family and community at large is not based upon what is true, noble, pure, right, or good, it is not even based on love, but on survival and on fairness. Like a productivity machine, it's a life that is based upon labor, and it's just rewards. Those who labor are considered to be happy because they are given a “fair” share of the productivity and assured that no one gets preferntial treatment, after all, everyone is always just the same. True Socialists believe that when such unfair and unjust "class struggles" are eliminated, so too will be the vicious cycle of war and poverty caused by such strife.
Communism has a legacy as a world philosophy, one that stands in direct competition with the Hebraic and Christian religions. This is because at it's core it is man’s wisdom, and as man ‘s wisdom is in conflict with God’s pure wisdom, there is a sort of warfare between the two. In the end, as with most wars, winner takes all, and the winner in this case rules the mind, heart and even soul.
In true Communist form, Mikhail Gorbachev, in his book titled, Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country (Perestroika means "restructuring”) explains, “We are seeking to make the whole intellectual potential of society and all the potentialities of culture work to mold a socially active person, spiritually rich, just, and conscientious. An individual must know and feel that his contribution is needed, and that his dignity is not being infringed upon, that he is being treated with trust and respect. When an individual sees all this, he is capable of accomplishing much."
This same man has also stated, "Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind." Using Jesus Christ as an example for socialism, Gorbachev espresses the notion that Socialism, and not necessarily Jesus, is the salvation of the world.
With the fall of the Berlin wall, people on both sides faced new crossroads of decision and greater opportunities to make choices about what they believed and valued. It was for some a lesson in how the road to freedom is filled with barriers and hindrances, some that will keep a soul as hostage if they can. But being a prisoner is not just merely a matter of being held captive behind a physical barrier, like a wall or even an invisible curtain. Sometimes our barriers to freedom, true freedom, are simply in our mind except for one, death.
This is why until we know the One who sets men free, (the one who gives impartially to anyone who asks, the gift of eternal life, the one who loves and is the source of love itself,) Jesus Christ, men, and women are never truly free.
Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John Chapter 8)
It's not capitalism nor socialism not any other "ism" that Christians believe in. It's Jesus. It's Jesus who gives us a real hope and future when this life is done, and in free countries like America, we have the freedom to love and worship God with all of our hearts, all of our minds and all of our souls.
The wall was fortified with electrified current, covered with barbed wire and it was guarded by armed guards who would kill anyone attempting to defect from East Germany to the West. Now, why was that? (You may wonder...) Well, let me ask, "Have you ever heard of Joseph Stalin?" " Do you know what Communism is?" The Wall was a matter of politics and it was built because communist thinkers like Stalin, had an ideology that stood in direct opposition to that of the west and it was to be an impenetrable barrier, a separator, of two very distinct and opposing political ideas, one that held within it's barbed wire, something known to the world, as communism.
In his lifetime, Communist leader Joseph Stalin dictated policies that made him directly responsible for at least 20 million deaths, mostly deaths of his own countrymen during what is commonly called, "the Great Purge" which rid his world of any known dissenters to his ideas of collectivism or his dictatorship. He rid his world of uncontrollables and undesirables by murder or starvation. Joseph Stalin, who joins the ranks of other dictators like Vladimir Lenin, Mao Tse-tung, Fidel Castro... Communists, have had their share of inducing terror in the minds and hearts of humanity by their political beliefs and practices.
In a communist system, the government rules and owns everything,- every buisness, every industry, every parcel of land, every morsel of food, every stitch of thread, and ultimately every citizen who has a role to play in the machine that feeds and serves itself. Everything is measured, allocated, and properly dispensed, to the point of total control over what business a person will be in and how much product they must or may produce. Politcal incidents like Berlin 1953, Budapest, 1956, Prague 1968, do have some survivors, eyewitnesses and historians who tell the treu tales of communist horrors and oppression.
In a communist country, the leader does not humbly serve, he dictates and rules by force and tyranny, often with an iron fist that can and will smash and destroy everything and anyone that would compromise his political position. Only those who dare not color their minds outside of the Communist's party lines and it's purposes survive another day in such a sytem. The rest are simply, most often heartlessly, eliminated.
