Prejudice? Not

We are indeed, prisoners of our prejudices

We were a polyglot group of foreigners living in our neighbourhood of Tokyo in the 50's. Jews, Muslims, Christians, Pakistanis, Iranians, Americans, British. Children of diplomatic staff who I thought all got along very well with each other, until one day I realized that actually, we didn't.

A group of my friends got together to beat up another of my friends. Why? Because they were Muslim, and he, Hindu. So there were four of them with sticks, waiting for him to show up. They wanted me to join them, but I said no.

Walking away, the wrongness of this struck me. I found him shopping for his mom. When the others attacked, he swung his shopping bag at them, and a glass bottle cut open one kid's head. I told them to leave him alone. When they complained about my warning him, I said "too bad, but it was wrong"

These children were 6-7 years old. We had all played together, and now, because one parent influenced his child, a whole gang were going to beat up on a kid because of what? His parents worshipped another form of God? I doubt that they understood the er, theological differences; they just were being conditioned to hate the other.

Going to school in Pakistan, there were Christians and Hindus who people just had to make comments about. So, contrarian that I was, I had to befriend them. There was one Hindu who had a particularly bad time of it; yet, in visiting his home I found out he actually was related to our family by marriage. Small world.

On the other hand, while growing up in India, my grandparents brought in Hindu tutors who actually snuck in history textbooks about how "cruel the Muslim rulers had been". Oy vey. And my brother told me how a Jewish kid at Karachi Grammar school had been treated very unkindly and how bad he felt about it. Me, I'd have made him my best friend for life :)

And here in the Western world, I see how prejudices against Islam are being manipulated to justify a war against a billion and a half Muslims, and so, even though I'm not one myself, I try to defend them against this. It doesn't matter if the subject had been Jews or Evangelical Christians, it is always the unfairness of the attacks, the views of the stronger against those with no voice against prejudice, that gets me riled.

But this isn't a riff about How Liberal I Am. Many of my views might be termed non-PC, and I am more revolutionary than 'liberal'. What interests me is the psychology of how certain images and prejudices are conditioned into us, not just by religion or society or parents, but by our own experiences and learning.

Of course we have stereotypes and archetypes that might even be reinforced by personal experience and knowledge. Even as an Astrologer I have no problem generalizing about the 12 Astrological signs, because there are no good signs or bad ones. Similarly, while I know that each race and nation has its own karma and er, characteristics, no one is bound by them, because we all have free choice, and the gift of being able to step outside of our own conditioning.

So, I think it is so sad that Muslim kids, or Hindus, or Jews, or Christians, or heterosexuals, or, er, white folk (trust me, 'brown' folk have their own prejudices) learn to fear the other. I think it is so sad that prejudice is so pervasive it can be manipulated for external purposes.

Yet, the heart knows what it loves. How sad it would be if we excluded so many from the list of those whom we can love?

Merry Christmas to all

And Peace on Earth too

Here we are, and as another year passes by, I want to wish you all the best in the year ahead.

What is the message of Christmas? Nothing to do with Christianity. Everything to do with God's love for all of Creation.

Because God loves you, you have been given the gift of free choice. And the only thing asked of you is that you love one another.

If you remember that, you will have peace, and there will be no starvation, or injustice, or war.

So, what is the message of Christmas? You all choose, you all are born with, a purpose; and you are all given a sign as to what that purpose is. So, follow that sign to wherever it leads you.

Bulgaria

Where goes Bulgaria? Europe?

I just got back from Bulgaria. Invited to visit and help a family with a boy with Autism, I found myself asking if there was more to my trip than this. And, as it turned out, yes, there was.

It's true that Autism is a very karmic illness, and helping others and my own family with this has been quite a journey.

And, it was very gratifying to see changes, in that child and many others I saw there. It would take time and effort, but, I saw them getting better, and that was enough for me.

But, the fact remains that wherever I go there will be change. Do I initiate the change, or, do I go where people are ready (or not?) Yes, there are places where just a little push in terms of energy is enough to shift whole societies, or, help people who already are receptive. Sometimes, even when I don't go somewhere, there is change, anyway. And, always, it helps me on the next stage of my journey.

