Our Power Forced Matrix

I want to introduce you to a team - Our Power Forced Matrix. You will see a link on a side for this.

I like the concept of this group. We work together as a team, building a bigger team, helping all members in the team reaching wealth.

I even pay for your membership. Once you are in the team, I know you are on the pathway toward wealth. You'll see how with this concept, even if you have nothing to contribute, you can get there. It's a sense of 'Brotherhood'. We all help one another getting there. Join me.

Work Ethics Training

Recently, I sat in a 'training' on work ethics at my company.

Before, when I go to training, there is a packet of information for each of us to read and bring home. These days, there are no longer these packets. I presume they just cost money, create more waste, because chances are these packets will end up in the trash.

These days, we just go in, sit down and listen. They then have a quiz on it. If you pass, you don't have to sit through the training again. If you don't pass, you have to retake the training at another time and retake the quiz. That is what they say. But then, to give another class takes time and personnel, so eventually, answers are practically given.

This particularly company has full time employees, part time employes, hourly employees, and temps. Both full time and part time have benefits, but the hourly employees don't. Before, hourly employees have tuition benefits, now they don't. One of thing they ask during the training is ... as employees, we cannot have a business outside, and if we look for a second job, we need to ask permission from them before accepting the other job. We cannot engage in outside activities to make money for ourselves. The reason behind it is conflicts of interest.

I told them ... this sounds so unfair, especially for the hourly employees. I said, if the company can't support them, at least give them the opportunity to look for other means of support. The speaker nodded. She too was able to do those things before, but now, she is not allowed. She just gives the presentation.

When it is time to sign the paper that we have attended the training. I put down the date without signing my name. She asked why I don't sign it. I said I don't sign it because I don't agree with it, but I dated it to say that I was present at the training.

This too is a form of oppression although you don't see signs of violence. It's making people weak and it's keeping them weak. These people live from check to check with no insurance. They work just as hard as others. Somehow, despite working with the company for years, they don't get promoted to part time, with some sort of safety net.

While we are on this topic, there will be a vote on minimum wage coming up. Actually, I would prefer a living wage. Call your Congress to support this.

Challenge (4)

'I ask you also to sever your connection with all groups which are seeking to destroy and attack, no matter how sincere their motive. Range yourself on the side of the workers for constructive ends, who are fighting no other groups or organizations, and who have eliminated the word 'anti' out of their vocabulary. Stand on the side of those who are silently and steadily building for the new order - an order which is founded on love, which builds under the impulse of brotherhood, and which possesses a realization of a brotherhood which is based on the knowledge that we are each and all, no matter what our race, the children of the One Father, and who have come to the realization that the old ways of working must go, and the newer methods must be given a chance.

If you cannot yourself teach or preach or write, give of your thought and of your money so that others can. Give of your hours and minutes of leisure so as to set others free to serve the Plan; give of your money so that the work of those associated with the New Group of World Servers may go forward with rapidity. Much time you waste on non-essentials. Many of you give little or nothing of time. The same is the cases with money. Give as never before, and so make the physical aspects of the work possible. Some give of their very need, and the power they thereby release is great. Those on the inner side is grateful for the giving by those who can give only at a great personal cost. Others give of what they can spare and only when it needs no sacrifice to give. Let that condition also end, and give to the limit, with justice and understanding, so that the age of love and light may be more rapidly ushered in. I care not where or to whom you give, only that you give - little if you have but little of time or money, much if you have much. Work and give, love and think, and aid those groups who are building and not destroying, loving and not attacking, lifting and not tearing down. Be not taken in by the specious argument that destruction is needed. It has been needed, no doubts; but the cycle of destruction is practically over, could you but realize it, and the builders must now get busy.

I challenge you above all to a deeper life, and I implore you for the sake of your fellow men to strengthen your contact with your own soul, so that you will have done your share in making revelation possible; so that you will have served your part in bringing in the light, and will therefore be in a position to take advantage of that new light and new information, and so be better able to point the way and clear the path for the bewildered seeker at that time. Those who are not ready for the coming events will be blinded by the emerging light, and bewildered by the revealing wonder; they will be swept by the living breath of God, and it is to you that we look to fit them for the event.'

From Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul

Talk to the 'Terrorists'

It seems that our country's policy is we don't talk to the 'terrorists'.

How unfortunate.
We prefer destroying them rather than talking to them.
Is this the lesson we want to teach to our children?
Use violence instead of talking for problem resolution?

Talking to them doesn't mean we are agreeing with them.
Talking to them allows us to understand the issues better.
Understand the issues better help us to resolve the problem better.

The Hezbollas and the Hamas are human beings too.
They too have a heart within them.
They too are capable of love.
They have military operations but they also have humanitarian operations.
A humanitarian operation to help people, a military operation to defend themselves.
Not much different from us, except it's a smaller group.

This is the opportunity for us to use peaceful means to resolve our problems.
This is the opportunity for us to teach our children that there is a peaceful way to resolve conflicts.
We cannot fight our way to peace.
Peace is the only way.

Write to Your Leaders

I just write another letter to our leaders, regarding the issue of the Israel-Lebanon conflict. I ask for a cease fire among other things.

I encourage to write to your leaders. Make your voice heard. I include a link to that site on this blog.

Challenge (3)

'I challenge you also to make sacrfices; to give yourself and your time and your money and your interest, to carry these ideas to those around you in your own environment and to the group in which you find yourself, thus awakening your associates. I call you to a united effort to inculcate anew the ideas of brotherhood and of unity. I ask you to recognize your fellow workers in all groups and to strengthen their hands. I ask you to seal your leaps to words of hatred and of criticism, and to talk in terms of brotherhood and of group relationships. I beg of you to see to it that every day is for you a new day, in which you face new opportunity. Lose sight of your own affairs, your pretty sorrows, worries and suspicions, in the urgency to the task to be done, and spread the cult of unity, or love, and of harmlessness.'

From Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

I personally had some experience with embryonic stem cell research, however, when I did it, it was with mouse, pig, sheep, and cow.

I remember I had a high school student. He had an internship at the university that summer. His project involves studying sperms. To him, sperms have life in it, and he refused to do experiments with them. We respect his decision.

I myself, had no problem studying sperms. However, with embryos, the animals have to breeded to get them pregnant, then we sacrificed the animals to get their ovaries. The meat from the pig, sheep, and cow can go on to the meat market.

With pig, sheep, and cow, I can go and pick up from the slaughter house. I saw how the animals were electrocuted, and bleeded. It was not a pleasant sight. However, I rationalize that at least, their meat can go to the meat market.

With mouse, however, I had to sacrifice the mouse myself. It was hard at first, but after I know the techniques, it wasn't as hard. After we remove the parts we needed, the dead mouse is discarded.

The potential is very alluring.

Here we have a set of cells, called embryonic stem cells or pluripotential cells, with the potential to differentiate to all types of cells. It has the potential to help with the problem with shortage of organs in organ transplantation.

It also has the potential to transfer gene. Let's say that our cells are deficient in making certain enzymes, we can inject cells that have the capability to make this enzyme.

The challenge, however, is also great.

Embryonic stem cells have an internal program to differentiate, that is how they get from an embryo to a fetus.

One challenge is to halt this program, and keep it in the pluripotential state. My experience with this is there is very low ratio of success, but it was 10 years ago. Somehow, for mice, it was not as hard to keep these cells in a pluritotential state, but for other species, it was not as easy. For embryos that spontaneously differentiate in a tissue culture plate, I can see different types of structures arise. For example, I can see they try to grow three dimensionally into a heart-like structure, beating like a heart.

Another challenge is to understand the biology enough so that we can control what type of cells it differentiate to if we have this pluripotential cells.

Another challenge is to safely incorporate these cells into the body without rejection.

From a scientific point of view, this is perhaps the most exciting project I have ever taken. However, from a moral point of view, I see a potential life in this embryo. I knew that down the line, what I would be looking at in the tissue culture plate is not a mice embryo, a pig embryo, a sheep embryo, a cow embryo, but a human embryo, and that is the line I don't want to cross.

