All good wishes to you and family for 2009/2010!
DK with family
DK's online community participation includes:
Open ATCA, IntentBlog, Holistic Quantum Relativity Group, LinkedIn, Facebook, Ecademy, Xing, Spock, A&B Blog and QDOS. [Profile in pdf]
A new Holistic Quantum Relativity Group is being set up here.
Holistic (H) E8 Vector Visualisation in String Theory (Q+R) like the 1,000 Petal Sahasrara Lotus in Spirituality
| Visit the HQR Group |
There is a part of us that seeks comfort and pleasure. There is certainly a part of us that wants everything to go smoothly, according to our intentions, wishes, and desires. We would rather feel pleasure than pain. We want to have things work out the way we want them to work out. We want everything to go our way. Let's take for example, a situation such as a divorce, or the death of a loved on, or the loss of a job, or any such event.
]]> There is a part of us, or a part of me anyway, that says "Why is this happening! What have I done wrong? What can I do to make the situation better? What can I do to take away the pain? What can I do to increase the pleasure? Why me? Why now? How can I make things go my way? Etc, etc.Do you know the voice that I am talking about by chance?
Yet then, in thinking about it, there is another part of us that is not so concerned with whether things are going our way or not. This is the part of us that expands, grows, and develops regardless of what happens in our lives. In fact, the greatest challenges in our lives often seem to make us expand and grow the most.
It seems that there is a part of us whose sole goal in life is to help us grow and expand. Life may present challenges, there may be difficulties, yet this part of ourselves helps us expand to accomodate, grow, and learn from every life experience.
When you are going through challenges, it can help to connect with this part of yourself. When you find yourself faced with a difficult situation, notice the part of you that just wants to situation to go away, be solved, etc. Then notice the part of you that is growing and developing because of this challenge.
Here are some questions to ask:
How have you changed, grown, and progressed because of this difficulty?
Who have you become as a result of this challenge?
Would you go back to who you were before the challenge if you could? Or do you appreciate how you have grown from the difficulty?
I find that looking at how I have grown and developed gives me the tools to more easily view every difficulty as an opportunity just waiting to happen...
On another note - are you interested in making 2009 your Best Year Ever? If so, please check out my preview call - www.breakfreebeauty.com/preview tomorrow at 5 pm PST, 8 pm EST. We will be exploring how to live a Mythical Life!
Today is the birthday of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, who started his I have a dream speech by stating, "I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation..."
-- Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, a Baptist minister, born on 15th January 1929, was a driving force in the push for racial equality in the 1950s and the 1960s both within the United States and across the world. In 1963, King and his staff focused on Birmingham, Alabama. They marched and protested non-violently, raising the ire of local officials who unleashed water cannon and police dogs on the marchers, whose ranks included teenagers and children. The bad publicity and break-down of business forced the white leaders of Birmingham to concede to some anti-segregation demands.
Thrust into the national spotlight in Birmingham, where he was arrested and jailed, King organized a massive march on Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he evoked the name of Lincoln in his "I Have a Dream" speech, which is credited with mobilizing supporters of desegregation and prompted the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The next year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. What follows is Dr Martin Luther King's "I have a dream..." speech delivered on that very day at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC --
...Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. *We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: "For Whites Only."* We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of
Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
[STOPS]
Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, was a vital figure of the modern era. His lectures and dialogues stirred the concern and sparked the conscience of a generation. The movements and marches he led brought significant changes in the fabric of American and Global life through his courage and selfless devotion. This devotion gave direction to thirteen years of civil rights activities. His charismatic leadership inspired men and women, young and old, in this nation and around the world.
Dr King’s concept of “somebodiness,” which symbolised the celebration of human worth and the conquest of subjugation, gave black and poor people hope and a sense of dignity. His philosophy of nonviolent direct action, and his strategies for rational and non-destructive social change, galvanised the conscience of this nation and reordered its priorities. His wisdom, his words, his actions, his commitment, and his dream for a new way of life are intertwined with the American experience.
This is perhaps one of the most instantly recognisable and inimitable speeches of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, whose birthday is today. What are your thoughts, observations and views on his birthday. Do you have some similar favourite memories and thoughts to share?
[ENDS]
We welcome your thoughts, observations and views. To reflect further on this, please respond within Linked and Facebook's ATCA Open discussion board.
Best wishes
DK Matai
Chairman, ATCA Open
-- ATCA, The Philanthropia, mi2g, HQR --
This is an "ATCA Open and Philanthropia Socratic Dialogue."
The "ATCA Open" network on LinkedIn and Facebook is for professionals interested in ATCA's original global aims, working with ATCA step-by-step across the world, or developing tools supporting ATCA's objectives to build a better world.