For years the Berlin Wall stood as a visible symbol of what had become known in the west as the “Iron Curtain.”This was not a literal "curtain" made of iron, but a mindset. It was the invisible and seemingly impenetrable force of the communistic, totalitarian mindset; impenetrable to western ideologies of personal sovereignty and freedom as well as to the idea of believing in God, and certainly not the God of Christianity or an economic sytem of free enterprise like western Capitalism. The Wall of Berlin was erected because western ideas were fast approaching east, and communists did not want their people to see, or feel the western winds of freedom.
The wall stood, firm, strong, harsh and overbearing, separating east from west between the years 1961 until 1989, during which time many German people longed to escape the darkness they knew in the shadow of the Wall. Many longed for freedom. And many people died as they dared to scale the wall and cross the border to another world that offered a hope that offered them something called freedom.
It was June 12, 1987, when a historical event occurred. Ronald Regan, then President of the United States, stood at the Brandenburg Gate, West Berlin, Germany and said some remarkable words that the world will not soon forget. He said, “Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere--that sphere that towers over all Berlin--the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.” And he petitioned, “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
You might recognize the name, Mikhail Gorbachev. He now resides in the United States but at the time he was a powerful, if not the most powerful, communist leader.
It was Thursday November 9, 1989, when at last, the world watched Gorbachev respond to Regan's invitation. The Border separating Western from Eastern Germany was to be opened. TV cameras filmed as people demolished The Wall with both bare hands and sledgehammers. For the first time in a long time, East Germany and West Germany were physically united.
One witness to this eventful time in history from a German perspective reported that shops stayed open as long as they wanted and transportation systems did not stop. (The usual, mandatory closing time for businesses in 1989 was 6:30 PM.) In celebration of unity, people could travel anywhere east or west on public transport.
To the people of the world watching via television, the fall of The Wall represented an end to communism and a rise to true freedom for everyone all over the world. They listened as Gorbechev told Eastern Europe to chose their own future; They watched over time as what began in Germany spread to Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia, and even to the Soviet Union; They watched as Communist USSR became 15 independent republics and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States, (CIS.) Communism was declared to be dead, and the victor was "freedom."
But once the Wall was no more, some people began to think and vocalize that perhaps the people had too much "freedom." Others said, "The physical Wall may be down but there is still a wall in the heads.” It was a clash, a clash of old ideas.
Communism, is a way of thinking. It's a barrierier to freedom and you cannot always see it.
At it's core, it's a belief. You might even call it a religion as it religiously opposes the notion of God and worships humanity instead, hoping to create a world where everyone is equal and there are no opposing ideas. The funny thing is that while it is so intoleratnt of difference, intorerant of freedom, some people think that Communism and it's sister, socialism, offer people freedom.
Communism today has roots in the Bolsheviks, an organization founded by the predecessor of Joseph Stalin, Vladimer Lenin. They had a catchy political "slogan" that helped them come to power. It was, "Peace, bread, and land." They also offered their citizens their own flavor of "freedom." In their reign, workers controlled the factories, divorce was made legal, freeing a person from the drudgery and responsibility of marriage, and self-determination (otherwise understood as survival of the fittest) was the philosophy of the masses. The people enjoyed the Bolshevik's massive governmental land reforms that put an end to common peasantry and homelessness, decriminalized homosexuality and initiated education for the masses. The Bulsheviks even and freed women from the burden of housework and allowed them to work by setting up communal kitchens, laundries and free nurseries for their children. The Bulsheviks insituted Communism, and became experts in making people think it was the ultimate answer to life's hardships, even the almighty liberator of those who's lot in this life is toil and work.
Communism was said to be dead, demonstrated of course by the fall of the Berlin Wall, but really it was only mostly dead. IT may have changed it's shape and it's colors, but it is still alive. Even today is alive in the good ol’ US of A. This is because in the USA, people do believe in freedom.
It is part and parcel of the American Constitution to allow people the freedom to think and behave under a sense of moral justice dictated by the Law of nature's God and this with justice, not with tyranny and oppression. It was in such freedom that the Communist Party USA was formed in 1919 by John Reed. Even today the Communist Party USA has a webpage and there they proudly announce for us, “Communism isn’t dead!" (CPUSA;.com; 2003) indeed, for there is still a worldwide movement of Communists, who are active in the struggle to control what people think and do, and who apply Marxism to their way of life and desire to “organize international solidarity.” The goal of the Communist program, according to the “28th National Convention” (July 2005) is: “to defeat the Ultra Right and expand democracy on the road to an anti-monopoly coalition and socialism." (The same socialism that built the Berlin Wall and elsewhere. only their clear objective of the Communist Party of The United States of America, (CPUSA) is to implement socialism on American soil.
