Britain has slipped from 19th to 28th in the global index of press freedom - time we all woke up!

I used to think that those who wrote about the loss of traditional freedoms in the great UK democracy were extremist worriers.  No more. 

Britain has 

slipped from 19th to 28th in the global index of press freedom......................................

Listening to a missing schoolgirl's messages is appalling, but at least it harms only a few. The fact that it's led to a situation where the freedoms of an entire nation are less than those of a landlocked west African state where the 

army overthrew the government in March is terrifying.

To read the full article - by Fleet Street Fox - click HERE

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Where do Christianity and Nonduality meet? - Father Richard Rohr

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Is individual awakening crucial to reach social transformation?

Is individual awakening crucial to reach social transformation?

Given the behaviour of politicians, bankers, the wealthy, Inland Revenue bosses etc etc the answer is obvious;

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A genius points to 'us in God' - Ken Wilber's 'I Am Big Mind' - So did Paul Tillich!

Wilber has given us the secret of the ages - in sublime simplicity.

Wilber came to this exquisite understanding via the mystics and Buddhism. Paul Tillich came to the same understanding via the words and concepts route as in this explanation;

Tillich defines faith, and indirectly religion, as "ultimate concern." Religion is direction or movement toward the ultimate or the unconditional And God rightly defined might be called the Unconditional. God, in the true sense, is indefinable. Since the Unconditional precedes our minds and precedes all created things, God cannot be confined by the mind or by words. Tillich sees God as Being-Itself, or the "Ground of all Being." For this reason there cannot be a God. 

There cannot even be a "highest God," for even that concept is limiting. We cannot make an object out of God. And the moment we say he is the highest God or anything else, we have made him an object. 

Thus, beyond the God of the Christian or the God of the Jews, there is the "God beyond God." This God cannot be said to exist or not to exist in the sense that we exist. Either statement is limiting. We cannot make a thing out of God, no matter how holy this thing may be, because there still remains something behind the holy thing which is its ground or basis, the "ground of being."

SOURCE - HERE

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True Love, Ken Wilber and Abdu'l-Baha

It's wonderful to know that, at least as recently as 2011, Ken Wilber is still teaching - in spite of a devastating health problem. 

This video key-note talk by Ken Wilber amounts to a brilliant  prose version of this exquisitely beautiful 'poem' by Abdu'l-Baha - although I assume Wilber got to his understanding via his own knowldge;

Love is the secret of God's holy Dispensation, the manifestation of the All-Merciful, the fountain of spiritual outpourings.

Love is heaven's kindly light, the Holy Spirit's eternal breath that vivifieth the human soul.

Love is the cause of God's revelation unto man, the vital bond inherent, in accordance with the divine creation, in the realities of things.

Love is the one means that ensureth true felicity both in this world and the next.

Love is the light that guideth in darkness, the living link that uniteth God with man, that assureth the progress of every illumined soul.

Love is the most great law that ruleth this mighty and heavenly cycle, the unique power that bindeth together the diverse elements of this material world, the supreme magnetic force that directeth the movements of the spheres in the celestial realms.

Love revealeth with unfailing and limitless power the mysteries latent in the universe.

Love is the spirit of life unto the adorned body of mankind, the establisher of true civilization in this mortal world... SOURCE

It's Just Love! (Ken Wilber's ISE Keynote)

Since people were asking Ken wrote about his health problem - HERE

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Krista Tippett with Roshi Joan Halifax on rites of passage, rituals and death

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'Awakening the heart' with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

YouTube Note:

Awakening the heart with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
- August 14th, 2011
- The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, B.C Canada

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"Love and Fear" - New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care

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<p>"Love and Fear" - New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care from On Being on Vimeo.</p>

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Exquisite simplicity in a teaching from John Daido Loori Roshi

The following is a quotation from The Brooklyn Sutras blog;

I first met Daido Roshi in a group setting, and I was at once taken by his candor and his gently imposing presence. I don’t know what I expected, but his humor was disarming, his words powerful, yet he held it all effortlessly.

I asked him that weekend, “What does it mean to follow the breath?” He kind of looked me over for a second or two and answered, 

“Sometimes you’re with the breath; other times you’re not. When you find you’re not with the breath, come back to the breath.”

And that’s what I try to do.

SOURCE

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What is Nirvana? - Thich Nhat Hanh

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Introduction to Zen Meditation: The Still Point - John Daido Loori Roshi

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ZEN MASTER: an intimate portrait of John Daido Loori Roshi - by Rachael Loori Romero

YouTube Notes: An intimate portrait of one of the early and foremost teachers of Zen Buddhism in the United States. John Daido Loori was the founder and abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery, in Mt Tremper, NY and the founder of the Mountains and Rivers Order. He received dharma transmission from both the Soto and Rinzai Orders. Before becoming a zen monk Loori served in the U.S. Navy, worked for a number of years as a scientist and married twice. Loori authored more than twenty books on the dharma and was a photographer and nature lover all his life. He is survived by three children, two brothers, four grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews and his third wife, Rachael Loori Romero who made this visual poem in his memory. Photos by Rachael Loori Romero, Ros Bell, John Daido Loori . ZMM Archive. Thanks to Tasha Seikan Sudan for production assistance. Chants by ZMM monks and song by Daido and Yukon and thanks for cinuste. All Rights Reserved.

See HERE

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Re-legitimizing heart-knowing and revelation ver 2

Are the mystics and sages insane? Because they all tell variations on the same story, don't they? The story of awakening one morning and discovering you are one with the All, in a timeless and eternal and infinite fashion. 

Yes, maybe they are crazy, these divine fools. Maybe they are mumbling idiots in the face of the Abyss. Maybe they need a nice, understanding therapist. Yes, I'm sure that would help. But then, I wonder. 

