Special Report

A Being of Spirit in a World of Abundance

A Compilation of the Best New Ideas from Andrew Harvey, Ram Dass, Joan Borysenko, Bruce Lipton, Neale Donald Walsch, Jean Bolen, and Others, edited by

Dawson ChurCh, PhD

author of

The Genie in Your Genes Epigenetic Medicine and the New Biology of Intention

www.GenieBestseller.com

see

uPDates at

EliteBooks SantaRosa,CA95403 www.EliteBooksOnline.com www.EnergyPsychologyPress.com

Allchapters2010bytheauthorsand/orEliteBooks,exceptwherenoted. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem, ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopy,recordingor otherwise,withoutpriorwrittenpermissionfromAuthor'sPublishing/EliteBooks,withthe exceptionofshortexcerptsusedwithacknowledgmentofpublisherandauthor.

TypesetinMonaLisaandBookAntiqua

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION:DAWSONCHURCH:WhyHealth& WealthGoTogether.......................................................................... 4 1. BRUCELIPTON:TheChingandI.............................................. 17 . 2. DEBBIEFORD:HateIsNotaSexyWord................................... 31 3. ANDREWHARVEY:MysticalActivism..................................... 38 4. RAMDASS:ComingDownfromtheMountain....................... 51 5. NEALEDONALDWALSCH:TomorrowsGodinAction...... 54 6. HUSTONSMITH:TheNewsofEternity ................................... 64 . 7. ANGIEGRAINGER:TheShadowSideofMoney.................... 71 8. JEANSHINODABOLEN:WomensCircles RippleintoPeace....................................................................... 84

9. GAYHENDRICKS:BedroomWarsMeetBosnianWars.......... 92 10. JOANBORYSENKO:PuttingtheSoulBackinMedicine........ 99

Dawson ChurCh:
Why Health & Wealth Go Together
ealthy, Wealthy and Wise. Thats an old saying, but one as true today as back then. Why do health and wealth so oftenintersectforwisepeople?Andhowcanyoubecome oneofthem? If you look at wealthy people, youre often struck by how healthytheyare.FlipthroughthepagesofFortunemagazineorThe Economistmagazines read by the most influential people in the worldand you wont find a lot of ailing corporate executives or world leaders. Thats because they have access to the best health informationintheworld. NoticethatIsaidhealthinformationandnothealth care.Whatpasses forhealthcareinmostWesternsocietieslags,calledthestandardof care, often lags years or even decades behind the best information currently available.All kinds of cures and diagnostic tools that are availabletothewisestandbest-informedpeopleareunknowntothe mainstream medical professions. Youve probably read about some amazingbreakthrough,butthencometotheparagraphneartheend ofthearticlewheretheresearcherscautionthatitwillbefivetofifteen years before that discovery becomes a viable therapy. The way that
Dawson Church, PhD, founded Soul Medicine Institute to research and teach emerging psychological and medical techniques that can yield fast and radical cures. His book, The Genie in Your Genes (wwwGenieBestseller.com), pioneers the field of Epigenetics, explaining the remarkable self-healing mechanisms now emerging from this science. He has authored several scientific studies of Energy Psychology, and through EFT Power Training (www.EFTPowerTraining. com), teaches groups how to apply these breakthroughs to health and athletic performance.

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medicine is structured stops many good therapies from becoming widespread,evenwhentheyhaveboatloadsofscientificproofabout theirbenefits. However,wealthypeoplehavewaysofgettingtotheheadofthe queue.Recently,aholisticdoctorcolleagueofminevisitedapatient tomakeadiagnosis.Thisphysicianisabrilliantdiagostician,andthe patientsfatherwantedasecondopinionfromhim. Sothefathersenthisexecutivejettopickuptheneurosurgeon, flewhimtohisdaughtershouse,paidhimanenormousfee,andgot myfriendsbestjudgmentastothemostadvancedcoursesoftherapy availabletohisdaughter.Themethodsatthisdoctorsdisposalgofar beyondwhataconventionalhospitalcanoffer. Ive been writing about healing for over twenty years. My first book was an anthology called The Heart of the Healer, and it was publishedin1987.Itincludedessaysbysomeofthemostprescient healthwritersofourage,includingLarryDossey,BernieSiegel,and Joan Borysenko. A completely revised update appeared recently as The Heart of Healing. MymostrecentbookiscalledThe Genie in Your Genes (www.GenieBestseller.com), and it has the latest information onthenewfieldofepigenetics:howgenesareturnedonandoffby informationcomingfromoutsidethecell. Howcanyouturngenesonandoff,or,inthejargon,up-regulate ordown-regulategeneexpression?Therearemanyways,andthere is good evidence to suggest that your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, visualizations, emotionsand aspects of your spiritual life like meditation, prayerchange the energy field of your body in a mannerthataffectsgeneregulation.Thegenesmostreadilyaffected arethestressgenes.Thesegenes,inturn,affectyourimmunesystem, and many other body systems. This is the kind of information that is enormously exciting to the most advanced biologists and physiologists,butvirtuallyunknowntothedoctorpracticingatyour local HMO. This is the kind of information that the wealthiest and best-informedpeoplehaveaccessto,andthattheyareawareofmany yearsordecadesaheadofthegeneralpublic.

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Inthisreport,Igiveyousomeofthemostpowerfulinsightsof someofthebestmindsworkingtoday.Youllfindideasherethatonly thewealthiestofpeople,likethemanthatflewmydoctorfriendin hisexecutivejet,haveaccessto.Bestofall,youwilllearnhowtoturn thisinformationintopracticaltechniquestoboostyourownhealth.

Beliefs and Your Immune System

You cannot get the right answers until you ask the right questions. The way experiments are set up has a big effect on the resultstheyprovide.Ifyoudesignaquestionnairetodeterminethe degreeofpsychopathologiessuchastraumaticstress,depression,and schizophreniainsubjects,youwillfindwhatyouarelookingfor.But you will not find out how ethical, joyful, altruistic, or devout those subjectsare. Onlyveryrecentlyhavescientistsbeguntoasktherightquestions whenitcomestobeliefs.AttheBehavioralMedicineInstituteatthe UniversityofMiami,researcherGailIronsonhasdoneseverallarge scale studies with AIDS patients. She examined the link between belief and the immune system. Specifically, she measured the concentrationofatypeofwhitebloodcellcalledCD4orT-helpercells inthebloodstreamsofhersubjects.Thesecellsformpartofthefront lineofdefenseforourimmunesystem. She discovered that those patients who believed in a punishing GodlostCD4cellsatmorethantwicetherateofthosewhobelievedin alovingGod.Herstudiesshowedanenormouslystronglinkbetween spiritualityandtherobustnessoftheimmunesystem.Aswedesign moresuchexperimentstomeasuretheeffectsofconsciousness,such as belief, faith, prayer, visualization, and affirmation on our bodies, we are finding that what you believe has a huge impact on your healthandlongevity.

Between Iraq and a Hard Place

LieutenantBarryGomezwasdeployedinIraqduringthesecond GulfWar.Hesuffersfromposttraumaticstressdisorder(PTSD).He

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hasmanycommonsymptomsofPTSDincludingheadaches(upto5a week),insomnia,rectalbleeding,andfrequentinvoluntaryflashbacks tomemoriesofsomeoftheterriblesightshewitnessedinIraq.Heres howLieutenantBarrytellshisstory: Aftermymedicaldischargein2003,IreturnedtoWestVirginia to find that my now ex-wife had become addicted to crack and I hadnohome,car,oranythingtocallmine.Friendstriedtohelpbut unfortunately,Isufferfromanextremeamountofpride,soIaskedno oneforhelp.IsleptonbenchesfortwomonthsuntilIsavedenough moneytosecureanapartment. Whileintheservice,Iwasaleaderofmen.Aftermyseparation, Iwaslostandunsureofthefuture.Iwasdepressedandatonepoint suicidal. My dreams are of burnt bodies talking to me and to this daythesmelllingersinmymindcausingmetovomit.Idontsleep forfearofdreamingandsometimeswhenIdofalltosleep;myfinal thoughtiswillIwakeinthemorningorwillallthisfinallybeover. Note how in Lieutenant Barrys story, theres a strong link between the images in his mind, the sensations in his body, and his degree of emotional stress. The connection between unresolved emotional trauma and disease is one of the most well-established links in medicine. In one study, done at an HMO called Kaiser Permanente, which has over nine million members, 17,400 adults wereexaminedforthislink.Thisstudy,theACEstudy(ACEstands forAdverseChildhoodExperiences),foundthatpatientswithahigh degreeofchildhoodemotionalwoundinghadhigherratesof:
Cancer Heart Disease High Blood Pressure Stroke Diabetes Bone Fractures Depression Smoking Illicit Drug Use

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People with large amounts of adverse childhood experiences werethirtytimesmorelikelytoattemptsuicide,fivetimesmorelikely tobedepressed,andthreetimesaslikelytosmoke.Andspeakingof smoke, the distinguished authors of the study compared the efforts of Western medicine to a heroic fire crew trying to extinguish a burninghousebydirectingtheirhosesatthesmoke,whileignoring theflames.Emotionaltraumaistheflamefromwhichthesmokeof muchphysicaldiseasesprings,acorrelationthathasbeenreaffirmed bynumerousotherstudies. Butwhilemedicalprofessionalshavebeenawareoftheproblem, until recently they lacked the tools to reverse emotional trauma rapidly and reliably. Today, new research brings good news for Lieutenant Barry and others like him. Hes enrolled in a study designed and sponsored by Soul Medicine Institute and held at Marshall University medical school that treats PTSD sufferers with EnergyPsychology.

Your Psychology Becomes Your Physiology

Energy Psychology is a group of therapies that holds out the possibilityofrapidchange,evenforconditionsandbeliefsthathave stubbornly resisted transformation by other means. These therapies maketinychangestotheelectromagneticenergygridofthebody,by tapping,massagingorrubbingkeypointsonyourmeridians,energy pathwaysidentifiedthousandsofyearsagoinChina.Whenasubject vividlyrecallsapasttrauma,andthenappliesanenergytherapy,the emotional trauma attached to the memory is often extinguished immediately, and permanently. Energy psychology is commonly usedforpain,forphobias,foranxiety,fordepression,andforPTSD. ItisnowundergoingclinicaltrialsinGreatBritainsNationalHealth Service, as well as in several universities and medical schools in NorthAmerica. WithEnergyPsychology,therapistsnowhaveapowerfultoolkit tofightthefire,andextinguishthekindlingbelowthesmoke.Studies

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at Soul Medicine Institute are showing remarkable physical healing resultingfromthealleviationofemotionaltrauma. Inoneofseveralrelatedexperiments,weaskedasimpleresearch question:Ifweknowthatunresolvedtraumacontributestophysical disease, what happens to a physical disease when you discharge emotionaltrauma? Tofindout,weusedaverysimplephysicalmeasure.Werecruited people with stiff and frozen shoulders. Many of our subjects had sufferedfromshoulderlimitationsforyears,andsometimesdecades. Astifforfrozenshouldermightnotsoundtoobadifyoudonthave one, but our subjects described functional limitations ranging from notbeingabletobrushtheirteethwithouthelp,tonotbeingableto raisetheirhandshighenoughtodriveacar. Whatwouldhappentoafrozenshoulder,wewondered,afteran EnergyPsychologytreatment?Ifashoulderthathadbeenlockedat, for instance, only 50 degrees out of a possible 130 degrees for over ten years improved to 70 degrees, while untreated shoulders did not show a similar improvement, we would have evidence that the emotionalenergytreatmentwashavingaphysicaleffectonthebody. When subjects arrived at the clinic for our shoulder study, an OccupationalTherapistusedameasuringdevicecalledagoniometer to measure the range of motion in each shoulder to within three degrees. We also gave them a psychological health questionnaire to fillout,andnotedtheseverityoftheirpain. Then, we gave them a very brief treatment with Emotional FreedomTechniquesorEFT,themostcommonlyusedformofEnergy Psychology. The treatment lasted just half an hour. That seems like an impossibly short time to affect a shoulder that might have been frozenformanyyears;butremember,whenyouchangetheenergy field,youchangetheunderlyingmattertoo.Thinkaboutironfilings suspendedinapatternbetweentwomagnets.Whenyouchangethe position of a magnet, the iron filings move immediately. You dont havetopushthemaroundwithafingertoachievethiseffect;matter conformstotheenergypatternsinwhichitexists.Yourcellsarethe

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sameway;changeyourenergyfield,andthemoleculesofyourbody areaffected. One cool autumn afternoon in Marin County, California, when Iwasplanningtheshoulderstudy,Idrovethroughtheyellowsand orangesoffallsturningleaves.IwasheadedtoabookstorewhereI wasscheduledtogivealectureandsigncopiesofThe Genie in Your Genes.Ihadanhourtotalk,andwithjustfiveminutesleft,Iasked if any member of the audience had a problem they would like to workon. Onewomanintheaudiencehadashoulderissue.Tall,fit,ravenhairedandarticulate,shewasbraveenoughtowalkuptothefront of the room and tell everyone her story. She said she had had her problem for 17 years. She raised her arm forward and sideways to demonstrate,andthefurthestshecouldliftitwasaboutafootfrom herhip.Shetoldusthat,seventeenyearsbefore,sheworkedinatiny officewhereshehadtoreachbehindhertopulloutthefilecabinet drawer, which would jam. This affected her shoulder, and it had beenthesameeversince.Shealsodescribedsomeproblemswithher youngdaughterthathadoccurredaroundthesametime. Withjustafewmomentsleftformydemonstration,Iworkedon herwithEFT,targetingbothherlimitedrangeofmovementandthe issueswithherchild.Ithenaskedhertoraiseherarmagain.Hereyes openedwide,asherarmnowliftedaboutthreefeetfromherhipin bothdimensions.Ivegrownusedtothislookofwide-eyedwonder overtheyearsofdoingthiswork,anditalwaysremindsmeofthe humanjoyofhavingaproblemremoved. TheinitialresultsofthefrozenshoulderstudyatSoulMedicine Institute have been equally provocative. Initial tests show subjects regainingaround20degreesofmovement.Thosegivennotreatment showedlittleornoimprovement.Whenwere-testedpeopleamonth later, their shoulders had regained even more movement. Finding theemotionallytraumaticevents,andreleasingthisstuckenergy,is likechangingthemagnets.Theironfilingsthennaturallyfallintoa healthiershape.Itwasgratifyingtoseethechangeinthelivesofthe

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people we treated. Some even gained a greater range of movement in their previously frozen shoulder than they had in the normal shoulder! Howisthistypeofhealinglinkedtospirituality?Whatisthelink betweenhealingouremotionalwoundsandlivingfromoursouls? When were tugged this way and that way by our emotional reactions to triggering events, our attention is constantly absorbed in them. We wake up in the morning, and start the day by getting triggeredbyourdomesticpartners,byourchildren,bytheweather, bythoughtsoftheworkdayahead. On our commute, were triggered by the behavior of other driversorpassengers,bythenewsoftheday(invariablybadnews), byworriesaboutthefuture,orregretsaboutthepast.Whenweget towork,ouremotionsaretuggedhitherandyonbythegoodand bad things happening in our work life. Good things elate us whilebadthingsdeflateus. When we get home, we turn on the TV, and our emotions are thenpulledandpushedbytheprogramswewatch.Wesleep,dream, andrepeattheprocess,adriftonaseaofemotionalwaves.Thesound track of emotional ups and downs leaves us little time to reflect, to contemplate,todiscover,andtocreate.Allthesebeneficialactivities requireunpluggingfromthesensorycacophonyaroundus. Our stress response, the fight or flight syndrome, is engaged whenever were negatively emotionally triggered. When were stressed,acascadeofhormonesfloodsourbody,fromadrenalineto cortisol,gettingusreadyforemergenciesthatmaynevermaterialize. The genes that provide our cells with the code to build these stress hormones are called into action, and, within seconds, start doing their job. Stressful emotions, thoughts and situations are epigenetic triggers. Epi means above; the term epigenetic indicates influences fromoutsidethecellthatactivateourDNA.Emotionaltraumasends andepigeneticsignalactivatingourstressgenestostartconstructing cortisolandotherbiochemicalbuildingblocksofsurvival.

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Except that this high stress level is no longer useful for our survival. Its an evolutionary relic that is shortening our lives, not lengtheningthem,causingdisease,notsavingusfromit.Thelistof theeffectsofhavinghighcortisollevelsinoursystemsforprolonged periodsmakesdepressingreading.Itincludes:
High blood pressure Reduced memory & learning High blood sugar Heart disease Diminished cell repair Accelerated aging Slower wound healing Reduced bone repair Decreased circulating immune cells Diminished immune antibodies Death of brain cells Reduced muscle mass Decreased skin cell repair Increased fat deposits around waist/hips Osteoporosis

Most of the Iraq veterans weve studied that have PTSD have elevatedcortisollevels.Everyflashbacktheyhavecallsforththefight orflightresponsefromtheirbodies,andarushofcortisolandother stress biochemicals. Energy psychology releases that stress. It sends an epigenetic signal to our stress genes saying, Dangers passed, everthingsOK,youcanstanddownnow.Andtheydo.Afterjusta singleonehoursessionwithanEnergyPsychologyspecialist,weve seen the cortisol levels of people plummet by an average of 21%, an astonishing result. Their physical symptoms begin to disappear. LieutenantBarrysays: Recently I participated in a study administered bySoul Medicine Institute. I see the improvement within myself. I have learned to control the vomiting, Ive increased my sleep, and the anxiety attacks have lessened. I hope that other vets will find help and do so faster than I did. I have learned that it doesnt make me weakaskforhelp.

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Theseimprovementsaretypicalofadecreasedcortisolresponse. Those who have worked with Lieutenant Barry have been deeply movedbyhisstory.Wevenowstartedanewonlineinitiativecalled theIraqVetsStressProject(www.StressProject.org)tohookthemup withtherapistswhoofferEnergyPsychologytreatments.Psychiatrists estimatethatperhaps200,000Iraqvetsandtheirfamiliesmayhave PTSD, so the challenge to our society is daunting. Only treatments thatareabletorapidlyofferhelptobiggroupsofpeoplearegoing to be able to address a social problem of this magnitude. And our experiments at Soul Medicine Institute have demonstrated at 63% dropinPTSDinveteransaftertreatmentwithEnergyPsychology,as wellashugedropsindepression,anxietyandhostility.

What About Healthy People?

Oneintriguingquestionthatoccurredtomerecentlywas:What happenswhenyouusethesesamemethodsnotwithsickpeople,but withwellones?Whathappenswhenyoutakepeoplewhoarealready peak performers, and address emotional issues that might still be holdingthemback? Inearly2006,ayoungbaseballplayerforOregonStateUniversity (OSU),JorgeReyes,learnedEnergyPsychologyfromGregWarburton, a local therapist who also uses these techniques with veterans. He taught the technique to another player, and both surged ahead in their playing ability. The OSU baseball team went on to win the national college championship. Impressed, many other members of theteamlearnedthemethods,andOSUthenwonthechampionship in2007foranunprecedentedsecondconsecutiveyear. The OSU athletic director, Bob DeCarolis, heard the story, and this led to an invitation to me to visit the university and perform a randomized controlled double blind trial (thats science-speak for the highest possible standard of proof) of Energy Psychology with the mens and womens basketball teams. The conditions were challenging; the therapists, veteran sports psychologists Greg WarburtonandStaceyVornbrock,wereaskedtoproduceanincrease

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inathleticperformanceinjustfifteenminutesoftreatment.Imagine being a therapist working under such conditions: an athlete who youvenevermetbeforewalksintoyouroffice,andyoureexpected to create rapport, surface their emotional issues, treat them, and improvetheirperformanceasjudgedinrigorousscientificconditions, injustquarterofanhour. The criteria which we measured were the height to which the athletes could jump, and also how many free throws they were capableofdunkinginthebasket. The results were stunning. Seven of the athletes in the Energy Psychology group jumped at the same height or higher after treatment, compared to 4 in the sham treatment group, though the results as a whole were not statistically significant. But it was on themeasureoffreethrowsthatEnergyPsychologytreatmentreally shone. The group that got Energy Psychology treatment had their performance increase by 21%, while the group that got a placebo or fake treatment declined by 17% over the two hour course of the session.Dataanalysisshowedthattherewaslessthanonepossibility in 30 that such a result could have occurred purely by chance. This study gave me the first hard numbers showing that, when applied tohealthypeople,thesemethodscouldincreasetheperformanceof evenpeakperformers.

Hearing the Voice of Your Inner Genius

When people are no longer dogged by ill health, inner and outer emotional wars, and psychological stresses, they are open to newopportunities.Thereistimeforcreativity,timeforjoy,timefor joy,timeforself-nurturing.Theygetintouchwiththevoiceofsoul and spirit within, and begin to imagine the most brilliant creative endeavorsofwhichtheyarecapable.Likethewealthymanwhoput thetopphysicianonaprivatejet,theyhaveaccesstothebestpossible healthoptionsavailable. Just imagine what your life would look like if you could leave behind the stresses you experience today. Sure, those people or

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events might still be there, but they would no longer bother you. Andwhentheystoppedbotheringyou,prettysoonyourelikelyto find them disappearing, and in their place, you find fresh, loving faces,andexcitingnewopportunities.Whenitsuncovered,thewell of joy and creativity inside you begins to create a new life for you, aswellasanewbody.Whenstressdisappears,yourcortisoldrops, youfeelbetter,andyoudiscoveryourecapableofawholenewlevel offunctioning.Youhaveincreasedopennesstoabundance,yousee new ways of delivering value to other people, and making money inexchange. When your ears arent filled with the chatter of reactivity and thecacophonyofnegativity,andyourlifeisfreeofstress-generated mindless actions and the prolonged cleanup operations that result fromthesubsequentmess,thenthestill,smallvoicewithinyoumay beheard.Themusicoftheuniversebecomeslouderandlouderinthe silencegeneratedbytheabsenceofchargedauto-chatter,andweare abletohearthewhisperedinstructionsofthesoul,therustleofangel wings, and the divine harmony of the spheres. A composer might hearupliftingmusic;amechanicanadjustmentleadingtoaperfectly tuned engine; a teacher might intuit the needs of a troublesome childssoul,andascientistmightconceivearesearchprojectaskinga newquestionthatleadstoaprofitablebreakthrough.Health,wealth andwisdomreallydogotogether. Thats the promise of the ideas and therapies Ive talked about above,andwhicharecoveredingreaterdetailinthisreport.Sogive yourselfthegiftofbeinghealthy,wealthyandwise;taketheseideas andrunwiththem.Applytheminyourlife,andyouwillbeamazed atthedifferencetheycanmake.

