Save the Siberian Tiger

Siberian Tigers are majestic creatures.  The world's largest felines, they average about 11 feet (3+ meters) in length.  They are also endangered.  There used to be 8 tiger subspecies, but 3 became extinct during the 20th century and the remaining five are still continually threatened by poaching/hunting and habitat loss.

Conservation programs are in place, including a State Council notice in China declaring the use of tiger bone for medicine illegal.  But the use of tiger bones for Chinese Medicine and poaching for tiger fur is lucrative enough -- a tiger can fetch up to $50K in the international market -- that the practice continues.  Research has also shown that tigers, particularly the Siberian, requires vast forests to thrive.  Logging and its rapacious ventures into virgin land, creates a vicious cycle by flushing tigers out and giving poachers easier access to their prey through newly created logging roads.

WWF, in partnership with Russian authorities and other NGOs, is helping establish an ecological network of protected areas (Econet) to secure well-connected habitat for the Siberian Tiger, funds anti-poaching patrols in the Russian Far East and supports an ungulate recovery programme.  They are concentrating on habitat conservation where the tigers have the best chance of surviving and breeding.  WWF has set a bold goal of doubling the number of tigers in the wild by 2022.  Last year, Russia convened a tiger summit of world leaders from 13 countries where the tiger still live, and a unanimous commitment was pledged to help save the species from extinction.

For more information on how you can do your part in saving the tiger, please click on this link:

http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/tigers/ways-to-help.html

Let us help conserve life in this planet, for our own survival and our own future.

James Arthur Ray's Mistake

James Arthur Ray was found guilty of 'Negligent Homicide' on the sweatlodge deaths of three of his "Spiritual Warrior" participants.  In October 2009, about 60 of Ray's followers crammed into a 415-square-foot hut heated with red-hot rocks. Ray, a charismatic guru, told his followers it would be a "rebirthing" but it instead turned into a fatal experience for three people.  According to prosecutors, one witness said, "20 people got sick. Overheated and throwing up."(http://abcnews.go.com/US/james-ray-found-guilty-negligent-homicide-arizona-sweat/story?id=13908037) 

Native American Elders and Medicine People have been warning the public of this danger for years.  The Inipi, what non-natives refer to as a sweatlodge, is a spiritual ceremony that should be treated and respected as such.  It must be conducted by a "real" Medicine Person, who was initiated into its sacred and ancient teachings.  Have you heard of a Mass being conducted by a lay person?  I'm sure most Christians will be shocked at this comparison, but God did not give Native Americans an inferior form of worship.  All of our Spiritual traditions around the world (the ones that espouse Love, Kindness and Oneness) are as valid as the other.  The Native American spiritual traditions are just as sacred as any Religious ceremony, and should be conducted as they have always been, lead by the valid and initiated priesthood (Medicineman) of that faith.    

I am actually shocked at how people readily adopt alternative spiritual ceremonies as if they are hosting a 'clam bake.'  I understand that most people do not really want to change Religions readily, because such descisions are hard to make.  But no one really needs to change their Religious affiliations.  Whatever Faith you were born with is actually adequate, if you just take the time and effort to dig deeper into its inner teachings.  Adapting the teachings (philosophy) of other Religions and spiritual beliefs to augment your own, is also acceptable (for we are still evolving towards a unified Faith).  But performing a mock ritual, immitating something we saw, read or heard can be dangerous.

Spiritual rituals and ceremonies are not only sacred because of their esoteric meaning and symbolism.  In some Faiths, particularly the shamanic kind, these rites also are charged with energies (or Spirits), both constructive and destructive.  These sacred ceremonies must therefore be conducted by people who were trained to handle these invisible and supernatural powers.  These qualifications cannot be earned by a diploma or a seminar, no matter how many you earn.  It takes years of training and acceptance, not only by a traditional practitioner, but also by the energies that you have to work with. 

