Category Archives: Body, Mind & Spirit

Dr. William Davis on Triticum Fever, Celiac Disease, Wheat Consumption

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Triticum Fever, by Dr. William Davis, author of Wheat Belly

By at 2:10 pm Wednesday, Oct 26

Quick: Name a common food, consumed every day by most people, that:

• Increases overall calorie consumption by 400 calories per day
• Affects the human brain in much the same way as morphine
• Has a greater impact on blood sugar levels than a candy bar
• Is consumed at the rate of 133 pounds per person per year
• Has been associated with increased Type 1 Diabetes
• Increases both insulin resistance and leptin resistance, conditions that lead to obesity
• Is the only common food with its own mortality rate

If you guessed sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, you’re on the right track, but, no, that’s not the correct answer.

The true culprit: Triticum aestivum, or modern wheat.

Note that I said “modern” wheat, because I would argue that what we are being sold today in the form of whole grain bread, raisin bagels, blueberry muffins, pizza, ciabatta, bruschetta, and so on is not the same grain our grandparents grew up on. It’s not even close.

Modern wheat is the altered offspring of thousands of genetic manipulations, crude and sometimes bizarre techniques that pre-date the age of genetic modification. The result: a high-yield, 2-foot tall “semi-dwarf” plant that no more resembles the wheat consumed by our ancestors than a chimpanzee (which shares 99% of the same genes that we do) resembles a human. I trust that you can tell the difference that 1% makes.

The obvious outward differences are accompanied by biochemical differences. The gluten proteins in modern wheat, for instance, differ from the gluten proteins found in wheat as recently as 1960. This likely explains why the incidence of celiac disease, the devastating intestinal condition caused by gluten, has quadrupled in the past 40 years. Furthermore, a whole range of inflammatory diseases, from rheumatoid arthritis to inflammatory bowel disease, are also on the rise. Humans haven’t changed — but the wheat we consume has changed considerably.

Wheat Bellies

201110261359You’ve heard of “beer bellies,” the protuberant, sagging abdomen of someone who drinks beer to excess. That distinctive look is often attributed to alcohol consumption when in fact it’s just as likely to be caused by the pretzels — not just the beer — you’re downing after work. A wheat belly is a protuberant, sagging abdomen that develops when you overindulge in wheat products like crackers, breads, waffles, pancakes, breakfast cereals and pasta. Dimpled or smooth, hairy or hairless, tense or flaccid, wheat bellies come in as many shapes, colors, and sizes as there are humans. But millions of Americans have a wheat belly, and the underlying metabolic reasons for having one are all the same. Wheat contains a type of sugar called amylopectin A that raises blood sugar in an extravagant fashion. Eating just two slices of whole wheat bread, can raise blood sugar more than two tablespoons of pure sugar. This leads to the accumulation of visceral fat on the body, the deep fat encircling organs that is a hotbed of inflammatory activity. Inflammation, in turn, leads to hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and other conditions.

Wheat-consuming people are fatter than those who don’t eat wheat. Why? Among the changes introduced into this plant is a re-engineered form of the gliadin protein unique to wheat. Gliadin has been increased in quantity and changed in structure, such that it serves as a powerful appetite stimulant. When you eat wheat, you want more wheat and in fact want more of everything else — to the tune of 400 more calories per day. That’s the equivalent of 41.7 pounds per year, an overwhelming potential weight gain that accumulates inexorably despite people’s efforts to exercise longer and curtail other foods — all the while blaming themselves for their lack of discipline and watching the scale climb higher and higher, and their bellies growing bigger and bigger.

All of which leads me to conclude that over-enthusiastic wheat consumption is not only one cause of obesity in this country, it is the leading cause of the obesity and diabetes crisis in the United States. It’s a big part of the reason that reality shows like the Biggest Loser are never at a loss for contestants. It explains why modern athletes, like baseball players and golfers, are fatter than ever. Blame wheat when you are being crushed in your 2 x 2 airline seat by the 280-pound man occupying the seat next to yours.

Sure, sugary soft drinks and sedentary lifestyles add to the problem. But for the great majority of health conscious people who don’t indulge in these obvious poor choices, the principal trigger for weight gain is wheat.

And wheat consumption is about more than just weight. There are also components of modern wheat that lead to diabetes, heart disease, neurologic impairment — including dementia and incontinence — and myriad skin conditions that range from acne to gangrene — all buried in that innocent-looking bagel you had for breakfast.

Despite the potential downside of a diet so laden with wheat products, we continually bombarded with messages to eat more of this grain. The Department of Health and Human Services and the USDA, for instance, through their Dietary Guidelines for Americans, advocate a diet dominated by grains (the widest part of the Food Pyramid, the largest portion of the Food Plate). The American Dietetic Association, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, along with the Grain Foods Foundation, the Whole Grains Council, and assorted other agriculture and food industry trade groups all agree: Everyone should eat more healthy whole grains. This includes our children, who are being told to do such things as replace fast food with grains. These agencies were originally sidetracked by the “cut your fat and cholesterol” movement, which led to a wholesale embrace of all things carbohydrate, but especially “healthy whole grains.” Unwittingly, they were advising increased consumption of this two-foot tall creation of the geneticists, high-yield semi-dwarf wheat.

This message to eat more “healthy whole grains” has, I believe, crippled Americans, triggering a helpless cycle of satiety and hunger, stimulating appetite by 400 calories per day and substantially contributing to the epidemic of obesity and diabetes. And, oh yes, adding to the double-digit-per-year revenue growth of the diabetes drug industry, not to mention increased revenues for drugs for hypertension, cholesterol, and arthritis.

