What Do Cross Tattoo Designs Symbolise?

By James Woolley on July 11
In Best Syndication

Cross tattoos are a very popular type of tattoo design with both men and women nowadays. They convey a very strong message and have great meaning to the person who wears the tattoo. So what are the different types of cross tattoo and what do they represent?

Well cross tattoos are mainly associated with religion, as you might expect, and are very closely associated with the Christian religion in particular. Many Christians are deeply proud and passionate about their religion and a cross tattoo for many is the perfect way to convey their strong belief in the Christian religion, and their love and respect for Jesus Christ and God because the Christian cross symbolises Jesus Christ returning from the dead.

There are various different types of Christian cross. There is the basic latin cross which just consists of two intersecting lines, then there is the crucifix which depicts Jesus Christ on a wooden cross. In addition other variations of the Christian cross include ones covered in thorns or nails.

Away from the traditional Christian cross, you've got the very popular Celtic cross. This tattoo design combines the latin cross with a circle to create an attractive looking design. These tattoos are also very popular with Christians but are also very popular with many people who have deep Celtic connections in their family history, as they are a great way to honour their Celtic heritage.

Another form of cross tattoo and one that is growing in popularity is the memorial cross. Memorial cross tattoos are very popular with those people who have lost loved ones and want to have a permanent memorial of them with them at all times. Made in the shape of a gravestone, these tattoos are very poignant and deeply moving, and with suitable words added to the tattoo are an excellent way to remember those who have sadly passed away.

Finally the other common type of cross tattoo is the Gothic cross. Goth people are not necessarily religious people but they do still like to use religious imagery in their tattoo designs. These designs are German in style and are often deep-set tattoos that consist of a cross together with barbed wire and daggers.

So overall there are many different types of cross tattoo available. These tattoos have always been popular, and will probably remain so in the future, largely due to their powerful symbolism and striking imagery. They have deep religious meaning but they also convey a respect of spirituality for non-religious people so cross tattoos are a very versatile type of tattoo design.

"Ask & It Is Given" by Esther & Jerry Hicks

By Tom Butler-Bowdon
In The City Wire

Most people have heard of the ‘Law of Attraction’ through the film and book The Secret, but by the time of its release in 2006 Esther and Jerry Hicks had already spent 20 years travelling America teaching the concept. It is easy to see the influence of their writings on The Secret and other books of this ilk.

Why, then, are they not the bestselling writers in the field? Part of the reason must lie in their claim to be simply ‘channelling’ information from the spiritual realm. This puts off many potential readers. Unsurprisingly, at the beginning of Ask and It Is Given they try to explain how they arrived at their unusual vocations.

The story begins in 1985, when Esther and Jerry visited a healer in Arizona. The healer was supposedly receiving spiritual communications from a spirit guide named Theo. Theo told Esther she too had a spiritual guide that wanted to make itself known. The couple were told to meditate. After some months Esther began ‘receiving’ information from this guide, who identified itself as Abraham.

Then in her 30s, Esther had never meditated and was happy with her life. But this ‘absence of opinions or angst’ apparently made her a good receiver of otherworldly information. The guides had made contact in order to remind people of ‘the laws of the universe that govern all things’, including the transmission of desires into reality through the law of attraction.

The question must be asked, are the Hicks perpetrating a great hoax, or is Esther really the voice of eternal truths from the spirit world? In his foreword to Ask and It Is Given, spiritual self-development author Wayne Dyer describes the book as containing powerful universal truths. You can decide for yourself, but it is certainly the Hicks’ most comprehensive work, containing all the basic ‘Abraham’ teachings and 22 ‘processes’ or exercises to put them into practice.

Understand the law

Simply stated, the universal law of attraction is that whatever you put your attention to through thought or desire becomes reality. Whenever you are focused on what you don’t have, that situation of not-having will also be your reality. You attract to yourself things or people that are the equivalent of your state of being, or ‘vibration’.

Abraham notes that deciding to elevate your mood or feeling in each moment is vital for increasing your vibration, which in turn attracts things, people and feelings of a like vibration. Pretending you are feeling good when you are not will not change your vibration. The idea is to choose an emotion higher than the one you are experiencing now. The more positive you think and feel in each moment, the more open is your connection to the ‘source’, or provider of all things and all love. The worse you feel, the more closed this connection will be.

Trust your emotions

If you are feeling depressed, getting angry is actually a ‘higher’ feeling, since it will take you out of your depressed state. Once you have chosen anger as a relief from depression, you are then empowered to choose another thought or emotion higher up the scale. Once you know how to raise your emotional state deliberately, you are no longer powerless before your emotions.

Because your emotions indicate your vibrational frequency, they are an infallible indicator as to whether you are aligned with the source. If you are aligned with your source, you are on track to receive whatever you want.

Behind every desire is the desire to feel joy. The objects of desire, Abraham says, are less important than the fact that you are allowing life energy to flow. When you appreciate things and people and you love yourself, you are operating at a higher vibration. This changes when you begin to criticise or find fault. The better you feel about yourself, the more you have to give others. This is not selfishness. It is only people unconnected with their true selves who are jealous or insecure.

You are born to desire and fulfil

The most common question people ask of Hicks/Abraham is: ‘Why is it taking me so long to get what I want?’ The answer is that it is not because you don’t want something enough, because you are not worthy or because ‘fate is against you’. Rather, you are not in a vibrational state matching that of your desire. What has prevented you from getting what you want is you. Whenever you ask for something it is always given, but you must mentally allow it to come.

People feel guilty about having desires, but Abraham states that desires are the very essence of being human because they make you feel who you really are. If you are deliberate about your thoughts and desires you can be more specific about the world you want to create for yourself. Life is a process of asking and receiving, and you are the creator of your own reality, whether consciously or not. You must be eager and optimistic about what is coming, while having no impatience or doubt about its coming. If you are feeling good about something you want and allowing it to come, it will.

Often, what a person thinks is a desire is not – it is a ‘resisted desire’. The key to manifesting your desires is to assume it is already being experienced, that you already have it and are enjoying it. In this way, you set up a level of vibration that can only attract its material equivalent.

Abraham observes that when people discover the law of attraction, at first they become uncomfortable with their own thoughts and what they may be attracting. But the spirits note that thoughts are not a loaded gun waiting to wreak havoc; there is always plenty of time to understand how the laws work and to begin to change your thinking, one small step at a time. There is always a buffer between having a thought and its expression in reality. Don’t be afraid of uncontrolled thoughts; instead, realise that every attempt to change your thinking toward more positive, less resistant forms brings real benefits.

Final comments

Ask and It Is Given is really a work of philosophy as it attempts to explain the link between thought and reality, and the extent to which we create or control our worlds. It says there is no such thing as ‘fate’ directing your life according to some predetermined pattern. You are a co-creator with the source (God or universal law) and can shape your life as you wish.

is really a work of philosophy as it attempts to explain the link between thought and reality, and the extent to which we create or control our worlds. It says there is no such thing as ‘fate’ directing your life according to some predetermined pattern. You are a co-creator with the source (God or universal law) and can shape your life as you wish.

Some readers will find the idea of channelled messages beyond the pale, but if you can get beyond this, it could be argued that the law of attraction is really common sense. Everyone knows, for instance, that if you think about something for a long time the likelihood of it having a real effect in your life is many times greater than if you think about it briefly. It is also common sense that desires morph into beliefs, and beliefs make us who we are. When you choose your desires and beliefs, it is logical that you can begin to master your reality.

The material on the emotions is fascinating, and in a practical sense is worth the weight of stacks of psychology books. There are intriguing chapter titles such as ‘Trying to hinder another’s freedom always costs you your freedom’ and ‘You are only 17 seconds away from 68 seconds to fulfilment’.

Read The Secret after Ask and It Is Given and it becomes clear how much Rhonda Byrne drew from the Abraham teachings. Esther Hicks was a central figure in the original film of The Secret, providing a massive boost to awareness of the Abraham teachings. However, she later asked to be edited out because she felt Byrne’s organisation was operating at a ‘different vibration’. She and Jerry subsequently released their own film, The Secret Behind the Secret, which was strongly promoted by Oprah Winfrey.

Think on: Esther and Jerry Hicks believe people can learn to guide their thought patterns in a more positive view.

Esther and Jerry Hicks

Esther Hicks and Jerry Hicks met in Fresno, California in 1976 and married in 1981. Jerry had made money through Amway, a marketing and distrubution network, and attributes his success to reading Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. Each has two children from previous marriages. Their other books include The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent: Living the Art of Allowing and The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham. The Abraham-Hicks organisation is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

In A Similar Vein

Genevieve Behrend - Your Invisible Power
Rhonda Byrne - The Secret
Charles Fillmore - Prosperity
John Randolph Price - The Abundance Book

The Wearing Away of our Ego Selves

Article Source: http://www.whatsuponplanetearth.com/

Chaos, swirling energies, unpredictability, overload, feeling apathetic and lethargic, anxiety, sleeping like a baby and having insomnia for brief periods as well, losing things, having wonderful new connections, and helping our animal companions with ailments are but just a few of the many and varied manifestations of the incredible energies that the summer solstice has created.

