(email me if you want info on how to use EFT, where to tap etc.)

Using EFT for Money, Abundance & Success

from Gary Craig's web site

Dr. Carol Look provides us with a remarkable foundational article on using EFT to help create financial abundance in our lives. It is rich in concepts and specific language to use.

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By Dr. Carol Look, Cht

I have read more than 20 books on the subject of attracting abundance, trying to figure out the trick to having (“manifesting”) more of what I want in my life. What I learned was that money is just another form of energy, and that there is a particular VIBRATION associated with abundance. While I understood the concepts, nothing ever changed when I “applied” what I had learned. It was not until I combined the book knowledge with EFT and the energy of love and gratitude that I was able to change my limiting beliefs, expand my comfort zones, neutralize my deserving issues , direct my feelings and expand my prosperity consciousness---all of which had been driving the results in my life. Using EFT, I was able to change my VIBRATION in my daily life around money, worry, and the future, which in turn opened the door for success and abundance.

Over the past few years, I have conducted seminars and some teleclass series covering the topic “EFT for Success and Abundance.” The blocks and themes keep recurring, as do the progress reports of people that persistently use tapping for abundance in their lives. Below are some of the themes that need to be addressed.

COMFORT ZONES: When I first started using EFT for success in my own life, I didn’t “believe” in comfort zones---what Gary refers to as ceilings on your progress based on the “writing on your walls.” When I noticed my income for two years running was exactly the same, I realized this was evidence of a comfort zone operating in my financial life.

This may not seem strange unless you are a private practitioner in the mental health field. There are so many variables---holidays that fall on different days of the week, my own vacation time, clients’ vacation time, illness, referrals, the economic situation etc--- that it is virtually impossible to predict your annual income. Two years in a row, despite all these variables, I made the exact (within $1000) same income working as a full time private practitioner. Once I used EFT to break through these comfort zones (after some resistance of course) my income shot up over 20% the next year. I had not raised my fee, had not done any advertising, and the country’s economic situation had in fact worsened. I used phrases such as:

“Even though I don’t dare raise my income, I deeply and completely accept myself…

“Even though I obviously have a block to earning more than $ XXX, I deeply and completely love and accept this conflict.”

“Even though I have trouble seeing myself earning more than $ XXX, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

“Even though I don’t feel safe making more than $ XXX because they’ll be jealous, I deeply and completely accept and love who I am.”

LIMITING BELIEFS: Dozens of clients in my abundance classes have told me that they had siblings who were seen as either “slow learners” or having some form of “difficulty” in school. Some of these siblings turned out to be brilliant while some are still struggling to this day. The point is that my clients learned from their families “I’m not supposed to shine” and that if they did shine, they were taking attention away from their struggling sibling. It didn’t seem to matter if the sibling was older, younger, the same sex or not. What mattered was that the parents compared the two, and scolded the “fast learner” for looking good, or “showing off.” The message was “don’t succeed or you’ll hurt someone else.”

“Even though I’m not supposed to shine because it will hurt my sister, I deeply and completely accept my brilliance.”

“Even though I will lose their approval if I do well, I deeply and completely accept my talents.”

“Even though it’s not safe to succeed, I choose to feel safe when I am doing what I love.”

“Even though they don’t feel comfortable when I succeed, I deeply and completely accept myself anyway.”

“Even though I’ll never forget his scolding me when I succeeded, I deeply and completely forgive myself be being so fast.”

“Even though I’m afraid I’ll be rejected if I succeed…”

Other common limiting beliefs that block financial wealth are prejudices against wealthy people. “Fran” told me she thought rich people were “shallow and mean.” Apparently her mother had taught her this concept, based on feelings of jealousy and a scarring incident with a neighbor when growing up. Fran adopted this belief, but was unaware that she could therefore never BETHOSE PEOPLE) for if she became one, she would not only be seen as shallow and mean (her assumption), more importantly, she would risk the deep disapproval of her mother (her deepest fear). These prejudices about wealthy people come in all shapes and sizes. They must be uncovered and treated with EFT if you want to improve your financial situation. rich, (one of

“Even though I’m convinced ALL rich people are mean and shallow…”

“Even though she’ll judge me if I make more money…”

“Even though I’m afraid to be successful because my mother will reject me…”

“Even though I’ll be envied too much if I’m rich…”

DESERVING ISSUES: I have many individual clients who feel guilty when they have desires to do well financially. When I asked “Jeff” why, he said that he already “had it good” because his father worked hard to educate him and he was a superb athlete… “why should I take more away from other people?” (1) The belief that his success would hurt someone else is a mistake. (2) The belief that there is a limited supply of abundance is also, in my opinion, off base. (3) As long as he thinks he has had “his share” he will sabotage progress or inadvertently reject opportunities. Jeff didn’t feel deserving of financial success, and was finally able to see a pattern of rejecting terrific opportunities for advancement in his job. He realized he was working hard to tread water, just making ends meet, much like friends of his who struggled with comfort zone issues in sports.

“Even though I don’t deserve any more, I’ve had enough, I deeply and completely accept myself anyway.”

“Even though my mother said we were lucky to have what we had, I deeply…

“Even though I don’t want to be selfish and take more than my share, I accept and love myself for having desires.”

“Even though my father scolded me for wanting more, I deeply and completely…”

PROSPERITY CONSCIOUSNESS: Whether you believe you don’t have enough time, money, love or success, the consciousness behind your belief will block you from receiving financial abundance. Your level of belief exudes a particular vibration. In energetic terms, the theory states that your consciousness about abundance has a certain capacity; you will receive exactly what your consciousness is capable of handling. The good news is that your consciousness can be expanded to believe there is enough to go around.

“Even though there was never enough money when I was a kid, I deeply and completely accept my fears.”

“Even though I remember the fight my parents had about money, and I think money is bad, I deeply…”

“Even though I’m afraid there won’t be enough, so I need to hold on tight, I deeply and completely accept who I am.

“Even though she told me there wasn’t enough, I choose to believe there is enough now.”

FEELINGS: Do you feel rich? If not in your bank account, do you at least feel rich in love or compassion or some other way? My point is you can’t get rich if you feel poor. So you will need to find some way of FEELING rich in your life. Notice the abundance in nature, or notice how many clients you do have, or how many good friends are in your life. However you do it, you must change the vibration you have and feel wealthy on an emotional level.

“Even though my father said we would always be poor, I choose to remember how much love I feel.”

“Even though I feel poor and anxious about money, I deeply and completely accept these fears.

“Even though my mother taught me it was better to be poor, I love and accept her anyway.”

Combining EFT with the energy of love and gratitude has contributed to huge payoffs in my life and the lives of my clients. EFT was the missing piece all along. Believe in PLENTY… THERE IS ENOUGH!

Carol Look

How absurd can the RC Church get?

December 26, 2005

Backers Join Ousted Priest in 'Illicit' Mass

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. LOUIS - At least 1,500 people attended Christmas Eve Mass with an excommunicated Roman Catholic priest presiding, despite warnings from the archbishop that participating would be a mortal sin.

The Rev. Marek Bozek left his previous parish without his bishop's permission and was hired by St. Stanislaus Kostka Church this month. As a result, Father Bozek and the parish's six-member lay board were excommunicated last week by Archbishop Raymond Burke for committing an act of schism.

Archbishop Burke said it would be a mortal sin for anyone to participate in a Mass celebrated by a priest who was excommunicated.

The archbishop, who could not stop the Mass, said it would be "valid" but "illicit."

Despite the warning, Catholics and others from as far as Oregon and Washington, D.C., filled the church. An overflow crowd viewed the Mass by closed-circuit television in an adjoining parish center.