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BruCe lIPton:
The Ching and I

he global crisis precipitated by the events of September 11, 2001wasaturningpointforWesterncivilization.Thetragedy servedasawake-upcall,alertingustothefactthatourway oflifeiswreakinghavocintheglobalcommunityandoursurvival isnowinquestion.Anothermuch-lessheard,butnolessimportant wake-upcallaboutoursurvivalwassoundedatthesametimebya community of concerned biologists. The scientists warned that the rapid disappearance of a wide variety of species has catapulted us deepintothesixthmassextinctiontohittheplanetsincetheorigin oflife.Unlikethefirstfivesuchmassivedie-offs,attributedtoextraterrestrial sources such as comets, the current wave of extinctions isduetoasourcemuchclosertohome:humans.TheSeptember11 tragedy and the disturbing rate at which species are disappearing onthisplanetarecrisesthatshouldforceustopauseandreconsider thepathuponwhichourculturehasembarked.Again,theproblem isntjustthemassmedia.Wehavedeeplyingrainedculturalscripts thatinsistonthedominanceofmenandthesubmissionofwomen. Accordingtothesescripts,whichareallaroundusandinus,women wanttobedominatedandhumiliated,andthinkmenwhodominate
Bruce Lipton, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized authority in bridging science and spirit. A cell biologist by training, he taught Anatomy at the University of Virginia, and later performed pioneering studies at Stanford Universitys School of Medicine. He has been a guest speaker on dozens of TV and radio shows, as well as keynote presenter for national conferences. His breakthrough studies on the cell membrane presaged the new science of Epigenetics, and made him a leading voice of the new biology. He is the author of the best-selling books The Biology of Belief and Spontaneous Evolution; see www.brucelipton.com.

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themaresexy;Thesemessagestellusthateveryoneintheseunequal relationshasagreattime. By their very nature, crises are harbingers of change, so when Istartedponderingthesewake-upcalls,Iturnedtothe I Ching,the Book of Changes. This ancient Chinese divination manual offers insight into the fundamental questions that have perplexed human beingssincetheirarrivalonthisplanet.Iwasparticularlydrawnto theIChinghexagramfortheReturning(#24),firstintroducedto me by Fritjof Capra in his influential book, The Turning Point. The Returning symbol offers three pronouncements: 1. After a time of decaycomestheturningpoint.2.Thepowerfullightthathasbeen banishedreturns.3.Thereismovement,butitisnotbroughtabout byforce. Thesethreeancientpronouncementsoffervaluableinsightsinto ourcurrentsocialandpoliticalcrises.Butbeforewelaunchintothat discussion,IdliketotellyouhowmylifeasatransformedscientistbeganinordertosetacontextforwhyIturnedtoanunscientificoracleliketheI Chingforunderstandinganddirectionaboutthe fixwefindourselvesintoday. Asacellularbiologist,myworkhasalwaysbeendrivenbythe desire to understand the nature of life. I will never forget the first time I used an electron microscope in graduate school. The large control console of the microscope resembled the instrument panels ofaBoeing747.Itwasfilledwithswitches,illuminatedgaugesand multicolored indicator lamps. Large tentacle-like arrays of thick powercords,waterhosesandvacuumlinesradiatedfromthebase ofthemicroscopeliketaprootsatthetrunkofatree.Thesoundof clankingvacuumpumpsandthewhirofrefrigeratedwaterrecirculatorsfilledtheair.ForallIknew,IhadjustwalkedontothecommanddeckoftheU.S.S. Enterprise.Apparently,itwasCaptainKirks day off, for sitting at the console was my cell biology professor. I watchedattentivelyasmymentorbegantheelaborateprocedureof introducingatissuespecimenintothehigh-vacuumchamberofthe electronmicroscope.Finally,hebeganincreasingthemagnificationof thetissuespecimen,onestepatatime:first100X,then1,000X,then

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10,000X.Whenwehitwarpdrive,thecellsweremagnifiedtoover 100,000timestheiroriginalsize. ItwasindeedStar Trek,butratherthanenteringouterspacewe weregoingintodeepinnerspacewherenomanhasgonebefore. OnemomentIwasobservingaminiaturecellandsecondslaterIwas flyingdeepintoitsmoleculararchitecture.Iknewthatburiedwithin thecytoarchitectureofthecellwerecluesthatwouldprovideinsight intothemysteriesoflife.Throughoutgraduateschool,postdoctoral researchandintomycareerasamedicalschoolprofessor,mywaking hourswereconsumedbyexplorationsintothemolecularanatomyof thecell. Thoughmyexplorationofthesecretsoflifeledtoasuccessful research career studying cloned stem cells grown in tissue culture, I eventually ran afoul of the scientific establishment because the results of my research forced me to question the dogmas on which cellbiologistsandotherlifescientistsbasetheirwork.Irefertothese dogmasastheThreeAssumptionsoftheApocalypsebecauseIdo notbelievehumancivilizationwillsurviveunlessweturnawayfrom thesefalsebeliefs.Specifically,Irejectedthesethreeassumptions:1) genescontrolbiology;2)evolutionisarandomprocessdrivenbya struggleforthesurvivalofthefittest;and,3)lifecanbeunderstood byonlystudyingthephysicalpartsofthebody. My feeling that these three assumptions were wrong was so strong that I left university life to study independently. Five years afterleavingacademiaIexperiencedamomentofprofoundinsight while pondering the lessons acquired in my own research and in astonishingnewinsightsofleadingedgecellscience.Withastart,I realizedthatthecontrolmechanismforeachindividualcellandby extensionourbodies,whicharemadeupoftrillionsofcellsisthe cellsmembrane:theboundarybetweenthecellsbodyandtheenvironment.Whilethemembraneisthemechanism,theenvironment controlsitsactivities.Signals,i.e.,informationfromtheenvironment, engagemembraneswitchesthatactivatetheverymovementsthat characterizelife.Theindividualityofeachhumanisdistinguishable byauniquesetofmembraneantennas,orself-receptors,displayed

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ontheircellsmembranes.Bytheirnature,membranereceptorsresonatewithanddownloadcomplementaryenvironmentalsignals. Then it struck me: my physical self is resonating with an environmentalself.Theenvironmentalself(i.e.,information)is separatefromandoutlastsourmortalself.Inotherwords,weare immortal,justasspiritualsageshavetoldusforthousandsofyears. Inthatinstant,Iwastransformedfromanagnosticscientistmired inthephysicalworldintoaspiritualscientistwhoconsidersthenonvisible,spiritualside oflifewithasmuchpassionasIconsiderthe physical,visibleworld.Inthatsameinstant,thedooropenedforme tobecomeascomfortableconsultingtheI ChingasIamconsulting thelatestissueofThe Journal of Cell Biology! Indeed, the three pronouncements of the Returning hexagram offerusprofoundandvaluableinsightforthesetroubledtimes. 1. After a time of decay comes the turning point. Amongalloftheworldscultures,thereisahistory,ortobe moreaccurateamythology,abouttheexistenceofaformerutopian era,similartotheGardenofEdendescribedinJudeo-Christianscriptures. Each culture describes a decay, a falling-out with Nature, whereinmankindisessentiallybanishedfromthatperfectworld. In the West, our falling out with Nature occurred when people began to perceive themselves as separate from the world in which theylived.Intheearlieststagesafterthefall,peopleheldthattheir fateswereinthehandsofimmaterialspirits,forcesthattheytriedto appeaseinordertosecureagoodlife.TheancientGreek,Romanand Egyptianpolytheistsbelievedinapanoplyofgodswhocontrolled theiruniverse.Byhonoringandfollowingthewishesofthesegods, citizens could expect to have rewards in life. Those who shunned thewaysofthedeitiesweredestinedtopayfortheirtransgressions throughlivespunctuatedwithpersonaltragedies. The more recent evolution of Judeo-Christianity simplified the worshipprocessbycoalescingallofthegodsintoonealmightyGod andcodifyingHislawsintoscripture,sothatallcouldunderstand what is required to receive the reward of a good life. In the new

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religion, spirituality was no longer associated with the planet, for God and His servants reigned over Earth from a distant, celestial throne. The Church of Rome claimed to be the chosen intercessor between God and humankindits truths infallible because they were directly acquired from and mandated by God. The Church stressedGenesissversionofasixdaycourseofevolutioninwhich Adam and Eve were created separately from the rest of Nature. Humanbeingscametobelievethatourspecialmomentofcreation allowsustoexploitourenvironmentinanywaywedeemservesus. Not only did religious philosophy disconnect us from Nature, thatsamephilosophyalsodestroyedanynotionthatNatureisanally ofhumanity.TheChurchemphasizedamistrustandfearofNature, warningitsfollowersthatthematerialworldisfraughtwithdanger andisanimpedimenttospiritualfulfillment.TheChurchdid,however,honortheEarthsmajesticbeautyasthegranddesignofGod. In fact, the spiritually-based science of that time, Natural Theology, waspremisedontheprinciplethatthelivingwordofGodwastobe found in Nature. Cleric-scientists studied the relationships among theelementsthatcomprisedHisgardensothatwewouldbebetter abletoliveinharmonywithGod. However, the Church didnt want these cleric-scientists to dig too deep into the mysteries of Nature. Puzzling phenomena were not studied. Instead, they were dismissed as mysteries of faith. God, and only God could understand the great mysteries. In fact, thesemysteriesweresooutofboundsforhumanconsideration,that the Church made it a sin to study them. For example, the Church declared the internal workings of the human body off-limitsbanningChristiansfromevenlookinginsideabody.Consequently,only Muslims and Jews were physicians, because their religious philosophiesdidnotconflictwithstudyinghumananatomyandphysiology. The Church suppressed the advancement of scientific research foraveryspecific,self-servingmotive.TheChurchruledonthebasis ofthepoweraffordedbyinfallibleknowledge.Ifscienceventured intotheunknownandcamebackwithanswersthattheChurchdid notpossess,itwouldobviouslycompromisetheirclaimofpower.To

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avoidthatpeskyproblem,peoplewhoofferedtruthsotherthanthose endorsed by the Church were declared heretics and subsequently punishedaccordingtothedecreesoftheInquisition. But over time, the Scientific Revolution toppled the Churchs claim to infallibility. That revolution was launched in 1543 when Nicolas Copernicus published his discovery that the Earth was not thecenteroftheUniverseaswasthoughtbythescientist-theologians oftheday.ThefactthattheEarthactuallyrevolvedaroundthesun, andthatthesunitselfwasnotthecenteroftheuniverse,undermined theteachingsoftheinfallibleChurch.TheinfallibleChurchwas revealedtobefallibleindeed. As modern science evolved, it offered a radically new philosophy about the nature of life and our relationship to the universe. Thenewphilosophywasbuiltonscientifictruthsthatwereverified through accurate observation and measurements of physical world phenomena. Science officially ignored the putative influences of a spiritualrealm,becausetheywerenotamenabletoscientificanalysis. Consequently, civilizations search for Great Truths resulted in an adversarial relationship between science, which preoccupied itself with the physical realm, and religion, which focused on the spiri- tualplane. While mans relationship with the earth and the environment did not prosper under the leadership of the Church, it has degenerated still further under the leadership of modern science to such an extreme point that we now find ourselves in a life-threatening global crisis. Modern science did not deny the existence of a God. ItsimplybelievedthatGodcreatedthephysicaluniverse,andonce thatwasdone,Hesteppedbackandletthemechanismrunitsown course.WiththeHandofGodoutoftheway,mankindsdomination andcontroloverNaturebecameacentralthemeoftheseventeenthcenturyworldview. TheinfluentialSirFrancisBacon,arenownedscientist,philosopher and barrister, defined a reality wherein nature takes orders from man and works under his authority. She (Nature) was to be put in constraints; the aim of science was to torture natures

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secretsfromhersoshecanbeforcedoutofhernaturalstateand squeezed and molded. It is not coincidence that in a patriarchal culturenatureisafemaletobecontrolledandeventorturedbya masculinescience.ThemetaphorsemployedbyBaconinhisscientificwritingsaredirectlylinkedtohispositionasattorneygeneralfor KingJamesI.Inthatcapacity,Baconemployedthesameterminology inhisprosecutionofwitchesthatresultedinthetortureandmurder ofmillionsofwomen. Bacons philosophy devalued Nature by considering her an unrulyhandmaidenofmankindwhoneededtaming.Buthowwould she be controlled? Historically, humans tried to intervene and shapeNaturethroughdreamsandprayer,practicesthatimpliedthe human mind could influence the behavior of Nature. However, the power of mind and consciousness was completely discounted by ReneeDescartesclaimthatthemindandbodywereseparateentities. Accordingtothebeliefsofthattime,animmaterialessence,suchas themind,couldnotinteractwith,normove,matter. With God and the mind eliminated as potential sources that controllife,Descartesresolvedthequestionofcontrolbysuggesting theUniversewasonegiantmachine.Theplanet,includingitsliving organisms, represented mechanical automata: robots. Through the process of reductionism, i.e. taking the Universe apart and studying it piece by piece, it was assumed that modern science would acquire knowledge that wouldallowustonot onlyunderstandthe machine,butalsotocontrolandcloneit. InthecompetitionbetweentheChurchandscienceforcontrolof western civilization, Charles Darwin delivered the decisive blow in 1859whenhepublishedtheOrigin of Species.Darwinstheoryofevolution suggested that the traits that characterize an individual were passedfromtheparentstotheoffspring.Lifethenwascontrolledby materialhereditaryfactors,whichachildacquiresviathechemistry of the egg and sperm, not from God. Darwin extended his ideas to furthersuggestthatrandomvariationsofthesehereditaryfactorscreatedthediversityofNaturesspecies.Theideathathumanscameinto existence through the happenstance of genetic variations removed

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thelastlinkbetweenGodandthehumanexperience.Humanbeings evolved by pure chance, which by extension means: without an underlying purpose for our existence. The rules of the Church about howtocomportoneslifebecamesuperfluousinaworlddevoidof Godsinfluence. But Darwinism and neo-Darwinism, a refinement of his theory embraced by modern evolutionists, left humans without a moral compass.Evolutionarysuccessisbasedonthesurvivalofthefittest inthestruggleforexistence.Itsadog-eat-dogworldoutthere,and aslongasyouarethetopdog,youneednotbeconcernedaboutthe others. The end of the struggle is survival.As for the means to that end, apparently anything goes. The goal is survival by any means. Ratherthanframingthecharacterofourlivesbythelawsofmorality, sciencesuggeststhatweliveourlivesbythelawsofthejungle! Theselawsofthejunglehaveledthemodernworldtoshiftfrom spiritualaspirationstoawarformaterialaccumulation.Theonewith themosttoyswins.Evolutiontheoryessentiallyconcludesthatthose whohavemoredeserveit.IntheWest,wehavebecomeinuredto thefactthatourculturalimperative,byitsdefinition,createsacivilization that is distinguished by those who have and those who have not. Everything in this world has a price; unfortunately, this includes people as well. The homeless, who represent losers of this Darwinianstruggle,areanacceptedandapparentlynot-too-disturbingconsequenceofouradherencetothiswayofthinking. Darwinianphilosophyassuresusthatinourstruggleforlifewe arenotresponsibletoanyoneoranything,otherthanourselvesand ourgenes.Webecomemiffedwhenthepriceofbananasgoesupfive cents,butignorethefactthatinsomeothercountry,thelaborerwho pickedthosebananastoiledinthefieldfortenhoursonlytoearna dollarortwo.Thoughwemaybalkatthepriceofdesignerjeans,we willreadilyspendseventydollarsonapairandnotthinktwiceabout thechildlaborthatwasliterallyenslavedtomanufacturethem. Whilewewanttobelievethatwearegoodpeopleandwedesire tohelpthelessfortunate,we have not even owned the reality that our preoccupation with material success is the primary factor in creating those less

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fortunate we are trying to help.Thetruthis,wearesoconcernedabout whatwewantthatweneverenquireastohowwegotit.Ourgreed issosanitizedandourimagesopolished,thatwearetotallyunaware ofthepeoplewehurtandtheearththatwedestroyinsecuringthe lifewehavebeenprogrammedtoseek.Beingdisconnectedfromthe worldcommunityandhavinghadourheadsinthesandforsolong, weareactuallysurprisedwhenwehearthatenragedcitizensinother countriesaredemonstratingagainstourglobalpolicies. The chasm between the haves and the have-nots in our world has created a disastrous biological situation. The imminent danger relatestoaninterestingcharacteristicbuiltintoallofNaturesliving creatures:the will to survive.Bysomeunknownmechanism,allorganisms, from bacteria to humans, are programmed to make every efforttosurvivewhentheyperceivetheirlifeisbeingchallenged.If youchasearat,itwilldoitsbesttosurvivebysimplyescapingyour grasp.However,ifyoucornerthatratandithasnowayout,inspite oftheoddsagainstsuccess,thatratwilllungeinyourfacewithevery intention of taking you down. The haves have built fortresses to protect themselves from the ever-expanding population of havenots.Soon,thefittestwillbesurroundedbyaseaofthedowntroddenandtheirprotectiverefugeswill,intheend,becometheirprisons. In addition to terrorizing the worlds human population, our scientificprogresshasbeenterrorizingMotherNatureherself.Our mottoBetterLivingThroughChemistryhasledtoourattemptto controlNaturewithinnumerabledrugs,fertilizersandpesticides.We havenowcometorealizethatourindiscriminateuseofmagicbulletshaspollutedtheenvironmentandalteredthebalanceofNature. Similarly, genetic engineering, which offered promises of redder tomatoes, clones of your favorite pet or child and the opportunity for perfect health, has fallen far short of its goals. Genetic engineers, though familiar with the molecular mechanics of the cell,havenofamiliaritywiththefactthateachorganismisaunitof life delicately balanced in a dynamic network. Science has already establishedthatdesignergenesinGMOsescapeandreadilytransfer theirengineeredgenestonativeorganisms,changingthefaceofthe

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environment. Without a full awareness of the communal complexity of species interactions, the creation and introduction of genetically modified organisms into the environment becomes a threat to the vitalityofthebiosphereandbyconsequence,tohumansurvival. HumankindseffortstocontrolanddominateNaturewithtechnologyhaveconsistentlydisruptedthecomplexwebofNaturethat fosteredourevolutionasaspecies.Westernphilosophyandtechnologyhavenowbroughthumancivilizationtothebrinkofspontaneouscombustion.Asyousitonyourporchandwatchthesunset,note its spectacular color. The beauty in the sky reflects the pollution in the air. Yet spontaneous combustion is not inevitable. Instead, we areattheturning pointthatcomesafterthedecay.Wecansaysthe I ChingfindourwaybacktotheGarden. 2. The powerful light that has been banished returns. Howdoweturnawayfromthedecay?Thissecondpronouncementtellsusthatwemustembracethelight,whichIbelieveisthe newscientificknowledgethatunitesthetruthsunderlyingallreligionsandopensthedoortoglobalpeace.Overthelasttwentyyears, this extraordinary new research has revealed that sacred dogmas embraced by biologists and other life scientists are false. When we topplethesethreeAssumptionsoftheApocalypse,i.e.,thenotion that genes control biology, that evolution is a random, dog-eat-dog process, and that we can understand our bodies and our world by studying only physical phenomena, we can embrace the powerful lightthatwillguideourwaybacktotheGarden. ThoughtheunravelingofthestructureofgenesbyJamesWatson andFrancisCrickin1953wasastunningintellectualachievement,it ironically helped set humanity on a path away from the knowledge thatcansetusfree.Specifically,discoveryofthedoublehelixturned scientificattentioninward,tothenucleusofthecell,ratherthanoutward to the environment where I believe the movements that characterizelifebegin.BecausescientiststhoughtthatWatsonandCrick had unraveled the secret of life, genes were elevated to the lofty positionofcontrollinglife,controlthatIbelieveliesoutsidethecell. Thatleftushaplesshumanbeingsasvictims,withnoresponsibility

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fortheunfoldingofourlivesbecausewecannotselectorexchange ourgenes. In our refreshed role as victims, we then looked to science to deliver us from our shortcomings. The pharmaceutical industry motivated the public to invest in the Human Genome Project, an efforttocatalogueeachofthegenespresentinahumanbody.Armed withthatinformation,drugcompanieswouldbeabletousegenetic engineeringtohealourillsandenhanceourfavoriteattributes,orso itwassupposed.ButwhentheresultsoftheHumanGenomeProject were revealed in 2001, researchers were shocked by the fact that humanbeingsonlyhave25,500genes,notenoughtoexplainwhywe are the complex creatures we pride ourselves on being. The primitive Caenorhabditis worm has a precisely patterned body comprised ofexactly969cellsandasimplebrainofabout302cells.However,it boasts24,000genes,only1,500fewergenesthantheinfinitelycomplexhumanbody.Farfromsolvingthemysteriesoflifeanddisease, theHumanGenomeProjectonlydeepenedthem. Meanwhile,mydesiretounderstandthecontrolmechanismsof the cell led me away from the genes-containing nucleus to the cell membrane. Once thought to be a simple, extremely thin, jell-like barrier, powerful electron microscopes are revealing that the membrane is an impressive mediator between the environment and the cell.Itissignalsintheenvironmentprocessedbythemembrane,not genes,whichlaunchthecellularactivitythatdefineslife. Otherleading-edgescientistshavealsouncoveredcellularmechanisms that reveal that every living organism is engaged with the environmentinadelicatepasdedeux,aFrenchphrasemeaningan intricaterelationshiporactivityinvolvingtwoparties.Itisonlyvia thisinteractionthatgenesareturnedonandoff,makingthenotion that genes control biology not just outmoded, but clearly false. In dynamicallychangingenvironments,genesareswitchedonandoff toenableorganismstocontinuouslyadaptandsurviveintheirnew surroundings.Itisabiochemicalfactthatgenesdonotcontroltheir ownactivitynortheactivityofanyothersysteminthebody.

