What is an Intentional Community?

by Kelly N Patterson

There are thousands of intentional communities all over the world: for a better idea, just visit the intentional community international directory at www.ic.org. There are hundreds of intentional communities in Costa Rica alone. There are so many of these communities in Costa Rica that an online, open-source directory of these Costa Rican communities is currently being constructed, called the Intentional Conscious Communities of Costa Rica (ICCCR) directory (coming soon to www.icccr.info).

By definition, an intentional community is a planned, usually residential community designed, operated and maintained by a group. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious , or spiritual vision. Community members also share responsibilities and resources. Intentional communities are all inclusive; they include co-housing communities, residential land trusts , eco-villages, communes , holistic and alternative health retreat centers, organic farms, kibbutzim , ashrams, student co-ops, and housing cooperatives . They are often called “Conscious Communities” throughout Costa Rica. Usually new members of an intentional community are selected by the community's existing membership, rather than by real-estate agents or land owners (if the land is not owned collectively by the community.)

The ICCCR’s definition of an intentional conscious community is any shared work and housing group, community or program that seeks to do a combination or elements of mind-body-spirit-earth work that is eco-sustainable and empowers the local community (Ticos!): nonprofit organizations, social entrepreneurial programs, and small businesses alike.

The ICCCR, seeks to identify, assess, and unify these communities through an informational, open-source web portal, with the ultimate objective of empowering these communities through networking; skills-share; marketing their products and services locally, domestically and internationally; information exchange; capacity-building workshops; matching them with conscious investors and stewards; as well as keeping them up to date on funding opportunities such as social entrepreneurial grants and carbon credits.

Ultimately, the ICCCR seeks to empower these intentional conscious communities in Costa Rica in order that they can be economically sustainable, as well as eco-sustainable, stimulate their local economies, and protect Costa Rica’s natural resources (the rainforests are just one of many!) from big development. The ICCCR seeks to be a valuable tool for Costa Rica’s natural resource management.

The ICCCR, in collaboration with Fincas Amanecer and Fincas Paraiso Verde (both organic farm communities in Londres, Quepos) are holding their very first workshop for intentional communities in Costa Rica:

Intentional Conscious Community Planning Hands-On Workshop (For Beginners/Forming Communities to Established Communities): March 27-30, 2009

Workshops include how to write a short-term and long-term business plan for people who do not speak Business; how to market your products and services on the internet (social media network marketing); how carbon credits work; how to procure social entrepreneurial grants and seed money; pigs for propane; an edible and medicinal plant tour (which can be used as an income generation tool for eco-communities!); and then valuable information about legal, business and residency issues in Costa Rica.

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http://icccr.wordpress.com/

http://www.examiner.com/x-2454-SF-Alternative-Recreation-Examiner

A Mayan View of 2012

Carlos Barrios was born into a Spanish family on El Altiplano, the highlands of Guatemala. His home was in Huehuetenango, also the dwelling place of the Maya, Mam tribe. With other Maya and other indigenous tradition keepers, the Mam carry part of the 'old ways on Turtle Island (North America).They are keepers of time, authorities on remarkable calendars that are ancient, elegant and relevant.

Mr. Barrios is a historian, an anthropologist and investigator. After studying with traditional elders for 25 years since the age of 19, he has also became a Mayan Ajq'ij, a ceremonial priest and spiritual guide, Eagle Clan. Years ago, along with his brother, Gerardo, Carlos initiated an investigation into the different Mayan calendars. He studied with many teachers. He says his brother Gerardo interviewed nearly 600 traditional Mayan elders to widen their scope of knowledge.

"Anthropologists visit the temple sites," Mr. Barrios says, "and read the inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It's just their imagination. Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 2012.The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed."

The indigenous have the calendars, and know how to accurately interpret it, not others. The Mayan Calendars comprehension of time, seasons, and cycles has proven itself to be vast and sophisticated. The Maya understand 17 different calendars, some of them charting time accurately over a span of more than ten million years. The calendar that has steadily drawn global attention since 1987 is called the Tzolk'in or Cholq'ij.

Devised ages ago and based on the cycle of the Pleiades, it is still held as sacred. With the indigenous calendars, native people have kept track of important turning points in history. For example, the day keepers who study the calendars identified an important day in the year One Reed, Ce Acatal, as it was called by the Mexicans. That was the day when an important ancestor was prophesied to return, "coming like a butterfly". In the Western Calendar, the One Reed date correlates to Easter Sunday, April 21,1519 the day that Hernando Cortez and his fleet of 11 Spanish galleons arrived from the East at what is today called Vera Cruz, Mexico.

When the Spanish ships came toward shore, native people were waiting and watching to see how it would go. The billowing sails of the ships did indeed remind the scouts of butterflies skimming the ocean surface. In this manner was a new era initiated, an era they had anticipated through their calendars.

The Maya termed the new era the Nine Bolomtikus, or nine Hells of 52 years each. As the nine cycles unfolded, land and freedom were taken from the native people. Disease and disrespect dominated. What began with the arrival of Cortez, lasted until August 16, 1987 - a date many people recall as Harmonic Convergence.

Millions of people took advantage of that date to make ceremony in sacred sites, praying for a smooth transition to a new era, the World of the Fifth Sun. From that 1987 date until now, Mr. Barrios says, we have been in a time when the right arm of the materialistic world is disappearing, slowly but inexorably. We are at the cusp of the era when peace begins, and people live in harmony with Mother Earth.