I give a healing to a lady in Bulgaria. She asks if this is similar to what Djuna Davitashvili used to do. No, but there lies a story. Djuna Davitashvili was a faith healer who is claimed to have been the personal healer of Russian presidents Leonid Brezhnev and Boris Yeltsin. I meet her at an alternative medicine conference in Spain in 1991. I am invited to another conference in Moscow, in August of that year. I decline, and it is a good thing because there's a coup attempt around that time, and Russia descends into anarchy.

Everywhere I go, there is change. Iran, the U.K., USA.

So, what of Bulgaria? Well, ten years ago I met a Bulgarian gentleman over the Internet. He tells me about his Autistic son and I help so that, at the age of 6, he is recovering speech and getting better. Sadly, I lose touch and can't find his address before I leave this time around. But, I meet another person, a woman with er, political inclinations. I know I can help her, but, sadly, she is used to holding herself back, and the reaction to my being there is just, a little too, um, strong.

Bulgarian society is based on the Thracians, a warlike Indo-European people very like the Celts, all of whom proved very difficult for the Roman Empire to subjugate. They also had a matriarchal underpinning, and, like many of our kind, saw death as just another place along the continuum.

The Slavs and the Bulgars, a Turkic tribe, come later, so Bulgaria is where the movement of peoples and mixture of many cultures becomes so very strong.

I am also amazed to see how strong the earth energy is there. Because wherever I go, I heal the earth as well. The land is especially fertile. Even the food is especially nourishing, unlike our overproduced North American diet. And yes, there is weather change.

That part of Bulgaria usually gets large amounts of snow dumped on it this time of the year. When I arrive, the sun is out and it's 20 degrees Celsius. It stays around 15 degrees throughout my stay, and only goes down when I leave. Staying overnight In Vienna on my way back, everything is clear until, sitting in my plane on the tarmac at Vienna Airport, the storm finally arrives. Three weeks later, Europe is still under unusual Arctic conditions, but the part of Bulgaria where I was? Still, hardly any snow. (Not good, because farmers do need snow to provide water for next year's crops)

I go down to the Black Sea, and of course, coming all that way, I will have a dip. Brr! That's cold, of course, but it's OK.

There's the cape of Kaliakra, where, centuries ago, an invading army of Turks is about to defeat the native people. 40 maidens tie their hair together, and leap into the sea in an act of suicide rather than be taken prisoner. There is a statue there to commemorate their resistance, and they are national heroines.

Yes, I am very taken by the country, and the people. I can almost learn the language, and there seems no barrier between us. Bulgaria is a part of the European Union, but sadly that Union is not doing well for the Bulgarians. Farmers there get less subsidies than Hungarian farmers, and Bulgaria is an agricultural country. They were a lot better off under the Russian sphere of influence, and when all their produce was shipped to the Asiatic countries. Now, they are aligned with Europe, their traditions dying, and young people buy clothing made in Italy instead of their own country. The average salary is about 100 dollars a month, while serious faced European bureaucrats show up on TV to lecture them about using wood to heat their homes (pollution is bad, you know) Sorry, but natural gas at European prices is just a little too much beyond their means. And there still is a great deal of corruption.

So, where goes Bulgaria? Where goes Europe? Tonight, there is a Lunar eclipse that will affect North America. In two weeks time there will be a solar eclipse that will definitely affect Europe. The weather changes are just one sign of global change that is occurring everywhere, and even, in our selves. I mean, snow storms in Australia, in their summer? The signs are there.

So yes, there will be change in Bulgaria and Europe. Even, political change. I planted the seeds of spiritual change. Maybe I will go back, to teach. Maybe, I will go elsewhere. But I stood amongst the dancers I pictured here, and the love I felt for them and my thanks for the kindness they showed, will always be there.

Ergon, Redux

Bye Bye Huffington Post

This is my last comment on Huffington Post (on my own blog, no less :)

It's been a blast, but I'm done. After 12,157 posts as Ergon (my avatar graces this page) in two years, it's time to do..other things. I'd like to thank the 560+ fans who signed their appreciation of my work; the regard is reciprocated.