"I'm not worried about mortal sin," said Matt Morrison, 50, a worshiper.

"I'll take a stand for what I believe is right," Mr. Morrison said.

Many wore large red buttons reading "Save St. Stanislaus" and said they wanted to offer solidarity to a parish that they believed had been wronged.

When Father Bozek entered from the rear of the church, the congregation rose and greeted him with thunderous applause.

"It was magic," said JoAnne La Sala of St. Louis, who described herself as a lapsed Catholic. "You could feel the spirit of the people."

The penalty of excommunication was the latest wrinkle in a long dispute over control of the parish's $9.5 million in assets.

The parish's property and finances have been managed by a lay board of directors for more than a century. Archbishop Burke has sought to make the parish conform to the same legal structure as other parishes in the diocese. As a result, he removed both the parish's priests in 2004.

Father Bozek, a Pole who came to the United States five years ago, said he agonized about leaving his previous parish but wanted to help a church that had been deprived of the sacraments for 17 months.

This is one of my favourite photos of Rose. Click on the picture to enlarge it

Young love

The secret love life of Laura-Anne, aged 9¾

Channel 4 faces fresh controversy over fly-on-the-wall film of pre-teen romance (Channel 4 is a British TV channel)
Lorna Martin and Nell Card

Sunday December 18, 2005

Observer (newspaper)

Laura-Anne Hanrahan is sitting on her doorstep, playing with a pumpkin as she describes how she felt when her boyfriend kissed her.

'Tingly,' she says, dreamily. 'He used to come over and cuddle me and put his hands up my top. It used to feel cosy. I feel desperate to go up to him and say "Ben, why don't we kiss any more". It hurts so much that we don't kiss that I want to rip my heart out and throw it away.'

Laura-Anne, from Siddick, a two-street village near Workington in Cumbria, is nine years old.

Next year she will become a star as the main character in a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the sexual awakening of Britain's pre-teens, with her every thought pored over by television critics and sociologists. The makers of How To Fall In Love, due for broadcast by Channel 4 in the new year, spent two years following the primary school pupil and her friends as they discovered the opposite sex.

The Observer has seen the film. To some it will be a sweet and tender portrayal of childhood love, while others will rage against the increasingly sexualised world in which children grow up.

Laura-Anne is shown massaging 11-year-old Steven Hilland while he watches TV and eats crisps. Asked later about the scene, she tilts her head coquettishly and says: 'Sometimes I dig my nails in and scratch him hard.'

'I love it when you do that,' Steven replies with a grin.

In another scene, a heartbroken Laura-Anne shakes her head in disbelief as she reads a 'Dear John' letter penned by her 'first love'. 'It is hard for me to write this letter,' states Ben Challenger, aged 10. 'But I think we should have some time apart, because Steven is forcing me to go out with you and it doesn't feel right.'

In one of the most contentious scenes, two 10-year-olds are seen energetically participating in the kind of kissing normally undertaken behind the school bike shed. It has prompted a debate about the ethics of using potentially vulnerable children as documentary subjects, with one parent saying he felt that his son had been 'exploited and manipulated'.

'I'm not suggesting he was made to do anything he didn't want to do,' Steven Hilland said about his son, also Steven. 'But he was definitely encouraged by promises of burgers, go-karting and ice-skating. He didn't want to have a full-on snog with his girlfriend in front of the cameras, but he said he was persuaded to, and now he is embarrassed about everyone seeing it.'

Marc Isaacs, the acclaimed director of the film, admitted that some of the scenes, including the one Hilland mentioned, involved 'set up' shots, but insisted it was an accurate portrayal of what he witnessed during the two years he spent following the children. 'At first they were very excited, but then quickly got bored of the filming,' said Isaacs, who won the Grierson directorial award for best newcomer in 2002.

'We spent two years with them, because I didn't want this to be a surface portrait - so of course we took them to the pictures and bought them lunch and gave them Christmas and birthday presents. We did intervene and create scenes, but all the things that happened are completely true.'

Siddick, where the documentary was shot, is surrounded on one side by an enormous paper factory and on the other by a row of wind turbines. Visitors are welcomed by signs reading 'Please Die Carefully'. Once a busy mining area, it is now plagued with high unemployment. Despite this, there is a palpable sense of trust and community. Doors are left unlocked and children play outside until late in the evening. Now there is much talk about the impact the film, to be shown at a special screening in the local cinema on Tuesday, might have on the village and its residents.

Laura-Anne, who is now 11, Ben, 12, and Steven, 13, have mixed feelings. 'Most people my age think about boys and falling in love all the time,' said Laura-Anne. 'It is good to make a film about it rather than pretend it doesn't happen.'

'You have to have a girlfriend,' said Ben. 'Otherwise you just get wound up and people think you're not attractive.'

Although the programme is not sexually explicit, Steven told The Observer he first had full sex when he was 11, and had been several times to the family planning clinic. All the children said they had their first 'proper kiss with tongues' when they were six or seven.

This month The Observer revealed plans to introduce compulsory sex lessons for primary school children as young as five. Although the government later distanced itself from the report, which sparked fury among some church groups, there is growing support for sex education to begin much earlier.

Janice Hanrahan, Laura-Anne's mother, said: 'It can be very uncomfortable to see your nine-year-old on TV talking about being in love but it actually reminded me of having those feelings at a similar age. You simply forget as you grow up.

'People who say they want to keep children safe and innocent for as long as they can are fooling themselves. If children are not given sex education at home or in school, they will gather their impressions anywhere and everywhere: from explicit prime-time television jokes, soaps, magazines and the net.'

While many parents will be horrified at the thought of their pre-pubescent children engaging in any kind of sexual activity, some experts argue that we are all sexual beings, that children learn about touch and loving relationships from day one and that parents need to be comfortable talking about sexuality with their children early on.

Others expressed concern about a film showing nine-year-olds as sexually curious. 'There is already so much pressure on children to grow up,' said Mallory Hensen, a senior educational psychologist with Milton Keynes council.

'We hear about young girls wearing Playboy T-shirts and G-strings. We are already sexualising children far too much and treating them as young adults.'

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

An invition to gratitude

From Michael Winn, at www.HealingTaoUSA.com ,
or
www.HealingDao.com

A Soul-stice Blessing and Meditation on Gratitude:

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...
you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace...
you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...
you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church or other gathering without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If your parents are still alive and still married... you are blessed with a family that is very rare.

If you hold your head up with a smile on your face and are truly thankful...you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If today, you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder ...
you are blessed because you have made contact with another human being.

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Count your blessings, and pass this message along to remind others how blessed we all are. Gratitude to the Life Force that manifests everything is a powerful way to come into intimate relationship with the Tao. The Life Force is the life blood of the Tao, our only means of communicating with the Great Mystery of the Unknown (wuji).

After contemplating this feeling of gratitude, I recommend sitting in the stillness of the Deep Cosmic Yin Inner Smile that is naturally happening at this time. Silence, but with an open heart.

Bless you and those you love this Solstice time, in whatever form you celebrate it!

May the Inner Light of the Tao Shine in Us,

Michael Winn

Boriska - an Indigo child?

From Pravda June 2004


Boriska-boy from Mars
03/12/2004 19:38

Sometimes, some children are born with quite fascinating talents, unusual abilities.

I was told the story of an unusual boy named Boriska from members of an expedition to the anomaly zone located in the north of the Volgograd region, most commonly referred to as "Medvedetskaya gryada".

