LOVELIGHT
magazine
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE
EXCITING SEASON OF LOVE AND LIGHT!
HAPPY DUSSEHRA
HAPPY DIWALI
The Most important things in life are not “things” at all.
*****
December 2010***Vol. 6, no.12
*****
Managing Editors: Adamaria Francis and a franciscan taoist
*****
Special gratitude and acknowledgment to the fine and beautiful people who edit this magazine for us!:) This issue, these include: Barbara Baty, Jim Dwyer, Mick Gallagher, Hem Sagar Rasaily, Teresa Ramsey,Ty Scharrer
*****
LOVELIGHT MAGAZINE: WHAT WE'RE ALL ABOUT
This emag is free, to celebrate the beauty of Love! And we love to laugh!:) So, if you discover any good chuckles, please send them along!:)
Still, life is not all laughs. But we hope also to share other happy thoughts and stories. Lovelight wants to promote harmony, among all peoples, and to aid you to feel good!:)
Also, if you come across any wise or touching pieces, not copyrighted, fairly short, please share them with us! Also welcome are practical tips, short pieces on personal philosophies, interesting facts, wordplays, and general spirituality (but no "preachy" dogma, please.:). We must reserve the right to make whatever changes we deem necessary or desirable before inclusion in Lovelight.
A subscription is free. As a subscriber, your email address will not be shared. Please share, send, or copy, this magazine, or any parts of it. Share it as widely as possible, with all your friends, and all others. Please use it on your websites and bulletinboards. Please photocopy, email, or snailmail any parts of it to others. Also, please have friends send us their emailaddresses and subscribe.
This is "light" reading. And it is also great, fun reading. A collection of magazines is available in single paperback books. Each contains a year’s worth. We have published three volumes (1994-1996). This would make a sweet gift for a loved one! Happy reading!:)
*****
*****
SOLSTICE PARTY
Hi Everyone,
We would like to invite you to a Solstice celebration on Tuesday, December 21 from 6-8 pm. Let’s share a pot-luck dinner and a Solstice candle lighting ceremony. Call us if you will be able to come J 513-737-5683.
BELLY-LAUGHS,
SNORTS, GASPS, AND BANGING ON THE CHAIR: HUMORTHERAPY
BEWARE
INSTANT KARMA!, sent in by Jim Dwyer
A man had an appointment to see the urologist who shared
offices with several other doctors. The waiting room was filled and
crowded with patients. As he approached the receptionist's desk, he
noticed that
she was a large unfriendly woman who looked like an angry Sumo WRESTLING WITH A
BULLDOG. He gave her his name.
In a very loud, rude,
obnoxious, screeching, voice, she said, "YES, I HAVE YOUR NAME
HERE; YOU WANT TO SEE THE DOCTOR ABOUT IMPOTENCE, RIGHT?”
All the patients
looked embarrassed, and some turned red. He recovered quickly, and
in an equally loud voice replied, “No, I’ve come to inquire ABOUT A
sexchange operation. But I don’t want the same doctor that did yours!”
***
PRESIDENT OBAMA, sent in by
Teresa Ramsey
I normally go through my email contact list and determine who should I, and who should I not forward certain received email messages to. This particular email did not give me pause. It did, however, grieve my spirit because for a person of another country (looking in from the outside) to see the total disregard that Americans have for our President, is a SAD state of affairs. Whether you agree with our leadership or not, this is an article you should definitely read.
America - He's your President for Goodness Sake!
By William Thomas
Posted: Friday, October 1st, 2010
There was a time not so long ago when Americans, regardless of their political stripes, rallied round their president. Once elected, the man who won the White House was no longer viewed as a Republican or Democrat, but the President of the United States . The oath of office was taken, the wagons were circled around the country’s borders and it was America symbolically “separated” from the rest of the world with the president of all the people at the helm.
Suddenly President Barack Obama, with the potential to become an exceptional president has become the glaring exception to that unwritten, patriotic rule.
Four days before President Obama’s inauguration, before he officially took charge of the American government, Rush Limbaugh boasted publicly that he hoped the president would fail. Of course, when the president fails the country flounders. Wishing harm upon your country in order to further your own narrow political views is selfish, sinister and a tad treasonous as well.
Subsequently, during his State of the Union address, which is pretty much a pep rally for America, an unknown congressional representative from South Carolina,… stopped the show when he called the President of the United States a liar. The president showed great restraint in ignoring this unprecedented insult, and carried on with his speech. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was so stunned by the slur, she forgot to jump to her feet while clapping wildly, 30 or 40 times after that.
Last spring, President Obama took his wife Michelle to see a play in New York City and republicans attacked him over the cost of security for the excursion. The president can’t take his wife out to dinner and a show without being scrutinized by the political opposition? As history has proven, a president in a theatre without adequate security is a tragically bad idea.
Remember: “Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”
At some point, the treatment of President Obama went from offensive to ugly; and then, [it became] downright dangerous.
The health-care debate, which looked more like extreme fighting in a mud pit than a national dialogue, revealed a very vulgar [and hideous] side of America[n politics]. President Obama’s face appeared very shamefully on protest signs white-faced and blood-mouthed in a satanic clown image. [This made those carrying the signs ignorant, stupid, or dangerous.] In other tasteless portrayals, people who disagreed with his position distorted his face to look like Hitler complete with mustache and swastika.
Odd, that burning the flag makes Americans crazy, but depicting the president as a clown and a maniacal fascist is accepted as part of the new rude America .
But maligning the image of the leader of the free world is one thing; putting the president’s life in peril is quite another. More than once, men with guns were videotaped at the health-care rallies where the president spoke. Again, history shows that letting men with guns get within range of a president has not served America well in the past.
And still the “birthers” are out there claiming Barack Obama was not born in the United States , although public documentation proves otherwise. Hawaii is definitely part of the United States, but the Panama Canal Zone where his electoral opponent Senator John McCain was born? Nobody’s sure.