Maybe the evolutionary sequence really is from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit, each transcending and including, each with a greater depth and greater consciousness and wider embrace. And in the highest reaches of evolution, maybe, just maybe, an individual's consciousness does indeed touch infinity — a total embrace of the entire Kosmos — a Kosmic consciousness that is Spirit awakened to its own true nature. It's at least plausible. 

And tell me: is that story, sung by mystics and sages the world over, any crazier than the scientific materialism story, which is that the entire sequence is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying absolutely nothing? Listen very carefully: just which of those two stories actually sounds totally insane?

A Brief History of Everything (1996) p. 42

Recorded Commentary by RP:

Memo.m4a Listen on Posterous

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Re-legitimizing heart-knowing and revelation

Memo.m4a 963K   Download

Are the mystics and sages insane? Because they all tell variations on the same story, don't they? The story of awakening one morning and discovering you are one with the All, in a timeless and eternal and infinite fashion. 

Yes, maybe they are crazy, these divine fools. Maybe they are mumbling idiots in the face of the Abyss. Maybe they need a nice, understanding therapist. Yes, I'm sure that would help. But then, I wonder. 

Maybe the evolutionary sequence really is from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit, each transcending and including, each with a greater depth and greater consciousness and wider embrace. And in the highest reaches of evolution, maybe, just maybe, an individual's consciousness does indeed touch infinity — a total embrace of the entire Kosmos — a Kosmic consciousness that is Spirit awakened to its own true nature. It's at least plausible. 

And tell me: is that story, sung by mystics and sages the world over, any crazier than the scientific materialism story, which is that the entire sequence is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying absolutely nothing? Listen very carefully: just which of those two stories actually sounds totally insane?

A Brief History of Everything (1996) p. 42

Commentary:

Memo.m4a 1575K   Download

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I know who I am because I know who I hate

IDENTITY (false): I know who I am because I know who I hate

PhotoSource: Wikipedia

UNIVERSALISM: spiritual inspiration & wisdom via great teachers through the ages 5/07/12

Memo.m4a Listen on Posterous

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If satire is balm for the enraged you should get your fixes from Fleet Street Fox

This woman, Fleet Street Fox, is a seriously good satirist.  If like most people you are assaulted by what politicians, media, police and bankers get up to her articles will help you manage your sense of outrage.  

Sign up for her pieces HERE - http://www.fleetstreetfox.com/

This arrived today!

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Home thoughts. Posted: 02 Jul 2012 05:02 AM PDT WHAT'S the most important thing you need to know to live in Britain? It's probably the answer to the question 'Pippa Middleton - why?' but then no-one seems to have figured that one out yet. Perhaps the physicists at CERN will get around to it now they've found the God particle  and can devote themselves to more important stuff. According to convent-educated Theresa May the most important thing people moving here need to learn is bits of Victorian poetry , the first verse of a Georgian national anthem, and stuff about a nurse from the Crimean War  who had so little idea of hygiene that death rates actually rose on her wards. There's an argument to be had about how much any of that has influenced British culture, and whether harking back two hundred years or more does anyone many favours. But it can't really be argued that the contents of the Home Office's new citizenship handbook  would better suit time-travellers to the 19th century than someone who's fresh off the boat in the 21st. There is a massive problem with people who arrive in Britain and never settle in. I've knocked on doors where the woman of the house cannot answer my questions despite being here for 30 years because she's never learned English and barely left the building. I've had to scour the streets to find someone who'll translate for me, sat in living rooms where life is absolutely no different from that of a country with far lower standards, not just of human rights but also hygiene and education. I've walked back to my car reflecting on the fact that the Middle Ages is sometimes only a five-minute walk from the petrol station. I've been stuck with a hangover in places where you can't find a bacon sandwich in a five-mile radius, which is when even a journalist starts to wonder whether not drinking in the first place might have been a better idea. The net result of that disconnect is people who don't feel they're part of things: who can't watch the news, who don't question what they're told or chat to other parents at the school gates. It promotes looking inwards when humans - and countries - are always at their best when they look out.  A little more cultural crossover is a great idea but of what possible relevance can the poetry of Robert Browning, wittering on about blossom'd pear trees and chaffinches on orchard boughs, have to someone who's finding their feet after fleeing genocide or poverty? I've lived here all my life and although I know we won the Battle of Trafalgar and afterwards Nelson had a snog and then died before being pickled in a barrel of brandy, it's fairly unimportant to my daily life and the actual date it took place utterly irrelevant. It makes far more sense for the citizenship test to include questions that will fit people for life in modern Britain, and actually be useful if you want to fit in on this sceptred isle: 1. Is having five or more alcoholic drinks on one occasion - a) binge-drinking b) a normal week night c) only to be risked if you buy bacon first 2. You have attended a charity event where you are introduced to Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. Do you - a) curtsey b) punch her on the shoulder, say 'nice one' and advise her to keep an eye on Harry c) not curtsey on the grounds you are more royal than she is 3. You are in a pub with friends watching an England game. Using a bottle of ketchup, two pint glasses and some ready salted crisps explain the offside rule. 4. In 1,000 words or less explain why a professional tennis player's international ranking is not the same as their Wimbledon seeding. 5. An American offers to make you tea. Do you - a) explain why the water needs to be boiling, not tepid; why the bag is added first, not last; and how long your personal preferences require the tea to be stewed b) accept and politely hope for the best c) refuse on the grounds they haven't a hope 6. Someone has suggested going to war. Do you - a) worry about killing lots of people, the financial cost, and seek independent legal advice about whether military action is legal b) make sure your lawyer doesn't say it might not be legal   c) put on some goggles and a neckscarf and climb onto a tank To read the full article or sign up to get her wonderful articles click HERE - http://www.fleetstreetfox.com/

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