But I am just speaking for myself. If I take a life, I have to live with it with my conscience. God knows how many animals' life I have taken in the name of progress for science. Like that high school student, even though I know that once these embryos are out (from fertility clinics), if they are not used, they end up being in a trash. There is something about experimenting on another potential human life that just irk me.

On the other hand, if that potential human life knows that it will be discarded, it might want to be of some use to society, ie. to know what life is in a tissue culture plate, to know what life is in a liquid nitrogen tank, and with progress in science, it might someday be used to save another human's life.

A Challenge (2)

A Challenge from Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul

'I challenge you to drop your antagonism and your antipathies, your hatreds and your racial differences, and attempt to think in terms of the one family, the one life, and the one humanity. I ask for no sentimental or devotional response to this challenge. I would remind you that hatred and separateness have brought humanity to the present sad condition. I would add to that reminder, however, the fact that there is in the world today a large enough number of liberated men to produce a change in the attitudes of mankind and public opinion, if they measure up by an act of the will to what they know and believe.'

A Challenge (1)

This is the challenge from Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul: Part 1

'I challenge the thinkers of the world to drop their sectarianism, their nationalism, and their partisanships, and in the spirit of brotherhood to work in their particular nation, regarding it as an integral part of a great federation of nations - a federation that now exists on the innerside, but waits for the activity of world thinkers to bring it to materialization on the outer side. I charge them to work in the cause of religion and in the field of that particular religion in which they, by an accident of birth or by choice, are interested, regarding each religion as part of the great world religion. They must look upon the activities of their group, society or organization as demanding their help, just in so far, and only so far, as the principles upon which they are founded, and the techniques which they employ, serve the general good and develop the realization of Brotherhood.'

We are making progress. We have the United Nations. It is they who are asking for a cease fire in Lebanon. The United States, on the other hand, is making an excuse for Israel.
We have interfaith organizations. People of different faiths are coming together and work together to improve the lives for many people.
Still, there is so much work to be done.

The True Server

I am going to begin a series of articles from Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul in his treatise 'Serving Humanity'. As I said, I am not that religious, but if I can prepare the way for Christ to come back, that would be good for mankind. This Master shows the way. Whether we can do it is up to us.

1. The True Server

The Master looks not at a worker's worldly force or status, not at the numbers of people who are gathered around his personality, but at the motives which prompt his activity and at the effect of his influence upon his fellow men. True service is the outflow of a loving heart and an intelligent mind; it is the result of being in the right place and staying there; it is produced by the inevitable inflow of spiritual force and not by strenuous physical plane activity; it is the effect of a man's being what he truly is, a divine son of God, and not by the studied effect of his words and deeds. A true server gathers around him those whom it is his duty to serve and aid by the force of his life and his spiritualized personality, and not by his claims or loud speaking. In self-forgetfulness he serves; in self-abnegation he walks the earth, and he gives no thought to the magnitude or the reverse of his accomplishment, and has no preconceived ideas as to the his own value of usefulness. He lives, serves, works and influences, asking nothing for the separated self.

Root Cause

Dr Rice says that cease of fire doesn't work because it is temporary.
She wants to address the root cause of the problem.
She thinks the root cause is because they don't have a strong military to handle the 'terrorists/militants'.
I want her to go deeper than that.
Why do these people turn to violence?
If these people don't turn to violence, a strong military wouldn't be that important, is it?

I hear there was an anti-war demonstration here during the Vietnam War.
Yet, that war lasted for years. I can only imagine what those people feel.
Here, another war is upon us. We have a group marching for peace.
Yet, we have an administration that doesn't want to listen.

People turn to violence when they have a 'pain' in their heart, and they don't know how to handle it. It is a cry for help. Yet, by their actions, we label them bad, and we punish them, and further hurting them.

The way to address violence is to talk to them, to understand their pain, and find ways to help them.

Trang's Gifts Store

I want to make an announcement: I have a virtual store now. You can see the link on the side.

I would appreciate it if you visit this site when you are shopping for gifts. It has all kinds of gifts. You should check it out.

If you enjoy reading these passages that I am writing, you can help me by shopping at the store.