It is therefore my contention that eliminating all wheat from the diet is a good idea not just for people with gluten sensitivity; it’s a smart decision for everybody. I have experience in my heart disease prevention practice, as well as my online program for heart disease prevention and reversal, with several thousand people who have done just that and the results are nothing short of astounding. Weight loss of 30, 50, even 70 pounds or more within the first six months; reversal of diabetes and pre-diabetic conditions; relief from edema, sinus congestion, and asthma; disappearance of acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome symptoms; increased energy, happier mood, better sleep. People feel better, look better, eat fewer calories, feel less hungry, are able to discontinue use of many medications — just by eliminating one food from their diet — ironically a food that they’ve been told to eat more of.

It is imperative that we break our reliance on wheat. It will require nothing less than an overthrow of conventional nutritional dogma. There will be battles fought to preserve the status quo; the wheat industry and its supporters will scream, yell, and claw to maintain their position, much as the tobacco industry and its lobbyists fought to maintain their hold on consumers.

If the health benefits of a wheat-free diet sound hard to believe, why not conduct your own little experiment and see for yourself: simply eliminate all things made of wheat for four weeks — no bread, bagels, pizza, pretzels, rolls, donuts, breakfast cereals, pancakes, waffles, pasta, noodles, or processed foods containing wheat (and do be careful to read labels, as food manufacturers love to slip a little wheat gliadin into your food every chance they get to stimulate your appetite). That’s a lot to cut out, true, but there’s still plenty of real, nutrient-dense foods like vegetables, fruit, nuts, cheese and dairy products, meat, fish, soy foods, legumes, oils like olive oil, avocados, even dark chocolate that you can eat in their place. If after that 4-week period you discover new mental clarity, better sleep, relief from joint pain, happier intestines, and a looser waistband, you will have your answer.

from:     http://boingboing.net/2011/10/26/triticum-fever-by-dr-william-davis-author-of-wheat-belly.html

The Mind of A Hoarder

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Hoarders’ Brain Scans Reveal Why They Never De-Clutter

 |  Posted: 08/06/2012

Hoarders Brain Scans

By Katherine Harmon

Jill, a 60-year-old woman in Milwaukee, has overcome extreme poverty. So, now that she has enough money to put food in the fridge, she fills it. She also fills her freezer, her cupboard and every other corner of her home. “I use duct tape to close the freezer door sometimes when I’ve got too many things in there,” she told A&E’s Hoarders. Film footage of her kitchen shows a cat scrambling over a rotten grapefruit; her counters—and most surfaces in her home—seemed to be covered with several inches of clutter and spoiled food. “I was horrified,” her younger sister said after visiting Jill. And the landlord threatened eviction because the living conditions became unsafe.

Jill joins many others who have been outed on reality TV as a “hoarder.” We might have once called people with these tendencies “collectors” or “eccentrics.” But in recent years, psychiatrists had suggested they have a specific type of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A movement is underfoot, however, for the new edition of the psychiatric field’s diagnostic bible (the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5), to move hoarding disorder to its own class of illness. And findings from a new brain scan study, published online August 6 in Archives of General Psychiatry, support this new categorization.

Hoarding disorder is categorized as “the excessive acquisition of and inability to discard objects, resulting in debilitating clutter,” wrote the researchers behind the new study, led by Yale University School of Medicine’s David Tolin.

Many of us might feel our homes or workspaces are far more cluttered than we would like—or than might be good for our peace of mind. But those with diagnosed hoarding disorder usually have taken this behavior to a different level. The Mayo Clinic even has a guide for treatment and prevention of hoarding disorder. One recommendation they provide: “Try to keep up personal hygiene and bathing. If you have possessions piled in your tub or shower, resolve to move them so that you can bathe.”

Some people hoard particular types of things, such as newspapers, craft supplies or clothing. Others, with a condition known as Diogenes syndrome, keep trash, including old containers, rotting food or human waste. Finally, as Animal Planet’s Animal Hoarders has shown, many hoarders collect more pets than they can appropriately care for, risking both their own and their animals’ health and safety.

To find out more about how the brains of hoarders might actually differ from those of healthy adults—and potentially even those with OCD—Tolin and his colleagues recruited 43 adults with a diagnosed hoarding disorder, 31 with OCD and 33 healthy adult controls to undergo fMRI brain scans. Each subject was asked to bring in a stack of miscellaneous, unsorted papers from their home, such as newspaper and junk mail. A similar collection of paper items from the experimenters was intermingled. Fifty items belonging to the subject and 50 items belonging to the experimenter were scanned and projected into the subject’s field of view in the fMRI. Subjects were asked to choose whether they wanted to keep a displayed item (either belonging to the subject or to the experimenters) or get rid of it by pressing a button. Afterward (and in a shorter pre-experiment training session), all of the discarded items were shredded right in front of them—ensuring that they knew that their decisions would have a real and immediate consequence.

Healthy controls chose to discard a mean of about 40 of the 50 items they brought. Those with OCD discarded about 37 items. But those with a hoarding disorder discarded only about 29 of the 50 things they brought. It also took hoarders slightly longer than healthy controls (2.8 seconds compared with 2.3 seconds) to make their decision about what to do with the items. And they reported substantially more anxiety, indecisiveness and sadness than healthy controls or those with OCD while making decisions.