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Newresearchisalsotopplingthenotionthatevolutionisdriven by a random, survival-of-the-fittest mechanism independent of the environment.Researchershavediscoveredthatorganismsasprimitive as bacteria are capable of creating beneficial mutations so that theycanbettersurviveintheirenvironments.Throughamechanism described as directed or adaptive mutations, organisms can select which genes they need to mutate. Actually, two kinds of genetic mutations exist: random and directed. Random mutations almost invariably lead to dysfunction, while directed mutations lead to adaptationandenhancedsurvival. ThisisafarcryfromDarwinsnotionthatevolutionispropelled byrandomnaturalselection.Sofar,thatwhenBritishgeneticistJohn Cairns first introduced proof for adaptive mutations in 1988, his researchpublishedintheprestigiousjournalNatureprovokedthe wrathofthescientificestablishment.AneditorialinScience onCairns work was called A Heresy In Evolutionary Biology. (Heresies? Dogmas?Yes,sciencehasbecomethenewreligion!) Thenewsciencerevealsthatorganismsshapetheirgenomes,and speciesevolve,asadirectconsequenceoftheirinteractionswiththeir environment.Recognizingtheimportanceoftheenvironmentinevolutionandingeneticsleadsustoacompletelydifferentunderstandingoftheoriginsandpurposeoflife.Ourexistenceisnotarandom accident,butacarefullychoreographedeventthattakesintoaccount thebalanceofthebiosphere.Weareignoringourin-builtstewardship ofthatbiospherebygoingitalone,recklesslyandradicallychangingourenvironment.Ourhubristhreatensoursurvivalassurelyas the heroes in Greek tragedies were undone by their arrogance. We weredesignedtocomplementourenvironment,nottolordoverit.By radicallychangingourenvironmentweriskafuturewherewewill no longer fit. Instead of complementing our environment, we may completelyundoitscomplexbalance,causingittocollapse. Finally, quantum physics provides compelling evidence that our environment is made up both of forces that cannot be seen, as well as those that can be seen. Quantum physics shows us that the universeandallofitsmatterareactuallymadeoutofenergy.Every

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physical object manifests its own unique, invisible force. While an atomappearsasaphysicalparticle,wenowknowthatitiscomprised of evanescent units of energy called quarks, which are themselves madeupofsmallerquantaofenergy.Rocks,air,waterandhumans areallfieldsofenergythatwearthecloakofmatter,whichmakesthe old,Descartiannotionthatthemind(energy)andbody(matter)are separateanantiquatedanachronism. Takentogether,leading-edgescientificresearchreturnsustoour aboriginalroots,whichstressedthebeliefthathumansareonewith Nature. Aboriginal people recognize and honor the spirits of the air, the water, the rocks, the plants and animals, and most importantly, the spiritual nature of themselves. Fortunately, many of the losttraditionsofourforefathersarestillavailableinthefewremaining aboriginals that inhabit our planet. Native Americans, African tribes, SouthAmerican IndiansandAustralianAboriginesstillhold thesecretsofhowtoliveinharmonywiththeplanet.Weshouldcreateaninternationalprojecttohonorthesepeopleandweshouldsit attheirfeettolearntheirlife-sustaininginsightsaboutthesecretsof Nature.Whenwereturntoouraboriginalroots,Thepowerfullight thathasbeenbanishedwillreturn.Iamnotsuggestingthatweshed ourtechnology,donloinclothsandcampinthewoods.Iaminstead suggestingthatweandourtechnologymustlearntoliveinharmony withourmother,ourdearEarth. 3. There is movement, but it is not brought about by force. Therevolutioninwhichthepowerfullightwillreturn,therevolution that will bring this planet back from the brink of extinction, requiresnoviolence.IknowthatyouandIhavebeenprogrammed to think that revolutions occur only with force, be it the guns at Lexington and Concord or the sharp blade of the French guillotine. But this revolution back to our aboriginal roots requires a change inbeliefs,notsoldiersarmedwithguns,andjetsarmedwithsmart bombs. Just as the I Ching says, there is movement, but it is not broughtaboutbyforce.

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The lessons of the new science, which I call the new Biology of Belief, teach us that we have the power to change ourselves, and ourplanet,usingthepowerofourminds.Quantumphysicsandthe well-documentedplaceboeffect,inwhichpeoplewhobelieve(falsely) thattheyaregettingmedicinehealtheirphysicalbodies,tellusthat the mind (energy) can be more powerful than the bodys chemical reactions.ThenewsciencerevivesthemessageofChrist,whotoldus thatwecouldperformallthemiraclesHedidifwebelieved:Beye transformedbytherenewingofyourmind. Ofcourse,youcantjustsnapyourfingersorreadabooktoeffect change. You have to undo the self-defeating and planet-defeating programming your parents (and their parents before them) inculcatedintoyoursubconsciousmind.Oncewelearntoreprogramour powerful subconscious minds using the insights of energy-based mind-bodytechniques,thepossibilitiesforchangearelimitless.Just becauseyougrewupbelievingthatrevolutionshavetobebloody,or thatyouarestuckwithyourgenes,orthatthereisnoneedtoworry aboutthepoorandthehomelessdoesnotmeanthatanyofitistrue. Infactthelatestsciencetellsusthatallofthosetruthsarefalse. Scientists now realize not only that innumerable species are disappearingatanalarmingrate,butalsothatwesharegeneswiththose disappearingspecies.Giventhissharingofgenes,organismscanno longerbeseenasdisconnectedentitiesthewallbetweenspecieshas fallenjustassurelyastheBerlinWall. Throughout our history, religion and science have built a wall betweenhumansandNature,onefalsebrickofbeliefatatime.Letus takedownthisfalsewallthatwehavebeenprogrammedtobuild.Let usrealizethatourfatesareinextricablytiedupwiththefateofour globalneighborsandallthespeciesinthisworld.Letuschangeour beliefs and join with other like-minded revolutionaries to save our worldfromdestruction.IknowfromthemanypeopleImeetinmy travelsthatsuchchangehasalreadybegun.Wearealreadymoving backtotheGarden.Weare,inthewordsoftheI Ching, experiencing theReturning.

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DeBBIe forD:
Hate Is Not a Sexy Word

arlJunghadanexpression,Idratherbewholethangood. These simple words hold a world of meaning, and could open the door to an entirely new world, if we could only drink them in. If we learn to accept the totality of our humanity boththedarkandthelightandtakebackthepartsofourselvesthat we project onto other people as hate, we would live in an entirely differentworld.Wedstoppointingourfingers,wedstopblaming eachother,andwewouldstopbeingboththevictimandthevictimizer. Right now, our world is largely characterized by hatehate going back and forth between people of different nations, between peopleofdifferentreligions,betweenpeopleofdifferentethnicities, butmostnotably:between people of different perspectives.

Iwasatrialconsultantearlierinmylife.Igotpaidtofindnew perspectivesthroughwhichtotryacase.Atacertainpoint,Ihadto stop. I simply couldnt do it anymore because I saw that we could manipulate the legal system in unbelievable ways. All a trial consultanthastodoiscomeupwithanewperceptionthatpeoplecan buyinto.
Debbie Ford is an internationally recognized expert in the field of personal transformation and human potential. A pioneering force in incorporating the study and integration of the shadow into modern psychological and spiritual practices, Debbie is the founder of the Ford Institute for Integrative Coaching, a personal development organization that provides professional training for individuals who are committed to leading extraordinary lives. A number one New York Times best-selling author, Debbies books and tapes have sold more than one million copies and are used in universities worldwide. For more information visit www.debbieford.com.

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Truth always has a big range. To embrace the full range of the truthistotransformhate.Tobecomewholeistobecomeneutral,to embracethetotalityofanissue,notjustonepiece,oneside,orone perspective.Wisdomcomeswithknowingthatourperspectiveisnt theonlytrueperspective;therearemanywaystoviewanysituation. Butinaworldwherethehighestvalueistobegoodandnotbad,to berightand never wrong,ourperceptions quicklyshrinkandtake on unnatural limitations. To be whole is to be both dark and light. If we are accepted for being whole, rather than for being gooda paradigm that assumes that all of us are both good and badit is easytoseeandhearwhatdoesntwork.Ourperceptionsexpandto includethewhole. We live in a paradigm that believes that there are good people andbadpeople.Everyonefeelsthispressureatsomelevel:notwantingtobefoundoutasoneofthosebadpeople.Buttruthhasmany sides.Nothingandno-oneisalloneortheother. Hateisnotasexyword.Peoplereallydontwanttohearabout it.Whenspeakingtogroupsofpeoplearoundthecountry,Ioftensay, Iwantyoutogetthelevelwhereyoucomefacetofacewithyour ownhate.Audiencesjustcringe.Theysay,Oh,well,maybeIdont feelthatgoodaboutmyself,butIdonthaveaproblemwithhate. ThenIask,Howmanyofyouembraceyourmeanself,oryour inconsiderate self, or your rude self, or your selfish self?And how manywanttogetridofthoseparts?Peoplebegintoseethatthey hate those parts of themselves. But if you hate anything, you hate everything.Wearetheworld,wereamicrocosmofthemacrocosm, andhateisapressingglobalissue.Wehavetodealwithhateboth internally and externally, because not only are we promoting hate unconsciously,buthateiswhywedonttakecareofourfamiliesand whyoureducationalsystem,byandlarge,isinsuchasadstate.Ifwe haveaninternalshiftandlearnthatitsokaytotakecareofourselves, thenwewillstarttakingbettercareofourworld. Theprocessofbecomingwholeandembracingthetotalitybegins when we stop hating. It is so important that we stop the internal

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violencethatishate.Andtheprocessmustbegininternally.People hate themselves for not taking care of themselves, for not making theirownuniquecontribution,fornotbeingthegreatestexpression ofwhotheyare.Buttheydontknowwhattodowiththathate.In mostcases,theydontevenknowthatitishate,sotheyprojectitout intotheworld. Owning ones projections is crucial for healing. Being able to noticethetendencytotransferpartsofoneselfontoanotherrequires awareness.Andthisisafresh,newawareness;itisnotonewehave grown into at the level of the collective. But it is coming into our consciousness, and watching the awareness emerge is fascinating. InShrek2,forexample,thedonkeycharactersays,Dontyougo projecting on me.And even though it slips by 90% of the people watching,thatexpressionwouldnothavebeenusedtenyearsago. Nobodywouldhaveknownwhatthecharacterwastalkingabout. Takingresponsibilityfortheprojectionsandbeingabletowithdrawthemrequirespractice.Throughpracticewematureandgain skill. In the spiritual movement, unfortunately, a lot of people are preaching,Letsjustloveoneanother.Butthedarksidecantdigest thatconversation.ItisnotunlikesomethingDr.DavidSimon,Medical DirectoroftheChopraCenterforWellbeinginCarlsbad,California, pointedoutatarecentretreatheandIledtogether.Hesaid,People carry around elaborate packages full of all these vitamins and constantlydousethemselveswithalltheseexpensivenutrients.Butthe bodycantabsorbthembecauseitssotoxic.Thatiswhatshadow workisabout:detoxingtheemotionalbody.Oncehateisrecognized andseenforwhatitis,wecanbegintodigestandeliminateit.Only then can the positive thoughts and affirmations and love really takehold. Detoxing the emotional body is both an intellectual and emotional process. Intellectually, we have to understand the programming called human and the whole array that comes with being human.Whatgetsinthewayofourhealingthemostisdenial.We all have our foibles and our blind spots. There is only one thing a personcantseeanditshim-orherself.Walkintoaroomfullofa

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hundredpeopleorathousandpeopleandthereisonlyoneperson youcantseeandthatsyou.Theexternalworldisamirror.Thatis howweseeourselves:bywhatIloveinyou,whatexcitesmeinyou, whatIloatheinyou,andwhatdisturbsmeinyou.Itisallareflection ofme.Mostpeoplearentwillingtogototheirco-workers,totheir family members, to their children and say, Do you see something in me that you dont like, or thats disturbing to you? Wouldnt it beinterestingifweaskedthatquestiononceinawhileratherthan alwaysattemptingtovalidateourlightside? Ifwecantseethedarksidewecannotharnessthepoweritholds becausewedisplaceitwithourdenial.OneclientImnowworking withisawomanwhohatespeoplewhochangeplansaftertheyare made.Shecantseeatallthetimeswhenshechangesaplan.Hate makesitimpossibletoseewhereyouarethatthingyouhate,because youve made it wrong. That is what gets in the way of us clearly perceiving: WhoAm I? How do I show up for others? What could Ialter?Whatpatternsofmyownneedtobetransformed?Instead, mostofusarescaredofwhatwemightfindout. People attending shadow process workshops often say, I was thinkingaboutcomingfortwoyears,butIwasterrified.Basically, they are saying that theyre terrified of themselves. And if were terrifiedofourselves,howarewegoingtointeractwiththerestof theworld? Denial is rooted in our struggle to be one of the good people. Projection and displacement of our own misbehavior adds to the toxicity of the emotional body. We cannot release what we cannot acknowledgeexists.Sothefirststepinemotionaldetoxingisrecognition of the dark. This self-recognition, combined with the larger recognition of the entire range of programming called human, is a prerequisite to being able to release patterns we have held onto. When were children, we laugh or cry or scream freely, but as we growup,weholdourexpressionin.Thenwehavetovisitthedark side. Detoxing doesnt have to be painful; there are many different ways to do it. But one way or another, we have to do our emo- tionalwork.

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Projection shows up all the time in politics and international relations.Weprojectourhateontotheterrorists.Andtheydoitback to us; were the terribleAmericans. The projection goes both ways. Humanbeingshavealwaysdonethis;theplayerschange,butifwe lookbackthroughhistory,itisnothingnew.Thepeoplewhosupport a war make peace activists wrong and the peace activists make the warsupporterswrong. My question is: Is any of that wrong? There have always been wars. Theres always been hate and killing. Its just what happens. War and peaceisnt that life? Isnt it part of what happens in the world?Giventhatthisisourcollectivehumanexperience,howcould weevolve,andworkoutourdifferencesinamorelovingway?When werelaxoutofhating,wecanasktherightquestions. Thisisaninternalprocess.Onceweshiftinternally,wecanbegin to ask questions that further our social evolution. We can dip into thecollectiveunconsciouswherealltheanswerslie.Alltheanswers arewithinus.Tappingthisinnerwisdomisvitalbecauseweresuch anouter-basedculturealwayslookingoutsideofourselvesforthe answers. Deepak Chopra teaches that we must learn self-referral. Without it, we always have outside influences telling us what we should think and how we should feel and what we should do. Learningtogoinsidetoheartheanswers,toconnectwithourwisdomandourowndivinity,opensthedoortoknowledge.Listening inwardlyisessentialifwearegoingtoshift. Compassion is the key. Compassion includes tolerance of our humanity, and acceptance of what is inside usboth the dark and the light. Learning to forgive ourselves, to be conscious, aware and gentle with ourselves is vital. If we do that internally we will do it externallyaswell. In a Shadow Process workshop I taught a few years ago, a Germanwomanstoodout.Iaskedthecriticalquestion:Whatisthe darkest part of you, the part youre most ashamed of? She started crying. She shared with the group that her fear was that someone would call her a Nazi, or that she could be viewed as a killer of Jews.HergrandfatherhadfoughtinWorldWarII,andshewasstill

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carryingtheshameandembarrassmentofhernationbeingcapable ofthatkindofhate. Outofthatprocess,awholeworldofnewunderstandingopened uptoher.Sherealizedthatherentirelifeuptothatpointwasareactionto,andadefenseagainst,whatshedidnotwanttobe.Shesaw thatshehadmovedtoAmericaanddecidednottohaveanyGerman friends.Shehadcutherselfofffromherfatheranddidnthaveany relationshipwithherfamilybecauseshedidntwanttobethat.She hadcoveredalltheshameandpainunderablanketofdenial.When sheforgaveherself,andherfamilyforparticipatinginthecrimes,it wastransformative.Shewasabletoreconnectwithherfamily. Thiswomanexperiencedahealingoftheheart.Wehearalotof talkabouttheneedtoopenourhearts,butthetruthofthematteris thatourheartsarealreadyopen.Theheartcantclose.Butwecanput walls around it. If we start to melt all those right-wrong interpretations,conclusions,andjudgmentsofwhatsgoodandbad,thenwe canexperiencetheopenheart.Withanopenheart,Icanlovemyself whenImangryandlovemyselfevenwhenImhateful.Hateinitself isnt the problem; its hating the hate that fuels the fire and causes peopletododreadfulthings. Fortunatelyorunfortunately,painisagreatmotivator.Morethan anythingelse,painmakespeoplewakeupandopentheireyes.When weare comfortable, wedontmakechanges,lookfor newanswers, orinventnewsolutions.Paincanalsosignaltheneedtoembracea largerperspective:toknowthatourperceptionsarenttheonlytrue perceptions.Imagineifwestartedteachingchildreninkindergarten thatthereisnohardandfastreality.Imagineteachingthemthenature of both perception and perspectivehow these shape our view of reality. What if, instead of teaching our children to be right and good, we taught them that everybody has a different reality and just because your reality is different from mine doesnt mean that your reality is wrong, it just means that its different. Teaching just one courseabout shifting our perceptions and looking at different perspectiveseach school year, would create a whole new human race.Itwouldproducemiracles.

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Inaworldwithouthateuponhate,wherepeoplecanacknowledge and digest the dark side because they dont have to hide it to provetheyaregoodmistakesbecomeacatalystforsomethinggreat. Peoplewhodotheiremotionalworkandgothroughtheshadowprocessinwhateverformbeginlivingfully.Whenwestartbeingthe bestwecanbe,theworldlookslikeadifferentplace.Fromthisnew perspective,wecanchangetheworldovernight.

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hileinSouthIndiamakingaprogramfortheBBCmany years ago, I made the most momentous connection of mywholelife.IhadthegreatgracetomeetFatherBede Griffith,amanwhogavehislifetoliveoutthebirthingofthenew divine humanity.At that time Father Griffith was eighty-five years old, and that birthing was radiating from him in divine beauty, in divine clarity, in divine intensity, and in divine compassion. We spenttendaystogethertalkingabouthislifeandtheexperienceof hismysticalevolution.Towardtheendofthoseearlyconversations, he graced me with a terrible and beautiful clue to the time we are livingin.EverythingIhavelivedthroughandtheworldhaslived throughinthelasttenyearshasproventomethatthisconversation camefromtheheartandmindofGodtoplayapartinthetransformation of the world. The time for that transformation is now and thereisnotimetolose.Iwrotetheessenceofthatconversationinmy bookA Walk with Four Guides: The whole human race has come to the moment when everythingisatstake,whenavastshiftofconsciousnesswillhavetotake
Andrew Harvey was born in South India in 1952 and lived there until he was nine years old, a period he credits with shaping his vision of the inner unity of all religions. At the age of twenty-one, at Oxford University, he became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Fellow of All Souls College, Englands highest academic honor. He then abandoned academic life to embark on a spiritual search, and was the subject of a 1993 BBC documentary The Making of a Mystic. His books include The Direct Path (Broadway, 2001), and The Sun at Midnight (Tarcher, 2002). Find him on the web at www.andrewharvey.net.

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place on a massive scale in all societies and religions for the world to survive. Unless human life becomes centered on the awareness ofatranscendentrealitythatembracesallhumanityandthewhole universeandatthesametimealwaystranscendswhateverlevelof consciousnesswearein,thereislittlehopeforus. Weare,asarace,goingintotheeyeofanapocalyptichurricane thatwilldecidethefutureoftheraceandtheplanet.Thisstormof destructionwilldemandeverythingofallseriousseekerswholong toseethefuturetransfigured.Asthehurricanedeepensanddarkens, itiscriticaltoknowinthedeepestpartofourselvesthatwhatwill lookandfeellikedestructionisactuallythenecessarystrippingaway ofillusions wedonot needanymore,thesmashingoffantasieswe have outgrown, and the necessary, unavoidable waking up to our truedivinepower. The core knowledge and secret that helps us get through this apocalypseandgivebirthtoanewdivinehumanityisonethegreat mysticaltraditionshavealwaysknown.Enshrinedinthedepthsof allthetraditionsistheessentialsecretwisdomthattotaldestruction, absolutestripping,horriblepain,apocalypticannihilationanddeath arethebirthcanalofawhollynewreality.Icallitthewisdomofthe darknight.ItisthewisdomthatallthegreatmysticslikeRumiand RamakrishnaandTeresaofAvilawhohavecomeintothesplendor ofdivinelovehaveknown.JellaludinRumisaiditthisway:The Kingneverthrashesyouwithoutofferingyouathrone.Thesecret of the dark night is this: the crucifixion and the resurrection come together. A vast apocalypse is going on.A vast birth is also going on, in andthroughthisapocalypse.Botharemanifestingatthesametime becausebothareinterdependent.Theapocalypseisthebirthcanal. The sooner we grasp that, the sooner we resonate with all of our beingwiththat,thesoonerwecanbecomewhatwemustbecome mysticalactivistsandwarriorsforthenewtransformation. The angel of human destiny is standing before every single human being. She is standing uncomfortably close to every being,

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muchcloserthantheprescribedthirteeninchesofpersonalspace.In herhand,sheholdsamagicalmirror,aterribleandbeautifulmirror. Whensheturnsthemagicmirrortotheleft,itturnsblackrevealing aseven-headedsnarlingbeast.Thisappallingbeastoftotaldestructionismenacingalloflifeonthisplanet.Itisessentialthatwelook intothatdarkmirrorandseeeachoneofthesesevenheadsvery,very clearlyandstaredirectlyintotheireyes. The first head is a massive, unstoppable explosion of population.Bytheyear2050,therewillbeninebillionpeopleontheearth if population continues to expand at the current rate. That is three billion more than the most conservative ecologists believe are supportable. An absolute nightmare which the religions of the world havewhollyfailedtoaddress,thisproblemmakesnearlyallofour agendaspathetic. Thesecondheadisthattheenvironmentisalreadyinthemidst ofArmageddon.Itisbeingmassacred.Ahundredandtwentyspecies arevanishingintoextinctioneverysingleday.Nothingrealhasbeen done,nothingrealhasbeenriskedbysociety,toavertthiscatastrophe.Everyseriouspersonmustfacethisheartbreak. The third head of this seven-headed monster is the growth of fundamentalism.Attheverymomentatwhichitisessentialthatall ofthereligionsoftheworldpulltogether,overcometheirdifferences, relinquish their claims of exclusivity, and cry out with one voice to the divine for transformation, all instead have factions that are retreatingintoaterrifyinglyseparatistfundamentalism. The fourth head of this monster makes this separatism even scarier. We are now seeingon a massive and seemingly unstoppablescaleisthespreadofthesellingofweaponsofmassdestruction.Thereisnotnecessarilyagrowthofevil.Thereisagrowthofthe absolutelylethalpowersthatevilnowhasinitscontrol. The fifth head is something we are all very well aware of. The technologicalworldviewhascreatedagreatcementgardenhereon the planet.At the very moment when we need to be connected to natureateverylevel,theclosestmostpeoplegettonatureisasalad.