The solstice energies served to dislodge much. In this regard, much movement was created. Like an enormous eruption from beneath the earth, much of anything and everything was jolted out of its old position, old rut, old pattern, or basically any space that used to feel remotely comfortable and familiar.

If you are a sensitive, you may feel that you have been hit by a tidal wave, traumatized, severely clobbered by who knows what, or perhaps even finding you have a great need for rejuvenation, rest, and some solace of a much needed order.

When the energies rev up, as they have been doing of late, especially since the solstice, we can begin to feel beaten down. Ascension energies at times seem to wear us away, with no break, reprieve, or time to rest in between the high pressured waves that serve to polish us and bring us oh so closer to Source and our authentic selves.

We are being worn away so that what is deep inside of us can be revealed. In this regard, our ego selves cannot seem to keep up, get in the way, or even navigate things. When we begin feeling helpless, powerless, weak, exhausted, or not in control, it is then that we open and can begin to connect to our brothers and sisters and to our authentic and true selves.

When we surrender, we then begin the new and perfect connections that the solstice energies came to deliver.

We are being seriously squeezed now from every direction. This can cause feelings of great apathy about our work, our futures, and even the effectiveness of what we believed we were here to do and create. As a part of our ego selves begin a rapid depart, we may feel that nothing much of us is in charge or in the know. But feeling apathetic and not caring anymore has always been a continual phase of the ascension process and it always passes.

With all this occurring at once, we are literally being pushed into connecting to one another. We know now more than ever before that we can no longer go it alone. We absolutely must come together. I have been writing for several years now that we will be forming small communities of mutual support. As we evolve higher and higher into higher vibrating ways of being and living, this blueprint will begin to finally form. We were prepped for this time for the past several years, and especially the past several months. It is now time. We are indeed ready, even if we feel we may not be. It has been decided by our souls at the higher levels that the waiting period is now over and we will now move fully into our very new beginnings.

We have been preparing for so long for this. And now, the outside realities that the higher energies are creating, notably the fall, are supporting this very new reality into forming itself out of grave necessity if nothing else. So then, all is in divine and perfect order indeed.

And this is when the new beginnings will finally "begin." We may feel that suddenly we do not know who we are or what we are indeed here to create. We may feel insecure, unconfident, ineffective, or perhaps greatly confused. We may feel rocky, ungrounded, fearful, unfocused, and as though we have lost our bearings. It is the solstice energies of great movement that are creating these feelings.

We may feel that we do not know anything at all. We may feel that we do not know what will indeed happen next. We may feel that we cannot count on a thing, as when one thing adjusts and changes, a domino effect occurs and everything down the line is thus affected as well.

But in these times of great change and new beginnings, we are also being given the opportunity to connect to new and more highly vibrating relationships, endeavors, and anchors. As much begins to change and re-align, we then begin to re-connect. Things we never believed would ever happen will begin to happen now. Miracles, relationships, and opportunities of the divine will find themselves at our doorsteps.

We may begin manifesting so much wonder so very rapidly that we can begin to feel overloaded. We may feel overloaded as well with any type of manifestation that has arrived in our consciousness as a brief thought….whether a higher vibrating one or not.

The key now is to get out of the way. The key now is to surrender and let the divine enter. The key now is not to navigate out of fear and a knowingness stemming from what used to be, but to allow for a new and better scenario to enter that one would never expect.

The key now is to come together as brothers and sisters and to support one another. The key now is to know that our ego selves are no longer in charge.

I can guarantee you that we are being highly protected by the divine at each and every turn. We were not meant to suffer through this process, and if we allow it to be so, we will thrive in great wonder in times to come.

A few days ago I decided it was time to break down all the cardboard boxes I had discarded directly outside my back door in my outside porch area when I unpacked. As I began this process, I suddenly felt a great pain in my foot. I had been stung by a wasp, and now needed to go into the house, put my foot up, and tend to it.

Phil came over and doctored me up, and together we began again to tend to the removal of the boxes. In a very short time, we found a rattlesnake directly underfoot. It coiled and hissed, and Phil was able to remove it from the premises. (I have since had a conversation with the snake community and everything is now fine…)

The wasp had indeed protected me from the rattlesnake. And this is the way it is and always has been. Even when we feel we may be being beaten down, in actuality, we are only being protected and watched over. And although it may not feel like it at times, all is always right where it needs to be.

Even though it may feel rocky right now for some of us, at the highest levels things are being put into place. New connections are being made. Higher level doors are opening. Things we may have always wanted are beginning to arrive. We will no longer have to go it alone.

And while we may feel relegated to staying nearly housebound for a variety of reasons, it is only because we are readying for these very new connections. The miracles are beginning now and dis-connecting from the old systems, structures, and ways of doing things is a great assurance to arriving in this higher vibrating reality.

As we begin to connect together with our brothers and sisters, we will then begin introducing these new ways for the masses who are needing our assistance, and we will then be assured of thriving as it was indeed intended.

We are the ones holding the light now. As we evolve higher and higher, it is a natural part of the process to rely on our guides and non-physical companions less and less. They become inaccessible to us. This is because we eventually begin to vibrate where they are and we literally become them…these higher aspects of ourselves, as we are and have always been one in the same. And as we receive this light from one another, we will begin to form the beautiful grid of the very new world.

Meditation Good For Psychiatrists' Mental Health

Article Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/114042.php

Meditation sessions are proving a hit for members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists at their Annual Meeting at Imperial College, London - with a growing number claiming they are turning to the spiritual discipline to combat anxiety and burnout.

Meditation workshops, run by the College's 2,000-strong Spirituality Special Interest Group, are overbooked. "It seems to be an indication of the need for spiritual nourishment, something that College members are not finding easily in the outside world," says Dr Sarah Eagger, chair of the Spirituality Group.

Dr Eagger, consultant psychiatrist at St Charles Hospital, London, said her daily meditation practice was as important in her everyday work as her medical training. "A strong spiritual practice really comes into its own when you are faced with a very distressed patient, while also coping with the pressures of working in teams under immense stress, and then having to spend hours filling in forms that make you feel that you are not trusted. I am stressed enough as it is. Without meditation practice to keep a still space inside, I would be suffering burn-out."

Dr Andrew Powell, the founding chair of the Spirituality Group, said: "There is a level of concern within the profession about being trapped in a culture of measurement and box-ticking. The result is that it's becoming ever more difficult to practice psychiatry, to contain the anxiety and concerns of our patients, to maintain a common humanity and avoid getting caught up in an 'us and them' mentality."

However, many mental health practitioners struggle to understand the relevance of spirituality to their work, the meeting was told. Julia Head, specialist chaplain at the Maudsley Hospital in London, told the conference that spirituality is increasingly recognised as a vital part of good mental health care.

"The National Institute for Mental Health in England is just the latest body to acknowledge the limitations of modern medicine by recommending that practitioners provide spiritual support alongside physical treatments, including medication," said Dr Head who coordinates 'recovery' training programmes for 300 mental health practitioners in the London boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth.

"Practitioners should be encouraging hope, and fostering a desire for change and the possibility of recovery. Yet this idea of healing, as opposed to clinical treatment, is something that is foreign to many practitioners," she said. 'They feel trapped in a culture where measuring clinical activity is the priority. It takes them time to understand that in order to support their patients' recovery, they need to feel valued themselves and to take time for their own nurture.'

The meeting was also told that the evidence-base for the therapeutic value of meditation for a wide range of health problems was significantly stronger than most pharmaceutical products. A new meta-analysis of 823 randomly controlled trials of meditation, conducted by the US National Institute of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, showed the clinical benefits of meditation across a wide range of physical and emotional disorders.

"Meditation is a way of life rather than quick fix achieved by paying for eight sessions or using gimmicks such as incense, music and light," Dr Avdesh Sharma, past president of the Indian Psychiatric Association, said. "It doesn't work immediately. You need to practice it for several weeks before the effects begin to be felt."

Dr Sharma added: "If meditation was a drug, we'd all want shares in it. It has a beneficial effect on most physical health problems and is very effective for mental health problems significantly reducing levels of depression and anxiety by improving relaxation, oxygenation of the brain, insomnia and energy levels."

Reference
The Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Imperial College, London, 1 - 4 July 2008

Pray, Create New Energy Now

By The Rev. Joe Hooper
In Special to The Desert Sun • July 5, 2008

It's time for us to create a new spiritual awareness in our lives. What is precipitating this need? Perhaps world events, maybe what's happening in our country, state, community or better yet, homes.