"Can you imagine, while everyone was sitting around the campfire at night, some little boy (about 7 years of age) suddenly asked everyone's attention. Turned out, he wanted to tell them all about life on Mars, about its inhabitants and their flights to earth," shares one of the witnesses. Silence followed. It was incredible! The little boy with gigantic lively eyes was about to tell a magnificent story about the Martian civilization, about megalithic cities, their spaceships and flights to various planets, about a wonderful country Lemuria, life of which he knew in details since he happened to descend there from Mars, had friends there.

Logs were cracking, night's fog enveloped the area and the immense dark sky with myriads of brightly lit stars seemed to conceal some sort of a mystery. His story lasted for about an hour and a half. One guy was smart enough to tape the entire narration.

Many were stunned by the two distinctive factors. First of all, the boy possessed exceptionally profound knowledge. His intellect was obviously far from that of a typical 7-year-old. Not every professor is capable of narrating the entire history of Lemuria and Lemurians and its inhabitants in such details. You will be unable to find any mentioning of this country in school textbooks. Modern science has not yet proved existence of other civilizations.

Second of all, we were all amazed by the actual speech of this young boy. It was far from the kind kids his age usually use. His knowledge of specific terminology, details and facts from Mars' and Earth's past fascinated everyone.

"Why did he start the conversation in the first place," said my interlocutor. "Perhaps, he was simply touched by the overall atmosphere of our camp with many knowledgeable and open-minded people," continued he.

"Could he make this all up?"

"Doubtful", objected my friend". "To me this looks more like the boy was sharing his personal memories from past births. It is virtually impossible to make up such stories; one really had to know them."

Today, after meeting with Boris' parents and getting to know the boy better, I begin to carefully sort out all the information obtained around that campfire. He was born in Volzhskii town in a suburban hospital, even though officially, based on the paperwork, his birthplace is the town of Zhirnovsk of Volgograd region. His birthday is January 11th, 1996. (Perhaps it will be helpful for astrologers).

His parents seem to be wonderful people. Nadezhda, Boriska's mother, is a dermatologist in a public clinic. She graduated from Volgograd medical institute not so long ago in 1991. The boy"s father is a retired officer. Both of them would be happy if someone could shed the light onto the mystery behind their child. In the meantime, they simply observe him and watch him grow.

-After Boriska was born, I noticed he was able to hold his head [up] in 15 days, recalls Nadezhda. His first word "baba" he uttered when he was 4 months old and very soon afterward started talking. At age 7 [months], he constructed his first sentence, "I want a nail." He said this particular phrase after noticing a nail stuck in the wall. Most notably, his intellectual abilities surpassed his physical ones.

-How did those abilities manifest themselves?

-When Boris was just one year old, I started giving him letters (based on the Nikitin's system) and guess what, at 1,5 he was able to read large newspaper print. It didn"t take long for him to get acquainted with colors and their shades. He began to paint at 2.

Then, soon after he turned 2, we took him to the children day care center. Teachers were all stunned by his talents and his unusual way of thinking. The boy possesses exceptional memory and an unbelievable ability to grasp new information. However, his parents soon noticed that their child had been acquiring information in his own unique way, from some place else.

-No one has ever taught him that, recalls Nadya. But sometimes, he would sit in a lotus position and start all these talks. He would talk about Mars, about planetary systems, distant civilizations.we couldn"t believe our own ears. How can a kid know all this? Cosmos, never-ending stories of other worlds and the immense skies, are like daily mantras for him since he was 2.

It was then that Boriska told us about his previous life on Mars, about the fact that the planet was in fact inhabited, but as a result of the most powerful and destructive catastrophe had lost its atmosphere and that nowadays all its inhabitants have to live in underground cities. Back then, he used to fly to earth quite often for trade and other research purposes. It seems that Boriska piloted his spaceship himself. This was during the times of the Lemurian civilizations. He had a Lemurian friend who had been killed right before his own eyes.

-A major catastrophe took place on earth. A gigantic continent was consumed by stormy waters. Then suddenly, a massive rock fell on a construction. My friend was there, tells Boriska. I could not safe him. We are destined to meet some time in this life.

The boy envisions the entire picture of the fall of Lemuria as though it happened yesterday. He grieves the death of his best friend as though it was his fault.

One day, he noticed a book in his mother's bag entitled "Where do we come from?" by Ernst Muldashev. One should have seen the kind of happiness and fascination this discovery triggered in the little boy. He's been flipping through pages for hours, looking at sketches of Lemurians, photos of Tibet. He then started talking about high intellect of the Lemurians.

-But Lemuria ceased to exist minimum 800 000 years ago., I uttered in response to his statements. Lemurians were 9 meters tall! Is that so? How can you remember all this?

-I do remember, replied the boy.

Later, he began recalling another book by Muldashev entitled "In Search of the City of Gods." The book is mainly devoted to ancient tombs and pyramids. Boriska firmly stated that people will find knowledge under one of the pyramids (not the pyramid of Heops). It hasn't been discovered yet. "Life will change once the Sphinx will be opened," said he and added that the great Sphinx has an opening mechanism somewhere behind his ear (but he does not remember where exactly). The boy also talks with great passion and enthusiasm about the Mayan civilization. According to him, we know very little about this great civilization and its people.

Most interestingly, Boriska thinks that nowadays the time has finally come for the "special ones" to be born on earth. Planet's rebirth is approaching. New knowledge will be in great demand, a different mentality of earthlings.

-How do you know about these gifted kids and why this is happening? Are you aware that they are called "indigo" kids?

-I know that they are being born. However, I haven't met anyone in my town yet. Perhaps may be this one girl named Yulia Petrova. She is the only one who believes me. Others simply laugh at my stories. Something is going to happen on earth; that is why these kids are of importance. They will be able to help people. The Poles will shift. The first major catastrophe with one of the continents will happen in 2009. Next one will take place in 2013; it will be even more devastating.

-Aren't you scared that your life may also going to end as a result of that catastrophe?

-No. I'm not afraid. I have lived through one catastrophe on Mars already. There still live people like us out there. But after the nuclear war, everything has burnt down. Some of those people managed to survive. They built shelters, new weaponry. There was also a shift of continents there, although the continent was not as large. Martians breathe gas. In case they arrived to our planet, they would have been all standing next to pipes and breathing in fumes.

-Do you prefer breathing oxygen?

-Once you are in this body, you have to breathe oxygen. However, Martians dislike this air, earth's air, because it causes aging. Martians are all relatively young, about 30-35 years old. The amount of such Martian children will increase annually.

-Boris, why do our space stations crash before they reach Mars?

-Mars transmits special signals aimed at destroying them. Those stations contain harmful radiation.

I was amazed by his knowledge of this sort of radiation "Fabos". This is absolutely true. Back in 1988 resident of Volzhsky Yuri Lushnichenko, a man with extrasensory powers attempted to warn Soviet leaders about the inevitable crash of the first Soviet space stations "Fobos 1" and "Fobos-2". He also mentioned this sort of an "unfamiliar" and harmful for the planet radiation. Obviously, no one believed him then.

-What do you know about multiple dimensions? Do you know that one must fly not on straight trajectories, but maneuvering through the multi-dimensional space?

Boriska immediately rose to his feet and started to pour all the facts about UFOs. "We took off and landed on Earth almost momentarily! [instantaneously?]" The boy takes a chalk and begins drawing an oval object on a blackboard. "It consists of six layers," he says. 25%--outer layer, made of durable metal, 30%--second layer made of something similar to rubber, the third layer comprises 30%--once again metal. The final 4% is composed of a special magnetic layer. "If we are to charge this magnetic layer with energy, those machines will be able to fly anywhere in the Universe."

-Does Boriska have a special mission to fulfill? Is he aware of it?- I pose these questions to his parents and the boy himself.