Those with hoarding disorder showed key differences in the fMRI readings in both the anterior cingulate cortex, associated with detecting mistakes during uncertain conditions, and the mid- to anterior insula, linked to risk assessment, importance of stimuli and emotional decisions.

Interestingly, hoarders showed lower brain activity in these regions when they were deciding about other people’s items. But when they were faced with their own items, these areas of the brain showed much higher rates of signaling than those in either people with OCD or the healthy controls. Those with hoarding disorder also reported “greater anxiety, indecisiveness and sadness” during the decision-making process than those with OCD or the healthy controls.

As Tolin and his co-authors noted, hoarders are not necessarily eager to keep everything they possess, but rather “the disorder is characterized by a marked avoidance of decision-making about possessions.” And the extra activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and insula while evaluating what to do with their own items “may hamper the decision-making process by leading to a greater sense of outcome uncertainty,” the researchers noted. In other words, hoarders might often feel that they are at risk of making a wrong decision—and that that decision could bring with it greater risk than it actually would. “The slower decision-making may be a central feature of impaired decision making in hoarding,” the researchers noted.

The frequent theme on hoarder reality shows is that the individual does not realize that their lifestyle has spiraled out of control. Bernie, a 59-year-old Illinois woman featured on TLC’s Truth Be Told: I’m a Hoarder said, “I don’t consider myself to be a hoarder—not at all,” even after showing the film crew an entirely full house and a pool table room piled nearly to the ceiling with toys and other collected items—and after her daughter and son had implored her to clean up her house. As the authors of the new paper note, those with the disorder “are frequently characterized by poor insight about the severity of their condition, leading to resistance of attempts by others to intervene.” And as the Mayo Clinic notes, even if hoarders’ collections are disassembled, they often begin acquiring more items right away because their underlying condition has not been addressed.

As with for patients with OCD, those with hoarding disorder have had some success reducing negative symptoms by taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Psychotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy are also frequently employed to help patients overcome the disorder. Although neither of these approaches is a sure-fire way to cure hoarding, the biggest hurdle to recovery still seems to be recognizing the problem. And as the Mayo Clinic recommends, “getting treatment at the first sign of a problem may help prevent hoarding from becoming severe.”

from:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/hoarders-brain-scans-_n_1749222.html?ir=Healthy+Living

SIGHT — Film on Digitizing Retinal Implants

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‘Sight’: Short Film Takes Google Glasses To Their Logical Nightmarish End (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post  |  By Posted: 08/03/2012 5:04 pm Updated: 08/03/2012

In ‘Sight,’ a haunting new short by Eran May-Raz and Daniel Lazo, we catch glimpse of a world seemingly not unlike our own. Created as a grad project for Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, the film depicts a future where people have retinal implants that digitize the world before them. Suddenly everything is in “app” form, from cutting vegetables to picking an outfit for a date–people are coached through their activities and awarded points for the tasks they accomplish correctly. Without giving anything away, as the film progresses the more twisted and distorted this new reality becomes.

With the advent of google glasses and rumors about a similar Apple-patented design, this chilling sci-fi film doesn’t feel so improbable.

WATCH:

 

Sight from Sight Systems on Vimeo.

[Vimeo]

 from:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/03/sight-short-film_n_1739192.html?ir=Culture

Angeles Arrien’s Fourfold Way

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Four-Fold Way

Program Overview

The Four-Fold Way™ Program is an educational experience that demonstrates how to “walk the mystical path with practical feet.” It is designed to increase our respect for nature and each other, and enhance our ability to work cooperatively and creatively in teams. The program inspires “spirit in action” using the cross-cultural components of leadership and communication skills, creative problem-solving, health care, and education. The Four-Fold Way™ Program emphasizes four major principles that integrate ancient cultural wisdoms into contemporary life.

The Way of the Warrior or Leader is to show up, or choose to be present.
Being present allows us to access the human resources of power, presence, and communication. We express the way of the Leader through appropriate action, good timing, and clear communication. Components of leadership include:

  • Four universal taboos and values
  • Six universal aspects of success

The Way of the Healer or Caretaker is to pay attention to what has heart and meaning.
Paying attention opens us to the human resources of love, gratitude, acknowledgment, and validation. We express the way of the Healer through our attitudes and actions that maintain personal health and support the welfare of our environment. Components of healing include:

  • Four universal addictions
  • Eight universals sustaining health and well-being

The Way of the Visionary or Creative Problem Solver is to tell the truth without blame or judgment.
Truthfulness, authenticity, and integrity are keys to developing our vision and intuition. We express the way of the Visionary through personal creativity, goals, plans, and our ability to bring our life dreams and visions into the world. Components of vision include:

  • International formula for negotiation and conflict resolution
  • Six steps to creative problem-solving

The Way of the Teacher or Counselor is to be open to outcome, not attached to outcome.
Openness and non-attachment help us recover the human resources of wisdom and objectivity. We express the way of the Teacher through our constructive communication and informational skills. Components of wisdom include:

  • Six ways to access our own guidance and wisdom
  • Seven essential skills for working with any group

Optimum health is expressed in most cultures as a balance in all four areas: Leading, Healing, Visioning, and Teaching. Cross-culturally these four areas reflect the four human resources of Power, Love, Vision, and Wisdom. Most of us tend to over-express one area, while leaving the others underdeveloped. It is important to understand that these four ways are universal and available to all humankind, regardless of context, culture, structure, and practice. The Four-Fold Way™ Program is structured to develop all four areas with equal emphasis to support optimum health, both individually and collectively, in our family, workplace, and communities.