Prisoner Exchange

As I observe how the United States respond to the Israel/Lebanon conflict, I realize we haven't learned ... at least, this administration hasn't.

It seems the world has asked for a cease fire, but the United States hasn't. With the firepower of the United States, what has it accomplished? On the contrary, the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan is getting worse.

The United States started out pretty gung ho, just as Israel is going gung ho right now. Look where it is now. I listened to the Israel ambassador to the UN on CNN. He thinks the world is with Israel. He thinks this is World War 3. He thinks the world has failed, and it is up to Israel to save the world. I hope that he doesn't drag us into World War 3. Maybe this is what the administration wants. Is that why they are reluctant to call for a cease fire?

I say ... let's exchange the prisoners. After all, isn't that why they attacked Israel in the first place? They have a cause to fight.

All violence results from a 'pain' in the heart, and the feeling of powerlessness to do anything about it except to turn to violence. For the Lebanese, their people are captured by Israelis and they want them back. For the Israelis, their soldier is kidnapped.

I want to hear about the prisoners. Why are the Israelis keeping them? Are they keeping them like the United States? Because they are potential danger but with no actual proof? Why the Israelis dismiss the question?

On Love

Kahlil Gibran is one of my favorite poet.
His writing is so beautiful.
His advice is timeless and remain a light for us.

The following is Kahlil Gibran's poem on Love:

'When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant.
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass on love's threshing floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possess not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, 'God is in my heart', but rather, 'I am in the heart of God'
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love.
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy.
To return home at eventide with gratitude.
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.'

Potential Killer

I hear George Bush doesn't want to get the prisoners because he is afraid they might be potential killers.

Because the weapons these days are so lethal, can we afford to wait for it to happen before we can have the evidence to capture and indict them? If we decide to wait for them to act, then we can suffer massive losses, but when we capture them, at least we have a reason to justify our actions, but at the same time, the administration will be criticized heavily for not being able to protect us.

If the administration's role is to protect us, a suspicion of potential killers might feel like sufficient warrant to capture them. They haven't commit the act, yet they have potential to act. When the administration go after these people, they are criticized as well.

Is there such thing as a safe world or a safe person that we don't have to worry about?

First, there is Void, which has the potential. Then there is One. With One, we can't experience ourselves. There is nothing to compare ourselves to. We created Two - Yin and Yang, with differences. These forces are within each of us, so is the Void and the One.

So, there is a 'potential' killer in each of us. We each feel these forces within us. Our emotion are all over, from fear, anger, to love. For some of us, we recognize that our consciousness has an impact on the world, the moment we detect fear, anger in our consciousness, we transform it so that words of anger and fear do not get out and stir the world. On the contrary, we try to get out the words of love to stir it in the positive direction. But it is an act of daily monitoring.

What about the women and children?

As I heard about the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, the Hezbollah group actually, I was thinking about the women and children that are jailed.

Hamas kidnapped some Iraelis, hoping that they can exchange for the women and children. Hezbolla kidnapped some Israelis soldiers, hoping they can exchange for the women and children.

Israel, refuse to negotiate. They decide to use force. First bombing Gaza, then now Lebanon. They want to keep on bombing until the Hezbollah disarm, it seems.

What about the women and children that are jailed? Why do the Israelis have them? Are they all suicide bombers caught red handed? I don't hear anything about them.

Reiki/Prayer for the Middle East

As we know, the Middle East situation right now is very fragile. I received an e-mail from reiki.org asking us to do reiki for the middle east. They have put a World Peace Crystal Grid at the North Pole (in 1997), South Pole (in 1999), and Jerusalem (in 2004).

Their theory is the North Pole is like a Crown, the South Pole is like a Root, and if we channel energy peace energy, through the poles, through Jerusalem, then Peace Energy will be focused in Jerusalem. This is why the crystal is used. The theory is, it has the ability to concentrate, focus energy. Now, what Israel do is up to them, we have no control over that. What Lebanon and Hezbolla do is up to them, we have no control over that. What we do is influence their consciousness on the higher level. We are all connected on the higher level.