1999 was an interesting year for me. I went to England to view an eclipse, and my visions followed the path of the eclipse: from New York to over Turkey and ending in India, major shifts and earthquakes taking place in those countries within two years.

I knew I had to communicate via the Internet, and my first website came up, to be followed by this blog. I also used chat rooms to communicate with other, like minded individuals on politics and social reform.

In 2000-2001, there were 1000+ posts on Shamir Readers, a group run by dissident Israeli journalist Israel Shamir, 2002-2004, 3000+ on Reporters Notebook, an (ahem) anti-semite site run by a Jewish gentleman :) - I got interesting psychological insights into the mindests involved. Then there were 2000+ posts on an anti-Islamic site run by a Muslim, and then I came across Xymphora, and cool, I made 3000+ comments from 2005-2008. The intellectual stimulation was quite enervating and the quality of the writing of the people who wrote there was something I never have seen since. But he tinkered with his format too often, lost all his comments, and his fans moved away. Pity.

So it now was time for me to move to the social commentary and news aggregate site Huffington Post. In two years, I wrote 14,000 posts, some of which unfortunately, er, "disappeared", but hey, I got to write on politics, science, American policy pertaining to Palestine, Tibet, Iran, Africa and South America; Autism, and even, Entertainment and Fashion. Whew! Here's where they can be found: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Ergon?action=comments and there's a lot, once you go back a bit before I got er, burned out.

In the end, I see it as a way of manipulating political discourse: to give people the false impression of meaningful contribution to what are really intractable problems of the day. In the end, I believe that meaningful change will come from the spiritual and not political or social, as I have written many times before.

Sites like HP serve only to engender psychological feelings of helplessness as they on the one hand drive our adrenaline up with stories about injustice combined with distractions from the cult of celebrity, they also shape public opinion by creating handy lists of enemies that always conveniently follow the American political line. It acts liberal, but only in a way that reinforces and controls both sides of the political debate. Social engineering in the worst possible way, but if they could do it, I would...reply.

I could go on, but, I won't. They gave me a forum, and I made many friends, for which I thank them.

But I was clear back in January 2008: "The Revolution Begins Now"

http://manfromatlan.blogspot.com/2008/01/revolution-begins-now.html

"But the Revolution I speak of will take place not in blogs or protest marches or occult practices. It will take place first within you, and then, through taking responsibility for the state of the world"

So here I am, and I will do my best to: effect change in the time ahead.

Ps: I'm having a little difficulty in letting go :) - see comment

A Sufi State of Mind

To experience God

Just to make it clear: Sufism, while it has profoundly influenced Islam, is NOT Islam. Islam is a strict monotheistic religion that hasn't reconciled the split between Shia and Sunni, how then can it admit a third, very different version?

Still, here are two websites that explain the differences quite well:

http://www.uga.edu/islam/sufismdef.html

http://www.ahya.org/amm/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=145

The fact is that Sufism retains at its core, the neo-platonic influences that came into being after the time of the Umayyad Caliphs of Baghdad. It is a form of Gnosis, `the apprehension of divine realities'. Some say, the word Sufi comes from 'soof' the woolen coat they wear on initiation to the order. Some say it comes from 'soph' or Sophia, the Greek word meaning 'knowledge'. Regardless, the fact remains that Sufism in its many forms exists across the entire Islamic world, has expanded into the West as an alternative philosophy that attracts those of of a mystical intellectual bent, and even influences national resistance movements that extend from the Caucasus to Northern Pakistan.

I don't wish to denigrate any religion or spiritual practice. As I have said before, my own family has a very strong Sufi background. But in searching for a way to help other people, these are the questions I came across.

For what is the core of religion? Of spirituality? Of mysticism? Each time, it is to experience, to know, 'the divine realities' and our relationship to those realities?