Following in the mindset of Karl Marx who wrote the Communist Manifesto and his contemporary Friedrich Engels, the communist thinker believes in the doctrines of socialism. They want people to believe that the answer to all the hopes of “women and men shackled by exploitation, poverty, oppression, and war,” is to be a creative, altruistic worker, devoted to the system of the state.
This is where they go wrong.
In a socialist system, life in the family and community at large is not based upon what is true, noble, pure, right, or good, it is not even based on love, but on survival and on fairness. Like a productivity machine, it's a life that is based upon labor, and it's just rewards. Those who labor are considered to be happy because they are given a “fair” share of the productivity and assured that no one gets preferntial treatment, after all, everyone is always just the same. True Socialists believe that when such unfair and unjust "class struggles" are eliminated, so too will be the vicious cycle of war and poverty caused by such strife.
Communism has a legacy as a world philosophy, one that stands in direct competition with the Hebraic and Christian religions. This is because at it's core it is man’s wisdom, and as man ‘s wisdom is in conflict with God’s pure wisdom, there is a sort of warfare between the two. In the end, as with most wars, winner takes all, and the winner in this case rules the mind, heart and even soul.
In true Communist form, Mikhail Gorbachev, in his book titled, Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country (Perestroika means "restructuring”) explains, “We are seeking to make the whole intellectual potential of society and all the potentialities of culture work to mold a socially active person, spiritually rich, just, and conscientious. An individual must know and feel that his contribution is needed, and that his dignity is not being infringed upon, that he is being treated with trust and respect. When an individual sees all this, he is capable of accomplishing much."
This same man has also stated, "Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind." Using Jesus Christ as an example for socialism, Gorbachev espresses the notion that Socialism, and not necessarily Jesus, is the salvation of the world.
With the fall of the Berlin wall, people on both sides faced new crossroads of decision and greater opportunities to make choices about what they believed and valued. It was for some a lesson in how the road to freedom is filled with barriers and hindrances, some that will keep a soul as hostage if they can. But being a prisoner is not just merely a matter of being held captive behind a physical barrier, like a wall or even an invisible curtain. Sometimes our barriers to freedom, true freedom, are simply in our mind except for one, death.
This is why until we know the One who sets men free, (the one who gives impartially to anyone who asks, the gift of eternal life, the one who loves and is the source of love itself,) Jesus Christ, men, and women are never truly free.
Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John Chapter 8)
It's not capitalism nor socialism not any other "ism" that Christians believe in. It's Jesus. It's Jesus who gives us a real hope and future when this life is done, and in free countries like America, we have the freedom to love and worship God with all of our hearts, all of our minds and all of our souls.
Romper Room
Romper Room was a franchised television show for young children that began in 1953 in Baltimore, MD. It ran until 1993, and like Sesame Street, it featured games, songs, stories and moral lessons for children. The lessons were taught by a giant bee who would say, “Be a good do-bee”, or “Do- bee good boys and girls.” Cities around the USA bought into the program concept and before long each had their own specially trained teacher/hostesses to be Romper Room teachers who would be a local host for the program, this would then be aired locally as a show. Romper Room was so popular it was even produced in the UK, Australia and Canada.
Every show in every city ended with the hostess, (always a woman) of the program holding a “magic” mirror (that resembled a badminton racket) which she held before her face, looked into the camera, and pretended to see the children viewers. She would mention names of kids with the idea that she was seeing the children and talking to them. “I see Janet, and Albert, and Bobby, and Alysha, and I see you too,” she would say.
Of course the teacher on Romper Room couldn’t really see the children, but because they were children, with vivid imaginations, they thought that maybe, just maybe she could, especially if she happened to say their name!
Every show in every city ended with the hostess, (always a woman) of the program holding a “magic” mirror (that resembled a badminton racket) which she held before her face, looked into the camera, and pretended to see the children viewers. She would mention names of kids with the idea that she was seeing the children and talking to them. “I see Janet, and Albert, and Bobby, and Alysha, and I see you too,” she would say.
Of course the teacher on Romper Room couldn’t really see the children, but because they were children, with vivid imaginations, they thought that maybe, just maybe she could, especially if she happened to say their name!