-He says he can guess,- says his mother. He says he knows something about the future of Earth. He says information will play the most significant role in the future.

-Boris, how do you know all this?

-It is inside of me.

-Boris, tell us why do people get sick?

-Sickness comes from people's inability to live properly and be happy. You must wait for you cosmic half. One should never get involve and mess up other peoples' destinies. People should not suffer because of their past mistakes, but get in touch with what's been predestined for them and try to reach those heights and move on to conquer their dreams. (These are the exact words he was using).

You have to be more sympathetic and warmhearted. In case someone strikes you, hug your enemy, apologize yourself and kneel before him. In case someone hates you, love him with all your love and devotion and ask for forgiveness. These are the rules of love and humbleness. Do you know why the Lemurians died? I am also partially at blame. They did not wish to develop spiritually any more. They went astray from the predestined path thus destructing the overall wholeness of the planet. The Magic's Path leads to dead end. Love is a True Magic!

-How do you know all this???

-I know.Kailis.

-What did you say?

-I said "hello!" This is the language of my planet.



Gennady Belimov "NGN"



Read the original in Russian: http://science.pravda.ru/science/2004/6/79/308/16265_MARSIANIN.html (Translated by: Anna Ossipova)

A test for masculinity/femininity

Androgynous You scored 63 masculinity and 66 femininity!

You scored high on both masculinity and femininity. You have a strong personality exhibiting characteristics of both traditional sex roles.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on masculinity You scored higher than 0% on femininity

Link: The Bem Sex Role Inventory Test written by weirdscience on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

You like paintings? How about a genuine fake?

This must be saying something quite important about the value of art. From the Guardian, 8 Dec 2005:

The master forger

John Myatt was responsible for the biggest art con of the 20th century, and ended up going to jail for it. Now his story is being turned into a Hollywood movie - and a prestigious gallery is showing his 'genuine fakes'. He tells all to Mark Honigsbaum

Thursday December 8, 2005
The Guardian

John Myatt is showing me some of his recent creations. "That's a Giacometti," he says, pointing to an abstract in swirling whites and grays entitled Apples on a Stool, 1949. "I'm not sure it's quite finished yet." Next, Myatt walks me to another wall of The Air Gallery, in London's Mayfair, hung with a Modigliani, several Picassos and, in the centre, a large Ben Nicholson. "Now, this is actually a painting that failed," he says. "In the end I had to paint over it with primer and sand it back to the canvas.

For a painter who is celebrating his first London opening, Myatt is disarmingly honest about both his working methods and his failings as an artist. But then, this is not the first time that Myatt's versions of works by Giacometti and Nicholson have found their way into the West End.

Between 1986 and 1994, Myatt churned out more than 200 new works by surrealists, cubists and impressionists, passing them off as originals with the help of an accomplice, John Drewe, an expert at generating false provenances. Despite the fact that many of Myatt's paintings were laughably amateurish (they were executed in emulsion, not oil), they fooled the experts and were auctioned for hundreds of thousands of pounds by Christie's and Sotheby's. It was, said Scotland Yard's art and antiques squad when they finally caught up with Myatt in 1995, bursting into his Staffordshire studio at the crack of dawn, "the biggest art fraud of the 20th century". Indeed, to this day, some 120 "Myatts" are still said to be in circulation.

Now, having served his time - Myatt was sentenced to 12 months in prison in 1999 but was released for good behaviour after four months - and with Michael Douglas poised to turn his exploits into a feature film (working title, Art Con), he feels he has nothing to apologise for.

"If someone came to me with one of my fakes now I wouldn't let on," says Myatt, who is 60. "I figure that the paintings aren't doing any harm. Besides, I'd be losing a perfectly innocent person money."

Instead, he is seeking to forge a new career, so to speak, as a purveyor of what he calls "genuine fakes". These are works by the very same artists he used to imitate when he was a criminal - not only Giacomettis and Nicholsons but Monets, Matisses and Renoirs. They even come with the artist's signature. The only difference is that on the back of the canvas is a computer chip and the legend "Genuine fake" written in indelible ink.

In an age when a broken-down hut can win the Turner prize and Damien Hirst can make millions flogging "spot" paintings produced by teams of assistants, Myatt is hoping that his venture will be seen as a refreshing take on the question of what constitutes art. "So many things today are invented," he says. "I think genuine fakes slot into that rather nicely. With a fake painting, you're free to ask, does it go with the curtains? You can't do that with a genuine Van Gogh because it's worth millions."

Myatt didn't set out to by a faker. As a young art student he had high hopes of establishing his own artistic style. But whenever he turned his hand to landscapes or portraiture, he says the result was invariably "academic" and "dull". Instead, he taught evening classes and began selling the odd fake to friends and colleagues. In 1983, he placed an ad in Private Eye that read: "Genuine fakes, 19th- and 20th-century paintings from £150." The ad ran four times before he received a call from Drewe. "He had a mohair coat, wore expensive hand-made shoes and drove a Bristol motor car," says Myatt. "He told me he was a professor of physics. I believed him."

Drewe began by commissioning a Matisse, followed by several Dutch-style portraits. Soon Myatt was visiting him at his home in Golders Green and was on first-name terms with his wife

The turning point came with the ninth commission. Drewe had run out of ideas, so Myatt suggested a painting by the German cubist Albert Gleizes. "It was based on a drawing I'd seen in a book. I called it Portrait of an Army Doctor. At first, John hung it on his stairway like all the others. It was only later that I think he got the idea to take it to Christie's."

The first thing Myatt knew about it was when he got a call from Drewe saying the auction house had offered him £25,000 and "how do you fancy £12,500 in a brown envelope?". "It did not take me any time at all to make the wrong decision," says Myatt. "It was as much money as I earned as a teacher in a year."

Although Myatt had recently separated from his wife and was having to bring up their young son and daughter alone, he does not wish to make excuses. The truth, he says, is that he also enjoyed it. He began by knocking off fake Giacomettis, driving to Liverpool to catch an exhibition of the Swiss surrealist's work, then rushing back to Staffordshire to make the first brush stroke.

"I try to get the artist's work to hypnotise me," says Myatt, who compares himself to an art-world Rory Bremner. "I also surround myself with lots of books. I like to know everything - where he was, what he was doing, what his relationship was like with his wife - when he was painting."

In retrospect, Myatt says it is incredible that any of his paintings fooled the experts (it was only by chance, for instance, that he used the same cotton duck canvas favoured by Giacometti). Gradually, however, Myatt learned to use the correct materials and water down his emulsion with KY jelly to give it an authentic-looking glaze. Meanwhile, Drewe devoted his energies to generating fake provenances, collecting old gallery receipts from places such as the Institute of Contemporary Arts and slipping new entries into the card indexes at the Tate and V&A.

The scam eventually unravelled in 1995 when Drewe's wife went to the police (they were going through a bitter separation) and Scotland Yard raided Myatt's house. At first he denied everything, but when the officers discovered an unposted letter to Drewe in his briefcase saying that he wanted out, Myatt realised that the game was up. "The letter more or less amounted to a signed confession. The police were very nice about it. We ended up sitting round the kitchen table discussing art."

Myatt survived Brixton prison by doing portraits of his fellow inmates in exchange for phone cards, earning himself the soubriquet "Picasso". But when he was released, he says, the last thing he wanted to do was pick up a paint brush. Then he got a phone call from the officer who had arrested him, asking for a portrait of his family. This was followed by a commission of a Giacometti from a member of the prosecution team at his trial and a version of Dufy's Casino at Nice for the Bar Council. Another convert is the TV presenter Anne Robinson, whom Myatt got to know while painting her portrait for a BBC2 documentary, Art Crime.