Last month, a 44-year-old woman in Buffalo was quite taken by President Obama when she met him in a chicken wing restaurant called Duff’s. Did she say something about a pleasure and an honour to meet the man or utter encouraging words for the difficult job he is doing? No. Quote: “You’re a hottie with a smokin’ little body.”
Lady, that was the President of the United States you were addressing! He’s your president for goodness sakes, not the guy driving the Zamboni at “Monster Trucks On Ice.” Maybe next it’ll be, “Take Your President To A Topless Bar Day.”
In President Barack Obama, Americans have a [young, smart, gifted] charismatic leader with a good and honest heart. Unlike his predecessor, he’s a very intelligent leader. And unlike that president’s predecessor, he’s a highly moral man.
In President Obama, Americans have the real deal, the whole package, and a leader that citizens of almost every country around the world look to with great envy. [It is the envy of bitter old Republicans in the US that might kill him!] Given the opportunity, Canadians would trade our leader, hell, most of our leaders for Obama in a heartbeat.
What America has in Obama is a head of state with vitality and insight and youth. Think about it, Barack Obama is a young Nelson Mandela. Mandela was the face of change and charity for all of Africa but he was too old to make it happen. The great things Obama might do for America and the world could go on for decades after he’s out of office.
America, you know not what you have.
The man is being challenged unfairly, characterized with vulgarity and treated with the kind of deep disrespect to which no previous president was subjected. It’s like the day after electing the first black man to be president, thereby electrifying the world with hope and joy, Americans sobered up and decided the bad old days were better.
President Obama may fail but it will not be a Richard Nixon default fraught with larceny and lies. President Obama, given a fair chance, will surely succeed but his triumph will never come with a Bill Clinton caveat – “if only he’d got control of that zipper.”
Please. Give the man a fair, fighting chance. This incivility toward the leader who won over Americans and gave hope to billions of people around the world that their lives could be enhanced by his example, just naturally has to stop.
Believe me, when Americans drive by the White House and see a sign on the lawn that reads: “No shirt. No shoes. No service,” they’ll realize this new national rudeness has gone way, way too far.
OCTOBER 2010 SENIOR LIVING MAGAZINE VANCOUVER &
LOWER MAINLAND.
*****
*****
Indian Festivals, sent in by Hem Sagar Rasaily, coordinator for Pneumarium in Darjeeling, India.
Two festivals fall almost together and last for
several days. They are Dussehra and Diwali. I have sent info below,
DUSSEHRA
In the months of Ashwin and kartik (October and November), Hindus observe a 10
day ceremony of fast, rituals, celebrations, festivals
to honor the mother Goddess and triumph of the Lord Rama over the Demon Ravana.
Dussehra also symbolizes the triumph of warrior Goddess Durga over the buffalo
demon, Mahishasura. Thus, it is a celebration of victory of good over evil.
This celebration starts from Navratri and ends with the tenth day festival of
“Dussehra”. Navratri and Dussehra are celebrated throughout the country at the
same time, with varying rituals, but with great enthusiasm and energy as they
mark the end of the scorching summer and the start of the winter season.
The tenth day after Navratri is called Dussehra, on which number of fairs are
organized throughout the northern India, burning
effigies of Ravana. It is also called “Vijayadashmi” as this day marks the
victory of Lord Rama over Ravana. VijayaDashami is considered to be an
auspicious day for the Indian householder, on which he worships, protects and
preserves 'Shakti' (power). According to Scriptures, by worshipping the
'Shakti' on these nine-days the householders attain the threefold power i.e.
physical, mental and spiritual, which helps him to progress in life without any
difficulty.
The 'Ramlila' - an enactment of the life of Lord Rama, is held during the nine
days preceding Dussehra. On the tenth day (Dussehra or Vijay Dasami), larger
than life effigies of Ravana, his son and brother - Meghnadh and Kumbhakarna
are set to fire.
The theatrical enactment of this dramatic encounter is held throughout the
country in which every section of people participates enthusiastically.
In burning the effigies the people are asked to burn the evil within themselves,
and thus follow the path of truth and goodness, bearing in mind the instance of
Ravana, who despite all his might and majesty, was destroyed for his evil ways.
Legends
Dussehra is also known as Vijaya Dasami, because of the victory of Ram over
Ravana. On this day in Satya Yug, Ram (the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu),
killed the great demon and king of Lanka, Ravana.
Puranas also opined that in this day warrior Goddess Durga defeated and killed
the buffalo demon Mahishasura.
When is Dussehra?
Dussehra is the last day of Navratri; it falls on the 10th day of the waxing moon during the Hindu month of Ashvin (around
September or October).
Dussehra in 2009 is on 17 th of October.
DIWALI:-
Diwali
Festival In India
|
|
|
"Diwali", the festival of lights, illuminates the darkness of
the New Year's moon, and strengthens our close friendships and knowledge, with
a self-realization!
Diwali is celebrated on a nation-wide scale on Amavasya - the 15th day of the
dark fortnight of the Hindu month of Ashwin, (October/November) every year. It
symbolizes that age-old culture of India which teaches to vanquish ignorance
that subdues humanity and to drive away darkness that engulfs the light of knowledge.
Diwali, the festival of lights even today in this modern world projects the
rich and glorious past of India.
Every year on the dark nights of Diwali the sound of firecrackers announces the
celebration of the favorite festival of Indians. Homes are decorated, sweets
are distributed by everyone and thousands of lamps are lit to create a world of
fantasy. Of all the festivals celebrated in India, Diwali is by far the most
glamorous and important. Enthusiastically enjoyed by people of every religion,
its magical and radiant touch creates an atmosphere of joy and festivity.
The ancient story of how Diwali evolved into such a widely celebrated festival
is different in various regions and states of India. In the north, particularly
in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar and the surrounding areas, Diwali is
the day when King
Rama's coronation was celebrated in Ayodhya after his epic war
with Ravana, the demon king of Lanka. By order of the royal families of Ayodhya
and Mithila,
the kingdom of which Sita was princess, the cities and far-flung boundaries of
these kingdoms were lit up with rows of lamps, glittering on dark nights to
welcome home the divine king Rama and his queen Sita after 14 years of exile,
ending with an across-the-seas war in which the whole of the kingdom of Lanka was
destroyed.