Sesame Street
Sesame Street is television program for children billed as an “edutainment production,” meaning that it educates while it entertains. Both parents and their kids have enjoyed it for decades. The original mission of the producers was “to use the medium of television to reach and teach preschoolers, and give them skills that would provide a successful transition from home to school.” Today’s mission has changed slightly. It goes to a higher level past helping with transitions from home to school. Now the mission is to “create innovative, engaging content that maximizes the educational power of media to help children reach their highest potential."
"Potential." That is a humanist buzzword.
The Sesame Street show began in the fall of 1969 in New York City, and since that time it has broadened to reach audiences all over the world. In fact, it is now produced in at least ten different languages and is being broadcast in various countries, including Bangladesh, Kosovo and South Africa, each according to their own cultural dynamics. Kermit for example, is not on the Sesame Street program in France, (probably because in France frog's legs are on diner's menus... and such a thing could start a frog leg revolution,) and neither is Big Bird. Big Bird is not in India’s version of the program either. In India he is replaced by a seven-foot lion named Boombah who speaks in Hindi, (but is planned to master several languages as time goes by.)
In each country when Sesame Street is licensed it is shaped to fit the culture and the program addresses issues at hand. In Macedonia, Sesame Street is called Nashe Maalo and it is credited for easing many tensions particularly in Kosovo and Bosnia. In Africa it’s Takalani Sesame, which has incorporated the issues of HIV including AIDS education and discrimination into it’s programming, and has helped the country’s population, particulaly children, learn about blood safety and coping with the AIDS illness. Research has shown that even Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli children have been “positively” influenced by versions of the programs that air in their countries because they give positive moral explanations “conflict scenarios.”
Sesame Street is a proving to be a powerful way of changing how people think. It's not just about transitions from home to school, not just about “ABCs and 123s” any more. Their webpage points this out too. “With today’s global landscape dominated by such pressing issues as poverty, human rights, AIDS and ethnic genocide..."they teach a whole lot than letters and numbers. They teach morals, ethics, and economics too. Let's face it, they are social engineering.
It has long been said, “the hand that rocks the little cradle, is the hand that rules the world,” and the power grab for the minds of the children of the world is in full force, even on AMerica's beloved Sesame Street. Businesses and corporations are actively pursuing advertising their logos, names and slogans on the program, hoping to ensure that theirs, above every other, is engraved deeply on every child’s brain for years to come. "But," you may argue, "there is no advertising on PBS, PBS has always considered themselves to be “commercial free television.”
It may have at one time been commercial free, but what we have now is actually a form of "corporatism," as Benito Mussolini called it. It's "the merger of state and corporate power.”
For a very long time sesame Street producers stood firm in this pledge. We used to hear , kinda as a joke, how the program was brought to us “by the letter Z," or "by the letter w." All of PBS in fact used to be used to be viewer-supported television, which means householder, people with tv sets in their living rooms gave money to make the progrms available. But if you watch PBS today, you’ll catch commercials. This is because it does not belong to "we the people" anymore. PBS now airs programs for much wealthier supporters, supporters who want airtime for their names.
Taking money from these sponsors is big money for PBS. However, and quite remarkably, PBS still insists that their programming is “commercial” free. Apparently, broadcasters don’t think of the sponsors as “ads.” Brooke Shelby Biggs, in an article for Mother Jones March 30, 2001, titled, Sesame Street Meets Madison Avenue notes, “PBS does not have advertising. They have underwriting.”
Underwriting?
The PBS website itself reads, QUOTE: "PBS KIDS programs are commercial-free and do not seek to sell anything to young viewers except the fun and excitement of learning." ENDQUOTE
Underwriting. Press the information tab to learn about sponsoring and you will read, 'Teletubbies,' the groundbreaking children's series based on extensive research with children, is available for sponsorship by your company. Teletubbies has earned the unanimous support of parents, children, and industry leaders, an audience that is right within your grasp!"
Yes indeed, they do have an audience within your grasp, and for the right amount of money, they can be yours. You too can have children who will grow up familiar with and probably even loving your products almost as much as the adorable puppets they see and love everyday on their TV. Thanks to PBS offers like this to "sponsors" who want to "underwrite" the program, Sesame Street today is sponsored by Volvo, Juicy Juice, an antibiotic called Zithromax, (a special sponsor of the letter “Z”.)
This is, a “Cheech and Chong” moment. Do you remember Cheech and Chong?
Cheech and Chong the druggie comedy team will long be remembered for a skit where they said, “If it looks like _________, smells like _______, tastes like ________,….. It must be _________!”