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People are perishing from inner meaninglessness and despair at a momentwhenfindingmeaningisthesourceofallhope. The sixth head of this apocalyptic monster is the media. If the mediahadanysenseofresponsibility,anysenseofcrisis,itwouldbe pouringoutthetruthaboutwhatishappeningtotheenvironment,to thepoor,andtothedefenseless.Instead,mediamogulscreatereality shows. Those voices that are radical, and really empoweringthat couldteachthemysticaltruththatcouldliberateandtransformthe worldarekeptoutofmainstreammedia. The seventh head keeps people in a state of terrifying anxiety, desperation and fear. In our culture, we have become so hideously busy, so unspeakably hectic, that it is extremely difficult to have any peace of mind, any calm in which to taste the depths of the divineidentitywhichcouldempowerustotransformourselvesand theplanet. Thisdreadfulmachineofdestructionanexplodingpopulation, combined with an environmental holocaust, the growth of fundamentalism,theproliferationofweaponsofmassdestruction,technologythatalienatesoneverylevel,amassmediaaddictedtotriviality, and a human race in a state of perpetual, despairing motionis a confluence of devastating forces that is supremely intelligent in a blackway.ThisiswhatthemysticsoftheChristiantraditioncallthe anti-Christ. Butthisisnottheonlythingthatisgoingon. For when the angel of human destiny turns the same mirror the other way, it turns into a golden mirror. And in that golden mirror, seven pulsing, interconnected stars appearthe seven stars announcingthebirthofdivinehumanity.Thisisnotsomethingthat willhappenintenyears,ortwentyyears.Thisishappeninginme.It ishappeninginyou.Itishappeninginmovementsallovertheworld inastonishingways. Thefirststarrepresentstheveryextentofthecrisiswenowface. Thiscrisisissohorrificthatitwillshakeustoourdepthsandawaken

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thegreatslumberingdivinesecretsthatlieatourcore.Thiscrisisisa supremeopportunity. Thesecondstaristhattheverytechnologythathascreatedthe cement garden is now developing astonishing new advancesacross theboard.Itisrevolutionizingmedicine,shakingloosethepotential of quantum physics, and opening up all kinds of new fuel sources. Theseadvancescould,ifwehavethepoliticalwill,transformeverything that we are and do on Earth. One example is the hydrogen economy,whichcouldfreeusfromourdependenceonfossilfuelat littlecosttotheenvironmentifwehavethecouragetoembraceit. Thethirdstaristhemediaitself.InthelastfewyearstheInternet hasopenedanunprecedentedopportunityforthegrassrootsconveyance of radical informationunder the radar of governments and corporations.Thisopensupthepossibilityofmobilizingtremendous forcesallovertheplanet. And the fourth star radiating right at this moment is the great mystical texts of the worlds traditions. They have been translated intoEnglishandalltheothermajorlanguagesinthelastthirtyyears. Mystical technologies and practices of meditation and inner transformation, kept sacred and secret for very long periods of time, are nowopentoanyone.Thishasneverhappenedbefore.Itsnocoincidencethatrightastheapocalypseisshaping,anenormousarrayof divinepower,awarenessandknowledgeisbeinggiventohumanity, towakeusup,togiveuscourage,togiveusjoy,andtogiveusthe meanstochange.Thisisahugegift. ThefifthstarisoneIhavedevotedmywholewakinglifetoradiatingmorecompletelyandhelpingtobirth:thereturnofthedivine feminine. For 2,500 years, the bride, the mother aspect of God, has been kept in a dark cellar with her hands and her feet bound.And now, at a time when we need the wisdom of the sacred marriage between heaven and earth, transcendence and immanence, human and divine, body and soul, politics and action, the bride is being broughtbackinallherwildnessandglory,hersplendorandfury,and inallhermajestictenderness.

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Thesixthstarintheastoundingfirmamentofbirthisthelivesof theservantsofGodslovewewitnessinactionintheworld.Inthelast centurywehadtwoWorldWars,wehadNagasakiandHiroshima, we had the horrific exterminations in Nazi Germany, China, Russia andCambodia.ButwewerealsogiveninthelivesofGandhi,Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama, and Nelson Mandela. These lives are examples of how non-violence, when lived with total sincerity and totaltruth,cantransforminsuperabledifficultiesbysheer,holy,Godgiven power. Gandhi secured the release of India by just standing inplace,asemi-nakedfakir,radiatingtheholyknowledgeofdivine truthandlove.MartinLutherKingensuredthetriumphofahumiliated minority, and ensured the safety of a white population in the middleofacauldronofhatredonbothsides,bypreachingandliving thetruthofChrist.TheDalaiLama,facedwiththeholocaustofhis wholeworld,hasneverforonemomentlosthisunshakeablebeliefin thetransfiguringpowerofcompassion.AndinSouthAfrica,wesaw asituationthatcouldhavedegeneratedintoatotalbloodbathtransformedbytheworkofNelsonMandelaandF.W.DeKlerk,working togetherinaspiritofnon-violence. ThelivesofthesepeopleclearlysuggestthatGodisontheside ofthosewhoarebraveenoughtogointothestormwiththeirdivine truthandtheirdivinebeautyandtheirdivinepowerradiatingfrom a full heart, mind and body, giving themselves up to be the perfect servantsoflovethatallofusaremeanttobe. The seventh star is one that has blown my mind and my heart andmybodyandmysoulwideopen.Ratherthanadetachedspectatorwatchingtheplayasthepatriarchaltraditionstendtothinkof GodGodisalsoamother.Inthemotheraspect,Godhasanagenda. Thatagendaisthesavingofthehumanrace,thetransfiguringofthe human race, the co-creation with the human race of a new world. God as mother is protecting us, and pushing us deeper and deeper intodivinemischief.Knowingthat,wewillstopatnothingbecause we know that the angels and the archangels and the bodhisattvas and all the ascended masters and mistresses are crying out for the

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transfiguration of the human race and pouring down on the earth blessingandpowerandprotectionandknowledge. Havingnowseenwhatisintheblackmirrorandwhatisinthe goldenmirror,wemustlookatwhatittakestoalignourselveswholly withthosesevenstarsinthegoldenmirror.Allofthesestarsareinterconnected,partofanenormousmercybeinggivenus.Whatittakes togalvanizetheirpowerandmagicistobecomeamysticalactivist. The future of the planet hinges not on mysticism alone, not on activism alone, but on the inspired marriage of these two potent forces.Mystics,vibratingandbathingthewholecosmosinlight,are absolutelyadorable.Butinacrisislikethis,theyaresoheavenlyasto notbeofmuchearthlyuse.Privatepursuitofspiritualexperienceis absolutelynotenoughwhentheworldisburningtodeath.Itisabsolutely incumbent on every single human beingincluding the ones whoseethelightdancinginthetreestodosomethingrealaboutthe realproblemsintherealworld.Itisnotspiritualtohidefromthem inacloudofbliss.Thedetached,transcendentspiritualidealwhich revealstheworldasanillusionisnottrue,becausetheworldisnotan illusion.Thatisbadmysticism.Nogovernmentandnocorporation fearspeoplewithSanskritnameswanderingaboutburningincense, saying,AllisOneandweshouldloveeverybody. My first real mystical awakening happened when I was about twenty-oneyearsold.Itwaswinter,andIwasaFellowofAllSouls CollegeatOxfordUniversity.IhadjustbeenleftbysomeoneIwas verymuchinlovewithandwasinastateofextremesufferingand distress.Thesufferinghadgoneonforaboutthreeweeksofsleeplessness.Oneparticularanddevastatingnight,Iwokeupafteronlytwo hours sleep, to see the entire world softly coated with fresh snow. Gazing out of the window in the early morning, I experienced the purestandmostcompletepeaceandraptureIhadeverexperienced, fargreaterthanIhadimaginedpossible. AlthoughIdidntknowwhatwashappeningatthetime,Ilater realized that at that moment I had touched my own inmost divine being. It was a tremendous experience that opened up all kinds of

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hungersinme.AnditwaslargelybecauseIhadthatexperiencethat I found the courage to return to India when I was twenty-five, and start giving up academic life in favor of a larger, mystical life. For onceIreturnedtoIndia,allkindsofmysticalexperiencesstartedto bombardmeandopenme.Thathourofcalm,healedecstasygazing atthesnowgavemethecouragetotransformmylifelater. TotheNewAge,andtoteacherswhopurveythetranscendental claptrapthatpeoplefeedofflikeheroineaddictstostayinablissstate while the world burns, I say it is time to realize that there are two initiationsontherealpath:theinitiationintothelightwhichisenormouslyimportantandwhichchangeseverything,andtheinitiation intothedark.IamnotspeakingofsomethingIhavenotlived.When thedarkspearsyourheartopen,thehorrorandtheheartbreakand the pain turns you into a helpless babbler before the awe and majestyandterrorofGod.Witnessingthatrealagonyoftherealworld, everythinginyoucriesouttobeofuse.Whenthosetwoinitiations arecombined,arealmysticisbornonewhosedivineillumination transformshimorherintoafearlesslove-warriorandlove-servant. Neither can activists change what is happening, for the simple reasonthattheyarefedonlybyhumansourcesofenergy.Theirhearts getbroken,theirwillsbecomeexhausted,andtheirbodiesgettired whenfacedwiththeprevailingsituationontheplanet.Theygiveup. Neither mysticism nor activism alone can give us the passion, wisdom, clarity, peace and strength we need. But if we marry a totally lucid,adoringconnectionwiththetranscendentindirectrelationship withawild,passionateoutragedcommitmenttocorrectingtheimminentinjustice;ifwemarrythedivineenergiesthataregiventhrough aconnectiontoGodwithafocusedplantounnervethepowerfuland thecruelandthedestructiveoneverylevelwhatwewillgivebirth toisanewkindofhumanbeing.Thisbirthiswhatthisapocalypseis helpingtobringabout.Theillusionsofprogressoftheactivistsand theillusionsofprogressofthemysticsmustbothbeshattered.Fusing thetwoinamassiveheartbrokenrealismcangivebirthtothepower ofGodinactiononEarth.

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This great fusion is the equivalent, in human terms, of the leap fromNewtonstoEinsteinsphysics.Thisfusionasksfornothingless thantheabandonmentofalltheillusionsofthepastandaseizingof thedivineidentityattheverycoreofus.Afusionofthatcorewith a cry for justice for animals and women and gay people and poor peopleisarevolutionarypowerthatnoneofthepowersoftheworld canstop.Thereignofthedarkandoftheignorant,thereignofthe demonic,willbeover. Becoming a mystical activist demands blood, sweat, tears, and realhardprayer.Itisnotagame.Itisnotsomethingtodoafterthe thirdvisionofthelight,itissomethingtodointotalresponsetoacrisisthatcoulddestroyeverythingweholdsacred.Mysticalactivismis afusionoftheforcesoflight.Itfundamentallythreatensallthedark forcesthathavekeptthehumanraceignorant.Inthatactofthreateningallthedarkforces,allthedarkforcesarearousedagainstit.That includes all the occult, demonic forces, which means that all of us mustgetoverournaivetaboutevil.Afterthetwenty-firstcentury after Dachau, Hitler, Hiroshima, the desolation of the environment, and all the other atrocities of the last hundred and fifty yearswe cannolongerpaintourselvesintoacornerwithakoanthatsaysevil doesnotexist.Evilisrealandterriblypowerfulinthisdimension.It isnotsowithinintheabsoluterealm,butitishorrifyinglyrealinits human,itsdemonic,anditsoccultformshereandnow.Atacertain veryimportantstageonthemysticalpath,wemustmeetitheadon. ThisiswhatRumididinhisdarknight,thisiswhatJesusdidinthe crucifixion, and this is what is happening on the planet in its dark night.Itisveryimportanttobecomelucidaboutthisandtoprepare forthis.Otherwise,wewillbelikelambsgoingtoslaughter. Thesearethesevenlawsofmysticalactivism: First, to be mystical activists, we must get real about sacred practice. We dont have a hope in the real world, dealing with real problems, and real people with destructive agendas, unless we are rootedinsacredpractice.Developaprofoundpracticewhichgrounds you and irrigates you with holy intensity every single moment. We needtocombinetwokindsofpractice:coolpracticestochilloutin

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thestormsofneurotickarma,andwarmpracticesthatkeeptheheart openinhell,becausewewillallsufferfromcompassionfatigue.Itis almostimpossible,inaworldofnightmare,tokeeponhoping,and tofindtheenergytogoonloving,withoutthewarmheartpractices. Likeabirdthatcanflyontwowings,weneedthecoolpracticesfor timeswhenwebecomehystericalandneedtotastethetruthofdivine being, and we need the warm practices when we need energy. By marryingthesesacredpracticesofpeaceandpassionatthedeepest depths,themasculine-femininesacredandrogyneisborn. The second law feathers into the first. In a time as devastating asours,Ihavefoundthatonlyonethingworksatallmoments,and thatistokeepsteadyawarenessofourdivineanddeathlessidentity. Allofushavetogoonaveryprofoundjourney,notsimplytoread aboutourdivineidentity,nortotasteitintheoccasionalmomentof bliss,buttosteadilybeintouchwiththatindestructiblesoulthatis ourimmortalreality.Knowingthatthecoreofwhatwearecannotdie makesusfearlessinallsituations. The third law, I cannot emphasize strongly enough: Know that evilisreal.Thedemonicishere,anditwillavailitselfofyourshadow side,actingthroughwhatIcalltheanti-Christenergies.Evilisnota poeticmetaphor.Ihavemetit,andIhavebeenwoundedbyit.Love andevilareinaprofoundcosmicwar,amysteryofantagonismthat hasadivinemeaningwecanonlylearnbybecomingdiscriminating, by being realistic about our own addictions, and by understanding theamazingpowerofthisdarkness.Jesussaid,Bewiseasserpents and innocent as doves. Becoming a mystical activist will arouse tremendous antagonism from that darkness. Terrible things will manifest to try and unnerve you. If you dont know this, you will bedefeated.Butifyouknowthatthisisanoccultwarandthemost deadlygameimaginableandthatyouhavetostaysteadyinyour calling, and deeply at peace within your divine identitythen you willbestrong. Thefourthlawisaverysubtleone.Ithasinvolvedandtormented all of us at different moments. This law is a response to the question,Whatdowedowithanger?Thepatriarchalreligionshavean

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interest in us not getting angry. They have told us that anger is an absolute obscenity and that we must get rid of it. That, of course, keepsusobedientslaves. If unleashed, anger can blind us and lead us into hatred. Yet where are we without the power of outrage? In this world at this moment, millions of us ought to be absolutely speechless with outrage at what is being done in our name. But if we are so outraged thatweareblindedbyhatred,thenthepowerthatoutragecangive us,ratherthanbeingatransfiguringenergy,becomesadirty,corrupt, damaging energy. So the fourth law is that you must awaken your outrage, face your outrage, and master your outrage by purifying yourheart.Youmustconstantlyensure,throughdeepsacredpractice, thatyouroutragedoesntgetsidetrackedintohatredofothers.Todo that,weenactouroutragebeforeGod,offerouroutragetoGod,and begthedivineforcetotakethatoutrageandtransformitintothelivingsacredfireofsacredpassion.Outragetransfiguredisthegoldthat isalchemizedfromtheblack,swirling,boilingpowerofanger.That sacredpassion,whenmobilizedintheserviceofactivism,makesyou tireless,undaunted,extravagantlywildandunstoppable. The fifth law is absolutely central to the great Christian, Hindu and Buddhist teachings on action. Very simply, it is this: You must learntogiveupthefruitsofactiontothedivine.Youdonotactwith aprivateagenda,followedbydespairwhenyouragendaisnotenacted.YouactfromaloveofGod,forGod,givingyourselfselflesslyup toGod,andofferingyouractionstoGodasasacrificeofdivinelove. Ifyoucandothat,whatyoudoandwhatyousaywillhavemiraculouseffectsbecauseitisnotyouwhoaredoingitanymore.Youare likeafeatherfloatingonthebreathofGod,apenheldinthehandof God.Youhavediedtoyourself;theGodthatlovestheworldisusing you for Gods inscrutable and mysterious purposes. If you are still actingfromtheegoyoucanbedefeated.Butifyourestandinginthe Selfnothingcandefeatyou,notevenendlessdefeat. The sixth law has to do with ferocity. When somebody has the gutstostandinfrontofus,andrageliketheliononbehalfofthelion ineachofus,theyarenotassassinatingus;theyaretryingtoraiseus

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fromthedead.Thatferocityisthefiercestandmostgorgeouskindof love.Werecognizeitwhenitsintheroom.Irecognizeitintheliving Christ. I recognized it one incredible evening when the Dalai Lama finallylosthissmilebecausehewassoovercomewithgrief.Hestood beforehisaudienceandsaid,Whenwillyouwakeuptowhatishappeningtomypeople?Hedidntdoittohurtorhumiliatepeople,he didittoappealtotheirhearts,towakethemup.Sothesixthlawis this:Asamysticalactivist,actwithdeeploveandcompassion,with a total commitment to non-violence. It may not always be possible, butweneedtosteepourwholebeinginsatyagrahaandsoulforce, to act from that deepest place so the truth of the divine nature can constantlyflameoutandinspire. Icannotemphasizetheseventhlawenough.Itisthis:Noneofus candoitalone.Icannotdomyworkwithoutmyhusbandandmy great spiritual helper and warrior Ellia who is an incredible mystic andhealerandwildwoman.Icannotdomyworkwithoutthehelp of Rumi, Jesus, without the help of all the beings on whose lives I imperfectly model my life. None of us can do it alone. We have to reachouttoallofthepeoplewhoshareourconcern.Wehavetopool ourresources,becomebrothersandsisters,giveupouregos,giveup ourprivateorganizations,openourhearts,andworktogether. Whenallischaoticandburningandterrible,therearethreemain ways that I reconnect with the source of divine love. The first, and simplest, is this: When I breathe, I imagine breathing in the living golden light of the mothers alchemical radiance. That golden light goestotheendsofmytoes,tothetopofmyhead,andintoeverycell ofmyentirebodyuntilIimaginemyselfglowinglikeamolteningot. IthenholdthebreathuntilIcanfeelthatgoldlightineveryporeof mybody.Ithenreleasethebreath,andwithit,allmyfatigue,allmy sadness,allmyrage,allmydesolation.Dothisseveraltimes,forfive orsixminutes,andyouwillberechargedbypeaceandpower. ThesecondwayIretunewiththesourceofloveisbysayingthe Hail Mary very slowly and calmly while focusing my mind on an image of the Virgin that I love and hold dear. If you do not have a relationship with the Virgin, then choose another divine figure and

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see her very clearly in her most radiant and divine aspect. Saturate your every cell with devotion. The power will come, and the peace willcome. Another wonderful exercise is to lie on the floor and imagine a black, powerful magnet, about seven inches below the ground. Imagine that black magnet literally pulling out of your body, heart, mindandsoul,allthestressandpainyouarefeeling.Imagineallthe different worries and doubts and sufferings looking like little black needles. Theyre dragged out of you and into that black magnet. I conceiveofthatblackmagnetasthesecretKali,birthingusintogenerosity. Then imagine a light figure of the divine mother in exactly thesameshapeasyourownbody,abouttwofeetaboveyou,radiatingyourwholebodywithgoldenlight.Youarebeingworkedonin thisexercisebothbytheimmanentmother,theblackmagnetbelow the ground, and by the transcendent mother saturating your whole bodywithdeephealingpower.Ithelpstosayyourpreferredname for the divine mother in your heart, opening your whole being up forhealing. Staying attuned to love in these ways is absolutely essential to being a mystical activist. Simple, powerful practices constantly reattuneyoutothesource.Thesimplerthepracticesare,themorethey can be done in the hurly-burly of everyday life. Keep re-aligning yourself in these ways, and fuse your deepest mysticism with the mostradicalandbraveactionyouarecapableof.Inthiswayyouwill helpbirththenewhumanitythatisappearinginbloodandpusand shattered fragments of buildings and unutterable torment through thebirthcanaloftheendofaworld.

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Coming Down from the Mountain
henIaskedmyguru,howdoIgetenlightened?Hesaid, Feed everybody. Recently, I attended the Rainbow Gathering in Northern California. There were kitchens allovertheplace,givingawayfreefood,takingthatcommandment literally.Icouldseethatthefreefoodmadeitsmarkontheawareness ofthepeoplepresent. At the Gathering, we witnessed two remarkable things: family, and freedom from institutions. This both reflected the past, like a medievalvillage,andreflectedthefuture,inthequalityoftheway peoplewerebeingwitheachother.Inthatconsciousness,Ifeltaforetasteoffutureevolution. There is a universal tradition of people who complete the path ofmeditation,whotranscendtheirintellects,opentheirhearts,and come into tune with that from which the universe flows. Such be- ingsaresages,enlightenedrealized,free,childrenofGod.Theyare Godpeople. Suchunboundedspaciousawarenesscontainsanintenseloveof God, equanimity, compassion, and wisdom. In it there is openness
Ram Dass is one of the cultural icons of our age. In the nineteen sixties, he studied psychology in collaboration with Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, and other early experimenters with LSD. In India in 1967 he met his spiritual teacher Neem Karoli Baba, and wrote Be Here Now (Three Rivers, 1971), which has over one million copies in print. For decades, he pursued devotional yoga from several wisdom traditions, and taught widely, until in February 1997 a stroke left him partially paralyzed. His most recent book is Paths to God: Living the Baghvad Gita (Harmony, 2004). His website is www. RamDassTapes.org. Photo courtesy of Lisa Law.

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and harmony with the whole universe. Beings whose awareness is freeenterintotheoceanoflovethathasnobeginningorendlove thatisclearlikeadiamond,flowingliketheocean,passionateasthe heightofthesexualact,andsoftlikethecaressofthewind. Theabsenceofidentitywithpersonalegomeansthatthebeingis free,ispurecompassion,purelove,pureawareness.Forsuchabeing, everythingisinthemoment.Thereisarichnessinwhichpast,presentandfutureallco-exist.Youcannotsayofamomentoffullawarenessthatsomethingisnotpresent,norcanyousaythatsomething standsout.Youcanfocusononethingoranother,orontheemptinessoftheform,oronthemanyplaneswithinform.Thefocusofa totallyfreebeingisguidedbytheneedofthemoment,bythekarma oftheindividualheorsheiswith.Forsuchabeing,lifeisaconstant unfolding.Noneedtothinkaboutwhattodo.Itsallintuitive.Itsas simpleastheinnocenceandfreshnessthatayoungchildexperiences. Only in this silencethe silence that lies behind thoughtcan one hearthesymphonyoftheuniverse,canonehearthewhisperofthe Word,canoneapproachtheinnatetemplewhereindwellsthesoul. The moment is timeless. But within timelessness there is time. The moment is spaceless. But within the undifferentiated boundariesofinfinitespaceliesform,withitsdemarcations.Thereisclarity, sothateverythingisdiscreteandcanbeseenclearlyifonefocuses. Thereisliberation;thereisperfectfaith;nofearofchange,noclinging tothemoment.Themomentisenough.Thenextmomentisenough also.Andthejudgmentofenoughisgonechoicelessawareness. Many of the people at the Rainbow Gathering traveled a long distancetobethere.Bymakingthatchoice,theyaremakingapitch forfreedom.IgetthesenseofFierceGraceoperatinginourworld. We all need such grace. Our individual karmas got us born into a frightened world. Each country is its citizenry. To have a peaceful country,eachofusneedstobecomeapeacefulperson.Lackofinner peace, lack of the security of surrender to the universe, is the root ofallourproblems.Whenwebringourinnerpeacedownfromthe mountainandreturntotheouterworld,wecontributethatpeaceto oursociety.