What am I referring to? A feeling. An uncomfortable feeling, and it seems to pop up more and more each day. In fact, it's becoming almost a daily topic of conversation. It's a feeling that our world appears to be spinning out of control and we can't stop it.

Our environment, the economy and real-estate market, the war, starvation, soaring divorce rates, homelessness, bankruptcies, genocide - is there a common thread between these topics? It's not a mystery, really it's not - although many people treat it as such and continue to search high and low for "the answer."

Guess what? It's right before our eyes. The common thread is looking at you in the mirror - nothing more and nothing less.

Let me explain. While we would like to think the water that surrounds our wonderful country keeps us sheltered from the emotional upheaval in the world, it can't. It's impossible.

We live in a world that is one basic element - energy. This energy doesn't have a specific residence, location or country identifier. It's all energy. India or Iowa, Pakistan or Poughkeepsie, Afghanistan or Alabama, Korea or Kentucky - it doesn't matter. What it all boils down to is this - it's all related and connected.

Have you ever been to a party and someone is very negative and the cloud of doom and gloom follows them wherever they go? That negative energy literally moves around the room. Have you ever felt yourself becoming negative after being around someone like that?

The universe works the same way. There are no such things as borders or territories. When tragedy strikes anywhere in the world, the "energy" continues to move, and it will eventually impact everyone - consciously or not.

Why are "things" spinning out of control? Because at the most human level, we allowed them to, and by the grace of the same "energy" that created them, it will heal them.

So, what can we do? The answer is simple - start! Start something!

I have made a commitment to do better today than I did yesterday and better tomorrow than I did today. Whether it's recycling more, taking items to the local shelter, conserving gas and combining errands and praying.

Yes, prayer. I didn't learn how to pray until I was well into my 30s. Up until then, I only prayed when I was in crisis mode. But let's try to get comfortable with the concept of prayer.

Many people are not because they're unsure about who they are praying to or even how to pray. Maybe defining that "energy" a little further will help.

Some call the energy God, Jesus, Buddha, Lord, Bahaullah, Spirit, Mohammad, Mind, Soul, Universe, Mother Earth - the name is not as important as the belief in which you identify. The key factor here is to start.

Find a spiritual community that will embrace you no matter where you are in life and support you and, yes, teach you how to pray.

There isn't just one way - like the many pathways up the mountain or labels for that "energy." There are many ways to lead a spiritual life.

Start, and start now. You are the only one who can help us create a new awareness and energy that will heal us from all that is impacting our globe.

Launching a Spiritual War on Global Warming

By Douglas Todd
In Vancouver Sun

An approach that provides the inner strength to tackle the worst effects of the changing climate patterns

Does global warming pose a spiritual problem? Those who do not believe in any form of divinity would probably say No.

And even some who believe in a transcendent reality might think global warming basically needs to be fought through political, scientific and economic means.

But perhaps a spiritual response is also needed to global warming -- to provide the inner strength necessary to face and combat the worst effects that are to come from the Earth's erratically changing climate. You don't have to go to a church, synagogue or temple to be "spiritual" (although it doesn't often hurt). Spirituality can be broadly defined as the attempt to respond meaningfully to life's existential challenges.

And if you believe last year's Nobel Peace Prize co-winners -- Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- the greenhouse gas buildup caused by fossil fuels is definitely one of those existential predicaments.

Those who feel they don't have to do anything about global warming, or are in denial, might have to draw on some deeper resources, including transcendent ones, to help them face the difficult music.

And for those who have accepted scientific arguments the world is growing hotter at the fastest rate in recorded history as a result of human actions, a spiritual stand could help overcome a sense of helplessness and despair.

A spiritual response would also include accepting the western world's contribution to environmental disruption -- and not just pointing the finger of blame; scapegoating, say, China, for turning into the planet's newest, biggest reckless polluter.

Spiritual wisdom can also be helpful for those who are just old-fashioned afraid.

They've heard the warnings that global warming could lead to themselves, or more likely their children and grandchildren, struggling in a dystopia of global conflict over depleted natural resources. They need help being brave.

I have been re-convinced of the necessity of a spiritual response to environmental problems by the powerful just-released book, A New Climate for Theology: God, the World and Global Warming (Fortress), by B.C.'s Sallie McFague.

"Climate change will demand much of us," writes McFague, who had a prominent career at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Tennessee before coming in 2000 to the Vancouver School of Theology on the UBC campus, where she is considered by many the globe's most important eco-theologian. At a time when Canadians, especially British Columbians, are debating the pros and cons of a new carbon tax, McFague shows she's entirely up to speed on the science of global warming.

She also believes climate change is a more clear and present danger to the globe than Naziism was prior to the Second World War. As such, she picks up an idea philosopher William James would have been suggesting back in 1906 when he wrote his famous essay, The Moral Equivalent of War. It maintained citizens need to muster the dedication, sacrifice and virtue brought to launching a military campaign to fighting peaceful causes, in this case saving the eco-system.

McFague believes we need to adopt a radical war footing against the common enemy of global warming, whose insidious consequences she first noticed 20 years ago while hiking in the Rockies -- in the decline of once-magnificent glaciers.

McFague makes it clear that vigorous legislation, which sets limits on consumption and emphasizes communitarian values over individualistic ones, is necessary to combat global warming.

Citizens are invited to reflect on such values as they weigh the current B.C. Liberal government method of tackling global warming through a "revenue-neutral" surcharge to all fuels, or the provincial NDP or Danish approach, which lean to targeting industrial polluters while financially encouraging energy-saving innovation. Even though McFague understands politics and especially the science of global warming, the unique contribution of her book to the debate is theological and philosophical.

In making her case, McFague recognizes in a postmodern world influenced by the "deconstructive" philosophy of Jacques Derrida (in which the word "God" is virtually forbidden) she must offer what she calls a "minimalist theology." It should be acceptable to virtually all.

Her stripped-down theology centres on feeling gratitude for the planet and a sense of interconnectedness with all creatures.

A New Climate for Theology does not define spiritual "salvation" as select individuals obtaining eternal life, but rather, as the early theologian Iraneus put it, "The glory of God is every creature fully alive."

Convinced the flourishing of all living things should be our ultimate spiritual goal, McFague offers an understanding of God that might seem novel to many.

Even though McFague is a Christian, she says she goes beyond "neo-classical" western theology to "evolutionary" theology.

God is not a "being," she says. Instead, God is the source of life, love and hope.

She sets out a mystical vision of the universe as God's beloved body, even suggesting we all metaphorically exist within "God's womb." And even though humans are beginning to destroy the tiny portion of God's body that is Earth, she maintains the divine is always ready to work with humans to redeem this planet.

Echoing e.e. cummings in the poem above, A New Climate for Theology spells out a spiritual attitude of gratitude and praise toward the natural world, upon which she emphasizes we all rely.

It's a sense of thankfulness available not only to the explicitly spiritual, but also to a "secular" gardener who simply marvels at the rite of growing flowers and vegetables.

Fighting a spiritual war against global warming will demand that we live differently, McFague says. But our motivation for coming together in the military-like campaign should not be fear, or even duty.

It can be gratitude and love.

"We stand with our feet firmly on the earth," she writes, "and exclaim, 'I thank you god for most this amazing day.' And then we get to work."

Hindu & Muslim: A Good Death

By Voices Of Faith
In The News Tribune, Tacoma

What is a good death in your faith?

A GOOD FRAME OF MIND

A.M. Bhattacharyya, an active member of the Hindu community: According to the Hindu faith, death brings an end to the physical body. The indwelling soul, also called "self," the real driver of the body, comes from the "Supreme Soul" (God).


Because of its divine source, the soul is immortal. When the body dies, the embodied soul leaves the body. It has two paths to go. It either reincarnates in a new body or unites with God. Hindu scriptures emphasize the state of mind at the time of death in determining the soul's future path. Gita says, "For whatever object a man thinks of at the final moment, that alone does he attain, being ever absorbed at the thought thereof" (Chapter VIII-6).

The impressions of the person's karma (thoughts and deeds), good or bad, are mainly responsible for creating a dying person's frame of mind. So a person living a loving, honest, compassionate, righteous life will have a positive, peaceful and spiritual frame of mind at the time of death, which will result in a higher mental and spiritual plane of life in the next birth. The cycle of death and rebirth continues until the soul intensely seeks liberation and union with God. At this stage of life, the person becomes a yogi, forsaking material desires and surrendering all thoughts and actions to God. At the final moment of physical existence the person thinks only of God. This is indeed the most cherished end of a soul's long journey.