James Arthur Ray's Spiritual Retreat in Arizon

James Arthur Ray may have had good intentions for starting out his Self-Help business, but Spirituality is never for sale.  Human Spirituality is the most sacred thing in our lives.  It is our connection to the Divine and it was meant to be freely shared -- just like breathing.  Charging people for salvation and peace in any way shape of form is his second mistake.  No one should make a business out of spiritual salvation, because profit taking is aligned to our lowest mental vibrations.  Having that mental state in a spiritual space attracts unwanted lower vibratory energies (Spirits).  Jesus was vehemently opposed to it, Buddha was a beggar and Lao Tzu was a hermit for a purpose.  My elders always warned me to never seek the guidance of anyone who charges for their services, because this was the most obvious sign that the person is not what they claim to be.

I have attended dozens of Inipi sessions, both secular (healing ceremonies) and initiatory, but since I have not specifically trained (as well as fasted and sacrificed) for the Inipi, I will never attempt to conduct one-- copy or imitate what I have seen or heard.  Spiritual training and the gifts they come with, must be approached properly (usually traditionally).  Spiritual energy is like electricity, it has a positive and negative charge.  The negative charge is always present, but to conduct the alternate positive current, you body, mind, soul and spirit must be a strong enough to withstand the shock.  Any blockages of any kind, will kill or maim you.   

"Seek and you shall be guided."  It does not say enroll or sign-up.  Seek spiritual truths inward, not outward.  Keep learning.  Keep praying.  Keep Meditating.  But always be humble.  Humility is the truest bench mark to Spiritual growth and maturity (and the truest conductor for positive energy).  When you are ready, the teacher or teachers will come, because your very own spiritual vibration will attract them to you.

Media Madness

When asked “What thing about humanity surprises you the most?”, the Dalai Lama answered:

“Man…. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

“Inner peace is the key: if you have inner peace, the external problems do not affect your deep sense of peace and tranquility...without this inner peace, no matter how comfortable your life is materially, you may still be worried, disturbed, or unhappy because of circumstances.”

I found these quotes by the Dalai Lama on the internet... I never met his Holiness personally, but these statements touch me personally and profoundly just the same.

Modern Media -- the Internet, TV/Cable, Radio, Cinema and Print, have profound effects on our daily lives.  It keeps us constantly informed and in touch with an extended world beyond our immediate environment (social circle/neighborhood).  World events now have a sense of intimacy and urgency about them, that was not palpable less than a century ago, before TV and the Internet were widely present in most households.

I have nothing against Media.  As a matter of fact, I am a rabid consumer of information in the form of books, movies, cable TV (Discovery, History, TLC) and the internet.  There are a lot of great information that can be gleaned from these media sources.  But I cannot help but wonder if Media, specifically the News and information giants like CNN, FOX, NBC, etc., are actually doing more harm than good by propagating "sensationalism."  Their practice of hyping stories to attract the maximum number of viewers, have a multiplyer effect that create media driven crises-- What would have been contained and manageable before a media frenzy, becomes more astronomical and uncontrollable.

It makes me wonder if the crises in "hot spots" around the world would become as big as they eventually turn out to be without media magnification.  The current World Economic Crisis for example or the global proliferation of terrorism, would they be as serious as they are now without constant media attention?

But it is not all bad.  Constant media focus on humanitarian and environmental issues for example, would not get the proper forum without media interest.  So in the end, it all balances out one way or another.  Like everything else in Life, there is a good and there is a bad in everything.  Media is a part of the evolution of humanity, it is here to stay whether we want it or not.

But like everything else that is potent and powerful, we must treat it with respect.  Let us be mindful of its ability to alter people's consciousness and opinions.  We should not be solely motivated by monetary or political considerations when we use media, the mental and spiritual well-being of our fellowmen (and women) must also be factored in, to avoid the degeneration and destruction of "soul" caused by irresponsible "sensationalism"-- which promotes fearfulness, excessive consumerism and egocentrism.

The well-being of our "soul" is the key to our overall health in the long-run.  Information and media might be useful in our day to day lives, but inner peace is the only thing that will bring true happiness and wellness.