By 2002 Myatt was back to painting fakes in earnest - the difference being that he now found he could sell them under his own name for substantial sums of money (genuine Myatt fakes go for anywhere from £850 to £4,700). But while his prominent disclaimers are designed to keep him out of jail, he says he cannot vouch for what others in the art world may do.

"I went to a fraud conference in the summer and met a lady from the Giacometti foundation," he says. "She said it's no good putting 'Genuine fake' on the back; all they'll do is re-line the canvas.

"As long as you're selling in good faith, I'm told that you're not committing a crime. What happens to the paintings in 70 or 80 years' time is out of my control".

· Genuine Fakes, an exhibition of paintings by John Myatt, is at The Air Gallery, 32 Dover Street, London W1 until Saturday

icw cream is good for the soul

I found this in Gary Craig's EFT newsletter.

Cross My Heart

Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads he said, "God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!"

Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby I heard a woman remark, "That's what's wrong with this country. Kids today don't even know how to pray. Asking God for ice-cream! Why, I never!"

Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?"

As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son and said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer."

Really?" my son asked.
"Cross my heart." Then in theatrical whisper he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."

Naturally, I bought my kids ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment and then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked up his sundae and without a word walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes and my soul is good already."


This story courtesy of http://www.homeholidaysfamilyandfun.com

(I would have liked to hear about the woman's reaction, too.)

If you don't think reality is an illusion, read this:

The Holographic Universe

Michael Talbot

In 1982 a remarkable event took place. At the University of Paris a research team led by physicist Alain Aspect performed what may turn out to be one of the most important experiments of the 20th century. You did not hear about it on the evening news. In fact, unless you are in the habit of reading scientific journals you probably have never even heard Aspect's name, though there are some who believe his discovery may change the face of science.

Aspect and his team discovered that under certain circumstances subatomic particles such as electrons are able to instantaneously communicate with each other regardless of the distance separating them. It doesn't matter whether they are 10 feet or 10 billion miles apart.

Somehow each particle always seems to know what the other is doing. The problem with this feat is that it violates Einstein's long-held tenet that no communication can travel faster than the speed of light. Since traveling faster than the speed of light is tantamount to breaking the time barrier, this daunting prospect has caused some physicists to try to come up with elaborate ways to explain away Aspect's findings. But it has inspired others to offer even more radical explanations.

University of London physicist David Bohm, for example, believes Aspect's findings imply that objective reality does not exist, that despite its apparent solidity the universe is at heart a phantasm, a gigantic and splendidly detailed hologram.

To understand why Bohm makes this startling assertion, one must first understand a little about holograms. A hologram is a three- dimensional photograph made with the aid of a laser.

To make a hologram, the object to be photographed is first bathed in the light of a laser beam. Then a second laser beam is bounced off the reflected light of the first and the resulting interference pattern (the area where the two laser beams commingle) is captured on film.

When the film is developed, it looks like a meaningless swirl of light and dark lines. But as soon as the developed film is illuminated by another laser beam, a three-dimensional image of the original object appears.

The three-dimensionality of such images is not the only remarkable characteristic of holograms. If a hologram of a rose is cut in half and then illuminated by a laser, each half will still be found to contain the entire image of the rose.

Indeed, even if the halves are divided again, each snippet of film will always be found to contain a smaller but intact version of the original image. Unlike normal photographs, every part of a hologram contains all the information possessed by the whole.

The "whole in every part" nature of a hologram provides us with an entirely new way of understanding organization and order. For most of its history, Western science has labored under the bias that the best way to understand a physical phenomenon, whether a frog or an atom, is to dissect it and study its respective parts.

A hologram teaches us that some things in the universe may not lend themselves to this approach. If we try to take apart something constructed holographically, we will not get the pieces of which it is made, we will only get smaller wholes.

This insight suggested to Bohm another way of understanding Aspect's discovery. Bohm believes the reason subatomic particles are able to remain in contact with one another regardless of the distance separating them is not because they are sending some sort of mysterious signal back and forth, but because their separateness is an illusion. He argues that at some deeper level of reality such particles are not individual entities, but are actually extensions of the same fundamental something.

To enable people to better visualize what he means, Bohm offers the following illustration.

Imagine an aquarium containing a fish. Imagine also that you are unable to see the aquarium directly and your knowledge about it and what it contains comes from two television cameras, one directed at the aquarium's front and the other directed at its side.

As you stare at the two television monitors, you might assume that the fish on each of the screens are separate entities. After all, because the cameras are set at different angles, each of the images will be slightly different. But as you continue to watch the two fish, you will eventually become aware that there is a certain relationship between them.

When one turns, the other also makes a slightly different but corresponding turn; when one faces the front, the other always faces toward the side. If you remain unaware of the full scope of the situation, you might even conclude that the fish must be instantaneously communicating with one another, but this is clearly not the case.

This, says Bohm, is precisely what is going on between the subatomic particles in Aspect's experiment.

According to Bohm, the apparent faster-than-light connection between subatomic particles is really telling us that there is a deeper level of reality we are not privy to, a more complex dimension beyond our own that is analogous to the aquarium. And, he adds, we view objects such as subatomic particles as separate from one another because we are seeing only a portion of their reality.

Such particles are not separate "parts", but facets of a deeper and more underlying unity that is ultimately as holographic and indivisible as the previously mentioned rose. And since everything in physical reality is comprised of these "eidolons", the universe is itself a projection, a hologram.

In addition to its phantomlike nature, such a universe would possess other rather startling features. If the apparent separateness of subatomic particles is illusory, it means that at a deeper level of reality all things in the universe are infinitely interconnected.

The electrons in a carbon atom in the human brain are connected to the subatomic particles that comprise every salmon that swims, every heart that beats, and every star that shimmers in the sky.

Everything interpenetrates everything, and although human nature may seek to categorize and pigeonhole and subdivide, the various phenomena of the universe, all apportionments are of necessity artificial and all of nature is ultimately a seamless web.

In a holographic universe, even time and space could no longer be viewed as fundamentals. Because concepts such as location break down in a universe in which nothing is truly separate from anything else, time and three-dimensional space, like the images of the fish on the TV monitors, would also have to be viewed as projections of this deeper order.

At its deeper level reality is a sort of superhologram in which the past, present, and future all exist simultaneously. This suggests that given the proper tools it might even be possible to someday reach into the superholographic level of reality and pluck out scenes from the long-forgotten past.

What else the superhologram contains is an open-ended question. Allowing, for the sake of argument, that the superhologram is the matrix that has given birth to everything in our universe, at the very least it contains every subatomic particle that has been or will be -- every configuration of matter and energy that is possible, from snowflakes to quasars, from bluü whales to gamma rays. It must be seen as a sort of cosmic storehouse of "All That Is."

Although Bohm concedes that we have no way of knowing what else might lie hidden in the superhologram, he does venture to say that we have no reason to assume it does not contain more. Or as he puts it, perhaps the superholographic level of reality is a "mere stage" beyond which lies "an infinity of further development".

Bohm is not the only researcher who has found evidence that the universe is a hologram. Working independently in the field of brain research, Standford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram has also become persuaded of the holographic nature of reality.

Pribram was drawn to the holographic model by the puzzle of how and where memories are stored in the brain. For decades numerous studies have shown that rather than being confined to a specific location, memories are dispersed throughout the brain.

In a series of landmark experiments in the 1920s, brain scientist Karl Lashley found that no matter what portion of a rat's brain he removed he was unable to eradicate its memory of how to perform complex tasks it had learned prior to surgery. The only problem was that no one was able to come up with a mechanism that might explain this curious "whole in every part" nature of memory storage.