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Thatreturncompletesthecycle.Itisthiscyclewhichbringsthe spirittoEarthandallowsthedivinetofeedonceagainthehopesand aspirations, the barely sensed possibility, that exists in each human being.Thisisthewayofthebodhisattva,themaggid,theshayk,the enlightenedsoul,thesaint. We have in America little appreciation, less experience, and no models for this ultimate journey. This final path is reflected in Christsfortydaysinthedesert,bythemanyyearsofintensespiritualworkwhichGautamaBuddhaunderwentbeforeenlightenment, bytheyearsinwhichthegreatsaintSwamiNityanandasatinatree like a monkey, living close to the edge of insanity, or by Ananda MayeeMa,whoroamedaboutlosttoselfandfamilyintrance.Asia hasinnumerablestoriesofthesefewbeingswhomadesuchafierce journeyajourneythatcanonlybemadeifyouarepropelledbyan innerfire,ayearningandpullforliberationthatissopowerfulthere isnowaytodenyit. I see politics as heart to heart. I tell people to not be satisfied with their leaders until they find a representative of the heart. We need to apply ourselves to being peaceful, compassionate and loving.Andweneedtospreadthatfromhearttoheart.Myguruspread itfromhishearttomyheartandIvespreaditasmuchasIcanto otherhearts.Wecanfindleaderswhospeak,fromtheheart,tothe deeperbeing. IdontaskaboutthefuturebecauseIdontthinkweresupposed toknowthefuture.Mygurusaid,BelikeGandhi.AndGandhisaid, Mylifeismymessage.Thatishowweallneedtolive.

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neale DonalD walsCh:

Tomorrows God in Action

nthelastcoupleofyears,awaveofshockandhorrorhasgone throughtheheartsandmindsofpeopleallovertheglobeasthey havewitnessedinnocentpeoplebeingbeheadedbyextremistsin theMiddleEast.Wearecompelledtoask,Whatcouldcausehuman beingstodosuchathing?

Weaskedourselvessimilarquestionsafterthecataclysmicevents ofSeptember11,2001.Whatstateofmindcouldproduceanaction likeflyingaplaneloadofciviliansintoabuilding?Ontelevision,we sawcrowdsofpeopleintheMiddleEastcheeringanddancinginthe streetsinresponse.Ourculturerealizedthatthehijackingwasntjust theactionofnineteenmen.Wesatinstunnedsilenceaswerealized that not only could this event occur, but that thousands of people couldagreewithit.Awholeswathofhumanityhascollectivelycreatedastateofbeingthatallowsthemtoembracemassmurderwith joyandcelebration. Theseeventshavepromptedphilosophersandspiritualleaders toaskusall,Whatrole,ifany,doyouthinkthatyouoryoursocietyhaveplayedinthecreationofthisextraordinaryevent?Astute
Neale Donald Walsch is the author of fifteen books, and founder of the nonprofit Conversations With God Foundation. In 1992, after four failed marriages, poor health, spotty relationships with his children, and losing his job, he fired off an angry letter to Godand to his surprise, received an answer filled with profound truths. Those answers have touched the lives of millions of people through his books, most recently When Everything Changes, Change Everything (Hampton Roads, 2009). He recently created Humanitys Team, a worldwide grassroots movement to catalyze the emergence of a new form of spirituality on Earth. Full information is found at www.HumanitysTeam.com.

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peoplebegantoseethatpersonalresponsibilityisntjustaconcept without functional reality; theres a direct connection between the mentalandspiritualhealthoftheplanetandtheindividualhealthof thepeopleonit. We are in a time of introspection, in which individuals have beguntoseetheconnectionbetweenplanetaryhealthandvibrance, and the health of the human species; the views of individuals, assembled into a consciousness held by a large number of people, becomes our collectively created experience. Right now, you could walkdownthestreetinmanycitiesandnotfindasinglepersonwho understands that it is the most sacred beliefs of individuals in the worldthatcreateourcollectivebehavior.Thebeliefsthathumanity currentlyholdsaboutitselfaresimplynolongerviableandnolonger serveus. Wheredowestart?TherearefivefallaciesaboutGod,andfive fallacies about life, that create dysfunction, violence, conflict, and a state of continuing turmoil on this planet. The five fallacies about Godare: 1. HumansbelievethatGodneedssomething. 2. HumansbelievethatGodcanfailtogetwhatHeneeds. 3. Humans believe that God has separated them from Him becausetheyhavenotgivenHimwhatHeneeds. 4. HumansbelievethatGodstillneedswhatHeneedssobadly thatGodnowrequiresthem,fromtheirseparatedposition, togiveittoHim. 5. Humans believe that God will destroy them if they do not meetHisrequirements. Itsimportanttodrawtheconnectionbetweencauseandeffect, toshowhowabeliefinthiscreatesanoutcomecalledthat.Thefirst fallacy, that God needs something, is a self-destructive belief. As soon as we construct a God who needs something in particular in ordertobehappy,intheabsenceofwhichHewillbeunhappyand senddownHiswrath,wesetupadamagingideaofdeityitself.The

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consequenceofthisbeliefisthatitgivesushumanbeingsthemoral authority to act in similar ways toward each otherand consider itnormal. Wethenconstructoursocialconventions,ourlegalsystems,our politicalrealities,oureconomicmodelsinfactthewholefabricof humaninteractionsbasedonthemoralauthoritywegatherfroma Godwhobehavesinthisway.Weallowourselvestosay,forinstance, that, If you dont fulfill my needs in this relationship I will also punishandcondemnyou.Itmayevenbeperfectlyokaytokillyou, because sacred scripture authorizes me to do so. Virtually every scripturetheKoran,theBible,theBhagavadGita,andtheBookof MormontalksaboutaGodwhonotonlybecomesangryandkills people,butinstructsallotherhumanstokillthemaswell.Sojustthat onesingleidea,thatGodneedssomethingtobehappy,sendspeople runningtothehills,tryingtofigureout,WhatisitthatGodneeds? Eightdifferentpeoplewillprovideeightdifferentanswerstothat question.Whohasitright?Oncewevechosenone,wehopethatwe made the correct choice. Then, most dangerously, we turn around and call the other seven wrong, and decide what their punishment shouldbeforbeingwrong.Welooktothesamemisunderstandings andthesamefallaciousbeliefstodeterminethatpunishmentaswe didtodiscoverouroriginalideaofGod.Wepilefallacyuponfallacy, erroruponerror,mistakeuponmistake.WelooktothesameGodwe misunderstoodinthefirstplacetohelpusunderstandtheanswerto the question, What shall we do with those who dont understand you?Thoseoutcomescanrangeanywherefromasimpleadmonitiontosomethingfarmoredrastic,likecrucifixion. Everyhumanconstruction,ourentireglobalsystem,isbasedon fallaciousfundamentalbeliefsthathavenobasisinultimatereality. Thefivefallaciesaboutlifeare: 1. Humanbeingsareseparatefromeachother. 2. Thereisnotenoughofwhathumanbeingsneedtobehappy. 3. Togetthestuffofwhichthereisnotenough,humanbeings mustcompetewitheachother.

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4. Somehumanbeingsarebetterthanotherhumanbeings. 5. It is appropriate for human beings to resolve severe differencescreatedbyalltheotherfallaciesbykillingeachother. These flawed perceptions began when we were in very primitivestagesofdevelopmentasaspecies.Duringtheearliestdaysof humanitys evolution, the world outside of us was largely outside ofourunderstandingandcomprehension.Wesimplysawwhatwe saw.Wedidnotknowwhythingshappenedthewaytheydid. Inthoseveryearlydaysweknewthattherewassomethingout there.Whatitwas,wedidnotknow.Andwiththefirstlightningbolt thatstruck,withthefirstpealofthunder,wewereclearthatitwas morepowerfulthanus.Whenwesawavolcanoerupt,whenwesaw a shooting star, we said, Thats a lot bigger than me. I cant make somethinglikethathappen.Whatdidmakeithappen?Quitenaturally,earlyhumanscametotheassumptionthattherewassomething intheuniverselargerthanthemselves.Fromthereitwasaveryshort leap to asking, How can I please that force, so the rain will come andIcangrowmycrops?HowcanIcontroltheseeffectsIseeinmy exteriorworld?Theremustbesomeway. What you think becomes your reality. Thats true whether its practicedintheyear2005,21B.C.or2millionyearsago.Inthisday andage,whenthethinkersareofrelativelyhighconsciousness,this canbeaplus,buttheprocesscanbeaminusifthepeopledoingthe thinkingarejustbarelyevolvedenoughtograpplewiththeseideas. Soifourancestors,whentheysawfireinthesky,didalittledance, and the fire stopped, from that day on they connected their dance withthefirestopping. I once gave a lecture at the Church of Today in Michigan. This church was in an old building with a tin roof, and it started to rain. Even with amplification, the congregation couldnt hear me. I watched all 1,400 faces look up at the roof when the rain began. It was11oclockinthemorningofanall-dayretreat,andIrealizedId lostmyaudience.

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I saidas loudly as I couldinto my microphone, The rain is really hard to hear over, isnt it? Nods said, Yes. It was coming downinsheets.Ijokinglysaid,Nottoworry,Illmakeitstop.At that moment it stopped. The whole audience was awed.After that theyhungoneverywordIsaid. Thats how shamanism got started. No one back then had the consciousness to know any better, not even the shaman. He also thought,Thishowithappens.Hewassoconvincedthathisdance was making it rain, that the next five times he danced, four out of thosefivetimestherainbegan.Yourthoughtcreatesyourreality.The thoughtbecametherealitywhichbecamethethoughtwhichbecame thereality.Thatshowthecyclebegan.Therewassomuchfaithput inthehealer,themedicineman,thathebecameeffectivebyvirtueof thatfirstaccidentandthesharedbeliefthatarosefromit.Eventually theseattemptstocontrolourexteriorenvironmentbecamemythologies,andthemythologiesturnedintoreligions.Peoplebelievedthat It,whateverItwas,neededsomethinginordertofeelbetter.Sincewe humans needed things in order to be happy, we thought God must bethesameway.WecreatedGodintheimageandlikenessofman. WecreateGod.AndweregoingtocreateanewGod,tomorrows God, right here on earth during the course of the next twenty-five years.Weregoingtocreatealessdysfunctionalone.InmybookThe New Revelations,IinviteyoutotaketheFiveStepstoPeace.Intaking thesesteps,you: 1. Acknowledge that some of your old beliefs about God and aboutLifearenolongerworking. 2. Acknowledgethatthereissomethingyoudonotunderstand aboutGodandaboutLife,theunderstandingofwhichwill changeeverything. 3. ArewillingforanewunderstandingofGodandLifetonow bebroughtforth,anunderstandingthatcouldproduceanew wayoflifeontheearth. 4. Are courageous enough to explore and examine this new understanding, and, if it aligns with your inner truth and knowing,toenlargeyourbeliefsystemtoincludeit.

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5. Liveyourlifeasademonstrationofyourhighestandgrandestbeliefs,ratherthanasadenialofthem. What religion needs now is what Sir John Templeton calls HumilityTheology.Hedefinesthisasatheologythatiswillingto admititdoesnothavealltheanswersandiswillingtolivewithinthe question.OurideathatwehavealltheanswersaboutGod,about life,andabouteachotheriskillingus.Yetfallibilityistheonething religious leaders cant admit to. The first of the Five Steps to Peace that I identify in my work is, Some of our old beliefs arent working.Thesecondis,Wechoosetoacknowledgethereissomething wedontunderstandaboutGodandaboutlife,theunderstandingof whichcouldchangeeverything.Canyouimaginethepopesaying that?InthesamespiritthatMartinLutheraskedhiscongregationto tackTheNinety-FiveThesesonchurchdoorsalloverEuropein1517, IinviteyoutocopytheFiveStepstoPeaceoutofthisbook,andtack themtothechurchdoors. Mostofhumanityissleepwalking.Peoplecanbearousedoutof that sleep. The process happens largely through the entertainment industry:books,songs,television,andmotionpicturesarekeymeans bywhichpeopleareparticipatinginthegreatawakening.Andthat processisexponential.Itsnota1,2,3,4progression.Itsa2,4,8,16, 32progressionaspeopleinfluenceeachother. The Conversations With God books have sold upwards of seven million copies in thirty-four languages. Those seven million people are talking to seven million more. So suddenly youre looking at fourteen,thentwenty-eightmillionpeoplewhoareimpactedbythese messages.Thatsnotasmallnumberofpeople.Whenyoumultiply that by the number of message centers, the Deepak Chopras, the Marianne Williamsons, youre suddenly talking 100 or 150 million people.Prettysoon,wereapproachingcriticalmassandallthedominosbegintofall. Jean Houston uses the phrase, jump time. At jump time, humanity does not evolve in a slow, upward climb. It hits critical massandthendoesaveryrapidjump.Asourconsciousnesschanges, our institutions change. At jump time, we create a whole new

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cosmologythatresultsintheconstructionofnewcollectiverealities aroundpolitics,economics,education,government.Thewaywelive our lives, collectively, shifts and changes during jump time. It happensrelativelyquickly.Overaperiodofadecadeortwoweseeenormouschanges,andbytheendofaquartercenturyjusttwenty-five yearsvirtuallyeverythingisdifferent. Thelastgreat,truejumpwastheRenaissance.Inaperiodofjust twenty-five to thirty years, everything was different. Societys attitudes toward sexuality, our beliefs about God, science and society, everythingchanged,justlikethat.Manysociologistsnowagreethat weareveryclosetothenextjumptime.Cosmologistsrefertoitasan evolutionaryleap;religionistscallitaquickeningofthespirit;Icallit theGreatAwakening. How can you play a part in this? You do it by taking personal responsibility for making the people whose lives you touch aware that it is time to wake up. You choose to participate in the Great Awakening as an awakener. You embrace the personal intention of wakingupasmanypeopleasyoucan.Ivemadethattheintentionof mylifeandIsuspectthatIvetouchedsomesevenmillionpeoplein thatprocess.Itdoesntmatterifyoujusttouchadozen,becauseyour reachextendsfarbeyondwhatyoumightimagine.Imakethispoint moredirectlyandmorespecificallyineachofmybooks.Inthemost recentone,Tomorrows God,IsayitrightintheIntroduction: Thisbookhascometotellyouthatyoucanchangethecourse ofhumanity. You. Notonlythepeoplewhorungovernmentsorowncorporations or lead movements or write books or are influential for some other reason.Notonlythosepeople. You. Youcanchangethecourseofhumanhistory. This is not an exaggeration. Please believe me. This in not an exaggeration.

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Thisbookcallsyoutothatsingularundertaking.Itinvitesyou now to internalize the wisdom of both ancient and contemporary masters found here; not merely to hear it again, but now to receive it,totake it in, toabsorbitatthedeepestlevelofyourbeing,untilit becomestheessenceofwhoyouareatthecellularlevel. Lifewillbeinvitingyouovertheyearsimmediatelyaheadtoact andrespondfromthislevelofDeepKnowing.Whatyouplacethere nowintermsofthethingsyouprofoundlybelieve,andhowfaryou spreadthemessagesfoundherethroughthelivingofyourlifeina newway,willmakeallthedifferenceintheworldtotheworld. Yetdonotfeelthatyouhavetodoallthisbyyourself.Perhaps the most uplifting and exciting part of the message that is brought to us in this book is that now, none of us have to go it alone. We haveteammates,andwecanjointhemandcallthemtous,torally aroundhumanitysgreatestcause:changingourselvesandchanging ourworld. Imnottheonlyonewhoisissuingcallslikethis.Happily,these callsarebeingissuedfrompulpitsandfromlecterns.Spiritualwriters andspiritualmessengersallovertheworldareechoingthem.Even somepoliticiansarebeginningtosaythesewords.Wearebeginning tocreatetruemassmovement.Theideathateachofusiscollectively responsibleisgainingtraction. But these efforts cannot be undertaken simply at the level of behavior.Ifaleadersuggestsweneedtochangeatthelevelofbehavior,itislikeputtingaBand-Aidonanopenwound.Whatpeoplewho arecurrentlyentrenchedinthesystemneedtounderstandisthatthe solutionisnotfoundatthelevelofbehavior.Thesolutionisfoundat the level of belief. Every behavior springs fromand is given birth byabelief.Ifwetraceabehaviorbacktothebeliefthatsponsored it,andcorrectourbelief,wehaveachancetocorrectthebehavior. Try this simple exercise. Write a list of the last five disasters in yourlife.Ascandidlyasyoucan,ontheleftsideofapieceofpaper, listthelastfivebaddecisionsyoumade,poorchoices,wallsyouve walkedinto,majorproblemsyouvehad.

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Nowdrawalinedownthemiddle.Ontheothersideofthepage, writedownwhatyoubelievedthatcausedyoutodothat.Whatbelief wasbehindthatchoiceordecision? Nowcrossoutthelefthandsideofthepage.Itisirrelevant.Its therighthandsideofyourpagethatnotonlysponsoredthese,but lesserbehaviors;perhapstheydidntcreatecatastrophesbuttheyare not doing you any good. Go down that hall of mirrors to discover whatbeliefsponsoredthisparticulardisaster,whichbeliefsponsored thatone.Whenwedothisinworkshopsanywhereintheworld,participantsgethugeA-haswhentheyseetheconnections. Ive set up a global educational undertaking called Humanitys Team.ThestatedmissionofHumanitysTeam(www.HumanitysTeam. com)issimplytofreehumanityfromtheoppressionofitsbeliefs about God, about life, and about each otherin order to create a different world and facilitate the Great Awakening. Weve created NewSpiritualitystudygroups,andNewSpiritualityemotionalsupportgroups.Ourfirstandprimaryprogramiseducation.Thevision of Humanitys Team is to create workshops, seminars, and educational opportunities based on the New Spirituality. Jimmy Breslin, the New York Times columnist, wrote, The civil are not organized, and the organized are not civil. Humanitys Team organizes the civilaroundprinciplesuponwhichthelargestnumberofpeoplecan honestlyagree. I have a one-word definition for wellness: Peace. The degree to whichyouexhibitandexperiencepeacewhichisanotherwordfor loveistheessenceofpersonalwellness.Thesamedefinitioncanbe appliedtoplanetarywellness.Thedegreetowhichtheplanetexperiences being at peace is the degree to which its well. The degree towhichitlackspeaceisthedegreetowhichitlackswellness.The worldsenvironmentalhealth,itseconomichealth,itspoliticalhealth, its sociological health, and its spiritual health, are all a cumulative reflectionofourcollectivelycreatedreality.Wellnessequalspeaceon theplanetaryaswellasontheindividuallevel. The place where individual health meets planetary health is the level of our individual beliefs, as well as the collective beliefs

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embracedbyhumanity.Ifweasnationalities,asreligiousgroups,as politicalparties,havethecouragetoexaminethemostsacredofour beliefs,wewilldiscoverthesourceofourbehavior.Consideringthe possibilitythattheremaybeanotherwaytoholdrealityisthekeyto thegoldendoorofpeaceonthisplanet.

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huston smIth:
The News of Eternity

taughtforatimeatSyracuseUniversity.Onesemester,Iinvited theauthorSaulBellowtoappearforthreeweeksasaguestlecturer.Hewasabigfishforthatarea,sotheSyracusepresscorps mountedapressconferencetointerviewhim.Whenthejournalists had assembled, the leader of the press corps asked, Mr. Bellow, we are all writers here, and you are a writer. Whats the difference betweenus? Without batting an eyelid, Bellow replied, Reporters are interestedinthenewsoftheday.Novelists,iftheyreworthyoftheirsalt, areinterestedinnewsofeternity. Weliveinaworldinflames.Thereisnoissuethatcallsformore seriousthinkingthanthedifferencebetweenthenewsofthedayand thenewsofeternity.WhenwelookatIslamtoday,thenewsofthe day is dismal, all the way through. But what do the religions have tosayabouteternity?Heretheyareinfullagreement.Themessage inChristianityisoneofpeace,withJesusasthePrinceofPeace.The coreoftheKoranissimilar.Itisanabsolutelysolidmessageofpeace.

Huston Smith, Ph.D., is a retired professor of philosophy and religion whose teaching appointments include MIT and the University of California at Berkeley. His twelve books include The Worlds Religions (HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), The Way Things Are (University of California Press, 2003), and Why Religion Matters (HarperSan-Francisco, 2001). In 1996 Bill Moyers featured his life and career in a PBS series, The Wisdom of Faith. His documentary films on Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam all won international awards, and The Journal of Ethnomusicology cited his discovery of Tibetan multiphonic chanting as an important landmark. More at www.hustonsmith.net.

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WhataboutthejihadthatfundamentalistIslamistsbelievethey arewagingagainsttheWest?Thewordjihadisusuallytranslatedas holywar.Buttheliteralmeaningofthewordiseffort.Whatswrong witheffort?Whenpeopleareatwar,theneffortisdirectedatfurtheringtheiraimsintheconflict. Christianity,too,hasadoctrineofaholywar,arighteouswar.Its spelledoutintheCatholicdoctrineoftheJustWar.WhattheCatholic church teaches about a holy war, and what Islam teaches about a jihad,bearagreatdealofresemblancetoeachother.Yetreligioncan behijackedbypolitics,andusedtostirupconflictandviolence.In a time of war, each side needs power. The greatest power is to be sanctionedbyGod.EachsidewantstosetupapipelinefromGod, thegreatestpower,downtotheirpoliticalmaneuvers.Thisresultsin bothsidesclaimingtobeonGodsside. Itsinterestingtogobackinhistoryanddiscovertheoriginofthis wordjihadinrelationtowar.ItstemsfromatimewhenMohammed andhisfollowerswerereturningfromfightingawar.Fortenyears, the Meccans were trying to wipe Mohammed and his followers in thecityofMedinaoffthemap,becausetheyhadstoodupforjustice. AftertenyearsofbattleragingbackandforthbetweenMedinaand Mecca,Mohammedwasvictorious.Whenhegothome,Mohammed declared, We have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad.Bythegreaterjihad,hemeanttheevilthatdwellsintheheart ofeveryoneofus.Hesawtheinnerstruggle,theinnereffort,asan infinitelygreaterbattlethantheouteroneahistoricalrealitythatis missedbyallthecurrentpressreportingonjihad. Reinhold Niebuhr, a theologian powerfully affected by World WarI,wrotearemarkablebookcalledMoral Man and Immoral Society. HearsayhasitthatFidelCastro,JohnF.Kennedy,andCheGuevara wereallreadingitatthesametime.Niebuhrsthesisisthatindividualsaremoralinandofthemselves,andoftenmakeselflesschoices. Butlargergroupingslikeinstitutionsandnationsarealwaysselfish and self-interested, andbecause they have both power and social momentum on their sideusually coerce individuals to behave in immoralways.