Homeostasis: Life in Balance

Homeostasis is a magical word.  The coincidental presence of the word "home" within "home-ostasis" should already clue us in to its importance.  Homeostasis is vital for the health and healing of all living organisms, as well as to the health and healing of all ecological systems, including our planet, Earth.

A term (milieu intérieur) defined by French Physiologist, Claude Bernard and later coined by American Physiologist, Walter Bradford Cannon, Homeostasis (from Greek hómoios meaning "similar" and stásis, meaning "standing still") can be simply defined as The ability of a system or living organism to adjust its internal environment to maintain a stable equilibrium.  A word that was originally used to describe physiological phenomena, the term has been extended to include all living systems in such diverse disciplines as medicine, science, ecology, sociology, philosophy, politics and religion. 

Many diseases are a result of disturbance of homeostasis, a condition known as homeostatic imbalance. As it ages, every organism will lose efficiency in its control systems. The inefficiencies gradually result in an unstable internal environment that increases the risk for illness. In addition, homeostatic imbalance is also responsible for the physical changes associated with aging. "Just as we live in a constantly changing world, so do the cells and tissues survive in a constantly changing microenvironment. The 'normal' or 'physiologic' state then is achieved by adaptive responses to the ebb and flow of various stimuli permitting the cells and tissues to adapt and to live in harmony within their microenvironment. Thus, homeostasis is preserved. It is only when the stimuli become more severe, or the response of the organism breaks down, that disease results - a generalization as true for the whole organism as it is for the individual cell." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeostasis)

Homeostasis occurs not only within our bodies, but also in our environment.  Pollution is an environmental disease that nature compensates for to ensure its own system's survival.  The Earth is a living organism.  Medicine people from all over the world have been warning us about the importance of living in harmony with the environment for hundreds of years.

Chemist James Lovelock and Microbiologist Lynn Margulis formulated the Gaia Theory (Principle) proposing that all organic and their inorganic surroundings on Earth are closely integrated to form a single and self-regulating complex system, maintaining the conditions for life on the planet -- The scientific investigation of the Gaia hypothesis focuses on observing how the biosphere and the evolution of life forms contribute to the stability of global temperature, ocean salinity, oxygen in the atmosphere and other factors of habitability in a preferred homeostasis.  The Gaia Hypothesis has since been supported by a number of scientific experiments and provided a number of useful predictions, and hence is properly referred to as the Gaia theory. In fact, wider research proved the original hypothesis wrong, in the sense that it is not life alone but the whole Earth system that does the regulating. In 2001, a thousand scientists at the European Geophysical Union meeting signed the Declaration of Amsterdam, starting with the statement "The Earth System behaves as a single, self-regulating system with physical, chemical, biological, and human components." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis)

From ancient Hermetic texts we read: "That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above, corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracles of the One Thing."  Daoist sages have always counselled on the wisdom of embracing opposites -- the moment we chose one side and block out the other, we upset nature's balance.  Therefore the idea of Homeostasis is not new, it has always been with us from the earliest times.  But we have chosen to ignore it.

The freak storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and temperature shifts we are currently experiencing are homeostasis at work.  The Earth is alive!  We must learn to balance our needs with the planet's own need or we will perish in the process.  The Earth is hemorrhaging and it is correcting itself.  The only way to reverse this catastrophe is by actively living in harmony with the Earth right now -- we've got to stop polluting it today!  I understand that we have complex economic and political systems inplace to consider, but how do you bargain with the Earth?  I do not think this planet will sit and wait for us to sort our political, economic, diplomatic and bureaucratic differences before it starts correcting the imbalances we are causing to its system.

The pattern of Life exist from the smallest systems within us (cells, molecules, organs) to the vastness of the Universe (planets, star systems, galaxies).  We are truely made in the image of God -- one organism, related and interrelated atomically as well as ecologically.  Homeostasis is critical for our survival and to the health of our planet, and vice versa.  We must therefore respect our planet, as we care for ourselves individually.  We are locked in this fate by our very existence.  We have no choice but to live in harmony with Earth (our only home) for our own collective survival.