On the day of Diwali festival, doorways are hung with torans of mango leaves
and marigolds. Rangolis are drawn with different colored powders to
welcome guests. The traditional motifs are often linked with auspicious symbols
of good luck. Oil diyas are arranged in and around the house. Because of these
flickering lamps, the festival has acquired its name : Dipawali or Diwali
meaning 'a
rows of lamps'. On this day, people buy something for the house
or some jewelry for the women of the house. It is auspicious to be buy
something metallic, such as silver.
Whatever may be the fables and legends behind the celebrations of Diwali, all
people exchange sweets, wear new clothes and buy jewelry at this festive time.
Card parties are held in many homes. Diwali has become commercialized as the
biggest annual consumer spree because every family shops for sweets, gifts and
fireworks. However, in all this frenzy of shopping and eating, the steady,
burning lamp is a constant symbol of an illuminated mind.
A PRAYER OF LOVE, sent in by Mick Gallagher
I know that I am surrounded by Pure Spirit, Perfect Law,
Divine Order and an Unlimited Substance which Intelligently responds to me. It
is not only around me, but in, through and as me as well. It is in,
around, and through everyone and everything. It is the essence of right
action, right action in all of my affairs. Daily I am guided by this
Creative Intelligence [and Love], which compels me to make the right
choice, at the right time. There is that within me which knows,
understands, accepts, believes, recognizes and embodies. I know. And I
know that I know.
I believe and I am conscious that I believe…. and I have dependence upon the
Truth. I expect the Truth to operate…. I am Whole, Healed and
Blessed. I am free, and I allow myself to be free….
*****
*****
EMAILTRACKER PROGRAMS, sent in by Barbara Baty
Very interesting and a must read!!!
The man that sent this information is a computer tech. He spends a lot of time clearing the junk off computers, and listens to complaints about speed. All forwards are not bad, just some. Be sure you read the very last paragraph.
By now, I suspect everyone is familiar with snopes.com and/or truthorfiction.com for determining whether information received via email is just that: true/false or fact/fiction. Advice from snopes.com VERY IMPORTANT!!
1) Any time you see an email that says "forward this on to '10' (or however many) of your friends", "sign this petition", or "you'll get bad luck" or "you'll get good luck" or "you'll see something funny on your screen after you send it" or whatever --- it almost always has an email tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and emails of those folks you forward to. The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of 'active' email addresses to use in SPAM emails or sell to other spammers. Even when you get emails that demand you send the email on if you're not ashamed of God/Jesus --- that is email tracking, and they are playing on our conscience. These people don't care how they get your email addresses - just as long as they get them. Also, emails that talk about a missing child or a child with an incurable disease "how would you feel if that was your child" --- email tracking. Ignore them and don't participate!
2) Almost all emails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. All it was, and all any of this type of email is, is a way to get names and 'cookie' tracking information for telemarketers and spammers -- to validate active email accounts for their own profitable purposes.
You can do your Friends and Family members a GREAT favor by sending this information to them. You will be providing a service to your friends. And you will be rewarded by not getting thousands of spam emails in the future!
Do yourself a favor and
STOP adding your name(s)
to those types of listing regardless of how inviting they might sound! Or
refuse absolutely to feel guilty if you don't! It's all about getting email
addresses and nothing more.
You might think you are supporting a GREAT cause, but you are NOT!
Instead, you will be getting tons of
junk mail later
and very possibly a virus attached!
Plus, we are helping the spammers get rich! Let's not make it easy for them!
For those e-mails that you just feel you MUST send on: copy and paste into a new e-mail rather than forwarding.
ALSO: Emailpetitions are NOT acceptable to either Congress or to any other organization - i.e. social security, etc. To be acceptable, petitions must have a "signed signature" and full address of the person signing the petition, so this is a waste of time and you are just helping the email trackers.
See below
|
|
Tips for Handling Telemarketers
Three
Little Words That
Work!!
(1)The
three little words are:
“Hold
on, please.”
Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of
hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more
time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.
Then when you eventually hear the phone company's 'beep-beep-beep' tone, you
know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed
its task.
These three little words
will help
eliminate telephone soliciting..
(2) Do you
ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?
This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records
the time of day when a person answers the phone.
This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a 'real' sales
person to call back and get someone at home.
What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to
immediately start hitting your
#
button on the phone, 6 or 7 times as quickly as possible. This confuses the
machine that dialed the call, and it kicks your number out of their system.
Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer!!!
(3) Junk
Mail Help:
When you get 'ads' enclosed with your phone or utility bill,
return these 'ads' with your payment.
Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail
away.
When you get those 'pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from
credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the
return envelope.
Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them
more than the regular 44 cents postage, 'IF' and when they receive them back.
It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was
around 50 cents before the last increase and it is according to the weight. In
that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these
cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.
One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas.
Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get
anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!
If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name
isn't on anything you send them.
You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them
guessing! It still costs them 44 cents.
The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a lot of their own
junk back in the mail, but folks, we need to OVERWHELM them. Let's let them
know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying
for it...Twice!
Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are
saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to
increase postage costs again.
You get the idea!
If enough people follow these tips, it will work ---- I have been doing this
for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.
THIS JUST
MIGHT BE ONE E-MAIL THAT YOU WILL WANT TO FORWARD TO YOUR FRIENDS.