The Four-Fold Way™ Program was researched, created, and synthesized by cultural anthropologist Angeles Arrien, Ph.D. The program is designed to fit a variety of formats, which accommodate time and location needs. It is currently being used in medical, academic, and corporate environments.

for more, go to:   http://www.angelesarrien.com/index.php/four-fold-way/

Studying Immortality

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US Philosopher Given $5M Grant To Study Immortality

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

A University of California at Riverside (UCR) philosopher will be placed in charge of a new project analyzing the concept of immortality after receiving the largest grant ever presented to a humanities professor at the school, various media outlets reported last week.

According to a July 31 UCR press release announcing the grant, the university announced that philosopher John Martin Fischer would oversee research on all aspects of immortality, including near-death experiences and the impact that believing in life-after-death has on human behavior.

The $5 million grant was presented to the school by the John Templeton Foundation, a Pennsylvania-based organization founded by the late businessman, philanthropist, and stock market pioneer that is dedicated to studying the deepest, most complex questions about the nature of life and the purpose of mankind, Los Angeles Times blogger Larry Gordon said.

“We will be very careful in documenting near-death experiences and other phenomena, trying to figure out if these offer plausible glimpses of an afterlife or are biologically induced illusions,” Fischer said in a statement, according to Christopher Shea of the Wall Street Journal.

“Our approach will be uncompromisingly scientifically rigorous. We’re not going to spend money to study alien-abduction reports. We will look at near-death experiences and try to find out what’s going on there — what is promising, what is nonsense, and what is scientifically debunked. We may find something important about our lives and our values, even if not glimpses into an afterlife,” he added.

The research, which is being dubbed the Immortality Project, will be a collaborative study involving scientists, philosophers, and theological experts. The inclusion of that last group has led to some criticism of the project, Business Insider’s Adam Taylor said.

Opponents are arguing that the religious aspects of the immortality issue have no place in serious scientific research, he said, and atheists have long been critical of the Templeton Foundation’s handling of the interaction between science and theology, Shea added.

Fischer, who is a member of the Templeton Foundation’s board, describes himself as a man who is not religious but has a great deal of respect for religion. Regardless, he told Gordon that his personal views, the inclusion of religious experts and the source of the grant “doesn’t mean we are trying to prove anything or the other. We will be trying to be very scientific and rigorous and be very open-minded.”

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

redOrbit (http://s.tt/1jZFx)

Neale Donald Walsch on Attitude

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Using ‘The System’ Without Knowing It

Neale Donald Walsch
a message from Neale Donald Walsch
Saturday, 9 June, 2012  (posted 3 August, 2012)

We have been talking here about Work as a part of our life, and last week I talked about never working at a job you hate…and to know that if you yearn for what you wish to do, and then go for it, things always work out in the end.

I need to admit now that I did not understand all this myself until I was in my 50s, after my conversation with God experience. Before then I thought I had been just “lucky.” I thought I just managed to catch all the breaks. I thought myself extremely fortunate; one of those people for whom things always seem to work out.

Only after my conversations with God did I realize what had been going on all those years, from the time I was 19. It was my attitude. It was all about the energy that I had historically put out. It was the way I thought about it. I thought that I was an uncommonly lucky person and so I was. I thought that things always work out, and so they did.

I had been using a system. Inadvertently. Unknowingly. But effectively.
It turns out that the way you think has an enormous effect, perhaps even a disproportionate effect, on the way you live. Very early in my conversations with God I was told that there are three Tools of Creation. These are Thought, Word, and Action.

The use of these tools throws our focus on what it is that we choose from what Deepak Chopra calls “the field of infinite possibilities.” How you experience your life depends on how you look at it. If you look at it as a constant stream of difficulties and challenges, messes and problems, it will show up that way. If, on the other hand, you see it as a continuing flow of good fortune, one good thing after another, that is what you will encounter.

In life, it really is a case of “what you see is what you get.” Even when so-called “bad” things have happened to me, I always had a sense that everything would ultimately work out. And work out, I might add, in my favor.

And they always did.

Even my time as a homeless person worked out. True, it took a year, during which I lived in a tent at a campground populated largely by vagrants, but everything began ultimately falling into place, and today I see the time that I spent panhandling on the street as one of the most pivotally important passages of my life.

The Holy Experience for me as it pertains to my work or my chief life activity came when I realized that Life is on my side; that Life always works out for me not because I’m one of the lucky ones, but because Life is always working out for everyone, and that I’m simply one of the few who sees it that way.

I came to this realization after the age of 50, following a half-century of day-to-day occurrences on this planet and, not coincidentally, following my conversations with God experience. Because of that experience I now see every outward circumstance, every Exterior Event, as being for my benefit.

I may not see or recognize or understand the benefit right then and there, in the moment something is happening, but I know deep inside that everything that is happening is happening for my own good.

My life has shown me that. More than once I have undergone an experience that I thought, at the time, was the worst thing that could ever happen to me–only to realize, after the passage of time, that it was one of the best things that ever happened to me; that if it had not happened, the good things that were happening to me now could not be happening!

This is really an amazing revelation. It’s a sacred, really…a sacred realization.

May I continue with this conversation with you next week? I hope you will join me then.