“Because we all share this planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. This is not just a dream, but a necessity.”  ( by the Dalai Lama XIV)

"MITAKUYE OYASIN" - "All (are) My Relatives" (Lakota Sioux Prayer) 

Academic Research On Reincarnation

I recently came across a great article on "Reincarnation" and the possibility that "consciousness" may be independent from the brain.

Dr. Ian Stevenson, a Psychiatrist and the (former) chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia, began investigating the possibility of reincarnation in 1961.  He started the Department of Perceptual Studies in 1967 to concentrate on this field of research.  Ian published numerous academic books and articles about his findings.

Dr. Stevenson and his colleages at the Department of Perceptual Studies discovered that memories of past lives were much more common than anyone had ever known before.  Their research has catalogued compelling accounts from all over the world, from subjects whose recollections/stories correlate with factual lives of people who have passed away -- often in continents and countries on the opposite side of the world.

Physics claims that energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed.  Medicine People, since the ancient times, have been teaching that "thought is energy."  If both are true, then consciousness is indestructible.  The data gathered from the research being conducted by the Department of Perceptual Studies seems to also be pointing to the possibility that consciousness is independent of the brain (which of course dies with the rest of the body).  In my opinion, this is ground breaking research with far reaching implications for science, religion, medicine and spirituality (consciousness). 

Here is the link to the FULL ARTICLE:

http://noetic.org/noetic/issue-twelve-july/childrens-memories-of-previous-lives/

Prayer Helps You Heal

Aside from actively seeking Medical and therapeutic help, prayer can help you heal. 

Prayer exists in all cultures.  It has many forms.  But basically, it is just communicating with the Divine.  But since divinity comes in as many different forms as there are Religions and beliefs, it is hard to recommend one particular way to pray.

Your way will always be the best for you.  Just be sincere and humble... No words are needed.  Just communicate from your deepest self (your soul), and "God" will hear and understand you.  I like to describe "praying" symbolically as touching the Hand of God.

I subscribe to Joseph Murphy's definition of Prayer:  "Effective prayer is a sustained, affirmative attitude of mind which results in conviction.  Once your desire is completely accepted subconsciously, it works automatically as part of the Creative Law.  The real test of whether your mind accepts the idea completely and cannot conceive of the opposite.  You must believe what you want to believe, and when you do, you have really impressed your subconscious mind; then your subconscious mind will respond accordingly." (The Miracle of Mind Dynamics)

Prayer and Faith are two sides of the same coin.  There can be no effective prayer without faith -- it is just how our mind works!

"What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. (Mark 11:24)

So desire your cure with all your heart and with all your mind. Be humble and contrite -- forgive everyone, forgive your circumstances, but most of all forgive yourself.  Believe that you deserve to be whole again!  God will hear your plea.

Divine Healing

"Healing" is a coordinated process between God/the Divine, the healer and the patient.  These three important variables must be present in order for "true healing" to occur.  This is the root of all ancient healing modalities since the dawn of time.  Different religions and belief systems have attributed the cosmic/divine component (God) to whatever diety they currently believe in or to nature, or to Chi (Prana), or to science (medicine).  But the healer (doctor/shaman/medicine man) has always been present to mediate between the patient and the Divine.

Our bodies are actually built to heal itself.  But because we are also made up of Mind, Energy and Soul (aside from our physical body), the complexity of our nature sometimes leads to a breakdown of sorts, which results in disease and sickness.  The root of "disease" afterall, is dis-ease or disharmony in our system.  When a breakdown happens, a third-party expert (detached from the subjective experience of the disease) is generally better equiped to channel and administer the skills required to realign the body to health.

The healer serves as a conduit for the Divine, the cosmic forces or energies needed for the healing to happen.  While there are people who can actually heal themselves (Yogis, Masters), most people are not yet in that stage of development where they can regulate their own spiritual, mental and soul bodies -- It is like performing surgery on your own body (difficult but certainly possible).  It is also the reason why no one healer can cure all diseases.  We are still in an evolutionary stage where we still need one another.