We are no longer in the World of the Fourth Sun, but we are not yet in the World of the Fifth Sun. This is the time in-between, the time of transition. As we pass through transition there is a colossal, global convergence of environmental destruction, social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth changes.

All this, Mr. Barrios says, was foreseen via the simple, spiral mathematics of the Mayan calendars. "It will change," Mr. Barrios observes. "Everything will change." He said Mayan Daykeepers view the Dec. 21, 2012 date as a rebirth, the start of the World of the Fifth Sun. It will be the start of a new era resulting from and signified by the solar meridian crossing the galactic equator, and the earth aligning itself with the center of the galaxy.

At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a tree remembered in all the world's spiritual traditions.

Some observers say this alignment with the heart of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the earth, cleansing it and all that dwells upon it, raising all to a higher level of vibration. This process has already begun, Mr. Barrios suggested. "Change is accelerating now, and it will continue to accelerate. If the people of the earth can get to this 2012 date in good shape, without having destroyed too much of the Earth, we will rise to a new, higher level. But to get there we must transform enormously powerful forces that seek to block the way."

A Picture of the Road Ahead.
From his understanding of the Mayan tradition and the calendars, Mr.Barrios offered a picture of where we are at and what may lie on the road ahead: The date specified in the calendar Winter Solstice in the year 2012 does not mark the end of the world. Many outside people writing about the Mayan calendar sensationalize this date, but they do not know. The ones who know are the indigenous elders who are entrusted with keeping the tradition. "Humanity will continue," he contends, "but in a different way. Material structures will change. From this we will have the opportunity to be more human."We are living in the most important era of the Mayan calendars and prophecies. All the prophecies of the world, all the traditions, are converging now.There is no time for games. The spiritual ideal of this era is action.

Many powerful souls have reincarnated in this era, with a lot of power. This is true on both sides, the light and the dark. High magic is at work on both sides. Things will change, but it is up to the people how difficult or easy it is for the changes to come about.

The economy now is a fiction. The first five-year stretch of transition from August 1987 to August 1992 was the beginning of the destruction of the material world. We have progressed ten years deeper into the transition phase by now, and many of the so-called sources of financial stability are in fact hollow. The banks are weak. This is a delicate moment for them. They could crash globally if we don't pay attention. If the banks crash .... then we will be forced to rely on the land and our skills. The monetary systems will be in chaos, and we must then rely on our direct relationship with the Earth for our food and shelter.

The North and South Poles are both breaking up. The level of the water in the oceans is going to rise. But at the same time land in the ocean, especially near Cuba, is also going to rise.

A Call for Fusion.
As he met with audiences in Santa Fe, Mr. Barrios told a story about the most recent Mayan New Year ceremonies in Guatemala. He said that one respected Mam elder, who lives all year in a solitary mountain cave, journeyed to Chichicastenango to speak with the people at the ceremony. The elder delivered a simple, direct message. He called for human beings to come together in support of life and light.

Right now each person and group is going his or her own way. The elder of the mountains said there is hope if the people of the light can come together and unite in some way. Reflecting on this, Mr. Barrios explained: "We live in a world of polarity: day and night, man and woman, positive and negative. Light and darkness need each other. They are a balance."

"Just now the dark side is very strong, and very clear about what they want. They have their vision and their priorities clearly held, and also their hierarchy. They are working in many ways so that we will be unable to connect with the spiral Fifth World in 2012."

"On the light side everyone thinks they are the most important, that their own understandings, or their group's understandings, are the key. There's a diversity of cultures and opinions, so there is competition, diffusion, and no single focus."

As Mr. Barrios sees it, the dark side works to block fusion through denial and materialism. It also works to destroy those who are working with the light to get the Earth to a higher level. They like the energy of the old, declining Fourth World, the materialism. They do not want it to change. They do not want fusion. They want to stay at this level, and are afraid of the next level.

The dark power of the declining Fourth World cannot be destroyed or overpowered. It's too strong and clear for that, and that is the wrong strategy. The dark can only be transformed when confronted with simplicity and open-heartedness. This is what leads to fusion, a key concept for the World of the Fifth Sun.

Mr. Barrios said the emerging era of the Fifth Sun will call attention to a much-overlooked element. Whereas the four traditional elements of earth, air, fire and water have dominated various epochs in the past, there will be a fifth element to reckon with in the time of the Fifth Sun: ether.

The dictionary defines ether as the rarefied element of the Heavens. Ether is a medium. It permeates all space and transmits waves of energy in a wide range of frequencies, from cell phones to human auras. What is "ethereal" is related to the regions beyond earth: the heavens.

Ether the element of the Fifth Sun is celestial and lacking in material substance,but is no less real than wood, stone or flesh. "Within the context of ether there can be a fusion of the polarities," Mr. Barrios said. "No more darkness or light in the people, but an uplifted fusion."

But right now the realm of darkness is not interested in this. They are organized to block it. They seek to unbalance the Earth and its environment so we will be unready for the alignment in 2012.

We need to work together for peace, and balance with the other side. We need to take care of the Earth that feeds and shelters us. We need to put our entire mind and heart into pursuing unity and fusion now, to confront the other side and preserve life. Mr. Barrios told his audiences in Santa Fe that we are at a critical moment of world history. "We are disturbed," he said. "We can't play anymore. Our planet can be renewed or ravaged. Now is the time to awaken and take action."

"Everyone is needed. You are not here for no reason. Everyone who is here now has an important purpose. This is a hard, but a special time. We have the opportunity for growth, but we must be ready for this moment in history."