A STATE OF FAITH AND TRUST

Syed E. Hasan, Ph.D., Islamic Research Foundation International: Life in the hereafter and the concept of accountability are central to a Muslim's belief. The Qur'an tells us that the earthly life is temporary, and man's ultimate destination is the other world. Given this understanding, the Qur'an reminds Muslims over and over again about doing good and avoiding evil. Allah has promised paradise to those who strive hard to please him. On the other hand, grave punishment of hell awaits those who disobey Allah's command and choose evil against good.

As a follower of the faith of Islam, Muslims know that death is inevitable, and when the appointed time comes, the person will die. For a Muslim, a good death means dying in a state of complete faith and trust in Allah with the hope and expectation that his good deeds will be rewarded and he will find a place in paradise where he will enjoy a blissful, eternal life.

The Qur'an, in a single verse (Chapter 3, Verse 185), clarifies the meaning of life, death and reward: "Every soul shall have a taste of death. And only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have attained the object (of life): For the life of this world is but an asset of illusion."

Do's and Don'ts of Stress Control and Spirituality

By Sumit Kaushik
In Merinews: Power To People

Erosion of potential is known as stress. Spirituality is the key. Selection of 'Eustress' over 'Dystress' is known as stress management. We should take care of ourselves. We should be energetic. Our thoughts should be positive..

DUE TO emergence of science and technology, stress came into existence in 1980s. Erosion of human potential is stress. Stress is the non-specific reaction of the external stimuli. If we take stress positively, it becomes Eustress and negative stress is called Dystress. Concept of sound health depends on physical health, mental health, social health and spiritual health. Disharmony among the four components of human beings can lead to stress. Stress should be constructive to gain creativity.

Spiritual health is the key. We should take care of ourselves. We should be energetic. Our thoughts should be positive. We should eat balanced diet. We should avoid overeating and dieting. We should be vegetarians. We should avoid fast food for mental peace. We should practice yoga and ayurveda to be more agile and active. Pills are not the way to health. We need to balance our emotions. We need to stay alert. We should be speedy and learn new things. We should take risks and go for success. Blissful life is a positive way of complete well being. We should identify the stress signals and then these signals need to be lynched by us. Three types of signals are -- physical and nervous signals, mood signals and behavioural signals. Stress gives us tension, depression, frustration, hostile attitude, pressure and thats how we become hopeless and helpless. We should follow WHO directives to stay healthy. We should be aware of the influences around us -- what we eat, how we sleep, what is our daily routine. Anxiety and pressure prevail as we ignore mental health. Mental fatigue makes man weak. Eight hours of sleep is must. Exercise, yoga, balanced diet, daily routine should be maintained.

Failure in achieving set standard affects mental health. Stay away from guilt and be free from complexes. Mental well being depends on art of thinking. Negative thoughts lead to illness. Good thoughts nourish life. Meditation leads to mental health. Gayatri mantra gives light and energy. Being a social animal, we should learn the art of living in the society. All relationships are suffering, man has bought loneliness for itself. Modernisation and self-centred attitude lead to loneliness. Loneliness is the cause of disease. Socialising is one of the best qualities as it brings happiness, freshness and vitality. Being interactive, friendly and affectionate improves health. Life has turned mechanical. We should provide selfless service for the benefit of others. The concept of USA -- ’Upasna’, ’Sadhna’ and ’Aradhna’ should be followed. Laugh as much as possible. Avoid feelings of jealousy, hatred, anger and frustration. Self confidence is the faith of God. If you are always surrounded by good thoughts, you will be spiritually stronger and your mind will be always filled with good and high thinking. We need to know the level of our emotions in order to refine them. Holistic health depends on spiritual health and positive thinking. Management of thoughts is very important. Treat yourself by your inner force. Spirituality is immortal. Self-development, inner happiness and self-force give you growth. Spirituality is essential in your outlook. Lower compatibility level is one of the reason of stress. We are progressing towards decay and stress is going to be the killer.

Due to stress inner potential gets injured and energy level gets down. Unhealthy diet, unhealthy pattern, drug addiction, feeling of financial insecurity or illness in family creates stress problems. Stress is the menace in today’s life. Science is a boon, but it is dynamic and speedy. Speed thrills but kills. We must be able to adopt the changes that science and technology has brought because we do not have to remain obsolete. Rhythm of life should be smooth. Burning out shows that the person has reached the critical stage. Physical health depends upon the activities we do. Do not get disheartened by small things in life. Spiritual health nourishes life. The one who comes out of this vicious circle is a true human being. Stress management is all about the selection of ’Eustress’ over ’Dystress’.

Peace Movements In Nepal

By Dev Raj Dahal, Head, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung-Nepal
In Telegraph Nepal

Introduction

Once members of a society become fully aware of certain common interests and common values building community of peace can become possible, unconsciousness about these common elements makes conflict unavoidable. This new consciousness is the central feature of many fields of study in the sciences, social sciences and religions—the three basic sources of human knowledge—as each of the branches expresses various intellectual perspectives on the world. Social scientists are carefully struggling to liberate the rule of power, interest and ideology in knowledge. Based on the assumptions about human nature, the nature of state and international system, they have constructed various approaches to grasp the role of science and technology in resolving the problems of human societies. Today, the increasing fragmentation of sciences and social sciences into several disciplines has, however, produced mind-numbing specialization and divided their constituencies accordingly beyond the capacity of human beings to imagine, perceive and integrate.

The word religion is derived from Latin, religio, which means, "to re-link" or to re-connect people of various social, economic and geographical origins into a normative framework for socialization and norm-based action. Building a community requires not only the application of “reason” which is the sovereign domain of science and social science but also feeling, emotion and normative bonding derived from the spirituality of humanity and religion. It is only the philosophy of religion that is trying to establish the bonding of human beings through faith and feeling. Religion is a moral substratum of human life. "For religion is a major factor of peace and war—depending on whether the re-linking vision encompasses all or against somebody" (Galtung, 1995:64). Realists are oriented more toward order than law, morality and peace. The idealists are the community builders because they see the importance of shared values, institutions and practices for a peaceful life. The central reflection of the spiritual awareness is to develop an "oneness with all, a sense of belonging to the universe as a whole" (Capra, 2002:59). Noted scientist Albert Einstein resolves the dilemma between science and religion in this way: "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" (1979:46). Knowledge about the whole and one's own place in it provides one to systemic orientation.

Religion is close to the idealism of peace rather than realism of power because it rests on the confluence of civilizations rather than a balance of power. Idealists believe that balance of power among nations cannot help to achieve world peace whereby world community can escape from perpetual anarchy of free wills that characterizes today’s international system. Neither imperial (domination of people and nation-states), nor hegemonic (partitioning the world into sphere of influence or divide and rule) nor even muscular (eliminating opponents and suppressing the dissenting voice) peace can ensure a wider system of mutual security. Only a democratic peace based on participatory structures can satisfy the needs of diverse societies and resolve their conflict non-violently. The first task of social science, like religion, is to liberate human being from the state of nature by creating community capable of subduing chaos and constructing public order; the second task is to negotiate a social contract that puts moral and constitutional checks on the holders of power; and the third is to establish a condition to balance freedom with public order and justice for the peaceful life of people. These conditions are important at a time when international system has not undergone a true transformation away from anarchy but reflecting historical patterns analyzed by realist school of social science. The power of reason espoused by social science has its own limitations. The great Enlightened Philosopher Emmanual Kant in his "Critique of Pure Reason" shows that "human knowledge is constrained not merely by the unlimited magnitude of reality but also by a sensory apparatus of perception" (D' Souza, 2007).

Peace politics largely counters four institutional sources of violence—the hegemony of reductionist disciplinary knowledge and perspective derived from single subject such as economics, political science, sociology, history, theology, geography, etc; disciplinary order built on rigidly institutionalized social division of labor based on caste, class and gender; the constitution and institutions not conforming to the aspiration of people for freedom, human rights, social justice and peace; and disciplinary politics incapable of fulfilling basic needs and representing social diversity into political power thereby provoking multiple opposition, resistance and rebellion and stoking perpetual fear among people. The counter-narrative posed by idealists hopes to ameliorate the instinct inherent in animus dominandi, through laws, peace and institutions.