*****
*****
KIDS: FROM WHERE DID THEY COME, ANYWAY?, sent in by Ty Scharrer
The following are all replies that Detroit women wrote on Child Support Agency Forms
1. Regarding the identity of the father of my twins, Makeeshia was fathered by Maclearndon McKinley. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of Marlinda, but I believe that she was conceived on the same night.***2. I am unsure, as to the identity of the father of my child as I was being sick out of a window when taken unexpectedly from behind. I can provide you with a list of names of men that I think were at the party if this helps.***3. I do not know the name of the father of my little girl. She was conceived at a party at 3600 East Grand Boulevard where I had sex with a man I met that night. I do remember that the sex was so good that I fainted. If you do manage to track down the father, can you please send me his phone number? Thanks.***4. I don't know the identity of the father of my daughter. He drives a bmw that now has a hole made by my stiletto in one of the door panels. Perhaps you can contact bmw service stations in this area and see if he's had it replaced.***5. I have never had sex with a man. I am still a Virginian.***6. I cannot tell you the name of Alleshia's dad as he informs me that to do so would blow his cover and that would have cataclysmic implications for the economy. I am torn between doing right by you and right by the country. Please advise.***7. I do not know who the father of my child was as they all look the same to me.***8. Tyrone Hairston (I will change my first name) is the father of child A. If you do catch up with him, can you axe him what he did with my AC/DC CDs? Child B who was also borned at the same time, well, I don't have clue.***9. From the dates it seems that my daughter was conceived at Disney World. Maybe it really is the Magic Kingdom .***10. So much about that night is a blur. The only thing that I remember for sure is Delia Smith did a program about eggs earlier in the evening. If I had stayed in and watched more TV rather than going to the party at 8956 Miller Ave, mine might have remained unfertilized.***
11. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of my baby, after all, like when you eat a can of beans you can't be sure which one made you fart.
***
When the wealth is redistributed, these people will be the major recipients.
*****
*****
Anyone who knows anything about true spirituality knows that the spiritual Way is anti-egoic; this is repeatedly, and lucidly, stated in all the great spiritual classics of mystical literature. This absence of ego arises from the realization that the egoself is a socially-created self, and so, is illusion. (It is part of the world of maya, or “illusion.”)
Still, almost every cult is led by unspiritual, even antispiritual, people. This is verified by their involvement in rampant or rabid egotism, as well as in hateful ideas and often, violent behaviors. (Universal Love is absent.) Their arrogant leaders are shameless show-offs. They are deeply selfloathing, and so, they can never get enough attention, notice, or praise; they post their egopictures everywhere, and are continually drawing attention to their egonames. This marks only those who are spiritually arrested. It is absent from the truly spiritual, and is unthinkable among the genuinely enlightened!
Another practice which would be amusing, even hilarious, were it not so tragic, would be their habit of continually referring to themselves as “masters,” “enlightened sages,” or similar terms. Neither Jesus nor the Buddha ever used such terms in selfreference, for they did not have the pathological need to impress others. They were truly free of the disease of ego.
Therefore, it is always an identifying mark of a phony, fake, or fool if you observe him/her continuously referring to the self, spotlighting, grabbing for headlines, or drawing special attention to her/himself. Struggling to grab attention, or the spotlight, marks only the unenlightened—those still trapped in the snares of ego. Obviously, they are still the helpless “marionettes” of this lower world. They often double their ignorance by adding materialism to this dreaded egotism. Both identify only those who are deeply selfloathing, who suffer from the disease of the absence of selflove.
Those who so pathetically selfidentify as “masters” are always phonies. For true masters have no need for this kind of artificial validation. In fact, a true master would refuse all special titles (including “reverend,” which is a special egodesignation meaning”holy one,” implying a special status). And also, she refuses to chase after publicity and headlines. She, instead, channels this energy into world-improvement. So, learn to mistrust, or even to reject, anyone who makes any kind of claim to be “special” in any way. The depth of the real master lies in her humility, and in her recognition and acceptance of her full humanity. (True, this has the divinity within it, but she is not at all interested in human recognition, or in impressing anyone.) She wants only to express Love whenever, however, and with whomever, possible.
So, do yourself a great favor: Do not waste your precious timenergy—the real “gold” of the cosmos—in paying any attention to any selfstyled “teacher” who believes that she has a “special mission” to “save this poor planet.” For this is the shared assignment of all people of wisdom. Anyone who tries to be “special,” or proclaims her special “calling,” by either an “angel” or by “extraterrestrials,” is a fake, and is responding to a hallucination as a “Godinspired vision.”
*****
*****
EXORCISM: IS IT REAL?
Long ago, in the twisted histories of Christianity and Islam, “God” was projected to the “outside.” That is, through massive distortion, “God” was no longer seen as within, or inside, the human mind, as unstained Love. Instead, both religions followed the pathetic and harmful path of embracing the ancient Israeli god, who was “outside” of his people, as a kind of “inflated human being.” This, the Jehovic image, was thought to be above the clouds. This god was hopelessly anthropomorphic; that is, he was formed in the image of a human being. This pathetic and feeble god was reduced to a soldier or king. This was the best that the backwards, regressive, arrested people of the Middle East could comprehend.
So long ago, in history that is now lost in the mists of antiquity, this god was also said to have an “opposite.” (This was the worst pervasive aspect of the error of “dualism,” or seeing the universe as existing in a divided state; this opposes the philosophy of mysticism, which is often called “monism,” which suggests that the whole cosmos originates from only one undivided Mind, which has no real “opposite.”)
After this “devil,” called “Satan,” had been projected out of the mind, just as God had previously, it was proposed that “he” (usually male) had an innumerable host of evil followers in the spiritworld.
In time, these came to be called “demons.” This arises from a Greek word, daimon, which originally referred to factors of mind. But the “demons,” like “God” and the “devil,” were projected outside of the person.
But if God is inside the mind, it implies that both the “devil “and “demons” are also inside. What, then, is the “devil”? He is not some slick guy in a bright red suit, with horns. The view of the devil as a hoofed “man” with horns is traced back to images of the god Pan among the Greeks; Christians so hated Pan (whose name means “everything” or the “whole universe”) that they transferred his image intact as their devil.