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The faith traditions help us with these behaviors, because they inspireustodobetter.Theylaydownguidelinesforsocietalactions. These traditions are the practices that can transform this selfish behavior,affectingthewholelandscapeofproblemsweface. Rev. William Sloane Coffin, who served as Chaplain of Yale University during the Vietnam War and later founded one of the largestpeaceorganizationsintheU.S.,wasaskedwhatChristianity hastosayaboutwarandpeace,hequotedthebiblicalprophetAmos: Let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Butwhenpressedforspecifics,hesaidthatChristianitygivesus themightystream,butitdoesntgiveusawholeirrigationsystem; thatwehavetobuildforourselves.Thewisdomtraditionsgiveus inspirationandcomfort,butwehavetoapplythemtoourdailylives. Everymorning,whereverIam,Ireadtwoorthreepagesfromoneof thegreatwisdomtraditions.Thatsmyirrigationsystem.InRobert Frostsphrase,Everyonemustworktheouncesofhisownstrength ontheworldinhisownway.Youhavetobeginwithwhatyouhave. Acriticalturningpoint formecameinthespringofmyjunior yearincollege.Itwasadaythatchangedmylifeforever. There were only six hundred students in this little college. My majorwasActivities;IwantedtobeaBigManOnCampus,andto dothatIthoughtIneededtobevisible,andjoinasmanysocieties aspossible. Theprofessorwhotaughtphilosophyselectedthestudentswho showedagenuineinterestinphilosophy,andsetupamonthlyclass in his home. Each meeting, one of us composed and read a short paper,threetofivepagesinlength,onsomephilosophicaltopic.The wholegroupwouldthendiscusstheideaofthedayovercherrypie alamode,madebytheprofessorswife. This particular night, my interest in the topic kept mounting, evenafterwelefttheprofessorshouse.Onthewaybacktothedormitorywecontinuedthediscussion.Alittleknotofthreeorfourof ustalkedtillmidnight,thenwenttobed.

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IturnedoffthelightbutIcouldnotsleep.Myheadwouldnot stopchurning.Thewholenight,IfeltasthoughIwereinatunnel, travelingrapidlythroughtheuniverseofideas,withideasstreaking towardmelikepointsoflight,somelarge,somesmall,thenreceding intothedistance. WhenIgotupthenextmorningIwasachangedstudent.Ispent thenextyear-and-a-halfgettingmyselfoutofalltheorganizations,so thatIcouldthrowmyselfintotheworldofideas.Ivebeenimmersed inthemeversince. The list of problems our world faces is endless, from global warmingtopollutiontoeconomicinequalitytohungertowar.One ofmybooksisentitledWhy Religion Matters.AfterSeptember11,my eyes fell on that title, and I reflected that the ideas in the religious traditions surely matter a great deal, because they have endless resources for helping us with our individual spiritual growth, and providingaguidelineforsocietyasitconfrontsitschallenges. One of these challenges is keeping the enormous powers of destructionthattechnologyhasgivenusunderourcontrol,andutilizing them for human well-being. Scientist James Lovelock, developeroftheGaiatheory,gaveourplanetonlyafiftypercentchance ofmakingitthroughthiscentury.Ourconsciousnesshasnotcaught upwithourtechnology. Modernsocietyaimsforknowledgethroughscience.Scienceis empirical,meaningthatitstudieswhatoursensereceptorspickup. The whole panoply of science is an extrapolation from things that oureyescansee.Butoursensereceptorsarenotouronlyreceptors. Nobody has ever seen a thought. Nobody has ever seen a feeling, yetthatswhatourexistentiallivesareawashwith.Becausemodernitymakessciencethebigpicture,consciousnesswhichcannotbe seenhas received short shrift. Science believes that matter is the mostfundamentalstuffoftheuniverse.Thatsdeadwrong. All the great religions and wisdom traditions turn that belief exactly on its head. They tell us that whats fundamental is consciousness.Inthebeginning,God.Godisconsciousness.Theheavens

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and earthand all the material things that science knows how to dealwithcamelater.Sothetruthofthematteristhatconsciousness is not only all there is, but consciousness is primary, while matter obtrudes into this vast sea of consciousness. This mundane world is just a shadow, like the shadows on the cave walls in Platos oftquotedallegory.Thatsthebasicstorylineofreligion,developedina thousandways. Ive been involved with science for a long time. I taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for sixteen years. All of my studentswerescientists.Alargenumberofmycolleagueswereworld classscientists.Scienceisgood. Scientism, though, is bad. Whats the difference? Science is the positivefinding,throughcontrolledexperiment,oftruthsaboutthe physical universeand thats good. Scientism, by way of contrast, saystwothings.Thefirstisthatscienceisthebestifnotonlyprobe oftruth.Thesecondfallacyofscientismisthatitholdsthatthemost fundamental substance in the universe is what scientists deal with, namely matter. There is no scientific basis for those two corollaries. Theyre a philosophical assumption and a matter of opinion. But this distinction has not been made. I dont want to paint scientists aswhite-jacketedbadguys.Thisisntsomethingthatscientistshave donetous;wevedoneittoourselves.Wevewantedallthebenefits of science; rapid reproduction of goods, the reduction of drudgery, increasesinlifeexpectancy,andsoon.Butwevewantedthesegood thingsaboutsciencesomuchthatweveforgottenthatthesepractices dealonlywiththematerialaspectsoflife.Wevesoldourselvesabill ofgoods,anditspulledourcultureaskew.Ithasspawnedthemost secularculturehistoryhaseverwitnessed. IdidmydoctoralworkattheUniversityofChicago.Atthattime, academicsbelievedthatsciencehadtheabilitytoexplaineverything. My teachers had persuaded me that science is the big picture; my worldviewwasthescientificworldview. Then, one evening, four months before I was due to complete mydissertationandgetmydegree,Icameuponabookbyamystic. Mysticism is everywhere now, but it wasnt so back then. I started

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reading.Bypagetwo,Irealizedthatthismaterialhadnothingtodo withmydissertation.Ikeptonreadingthatbook,andmyscientific world view collapsed like a house of cards. I realized that I was a mystic, and that mystics had a depth and accuracy that Id never heardbefore. Iveneverlookedback.Iquitphilosophy,whichhassoldoutto thescientistsandlosttouchwiththebigpicture.IwenttoChinaand India and Nepal, and found profound ideals there. If you try and understandthesegreattruthsonyourown,withouttheguidanceof thesegreattraditions,theresnohope.Youjustwanderaroundand getnoplace. Atthestartofmyjourney,Iapprenticedmyselftothemostprofound thinkers in each of the eight great wisdom traditions. I read their books and contemplated their practices. For instance, while studyingHinduism,IreadtheUpanishadsandstudiedtheBhagavad Gita. Having done my homework, then I went to study with the teachers of these traditions in person. I focused myself for between two years (the shortest) and fifteen years (the longest) and the wisdom afforded to me through these minds became my guide.At the topofeachtraditionarethemystics.Whateverthereligion,theyall speakthesamelanguage,withonlysmalldifferencesbetweenthem. Inthisway,Ifoundmyselfstandingattheconvergenceofthewisdom ofallthegreattraditions. Truthholdstogether.Youcantfillinalltheintersticeswithjust onereligion.Ihaventfoundanythingintheotherreligionsthatare incompatiblewithmyownChristianity.WhatIlearnedfromTaoism, for instance, is not at all in conflict with the teachings of Jesus. It augments my Christianity by fleshing out different crevices of my experiencethatIdidnthearChristianityspeakingtowiththesame precision.AnexampleistheFourYogasofHinduism.Thefourways toGodinthistraditionarethroughknowledge(jnanayoga),though love(bhaktiyoga),throughservice(karmayoga),andthroughmeditation(rajayoga). ThesameideaappearsinthetwelfthchapterofMarksGospel: Thou shalt love the lord thy God with all thy heart [bhakti yoga],

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with all thy soul [raja yoga], with all thy mind, [jnana yoga] and with all thy strength [karma yoga]. Those four ideas are present in bothreligions.IntheBible,theyredealtwithinoneverse,whereas in Hinduism, theyre explicated in many books of scripture. So the guidelineIvediscoveredisthattruthholdstogether. Theres a fundamental divide in religious people between the mystics, and those that are not of that bent. The minds of mystics workdifferently.Mysticsarecomfortablewithabstractions.Religious people who are not mystics dont work with abstractions. C. S. Lewis, a great Christian thinker and writer in the mid 1900s, put it very vividly. He said, When I was a boy, my parents drilled into me,Dontattribute aformtoGod,becauseGodisinfinite,beyond allboundariesofform.ItriedandtriedtothinkofaformlessGod. But the closest I could come was an infinite sea of gray tapioca.A concretemindneedssomethingconcretetolatchonto.Andthatsthe basicdifferencebetweenthemysticsandorthodoxpractitioners.The mysticshavealltheorthodoxknowledgetoo,buttheyalsohavethe experienceofintuitiveinsightintotruthsthatcannotevenbeputinto words,becausewordsareformsandformshavetheirboundaries.All thecoretruthsofthewisdomtraditionsareunitedintheexperience ofthemystics. The big question is this: What is the nature of ultimate reality? Howcanwebestcomportourlivesinkeepingwithit?Thesearethe great issues with which the traditional religions and philosophies haveneverlosttouch.Mandoesnotlivebybreadalone.Anupward tilttowardthebetterisbuiltintoushumans.Itsapartofournature. Sospirit,andthelordofthespiritwillbeherenomatterwhathappens.Spiritanditscultivationisthemostimportantpursuitwecould possiblyundertake.Ourworkistotendthatlife-givinglamp.

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The Shadow Side of Money
will never forget that voice. It came from deep within me. The words were so calm, so firm, so knowing, so downright determined. All my patience had run out. Accepting any and all consequences, I rose to my feet. My insides grew thick with strength and I silently screamed an unequivocal No! that seemed to come straight from my bones. The fear that had crippledmeforyearsvanished,andmybodybecamethenextstring of silent words: Dont you ever touch my kids like that again! I grabbedhisarm.Thosedragoneyeszoomedinashisviciousrage transferredfromthechildrentome.Ididntcare.Ifeltlikesteel. Something within me had forever changed. He released my son, andturnedtowardme. Howdareyoudisagreewithmeinfrontofthekids,hesaid, burningmyfacewithfieryhate.Ifeltmychestriseandfall,myouter surroundingsblur,asIreachedintomydeepestreservoirofstrength. Timeslowed.Calmly,Ibegantosee,towitnessforthefirsttime.I layonthefloorwiththeweightofhisbodyonmine,thegripofhis fingers encasing my neck, his soul completely lost. But this time it
Angie Grainger, CPA, has a passion for educating people to take responsibility for creating strong financial futures for themselves, as a key to stability in communities and families. Her workshop, Money and Self-Mastery, provides a compassionate space for honest self-discovery, and offers guidance in obtaining self-mastery in order to make lasting financial progress. Her vision is to see global financial changes that reduce stress and destruction around money. She is a member of the California Society of CPAs Financial Literacy Committee and is Chairperson of Youth Business Week of California. Her web site is www. moneyandselfmastery.com.

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was different. The help I had been seeking was beginning to show up, for I was not afraid. I began to hear. I began to listen. My ears tunedintomydaughtersscream.Atthesametime,Iheardmysons calmvoice:Dad,lethergo.Dad,Dad.Lethergo,Dad. In that moment, I knew that my life would never be the same again. I had made a decision from somewhere in my core to take responsibility for my life, my actions, and the consequences that ensued.Iwasdone.Thatdeepdecisionchangedmylifeforever. SittinginfrontofProjectSanctuaryinmyoldChevysedan,the backseatpiledhighwithallmyclothes,mytearssuddenlyceased. In a moment of pure peace, I realized that I had no other place to go.And it didnt matter at all. What mattered was being honest withmyself.

Be True to Yourself and Speak Your Truth

The inability or unwillingness to be honest with ourselves, to looksquarelyathowweliveday-to-day,causesusharm.Dishonesty, and its companion, denial, may be the most prevalent weapon of massdestructionknowntohumankind. Whether in an individual, family, business, or government, where denial takes root and begins to grow, so does destruction. Livingdishonestlycreatesaself-perpetuatingsystem.Beingtheone whostandsupandsays,Enough!isdifficult,becauseitconstitutes athreattotheothersinvolved.Whenonepersonbeginstospeakup about something that is not right, it requires others to either look at their part, or work even harder to keep things the same. Facing reality and accepting the consequences of our actions doesnt feel goodatleastnotatfirst.Whenthefearoftakingthathard,honest look at ourselves blinds us, it becomes easier to continue behaving badlydespitehorrificconsequences.Unawareoftheeffectthishason others,ournaturalmoralsandvaluescollapse. This dynamic is rampant in our current economy. When an individual, an Enron executive for example, lives a life beyond his means, he must seek ways to get moremore money, more status,

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morerespectinordertogainasenseofpeace.Thisdistortioniscarriedintothecorporateworldwhenhebringshisattitudeintohisjob. Nowatwork,hiseyeslookforwaystocreatemoneytokeepup:for himselfandfortheextensionofhimselfthatishisbusiness.Thebusinesstakesonthecharacteristicsofselfishnessandgreedwhilefalsely seekingthatsenseofpeace.Thisdishonesty,denial,greed,andselfinterestbroughtaboutthecollapseofEnron.Individualsmadedayto-daydecisionsbasedonpersonalgain,ratherthanthegreatergood foroursociety.Onemisguidedactleadtoanother.Noonestepped up to say, No, this is not right, and eventually some employees senseofrightandwronggotsodistortedthatenergytraderscould notevenseethedestructivenessoftheirbehavior.Theysawonlythe excitementofbonusesearnedandtargetsmet.Theyjokedaboutthe pricesthatgranniesinCaliforniamustbepayingfortheirelectricity, andwereunmovedbyanentirestatefacingrollingblackouts.Even thoughtheirconversationswerebeingrecorded,theyweresooutof touchwithrealitythattheyperceivednothingwrongwiththeircomments.Noonestoodupanddeclared,Enough!

The World Sees Our Actions, Not Our Intentions

Wakingupethicallymeansrecognizingthat,asanindividual,a business,oranation,wehavearesponsibilitytoliveaccountably.In theaftermathoftheEnronscandalandthedisintegrationofEnrons auditor Arthur Andersen, the accounting industry has been forced to take a stand for practicing integrity rather than simply talking about it. The California Society of CPAs is spearheading a movementtopromoteeducationinfinancialliteracy,andinaligningour actions with our values. Accounting firms are taking the lead in practicing business with integrity. The Journal of Accountancy (July 2004) notes, Its one thing to talk about integrity; its another for people to believe leaders practice integrity and to buy into the idea thatethicsinbusinessandtheintegrityofbusinessarequintessential successfactors. This not only applies to business; it applies to you and me. To be successful as a society and to live accountably, we need to be

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completely willing to accept the consequences of our choices.Your family may choose to buy a huge, gas-guzzling SUV. Your bottom line will suffer as you make higher payments and face large gas bills.ButwhenyourneighborsdothesamethingandSUVstoday accountforabouthalfofU.S.carpurchasessuddenlythecountry asawholeissuckingupmoreoil,andforcingpetroleumpricesand supplies to the forefront of government policy. Our national fiscal crisisisareflectionofindividualfinancialbehavior.Howwillingare youtoaccepttheconsequencesofthewayyouusemoney?Whatare theconsequencesofhugedebtloadsandover-consumptiononyour family,yourcommunity,yournation,andyourplanet?

Release the Attachment to Desire and Suffering Disintegrates

Becomingneutraltodesireisessentialinordertoshiftourperspective on money and move in the direction of financial integrity. As we take steps in the direction of greater behavioral awareness, desire will pull us into an emotional tug of war. That urge to buy, shop, spend, get, and fulfill is strong, and deeply ingrained. When we cannot stiffen our resolve and say No, we talk ourselves into that next new thingand the financial consequences. Saying No toshort-termdesiresinordertobuildlong-termfulfillmentrequires objectivityanddiscipline. When I began to rebuild my life after my marriage crumbled, I was determined to teach my kids, by example, that there was another way to live. I set out to be the person I hoped they might become.NeverinmywildestdreamshadIimaginedthatleavingmy husband would result in being separated from my children. Night after night, I cried, my heart and belly feeling ripped open by the knowledgethatmytwoteenagerswerelivingwiththeinsaneblend ofaddiction,povertyandviolencethatwasmyhusbandslife.With nophoneandnoaddress,hisaddictiontookhimtothebottomofthe barrel:bankruptcy,homelessness,andjail.

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In the beat-up Chevy pickup camper he called home, our two kids and healong with a large Golden Retrievermade the fairgroundparkinglottheirresidence. Determined to construct a poverty-to-prosperity template for mykids,Isetouttofindmyselfagoodcareer.Assoonaspossible, Iboughtathree-bedroomhome,upgradedmyfurnishings,andcreatedarich,picture-perfectlifestyle. ItdidntmattertothemortgageindustrywhetherornotIcould afford the house payment, or whether I was slipping into financial self-sabotage.Whatmatteredwasmycreditscore,myjobhistory,and afewfinancialratios.ItdidntmattertomethatIdepletedmysavingsandchargedalittleonmycreditcardstogetmynewhomein order.IknewthatIdgetincreasesinpayinthefuture,andthatthe moneywouldworkitselfout.Whatmatteredtomewasthefantasy lifeIwascreating.Ifeltgoodanticipatingthearrivalofmykids.Ifelt likeagoodmom.IwascertainthatonceIdboughtalltherightstuff, mychildrenwouldwanttocomeandlivewithme.SoIdid. And they didnt. They chose to stay with their dad, living out ofthebackofhistruck.Icouldnotunderstandtheirchoice.WhatI didbegintounderstand,however,wasthis:myexpectationsofwhat moneycouldbringmeweretotallyoff-base.

Spend Time, Not Money

Commercialism feeds on emotional dissatisfaction. In a world suchasours,thedeepneedforkinshipandcommunityisdisplaced byartificialwants.Thelateststyleofclothing,newestgadget,and/ orothernoveltyofurbanlifesubduesourdissatisfaction,butnotfor long.Thethrillofthatlatestpurchasequicklyfades,butthedeeper emotionalneedisnotmet.Ourfeelingofemptinessgrowsandwith it, our debt.Albeit unconscious for the most part, this self-sabotage breedsanotherlayerofdiscontent:guilt.InRich Dad Poor Dad (Warner BusinessBooks,2000),authorRobertKiyosakiwrites,Guiltisworse thangreed.Forguiltrobsthebodyofitssoul.

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Debt is a vicious cyclea self-constructed prisonwe have grown accustomed to and come to accept. High speed spending sacrificesthemorehumanaspectsofourexperienceinthenameofa dead-endgame.In Sabbath,WayneMullersays,Peoplewhohavea lotofmoneyandnotime,wecallrich,andpeoplewhohaveagreat dealoftimebutnomoney,wecallpoor.Oursocietyplacesmore importanceonmoneythanontime.Wekeepmovingfasterandfaster, in the hope of obtaining financial success. But somewhere along theline,wehavelosttouchwithwhattrulymakesforasatisfyinglife. AsMullerpointsout,evenaninnocentdeerbecomesalifeordeath threatathighspeed. In order to rediscover our true values, we need to slow down. Onlythencanwebemovedbyahigherpurpose.Lastyear,Idecided to look honestly at how I spend my money. I made a list of the things that are important to me and ranked them from highest to lowest priority. Then I made a second list of all the things I spend money on. I ranked that list according to the percent they take up of my monthly budget. To my life-changing surprise, the lists were completelyinverted.Bothshockedandsad,Iwasforcedtoseethat IwasspendingthemostonthethingsIvaluedleast.Nearly70%of whatIearnedwenttopaymyhousepayment.Onmythreehighest valuesspirituality,familyandfriendscombined,Ispentlessthan 5%ofmyearnings.

Integrity Comes When Our Actions and Our Values Are Aligned
Financialilliteracyisagrowingnationalproblem.Oureducation systemdoesnotteachpeoplehowtomanagemoneyinaresponsible way.Researchshowsthatforty-fourpercentofAmericansliveabove their means, and sixty percent carry credit card debt in excess of $4,000 each month.Average credit card debt per household rose to $8,562in2002,upfrom$2,985in1990.Over1.6millionfamiliesfiled for bankruptcy in 2003. On average, the American family spends $1.22foreverydollaritearns.Howlongcanthislast?

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Collegefreshmengetanaverageofeightcreditcardofferstheir firstweekofschool.Isitanywonderuniversityadministratorsreport thatstudentsaremorelikelytodropoutofschoolduetocreditcard debtthanacademicfailure? TheAmericanInstituteofCertifiedPublicAccountants(AICPA) is beginning to address this problem. Programs like Jump$tart and Youth Business Week teach comprehensive business and money managementskillstostudentsingradesK-12.Jump$tartbringsbasic financial skills into classroom curriculums, while Youth Business Week offers a week-long intensive business and fiscal immersion program to teenagers. The CalCPAs Dollars and Sense program bringsapanelofCPAexpertstotownhallmeetingshostedbylegislatorstohelpimprovetheirconstituentsfinancialliteracy.California GovernorSchwarzeneggerhasacknowledgedtheimportanceofour financialfuturebyproclaimingAprilasFinancialLiteracyMonth, and states, by increasing Californians fiscal knowledge, we contribute to personal financial stability and strengthen the economic climateinourstate. In The Soul of Money, Lynne Twist speaks of overspending as, the logical response if you fear theres not enough, but the idea of moreisbetterdrivesacompetitivecultureofaccumulation,acquisition,andgreedthatonlyheightensfearsandquickensthepaceof the race. When we buy into the premise that more is better, we canneverarrive.Whereverweare,itisnotenoughbecausemoreis alwaysbetter. During the Industrial Age, people worked for many years in a singlejob.Uponretirement,theycouldcountonapensionforsupportthroughthegoldenyears.Buttheeconomyhaschanged,andour financialacumenhasnotkeptup.Personalfinance,retirementplanning,incomereplacement,401Ks,electronicbanking,debitandcredit management,isfarmorecomplexthaneventwentyyearsago.Itis uptoeachindividualtolearnfiscalaccountabilityandresponsibility becausenosystemexiststoteachthesebasicskills. Now, in the InformationAge, our income structure has shifted. TheaverageAmericanwillchangecareersthreetimesinthecourseof

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hisorherworkinglife.Forwomen,thefinancialresponsibilitiesare vastly different. Responsible for starting 70% of all new businesses, women receive only about half as much Social Security income upon retirement as men. Eighty-eight percent of men can expect a pension upon retirement, but only 47% of women will enjoy this benefit.Workingforthirtyyearsatastablejobisnolongerthenorm. DecreasedpensionsandSocialSecuritywillnotsupportmostpeople through their elder years, yet relatively few have a plan to supplementretirementincome.TheaverageSocialSecuritybenefitin2003 was$895permonth.Almostone-thirdofretireesnowrelyonSocial Securityfor90%ormoreoftheirretirementincome,andalmost20% relyontheprogramforalltheirretirementincome.Abouthalfofthe retired persons in this country live on annual incomes of between $10,000-11,000 per year. Is this annual salary going to fulfill your retirementneeds?Couldyouliveonthistoday?