The original ATCA -- Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance -- is a philanthropic expert initiative founded in 2001 to resolve complex global challenges through collective Socratic dialogue and joint executive action to build a wisdom based global economy. Adhering to the doctrine of non-violence, ATCA addresses asymmetric threats and social opportunities arising from climate chaos and the environment; radical poverty and microfinance; geo-politics and energy; organised crime & extremism; advanced technologies -- bio, info, nano, robo & AI; demographic skews and resource shortages; pandemics; financial systems and systemic risk; as well as transhumanism and ethics. Present membership of the original ATCA network is by invitation only and has over 5,000 distinguished members from over 120 countries: including 1,000 Parliamentarians; 1,500 Chairmen and CEOs of corporations; 1,000 Heads of NGOs; 750 Directors at Academic Centres of Excellence; 500 Inventors and Original thinkers; as well as 250 Editors-in-Chief of major media.
The Philanthropia, founded in 2005, brings together over 1,000 leading individual and private philanthropists, family offices, foundations, private banks, non-governmental organisations and specialist advisors to address complex global challenges such as countering climate chaos, reducing radical poverty and developing global leadership for the younger generation through the appliance of science and technology, leveraging acumen and finance, as well as encouraging collaboration with a strong commitment to ethics. Philanthropia emphasises multi-faith spiritual values: introspection, healthy living and ecology. Philanthropia Targets: Countering climate chaos and carbon neutrality; Eliminating radical poverty -- through micro-credit schemes, empowerment of women and more responsible capitalism; Leadership for the Younger Generation; and Corporate and social responsibility.
To learn more about The Vow, click here.
Music and Video credits: I Take the Vow
Written by: Dave Stewart, Deepak Chopra, Django James, and Mike Bradford
Performed by: Django James, featuring Dave Stewart and Deepak Chopra
Produced by: Weapons of Mass Entertainment
Video edited by: Kori Bundi
Click here to download the Invitation and view the details.
Space is very limited. If you want to attend, we'd love to have you. But please buy your TICKETS NOW.
And if you are not attending, please join us on the OM BALL social network. Exciting things are about to happen. We look forward to your presence.
]]> OM BALL 2009 FEATURING
Dear Friends, we were inspired by this magnificient art produced by our friend Arlene Taveroff from Wisdom a la Carte... How does it resonate with you? What quotes of wisdom come to you?
]]>[ENDS]
We welcome your thoughts, observations and views. Thank you.
With love and warm wishes to you and family
DK with family
DK's online community participation includes:
Open ATCA, IntentBlog, Holistic Quantum Relativity Group, LinkedIn, Facebook, Ecademy, Xing, Spock, A&B Blog and QDOS. [Profile in pdf]
A new Holistic Quantum Relativity Group is being set up here.
Holistic (H) E8 Vector Visualisation in String Theory (Q+R) like the 1,000 Petal Sahasrara Lotus in Spirituality
| Visit the HQR Group |
So as we approach the Inauguration, and in light of President Elect Obama having invited gay bishop Gene Robinson to lead prayers at Sunday celebrations leading upto the Inauguration, I’m reconsidering my stand on whether I’m tuning into this historic occasion.
]]> I still believe the selection of Rick Warren for the invocation at the inauguration was a poor one, in light of the major recent loss the LGBT community has suffered in California with the passage of Proposition 8 (and generally during the last 8 years with similar constitutional amendments having been passed in 30 states). But I am also practical enough to realize 2 things:1.The LBGT community is hardly likely to part with the Democrats in favor of the Republican party anyone soon given the continuing strong influence of social conservatives over the Republican agenda and party. The Obama team clearly understood this and so from their standpoint and given their objectives, selecting Warren was likely seen as a relatively risk free method of bringing more political support to the table.
2.The country and the world has more pressing issues to be addressed right now, and we have to prioritize and pick our battles. In fact, the country (and President Elect Obama) need every capable individual on the ground pulling their weight and trying to drive the country forward in the right direction
So I decided I do want to participate in history….and am now planning to tune in.
I think all of us need to give our new President a chance to make an impact before judging him. In fact, some judgment errors are to be expected as the team moves forward and makes decisions. I would even go as far as to say if we don’t see some (hopefully small) mistakes, it is a signal that our President and his team are not making decisions quickly enough.
]]>Our own views are encapsulated in Beyond The Tipping Point: Setting the Stage for Weimar? Metamorphosis in 2009/2010 and on a brighter note: Golden Age: Knowing What is Enough!
[ENDS]
All good wishes to you and family for 2009/2010!