Of course, this devil never really existed, any more than Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. It was pure mythology. But still, many varieties of Christian and Muslim still believe in a “personal” devil. Somebody, somewhere, must be the worst person in all creation; if you want to call him or her the “devil,” that is as good as any other title. But the formal and personal “devil” of theology and religion was, in history and mythology, a spiritbeing actually created by God, who was originally an “angel”—a positive spiritbeing. But he became confused somehow, and decided to rebel against God. Thus, he became not only evil, but the source of all evil—human or other. The real source of all “evil” is also the source of all good—the Mind. Actually, all “evil” results only from categorization or negative judgment—a process forbidden to Christians by their founder Jesus. (See Mt. 7:1)
So, “evil” is illusion, created by the impulse to categorize. Actually, when seen free of “judgment,” the entire cosmos is unmixed good. For the Ultimate, the Supreme, Supermind, the collective Mind shared by all, or God, is good. God is Love, and this Love has no real opposite.
How, then, do we explain the manifold and rather complex psychological processes (this word is not “proh-sess-ees” but “proh-sess-ez”) in which a person becomes “demonized”? The human mind is very complex and intricate—almost incredibly so, as is its biocarrier and biohome, the human brain. There exist a million ways in which things can go wrong. In its stunning complexity, this “material” brain is supposed to lead us to a realization of enlightenment; it is supposed to take us directly to, lead to, pure Love.
But often, things go wrong. These “processing errors” are natural to such an enormously complex system. God fully and completely understands this; for God understands everything within the human mind and brain. (The “brain” is a physical organ, but the “mind” is a nonphysical abstract, rooted in the brain.) Among all the situations that can go wrong are all the multitude of psychological imbalances and psychiatric disorders, as well as a vast number of errors that Christians call “sin.” Indeed, it would be a miracle if these did not occur in the vast and breath-taking complexity of the human brainmind system!
Christians and Muslims, in their formal, orthodox religious forms, have sought for a “scapegoat” to “blame” for their less-than-desirable thoughtfeelings. And one common one has been ”satan” or “his demons.” So, Christians and others have, for centuries, blamed many of their thoughtfeelings of anger, revenge, madness, horror, torture, brutality, and atrocity on these supernatural agents. But this is simply a way of avoiding adult responsibility. A spiritual adult will take full responsibility for everything within her mind. She might have, and recognize, “inner demons” such as violence, animal lust, ignorance, dullness, vicious thoughts, vengeance, and other horrific negativities. The difference between a twenty-first century person and a traditional Christian is that, often, the Christian believes what was thought in the twelfth century—that some of her thoughts originate with, or are twisted by, some “external spirit,” called a “demon.” This idea was around for centuries, and prevented, and resisted, much of the scientific view, which was arrested by it. That is, it kept people in nightmarish darkness; it also bound them in utter slavery to the official Church for centuries. It taught that “demons” caused all mental illness, and the only cure was the “exorcism” by an appointed churchofficial. (And even that did not come cheap!)
This was only one of many shackles that chained the common person to the official, organized, orthodox Church; the Church practiced many forms of torture and cruelty to keep its “monopoly” or power intact.
But now, in the relatively advanced twenty-first century [although still in relative ignorance (darkness)], is there any room for a rational belief in “demons” or exorcism? Once we recognize the vast power of ignorance in the human mind, we must utilize extra caution never to become its slave. A belief in “demons” is a form of “pseudoexplanation” that actually causes harm to people; for people who seek “exorcism” for problems usually deny all medical or psychopharmacological assistance. This postpones their recovery; and often, they do not recover at all. So, this backwards, regressive belief can hold them spellbound in hellstates for years. For even after their “demon” is “cast out,” their psychological disorder(s) might remain. Or, in some cases, they might be sicker than ever.
Also, it is arguably true that even a belief in “demons” is itself a form of mental illness or imbalance. Why? Because it denies reality as it has been discovered by thousands of scientists working for thousands of years. In order to deny the vast psychological data accumulated over millennia, we must virtually bury our heads, and simply ignore the testimonies of millions. It is not reasonable or rational to do this. Instead, we should work to become, and to remain, flexible and openminded in our pursuit of truth.
But there is a significant difference between being flexible and openminded, on the one hand, and being gullible, on the other. As has been amusingly pointed out, “If your mind is too open, everything falls out!” So, let us keep an open mind, and let us remain flexible rather than dogmatic in approaching this vast and somewhat mysterious cosmos. But much more importantly, let us let Love be our only and supreme guide to “truth” or reality.
*****
*****
SOME ABSURD
MANIFESTATIONS OF “SATAN” IN HISTORY
There never existed, of course, a “devil,” or “Satan”—as the worst, most malicious, being in the universe. That which has manifested as either “Satan” or the “demons” in history have been the worst qualities within human beings, the lower or “humanimal” nature.
Wanting to escape responsibility for their own evils, human beings have tended to project their very worst qualities outside themselves, onto a “devil,” and “demons,” which have been created, reinforced, repeatedly expressed, and maintained, by the most fevered, and often nightmarish, of imaginations. This has been reinforced by shameless rationalizations, used to justify horrific behaviors. This psychological disorder, in the course of history, has been called “Satan,” or, more simply, the “devil.”
This imaginary archenemy of “God” has said, in these confused records, to manifest as “holy people.” This he has done, it is claimed, in order to talk people out of devoting themselves to the “religious life.”
Further, reports of “demonattack” are fairly common, even in the twenty-first century; human nature has changed little. (This is more shameful in a time, and society, as educated as ours.)
The “devil” is said to be the master of all hideous, heinous, and nightmarish evils; he is worse than anything that can be imagined by the human mind. All the vast horrors of history, teaches this dismal mythology, have had their root in him. He is also, although quite mad, a very intelligent trickster.
So, with his immense, impressive, cosmic history, being tens of thousands of years old, with an encyclopedic and horrifying knowledge of evil that makes all the Nazis combined look like a few Catholic schoolgirls, does it ever make anything like good sense to suppose that this master of all horror, and all demons, would limit himself by dwelling in the heartmind of a young monk, or a teenage girl? Yet this is the precise supposition behind a belief called “possession.”