We Have Enough
WhenIcamefacetofacewiththetruththatthefamilyIcraved couldnotbeboughtwithmaterialthings,thepaininmyheartbroke meopen.Ihadspentbeyondmymeansinpursuitofadream,hoping my family could be reunited. Maintaining an empty household leftmelittleroomtobreathe,anddidnothingtoeasetheemptiness insideme.Ihadbeentryingtobuymyfamilyback.Facingthathurt asmuchashavingfailed.Butthatpainpropelledmeforward.Ihad to learn to be responsible with money and detach from my desires. Today,Iknowthatmoneyisnotfamily,moneyisnotlove,moneyis notcomfort,andmoneydoesnotgivemesecurity.Today,myactions are based on this simple reality: money is money.As a close friend andmentorconsistentlyremindsme:Itisnothealthytodenyreality andliveinthehopethatthingswillchange. Sitting at a desk piled high with papers, my associate and I listen to our client through a speakerphone. We look at each other andsilentlyshakeourheadsinafamiliarwaywhileSamstammers, Well,um.Eachtimeweaskabouttheshortfallinhiscompany, hisresponseisthesame.Thenweask,Whatisyourplantogetyou

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whereyouwanttobe?Theconversationflipsbackonautomatic.I feel like I am hearing track number three on the Dont ask. Dont tell audio CD. Sam replies, Well, things are turning around now. Ijustneedtogetthroughthenextfewmonths.Thingsaredifferent thisyear.Whenweaskwhatmakeshimthinkso,tracknumbersix beginstoplay.Samdoesntreallywanttofacereality.Inthreemonths time,hiscompanywillnothaveenoughcashtopaythepayrolland bills. If he doesnt implement a plan for the shortfalls now, he will onceagainhavetotakemoneyfromhisportfolioaccounttofloathis business.IfSamcouldfacethedifficulttruth,hewouldbepropelled tomakeneededchanges.Butdenialkeepshimfromseeingthebigger pictureandformulatingaplan.Thecompanyneedstobringinfifteen new customers to get back in the black. The pressure cooker of the realsituationwouldforceastrategytoriseupwhichcouldmakethat business expansion happen. But Sam keeps his rose-colored glasses firmly in place. He fritters away his precious time on the things he likestodoworkingintheshop,searchingforspecialfixtures,and onFridays,goingfishing. As accountants, we see this with alarming regularity. Business ownersavoidthedifficultquestions,Canyouaffordtoretire?How much do you need?Are your personal finances in order? Without fullknowledgeoftheirfinancialsituation,decisionsaremadeonthe basis of faith and hope. Desperate to avoid drowning, they paddle fartherawayfromtheboat.Bythetimetheywakeup,theboathas disappeared on the horizon.As trusted advisors, we do our best to help.Butyearafteryear,wehavethesameconversations,andseefew peoplemakethenecessarychanges.Fear,embarrassment,andguilt keeptheimpasseinplace.Refusaltolookhonestlyatthebottomline sitslikeaheavysewerlidonadeepwelloffiscaldenial. Forthefourthtimeinayear,Sampouredmoneyfromhisretirement account into the business saying, Ill get it back in a few months. But the company already owes him nearly half his retirement account. Without a solid business plan, his bank will likely cancel his notes. Sams unsustainable business practices will affect hispersonalfinancialfutureformanyyearstocome.Buthedoesnot

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connecthischoiceswiththefulfillmentofhisgoalstokeephishome, providehischildrenwithaneducation,andsupporthiswifethrough their retirement years. Their entire lifestyle sits precariously on the edge:Willwebeabletodoit? Sams awareness of his responsibility to others is even further removed.Hisemployees,creditors,shareholders,andthelargerbusinesscommunityallhavesomethingatstake. Experiencedaccountantsandfinancialplannersseeandfeelthe disappointmenttheirclientsfacewhentheymovetowardretirement andareconfrontedwiththerealityoftheirfinancialsituation.Many havespenttheirentirelivesbuildingabusinessinthehopeoftransferringittotheirchildren.Butthebusinessgoesintheredandbegins to hemorrhage all their cash. They cant even afford to retire, much lessfulfilltheirdreams.Itisheartbreaking. Becoming fiscally responsible means learning to say No and lookahead.Honestlyevaluatinghowyourfinancialpicturewilllook tentotwentyyearsfromnowisthebestantidotetodenial.Inadditiontolackofeducation,denialbuildsfromfear.Fearkeepspeople stuckinapatternthatextractsatremendouscost.Peaceofmindstays elusivelyoutofreach.

Release the Addiction To Passion and Desire

What defines an addiction is being unable to stop. An addict feelstheinstantrush,andthechemistryofpleasureracesthroughthe bloodstream.Reliefisthereward.Asenseofpeaceallowsustorest inamomentofbliss.Thechaseisover,forthemoment.Butbefore long,thecalmsubsidesandthechasebeginsagain.Somethingbigger,faster,andmoreluxuriousloomsonthehorizonofdesire,luring ustowardthenextbigbuy.Thearcoftensionandanxietybuildsas thewithdrawalsetsinandisonceagainrelievedinthatmomentof bliss.Theaddictivecycleblindstheaddicttotheeffectofhisorher behavioronothers.Theabilitytocarefororactinregardtoothersis lostinthesolefocusongettingthenexthighatallcosts.

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Once You Admit, You Begin To Have Choice

By slowing down we create the necessary space to recognize our deeper needsthe ones longing to be met outside the addictive cycle. The pain of breaking the cycle is temporary. We learn to live with discomfort, knowing it will pass. In the space that opens with acceptance,newdecisionscanbemade.Acommitmenttolivingwith integritycanbebuiltstepbytenderstep.Theprocessislikegrowing newlimbswhetherweretalkingaboutcocaineaddiction,oroverspending.Itisanactofcourageandstrengthtoembracerealityonits owntermsratherthanonourfantasyterms. Once the choice has been made to spend responsibly, we begin making changes through disciplined practice. Making a personal commitmenttofinancialhealthisnosmallstep.Makingaslowstart iswise.Findingthatdeeperstrengthandmakingatruecommitment to yourself that says, enough! fosters the likelihood of long-term success.Payattentiontotheconsequencesofeachdecisionandlive withthegreatestgoodforallinmind.Findthecommitmentthatis rightforyou,theonethatgoesclunkinyourheart,andsticktoit. Thenbeginwithafewsimpletoolsandpracticethemonadailybasis. Masterthesmallthings.Hereareafewinitialstepstotake: ListenToYourWords.Howdoyoutalkaboutmoney?What are you telling your children? Listen carefully to your selftalkaboutmoney. Watch HowYou Handle Money. What are your habits with money?Whendoyoupayyourbills?Doyoucarrycash?Do youcarryitinyourwallet,orcrumpledinyourpocket? RevealYourFinancialSelf.Talktosomeoneaboutyourrelationship with money. Be honest with how much you have, howyoustruggle,whatyouwantandwhatyoulove. OrderYourFinances.Keepyourcashtidy.Organizeasystem topaybills,trackdeposits,andbalanceyourcheckbook. Know Your Financial Picture. Prepare monthly financial statements.Knowhowmuchmoneyanddebtyouhave.

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ChartYourProgress.Drawapictureorgraphofyourfinancial path from your first encounter with money. Recognize yourprogress,andyoursetbacks. Discover Your True Values. Compare your values to your spending.Dotheyalign? Oncethesefundamentalsareinplace,youcanbegintoplanfor thefuture.Asyoubegintomasterthebasics,youcanreachoutfor moreadvancedmoneymanagementskills:financialplanning,investing, retirement planning, tithing, and philanthropy. A long-term healthy financial future is built on a solid foundation of integrity, responsibility, and accountability that must be carefully and intentionallylaid. I have less money now then I ever had, but I have a long-term planbasedonmytruevaluestogrowmyfinancialfuture.Ipractice mynewfinancialhabitsonadailybasis,treatingmyselfwithrespect when I slip into old ideas. Careful discernment guides my spendinghabitsandIcontinuetolearnhowmyactionscontributetothe financial state of my community and nation. The joy I experience todaycomesfromloving,respectfulrelationshipswithmychildren, andevenwithmyex-husband.Tearswellupwhenmysoncallsto askaboutcreditcards,ortheexpenseofanewapartment.Whenmy daughter inquires about stock prices, I feel proud to know that she seesmeasagoodexampleoffiscalresponsibility. Ournation,ourworld,isareflectionofhowweactasindividuals onaday-to-daybasis.Inorderforustoachievenationalandglobal peace around moneypracticing generosity, kindness, abundance, and financial freedomwe must each master these qualities in our own financial lives. Mastery comes from discipline. Discipline is a consistent, dedicated, committed practice. As we are disciplined in ourpersonalfinanciallives,webecomemastersoffinancialintegrity andthattranslatesintofinancialfreedom.

We Create Tomorrow through Self-Mastery Today

InThe MillionairesCourse, MarcAllenshareshisdailymantra,in aneasyandrelaxedmanner,inahealthyandpositiveway,initsown

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perfecttime,forthehighestgoodofall.Thishighlightstheimportance of relaxing while we change. Will you create financial peace byslowingdown,andjustbeingwithhowyouare?Beingamaster of money and being at peace? Becoming financially free takes time. Whenwerelax,timeisonourside.Begintolookatthevaluesbehind yourfinancialchoicesandbringyouruseofmoneytoahigherlevel.

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Jean shInoDa Bolen:

Womens Circles Ripple into Peace

heoriginalMothersDayproclamationwaswrittenbyJulia WardHowein1870.Itdidnotannounceadaytohonormotherswithcards,flowers,andcandy.Itannouncedadayforthe mothersoftheworldtocometogetherinsufficientnumberstobring aboutpeace. Intheproclamation,Howewrote: Oursonsshallnotbetakenfromustounlearnallthatwehave beenabletoteachthemofcharity,mercyandpatience.Wewomenof onecountrywillbetootenderofthoseofanothercountrytoallow oursonstobetrainedtoinjuretheirs. Letwomennowleaveallthatmaybeleftofhomeforagreat and earnest day of counsel. Let us meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.And then solemnly take counsel with eachotherastothemeans,wherebythegreathumanfamilycanlive inpeace. Andsheproposed:

Inthenameofwomanhoodandhumanity,Iearnestlyaskthat a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be

Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and the 2002 recipient of Pioneers in Arts, Sciences, and the Soul of Healing Award from the Institute for Health and Healing. She is a former board member of the Ms. Foundation for Women, and the author of The Tao of Psychology (25th Anniversary Edition, 2004), Goddesses in Everywoman (20th Anniversary Edition, 2004), Crossing to Avalon (10th Anniversary Edition, 2004), and many other books. Full information at www.jeanbolen.com.

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appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient. And thepointofitistopromotetheallianceofdifferentnationalities,the amicablesettlementofinternationalquestionsandtobringaboutthe greatandgeneralinterestofpeace. What is missing from the global conversation about peace is what women as a gender instinctively know. In touch with their vulnerability and strength, women can speak from the feminine principle of interconnectedness, nurturing, and compassion. Only now,atthiscrucialhistoricaltimewhenhumanityhasthepowerto destroylifeonEarth,hastherealsobeenagenerationofwomenwho canspeakforfemininevalues. Because of the womens movement, women in great numbers have had opportunities, responsibilities, experiences and choices beyondthoseofanygenerationever.Thewomensmovementgrew outofapeacefulrevolutionaryidea:thatwomenareequaltomen, andthatsomethingcalledpatriarchyexists,somethingthatcannow be named. Patriarchy is a hierarchal social, political, and religious structureinwhichthosehigherinthehierarchycanexercisepower overthosebelow. Thesymbolsofthegrailandthewoundedfisherkingarepowerful metaphors for this crucial historic turning point. The king has a wound that will not heal, and his kingdom is a wasteland. Wounded in his genitals, the king lacks generativity, creativity and vitality; nothing grows in his kingdom. While the wasteland is figurativelyspiritual,social,andpsychologicalterrain,wealsonote thatthereareecologicalwastelandsandknowthatthewholeearth couldbeturnedintoaliteralwastelandbyanuclearholocaust.Inthe graillegend,thekingcanonlybehealedbythegrailamysterious, numinousobject,usuallythoughtofasachalice(ashapewhichisa feminine symbol) that is always carried by a woman. The healing, sacredgraildisappearedfromtheworldoflongago,andissymbolic ofthesacredfeminine,whichiscarriedbywomen. Shiftingintometaphorallowsustospeakinalanguagethatis understoodbythepsycheorthesoul.Thisisimportant,becausethe

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energy needed to empower us today is spiritual. By connecting at asoullevelwitheachother,wefindaplaceofcommonalitythatis spiritualratherthanreligious.Religionatthemomentisverydivisive.Violencebetweencountries,betweenpeoples,andwithinfamiliesisasymptomofanunbalancedsocietyinwhichhierarchyand expressingpoweroverothersistherulingprinciple.Wehavemostly men in power, or women who identify with power, making all the majordecisionsthatconcernhumanitysfate. Thegraillegendsrevolvearoundthemissingchalicethathasdisappearedandmustbefound.Thepowerofthismetaphorliesnotin whatitpresentstothelogicalmindwhichisalmostalwaysincritical,analyticalmodebutinhowitspeakstothesoul.Thesoulelementsinusunderstandthefeelings,images,andpoeticimpressions of myth, and learn by absorbing them inwardly. In a psychological andspiritualsense,thewastelandisthepsychewithoutthefeminine principle.The grailthat disappeared isthe sacredfeminineareverence for Earth, and for life on this Earth. The quest is to find the grail, in order to heal the wounded fisher king and regenerate the wasteland. Mythesisisthis:forthegrailtobereturnedtotheworld,women mustfinditintheir ownpsychesandexperience,andbring itinto theirpartofpatriarchy.Thedesertlandscapeofthewastelandcalls out for the feminine principle.At the deepest level of the planet, it is calling usshe is calling usto gather the women. There is an awareness somewhere within the psychethat weneedto bring the sacredfemininebackintoconsciousnessbecausethatiswhatcould healthewastelandofdominatorpoliticsandthepotentialofdestroyingtheplanet.Theinterestinfictionbest-sellerssuchasDanBrowns The Da Vinci Code, and before that, Marion Zimmer Bradleys The Mists of Avalon,pointtothisawareness. The dominator culture begins with the sense that men, since Adam, have dominion over everything by divine right. Religious fundamentalists begin with the belief that men were created in the image of God, and are therefore superior to women and all other livingthings.Theegalitarianperspectiveofthewomensmovement

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challenged male superiority. The generation that comprised the womens movement and those baby boomers who were the direct beneficiaries know how much the world changed for women as a result.ThereareclosetofiftymillionAmericanwomenoveragefifty whocanrecallorhaveasenseofwhattheworldwaslikeforwomen beforethattime. The fundamentalist men of all three monotheistic religions emphasizeobediencetohierarchyanddominionoverwomen,while creating crusades and jihads against each other. On a global level, fundamentalism creates fratricidal wars such as in Rwanda, and theMiddleEast.Allovertheworld,peoplewhohavelivednextto each other for generationsin the Balkans for example, the Serbs, Croatians,Albanians,MoslemandChristiansharborhateandvengeance. Men who, in the name of honor, kill sisters and daughters forlosingtheirvirginity;menwhoincitewartogainmorepoweror moreterritory;menwhosendyoungmentodiethesearetodays wounded fisher kings. They are unable to feel, and are therefore unabletocareifsoldiersaremerechildren,orifinnocentnoncombatantsarekilled. Mothersdonotseetheirtwenty-year-oldsonsaswarriors.They donthavetheappallingteammentalityaboutwarthatkeepsscore inbodycountsandhowmuchlandisgained.Patriarchyfixateson power.Forbalancetoberestored,womenmustbeheard. Women gathering together in groups and telling the truth of their lives can actually change the world. That is what led to the womensmovement.Inthemovementitself,womendidwhatthey werepersonallymotivatedtodo,oncetheyunderstoodhowpatriarchyhaddefinedandlimitedthem.Thosewhowantedtobeactivists and march in demonstrations did so. Those who wanted to write and put together anthologies to influence women who werent in consciousness-raising groups did so. Women lawyers who wanted tofightincourtdidso.Womenwhowantedtochallengeaccessto education and jobs did so. It was not a hierarchical movement. It camethroughlooselyorganizedgroupsofwomenthatsupportedthe womeninthemtodowhatevertheyfeltmotivatedtodo.Asaresult,

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enormoussocialchangecameabout.Thestuffofordinarylifewhat womencando,howtheyareinrelationshipschanged.Today,from housewifetoastronaut,awomancandojustaboutanything,except beaRomanCatholicpriest. Thetransformativepowerofwomengatheringtogetherisahistoricalfactanditisalsoanenergyfield.BiologistRupertSheldrake introduced the idea of morphic fields and discussed how people change. Once a critical mass of people changes their behavior, attitude, or perception, behavior that was previously resisted becomes what is naturally done. Womens right to vote is an example. C. G. JungscollectiveunconsciousisidenticaltoSheldrakesmorphicfield for our species. Once we start to embody a pattern that exists as a latentpotentialorarchetype(suchasacircleofwomen),wetapinto asourcethatenergizesouractions. Sheldrake adds another active dimension to Jungs concept. In hismodel,theenergyofthearchetypalormorphicfieldrunsintwo directions,fromthefieldandbacktothefield.Everynewwomens circle that forms increases the ease of others forming, by adding to the field. When there is a critical mass, the circle will enter hu- manconsciousnessasanaturalwayforpeopletobetogether,even ininstitutions. InmybookThe Millionth Circle(Conari/RedWheel,1999),Ienvisionedwomenscircleswithaspiritualcenterasthemeanstochange the women in them and change the world, and to heal the women in them and heal the world. The millionth circle is a metaphoric number, the circle that tips the scales when added to all the others. It creates a critical mass to bring the sacred feminine into human consciousness.Itisaspiritualevolutionarychangethatcomes,once again,throughsmallgroupsofwomenasdidthesocialandpoliticalchangesmadebythewomensmovement. Thatbookwaslikeaseedpacket,whichledmanywomentostart acircle,ortotransformanexistinggroupintoacirclewithasacred center. It inspired the formation of an organization, The Millionth Circle Initiative (www.millionthcircle.org). Its members in turn helpedorganizeGathertheWomencongresses,firstinSanFrancisco

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in2003andtheninDallasin2004.KatheSchaaf,thefirstpresidentof Gather the Women (www.gatherthewomen.org) saw the possibility of Six Congresses on Six continents in 2006 as a lead-in to a fifth WomensWorldConference.Theexperienceofbeinginacirclewitha sacredcenterleadstotheformationofnewcircles.Circlesproliferate likestrawberryrunners,astheideatakesrootinnewlocations. IrecentlyhadthepleasureofmeetingElanaRozenman,anorthodoxJewfromIsraelwhocomestoMarinCountyregularlytoseeher agingmother.Everytimeshecomesforavisit,Elanainviteswomen who know of her peace work to come together in a circle and do a walking meditation in Muir Woods. Imagine the contrast between walkingthroughthetranquilbeautyoftheancientredwoodtreesin MuirWoodsandwalkingonastreetinpartsofIsraeltoday. Elana is part of an interfaith womens group in Jerusalem that includes Christian, Muslim, and Jewish women. The women dont talk about religion when they meet in their circle. They talk about theirlivesanddifficulties,andthecommonhopeforpeacethatthey carry. I found Elenas story particularly instructive. A number of yearsago,herteenagesonwaswalkingalongthestreetwhenaterroristbombwentoff.Althoughhegotsome200piecesofshrapnelin hisbody,hersonlived.Alittlegirlwalkingalongonthesamestreet washitbyjustonepieceofshrapnel,andshedied.Elanacameaway fromthatexperiencewithaprofoundrealizationthatshecouldnot allowherlifetobedictatedbyfear.Walkingoutintotheworldisa risk.Somewillbekilled,andotherswilllive.Motherswhodontturn intohatersknowthataPalestinianmotherwholosesachildandan Israelimotherwholosesachildsufferthesameheartbreak.Bothlive understress. Women react to stress very differently than men. It has always been assumed that the genders react the same way to stress. But a recentstudybytheUniversityofCaliforniaatLosAngeleshasturned up some surprising results. It shows that women have a tend and befriendreactiontostress,incontrasttotheflightorfightresponse of the typical male. Women tend to talk to each other and share their feelings in order to reduce stress.As they do so, the levels of

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oxytocinthe maternal bonding hormonein their blood increase. Incontrast,menunderstressarelikelytoeitherwithdraworbecome more aggressive, with a corresponding increase in adrenaline the flight or fight hormone. Testosterone enhances an adrenaline response.Inanotherinterestingandrelevantresearchstudyoftestosteronelevels,thetopmalehadthehighestlevel,untilhelosthispositiontoanotherman.Afterthat,histestosteroneleveldecreased.Ina hierarchyofpower,whichisthestructurethatunderliespatriarchy, dominancebyonemeanssubmissionbytheothers. Oneofthelongestrunningunresolvedconflictsintheworldisin theMiddleEast.Itisanexampleofwhywomenneedtobeinvolved inthepeaceprocess.ArielSharon andYasserArafatcant negotiate peaceiftheirphysiologicalmodelisdominanceorsubmission,and theirpsychologicalintentistohumiliatetheotherratherthanbringingpeacetotheirsufferingpeople. By way of contrast, in the Iroquois Confederacy, women elders determined the priorities of the five Seneca nations. Women who had raised children and were beyond childbearing years were chosen by the people to form the womens council. It was up to these grandmothers to decide whether the nation would go to war. This decisionlike all othersdrew upon the preceding seven generationsfordirectionandconsideredtheeffectofthedecisiononthe sevengenerationstocome.Iftheconsensusdecisionofthewomens councilwastogotowar,theywouldpassthedecisionontothemens council.Themenwouldthendecideamongthemselveswhowould bethewarchief.Interestingtonote,however,isthefactthatitwas the elder women who proposed the members of the mens council. Only elder women who had observed that generation of men from boyhoodwouldknowtheircharacterandstrengths. Iamoptimistic.Ithinkawindowofopportunityexistsinwhich patriarchycanbetransformedintoabalancedculture,throughcircles of women reaching a critical mass. The United Nations has passed resolutionsthatputintowordsaspirationsthatcanleadtoaworld without war. One of these is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Another is U.N. Resolution 1325, sometimes referred to as

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theWomen,PeaceandSecurityresolution.Itstatesthatwherever thereisviolenceintheworldwhetheratthelevelofdomesticviolence or international conflictwomen need to be involved in the peaceprocess. Women, meeting in circles, with a spiritual center, tap into an archetypal field. Its as if theyre clustered around a well, drawing water from an aquifer buried deep within the human psyche. Each womanandeachcirclefindswisdomandcompassionatthecenter, andbringsthefeminineprinciplebackintotheworld,bringinghealingtothespiritualwasteland.Everywomanisapotentialgrailcarrier. She can take her experience of the sacred feminine back to her worldofrelationshipsandinstitutions. Theexpression,Thereisnothingsopowerfulasanideawhose time has come, describes the moment of achieving a critical mass. Peacecancometotheworldthroughtheinvolvementofwomen.In growingnumbersandinfluence,womenaremeetingincircleswith a spiritual center. They are meeting in congresses and conferences, connecting though their hearts, and communicating through every availablemeans,includingtheInternet.Womenwhoarewiseelders and effective activists, women who put the well-being of children first, women who speak as mothers and grandmothers, must all be heard. Through geometrical progression, becoming a critical mass, reachingatippingpoint,womencanembodyandfulfilltheMothers Day proclamation. As Julia Ward Howe envisioned, women can solemnlytakecounselwitheachotherastothemeans,wherebythe greathumanfamilycanliveinpeace.