DK with family
DK's online community participation includes:
Open ATCA, IntentBlog, Holistic Quantum Relativity Group, LinkedIn, Facebook, Ecademy, Xing, Spock, A&B Blog and QDOS. [Profile in pdf]
A new Holistic Quantum Relativity Group is being set up here.
Holistic (H) E8 Vector Visualisation in String Theory (Q+R) like the 1,000 Petal Sahasrara Lotus in Spirituality
| Visit the HQR Group |
I want to know: are you intimate with the universe? Are you on intimate terms with the universe?
Everything changes when we begin to think of the entire universe as ourselves. If the trees are our lungs, if the stars are our eyes, if our friends, teachers, parents, and partners are our reflections, there is a depth of intimacy in every interaction.
Can you open yourself just a little bit more to the experience of intimacy?
As you go throughout your day, look at everything as an expression of yourself. How does life feel when you look at your desk and treat it as part of you? How does life feel when you talk to anyone and realize he or she is a part of you? How does life feel when you realize that you are connected to everything, everywhere, all of the time?
What does life feel like when you let the boundaries between self and other dissolve, if even just for a moment?
Please share your comments - I love to read them!
On a related note, I am offering a FREE teleconference this coming Tuesday (on my birthday, and the historic inauguration) at 5 pm PST, 8 pm EST.
I will be talking about how to live a mythical life, using archetypes, heroes, gods, and goddesses, to create a powerful, vibrant, beautiful life.
Please check it out and register at www.breakfreebeauty.com/preview
I would love to "see" you on the call!
Peace, Love, Beauty,
Sarah Maria
Om bhur bhuvah suvah
Pronunciation: Om boor boo-vah-ha soo-vah-ha
Translation: Truth, earth, atmosphere, heaven
Tat savitur varenyam
Pronunciation: Tut sah-vee-toor vah-rain-yum
Translation: May we meditate on the radiant light
Bhargo devasya dhimahi
Pronunciation: Bar-go day-vass-yuh dee-ma-hee
Translation: Of that brilliant creator
Dhiyo yo nah pracodayat
Pronunciation: Dee-yo yo na-ha prah-cho-die-yot
Translation: Who may guide our thoughts
Called the Gayatri Mantra (gayatri comes from the root "sing"), it's considered among the most powerful of the yogic incantations. In the yogic tradition, light equals knowledge. This particular chant is about linking the sun with our thoughts and enlightening ourselves by means of higher knowledge.
First recorded in the Rig-Veda, the ancient Hindu scripture dating back more than 3,500 years.
[ENDS]
We welcome your thoughts, observations and views. Thank you.
With love and warm wishes to you and family
DK with family
DK's online community participation includes:
Open ATCA, IntentBlog, Holistic Quantum Relativity Group, LinkedIn, Facebook, Ecademy, Xing, Spock, A&B Blog and QDOS. [Profile in pdf]
A new Holistic Quantum Relativity Group is being set up here.
Holistic (H) E8 Vector Visualisation in String Theory (Q+R) like the 1,000 Petal Sahasrara Lotus in Spirituality
| Visit the HQR Group |
We welcome your thoughts, observations and views. Thank you.
With love and warm wishes to you and family
DK with family
DK's online community participation includes:
Open ATCA, IntentBlog, Holistic Quantum Relativity Group, LinkedIn, Facebook, Ecademy, Xing, Spock, A&B Blog and QDOS. [Profile in pdf]
A new Holistic Quantum Relativity Group is being set up here.
Holistic (H) E8 Vector Visualisation in String Theory (Q+R) like the 1,000 Petal Sahasrara Lotus in Spirituality
| Visit the HQR Group |
Do you think the above promise would help the nation stabilize (and possibly even start an economic recovery)? I believe it might because it addresses the very heart of the problem in America today: a lack of confidence in our future and a deep worry (almost and actually a panic in many people) about what this future will bring.
Now, I am not one who believes that every American can and should own a home (even though I do strongly believe in the societal and familial benefits of home ownership). Nor do I believe that we should subsidize home ownership for current home owners any more than we would subsidize it for new homeowners. But we do have plenty of housing available in America today….and the government can and should do more to help those Americans who suddenly find themselves in an economically precarious situation.
The US government already provides rent subsidy at varying levels to the lowest income in our society…primarily through the Section 8 and public housing programs (Disclosure: I am on the Board of the Los Angeles Public Housing Authority, which owns/administers both programs in Los Angeles). So why not expand this concept to stabilize our families in a manner that is sensible, fair and proactive? This might just be the type of bold action we need given the times we are experiencing currently.
]]>