One major problem with the idea is that several thousand people at one time can all claim that they are “possessed” by the very same “devil.” Thus, this mythical being must exist in many places simultaneously. (He really gets around.) Can this hideous monster really possess several human beings at once? And does the master of all evil really have nothing better, or more important, to do?
Everybody can have a “bad day,” when she is not “running on all cylinders.” On a really bad day, she might use curse-words or kick the dog. While not polite, courteous, or spiritual behavior, these things can easily be explained within the normal limits of human psychology. Yet in the Middle Ages, they were all considered evidence of “possession.” (So were certain physical disorders.) And those who manifested them were often tortured to death, in ghastly ways, as “witches.” Indeed, several “witches” actually confessed, in utter horror at their coming fate, and perhaps, driven temporarily insane by fear, that they were actually “possessed.”
This ludicrous and absurd condition of mind had a special, and powerful, effect especially on the very religious. Nuns from the 1600’s, for example, suffered from “convent hysteria,” in which they believed that “possession” actually existed, and did behave in ways that they thought that the “demonized” should act. They acted in blatantly and shockingly hypersexual ways. They masturbated in public, and “worse,” had some unforgettable orgasms!. (The religious priest called the “Inquisitors,” those who, with pure evil, administered torture, loved it. They wanted to see more. They suffered, we now know, from psychosexual illnesses and sexual extremism themselves. Among other psychological disorders, they suffered from sadism.) For example, they tortured young ladies and girls in order to stimulate themselves sexually, for they could not respond to normal, or milder, stimuli.) These “possessed” nuns climbed trees, kicked dogs, shouted obscenities, uttered blasphemies, and did other things regarded as “so bad that they could have come from only the devil.” They rolled on the ground in orgasmic pleasure. (What they needed was not torture, but a sexual partner! Perhaps a vibrator?)
In time, the ignorant people who bought into “possession” believed that this condition could be cured by yet another superstition. It was called “exorcism.” (This can partially “cure” certain psychological disorders, but only if the patient believes in the antique superstition of “possession.” Non-believers cannot be cured by exorcism.) This entire living and real nightmare (people believing in “possession” and using “exorcism”) is the theme of a number of fairly popular and mildly scary films and novels. (The modern era of this type of entertainment began in the late 1960’s, and so, is by now quite old.)
These sad superstitions would be amusing if they did not create such monstrous damage and harm. Even educated people are not beyond their grasp. A psychiatrist who was popular many years ago, but whose time has now, happily, passed, was W. Scott Peck. Disastrously and dangerously, he believed in literal exterior “demons.” (Now, he has been superseded and replaced by more modern, and sophisticated, thinkers.) He called the realm of these supposed evil creatures the “subnatural.”
In similar fashion, the rise of many unhealthy “new age” systems of belief has resurrected the “real demon” of belief in “the evil supernatural,” including, at the extreme, belief in a literal personal “devil” aided by “demons.” These people who truly buy into all this strut and brag; they think that they are smarter than others. But, in reality, they are actually retarding spiritual growth by reverting to a beliefsystem that was popular in the thirteenth century. It is both spiritually regressive and psychologically damaging, until believers can no longer tell what is true, and what is a clever lie. One of the greatest evils in history is not literal “demons,” but the people who believe in them.
*****
*****
MORE
“SATANABSURDITY”
Extremism, in Christianity as in Islam, has always appealed to a sick and dangerous part of the mind; those who follow it end up in weird and bizarre cults, cutting the throats, or cutting out the hearts, of hapless victims. Some “blood-cults,” members of which drink blood and pretend to be “vampires,” are based on the belief in “satan.” Throughout history, belief in a personal “devil” has created ugly, stupid, and ridiculous secondary beliefs, and cults with beliefs that are messy, violent, absurd, and agonizing.
Many sick believers believe that they are especially persecuted (a common form of mental illness called “paranoia”), and they also think themselves, in a related illness, “haunted” by “evil spirits.” Many fundies, including the Jehovah’s Witnesses, buy into this dark and insane worldview. This is a species of “shared hallucinatory mental illness,” say professionals.
“Demons” are supposed to be millennia in age, wonderfully educated in terrible arts, giant and powerful, hugely wiser than any human being has ever dreamed of becoming. Their knowledge is said to be breath-taking, and their power is all but irresistible. They can control matter and minds with fluid and effortless ease. But these same “demons,” fundies teach, can be terrified by a Bible, or even a single word. (The name “Jehovah,” the ancient “king of the demons,” is used to frighten them away.) They are almost as vulnerable as children, or beings made of smoke, to certain rituals found in magic—often a popular form of magic from the Dark Ages called “Jehovah” magic. This is enucleated around the name “Jehovah”—a mistranslation of the Hebrew name “Yahweh,” who was the “ruler of demons” in ancient mythology. The vaunted “power” of the “demons,” reputed to be massive and incredibly strong, is revealed to be amusingly fragile in the face of ritual. These brilliant superbeings might also choose to spend their ten-thousand-year lifetimes locked into an old ring, book, couch, or other disappointingly common object.
A problem with this view is that “demons” can’t be both extraordinarily and supernaturally powerful and yet suffer from this almost-hilarious weakness and fragility! Yet these are the interwoven contradictory qualities of the “demons” of historical tradition, and of fundyism.”Exorcisms” are often done “off the top of the head,” without planning. The name “Jehovah” might be repeated superstitiously, and a book, or an old mattress, in which a “demon” is thought “to be living,” is burned. In older societies, the “witch” herself was often burned alive. But fundies refuse to see how they are following this very same dark and vicious tradition, because they recognize its intense cruelty and backwards insanity. Yet, still, they follow it, because they can see no alternatives. So, when a poor uneducated fundy thinks that a “demon” is influencing her, she calls to her home the ignorant “elders,” and they perform a simple (they are not too bright) ceremony of “exorcism”—although the Jehovah’s Witnesses would never call it that. They burn books, easy-chairs, televisions, beds, crucifixes, and all other objects which they regard as “demonized.” Then, the “demonized” (mentally ill) person has a tiny and very shortlasting period of psychogenic (mindcaused) relief. At times, it lasts for only moments, and the victim then begins compulsively to look around for something else that must be burned.