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Gay henDrICks:
Bedroom Wars Meet Bosnian Wars
heres a great fundamental issue facing the world. It will make Earth much moreor much lessliveable. That issue ispersonalresponsibility.Inmyworkasaclinicalpsychologist,workingwithseveralthousandindividualsandcouples,Ihave noticedthatitisahumanhabittostepintofeelinglikeavictim.From that position, we blame other people or systems for our problems, insteadoftakingpersonalresponsibilityforfixingthem. Avoidance of personal responsibility is not just a habit; its an addiction, just like a chemical addiction. Novelist James Michener, during a car trip throughAfghanistan in 1949, happened to visit a villagewhereawomanhadjustbeenstonedtodeathforadultery.It wasobvioustohimthatthevillagerswerehavingadrugexperience. Theywereelatedalldayafterthestoning.Thatelationcomesfrom the glee of affixing blame, from a powerful hit of that drug. Then, asthedrugworeoff,thevillagersslidintoapowerful,communitywidedepression.Foracoupleofdays,theywerebarelyabletomove. Their internal biochemistry changed completely during and after thestoning.
Gay Hendricks, Ph.D., is the author and co-author of twenty-five books in conscious relationship, conscious business, and body-mind transformation. Included are such enduring bestsellers as Conscious Loving (Bantam, 1992), Conscious Breathing (Bantam, 1995), and Conscious Living (HarperSan Francisco, 2001). Before founding his own institute, he was Professor of Counseling at the University of Colorado. Over the twenty-four years of their relationship, he and his wife Kathlyn have raised two children, accumulated a million frequent flyer miles and appeared on more than 500 radio and television programs. You can see him on the web at www.hendricks.com.

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Atthemomentwhenyoustepoutofpersonalresponsibilityand into the victim position, pointing the finger of blame, you relieve yourselfoftheawesomeecstasyofactuallytakingresponsibility.Its thenaturalorganicecstasythatarisesfromstandinginafullyco-creativepositionwiththeuniverseitself.Whenyoustepintoblame,you relieveyourselfofhavingtoopenupthecircuitryinyourselftofeel thatecstasy.Thatsthefundamentaldevelopmentalproblemweface at this stage of evolution: Were opening up the wiring that allows us to feel organic ecstasy for longer and longer periods of time.At present, most people cant sustain that state, so they slip back into adangerousaddictiontoblame.Inthebody,themomentwhenthe blameisassignedfeelslikeagleeful,Gotcha! Initsextremeform,thishabitproducesfundamentalism.People who have been programmed to live in that state of finger-pointing since they could walk, who have never had any other opportunity, thinkthatthisexperienceofgleeiswhatlifeisallabout.Itcancause themtooverlookthephysicalrealityofflyingaplaneintoabuildingandkillingthemselves,alongwiththousandsofinnocentpeople. It was a dangerous state centuries ago, when human beings had onlyrockstothrowateachother.Today,itsmuchmoredangerous becausehumanbeingshaverocketstothrowateachother. Oncewereaccustomedtoacertainchemicalstateinsideofourselves,wetendtofeelcomfortablewiththatevenifitsattachedto obviously dysfunctional behavior. When we try new behavior and ourbiochemistrychanges,itfeelsuncomfortableatfirst.Movingto newstatesofexperiencemayfeelforeigntoourbodies. In recent years Ive dived down deep to find out what the real issuesarethatdrivethebehavioroffundamentalism.Iwouldoccasionallyseeacoupleinmyofficewhobehavedthisway.OnemarriagestandsoutbecausebothpartnerswerePh.D.swhohadwritten brilliant scholarly papers. But when either of them encountered anythingtheyperceivedasathreat,theirunderstandingflewoutthe window and they immediately became StoneAge fundamentalists, convincedthattheyknewthattheotherpersonwaswrong.

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Itisextraordinarilyimportanttounderstandtherealfearunderneath all of this. If you look around the world, youll see that one ofthebigfearsthatdrivesconflictsisthefearofbeingleftbehind. Societies are afraid of being left behind even if they arent actually beingleftbehind. Historically, human beings were left behind in very physical ways,suchaswatchingalineofcamelsinthedesertwalkingaway fromyoubecauseyouwereilloroldorunwanted.Or,youmightbe abandonedbyyourtribebecauseyouwerethewrongcolororhad toomanytoes. In todays world the issue takes the form of a conceptual getting left behind. Ive seen the radical Iraqi cleric Muktadr al-Sadr on television. Hes a classic case of a fundamentalist who thinks hesright,whoisconvincedheknowswhotheenemyis.Hehasno compunction about blaming Jews and Westerners for the plight of hisfollowers. As al-Sadr walked through the street and across my television screen, about fifty of his followers strode behind him. Their body language proclaimed that these were people who couldnt do anythingusefulinthemodernworld.Theydidntknowhowtodrivea car,operateacomputer,runafarm,manufacturegoods,orotherwise makeapositivecontributiontotheirsociety.Thebestideatheycould comeupwith,springingfromthatfearofgettingleftbehind,wasto keepotherpeoplefromgoingtoofarahead. Ifyouvegivenupanddecidedthatyourenotgoingtobeable tosupportyourfamilywell,orhaveagoodlifeyourself,therearent toomanyoptionsleft.Oneoptionistotrytomessupthegamefor other people, so that nobody else is having a good time either, so thateverybodyelseisasscaredasyouare.Oneofthefundamental, unconsciouspurposesofterrorismistomakesurethattherestofthe populationisasscaredastheterroristis. Healing starts from opening up this territory in yourself. That means acknowledging it; looking at ways in which you have that same feeling. Your action begins to open up a contagious field of

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awareness of that issue. This is an important thing we can all do. By looking at some of the deeper emotional issues that drive societal problems, people can begin to speak about them publicly. For example, instead of having a meeting between Palestinians and JewsinIsraelthatturnsintoashoutingmatchfollowedbyasuicide bomber,thetwosidesmighttalkabouttheircommonfearsofbeing leftbehind,ratherthanprojectingthemontoeachother. Heresaquestionthatsocialgroupscanstartwith:Whatcanwe dotomakesurethatourchildrendonthavetoliveinthesamekind offearthatwelivein? The first issue that needs to be addressed with a group is the sameissuecoupleshave,andthatis:Areyouwillingtomakeacommitmenttosolvingthisproblem?Themomentyouaskthatquestion, themosttypicalresponseis,Well,yes,Idbecommittedifshewas. Thenthecoupleneedsanhourandahalftoworkthroughthatissue. Atsomepointintheprocess,bothpeoplebondandturnonthe therapist. I tell my therapy students that those are the only times youreworthwhatyouregettingpaid.Whenbothmembersofthe coupleturntoyouandsay,Hey,whatthehellareyousuggesting here?Areyousuggestingthatitsnothisfault?itsalwaysasweaty moment.Yetitsthemomentwhentransformationcanactuallyoccur. Once youre through that barrier, the possibility opens up of both peopletakingresponsibilityandgettingoutofthefieldofblame. A few years back, I was helping facilitate resolution between different factions in Bosnia: the Serbian Christians and the Bosnian Muslims. There were about sixty people in the group. I asked this basic question: Are you willing to resolve this issue between you? Oneofthemenstoodupandsaid,Thisisnotanissuethatcanbe resolved,becauseitstartedin1389. He talked about 1389 like it was yesterday. And in a way it was,becausethesepeoplehadkeptalivethesourceofthisdispute betweenthemthroughcarefulinoculationofeachgenerationforsix hundred years!Thatsamajorcommitmenttonotsolvingaproblem.

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Thefirstproblemyouhavetoconfront,whetheryouhaveamarriedcoupleoraroomfullofBosnians,isdespairthattheproblemis not solvable. That despair is always accompanied by about fifteen levelsofjustificationforwhyitsnotsolvable,alongwithfifteenmore levels of explanation about why its the other persons fault. This despairhastoairedintheserviceofresolvingtheproblem. Whenbothsidesmakeacommitmenttoresolvingtheissue,90% oftheworkisdone.Onceyougettoaplaceofgenuinecommitment, youhavesteppedintoaco-creativerolewithnotonlytheotherside, butwiththeuniverseitself. The breakthrough with the Serbs and Croats shows the power ofbelieftoeitherdestroyorheal.Therewerenophysicaldifferences betweenthem;onewasntbrownandtheotherpink.Thedifferences were on the conceptual level. When that set of concepts and beliefs changed, healing was suddenly possible. Both Serbs and Croats let gooftheir belief that there wasaninsurmountable barrier between them.Theshiftwasdisplayedintheformofpeoplelookingatothersandsaying,Ihadneverreallythoughtofyoubeforeasahuman being.Itneveroccurredtomethatyouloveyourchildren,too. Whenyoucommittoresolvinganissue,youstepoutofthestate of consciousness called blame. When you do that, you automaticallystepintoresponsibility.Thereareseverallevelsofresponsibility. Juniorlevelresponsibilityisgoingfromblametobeingwillingtoconsiderwhatyourecontributingtothisproblem.Seniorlevelresponsibilityisbeingsoimpeccablyclearthathumanbeingsareresponsible forthemselvesthatyoucreateaspaceinwhichitspossibleforother peopletostepintothatunderstanding.Youhavetotrainyourselfto do that. If you dont, then the moment you get hungry or angry or tiredorlonely,youstartprojectingblameontootherpeople. At some point, some extremely visible person is going to take responsibility for his or her actions, and it will affect the world. I can feel the ripple of energy building up to this. I dont know who or where it will be, but I sensea big space of listening for that call. Togetasenseofwhatthismightlooklike,rolltheclockbacktothe

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moment,duringtheWatergatescandal,whenRichardNixonsaid,I amnotacrook. Imagineifinsteadhehadsaidsomethinglikethis:Peoplewho work for me got discovered breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters. While I didnt know the details of this action,Icertainlyknewthatalotofshadythingshadbeengoingon, andIdidntdoanythingtostopthem.Andbecausethishascometo light so publicly, Im looking inside myself and I find a very sleazy streak in me. Im beginning to wonder about how to heal that in myself,becauseasItuneintoit,IseeitsbeenthereaslongasIve been here. Since you all voted for me, I think you ought to do the same thing, because I wouldnt have been elected with this sleazy streakifitdidntmatchsomethinginyou.Soletsallusethisasan opportunitytolookinsideandfindwherewereoutofintegritywith ourselves, where weve stopped telling the truth to ourselves, and where we think of ourselves as victims. Lets see if we can use this wholesituationtolearnsomethingthatcanhealalotofthedivisions inthiscountry. Thatkindofmomentcouldchangehistory.Wehaventseensuch amomentyet,thoughtherehavebeenglimpsesofit.Itsaverydifficultthingtodobecauseitrequiresararelevelofemotionalmaturity. If I were addressing the U.N. GeneralAssembly with my most profoundwordofadvice,Idprobablyaskjustonequestion:Would youbewillingtostaycompletelyoutofblaminganyoneelseforthe nextyear,andinsteadmakeasincerecommitmenttoresolvingallthe issuesweconfront? Iveaskedthatquestionofliterallythousandsofpeople,manyof whomhadgonetogreatlengthstocometomeandwerepayingme verylargesumsofmoney.Evenwiththosehighstakes,99timesout of100thepersongoesintothedefaultpositionofblameimmediately, justuponhearingthatquestion.Weaningourselvesfromthatstance takespatience,repetitionandskill. Doyouwanttoberightorbehappy?Iinviteyoutomakethat tinychoicethatisactuallyahugechoice.Youonlyhavetodoitonce, and the whole field changes.After that its a matter of practice. Its

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likethefirsttimeyourideabicycle.Youwobblefortenfeetthenfall over.You get back on and master riding twenty feet. The first time youstayuprightisthemomenteverythingchanges.Masteringpersonalresponsibilityinvolvesthe samelearning curve.After awhile youfeelgreatwhenyoudoit,andmiserablewhenyoudont. Wherever you see the tendency in yourself to default to blame, you have identified the exact place that needs healing. Healing for yourself comes when you take 100% impeccable responsibility for yourself; healing for the planet comes when you create a space for other people to take 100% impeccable responsibility as well. Do it yourself,andyouwillhaveacontagiouseffectonthosearoundyou.

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Putting the Soul Back in Medicine

nceuponatime,whentheraysofthemorningsunrose over peoples who were still hunters and gatherers, the clock of the bodymind was regulated by the magnetic forcesofnature.Bysunandmoon,bycyclesandseasons,byfeastingandfasting.

The wise ones, known as healers or shamans, believed that illness was a result of being out of tune with the natural cycles. The disharmony, and the dis-ease which resulted from it, had different typesofcures.Therewerepowerfulherbswhichcouldrebalancethe flow of energy which, in turn, determined physical function. Some cultures developed a large pharmacopia of active agents. Others, suchassomeoftheNativeAmericancultures,employedonlyafew plants.Theshamanormedicinepersondreamedwhichherbtouse and invoked the specific healing quality required through prayer andritual. But the shamans were much more than intuitive pharmacologists.Theywerealsointuitivepsychologists.Thepatientwasquestionedabouttheirlife,theirroleinthetribe,theirrelationshipsand
Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., has a powerfully clear personal visionto bring science, medicine, psychology and spirituality together in the service of healing. Her brilliance as a scientist, clinician and teacher have placed her on the leading edge of the mind-body revolution, and she has become a world-renowned spokesperson for this new approach to health, sharing her pioneering work with a gentle graciousness, enthusiasm and humility. She is the author of the best-seller Minding the Body, Mending the Mind (1987) and eight other books. This chapter appeared initially in the Leifer Report, and is used with permission of author and publisher.

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their dreams. Turbulent emotions could cause turbulence in the bodymind.Thecureinthiscasewastocorrectthesourceoftheemotionaldisbalance.Incaseswherethepatienthadbeentraumatizedby grief,accident,heartbreakorabuse,itwasnottheenergybodyorthe emotionalbodythatrequiredhealing,butthesoul. Soul retrieval was a common medical treatment in which the shamanenteredastateofnon-ordinaryrealitysimilartowhatpeople describeduringnear-deathexperiencesandmysticalvisions.Inthis state, the shaman tracked parts of the patients soul that had been splitoffandlostasaresultoftrauma.Theretrievedsoulpartswere then blown back into the patients body through the heart and the top of the head and oftentimes a physical and emotional cure was achieved. Our modern psychology and psychiatry, in contrast, has amuchpoorertrackrecordwithpost-traumaticstressdisorderand thecureofdissociativedisordersresultingfromchildhoodphysical abuse,sexualabuseorunusualtrauma. The soul of medicine itself has become fragmented. We have retainedthepharmacologyandrefinedthetechnicalaspectsofpathophysiology,diagnosisandtreatment,butwehavelosttheemotional andspiritualcomponentsthatcanmakehealingasacredartaswell asamoreeffectivescience.Nearlytwomilleniaago,coincidentwith thespreadoftheCatholicChurchtoEurope,tremendoussociologicalandreligiousupheavalsoccurredwhichresultedinthestamping outofshamaniccultures.Thisinturnhadafar-reachingeffectonthe developmentofmedicine.Illnesswasviewedasevidenceofsin,an ideathatispoignantlyconsideredintheoldtestamentBookofJob. After all, if illness and misfortune are the result of offending God, thenallyouhavetodoistobeisvery,verygoodandthenyoullbe safe. Or if you are beyond reproach, then all you have to do is get ridofthebadguyswhoareoffendingGod.EntertheCrusadesand theInquisition. During the middleages the Black Death killed one third of the populationofEurope.Asearchforthesinnerswhomustsurelyhave caused it gave rise to a bloody chapter in the history of religious persecution. Entire villages of Jews were murdered and several

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millionwomenwerecondemnedaswitchesinthehopeofdefeating theplague.Butwhentheplaguecontinuedtospread,religionultimatelylostitsauthorityoverillnessandtheageofsciencebegan.For anexcellentreviewIheartilyrecommendSacredEyes,bypsychologistandministerRobertKeck. By the sixteenth century, modern science was being birthed by the famous triad of scientific reductionistsFrancis Bacon, Renee Descartes and Isaac Newtonwho succeeded in reducing nature toamachinedevoidofsoulorguidingintelligence.Totheircredit, theyexorcisedthetoxicnotionofdiseaseaspunishmentbyapeevish deity.Buttheyalsothrewthebabyoutwiththebathwater.Bacons stated purpose was to subjugate nature altogether by desouling it. Totakeherbyforceandtotortureandvexherintorevealingher secretssothatmankindwouldhavedominionovertheearthover lifeanddeathitself. Thisisthethinkingthatunderliestherapeandplunderofnatural resources, the dehumanization of third world cultures, and the de-souling of modern medicine. It presumes a lack of organizing intelligence in the universe and since life is therefore not sacred, resources become expendable in the name of progress. Soul loss ultimatelyleadstoamoralbehavior-actsperformedwithoblivionto theireventualconsequences.Werewe,likeournativepredecessors, conditioned to assess the consequences of our health-care system sevengenerations into the future wewouldhaveto asksomevery penetrating questions. Is it appropriate that the majority of monies spentonthemedicalcareofanyoneindividualarespentinthelast few months of their life? Would they be better spent in prevention programs, or in early childhood education programs, or in parentingprogramsthatwouldaidemotionalwellbeingandthereforecut downonillnessandsuffering? And what is a soul approach to an individual patient? Once again,ithastodowithamacroscopicviewthatinvestigatestheillnessaspartofalife,ratherthanasanisolatedsymptom.Thephysicianwhopracticesfragmentedmedicineandcuresasymptommay actually compound the patients problems. For example, a diuretic

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maydecreaseMrs.Jonesbloodpressure,butifitishighbecauseof analcoholichusband,poorself-esteemandruinoushealthhabitshas her physician healed her with a prescription or has he colluded to helphermaintainasickstatusquo?Tobeahealer,aphysicianneeds to have a larger vision of the human being than is taught in most medical schools which pander to molecules while denigrating the emotionalandspiritualaspectsoflife. Partoftheprobleminmedicineslossofsoulisthatdeathisseen as unnatural, as the enemy, so that disproportionate resources are putintodiscouragingdeathasopposedtoencouraginglife.Letme tellyouastory.MymotherdiedinaBostonteachinghospitalabout fiveyearsago,andoverall,shehadawonderfulqualityofcare.But onthelastdayofherlife,asherheartandlungsandkidneysfailed, she developed internal bleeding and was whisked off to nuclear medicinesothatthesourceofthebleedcouldbedetermined.Why? Was it going to make a clinical difference? Four hours passed, and thefamily,whichwasgatheredaroundheremptybedtosaygoodbye,startedtogetimpatientandscared.SinceIhadworkedinthat hospital for a decade, they dispatched me to rescue her. I knew it wouldntbeeasy.WhenIgotdowntonuclearmedicine,shewasstill waitingonthegurneythathadbroughtherdownfourhoursbefore. Idemandedherimmediatereleaseandthedoctorwasequallyadamant about getting a diagnosis. My mother broke the stalemate by virtually resurrecting from near-death to give the doctor a dose of commonsense,Adiagnosis.Isthatallyouneed?Imdying.Thats yourdiagnosis.Andwiththat,thedoctorgavein. Fortunately,wehadtimetosaygoodbyebackinherroombefore sheslippedintoalastmorphine-assistedsleep.MysonJustin,who wastwentyatthetime,andIwereatherbedsideataboutthreein themorning.IwasmeditatingwhenIhadavividvisionthatseemed farmorerealthanwakinglife.InthevisionIwasapregnantmother givingbirthandIwasalsothebabybeingborn.Asthebaby,Iwas beingpropelleddownalong,darktunnel.AndthenIcameoutinto thepresenceoftheineffablelightthatsomanyofmypatientswho have had near-death experiences describe. The light is omniscient,

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incomprehensibly loving, infinitely wise and perfectly forgiving. It feelslikehome.Inthepresenceofthelight,myrelationshipwithmy mother,whichhadbeenadifficultone,seemedperfect.Isawthelessons we had learned from one another and felt immense gratitude towardher.Shehadbirthedmeintothisworld,andIfeltasthoughI hadbirthedhersoulbackoutagain. WhenIopenedmyeyes,Justinhadalookoftotalaweonhisface. HeaskedmeifIcouldseethelightintheroom.WhenIsaidthatI could,forindeedthewholeroomwasglowing,Justinsaid,Grandma isholdingopenthedoortoeternitytogiveusaglimpse.Justinfelt thathehadreceivedapricelessgift,becauseheknewwithcertainty thatwearenotourbodies.Weinhabitourbodies,butoursoulsare immortal. He wept as he told me that he would never be afraid of deathagain.Theonlytypeofdeaththatisreallyworthfearing,after all,isalivingdeathinwhichwefailtobecomeourselvesbecausewe getstuckinsomeoneelsesdefinitionofwhoweshouldbe. Albert Camus wrote, There is but one freedom, to put oneself rightwithdeath.Afterthateverythingispossible.Whenpeoplevisit their doctor, they might not be thinking in terms of their immortal souls,butmostarelookingforemotionalandspirtualhealing.They want to know they are worthy and lovable. They want to confess, tocomplain,tobeforgiven,tomakemeaningoftheirlives.Clearly, thiscantalwaysbedoneinaneight-minuteofficevisit.Butcompassioncanbecommunicated,andwhenappropriatethepatientcanbe referredtoatherapistorclergypersonwhocanhelpthemwiththebig questionsthatillnessputstous.WhoamI?,Whatisthepurpose ofmylife?andHowcanIprofitfromthisillnessasanopportunity tofindgreaterfreedomandhappiness? Consumersarepatentlydissatisfiedwithamechanisticmedicine thatdeniesitsownsoulandtheirs.Itstimeweheedthesymptoms indicating that our medical system is dangerously out of balance. Moderntechnologyismarvelousandlifesaving,andifwecanintegrateitwiththedeepwisdomofthepastthenwecanbirthamedicinethatexaltsandnurturesliferatherthanonethanispredicatedon thefearofdeath.

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