Cosmology of Peace in Nepal

Peace education and peace movements are very old themes in Nepal. Since the dawn of human civilization, ancient sages and philosophers had consistently brought to life the interconnectedness of all life like modern system theorists of science. They opposed the multi-dimensionality of violence and war and yearned for peace based on social justice. Hindu religion evolved over 3,000 years ago talks about shanty (peace), which is regarded as a common good. Vedanta was later developed into Brahminism in which the philosophy of Upanishads was expounded. Vedanta philosophy consists of three cardinal principles:
a) human beings’ real nature is divine and not like what Thomas Hobbes described as hasty, nasty and brutish to be disciplined only by an all powerful Leviathan;
b) the aim of human life is to realize this divine nature through enlightenment and overcome the fatal mixing of realism and violence; and
c) the essence of all religions is the same and they are intrinsically rooted in harmony as they seek cooperative human potentialities for peace. As a result, they avoided the clash of civilization. All great religions favor austere life-styles "marked by a series of renunciation, interdictions and prohibitions (Foucault, 2001:361).
The meaning of Veda and Buddha is enlightenment--self-realization, nirvana and awakening. It also denotes the condition of human happiness arising out of the absolute cessation of desire, renunciation and the development of some conception of a sanatan dharma, higher law than the projection of greed, grievances and self-interest. The Hindu treatises Ramanayan, Mahabharat and Bhagbad Geeta, like Bible, have defined the code of conduct for a just war to eliminate the root causes of evils in society. To both religions, war can be justifiable for only higher level of ends. The Hindu religion offered poly-theistically inclined worldviews and accepted others' values and beliefs. Nepalese consciousness is determined by the co-evolution of Hinduism, Buddhism and many local faiths rather than exclusion of one at the cost of other. Like Christianity, both accept the culture of kshama (forgiveness), empathy and compassion for the reconciliation of conflict-torn society. "Victim communities and their tormentors need to do much more to transform the past and present into a redemptive future" (Gopin, 2004:124).
Buddhist worldview evolved in the 5th century BC is non-theistic. But, like all religions, it cherishes the highest aspirations for altruistic compassion, humility and enlightenment. Buddhism shares with Hinduism the law of karma (the social theory of cause-effect relationship) and moksha (emancipation) from the cycle of suffering and rebirth. Gautam Buddha’s earlier teachings preserved in Suttas seek to address the problem of universal sorrows through morals, such as charity work, right conduct, meditation and mental training aimed at self-improvement. It is based on transcendental knowledge that frees human beings from their super ego and selfish ends that underlie the root causes of all conflicts. The transcendental knowledge of Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel and Karl Marx resembles a common theme of emancipation with Asian religions. Like Marxism, the Asian religions talk more about human emancipation than human rights and prefer, like Jacques Derrida, the deconstruction of structural injustice from society for better form of social cooperation. In no way, however, they defended the anomie of secular post-modernism. Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism provide lessons on "how religion and governance can be juxtaposed and how belief can inform policy and action" (Carter and Smith, 2004: 286). But, like Christianity, Judaism and Islam, none of these religions defend conversion of faith.

For Hindu, yagna-- a process of achieving knowledge of ultimate reality through reason, distinction between eternal and ephemeral phenomenon and a culture of sacrifice-- is the path to nirvan (enlightenment). The faith in enlightenment fostered a rational contestation of reason and principles to solve the existing problem of society, build moral leadership and promote inter-faith dialogue. The Hindu-Buddhist treatises are concerned not only with the ends of politics but also the means and lay down the theory of karma—a law of causation, which operates at physical, mental and moral spheres of human beings and transcends several generations. Those who perform virtuous karma (conduct) receive good result independent of one’s own wish and desire while bad conduct yields vicious results, dukha (suffering) and conflict thus producing a source of bad conscience.

The Hindhu-Buddhist dharma-mediated statecraft puts inner moral checks on the rulers’ will to absolute power and makes them conscious about their accountability to the public. Hinduism accepts and tolerates a culture embracing diverse norms, beliefs, cults and practices. It has neither any beginning nor any founder like Christ or Allah, not even any authority figure to impose structure, discipline and punishment. Discursive formation of knowledge is, therefore, very important to evolve consensual code of conduct for diverse society for enlightened coexistence. Hinduism regards all phenomena as imperfect manifestation of one reality.

The Buddhist revolt against karmakand (orthodox Brahmanism) was partially prompted by a generous idealism to rectify the priestly aristocratic bearers of effective social power rather than total negation of Hinduism. It involved the contestation of subjection of people, offered alternative institutional model and underlined the principles of social change. Gautam Buddha spread the consciousness of world brotherhood and attempted to transform dukha (misery and pain) into sukha (bliss and well-being) through structural change, education and right conduct. To him, society is not the divinely ordered nature of things but is a human creation brought into existence by choice and action. Johan Galtung in his “Buddhism: A Quest for Unity and Peace” underlines that the application of Buddhism can help to solve global problems of peace, social development, human enlightenment, nature balance and cultural adequacy. For Buddhist, there is no “higher bliss than peace” (1993: 1-6). The inner peace is the peace of mind, which is related to outer peace where human beings live with their fellow beings in a reasonable harmony with nature and culture akin Rousseau's general will. Social change has to begin with the individual and that only by living in the right way one can achieve self-fulfillment.

Both Hindu-Buddhist religions see individuals in relationship to a higher system. This is the reason they give primacy to a balance or the middle path (Golden Mean) between the greed of individual and the need of human beings, and between individuals’ quest for freedom and system’s imperative for order, stability and coherence for the promotion of collective good. Unlike Hindus, Buddhists oppose war whether it is “righteous” or not and argue that a durable peace can be achieved by only peaceful means. True Buddhists maintain a truly pacifist position, renounce violence as a policy tool to achieve certain objectives and engage in peace education and action. The Buddhist Sangha remained as monastic community based on the principles of peace, tolerance and non-violence like Gurukuls, Guthi, Math and temples as well as several charity organizations of Hindus. They, like Confusians, considered that engagement in education, civic life and toleration of differences are central to the resolution of conflicts. "The cure of souls, is very important, both in protestant and Catholics Churches" (Foucault, 1991:342).

Nepal’s Public Space

Many of Nepal’s traditional civil societies, such as religious organizations and social institutions are duty-based, have had organic formation and advocate ahimsa (non-violence) as a tool for political socialization in gurukuls (residential schools) like Plato’s Academy in Greek city-state. Historically, the shastrarartha (discourse) organized in public places, temples, open theater and public inns was opened to all people. "A portion of the public sphere is constituted in every conversation in which private persons come together to form a public" (Habermas, 2000:288). They aimed to train people not only in scholarship but also in wisdom and right conduct. King Janak encouraged sastrartha (discourse) in his palace aiming to liberate political power from its oppressive content, shape public opinion and reach a shared understanding of the situation in regulating and reproducing forms of cultivated social life. His contemporaries have also stressed on the conduct of dharma (good public action) for value integration among various societies and laid the groundwork of cosmopolitan order akin to Immanuel Kant’s vision of perpetual peace rooted into universal reason, cooperation, humanity and justice. Dharma, however, neither means a religion nor spirituality. It is a duty-based behavior of holders of position and power and absolutely independent of religious doctrine. Sastrartha performed in King Janak’s palace was a rational process of deflating dogmas and reaching mutual understanding and consensus among all the concerned participants, mediation of radical disagreements and application of reason and various perspectives for conflict resolution. Discourse made self-righteousness of leadership difficult and self-criticism quite easy. Like Confucianism, this has facilitated the non-violent resolution of conflict and enabled citizens to become peaceful members of a community.

The Hindu religion puts sanatan dharma (the higher form of cosmological order) above barnashram dharma (social division of labor) and raj dharma (national governance) and articulates the interconnectedness of human life and natural world. Vedic ethics is concerned more about moral conduct of human beings towards each other and nature than with religious problems. Sanatan dharma has always propagated peace and universal brotherhood and generated suitable environment for harmonious co-existence. According to sanatan dharma, a society, which is highly resistant to adaptation and change, is conflict-prone. This means, like Judaism, both Hindu-Buddhist religions propagate the concept of “positive peace” grounded in changing needs of human beings. Judaism suggests that if "peace is to endure, parties must transform themselves—their thinking, their actions and their relationships" (Carter and Smith, 2004:282). Many Hindu treatises including Kautilya's Arthashastra, have defined the reasons of state not only in realpolitik term but also normative values, combined morality with politics and defined mutual rights and obligations of states and people. Gandhism justifies satyagraha (non-violent civil disobedience) against the hegemony of unaccountable power. Both Hinduism and Buddhism claim that the universe is a web—each part is related to the whole aiming to integrate itself into universality. Only recognition to each other’s space and identity makes peaceful coexistence possible. Otherwise, in a state of nature, peace will remain as a tragic symbol for human being. Peace without justice, fairness and equity simply cannot endure. This is the essence of Bhagbad Gita. It allows legitimate opposition, resistance and even rebellion if the foundation of political power is unjust and unaccountable.