Fill in the blank with “commercial.”
PBS airs commercials for products and corporations all the time. However, PBS has effectively plutoed, re-imagined and redefined the word “commercial” for the rest of the world, and worse yet, we don’t mind. They ignore the simply truth, (on purpose) and teach (or rather train) the rest of us, their viewing public to do the same. Apparently there are people in America who are so desensitized by media productions to the point that they do not know a commercial when they see one. It is probably because they are too young to know what commercial-free TV really looks like.
The PBS Sesame Street audience is young, but you can bet that the big, grown-up TV producers know what they are doing, marketing products and names to it’s young viewing audiences. Allowing companies and corporations to advertise explicitly to children. They are however, willing to say it's not advertising.
When asked by a Ralph Nader group about McDonald’s “commercials” on Sesame Street, Gary Knell, President and CEO of Sesame Workshop replied, "PBS is non-commercial, and all corporate underwriters on public television must adhere to strict guidelines provided by PBS in order for their messages to air. As such, the McDonald's sponsorship messages do not show product, announce promotions, or contain any call to action, nor do any our Sesame Street characters appear in them." Gary is probably a nice man, but I disagree with him. McDonald's sponsorship messages are paid for to be aired.
Children and their parents gain a whole new respect for the sponsors that fund their Sesame Street friends. They also hear their names over and over. Instead of naming every person who has ever donated to PBS we only hear the "big names" like, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, the US Department of Education, McDonald’s and America On Line. Isn't it great to know these companies care about you and your kids?
Not only that, these “expert” educators, psychologists, and world leaders also believe that these kids' parent’s have ideas, customs, religions that are “old,” outdated and probably unhealthy, things that need to be relearned through watching programs they offer on TV like Sesame street. They think that they, not you, know what is best for your kids and believe your children need their expertise and global guidance and protection they all share a vision for every child’s future.
Take for example, the Sesame Street “Old School” DVD that contains episodes from Sesame Street's first five seasons. These archived programs are now on DVD and no longer are to be aired on television. They come with a disclaimer stating that the DVDs are intended for parents, not the kids. Seriously, the disclaimer for the Sesame Street product reads that they are intended “for parents and may not meet the needs of today's preschoolers.” Really. They obviously think that adults have nothing better to do than purchase these products and sit around all day watching Maria and Big Bird on DVD.
As for "meeting the needs" of preschoolers, one should ask,“What, exactly, is the recommended daily allowance of social programming the average child needs?" and “How much TV does a preschooler really NEED?”
The American Academy of Pediatrics, (AAP) concerned that children were spending too much time in front of the television issued a formal statement on August 2,1999, saying, “Children of all ages are constantly learning new things. The first 2 years of life are especially important in the growth and development of your child's brain. During this time, children need good, positive interaction with other children and adults.” I think that this means interacting with Cookie Monster and Maria and other puppet friends just doesn’t count.
The AAP also reported, “Too much television can negatively affect early brain development. This is especially true at younger ages, when learning to talk and play with others is so important. Until more research is done about the effects of TV on very young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend television for children age 2 or younger.”
Meanwhile, back on the tube, PBS, as well as other media producers is not ashamed to target the cradle with it’s programming schedule, after all, these mega corporations pay big bucks to push and pull the strings behind the puppets that teach the babies a new reality to live in. We all know that PBS creations like Teletubbies and Sesame Beginnings are created with the under-two crowds in mind.
The problem here is that big corporations vie for ruling power in the world. Like a huge machine they work really hard to to get bigger all the time. The rest of us are just money in the making for them, cogs that turn their machine. Like trees and water, like coal and diamonds, children too, are valuable a commodity. Seen as a natural resource they are merely being cultivated, mined. They need to be taught the value systems of these big corporations, not their parents, they need to be street-wise, globally minded citizens before they understand learn the old ways of their parents or dare to actually think for themselves as they play outside the box. They are after all destined to become a part of the mass production and be a useful to society, as a whole.
The Sesames Street experts, are social engineers. They gladly partner with parents of small children, because like the businesses that underwrite them, they know there is something to be said for rocking all the little cradles of the world.
"Potential." That is a humanist buzzword.