Mr. Barrios offered a number of suggestions to help people walk in balance through the years ahead. "The prophesied changes are going to happen," he said "but our attitude and actions determine how harsh or mild they are. We need to act, to make changes, and to elect people to represent us who understand and who will take political action to respect the earth."

"Meditation and spiritual practice are good, but also action. It's very important to be clear about who you are, and also about your relation to the Earth. Develop yourself according to your own tradition and the call of your heart. But remember to respect differences, and strive for unity. Eat wisely (Ormus rich food). A lot of food is corrupt in either subtle or gross ways. Pay attention to what you are taking into your body. Learn to preserve food, and to conserve energy. Learn some good breathing techniques, so you have mastery of your breath. Be clear. Follow a tradition with great roots. It is not important what tradition, your heart will tell you, but it must have great roots."

"We live in a world of energy. An important task at this time is to learn to sense or see the energy of everyone and everything: people, plants, animals. This becomes increasingly important as we draw close to the World of the Fifth Sun, for it is associated with the element ether, the realm where energy lives and weaves."

"Go to the sacred places of the earth to pray for peace, and have respect for the Earth which gives us our food, clothing, and shelter. We need to reactivate the energy of these sacred places. That is our work."

"One simple but effective prayer technique is to light a white or baby-blue colored candle. Think a moment in peace. Speak your intention to the flame and send the light of it on to the leaders who have the power to make war or peace."

We Have Work to Do.
According to Mr. Barrios, this is a crucially important moment for humanity, and for earth. Each person is important. If you have incarnated into this era, you have spiritual work to do balancing the planet. He said the elders have opened the doors so that other races can come to the Mayan world to receive the tradition.

The Maya have long appreciated and respected that there are other colors, other races, and other spiritual systems. "They know," he said, "that the destiny of the Mayan world is related to the destiny of the whole world."

"The greatest wisdom is in simplicity," Mr. Barrios advised before leaving Santa Fe. "Love, respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It's not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free. It's encoded in your DNA. All you need is within you."

"Great teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will find your way."

The Transparency of Things - Rupert Spira

Excerpt from The Transparency of Things: Contemplating the Nature of Experience, by Rupert Spira


Whatever it is that is seeing and understanding these words, is what is referred to here as 'Consciousness. ' It is what we know ourselves to be, what we refer to as 'I.'

Everything that is known is known through Consciousness. Therefore, whatever is known is only as good as our knowledge of Consciousness.
...

The mind has built a powerful edifice of concepts about Reality that bears little relation to actual experience and, as a result, Consciousness has veiled itself from itself. These concepts are built out of mind and therefore their deconstruction is one of the ways through which Consciousness comes to recognise itself again -- that is, to know itself again.

Consciousness is in fact always knowing itself. However, through this deconstruction of concepts, Consciousness comes to recognise itself, not through the reflected veil of apparent objects, but knowingly and directly.

Concepts are not destroyed in this process. They are still available for use when needed.

In the contemplations that comprise this book it is acknowledged that the purpose of reasoning is not to frame or apprehend Reality. However, it is also acknowledged that the mind has constructed complex and persuasive ideas that have posited an image of ourselves and of the world that is very far from the facts of our experience.

These ideas have convinced us that there is a world that exists separate from and independent of Consciousness. They have persuaded us to believe that 'I,' the Consciousness that is seeing these words, is an entity that resides inside the body, that it was born and will die, and that it is the subject of experience whilst everything else, the world, 'other,' is the object.

Although this is never our actual experience, the mind is so persuasive and convincing, that we have duped ourselves into believing that we actually experience these two elements, that we experience the world separate and apart from our Self, and that we experience our own Self as a separate and independent Consciousness.

In the disinterested contemplation of our experience we measure the facts of experience itself against these beliefs.

The falsity of the ideas that the mind entertains about the nature of Reality, about the nature of experience, is exposed in this disinterested contemplation.

All spiritual traditions acknowledge that Reality cannot be apprehended with the mind. As a result of this understanding some teachings have denied the use of the mind as a valid tool of enquiry or exploration.

It is true that Consciousness is beyond the mind and cannot therefore be framed within its abstract concepts. However this does not invaldiate the use of the mind to explore the nature of Consciousness and Reality.

Ignorance is composed of beliefs and belief is already an activity of mind. If we deny the validity of mind, why use it in the first place to harbour beliefs?

By reading these words, we are, consciously or unconsciously, agreeing to accept the validity and, by the same token, the limitations of the mind.

We are giving the mind credibility in spite of its limitations. We are acknowledging its ability to play a part in drawing attention to that which is beyond itself or outside the sphere of its knowledge.

It would be disingenuous to use the mind to deny its own validity. Our very use of the mind asserts its validity. However, it is a different matter to use the mind to understand its own limits.

It may well be that at the end of a process of exploring the nature of experience, using the full capacity of its powers of conceptual thinking, the mind will come to understand the limits of its ability to apprehend the truth of the matter and, as a result, will spontaneously come to an end. It will collapse from within, so to speak.

However, this is a very different situation from one in which the mind has been denied any provisional credibility on the basis that nothing it says about Reality can ultimately be true.

As a result of the exposure of beliefs and feelings that derive from preconcieved, unsubstantiated notions of Reality, a new invitation opens up, another possibility is revealed.

This possibility cannot be apprehended by the mind because it is beyond the mind. However, the obstacles to this new possibility are revealed and dissolved in this investigation.

They are dissolved by our openness to the possibility that in this moment we actually experience only one thing, that experience is not divided into 'I' and other, subject and object, me and the world, Consciousness and Existence.