Hugs and love,

Neale

© 2012 ReCreation Foundation – http://www.cwg.org – Neale Donald Walsch

from:   http://spiritlibrary.com/neale-donald-walsch/using-the-system-without-knowing-it

Ervin Lazlo on Akasha Thinking

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Akasha Think

by Ervin Laszlo on July 31, 2012

“You can’t solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that gave rise to the problem”       — Albert Einstein

There is something new on the horizon — a new kind of thinking. One that could solve the problem — the entire complex conglomeration of challenges that makes our world unsustainable, intolerant, and prone to violence. This is not thinking out of the blue: It is thinking that has been around for thousands of years. What is new is that it’s rediscovered — of all things, at the cutting edge of the sciences. It is “Akasha think.”

In this column with my Akashic “A-team” I will review for you the principal dimensions of Akasha think — the rediscovered revolutionary concept of life and universe, and freedom, wholeness, and wellbeing. New answers to questions we have all been asking since the beginnings of time.

Adam and Eve, Socrates and Plato, Constantine and the Crusaders, Henry VIII and Pope Clement VII, Hitler and Churchill, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King and Gandhi, yes even now Obama and Romney are giving us answers. Every answer has been given thinking that it is right. Yet with each delivery, the great divides are inexorably forged — in color, creed, genders and territories. How many answers were really right? Right now, as our precious world cries out because of the collateral damage of all our answers, how many of our answers, your answers, about the economy, education, energy, your health and life, can you be sure are right?

Try Akasha think. Here you get different answers. Find out what they can do for you — and through you, for the world.

Are you ready? Here is a question that can get you started:

What Is Akasha Consciousness — For You?

What is Akasha consciousness for you, a dream — or a nightmare? Or could it be your own deep consciousness — “re-cognized” for what it really is? Your answer could make a difference — a difference to you and to the world. See how you resonate with the 16 ideas that hallmark this consciousness.

1. I am part of the world. The world is not outside of me, and I am not outside of the world. The world is in me, and I am in the world.

2. I am part of nature, and nature is part of me. I am what I am in my communication and communion with all living things. I am an irreducible and coherent whole with the web of life on the planet.

3. I am part of society, and society is part of me. I am what I am in my communication and communion with my fellow humans. I am an irreducible and coherent whole with the community of humans on the planet.

4. I am more than a skin-and-bone material organism: my body, and its cells and organs are manifestations of what is truly me: a self-sustaining, self-evolving dynamic system arising, persisting and evolving in interaction with everything around me.

5. I am one of the highest, most evolved manifestations of the drive toward coherence and wholeness in the universe. All systems drive toward coherence and wholeness in interaction with all other systems, and my essence is this cosmic drive. It is the same essence, the same spirit that is inherent in all the things that arise and evolve in nature, whether on this planet or elsewhere in the infinite reaches of space and time.

6. There are no absolute boundaries and divisions in this world, only transition points where one set of relations yields prevalence to another. In me, in this self-maintaining and self-evolving coherence- and wholeness-oriented system, the relations that integrate the cells and organs of my body are prevalent. Beyond my body other relations gain prevalence: those that drive toward coherence and wholeness in society and in nature.

7. The separate identity I attach to other humans and other things is but a convenient convention that facilitates my interaction with them. My family and my community are just as much “me” as the organs of my body. My body and mind, my family and my community, are interacting and interpenetrating, variously prevalent elements in the network of relations that encompasses all things in nature and the human world.

8. The whole gamut of concepts and ideas that separates my identity, or the identity of any person or community, from the identity of other persons and communities are manifestations of this convenient but arbitrary convention. There are only gradients distinguishing individuals from each other and from their environment and no real divisions and boundaries. There are no “others” in the world: We are all living systems and we are all part of each other.

9. Attempting to maintain the system I know as “me” through ruthless competition with the system I know as “you” is a grave mistake: It could damage the integrity of the embracing whole that frames both your life and mine. I cannot preserve my own life and wholeness by damaging that whole, even if damaging a part of it seems to bring me short-term advantage. When I harm you, or anyone else around me, I harm myself.

10. Collaboration, not competition, is the royal road to the wholeness that hallmarks healthy systems in the world. Collaboration calls for empathy and solidarity, and ultimately for love. I do not and cannot love myself if I do not love you and others around me: We are part of the same whole and so are part of each other.

11. The idea of “self-defense,” even of “national defense,” needs to be rethought. Patriotism if it aims to eliminate adversaries by force, and heroism even in the well-meaning execution of that aim, are mistaken aspirations. A patriot and a hero who brandishes a sword or a gun is an enemy also to himself. Every weapon intended to hurt or kill is a danger to all. Comprehension, conciliation and forgiveness are not signs of weakness; they are signs of courage.

12. “The good” for me and for every person in the world is not the possession and accumulation of personal wealth. Wealth, in money or in any material resource, is but a means for maintaining myself in my environment. As exclusively mine, it commandeers part of the resources that all things need to share if they are to live and to thrive. Exclusive wealth is a threat to all people in the human community. And because I am a part of this community, in the final count it is a threat also to me, and to all who hold it.

13. Beyond the sacred whole we recognize as the world in its totality, only life and its development have what philosophers call intrinsic value; all other things have merely instrumental value: value insofar as they add to or enhance intrinsic value. Material things in the world, and the energies and substances they harbor or generate, have value only if and insofar they contribute to life and wellbeing in the web of life on this Earth.

14. The true measure of my accomplishment and excellence is my readiness to give. Not the amount of what I give is the measure of my accomplishment and excellence, but the relation between what I give, and what my family and I need to live and to thrive.