The Sesame Street show began in the fall of 1969 in New York City, and since that time it has broadened to reach audiences all over the world. In fact, it is now produced in at least ten different languages and is being broadcast in various countries, including Bangladesh, Kosovo and South Africa, each according to their own cultural dynamics. Kermit for example, is not on the Sesame Street program in France, (probably because in France frog's legs are on diner's menus... and such a thing could start a frog leg revolution,) and neither is Big Bird. Big Bird is not in India’s version of the program either. In India he is replaced by a seven-foot lion named Boombah who speaks in Hindi, (but is planned to master several languages as time goes by.)
In each country when Sesame Street is licensed it is shaped to fit the culture and the program addresses issues at hand. In Macedonia, Sesame Street is called Nashe Maalo and it is credited for easing many tensions particularly in Kosovo and Bosnia. In Africa it’s Takalani Sesame, which has incorporated the issues of HIV including AIDS education and discrimination into it’s programming, and has helped the country’s population, particulaly children, learn about blood safety and coping with the AIDS illness. Research has shown that even Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli children have been “positively” influenced by versions of the programs that air in their countries because they give positive moral explanations “conflict scenarios.”
Sesame Street is a proving to be a powerful way of changing how people think. It's not just about transitions from home to school, not just about “ABCs and 123s” any more. Their webpage points this out too. “With today’s global landscape dominated by such pressing issues as poverty, human rights, AIDS and ethnic genocide..."they teach a whole lot than letters and numbers. They teach morals, ethics, and economics too. Let's face it, they are social engineering.
It has long been said, “the hand that rocks the little cradle, is the hand that rules the world,” and the power grab for the minds of the children of the world is in full force, even on AMerica's beloved Sesame Street. Businesses and corporations are actively pursuing advertising their logos, names and slogans on the program, hoping to ensure that theirs, above every other, is engraved deeply on every child’s brain for years to come. "But," you may argue, "there is no advertising on PBS, PBS has always considered themselves to be “commercial free television.”
It may have at one time been commercial free, but what we have now is actually a form of "corporatism," as Benito Mussolini called it. It's "the merger of state and corporate power.”
For a very long time sesame Street producers stood firm in this pledge. We used to hear , kinda as a joke, how the program was brought to us “by the letter Z," or "by the letter w." All of PBS in fact used to be used to be viewer-supported television, which means householder, people with tv sets in their living rooms gave money to make the progrms available. But if you watch PBS today, you’ll catch commercials. This is because it does not belong to "we the people" anymore. PBS now airs programs for much wealthier supporters, supporters who want airtime for their names.
Taking money from these sponsors is big money for PBS. However, and quite remarkably, PBS still insists that their programming is “commercial” free. Apparently, broadcasters don’t think of the sponsors as “ads.” Brooke Shelby Biggs, in an article for Mother Jones March 30, 2001, titled, Sesame Street Meets Madison Avenue notes, “PBS does not have advertising. They have underwriting.”
Underwriting?
The PBS website itself reads, QUOTE: "PBS KIDS programs are commercial-free and do not seek to sell anything to young viewers except the fun and excitement of learning." ENDQUOTE
Underwriting. Press the information tab to learn about sponsoring and you will read, 'Teletubbies,' the groundbreaking children's series based on extensive research with children, is available for sponsorship by your company. Teletubbies has earned the unanimous support of parents, children, and industry leaders, an audience that is right within your grasp!"
Yes indeed, they do have an audience within your grasp, and for the right amount of money, they can be yours. You too can have children who will grow up familiar with and probably even loving your products almost as much as the adorable puppets they see and love everyday on their TV. Thanks to PBS offers like this to "sponsors" who want to "underwrite" the program, Sesame Street today is sponsored by Volvo, Juicy Juice, an antibiotic called Zithromax, (a special sponsor of the letter “Z”.)
This is, a “Cheech and Chong” moment. Do you remember Cheech and Chong?
Cheech and Chong the druggie comedy team will long be remembered for a skit where they said, “If it looks like _________, smells like _______, tastes like ________,….. It must be _________!”
Fill in the blank with “commercial.”
PBS airs commercials for products and corporations all the time. However, PBS has effectively plutoed, re-imagined and redefined the word “commercial” for the rest of the world, and worse yet, we don’t mind. They ignore the simply truth, (on purpose) and teach (or rather train) the rest of us, their viewing public to do the same. Apparently there are people in America who are so desensitized by media productions to the point that they do not know a commercial when they see one. It is probably because they are too young to know what commercial-free TV really looks like.