We are open to the possibility that there is only one single, seamless totality, that Consciousness and Existence are one, that there is only one Reality.

The edifice of dualistic ideas, which seems to be validated by experience, is well constructed with beliefs at the level of the mind and feelings at the level of the body, which are tightly interwoven, mutually substantiating and validating one another.

In the disinterested contemplation of these ideas and feelings their falsity is unraveled. We see clearly that our ideas do not correspond to our experience. This paves the way for experience to reveal itself to us as it truly is, as in fact it always is, free from the ignorance of dualistic thinking.

We begin to experience ourselves and the world as they truly are.

Our experience itself does not change but we feel that it changes. Reality remains as it always is, for it is what is, independent of the ideas we entertain about it.

However, our interpretation changes and this new interpretation becomes the cornerstone of a new possibility.

This new possibility comes from an unknown direction. It does not come as an object, a thought or a feeling. It is unveiled, in most cases, as a series of revelations, each dismantling part of the previous edifice of dualistic thinking.

And the unfolding of this revelation, in turn, has a profound impact on the appearance of the mind, the body and the world.

The Transparency of Things: Contemplating the Nature of Experience, by Rupert Spira
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First 3-Day Silent Retreat in Costa Rica

0Our first silent retreat is finally complete with glowing results, at least it seemed so from the look on participants faces. It was small and intimate, only 5 of us and all women.

Our Zendo

We began on a beautiful, sunny Wednesday afternoon, with plenty of time to settle in private rooms, tour the grounds, and go over the schedule before dinner. After a meal of fresh fish, whole grains, and salad, we gathered for questions and answers in preparation for 3 days of silence. Everyone was ready to enter that now moment arising when we give our full attention to the Source of our Being.

Our Daily Focus

The schedule was very precise, incorporating three 40 minute sittings in the morning, a 2 1/2 hour break for lunch, and another 3 sittings in the afternoon. Sittings were alternated with 20 minute breaks for stretching and personal care. Following the evening meal, there was another sitting followed by a short satsang and & A session. Our only concern was the variable winds that sometimes are very strong in the mountains of Atenas. In fact, our first morning was punctuated by a gust that knocked down and shattered a small vase that held a bundle of sage. So we moved indoors for all of Thursday, only to realize in the evening that we preferred being out of+doors, even with the periodic blusters.

The Buddha Watches....

Though some were certain that maintaining silence would be difficult, each were dedicated to respect it as the medium for realization. We recognized collectively that every Master has pointed to the power of Silence as the gateway beyond concepts and beliefs and into experiential Oneness. Though 3 days is really the minimal amount of time within which the veil of thought becomes noticeable, everyone had a taste of that deep peace pre-existing before the mind takes one step.

Reflecting Stillness...

Saturday, the quiet was so compelling, no one wanted to leave. In silence, we discovered what is behind the rattling of our endless thoughts....just awareness. We used the Awareness Watching Awareness Method as a tool to help us focus our attention on Awareness itself, not easy when the mind is busy narrating everything you do. But all it takes is a glimpse....

Beauty Is...

Thank you to Juan Enrique and Unity of Costa Rica for your continuing support, and thank you M.S., S.V., C.M., and S.C. for your courage, sincerity, and willingness to trust me as your guide. It was truly wonderful to share this with you. Namaste.

Monetary Reform and How a National Monetary System Should Work

By Richard C. Cook in Global Research, May 11, 2007

The author has received an overwhelming response to his recent Global Research report entitled, “An Emergency Program of Monetary Reform for the United States.” The introduction to that report stated that, “the U.S. financial system headed by the Federal Reserve System has failed, and…only an emergency program of monetary reform can address conditions which may be leading to a catastrophe like the Great Depression or worse.”

This new report on “Monetary Reform and How a National Monetary System Should Work” continues the dialogue by outlining the principles and mechanisms available to help guide the creation of a monetary system for any nation that wishes to enjoy economic democracy with prosperity. This would be in contrast to the collapsing debt-based monetary system overseen by the Federal Reserve and the other central banks of the world, coordinated at the top by such institutions as the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of International Settlements.

Note that all the banks of the Western world are ultimately private institutions owned by the world’s super-rich. The international banking structure is operated by and on behalf of the world’s monetary elite primarily for their own profit.

Just below the banking system are the giant corporations of the global economy which derive capital from and funnel profits into the financiers’ empire. Bringing up the rear are the populations and debt-serfs of the no-longer-sovereign nation states, including those of the United States, whose participation in the system as consumers is essential, but whose jobs continue to disappear as manufacturing is increasingly automated.

The author had realized as early as 1970 that the central problem with the world’s economy lay on the side of distribution, not production. He came to Washington, D.C., that year and spent most of the next thirty-six years working within sight of the Washington Monument, learning how things really work, and pondering the methods that might be more in concord with such founding documents of American democracy as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Twenty-one of these years were with the U.S. Treasury Department.

Now, for the first time, this report builds on the findings of many of the world’s monetary reformers past and present by offering a complete prescription for a new and better world. This prescription is radically different from most progressive reform agendas that address only symptoms of the underlying systemic failures.

WHERE MONEY COMES FROM

When setting out to study monetary principles, we must realize how little we know of the real facts of monetary history. Economics is an extremely limited discipline rife with untested assumptions and unchallengeable dogmas. Its most pernicious doctrine is the assertion that there is something called “the market,” where there is an “invisible hand” that makes everything work out the way it is supposed to.