Structural Condition of Peace

Conflict becomes inevitable when political order is maintained despite structural injustices, inequality and exclusion and consent of people is sustained by the effective use of force, media manipulation, false consciousness and hegemony. The historical condition of social orthodoxy, gender inequality, conservatism, caste hierarchy of human beings and bureaucratization of society in Nepal has undermined traditional social fabric and social capital and generated a dynamic tension between the civic and un-civic power. The corrupt and patronage-based fundamentals of the regimes of all types— based on nexus to power remained unchanged despite regime change several times which is a barrier to the negotiation of a lasting social contract between the state and society. This tension for the redistribution of resources even linked local power struggle to regional and global geopolitics and scuttled the prospects for democratization, modernization and rationalization of society. This means peace politics is not essentially a static and anti-change (negative peace). It involves the contestation of ideas about good life and renegotiation of political space. In negative peace, political actors are less able to coordinate their actions in the quest of a common good as they are not cohesive enough and each actor tries to maximize its individual gain rather than social utility. And the rationality of action is determined by self-interest rather than morality and the conception of dharma.

The responsibility of policy makers lies in developing a converging policy between the two forces—forces of status quo and forces of radical change and politicize the decision-making for the creation of peaceful society amenable to steady change articulated in Golden Mean. The roles of social scientists lie in unpacking the clustering themes—conflict management, conflict transformation and conflict resolution—and defining the task for each of these components for peace building. The hierarchical social reality of Nepal describes precisely the relationship between people and their space in power dynamics. Nepal's power complex is non-linear, therefore, the process of modernization based on linear progression of development alone cannot settle the interconnected social, economic and political contradictions. The narrow definition of peace espousing anti-war posture, absence of violence or anti-state discourse cannot address societal grievances. Violent mode of resolving political conflict is ultimately self-defeating and unsustainable as it fosters a culture of violence, not the culture of peace. Only a practical rationality governed by a conscious goal of peace is expected to foster harmony.

Contemporary Peace Movements

Have peace movements in Nepal contributed positively to deescalate conflicts? Has the public opinion pro-actively mobilized by peace movement efforts separated politics from violence? Have the peace movements been helpful to moderate the partisan, conflict-prone, power-oriented behavior of leadership? Are political actors looking for an incentive to co-operate with each other and break the cycle of zero-sum game that made Nepal’s politics immobile, opaque, disengaged and deadlocked due to growing pressures from the peace movements? How peace movements can generate enough costs for leadership to cooperate for peaceful conflict transformation?

The contemporary peace movements in Nepal began with the protest against intense human destruction caused by the escalation of CPN (Maoist) People's War, counter-insurgency operations following the growth of a politics of clientalism oriented towards monopoly of resources controlled by the state, insurgency of non-state actors and movement-oriented groups and federations for representation. The perpetuation of conflict in Nepal is attributed to each actor’s claim to the legitimation of power, the defense of one’s own rights, absolutization of particular interests and a refusal to accept common good, common ground and national interests. The Nepalese raj dharma (polity) has been subverted from within by the primacy of loyalty of leadership first to their affno manchhe (primary groups), then to political parties and less to the nation and its citizens. The system of governance has lost its legitimacy due to the inability of political leadership to prevent conflict, economic down turn and social injustices and discover the common ground of reason upon which they all take their position. Against the background of the state’s lack of legitimacy monopoly on power, the political conflict provided a space for manifold social conflicts and broke the political connection of citizens with the state. The Nepalese citizens still have a chance to stand up and stake their claim on peace and justice against their leaders who know no morality of power except competition of self-interest. They failed to learn to communicate among themselves except through media and, consequently, are indulged in perpetual struggle for power lusts devoid of inner moral springs and checks.

Most of peace movements organized by civil society in Nepal have latent consequences as well as manifest, immediate ones as they reacted against escalating factors and highlighted the root causes of conflict. The latent consequences cannot be measured by a specific peace campaign against the use of child soldiers, use of force against non-combatants, ban of landmines, protection of human rights, abuse of women etc. After the signing of Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the ruling seven-party alliance and CPN (Maoist) one can measure several peace indicators, such as mode of de-escalation of conflict, change in the behavior of actors, transformation of contexts, issues, goals and identities, defining of common stakes and developing people’s capacity to comprehend facts and issues. National policies have established some of the structures and procedures for resolving conflicts and formulating and implementing rules. These are necessary conditions but by no means sufficient to guarantee the establishment of peaceful legitimate order unless the CPA regulates the behavior of drivers, actors and stakeholders of conflict system through a new social contract through Constituent Assembly. A peace monitoring mechanism must be set up from the independent people. The growing tendency to projectize civil society and human rights institutions and their instrumetalization against the state has de-politicized their capacity for the social emancipation of people and an élan vital for collective action.

In a broader sense, peace movements have the goal of establishing a “positive peace”—a peace that constructs a modicum of legitimate order in society based on social justice and transformation of violent social relationships into non-violent ones. In positive peace, political actors are able to coordinate their actions in quest of common goals, such as human rights, democracy, equity and ecological balance and thwart the efforts of disruptive forces. Similarly, it establishes the compatibility between the ends and means of politics and rationality of action is determined by value-orientation as well as goal orientation underlined in CPA. Contemporary peace movements in Nepal are pluralistic and multi-thematic in nature ranging from inter-faith dialogue to anti-war demonstrations. They flourish with an awareness of interconnectedness and interrelated transformation thereby linking the underlying deep division of society and seeking the peaceful resolution of conflict. A democratic constitution that is broadly respected and keeps the balance between the Spirit of Age and the needs of Nepalese people can only hope to resolve conflict peacefully. Only then personal and inter-personal transformation and democratic legitimacy through the consent of people can help to construct an edifice of order. Enforceable rules and authority relationship are important for maintaining the structural stability of the polity and developing harmony between the state and society. Unity of interests between the two makes peace both realistic and possible.

One key problem in Nepal is that due to often anti-state and pro-market discourse articulated by civil society and human rights, their interest in working for national or broader public interests have been questioned by the public. And due to upholding of particular ideology civil society’s capacity for social integration of subsidiary identities (gender, ethnicity, religious, caste groups) and transforming them into enlightened citizenship have been contested. The immediate reason of the conflict springs from the status quo and delay in necessary reform programs although CPA has aimed at conflict management through social change and cultural, economic, political and social transformation.

The communities for peace in Nepal are too diverse lacking any coordinating mechanism for sustained collective action. Similarly, the multiplicity of actors pursues their interests irrationally. This is preventing the non-violent resolution of conflict. This means inter and intra-party peace building process is required to pursue them for rational behavior in times of crisis. The gaps between civil society actors should also be bridged though consensual means and a rainbow coalition should be created for peace, solidarity and public action. In Nepal, the state has ceded some of its powers to private sectors and civil society in the peace process and the laws provide roles for them in local and national level of conflict resolution. But, political will, skills and ability of civil societies to address the critical social needs of citizens, prevention of violence and creation of an environment for dialogue and compromise have been limited.

The activists of peace movements are politically divided along partisan lines. The approach to peace movements appears top-down that focuses on working within the political system to influence decision makers. There is a need to strengthen and expand local peace committees so that local conflicts rooted in structural injustice are mediated through resolutionary change. An economic cost of militarization of society is not properly highlighted. Peace activists have not forwarded the vision regarding civil society development which is shaping the dynamics of conflict. The triumph of civil society over the state has weakened the common identification of people with nationality and its role as an arbiter of contending interests.

Conclusion

One can agree with Kant that deeply rooted and widely diffused conflict cannot be resolved by either by utilitarian doctrine of politics or its step-mother of socialist discontent but only by the realization of rights by the people (Hastie, 1891:XXXVII). Although awful applications of religions and social science have caused violence and war their original aim was to moderate various forms of extremes in society, resolve differences through norm-governed conduct and shape collective future. They also advocated the de-legitimization of violence as a policy tool to achieve goals. Thinking about the articulation of alternative viewpoints and development of a political culture of tolerance is central to break the chain of power and personality-centric politics devoid of common good. Science can restore the reason to a normal mind while religion has the moral power of consolation and reconciliation.

All conflicts between groups are capable of solution through negotiation and compromise if they are dissolved into a representative framework acceptable to all. Peace can be achieved by changing the root causes of conflicts. Integrated framework of peace building requires the ability of people to generate social capital so that they can face the future with great confidence. And accordingly, "rebuilding what has fallen apart is centrally the process of rebuilding relational spaces that hold things together" (Lederach,2005:75). Since the cause and effect relationships are often irreversible only the elimination of root causes can make a critical dent on the conflict system. Integration of concept between peace education and peace action requires the establishment of joint civil society and NGOs in crisis zone, strengthening the connectors of society, building their capacity and doing activities there including early warning and early response to conflicts seeking a new social order. If religious framework of ethics disappears from the society, the rationalistic and scientific tradition of competition alone would not be able to offer resolution.

The Hidden Reality of Solar Light

Article Source: http://www.tybro.com/

My investigation into the hidden nature of the human light body led to a strange and intriguing aspect of our reality. There is a hidden aspect to the light of the Sun. Mystical and spiritual traditions from nearly every culture have linked the Sun to man's higher evolution. Cultures as diverse as the Essenes, The Mayan, Aztecs, Buddhists, Hindus, Oceanic tribes, and Native Americans all link the power of the Sun to man's higher nature. According to these Ancient Traditions, the hidden nature of sunlight holds an important key to higher human evolution. In this chapter, I will summarize the major findings of these traditions as they relate to the hidden nature of the Sun.