The PBS Sesame Street audience is young, but you can bet that the big, grown-up TV producers know what they are doing, marketing products and names to it’s young viewing audiences. Allowing companies and corporations to advertise explicitly to children. They are however, willing to say it's not advertising.
When asked by a Ralph Nader group about McDonald’s “commercials” on Sesame Street, Gary Knell, President and CEO of Sesame Workshop replied, "PBS is non-commercial, and all corporate underwriters on public television must adhere to strict guidelines provided by PBS in order for their messages to air. As such, the McDonald's sponsorship messages do not show product, announce promotions, or contain any call to action, nor do any our Sesame Street characters appear in them." Gary is probably a nice man, but I disagree with him. McDonald's sponsorship messages are paid for to be aired.
Children and their parents gain a whole new respect for the sponsors that fund their Sesame Street friends. They also hear their names over and over. Instead of naming every person who has ever donated to PBS we only hear the "big names" like, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, the US Department of Education, McDonald’s and America On Line. Isn't it great to know these companies care about you and your kids?
Not only that, these “expert” educators, psychologists, and world leaders also believe that these kids' parent’s have ideas, customs, religions that are “old,” outdated and probably unhealthy, things that need to be relearned through watching programs they offer on TV like Sesame street. They think that they, not you, know what is best for your kids and believe your children need their expertise and global guidance and protection they all share a vision for every child’s future.
Take for example, the Sesame Street “Old School” DVD that contains episodes from Sesame Street's first five seasons. These archived programs are now on DVD and no longer are to be aired on television. They come with a disclaimer stating that the DVDs are intended for parents, not the kids. Seriously, the disclaimer for the Sesame Street product reads that they are intended “for parents and may not meet the needs of today's preschoolers.” Really. They obviously think that adults have nothing better to do than purchase these products and sit around all day watching Maria and Big Bird on DVD.
As for "meeting the needs" of preschoolers, one should ask,“What, exactly, is the recommended daily allowance of social programming the average child needs?" and “How much TV does a preschooler really NEED?”
The American Academy of Pediatrics, (AAP) concerned that children were spending too much time in front of the television issued a formal statement on August 2,1999, saying, “Children of all ages are constantly learning new things. The first 2 years of life are especially important in the growth and development of your child's brain. During this time, children need good, positive interaction with other children and adults.” I think that this means interacting with Cookie Monster and Maria and other puppet friends just doesn’t count.
The AAP also reported, “Too much television can negatively affect early brain development. This is especially true at younger ages, when learning to talk and play with others is so important. Until more research is done about the effects of TV on very young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend television for children age 2 or younger.”
Meanwhile, back on the tube, PBS, as well as other media producers is not ashamed to target the cradle with it’s programming schedule, after all, these mega corporations pay big bucks to push and pull the strings behind the puppets that teach the babies a new reality to live in. We all know that PBS creations like Teletubbies and Sesame Beginnings are created with the under-two crowds in mind.
The problem here is that big corporations vie for ruling power in the world. Like a huge machine they work really hard to to get bigger all the time. The rest of us are just money in the making for them, cogs that turn their machine. Like trees and water, like coal and diamonds, children too, are valuable a commodity. Seen as a natural resource they are merely being cultivated, mined. They need to be taught the value systems of these big corporations, not their parents, they need to be street-wise, globally minded citizens before they understand learn the old ways of their parents or dare to actually think for themselves as they play outside the box. They are after all destined to become a part of the mass production and be a useful to society, as a whole.
The Sesames Street experts, are social engineers. They gladly partner with parents of small children, because like the businesses that underwrite them, they know there is something to be said for rocking all the little cradles of the world.
New Spirituality
The New Spirituality’s mission, (this according to the mission statement of "the New Spirituality
Network" http://www.newspirituality.org/ ) is to “celebrate a God who loves us unconditionally and who supports us in everything we do — a God who's needless, nonjudgmental, non-condemning, non-punishing, ever-changing and everywhere present.”
Apparently, if you are the type to think the old God is needy, judgmental, condemning, punishing, unchanging and takes up his residence in a place called heaven until invited into your heart, they are hoping you will become their mission field and hop on into their net, er,,eh.. network. This is because the New Spirituality, whatever it is and wherever it is found, is also a unified religion that explicitly embraces beliefs and practices deemed of occult nature by The old, unchanging, God who loves mankind and judges sin, and who , by the way, is omnipresent but not in a pantheistic, "new spirituality," way.