Actually, an economy functions according to the principles according to which it is designed and regulated. If it is designed to funnel wealth into the hands of the monetary controllers, then that is what the “market” and the “invisible hand” will do. If it is designed to foster “the general welfare,” as it should according to the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, then the “market” and the “invisible hand” will tend in that direction.

Unfortunately, we march today to the tune of the monetary elite, so they are the ones who reap the profits and the benefits. They are the ones on whom the “invisible hand” lavishes the wealth of the world.

It is done through the process of bank-created credit. While during the nineteenth century other forms of money circulated, such as large quantities of coinage, silver certificates, and government-issued greenbacks, almost all the money that exists today originates through a loan by a financial institution to an individual or a business.

When a loan is made it is issued as a liability on the bank’s ledger. When it is repaid, the liability is canceled. With today’s computer systems, all transactions are digitized, of course. The bank keeps the interest on the loan as its combined administrative fee and profit. The money that is lent had no prior existence.

Once money is created as credit, it takes many forms according to how the loan recipient spends it. Some credit is used by businesses or individuals as investment in order to generate profits over and above the amount they must repay to the bank with interest. If the money is used simply for consumer purchases, the individual consumer must pay back the loan through future earnings. In those cases where the borrower defaults on the loan or goes bankrupt, the money simply remains in circulation however it was spent.

Unfortunately, large amounts of credit are used mainly for speculation, not for any benefit to the producing economy. This includes securities bought on margin and borrowing by hedge funds where the fund may make a profit even if the value of its investments goes down. Bank-created credit in this case is little more than chips in a casino.

Other borrowing takes place by equity funds and other types of investors for leveraged mergers or buyouts of entire companies, where the predators wreck a company’s infrastructure by reducing costs and selling its assets, then pay back their bank loans before unloading the business on someone else.

The most important thing to realize about the banking system is that the money which enters into circulation as purchasing power must eventually be returned in the repayment of loans. This is why the Federal Reserve’s monetary measures—M1, M2, and M3—are meaningless, because so much of it has liens against it.

We are taught that paying it back is the way things should be—obviously, if we borrow something, we should pay back what we owe.

But the peculiar thing is that because the borrowed money pays for labor, commodities, rent, etc., it becomes part of the prices that are eventually charged for goods and services. However, when the money goes back to the bank to cancel a loan, that purchasing power disappears. Neither the banks nor economists ever make note of the fact that this process creates a chronic shortage of purchasing power which must be filled by more loans and more bank profits. The economy is thus a treadmill that borrowers must constantly trudge along in order to have enough money for survival.

So a system which is seemingly grounded in the simple adage that if you borrow you should repay is all wrong. The reason it is all wrong is that in most cases, individual consumers should never have to borrow in the first place. And we never ask ourselves why, with the abundance that is possible from modern science and technology, should people have to borrow money at interest for the necessities of life—a house, a car, household expenses, an education, etc.

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HealthyToys.org Lead Check Finds Toxic Toys Before Xmas

Toxic Toy Guide Lists Chemicals Found in Hundreds of Toys

ANN ARBOR, Michigan - One in every three of the more than 1,500 children's toys tested in time for the holiday shopping season have been found to contain "medium" or "high" levels of chemicals of concern such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic.

Lead, bromine and chlorine were found in this piece of low-cost jewelry.

Researchers with the Michigan-based nonprofit Ecology Center tested for chemicals that have been associated with reproductive problems, developmental and learning disabilities, hormone problems and cancer; and for those identified by regulatory agencies as problematic.

The testing was conducted with a screening technology - the portable X-Ray Fluorescence analyzer - that identifies the elemental composition of materials on or near the surface of products.

The Ecology Center and partners across the country today released their second annual consumer guide to toxic chemicals in toys, which can be found online at www.HealthyToys.org.

Environmental health groups are holding toy testing events nationwide and urging manufacturers and the federal government to phase out the most harmful chemicals at once.

"There is simply no place for toxic chemicals in children's toys," said Ecology Center's Jeff Gearhart, who led the research.

"Our hope is that by empowering consumers with this information, manufacturers and lawmakers will feel the pressure to start phasing out the most harmful substances immediately, and to change the nation's laws to protect children from highly toxic chemicals," he said.

Lead was detected in 20 percent of the toys tested this year. Lead levels in 54 products were well above the 600 parts per million federal recall standard used for lead paint, and will exceed the U.S. legal limit in February, according to the new Consumer Product Safety Commission regulations.

If the new regulations were in effect today, some of the toys on the shelf this holiday season would be illegal to sell. When children are exposed to lead, the developmental and nervous system consequences are irreversible.

Levels of lead in many of the toys tested were above the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended ceiling of 40 ppm of lead in children's products.

Children's jewelry remains the most contaminated product category, maintaining its spot at the top of HealthyToys.org's "worst" list for a second year.

Overall, jewelry is twice as likely to contain detectable levels of lead as other products, the researchers found.

Numerous Hannah Montana brand jewelry items tested high for lead. HealthyToys.org recommends that consumers avoid low cost children's jewelry.

The website allows searches by product name, brand, or toy type to see if certain toys have toxic chemicals. The newly-redesigned site also lets visitors create a personalized holiday wish list that can be sent to family and friends, and a blog-friendly widget to quickly search the toy ratings.

With millions of toys on the market, HealthyToys.org could not test them all, but visitors to the website can nominate other products to be tested. The most commonly requested items will be tested each week leading up to the holidays.