15. Every healthy person has pleasure in giving: It is a higher pleasure than having. I am healthy and whole when I value giving over having. A community that values giving over having is a community of healthy people, oriented toward thriving through empathy, solidarity, and love among its members. Sharing enhances the community of life, while possessing and accumulating creates demarcation, invites competition, and fuels envy. The share-society is the norm for all the communities of life on the planet; the have-society is typical only of modern-day humanity, and it is an aberration.

16. I recognize the aberration of modern-day humanity from the universal norm of coherence in the world, acknowledge my role in having perpetrated it, and pledge my commitment to restoring wholeness and coherence by becoming whole myself: whole in my thinking and acting — in my consciousness.

If you had an “aha experience” while reading even just one of these ideas, you have the foundations of Akashic consciousness. And if you had this experience all the way through, you already possess this crucial consciousness.

How did you resonate with what you have read? Tell us — and we shall do our best to respond.

Your A-team:

Charlie Stuart Gay, Györgyi Szabo, Kingsley Dennis, Alexander Laszlo, and Ibolya Kapta

Ervin Laszlo is the author of 89 books published in 24 languages, including his bestselling Science and the Akashic Field. His latest book is The Akasha Paradigm, just released on the Internet: http://www.akashaparadigm.com/

from:    http://ervinlaszlo.com/notebook/2012/07/31/akasha-think/#more-1442

Jim Self on The Fall of Consciousness, Part 3

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The Story of the Fall of Consciousness – Part 3

Jim Self
a message from Jim Self
Wednesday, 25 July, 2012  (posted 1 August, 2012)

Then in the year 2003 something very, very exciting occurred. A new Ray of Creation was co-created by Creator and many great beings of Light, led by Archangel Michael. This Ray contained an element that had never been in the creative process before. Within All-That-Is, this element was found here, on the planet Earth. The element in this new Ray is the love that humanity holds for humanity. That simple, pure vibration of Love was put into this new Ray and activated. It began to permeate many, many aspects of the contaminated Fall of Consciousness. And the new Ray worked. And then the new Ray continued to work. The growth of the mutations and wobbles and distortions slowed down.

To this day, the Fall of Consciousness has begun to reverse its influence. For the first time ever, the distortions, mutations, the darkness and Fear that have permeated many aspects of the Creator’s creation are reversing. They are weakening and slowing down, and the Christed Light of Creator has more and more room to expand and reach out. This is all because of You. You are the Great Experiment. The Christed Light was placed as a tiny spark of Light deep within the Sacred Heart to be found, grown ,and brought forth.

The Rays of Creation, their process and their creative power is now very much moving throughout All-That-Is. whether you know it or not, this incredible process came about because of you, The mere fact that you are on this planet at this moment is a testament to how big and significant you truly are.

How is it that you participated?

Simple. You raised your hand and screamed out, “Me—choose me! Send me! I will go.”

If you have read the stories in the Bible of Revelations, they describe multiple paths that could have been chosen in the process of getting humanity to a decision point where we either choose to follow the mutations or the Light of the Creator. Many, many times in humanity’s history, we have fallen back into the darkness and we didn’t have the strength or will to step away from the distortions and wobbles. It was easier to simply give up and fall.

The year 1987 was different. Again, the momentum brought us to a critical moment of decision. Do we, as humanity, agree to let the momentum continue and simply fall back into darkness and wait until eons pass so we can try again? This was the question put forth to you as a Soul. In 1987 we all took a type of vote, and all the souls and all the beings on the planet, together, decided to see if we could change what was in motion. Our purpose in making this change was to bring the Christed Light back to this planet. It was a wild consideration. This was a Light that had not been experienced for hundreds of millions of years. 51 percent of us said “Let’s go for it.” We didn’t know it would even be possible. We had no role models and didn’t know the steps required. But we committed to going forward.

Since that time there have been many grand beings that have birthed onto this planet. These are the children, the little ones. They are Big. These are the ones that were born after that auspicious moment in 1987. They are big, big beings, carrying with them a vibratory field of Light that has been very stimulating to you and me. They come from many Christed places, and many have never been on this planet before. They have arrived with a strong intention.

In 1987 we began to hold a level of possibility that had never been held before. Because of that possibility, and because of our passion, that love for humanity that each of us holds, is transformative. How do you communicate and how do you love one another? As you look around, it may not be very apparent as we all play out our life-game, but in fact, it is very apparent.

Because of what occurred in 1987, many of those potential, predicted catastrophes were averted. In the year 2000, an entirely new energetic was brought onto the planet. A new element of Love was also brought onto Planet Earth. 2003 was the year that the new Ray, brought from Michael, began to end the distortions. All because of you. That Ray is now operating in All-That-Is. All of the universes and sectors of this universe are now very engaged in the Shift of Consciousness.

In 2007 another event occurred which made it possible for the presence of the Christed Light to begin the return to the planet. That possibility began to grow and unfold and reveal itself.

On November 11, 2011 there was a grand, collective focus of energy all over Planet Earth. There were many who were able to hold that Christed vibrational pattern and there were numbers of others who were able to call it forth and re-anchor it into the earth… and it was anchored.

A new high vibration of Love has begun to radiate back out into the waters of Planet Earth. Every drop of water within all life on this planet today is now growing, radiating, and reflecting this Christed Light. The third dimension is now rapidly falling away. Planet Earth has begun to return to that fully Christed status. It now reflects its vibration of unity back into humanity and all her inhabitants.