Each healer has a specialty.  Medical doctors specialize on the physical, psychiatrist and therapists treat the mind, priest/rabbis/monks deal with the soul, while shamans and energy practitioners channel energy.  Traditional healers and medicine people generally specialize in either the mental, soul or energy (spirit) bodies, but many practitioners combine all three, as well as offer traditional massage and herbal therapy to realign the body too.  No one has a monopoly on health.  It is therefore vital that healers cooperate with one another to give the patient the best possible care.  But without exception, the source and drive of all healing comes from the Divine (God) -- the deepest part of ourselves inside and out, where our "being" and the Cosmos unite.

We are truely one with God.  But our physicality deceives our minds and makes us believe that we are limited and localized within our bodies.  God surrounds us and permeates every cell in our bodies.  God is Chi, God is Prana, God is all science, God is the Cosmic Mind.  These things are united as one, with all the known forces in the Universe and beyond.  We are more than our bodies, and this reality makes it possible for us to heal.  The only service the healer (no matter what type) does, is to realign us back into unity with the Divine.  The Divine is always present and available to anyone, it is our own nature and distorted perspectives that misaligns our system and causes disease.

The Darkside of Humanity

I open my computer everyday to Yahoo and 50% of the time, I am greeted by a headline or a picture on some war or some other atrocity happening somewhere in the world.  Is this what we are really about?

I am an optimist by nature and I sincerely desire to believe that people are caring and loving beings.  But I am constantly assailed by images and evidences of the opposite. 

Whenever I contemplate this dichotomy in our nature I am reminded by the imagery in William Blake's short poem, "A Divine Image." Humanity has flourished in this planet for generations, but we have not changed.  Are cruelty and violence locked into our DNAs that we will always live in the brink of self-destruction for eternity?  I certainly hope not.  

"A DIVINE IMAGE" By William Blake

Cruelty has a human heart
And jealousy a human face
Terror the human form divine,
And secrecy the human dress.

The human dress is forged iron,
The human form a fiery forge,
The human face a furnace seal'd,
The Human heart its hungry gorge.

Look for Highpower Healer in Alltop

I am happy to announce that this blog has been officially listed in Alltop under "alternative-medicine."  We are proud to be a part of this global blog community.

Arguing Against Stephen Hawking's Views on God and the Afterlife

I saw this article in Yahoo last Monday and I immediately wanted to comment on it:

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking recently explained his belief that there is no God and that humans should therefore seek to live the most valuable lives they can while on Earth.

Guardian writer Ian Sample asked Hawking if he feared death in a story published yesterday. This was his response: I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.

Hawking's 1988 book  "A Brief History of Time" sold 9 million copies, and in it Hawking referenced God metaphorically as the force that could fully explain the creation of the universe. But in 2010, Hawking told Diane Sawyer that "science will win" in a battle with religion "because it works."

"What could define God [is a conception of divinity] as the embodiment of the laws of nature. However, this is not what most people would think of that God," Hawking told Sawyer. "They made a human-like being with whom one can have a personal relationship. When you look at the vast size of the universe and how insignificant an accidental human life is in it, that seems most impossible."

Hawking's latest book, "The Grand Design," challenged Isaac Newton's theory that the solar system could not have been created without God. "Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to ... set the Universe going," he writes.

Hawking was diagnosed with the degenerative Lou Gehrig's disease at the age of 21. He lost his power of speech and for decades has talked through an electronic speech synthesizer. The device has allowed him to continue his research and attain a top Cambridge research post, which was previously held by Newton. His most famous theory explains how black holes emit radiation, according to The Guardian.

So if everyone is destined to power-down like computers at the end of their lives, what should humans do to lend meaning to their experience? "We should seek the greatest value of our action," Hawking told the paper.