The “New Spirituality” takes various shapes, often mocking Judaism, and mimicking Christianity and it also freely uses biblical sounding words and quotes verses of Hebrew or Christian scriptures, but it rejects it at the core. These new thinking, spiritually minded individuals gather people together in a group, like a church, and they work really hard to move the ancient boundary stones set in place by God. Seeking to create their own "religion" they choose instead to completely reject the wisdom of the old, and have no root in it at all.
They say, “We will not walk in the old outdated ways.” (Like Jeremiah told in 6:16) The form a a “network” and use group mentality to spread their net and catch whoever willing to join their hgroup... as they move the boundaries of God. (As warned by Hosea in Hosea 5:1,10) What they do not know is that God’s commandments do not simply become null and void because one simply chooses to ignore them, or because someone sits down and writes a mission statement in order to invent a new spiritual sounding form of religion based on human likes, dislikes, feelings and perceptions.
Popularized in America by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, books like a NEw Earth by Eckhart Tolle, and preachers like Neal David Walsche, it's a new pirituality that celebrates, not a God who dies in our place to save us from sin and death, but rather, one we invent for ourselves, " a God who loves us unconditionally and who supports us in everything we do.”
It's the stroke of a very broad brush that paints that word there: "everything."
Network" http://www.newspirituality.org/ ) is to “celebrate a God who loves us unconditionally and who supports us in everything we do — a God who's needless, nonjudgmental, non-condemning, non-punishing, ever-changing and everywhere present.”
Apparently, if you are the type to think the old God is needy, judgmental, condemning, punishing, unchanging and takes up his residence in a place called heaven until invited into your heart, they are hoping you will become their mission field and hop on into their net, er,,eh.. network. This is because the New Spirituality, whatever it is and wherever it is found, is also a unified religion that explicitly embraces beliefs and practices deemed of occult nature by The old, unchanging, God who loves mankind and judges sin, and who , by the way, is omnipresent but not in a pantheistic, "new spirituality," way.
The “New Spirituality” takes various shapes, often mocking Judaism, and mimicking Christianity and it also freely uses biblical sounding words and quotes verses of Hebrew or Christian scriptures, but it rejects it at the core. These new thinking, spiritually minded individuals gather people together in a group, like a church, and they work really hard to move the ancient boundary stones set in place by God. Seeking to create their own "religion" they choose instead to completely reject the wisdom of the old, and have no root in it at all.
They say, “We will not walk in the old outdated ways.” (Like Jeremiah told in 6:16) The form a a “network” and use group mentality to spread their net and catch whoever willing to join their hgroup... as they move the boundaries of God. (As warned by Hosea in Hosea 5:1,10) What they do not know is that God’s commandments do not simply become null and void because one simply chooses to ignore them, or because someone sits down and writes a mission statement in order to invent a new spiritual sounding form of religion based on human likes, dislikes, feelings and perceptions.
Popularized in America by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, books like a NEw Earth by Eckhart Tolle, and preachers like Neal David Walsche, it's a new pirituality that celebrates, not a God who dies in our place to save us from sin and death, but rather, one we invent for ourselves, " a God who loves us unconditionally and who supports us in everything we do.”
It's the stroke of a very broad brush that paints that word there: "everything."
Nirvana
Nirvana, besides being the name of a band who’s lead singer songwriter committed suicide, is a Buddhist term expressing the departure of an individual soul from the cycle of unhappiness.
Reaching Nirvana represents spiritual entry into an entirely different mode of existence, one that has reached "nirvana" is commonly thought of as having attained a sort of enlightenment or wisdom. In Buddhism, it is said to be the highest spiritual plane of existence a soul can attain.
Many renderings of the word mean literally, an "extinguishing" as in the case of a lamp, or "extinction," in which the causes for the necessity of rebirth are eliminated. It is also thought of as the point of god-realization or the ultimate realization of “self.”
Reaching Nirvana represents spiritual entry into an entirely different mode of existence, one that has reached "nirvana" is commonly thought of as having attained a sort of enlightenment or wisdom. In Buddhism, it is said to be the highest spiritual plane of existence a soul can attain.
Many renderings of the word mean literally, an "extinguishing" as in the case of a lamp, or "extinction," in which the causes for the necessity of rebirth are eliminated. It is also thought of as the point of god-realization or the ultimate realization of “self.”
Eden
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