As of 2011, you are not the same person as you were. On that 11-11-11 date there was a change. That change is now very strongly anchored within the hearts of everyone on Earth and it is growing very, very rapidly. It is believed, by Metatron, Uriel and Michael that because of this creation, coupled with the return of the Christed energy, Planet Earth is now beginning to vibrate in harmonic resonance with the other 11 Christed Light centers in All-That-Is. All who have been affected by the loss of Light and by the Fall of Consciousness are now returning Home to the heart of Creator.

This is Uriel’s story, Metatron’s story and Michael’s story. It describes a shift that they and other great beings held as an intention and believed was possible. In addition to being an amazing story, this is also a personal process. If you would pause right here and feel the story, what you will feel is a crystallized aspect of Light that sits in your Sacred Heart. It is in the form of the geometry known as the star tetrahedron. This Light has always been there, but until 11-11-11 it hasn’t held the capacity that it currently holds. What you feel is the unified aspect of All-That-Is that now has been magnified in the Christed Light.

If you pause, exhale and feel the energies in this story, you will begin to have an idea of what the unified field of consciousness holds for all of us. You will touch and begin to integrate the ability to experience yourself within that unified field. Here,there are no mutations, no distortions, no fear or distrust.

Here you are Home.

Universal Copyright 2012 is authorized here. Please distribute freely as long as both the author and www.masteringalchemy.com is included as the resource and this information is distributed on a non-commercial no charge basis.
from:     http://spiritlibrary.com/jim-self/the-story-of-the-fall-of-consciousness-part-3

The Terms of Herbal Remedies

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Common Terms Used in the Quest for Herbal Remedies

August 2012

By Gaye Levy

Guest writer for Wake Up World

For many of us, the migration toward independence and self-reliance includes having a knowledge of herbal remedies.  There are many reasons for this not the least of which is the lack of traditional, western medicines in a post SHTF world.  But even in a world without problems and global uncertainties, the benefit of using herbal remedies are immense.  For the most part they are inexpensive, easy to administer and safe.

As you begin to learn about herbals, you may find that you are faced with a myriad of confusing terms.  What is a tincture?  How about an infusion?  What is all this business about an active principal?

Today I am reaching into the archives of some of my own reference books to bring you a dictionary of common terms that are used in the quest for herbal remedies.  While not all inclusive, the following list includes some of the most common terms used when describing herbals uses for self-treatment.

Herbal Medicine: What Some of Those Terms Really Mean

Active Principle

A plant chemical proven to have medical effect.

Antiseptic

A substance that prevents or stops the growth of microorganisms that cause infection.

Astringent

A substance the draws together the soft tissues such as skin or mucous membranes.

Decoction

A drink or liquid extract made by boiling plant bark, roots, berries or seeds in water.

Diuretic

A substance that increases the flow of urine.

Emollient

A substance that softens and soothes the skin and mucous membranes.

Essential Oil

A plant oil that  vaporizes readily and is often obtained by steam distillation.

Expectorant

A substance that loosens and helps to expel phlegm.

Herbal Tea

A beverage made from steeping or boiling herbs.

Infusion

A preparation in which flowers, leaves or stems are steeped in water that is not boiling.

Liquid extract

Concentrated infusion made by soaking an herb in distilled water, grain alcohol, or glycerin for a long period.

Mucous membrane

Lining of body passage, such as the throat, that protects itself with secretions of mucus.

Photosensitivity

Sensitivity to sunlight, resulting in rash or burning sensation, brought on by ingestion or application of certain substances.

Plaster

Gauze or cloth in which medicine has been wrapped.  A plaster is typically applied to the skin.

Poultice

An herbal preparation that is usually applied directly to the affected area to relieve pain or swelling.

Purgative

A very strong laxative.

Tannins

Astringent and bitter compounds found in the seeds and skins of grapes, which slow oxidation and aging.

Tincture

An herbal liquid extract that generally involves macerating the herb in alcohol.

Volatile Oil

A plant oil that vaporizes readily and is often obtained by steam distillation, used interchangeably with essential oil.

Wash

A liquid herbal medicine preparation for external use.

The Final Word

Having some knowledge of the terms used in herbal medicine will help you when choosing the best method to administer your self-healing remedy.  Whether are growing your own herbs (see Nine Healing Herbs You Can Grow Yourself in a Healing Garden) or purchasing fresh herbs from a farmer’s market or herbalist, learning to take care of yourself using natural remedies can greatly enhance your ability to take care of your health when there is no other resource available.

About the Author

Gaye Levy lives and teaches the principles of a sustainable, self-reliant and stylish lifestyle through emergency preparation and disaster planning. She does this through her website at BackdoorSurvival.com, an online preparedness blog that provides lifestyle tools, tips, and thoughts to guide you through the back door of life in the 21st century.

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2012/08/02/common-terms-used-in-the-quest-for-herbal-remedies/

On Butterfly Symbolism

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The Esoteric Meaning of the Butterfly

The Esoteric Meaning of the Butterflyby Linda-Ann Stewart

When we talk about transformation, the image that comes to mind for most of us is the butterfly. A beautiful, filmy creature that glides about the sky, bringing joy to our hearts. But we tend to forget what the butterfly has gone through, how it has struggled to reach its place on the breeze.