Then in the 1960s Pribram encountered the concept of holography and realized he had found the explanation brain scientists had been looking for. Pribram believes memories are encoded not in neurons, or small groupings of neurons, but in patterns of nerve impulses that crisscross the entire brain in the same way that patterns of laser light interference crisscross the entire area of a piece of film containing a holographic image. In other words, Pribram believes the brain is itself a hologram.

Pribram's theory also explains how the human brain can store so many memories in so little space. It has been estimated that the human brain has the capacity to memorize something on the order of 10 billion bits of information during the average human lifetime (or roughly the same amount of information contained in five sets of the Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Similarly, it has been discovered that in addition to their other capabilities, holograms possess an astounding capacity for information storage--simply by changing the angle at which the two lasers strike a piece of photographic film, it is possible to record many different images on the same surface. It has been demonstrated that one cubic centimeter of film can hold as many as 10 billion bits of information.

Our uncanny ability to quickly retrieve whatever information we need from the enormous store of our memories becomes more understandable if the brain functions according to holographic principles. If a friend asks you to tell him what comes to mind when he says the word "zebra", you do not have to clumsily sort back through ome gigantic and cerebral alphabetic file to arrive at an answer. Instead, associations like "striped", "horselike", and "animal native to Africa" all pop into your head instantly.

Indeed, one of the most amazing things about the human thinking process is that every piece of information seems instantly cross- correlated with every other piece of information--another feature intrinsic to the hologram. Because every portion of a hologram is infinitely interconnected with ever other portion, it is perhaps nature's supreme example of a cross-correlated system.

The storage of memory is not the only neurophysiological puzzle that becomes more tractable in light of Pribram's holographic model of the brain. Another is how the brain is able to translate the avalanche of frequencies it receives via the senses (light frequencies, sound frequencies, and so on) into the concrete world of our perceptions. Encoding and decoding frequencies is precisely what a hologram does best. Just as a hologram functions as a sort of lens, a translating device able to convert an apparently meaningless blur of frequencies into a coherent image, Pribram believes the brain also comprises a lens and uses holographic principles to mathematically convert the frequencies it receives through he senses into the inner world of our perceptions.

An impressive body of evidence suggests that the brain uses holographic principles to perform its operations. Pribram's theory, in fact, has gained increasing support among neurophysiologists.

Argentinian-Italian researcher Hugo Zucarelli recently extended the holographic model into the world of acoustic phenomena. Puzzled by the fact that humans can locate the source of sounds without moving their heads, even if they only possess hearing in one ear, Zucarelli discovered that holographic principles can explain this ability.

Zucarelli has also developed the technology of holophonic sound, a recording technique able to reproduce acoustic situations with an almost uncanny realism.

Pribram's belief that our brains mathematically construct "hard" reality by relying on input from a frequency domain has also received a good deal of experimental support.

It has been found that each of our senses is sensitive to a much broader range of frequencies than was previously suspected.

Researchers have discovered, for instance, that our visual systems are sensitive to sound frequencies, that our sense of smell is in part dependent on what are now called "osmic frequencies", and that even the cells in our bodies are sensitive to a broad range of frequencies. Such findings suggest that it is only in the holographic domain of consciousness that such frequencies are sorted out and divided up into conventional perceptions.

But the most mind-boggling aspect of Pribram's holographic model of the brain is what happens when it is put together with Bohm's theory. For if the concreteness of the world is but a secondary reality and what is "there" is actually a holographic blur of frequencies, and if the brain is also a hologram and only selects some of the frequencies out of this blur and mathematically transforms them into sensory perceptions, what becomes of objective reality?

Put quite simply, it ceases to exist. As the religions of the East have long upheld, the material world is Maya, an illusion, and although we may think we are physical beings moving through a physical world, this too is an illusion.

We are really "receivers" floating through a kaleidoscopic sea of frequency, and what we extract from this sea and transmogrify into physical reality is but one channel from many extracted out of the superhologram.

This striking new picture of reality, the synthesis of Bohm and Pribram's views, has come to be called the holographic paradigm, and although many scientists have greeted it with skepticism, it has galvanized others. A small but growing group of researchers believe it may be the most accurate model of reality science has arrived at thus far. More than that, some believe it may solve some mysteries that have never before been explainable by science and even establish the paranormal as a part of nature.

Numerous researchers, including Bohm and Pribram, have noted that many para-psychological phenomena become much more understandable in terms of the holographic paradigm.

In a universe in which individual brains are actually indivisible portions of the greater hologram and everything is infinitely interconnected, telepathy may merely be the accessing of the holographic level.

It is obviously much easier to understand how information can travel from the mind of individual 'A' to that of individual 'B' at a far distance point and helps to understand a number of unsolved puzzles in psychology. In particular, Grof feels the holographic paradigm offers a model for understanding many of the baffling phenomena experienced by individuals during altered states of consciousness.

(There's more here)

Goodbye, dear pup

Our bitch had two pups about nine weeks ago. Today one of them went to another home - some folks we vaguely know who live up the hill a way.

I'd grown to love these little creatures. I was sad to say good bye to this little, vibrant, trusting piece of doggy life. Even though I don't want to keep them - we have already too many dogs.

Everything Produces in Kind

This article arrived in my mail box this morning. It's worth reading.

"Everything Produces in Kind

Today we would like to notice a very simple, universal yet hardly noticed principle of life. Noticing this will dramatically improve your life in all areas and situations - relationships, health, career, business, politics, sports - all areas of your life. Sometimes the simplest of things are the most powerful yet least understood. Let us look at one such simplicity. Here it is:

Everything produces in kind.

An orange seed produces orange trees, which produce oranges. This you can count on.

A frog gives birth to frogs. This you can count on.

Water evaporates into steam. This you can count on.

So what can you not count on? The impossible. You cannot count on the impossible. The impossible is this:

You cannot count on an orange seed growing into a banana plant, for that is impossible.

You cannot count on a frog giving birth to a gorilla, for that is impossible.

You cannot count on water evaporating into steel, for that is impossible.

In other words, everything produces in kind, and trying to go against this is impossible and at best a pure waste of energy resulting in pain and no result. Try it if you don't believe it.

Here is a bigger insight into this: Everything gives rise to that which is like it, only in a different form. So the orange seed, tree and fruit are one and the same thing, only appearing in different form. The frog, egg and tadpole are one and the same thing, only appearing in different form. The water, steam, clouds, ocean, and ice are one and the same thing, only appearing in different form. Now to expand: If you did not know what a frog was or a tadpole and saw them both at the same time, you would think they are two different creatures completely! If you have never seen water or ice and saw them both at the same time, you would think they are two different materials!

Ok, fair enough. It is easy to see how this is so with the physical world around you, but what does that have to do with your life and life affairs?

Simple. Everything gives rise to that which is like it, only in a different form. Sometimes, if you are not aware of the big picture, your mind may get tricked into thinking there is no relationship between things that are obviously related. And this is what happens all the time. It is the norm rather than the exception. Watch.

We all know that our lives arise out of our thoughts. You are reading this now because, by a chain of choices you have previously made, including the choice to read to this point, you have thought of reading such material before. In other words, if it was not in your mental interest or field of attention, you would never have read this article you are reading now. Sometimes in your life you have seen a clear connection between your thoughts and the world arising around you. at most other times you have not seen this connection and thought even that you were a victim of circumstances. Now is the time to see that, truly, everything gives rise to its own kind. And this is how you do that:

Your thoughts give rise to like thoughts, words and actions. If you think a thought A, it will and must, under all circumstances, result in an experience in your world that is exactly like thought A, only appearing in different form. In practice, this means that you worry about things because you worry about things. It means that the very act of worrying, which by definition is the consistent and excessive thinking of the worst case scenario, is that which gives rise to conditions that make you worry even more.