Unknown to a lot of people, Isaac Newton studied the Bible passionately.  As a matter of fact, he devoted more time to the study of Scripture than to science.  But he was an Arian (believed that God the Father and Jesus the Son did not exist together eternally) theologically and would have been considered a heretic by mainstream Christianity. Yet Newton saw God as the masterful creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation. Nevertheless he rejected Leibniz's' thesis that God would necessarily make a perfect world which requires no intervention from the creator.  He warned against using the law of Gravity to view the universe as a mere machine, like a great clock. He said, "Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion.  God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done."

Albert Einstein on the other hand, cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures.  Neither does he believe in an Afterlife.  But he agrees with Spinoza's belief in a God who reveals Himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, as opposed to a God who concerns himself with the fate and actions of human beings.  According to him the religion of the future will be a cosmic religion.  That it should transcend personal God, as well as avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity.

Are Physicists becoming more and more cynical as Science develops? I guess it just goes with that territory.

By design, the discipline of Science operates with the assumption that everything that exist is governed by the laws of nature (the laws that they have so far defined).  For this reason, a scientific minded individual would be less inclined to believe that events can be influenced by a Supernatural Being (or defy logic).

But I believe this to be a limited perspective.  Do we already know everything there is to know?  Have we penetrated all the mysteries of the Universe?  Is logic the limit of all Creation or is it just the limit of our (human) mind?

I am astounded by Stephen Hawking's certainty about God and the Afterlife.  I think it is unbelievably arrogant to come out in public with a statement like that.  I prefer Newton's and Einstein' opinions on religion, since they left some space for "humility."  Einstein was known to have said, "that he does not share the crusading spirit of the atheist, whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth."

I also agree that religion (or Spirituality in my definition) should be more cosmic.  But unlike all of them, I believe in a personal God and I believe, that someday, we will eventually come close to proving this.  We just have to understand that we are more that just atoms, energy and forces, there is also an Intelligence or Mind that determines which particular elements specifically combine with each other to give birth to individually unique entities.  In other words, there is an intelligent order to existence that reflects a sophisticated "Mind," which confounds mere randomness (chance).

I know this, because every spiritually (mystically) inclined person, from the Buddha to your average modern day medicineman, will tell you that God exists simply because they have a personal relationship with the Divine.  He (or She) is within us, as well as without.  God defies logic and encompasses paradox.  God is personal and impersonal at the same time.

If we box God in a humanistic frame... having a physicality of some sort and having a limited mind, we will surely get tangled in a puzzle of our own making.  We should leave God to be God, unknowable, infinite, undefinable.  We are all connected as One.  By looking within ourselves, into that ineffable depth that defies all logic, we will discover a thread that leads back into the center of Creation, that is God.

Einstein said it best, "It is very difficult to elucidate this (cosmic religious) feeling to anyone who is entirely without it. . . The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no god conceived in man's image; so that there can be no church whose central teachings are based on it ... In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it."  I guess Professor Hawkings is just entirely without it.  I really feel sorry for him.

Welcome

Healers and healing have existed since the dawn of humanity.  Like a "fail-safe" mechanism for humans, the Creator provided us with technicians to help our bodies and minds reboot when it gets glitches.

Shamans or Medicinepeople have been with us since the beginning, venturing into the unknown to guide and protect us, as healers, artists, spiritualist, storytellers and visionaries.  As we embark on the 21st century armed with our latest technology and science, we have to be aware that we still have a lot of questions that remain unanswered and we still need our shamans to boldly lead us into uncharted territory -- only now we refer to our modern day adventurers and explorers as scientist, inventors, engineers, doctors, surgeons, therapists, psychologists, healers, innovators, filmmakers, actors, writers, etc.

I created this blog as a forum where I can toss wild and sometimes irreverent ideas and opinions for anyone to repond to. Because I believe that we are all searching for "Truths" in the end, and that it is basic for all of us to want to evolve and learn as human beings. Let us embark on this sacred journey together with the blessings and love of our Creator.

Welcome.