Among fundies and some “new agers,” there are “professional exorcists” who are making the situation much worse by validating the mental illness called “demonism”—the belief that “evil spirits” can “live in” objects and people. Imagine, again, a being of vast wisdom and incredible power living in an old, smelly mattress! Yet this is the unlikely claim of those who believe!
Believers often suffer simultaneously from other mental illnesses. They often project their evil onto others. Snakes are common target-objects, for they represent “satanic influences” to the ignorant, based on Genesis. (In this first book of the Bible, the “serpent” appears in the story of Eden, but is nowhere clearly identified as the “devil.” One man claimed that he became “possessed” while staring at snakes in a zoo!
Worse, a person who is obsessed by religion might believe that his wife is “possessed.” This occurs when she refuses to go to his church with him—often, several times a week. Does he secretly want to burn her? It is not at all beyond comprehension that this kind of man might even murder his wife; after all, he would be doing it “for her own good,” that of the children, and “for the good” of the entire community! He might follow the destructive delusion that, if he murdered her, she would have a “better life in heaven,” and he is “helping her to get there.” This is the disgusting result of the belief in “demons” and “possession.” And it has actually happened, in the United States and elsewhere more than once.
In one case, the wife of a religious fanatic bought into the “demon” myth, and developed several “personalities,” including animal-personalities. (This used to be called “multiple personality disorder,” or “mpd,” but is now called “dissociative identity disorder,” or “did.”) She developed paranoia, and became terrified that everyone wanted to rape her. She also cultivated the fear-illusion that she had stomach-cancer. Her crazy husband found her dancing wildly outside, at four am! Exorcism was begun; she was tied to a chair, and starved, deprived of even water, while the exorcist marched around her, screaming at her. She became understandably agitated and violent. Several other “charismatics” joined the exorcism-team, and they also screamed at her.
She owned a collection of lovely figurines made of glass and ceramic.
The exorcists decided that these little precious statues were “demonized,” and
dashed them all to bits! They also went outside and uprooted the beautiful
flowers of her garden, for they thought these also to be “demonized.”
All this had no effect (big surprise). They then tied her to a table, and pried
her eyes and jaws open for the “demons” to exit. Her stomach was also pumped.
In activity that clearly had sexual overtones (very common in almost every
exorcism), they tried to “squeeze the demons” from her womb! She struggled,
cried out, and foamed at the mouth. Instead of getting immediate medical
attention, the team just assumed that all this came from the “demons,” and
ignored her symptoms. When she collapsed finally into a heap of exhaustion and
despair, they at last thought the “demons” defeated. Unfortunately, there were
still two left inside her! And the painful, depleting rituals continued without
letup. In fact, the “exorcists” had renewed determination to “expel the
“demons.” This poor victim of these wild superstitions finally died of internal
injuries. So, “witch-hunters” still kill “witches,” but just under a different
disguise
This kind of lethal tragedy occurs all the time in exorcism: Many innocents, mostly women (for sexual perverts) and children, die every year! Many die of cardiac arrest. After the woman in the above story died, the exorcist “commanded her” to return to life; unsurprisingly, she remained obstinately dead. Her nutty husband, the religious zealot, announced, at her funeral, that she would return to life. But she still remained peacefully dead, unaffected by the powerful beliefs of her husband, her exorcist, and several other “true believers,” who joined the two fanatics in strong belief and prayer. The conscious mind has almost no effect on the material world, as these stupid and violent men proved beyond any reasonable doubt. All their prayers, and beliefs, had no effect on the dead woman. But their belief in “demons” had killed her!
The fanatic’s zeal of her husband had killed her; so, these powerful beliefs can be contagious, like the flu. Thus, especially vulnerable personalities must take care to select carefully their regular associates.
The belief in “demons” is a subtle plague that is infecting minds, and needs to be stopped. We have seen the horrific effects that it can have in society. It is a bloody, murderous, violent, horrific, often sexually sadistic, belief that kills the innocent and satisfies the lusts of the insane.
*****
*****
DO “PSYCHIC
VAMPIRES” REALLY EXIST?
In the last couple of decades, an odd and dark subculture has revealed itself. This is the weirdly and wildly unconventional microminority that selfidentifies as “vampires.” Some go so far as even to drink the blood of human and animal victims. (This is nothing really new to carnivores, for meat can very rarely be completely drained of all blood.)
These people are mentally ill. They suffer from an illness called “non-human selfidentification syndrome (nss).” This same syndrome includes other forms of selfidentification, including those people who see themselves as “part-alien,” alien-hybrids, werewolves, or the “chosen people” of God.
This form of mental imbalance infects those who feel strongly alienated from, and powerless in the presence of, other people. What all of these groups share in common is a form of cultpsychology. This is the same psychological malformation that inflicts members of the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Scientists, and various gurucults. Members of the “vampire community” feel strongly uncomfortable among “normal” or average people, and this inclines them to selfidentify as members of a special group, or even a different species, or life-form. They express this profound discomfort and alienation by masking their sad loneliness and alienation by pretending that they have a good, sound reason to rationalize it, or explain it away: They are selfidentified as either “superior” humans (“chosen people syndrome”) or they are not truly “human” at all. (A tiny group selfidentifies as “Klingons” or “Vulcans” from “Star Trek,” but this is a much milder form of the disorder; it is a bit more serious when someone decides actually to learn the “Klingon” language, which is fictional.) People who selfidentify as “vampires” are as seriously disturbed as the “Star People,” (see September 2010 issue), who think that they are “part extraterrestrial.”
But if we recognize, as history confirms, that “vampires” are purely fictional—in the same category as the werewolf, Frankenstein’s monster, and bug-eyed “aliens” from the 1950’s—we are then compelled to ask whether “psychic vampires” really exist. (These are often called “psyvamps” or “psivamps.”) That is, do human beings exist who are living off the life-force of others in the same way that fictional vamps live from consuming human blood?