The True Nature of Solar Light

Sunlight and eyesight are actually linked in an interesting way. The human eye is actually a miniature sun and like the sun of our solar system, it has the ability to absorb and radiate light. It absorbs energy through the retina from where it is redistributed to the brain and nervous system. We know that these energy particles are the carriers of various Universal Factors of Energy that are capable of doing predetermined and specific work. In short, the Sun is a living entity and the Light of the Sun is a complex carrier wave that encodes several levels of information and energy that we use to sustain life on this world.

There are at least five major components that make up the light of the Sun. In the early stages of our evolution, we are affected primarily by the negative factors within these components. As we evolve and become more knowledgeable of the true nature of Solar Light, we then learn to take full advantage of the hidden power of this Light. The five major components of Sunlight are:

A. Information Factors
B. Universal Forces
C. Energetic Factors
D. Evolutionary Factors
E. Enlightenment Factors

The Ancients believed that these energies affect humans in a variety of ways. Their knowledge of these energies was extensive. Let us examine each of these factors in turn.

A. Information factors are intelligent packets of energy that are somewhat analogous to digital bits of information that are transmitted via sunlight. Ever wonder where all the information in the world came from? Where did calculus come from? Where did the idea of flowers come from? All of it came from the Sun. To be honest, all of it came from God, but it came to us more directly from the Corpus of the Sun. In truth, God is constantly streaming out billions of gigabytes of data every second of every day. He is literally pouring out everything that he knows into our world. But for the most part, we ignore the data. Scientists are only now learning that light can carry information. Every day, billions of bits of data are encoded into computers, televisions, radio, and then streamed out to us in the form of light. According to the Ancients, God has been doing this for a much longer period of time. Information factors may be downloaded into the brain and used as ! a source of knowledge. The Essenes perfected the downloading of information from the Sun in a process called Gnostic solar transmission.

Suffice it to say at this time, information factors provide a plethora of opportunities for self-advancement and growth. Information factors are created by God and as such, contain the divine spark of creation. The eyes are able to absorb these factors and later pass them on to the brain where they are further processed. Information factors may be stored within the cells of the body for later use. They may also be transmitted from one person to another.

B. Universal Forces are among the most powerful energies radiated by the Sun. There are at least five main universal forces that are transmitted via the Sun throughout the Solar system. These forces are A-factor, B-Factor, X-factor, Y-factor, and Z-factor. Each of these factors play a specific role in our daily dimensional existence.

A-factor is the prime generative force. It caused the first propagation of matter to be expelled from the Sun into the third dimension. Actually, it is the principle force that God uses to create dimensional reality as we know it. This force is constantly being emanated from the Sun. Whenever we grow our hair, mend a bone, digest our food, the action of A-factor is responsible. The A-factor is also a secondary cause of the aging process. It leads to growth and maturation within its sphere of influence. The overall action of A-factor allows a person to develop the ego and to embrace the idea of needing to express himself as a being separate from God. This force is necessary because without it, nothing would exist. God would be complete within himself with no need to create us, reality, or anything else. With the advent of the A-factor, Primordial Humans got the chance to create souls and experience karma. A-factor then creates growth, change, karma, and the need for! self-expression on a personal level.

In the course of fulfilling its activity, A-factor also contributes to the force of death. A-factor also creates human thought. It is the primary impelling force that generates what we call human thinking. Ever try to stop your thoughts? It is among the hardest of things that you can do. The force that pushes your thoughts into your brain is the A-factor. In the truest sense, your thoughts come from God, but A-factor is how he expresses thoughts throughout the universe

God thinks on multiple planes of reality, but the human plane of thought manifests as A-factor. Overcoming the urge to express a separate existence from the Creator is a major step in the process of Enlightenment.

B-Factor acts on the dormant DNA molecules within the human genome and helps to initiate the development of certain paranormal abilities. B-factor is a very powerful force. The force of B-factor is primarily dormant during the vast majority of human lifetimes. B-factor is released primarily around sunset and is active in releasing two special sets of genes from within the body. Science has discovered that the paranormal powers that we all possess are controlled by two sets of genes called Psi Genes. The Psi A genes turn on the paranormal potential that we all have. Psi B genes turn off our paranormal potential.

The interesting thing about Psi B genes is that they occur in a position which is very close to a set of genes called the oncogenes. Oncogenes cause cancer in humans. Oddly enough, increased Psi B gene activity can lead to greater activation of the genes that cause cancer.

B-factor turns off the Psi-B gene and turns on the Psi-A gene. In effect, it supercharges the human genetic system. The problem with B-factor is that it is only released for exceedingly brief periods of time, (a few minutes at most). This release occurs at sunset and may be seen as a green flash of energy.

B-factor is extremely active in the fifth dimension and is the primary energy released by the Sun in that dimension. The action of B-factor in the fifth dimension allows for the creation of a Higher, More Evolved version of the Human Light Body. Through the action of the B-factor, the Light Body becomes one with God and the individual is no longer able to reincarnate in physical form. B-factor allows one to become self-generating. This is the ability to create a physical form without the need for parents or traditional incarnation. B-factor may also be stored within certain precious stones and activated by the use of mantras.

X-Factor acts on the dormant DNA molecule to create a permanent form of the physical body. X-factor is released primarily at sunrise and for about one hour. It is also released during the hour before sunset. Most of the DNA in the human body is inactive. As a matter of fact, more than 97% of the DNA of your body has no known function. 1-3% of our DNA is necessary for the encoding of proteins. Scientists call the remainder junk DNA. X-factor is an extremely powerful force that may be stored within the brain, certain precious stones, and activated by mantra.

X-factor is an extremely powerful force that may be stored within the brain, certain precious stones, and activated by mantra.

The activation of X-factor causes a great change within the body. As the DNA strands necessary for the building of the Light Body are gradually decoded, a great deal of energy is released from the physical body. The Sun provides an abundant supply of this energy in the form of Primary Life Force energy. One of the main functions of X-factor is the activation of the Primary Life Force centers within the human body. In most people, the chakras control the flow of the life force within the body.

As the energy of X-factor increases within the body, the energy flow within the chakras increases and the dormant energy of the Life Force Centers is released.

The Ancients believe that the Light Body is powered by four main force centers. They are formed from the combined energy of each of two chakras. Chakras one and two form the first force Center. Chakras three and four form the second force Center. Chakras five and six form the third force Center. Chakras seven and eight form the fourth force center. As the human mind evolves and enlightens, the planes of awareness expand and the Higher Mind gradually takes up residence within the physical body. The action of the X-factor makes this transition possible. As the DNA is transformed and decoded, the body and mind are transformed as well. The resultant entity is called the Vajra Body. There have been tens of thousands of instances of the successful transition of humans from the physical body into the Vajra Body or Light Body. This happens through the use of the X-Factor.

Once a human takes full advantage of the X-factor and transforms himself, he/she may still return to physical life through the process of reincarnation. However this is a choice and not a necessity. This return is often for a specific purpose and usually serves to teach some hidden aspect of spiritual life to humans. If the Initiate takes advantage of the activity of B-factor after generating the Light Body, they can become self-generating. It can however manifest itself on multiple levels of reality simultaneously.

Y-factor is the primary force of aging and decay in this dimension. It is carried via the ultraviolet portion of sunlight during the midday and afternoon hours. Y-factor is necessary because all things must follow the natural flow of time and reality. Enlightened beings that have generated the Light Body live outside the accepted realms of time and space.

In order for a god to generate a Light Body form, they must become human. Gods live for extremely long periods of time and may even appear to be immortal. However, after a time, even gods are subject to the force of Y-factor and eventually die. Y-factor originates within the fourth dimension and results from the action of A-factor on that plane.

The action of Y-factor creates the unconscious mind and thus the process of death. Beings that have no unconscious mind are not subject to the force of death. The action of the creation of the unconscious mind creates a repository for the storage of Y-factor. This storage process creates a series of chain reactions that leads to the event of physical death.

The unconscious mind creates breathing as a result of the action of Y-factor. Y-factor also creates secondary life force. Beings that live in the higher Dimensions are not subject to the force of the Y-factor. They do not breathe, they do not have an unconscious aspect to their minds, and they do not die. Fourth dimensional beings do not have a subconscious component to the mind. As a result, fourth dimensional beings live much longer life spans than third dimensional beings.

The action of Y-factor on the third dimension creates another negative emanation from the Sun, the Z-factor.