Our path of transformation can be likened to that of the butterfly”s. Generally, when we embrace transformation, we only want to think of the end result. We don”t want to think about the work that goes into it, or the sacrifices we”ll have to make to be able to soar. I know that when I went through a transformation some years ago, I thought “Wonderful. Things will be better.” They were, but in the process there were attitudes and behaviors I had to surrender that were central to my life.

Transformation begins with the Universe pressing us forward into desiring something better for ourselves. We may not know what it is that we want, just that we have this impulsion for something more. Originally, the butterfly was once a caterpillar, inching across the grass to climb up the marigold to reach its daily meal. Its main drive was to eat, to fill its stomach.

The same could be said of us. Before we begin to transform, we have a compulsion to meander around; reading books, listening to tapes, attending lectures, digesting information. We”re still in the old form, fattening our minds up to get ready to build a cocoon, where we”ll use all that we”ve digested to transform our lives into a greater reflection of the Universal good.

Once our appetite has been appeased, we”ll feel compelled to allow what we”ve learned to gestate. Letting it process is like the caterpillar inside its cocoon. This is the time to incubate. It may last for a few days or a few months. While it is happening, we”re changing. We may not see the change, but there are parts of us that are being released, transformed and altered. At this point, our lives will sometimes become very uncomfortable for us. During my transformation, I had an intimate relationship that got progressively difficult.

When its transformation is complete, the butterfly begins its emergence from its cocoon. It must fight its way out of the old form, through the silky shell it created, letting it go, into a new world. Just as we must struggle to move through our barriers and outmoded attitudes. Behaviors that served us when we were caterpillars are no longer helpful. We can”t live the way we used to. We”re transcending the old patterns. But since they were familiar, and successful in our old form, we resist discarding them.

I eventually had to release beliefs that were no longer in my best interest. No longer could I play a role that I had outgrown. The relationship came to an end. It was very painful to let go, and very scary to change the role. My whole life had changed.

As we emerge from our cocoon, we take time to adjust to our new circumstances. Things are different, and we have to learn how to handle our new selves. We act in new ways. The things we say are surprising to others, because it”s not what they”re familiar with. People respond to us in a manner in which we”re not used to. Because of my new attitudes, I lost some friends who couldn”t adjust to the shift. And I made new friends who were walking the same path I was.

Eventually, the butterfly climbs free and rests, spreading its wings. For the first time, energy flows through them and they expand, finally ready to carry the butterfly on the breeze. Just as we soon feel confident with our new self, and we fly free, a beautiful butterfly gracefully fluttering from flower to flower. A living jewel fluttering about in the sky.

There is a theory that states… If you step on a butterfly in this timeline, you alter all potential future timelines. In the 21st Century human consciousness is experiencing a metamorphosis of the slow moving caterpillar into the butterfly.

The butterfly flies free in the mandala (wheel) of time.

The butterfly flies free in the mandala (wheel) of time.

The Butterfly Effects signals the emergence of consciousness in the alchemy of time.

The following is from Animal Symbolism, Totems and Dream Analysis from A to Z

The butterfly is great admired among American Indians and is a bringer of joy and peace. Cultures all over earth revere its delicate and colorful beauty. Most butterflies live very short lives, only a week or two, except for the Angle Wing and Monarch live about six months. They experience stages of development from egg in the cocoon to caterpillar to adult butterfly.

The short life span and beauty of the butterfly is symbolic of early spiritual growth. Lessons of life will be shown during sometimes difficult formative years and come to light as the butterfly spirit begins to fly. They hold the gift of transformation and soul evolution.

The butterfly is reminiscent of freedom and creativity.

Butterflies have a pair of large compound oval eyes made up of thousands of individual lenses. They can see a single image clearly and are able to perceive ultraviolet wavelengths of light. This suggests clairvoyant abilities for those that hold this totem.

The antennae of the butterfly have small knobs on each end which is said to play a role in orientation. When one antenna is missing the butterfly will fly in circles unable to find its way. Those with this medicine need to stay consciously connected to spirit at all times in order to arrive at their desired destination.

Butterflies are not very organized, often return to the same flower many times before they realize it, and cannot remember relatives. This trait shows us to be better prepared for life’s challenges and relationships.

The butterfly represents the process of transformation and shape shifting. When butterfly shows up, make note of the most important issues confronting you at the moment. What state of change are you at in regard to them?

Butterflies remind us not to take life so seriously. They feed on flowers that they help pollinate, thereby further spreading beauty. They represent the element of air, quickly changing and ever moving, so gracefully. Butterflies are messengers of the moment. They come in a variety of colors. To understand the message that the butterfly holds for you a study of its colors can be helpful.

Whenever an eco-system is damaged, butterfly is usually the first to leave. They are especially sensitive to the harmony of earth. If butterfly comes to you in a hurt, trapped or ill way, you are being asked to stop disturbing the natural design of life and to flow with events in a more gentle, natural way.

in5d addendum:

The butterfly is a very powerful symbol of transformation as our planet is currently undergoing a transformation of consciousness.

In dream analogy, the butterfly is often describes as the following: “Social success, romantic success and/or domestic happiness is forecast by a dream of these brightly colored creatures.”

As consciousness is evolving, the current definitions for dream analysis need to be amended.  For example, a ladder in a dream may represent a raise or promotion if you are climbing the ladder. Now, the ladder may represent a DNA strand, which may imply an eminent DNA upgrade of an increase in metaphysical abilities.

Similar with seeing a ladder in your dreams, a butterfly might suggest a spiritual progression or metamorphosis of consciousness.

from:    http://www.in5d.com/esoteric-meaning-butterfly.html