Through its testing, HealthyToys.org found toys made in China are not the only ones that contain toxic chemicals. Tests show that 21 percent of toys from China and 16 percent of those from all other countries had detectable levels of lead in 2008.

About one-third of the 17 toys tested that were manufactured in the United States showed detectable levels of lead. Two toys had levels above 600 ppm. Among the highest lead levels detected was in a Halloween Pumpkin Pin made in the USA, which showed 190,943 ppm of lead.

Lead is not the only toxic found in the toys. Researchers also found toys containing cadmium, mercury, arsenic, and bromine. Forty-five products tested showed bromine at concentrations of 1,000 ppm or higher, indicating the use of brominated flame retardants - chemicals that may pose hazards to children's health.

Arsenic was detected at levels greater than 100 ppm in 22 products, while 289 products contained detectable levels of arsenic.

Cadmium, a heavy metal, was found above 100 ppm in 30 products, while 38 of products contained detectable levels of cadmium.

Mercury was found above 100 ppm in 14 products, while 62 of products contained detectable levels of mercury.

HealthyToys.org identified products made with polyvinyl chloride, PVC, plastic by measuring their chlorine content.

"PVC is a problematic plastic because it creates major environmental health hazards in its manufacture and disposal and may contain additives, including phthalates, that may pose hazards," the Ecology Center said. Twenty-seven percent of the toys tested this year by HealthyToys.org, excluding jewelry, were made with PVC.

"The good news is that 62 percent (954) of the products tested contain low levels of chemicals of concern, and 21 percent (324) of all products contain no chemicals of concern. These products look and feel no different than other children's products on the shelf," said the Ecology Center. "These findings show that manufacturers can and should make toys free of unnecessary toxic chemicals."

© 2008 Environmental News Service (ENS)

If You Must, Take Action!

There is no point waiting for someone else to fix the problems in the world. YOU must take a hard and unwavering look at how YOU have facilitated the madness. Where is your mind, where are your thoughts? Do you waste endless hours in escapist fantasies and tactics while your world is crashing around you? Are you waiting for rescue? Do you think space ships will come next month and take you home? Do you know who you are?

If you must take action, do it NOW. If you must speak up, do it NOW! Are you working for the corporate fascists because you're afraid that if you quit you will not be able to pay your bills? Are you watching FOX, sipping a beer, waiting for your guru to call? Are you sitting in a room meditating on forgiveness while your Mac & Cheese heats up in the microwave?Are you mindlessly sucking up to what they tell you? You are cutting off your own air supply, you have given over your life and are committing slow suicide. This is no time to succumb to fear. It is either sink or swim time, and no one will escape.

Stop eating their junk food. Stop shopping at their stores. Stop taking their cancer drugs. Stop paying their salaries. Stop paying taxes. Stop using their banks. Stop funding their charities. Stop sending your kids to their schools. Stop watching their TV programs. Stop watching their movies. Stop pretending that it's all normal. Stop talking about stupid shit. Stop talking.

Listen. Listen to what they are really telling you. Listen to how much bullshit surrounds you. Listen to how they tell you how to be. Listen to how they tell you who you are. Is it true? Are you a suit, a skirt, a mask, a bit player, a role, a concept, an idea, a belief system, an ideology, a religion, a political party, a nation, a skin color, a race, a product, a feeling, an emotion, an ego, a thought? Are you an original or a copy?

What is true? What is it that is always true? What is it that DOESN'T change? If you are going to ask questions, they ought to be good ones!

The Fear of "Losing It" or "Going Crazy", Living Without Mind

Many now involved with the waking up process say that when they hear terms like living in…No- Mind…Emptiness…The Great Space...Vanishing…Void Nature…The Death of the Ego, or Seeing before mind, are somewhat fearful of such an adventure beyond the mind. They are fearful of losing it, of vanishing all together, or even of going crazy, if they go too deep down the rabbit hole from their minds known reference points.

This fear of vanishing or losing the mind which “does” arise with deep inquiry needs to be looked at. It is the old sensation referring to the old concept of... I am the Body…I am the mind… I am Name and Form…I am my past…and so on. This Fear is not a fear of the “New” or of the “Now”, but of leaving the old; this fear comes when mind comes. When mind goes the “You” itself goes, and with this “You” goes any fear of losing it.

Consider that only when you possess something does the fear of losing it come into play. What is first needed is to discover what is “real” and what is “not real”. What is “not real” is what comes and goes, like name and form, the body, and yes the mind also.

This mind is the root of our suffering and once we really see this, really get it, then the possibility of it going makes some sense. What is “real” is what does not come and go, this can not ever be lost, is not perishable, does not die, only “this” cannot be lost, only “this” is who and what you really are, only “this” has no name or form, and only “this” brings peace.

The fear that you will be going crazy without a mind is only real in duality, and where there is duality there is fear, anger, desire, hate, stress, wars: In short…Real Craziness.

So above all don’t wobble and don’t be afraid of losing your mind, because no-mind is the real sanity and who we really are, our natural state. In this basic sanity there is no-mind, no anger, no judgments, no duality. In this sanity of no-mind we find wisdom and peace.

So don’t be afraid of losing the mind, and “Yes” you will lose this mind, it will go and the sooner the better as it is “not real” and what is not real has to go. So relax, keep quiet and keep aware of what is “real” and what is “not real” and know that many before you have gone through this. Many are living in true peace and bliss without a mind.

To have the courage to go beyond the mind one needs to let go. This letting go is not letting go of just what your mind thinks needs to be let go of, based on some spiritual or religious teachings or on any idea of good and evil, but letting go of all and everything. Once this mind is gone, even gone for just a moment, a second, then a new view will appear, “that” has always been here, “that” will always be here, and you are “that”.