Again, every thought you have gives rise to experiences and results of its own kind. This is sealed and unbreakable. To simplify, w happy thought results in happy conditions and experiences, and a destructive thought results in its own kind, and these can never be interchanged.

To simplify even further, worry results in conditions to worry about, and anxiety results in conditions to be anxious about. That is how your world arises out of yourself.

Now, we need your attention here for the next statements. So please pay full attention now. There is no point to worrying about anything. You worry because you think that worrying is doing something about it and hence by worrying you believe that you will help prevent disaster. You worry because you believe it works for you. And when the events you were worried about finally come about, you feel justified, that you were correct in worrying about them because, look, here they are now! The truth is, the worrisome conditions came because you worried about them. Everything gives rise to its own kind. You worry, and sooner or later you are faced with the circumstances you worried about, or something similar in context and essence but different in form and appearance.

Worry, or any negative thought, will under all circumstances give rise to negative external outcomes. Never, under any circumstances, will it give rise to positive outcomes because by definition worry is the envisioning of the worst case scenario. Remember, the connections between the causing thought and the resultant effect may not be obvious to you, but be assured that even if separated by space, form and time, a thought always gives rise to a matching result.

It is interesting to note that Jesus is quoted in the New Testament as having said "be anxious over nothing". Worry is useless, because at best it can only disrupt the desired positive outcome, and at worst bring about a negative outcome. There is not a single instance where worry can work positively. So why bother do it any more?

Now let us look at the grand daddy of this universal law that guarantees that everything produces of its own kind. Where is it most clearly given to us? In just about all the worlds major religions, no matter where they come from or how they started, they say one thing: you were created in the image and likeness of the Original Creator. The Creator, by extension of Itself, creates that which is like It in essence, though not necessarily in form. Form changes all the time, but essence is eternal. The only reason you do not experience yourself with the magnificence you would imaging the Creator possessing is because (and again this law comes in) you have put forth and held a thought that your not that which you are, and hence you experience that as well. And that is why all spiritual streams emphasize on going within, waking up, remembering, recognizing your unity with Oneness. And this is how deep this law goes, that like produces in kind. Whatever thought you hold in mind, whatever belief, you will experience it in your reality, even when it is contrary to truth, in which case you would be experiencing illusion, but you will, under all circumstances, experience that which is like the thought held.

Where else have you seen this law talked about? You have seen it in more places than you may remember. Here are some examples: birds of a feather flock together, you reap what you sow, you shall know them by their fruits, karma, what goes around comes around, do unto your brother... You know the rest.

Now back to your life. Life can be dramatically simplified if you just always remember this simple law. You need not fight against anything, cause fighting against results in conflict, for resistance is born of conflict and thus births conflict. If you find there is something in your life you do not like, simply choose another. If you don't like having little money, simply stop worrying about money, stop thinking of situations where you may lack money, stop speaking and thinking from the position of poverty. A poor thought gives rise to poverty, a rich thought gives rise to wealth. It is very simple. And this applies to all areas of life, even in relationships and health.

Let us look at what works and what doesn't:

Flowing from a mental and emotional position of abundance results in wealth, but struggling and working hard from a mental and emotional position of lack results in tiredness and little wealth, no matter how long you do it for.

Flowing from a mental and emotional position of peace results in peace, but protesting and fighting against war from a mental and emotional position of conflict results in conflict and polarity, no matter how long you do it for. Don't believe this? Well, ask yourself this: If everyone in the world fought against a cause they believed to be worth fighting for, all 6 billion people each with a justifiable cause to fight against, what would happen? Now, what if all 6 billion people held peace in their mind, regardless of what everyone else does, what would happen then? Impractical, you say? You haven't tried it yet. I guarantee you that holding your own peace is the most effective way to peace. No matter how big this planet gets, it still comes down to what each person does, and hence the sovereignty and power of an individual is guaranteed high and capable. Every invention, revolution or leap started with one person, spreading to more. But that is another topic all together. For now, remember this simple law and live by it, and your life will simplify and multiply under a new clear direction. If you wish to know more, see http://www.imagesofone.com. Remember, everything gives rise to its own kind, so direct your thoughts deliberately, and under all circumstances, be anxious over nothing.



Article written by David Cameron, CEO ImagesOfOne.com, author of Raising Humans and A Happy Pocket Full of Money, and developer of the Prova LifeGoals Effortless Achiever+ and Prova LifeMap Numerology software. These and titles such as Think and Grow Rich, As A Man Thinketh, and more are available for download and free trial at http://www.ImagesOfOne.com.

Which of you is lying?

Look at this, you girls: (From N.Y. Times , quoted by Maureen Dowd)

By the time you swear you're his,
Shivering and sighing,
And he vows his passion is
Infinite, undying -
Lady, make a note of this:
One of you is lying.

Dorothy Parker

200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar

Oct 21 was the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar, at which my illustrious almost-ancestor, Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, defeated a superior force of French and Spanish ships off Cape Trafalgar, at the western end of the Straits of Gibraltar. He died at the height of the battle, from a bullet fired from the mizzen top of the "Redoubtable", which lodged in his spine. The Redoubtable was entangled by the rigging with the Victory, Nelson's ship.

He is my almost-ancestor because his brother, Reverend Willam Nelson, First Earl Nelson, was my great-great-great-great-grandfather. Here is a link to a relevant web site with a portrait bearing a striking resemblance to my mother and her mother.

Three hundred and forty-three years ago in London (extract from Samuel Pepys' diary)

From the website:

Friday 17 October 1662

This morning Tom comes to me, and I advise him how to deal with his mistress’s mother about his giving her a joynture, but I intend to speak with her shortly, and tell her my mind. Then to my Lord Sandwich by water, and told him how well things do go in the country with me, of which he was very glad, and seems to concern himself much for me. Thence with Mr. Creed to Westminster Hall, and by and by thither comes Captn. Ferrers, upon my sending for him, and we three to Creed’s chamber, and there sat a good while and drank chocolate. Here I am told how things go at Court; that the young men get uppermost, and the old serious lords are out of favour; that Sir H. Bennet, being brought into Sir Edward Nicholas’s place, Sir Charles Barkeley is made Privy Purse; a most vicious person, and one whom Mr. Pierce, the surgeon, to-day (at which I laugh to myself), did tell me that he offered his wife 300l. per annum to be his mistress. He also told me that none in Court hath more the King’s ear now than Sir Charles Barkeley, and Sir H. Bennet, and my Lady Castlemaine, whose interest is now as great as ever and that Mrs. Haslerigge, the great beauty, is got with child, and now brought to bed, and lays it to the King or the Duke of York.¹ He tells me too that my Lord St. Albans’ is like to be Lord Treasurer: all which things do trouble me much. Here I staid talking a good while, and so by water to see Mr. Moore, who is out of bed and in a way to be well, and thence home, and with Commr. Pett by water to view Wood’s masts that he proffers to sell, which we found bad, and so to Deptford to look over some businesses, and so home and I to my office, all our talk being upon Sir J. M. and Sir W. B.’s base carriage against him at their late being at Chatham, which I am sorry to hear, but I doubt not but we shall fling Sir W. B. upon his back ere long. At my office, I hearing Sir W. Pen was not well, I went to him to see, and sat with him, and so home and to bed.