Z-factor is another negative radiation released by the Sun and it primarily causes cellular and genetic mutation in living species. Z-factor causes the creation of the subconscious mind in humans. As such, this force may be stored within the physical form. The physical body acts as the storehouse for the energy released by the subconscious mind. The cumulative action of Z-factor upon the human body causes aging and death. The combined forces of Y and Z factor act as a lethal combination for the demise of the human body. The Z-factor is primarily released by the Sun in the form of midday and late afternoon radiation.

Evolutionary Factor

There are certain energetic components to sunlight that specifically help to initiate Consciousness and intelligent thought. The Ancients teach that this factor is a new creation that was first released by the Sun less than 250,000 years ago. Primarily, it allows humans to evolve and move forward as a species. Evolutionary factor is released continuously by the Sun. There are specific techniques and Solar Mudras that will allow humans to take advantage of this factor.

Energetic Factors

This is the main function of sunlight that humans about which humans are most knowledgeable. This aspect of sunlight carries the electromagnetic spectrum and certain nourishing energy frequencies that are capable of sustaining life. All of the elements that are necessary for life emanated originally from the Sun. Water, air, fire, earth, and all of the necessary nutrients for life came to us from the Sun. Each and every second, billions of tons of matter are released from the Sun and hurled toward the planets. This matter forms the basis for all life in our Solar System. The Energetic factors that the Sun releases are able to sustain life all on their own.

How can the body take in energetic factors in such a manner as to sustain life? Is it possible that some of our dormant "junk" DNA may become active and allow us to utilize Solar Energetic Factors in the same way that plants do? Let us examine a possible method.

There is a pathway from the retina, to the hypothalamus, called the retino-hypothalamic tract. This brings information about the dark &light cycles to supra-chiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus. From the SCN, impulses along the nerve travel via the pineal nerve (Sympathetic nervous system) to the pineal gland. These impulses inhibit the production of melatonin. When these impulses stop (at night or in dark, when the light no longer stimulates the hypothalamus) pineal inhibition ceases, and melatonin is released. The pineal gland is therefore a photosensitive organ and an important timekeeper for the human body.

The unexplored process of energy absorption, transformation, and processing from the Sun may occur here. The activation of pineal gland is a key step in psychic, spiritual and energy transformation processes. Suffice it to say that in this gland, energy processing and distribution can take place. The pineal gland is the subtle controller of all endocrine glands, therefore controlling the endocrine system. Through secretion of melatonin, it also regulates the circadian rhythm, sleep wake cycle and it also slows down aging process. It has psychic properties and it is said to be the seat of soul or mind.

Sunlight may enter the eyes and be directly stored in the pineal gland. Pineal activation and charging through solar energy could be a vital step in higher evolution. Once activated and charged by the Pineal gland, Solar Energetic factors may be transformed into electrical, magnetic or chemical energies in body. Once processed, this energy must be transported & must be stored somewhere. If the initial processing of this energy starts in the pineal gland, how does it get to the rest of the body?

The Hypothalamus is the controller of autonomic nervous system. The pineal gland is connected to it through a net of autonomic nerves. The new energy that is derived from the Sun may be transported via this system of nerves into the hypothalamus.The role of temporal lobe and limbic system also may be important. It may work as a regulator, if not receptor and may be psychically involved in directing the energy in proper pathways. The medulla oblongata contains many centers vital to life and may also store some of this energy. Other parts of the brain may play as yet undiscovered roles.

Enlightenment Factors

There are specific energy factors released by the Sun that are designed to awaken and enliven the human mind. There are specific mudras and mantras designed to selectively guide these energies into the human mind. These energies raise the IQ, enhance creative abilities, enhance musical gifts, enliven the body, and empower the process of Enlightenment.

The Spiritual Sun

In addition to the plethora of information regarding the hidden radiations of the Sun, the Ancients wrote extensively about the Spiritual Nature of the Sun itself. They wrote that the Sun which we see each day is only a small part of a much larger entity. This entity is part of a larger universe that feeds and nourishes our smaller physical domain. Let us examine this information.

The Ancients taught that the Sun is part of a constellation of Solar Entities connected to the Primordial Sun. The Primordial Sun is the archetypal blueprint for all the Suns of the physical universe. The expansion of the physical universe is caused by the Y factor and occurs in parallel with the contraction caused by the Z factor. All Suns emanate from a central Primordial Sun. The Primordial Sun is extra-dimensional in nature. This Primordial Sun forms around the Source. The Source is the collection point for all of God's energy that empowers and creates this universe. The energy that collects in this point is massive and forms itself automatically into a huge Primordial Sun. All souls enter into this universe first through the Primordial Sun. The seeds for all our Light Bodies are said to exist within the Primordial Sun. It is in essence the physical representation of the Source. The appearance of the Primordial Sun as a Source of Light is an illusion.

The Primordial Sun emits Primordial Matter. The action of A-factor on the Primordial Sun impels the release of Primordial Matter. This is the first state of matter in our universe. It is this matter that is the genesis of all the elements in our universe. In the Higher Dimensions, the worlds are made mostly of primary matter.

Orbiting the Primordial Sun are the Primordial Worlds. These are also called the First Worlds and they are home to The Elders. The Elders are the oldest created beings in existence. All living beings are descended from the Elders, even humans.

As the A factor impels the creation of the lower dimensions, Primordial Matter is pushed into lower and lower states of being. In dimensions nine through five, Primordial Matter is not subject to the forces that create mortal forms. The Primary Forces working on Primordial Matter at these levels are A-factor, B-factor, and X-factor.

As Primordial Matter approaches the fourth dimension, it falls under the influence of Y-factor. The action of this factor creates the lower elements and ultimately physical matter. The fourth dimension has little physical matter in comparison to the third dimension. The third dimension is more than 95% physical matter as a result of the combined actions of the Y and Z factors. There are small amounts of Primordial Matter in existence in all created worlds below the fourth dimension.

This Primordial Matter is responsible for the healing factors, intelligence, spiritual growth, and enlightenment that is possible on these worlds. From the Primordial Sun, the energy of Source enters into Worlds of Creation. These Worlds gradually expand due to the action of the A-factor. The Primordial Sun creates Galactic Suns which provide power for each galaxy in existence. At the core of our Galaxy is a huge Galactic Sun around which our Sun rotates.

The Galactic Sun is an illusion just as the Primordial Sun is an illusion. Remember, the Primordial Sun is a convergence point for all of the energy of the Creator in this universe. The Galactic Sun is a convergence point for all of the energy of the Creator in this galaxy. The Galactic Sun is fifth dimensional in nature, as are all stars in our universe.

The Galactic Sun is millions of light years across and is the Source for our Sun and all of the stars in our galaxy. It is made of more than 90% Primordial Matter and is the Home of the most advanced beings in our galaxy. Galactic Suns connect directly to the Primordial Sun in the ninth dimension.

Our Sun is a Cosmic Sun. It too is an optical illusion. The Sun is the convergence of all the Divine Creative Force within our Solar System. It is fifth dimensional by nature as are all stars. The bright light and energy that we see when we look at the Sun is a result of a great number of forces that are vectored within a single point in space. This point is called a focal release point. Through this point, all the energy of the Creator reaches our Solar System. The physical matter that streams through the point is only a small fraction of the total energy available from the Galactic Sun. All Cosmic Sun Systems (Stars) carry the Universal Forces into the local planetary systems that we call home. Through the Sun, we are connected to the Source, the Primordial Sun, the Galactic Sun, and the Primordial Worlds.

The Sun is an intermediary, a catalyst between the macrocosmic and microcosmic universes. The cell is composed of atoms which, in turn, are composed of light wave/particles. The light wave particles oscillate in the same way that the Sun does. Remember, the Sun oscillates on a regular basis. Ordinarily, one may not be able to see the microcosmic pulsation, but the pulsation is clearly visible to the eye on the macrocosmic level when you begin using the Solar practices. This pulsation is exactly the same as that of your heartbeat. The force for the beat of your heart comes through from the Primordial Worlds, into the Sun, and finally to Earth. The energy of your universe is in constant motion and reveals a distinct pattern of motion, light and dark. There is also a third vibration, a link between space and time. This link is called Consciousness. Though it cannot be seen, Consciousness is the vehicle through which we can see and know the universe.

The Sun is home to the Fifth Dimension in our Solar System. The physical light and matter that we see emanating from the Sun is in effect the reflection of Fifth Dimensional matter onto the third dimension. Through the Sun, we are connected directly to the Fifth Dimension and thus to the Higher Beings that live there. These beings guide and influence all life on our plane of reality. It is through their guidance that we develop Enlightenment and the ability to develop civilization, art, music, science and culture.

Through our connection with Fifth Dimensional Beings, we can access a direct source of power, knowledge, and evolutionary potential. All beings are able to access this knowledge given the correct techniques and training. By learning how to connect directly with the energy of the Sun, the Initiate can learn to communicate directly with the Gods themselves.