You have giving your whole life to others, to objects, to all the solutions given to you by others, and yet true peace is not happening. So now take just this moment, this very second for just yourself, stop all and everything, keep quiet with no effort, and see what it is like to be free of this thing called mind, and see where real peace resides.

What is "No Self"?

You will often hear the phrase “no self” in Buddhist, enlightenment and non-duality circles and teachings. What does that mean? There is an old Zen cliche, “Before Enlightenment chop wood carry water, after Enlightenment, chop wood carry water.” What is the difference? The difference is that, after enlightenment, there is no sense of a separate self doing anything. Before enlightenment, there is a story, “I am chopping wood and carrying water.” The story takes on many other variations, “I go to work each day and earn a living.” “I am a spiritual seeker seeking spiritual awakening.” The central illusion is the story of “me” and all other stories arise from that central dream.

After enlightenment, the same things happen. Chopping wood, carrying water, and going to work each day. But there is no sense of a “me” doing anything. But what does that really mean? From the perspective of consciousness within a body and mind that believes he is really a person trying to understand this thing called, “no self,” the whole notion of no “me” doing anything can sound nutty.

There are spiritual teachings of all kinds. There are ones that say, “There is nothing you can do to become enlightened because there is no separate you.” Although that can feel frustrating, it is ruthlessly compassionate, IF there is a readiness in you to hear that particular, very direct pointer. How can an idea or a path get you here, to this moment? Spiritual awakening can only happen now because the spirit is always, already, and only here in this moment. The whole idea of a separate person who could get here to this moment (to beingness) is an illusion. But if there is still a belief in you that you are a person seeking enlightenment, then such direct pointers will be utterly meaningless. A seeker once told me that if he hears one more teacher say, "No person can find enlightenment because there is no person," he was going to kill himself. For those still imprisoned in the idea of a separate self, a softer approach such as “be present” or “watch thoughts” might work to undo that story of “me." At some point along the illusory "spiritual path," reality must be faced however. No one can get here (to presence) because it is already here.

The particular pointer or teaching has literally nothing to do with the actual realization of “no self.” The pointers or teachings are merely describing a falling away of an illusion that you are a person separate from the rest of life. “No self” is a shift in the way consciousness lives within the body and mind. It is a change in energy. That is all. It has nothing to do with whatever particular ideas, teachings, methods, or perspectives happen to arise. The realization of “no self,” once it is seen fully, reveals that there is in fact not even a self to attach to one particular teaching or method over the other. Consciousness is seen to be so literally free that it can take any or all sorts of perspectives. There may be a clearer way of pointing, but ultimately liberation is not attached in any way to any expression. If you see a teaching that drums one particular way of pointing down your throat or trumpeting one particular method, you can bet that consciousness has created an unconscious little "self" through an attachment to a particular method or even an expression. This shift in energy called "no self" is a nonattachment to all ideas. Never trust a teacher who appears to believe his own shit. Don't get caught up in comparing one teaching to the next. Comparison energy is just seeking, disguised as a "search for clearer teachings." Allow all pointers to point you to this moment, then let go of them. They are of no use in the end. In fact, every pointer or teaching you memorize dies naturally when the true realization of "no self" happens. In the end, there is no self to give a crap about any of that. That is not apathy. That is love no longer attached to ideas.

The true “no self” is a simple way of being in this moment, free of identification with thought including all spiritual ideas. Yes, it is true that "thought" arises as 'This' as you will hear teachings say. But it arises without attachment (unless it is trying to trumpet its own path, belief system, religion, expression, teaching, method, or pointer in which case it arises with attachment). The self is essentially just attachment to thought, emotion, and other things. Once that is gone, although thought and emotion still arise, they arise to no one. This freedom includes freedom from attachment to spiritual insights and methods (including "no method" which is just another method). Remember that spiritual insights are thoughts too. No matter what you say about spirituality, it is just an idea, ultimately as empty as any other idea.
Krishnamurti used to so eloquently say, "methods are always quarreling with each other." Translated: selves are fighting with selves. Only a self attached to a particular method or way of pointing would quarrel in this way. Does the actual realization of "no self" have a method? Hardly. Only consciousness attached to form makes a big deal out of the way enlightenment is expressed, found, or realized. True liberation can express enlightenment from virtually any angle and can meet a seeker exactly where he is in his own dream of a separate self.

S e e . . . t h a t . . . e v e r y . . . i d e a . . . i s . . . e m p t y . . .
a n d . . . t h e n . . . p l a y . . . w i t h . . . t h e m . . . a l l.

In that playing, you realize in a way that is impossible to truly describe that there is no separate entity playing with separate things called ideas. There is only the playing. Life is living itself. In the "no self" realization, there is a loving emptiness embracing, and yet ultimately untouched by, form. There is very little, if any, self-measuring, or self-referencing. The whole mechanism of looking back to “see how I’ve been doing” that is such a hallmark of the ego is gone. The mechanism of looking forward to future is gone (except for practical thinking). “No self” is a living realization. It can play with any and all expressions and philosophies but it is essentially free of all of them. It is utterly free even of any philosophy about whether there is a self or not.