1. The child was owned by neither of the royal brothers.—B.

Forgiveness

I like this way of looking at our human situation (from a website by Colin Tipping). I found it interesting but somewhat dogmatic. I am one who, though no saint, does not find it hard to forgive. Or rather, I don't hold grudges easily. Neither do I for a moment believe that "God is angry with me and will punish me severely one day". Not because I am exceptional, but because God is never going to punish anyone. A punishing God is an absurd notion.

"Radical Forgiveness
by Colin Tipping, M.Ed

Notwithstanding our need to have revenge and restitution whenever we perceive ourselves to be victimized, the power and importance of forgiveness is central to every religion. It has even entered the annals of psychology and is now seen as essential to mental health. In the world of recovery and 12 step programs the forgiveness step is considered to be the most transformational. We also know that forgiveness is a highly effective adjunct treatment for cancer and other immune deficiency diseases and that lack of forgiveness is a reliable predictor of who is most likely to get cancer.

Yet forgiveness always seems so difficult – almost super-human. We know we should forgive, but somehow we simply can’t do it. We consider people who forgive as verging on sainthood. Why is this? What makes it so arduous? Why do we find it so hard to let go of toxic emotional baggage?

The answer lies in our powerful attachment to the victim archetype. We have lived out of this archetype for eons. It pervades our mass consciousness at every level and we have come to believe that victim consciousness is absolutely fundamental to the human condition. Jesus was the embodiment of forgiveness, yet we have even made him a victim – the ultimate victim in fact. We will not give it up. Why?

Because the victim, archetype is sustained by the Ego, that wholly false belief system that holds that we are separated from God and that God is angry with us and will one day punish us.

Yet, herein lies the clue to why, deep down, we feel that forgiveness is the key to our salvation. As we recognize that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, we realize that we are NOT separate from God after all. We never have been. It was simply a dream. We are all here expressing the ever expanding consciousness of God. This is what’s driving this ‘campaign’ for forgiveness as we approach the next millennium. Deep down we know it is the key to our spiritual evolution.

What follows from this is even more interesting. Gregg Braden, in his book, Walking Between the Worlds, shows that underlying all our problems, anxieties, neuroses, unhappiness and loneliness, are just three basis fears:

(a) fear of abandonment.
(b) fear of not being enough.
(c) fear of trusting.

These all come from our core belief that we are separate from God and that He is angry with us and will punish us severely one day. They play out in a myriad of ways – child abuse, spousal abuse, addictive behavior, family dysfunction, relationship problems, and so on – but the core issues underlying all these things are the same: those three basic fears. As we let go of our belief in separation, we see that these fears have no foundation whatsoever.

But how to let go? Ordinary forgiveness won’t help us because it is firmly tied to the victim archetype. “Letting bygones be bygones,” means I will let you off the hook, but I still believe you did something to me. I am still a victim. No, to break free we must do better than that. We must replace ordinary forgiveness with something so compelling and spiritually liberating that it magnetizes us away from our commitment to the victim consciousness. That something is Radical Forgiveness.

Radical Forgiveness literally obliterates the belief in separation. It takes us beyond the drama and the illusion of the many ‘stories’ we create around the three basic fears and enables us to see the truth that we have NEVER been abandoned, we ARE enough right now and that it is SAFE to surrender to Spirit. When we awaken to that truth, we are able to understand the true meaning of our suffering and transform it immediately, thereby releasing the victim archetype.

When we recognize that everything that happens is simply an outplaying of our three basic fears and that we needed the experience in order to heal those fears, our life changes immediately. We understand then that, because we chose it, there is nothing to forgive. We are no longer victims. We can then live our life knowing that, without exception, everything that happens to us is divinely guided, entirely purposeful, and for our spiritual growth. That is the essence of Radical Forgiveness.

That doesn’t mean we won’t often slip back into victim consciousness. We will. As soon as someone or something upsets us, we will almost certainly revert back. And that’s OK. That’s what being human is actually about. But we won’t need to hang out in victim consciousness for very long. A day or two perhaps, a week maybe – but not years or lifetimes – which has been the norm until now! ..."

Islamic Soccer

These rules for Islamic Soccer are said to have originally appeared on an Islamic Web site. They are translated by Geoff D. Porter.

"IN the name of God the merciful and benevolent:

1. Play soccer without four lines because this is a fabrication of the heretics' international rules that stipulate using them and delineating them before playing.

2. International terminology that heretics and polytheists use, like "foul," "penalty," "corner," "goal," "out" and others, should be abandoned and not said. Whoever says them should be punished, reprimanded and ejected from the game. He should be publicly told, "You have imitated the heretics and polytheists and this is forbidden."

3. Do not call "foul" and stop the game if someone falls and sprains a hand or foot or the ball touches his hand, and do not give a yellow or red card to whoever was responsible for the injury or tackle. Instead, it should be adjudicated according to Sharia rulings concerning broken bones and injuries. The injured player should exercise his Sharia rights according to the Koran and you must bear witness with him that so-and-so hurt him on purpose.

4. Do not follow the heretics, the Jews, the Christians and especially evil America regarding the number of players. Do not play with 11 people. Instead, add to this number or decrease it.

5. Play in your regular clothes or your pajamas or something like that, but not colored shorts and numbered T-shirts, because shorts and T-shirts are not Muslim clothing. Rather they are heretical and Western clothing, so beware of imitating their fashion.

6. If you have fulfilled these conditions and intend to play soccer, play to strengthen the body in order to better struggle in the way of God on high and to prepare the body for when it is called to jihad. Soccer is not for passing time or the thrill of so-called victory.

7. Do not set the time of play at 45 minutes, which is the official time of the Jews, Christians and all the heretical and atheist countries. This is the time used by teams that have strayed from the righteous path. You are obliged to distinguish yourself from the heretics and the corrupted and must not resemble them in anything.

6. Do not play in two halves. Rather play in one half or three halves in order to completely differentiate yourselves from the heretics, the polytheists, the corrupted and the disobedient.

9. If neither of you beats the other, or "wins" as it is called, and neither puts the leather between the posts, do not add extra time or penalties until someone wins. No, instead leave the field, because winning with overtime and penalty kicks is the pinnacle of imitating heretics and international rules.

10. If you play soccer, do not appoint someone to follow you called a "referee," since there is no need for him after doing away with international rules like "foul," "penalty," "corner" and others. His presence would be in imitation of the heretics, Jews and Christians and would follow international rules.

11. Young crowds should not gather to watch when you play because if you are there for the sake of sports and strengthening your bodies as you claimed, why would people watch you? You should make them join your physical fitness and jihad preparation, or you should say: "Go proselytize and seek out morally reprehensible acts in the markets and the press and leave us to our physical fitness."

12. If you finish playing soccer, do not talk about your game and say, "We were better than the opponent," or "So-and-so plays well" and so on. Instead be concerned with your bodies and their strength and muscles, and say, "We played only to drill in running, attacking and retreating, and to prepare for jihad in the name of God on high."

13. You should spit in the face of whoever puts the ball between the posts or uprights and then runs in order to get his friends to follow him and hug him like players in America or France do, and you should punish and reprimand him, for what is the relationship between celebrating, hugging and kissing and the sports that you are practicing?

14. You should use two posts instead of three pieces of wood or steel that you erect in order to put the ball between them, meaning that you should remove the crossbar in order not to imitate the heretics and in order to be entirely distinct from the soccer system's despotic international rules.

15. Do not do what is called "substitution," that is, taking the place of someone who has fallen, because this is a practice of the heretics in America and elsewhere.

These are some conditions and precepts so that morally aware youth do not inadvertently imitate heretics and polytheists when playing soccer ... Hell awaits those who die playing soccer according to rules established by heretical countries, at the head of which is America."

Geoff D. Porter directs Middle East and North Africa analysis at a political risk consulting firm.