The answer, very simple, is this. We can all, one day, experience and know that reality which is God because it exists within us. We can experience it in several ways, as meditation, as ecstasy, as dance, as the movement of healing energies within ourselves. Every person has their own unique experience and way to that ultimate reality, and indeed for some, the experience of Sufi practice may be just right for many.

But this is what I offer. The real knowing of God lies, not within the 'mystical' experience, not the awe that comes from viewing a magnificent church, the simplicity of meditation, or the ecstasy of music and dance.

It comes from the absolute stillness that fills, when we touch, however briefly, the void within, us.

And the knowing comes from the peace, left behind.

The Body, Heals Itself

The Buddha Wondered

He saw a man who was ill

And he saw one who was dying

And he asked what was the cause of human suffering

But here we are, still asking that question, and we ask that question not only for ourselves, but for humanity.

The answer is this: The cause of our suffering is our karma, and the choices we all have made, in this and other lives. It comes from ego and fear of letting go. It comes from the emotions and memories we have in this and other lifetimes. And I can't tell you how to heal that, without first saying: The Body, Heals Itself.

You look at this battered, polluted war ridden earth, and ask how can we help the planet get better? And I answer, the earth heals itself.

And the battered state of our relationships with ourselves and others? We can heal those relationships, and bring harmony into our lives.

The lack of connection with spirit and nature, and inner peace? God gave us a gift, and, we can know God.

So I don't teach spirituality and healing, but, that we heal ourselves.

Alone? A person walks into our lives.

Lost in a desert? A rain storm comes up that revives you, and you are found.

Bleeding to death on an empty highway? Suffered a stroke? Healing comes from thousands of miles away.

So we exist not just on this plane but across all the dimensions, and you may not be aware of it. Yet healing comes, unexpectedly, from others, but also, from your self.

If this were the last two years of your life, how would you spend that? Are you going to moon over the past, or will you do the things you always wanted to do? Don't say you can't, because. The Body, Heals Itself.

This is the last two years for this planet. How it ends will be up in the air. We may end up in another dimension. We may die, and even that death will be a healing journey. We may just continue to plod along, but nothing will be the same, even if the suffering goes on. I know that I will do what I always wanted to do, and bring peace and healing and knowledge to people (I'm off on another trip soon) and I hope that you, too, will do what you were always supposed to do.

But don't say you can't. This was my first discovery, as I saw spirit passing through the dimensions and discovering gifts within myself, and, others.

The Body, Heals Itself

Direction Changes

Which way?

The guidance counselors at school are asking my daughters what they'd like to do, career wise. They're 10 and 13 years old, respectively, and in typical teen fashion, said "I dunno", when they do know. Soriah wants to be a healer, and Gebbriel wants to run a restaurant. Still, that's a good question we need to ask ourselves. What would we like to be, and how do we get there?

When asked at age 8, I said I'd like to be an engineer and build things, but that was before. Then at 11 my brother passed on and my teacher got me the scholarship forms to go to military school, and I really, really, wanted to be a pilot. Flying, eagle, spirit, I get it. Yet even though my heart was set on it and I came so close to my dream, I was already communicating with spirit and was gently, but firmly, led away from there.

I'd asked for a direction, and got the chance to go to school. I asked again, and was brought to Canada within the space of a few months. I got a good job. My brother was studying to be an electrical engineer but didn't like it. He asked if I could get him a job in my firm. I said no, it was a dead end. Instead of which he went to Canada's largest stockbrokers and eventually a president there and became quite well off.

I decided to write, that became the direction.

New York or London?

Marriage and children.

Job and career,

Sitting on a beach, and thinking. Quit my job and became a full time healer, teacher and writer.

Travel as part of my spiritual work.

Trying to find balance.

Each time, the goal was the same as it always had been. To find the God in me. To help others. The directions taken, the people and events that crossed my path, the setbacks, were all absorbed and I plodded along. Things I had set in motion were already taking place and it was time to once again, change direction.

And now, as we come to a spiritual crossroads in our life, here is the choice that faces you. You must decide which path you will take, and in which direction, and if your choice will be based on your spiritual or material needs. This time, you cannot have both, and this, will be the final direction taken.

So, choose well.