This realization is totally alive now and only now. It is not stuck in past insights, philosophies, expressions, traditions, beliefs, religions, or words like “non-duality” or “enlightenment.” It is not stuck in thoughts about the self, work, others, turtles, pickles, Oneness or anything else. It is simply an emptiness naturally and effortlessly relating and embracing the world of form, the world of words, things, and people, in a way that sees no true divisions. This is where it gets hard to express. In “no self,” there is a fundamental seeing that life is just happening now. It is not happening to anyone. And yet there is a celebration of the apparent people, apparent things, and apparent objects. You will still tell your wife, “I love you.” You will still call your dog, “Buck.” You will still put your name on job applications. You will still use pronouns. You will see that whether you use the word "you" or not has nothing to do with the actual realization of "no self." The actual realization is an energy shift. It has nothing to do with whether you still call yourself and others by their names or use "me," "we," or "you." But you will see, fundamentally, the empty nature of all form. Therefore you will see the empty nature of all pronouns, names, people, objects, ideas, and even the earth, sun, and moon.

You will see the foolishness in ever believing that form and formlessness are separate in any way, and yet you will respect the apparent separateness between your body and the space around it, between the earth and the sky. This is why true non-duality or "no self" cannot be expressed. The expression of it is not, “It’s all One” or "there is no self." Those are ideas. There is no such thing as a statement of the truth. Everything on this page is an idea. "No self" is an energy shift. A shift in the way consciousness sees and moves through the world. It is more like a not knowing. In that not knowing, love just sees itself everywhere. It sees both the ideas of "self" and "no self" appearing as expressions of this one inexpressible present play of life. No separate person could ever see that. The person is always too busy measuring whether he has or has not seen it or too busy looking for it or claiming he has found it. In the pure seeing, the entity within who made a big deal about whether there is a separate self or Oneness or enlightenment is gone. That is when "no self" stops being a philosophical concept and starts being an inexpressible living reality in this moment, which ironically continues expressing itself anyway.

By Scott Kiloby

Become the Change

In the times that come, those of you who make the choice to become part of the wholistic transformation of this planet and its inhabitants will lead the way through the transformation of yourselves. Mankind is inspired by example, not by words, written or spoken. Will you each be as famous as Mother Theresa? No indeed! Your example will be one of living the life of purposeful focus. Each day, your intent is to be a human becoming for the purpose of Mankind becoming and the planet becoming. This commitment in unison will bring forth an aura of magnetism that will reflect in all aspects of your experience. Will it make you a millionaire? Probably not. Your focus is to participate in the larger creative flow into an experience that will have parameters that are yet unknown. The basic concept on which all higher dimensions are based is in the understanding that the pivotal point to upliftment into evolving consciousness involves the unified focus of returning to the level of the Creator.

The "one-upmanship" of accumulating and maintaining material wealth is a moot point. During the period of chaos as it facilitates the transition, those with intent to assist in the birthing of the new paradigm (rather than the maintenance of values to be transcended), will be assisted in having available what is needed in order to superintend facets of organization that are necessary. These will not be in the focus of leadership, but of setting the ideal or archetype of cooperation. Once before, a question was asked for your contemplation. You were asked if you could conceptualize a system in which there were no levels of leadership of hierarchybecause they were unnecessary. A unity of focus based on personal responsibility to fulfill the harmonious (shared) goal of "becoming" through individual experience sets up a cooperative environment. Cooperation replaces competition, and fear is no longer present. The accumulation of wealth is motivated by the desire for protection, which is based upon fear of what the future may hold, and is reinforced by the empowered ego through competition. "He who dies with the most toys wins" is an apt illustration of this imbalance. "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle (cultural reference to the small gate into a town or a house compound) than for a rich man to enter heaven (a state of contentment)." This is true, not because of the material things that are accumulated, but because of the basic attitudes that motivate him/her. Retirement funds are necessary because these same attitudes and beliefs bring on disease and degeneration of the body, illustrating the basic lack of trust in the Creator’s flow that birthed you into this life experience. In a nutshell, the moment you are born, you are taught to begin swimming upstream against the flow of creative expansion. It is now time that you climb out on a rock, take a good look around, and then begin swimming within the expansive flow. It is so much easier and "in-joy-able".

Swimming with the flow allows the focus of "becoming" to be thought acting within and upon itself. The resulting harmonious experience is that of being wholly supported in that quest. To accomplish this within an environment where Humanity is swimming in the opposite direction is impossible, unless it is accomplished within a cooperating group that is literally out of that flow. Pulling one's self out of that flow, up onto the rock, carefully perceiving the situation, and then making the decision to enter the greater flow of the Galaxy that is moving within creative expansiveness, brings you to a level that is outside of that struggling mass. Once the initial group begins this action by freewill choice, many increasing numbers will join, and a new flow is then formed to join the galactic flow. As those of the masses, literally wearing themselves out by spending their creative energy within the struggle, observe your life moving smoothly and easily along within that flow, your mission of reversing the flow will be well underway.

Your return ticket receives its first punch when you pull yourself out and stand on the rock and observe the situation from the level of accepting the situation as reality within the 3rd dimensional realm of planet Earth. The next punch in your ticket is received when you make your choice/commitment to bring forth a new paradigm of experience. The next is received when you begin the move within your consciousness, and change your life-expression through thought and action in harmony with your commitment to bring forth this new paradigm of experience with both the inhabitants and the planet. You then know the purpose of your incarnation at the fully conscious level, and the empty wondering will cease. You then will live in fulfillment of your purpose. To choose otherwise means tearing up your ticket. Can you get a new one? Later maybe, but you will have missed your intended purpose and your intended opportunity.

Re-read, contemplate, pray and decide! Freewill is your privilege and your responsibility. Use it in wisdom!

From "Handbook for a New Paradigm"