If the question is more generic, the answer might be affirmative. For if we are inquiring whether some live off the lifenergy of others, the answer is yes. We all know people who seem empty of their own resources, and who depend on others to “take care of them,” in extreme or unhealthy ways. But the term “psivamp” usually implies more: It often refers to a person who actually draws energy from the aura of healthier people, draining it of energy. This “psivamp” is as much fiction as is the Draculian variety. There is no real evidence that these psivamps actually exist.
You might, however, feel “drained” of energy in the prolonged presence of certain people. (This is more likely a personal “antinergy” in which your personal energies are incongruous with those of another. It might be karmic.)
If so, you would do best simply to avoid these people. But a healthy mind does not fall into paranoia. So, you would not go to extreme measures to avoid those with whom you do not feel a synergy, nor would you allow fear to keep you from encountering them. (Fear is the root of all forms of mental and spiritual illness.)
So, take care to keep your energy-field as healthy as it can be. (Methods for this include regular meditation, good music, bright color, prayer, aromatherapeutic agents, flowers, colorvisualization, laughter, positivity, etc.) Regular and positive spiritual reading and education can also keep your personal energyfield bright and clean. So can regular association with positive spiritual people.
It is a complex, and sometimes dark, world. But we need not adopt extraordinary measures to remain uncontaminated by this cynical and materially-obsessed world Instead, we must live in simplicity, generosity, Love, and nongreed. If we do, we will invite and nourish the very best blessings that the universe has to offer.
*****
*****
ASTOUNDING CLAIMS OF REVERSE TECHNOLOGY
In 1997, lieutenant colonel Phillip Corso released the book The Day After Roswell. In this book, he made the astounding claim that he was the person in charge of “reverse engineering” French, German, and other technologies, and creating American technologies from them. But his claim does not stop there; he also claims that, shortly after the notorious 1947 crash of a ufo in Roswell, he actually saw an alien body on its way to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He further claims that, later, he was the person appointed to “back-engineer,” or “reversengineer” actual alien technology. It was “extraterretech,” or “extraterrestrial technology,” that, he claims, was the source of all modern communications, for it was the origin of fibertech (fiber optics), night-vision tech, and many other revolutionary techs, including miniaturization of circuitry and the creation of microchips—making modern computers possible. Much in lasertech was also made possible by alientech. Fiberoptic cables ran, he claims, much in the ufos, replacing the antique tech of copper wiring. Fiberoptictech made it possible for light to “go around corners.” Other “superstrong fibers were developed into “bulletproof” shields.
*****
*****
LOVING YOUR
BODY BUT AVOIDING FANATICISM
The spiritual person does not eat well because she wants to stay on earth for a century or more. That is usually unrealistic. Earth is a school, and you do not “live” in a school. Instead, you do your studies, and take your exams, and then, you go home. Nor is it desirable to “stay as long as possible” in school.
So, the enlightened do not want to stay on earth for an extremely long time. They want to learn all that they have come here to learn, and then, they want to leave. They want to return home, to the “Homeworld,” a “parallel” universe which is much like earth, but without its continuous strains, hassles, pains, discomforts, diseases, aging, and plethora of other imperfections.[1]
But the enlightened continue in, and even increase, their Love for their “donkeys” (physical bodies). Thus, they are healthconscious, in a moderate way. Being people of the “middle Way,” they avoid extremism. They do not always avoid anything that might be disapproved in a “perfect” diet. For they know that nothing in this world is “perfect.” So, they eat carefully (often, minimally) out of Love for their bodies, and not because they are “afraid” of certain chemicals. (The life of fear is the opposite of the life of Love; fear is a “demon,” and the people of Light refuse to serve it.) So, we use vitamins and herbs; we might choose to take them every day. This is because we love our donkeys.
But we have all heard of the man or woman who is religious in visits to the gym, who never allows a grain of sugar to pass her lips, who takes handsful of herbs and drinks quarts of exotic teas, who has zero body-fat, and who dies at the age of forty. On the other hand, we all know people who seem to have no body-consciousness at all, and yet, live to be ninety or older, in fairly good health. What is the answer to this dark mystery? It is this: Your time of death is determined before you are born. It is then “fed into” your dna. So are all other major factors of health. You can make your body healthier, but only peripherally, in this life, by making modifications in diet, using vitamins, minerals, and herbs supplementally. In fact, you must do your best in this area, for it represents a major Love in your life—Love for your donkey.
But if the spiritual person really believes that everything is in the dna, does she just lie around, do nothing, and wait passively for death? No way! Instead, she is very interested in making her body as healthy as it can be, within those dna perimeters. She can do very much to make herself, her donkey, more comfortable, happier, and more energetic in this life. Allowing herself to become superfat, for example, is actually an act of passive violence against her own donkey. For she is harming it, and we are forbidden by Love from doing this.
This is where the Taoistic perspective comes in.[In this philosophy, we learn to accept without resistance whatever our souls have chosen as our bodily conditions. Arrogantly, some assume that their egos know better than their souls (deeper minds). Some even try to equate the egomind with the mind of God, and try to “take over” the universe through “prayer, affirmation,” etc.
*****
Positive thinking is much better than negative thinking.
*****
But it cannot, and will not, change anything or everything. We must reasonably recognize its real limits: Jesus said that we cannot “change one hair from white to black.”
Those who feel that the conscious mind can and should control everything still cannot violate this reasonable observation made by Jesus. They tremendously overestimate the power of the conscious mind, and would even argue that the wise mystical Taoist perspective, in “allowing” allows the body to be less healthy. But resist an imperfection “tooth and nail,” as they recommend, and it will make little or no difference in the longrun.] The enlightened learns to accept what her soul has “programmed in” to her dna. She does not resist this, but, if there is any way to help, aid, or heal, her donkey, she is determined to pursue it. [For it might, at any time, be the “right” time for a (partial or complete) healing.] So, she will pursue anything that promises to help her body to be more efficient, more comfortable, or both. For this is what Love demands.
*****