Have you ever have an inspiration of what you feel from a higher source? For some of you, you heard it, you understand it, you are grateful for it, and you change your ways and follow your higher calling. For some of you, you heard it, it sounds nice, but you don't believe it's possible, and you go back to your old ways. For some of you, you shrug it off as pure fantasy, and go back to your old ways. But for the few that heard it and understand it, we help them.

Even in a chaotic place, when we are connected to the source, we are calm. Without it, it's fear, it's insanity, it's oppression, etc. it's an emotional torment. This is what we want to influence, their inner being. That despite the external turmoil outside, that they can find calmness and peace within them. And when they act in this way, it decreases violence ... because in essence, they turn the other cheek. The only way violence can decrease is for people to turn away from violence, that they act in peace.

If you don't know Reiki, prayer works equally well. In prayer, pray from a powerful position and not from a weak position. It has more power that way. Pray from a powerful position means pray and know that it will be delivered. Pray from a weak position means pray and hope that it will be delivered.

And if you are not sure, it can't hurt to pray. On the contrary, it may help. We are engaging in an experiment that no instrument can measure. It is an experiment about the collective human spirit and what it can do if it is intent on moving things in a certain way.

Evolution of Society

God has been defined in many different ways. Ultimately, how you see God is actually more a reflection of you and your level of consciousness, rather than the actual God itself.

I read a book 'Peace is the Way' by Deepak Chopra.

In there, among other things, he says God is revealed in stages.

Stage 1: Chaos, Conflict, War
In this stage, the tangled hierarchy is dominated by: fear, random events, blind reactions, fight-or-flight, enemies everywhere, oppression, depression, sinfulness.

Stage 2: Law, Order, Achievement
In this stage, the tangled hierarchy is dominated by: organization, orderliness, cooperation, laws, money, civil society, competition, free markets.

Stage 3: Harmony, Nurturing, Inwardness
In this stage, the tangled hierarchy is dominated by: looking inward, stability, peace, appreciation, leniency, openness, self-acceptance, non-judgment, nurturing.

Stage 4: Insight, Conscious Growth, Witnessing
In this stage, the tangled hierarchy is dominated by: intuition, mystery, inner truth, witnessing, detachment, increased acceptance, self-absorption.

Stage 5: Creativity, Discovery, Innovation
In this stage, the tangled hierarchy is dominated by: creativity, science, exploration, rebelliousness, insistence on freedom, focus, bursts of inspiration, unbounded energy, intolerance for limits, anti-authority.

Stage 6: Vision, Compassion, Love
In this stage, the tangled hierarchy is dominated by: vision, compassion, miracles, complete transformation, end of personality, future-oriented, ego death, surrender.

Stage 7: Unity, Being, Eternity
In this stage, the tangled hierarchy is dominated by: uncreated, undying, boundless, timeless, beyond opposites, beyond thought, inconceivable.

While individually, we may be from different stages, but in observing our American society, we are predominantly at Stage 2 - dominated by Law, Order, and Achievement.
Following 9/11, it throws us back into Stage 1 - dominated by Chaos, Conflict, War. I am glad to see the Court and the Congress guide the Administration back into Stage 2. This would not have happened with the people themselves show complacency. Unlike other authoritarian countries, when the people of this country take action, it can change the course where the country is heading.

The world however is largely still in Stage 1 - dominated by Chaos, Conflict, War. We must remain the light for them, and help them get to Stage 2 - dominated by Law, Order, and Achievement. We lost our footing for a while there, but I think we are back on our two feet. It is not easy for us. Our society wants to evolve to Stage 3 - dominated by Harmony, Nurturing, and Inwardness, and yet the world we live in wants to throw us back into Stage 1.

The other thing that I observed is technologically, we have progressed far. Many people in our country and the world are in Stage 5, with burst of creativity. These groups like their freedom, have intolerance for limits, and anti-authoritarian. Stage 2 governmental style can cramp up their style and limit their creativity.

For these people, I hope they evolve to stage 6, channel their creativity to constructive things, guided by the spirit of compassion. When they channel their energy in this way, we will begin to understand more about 'miracles' and see them more often. The wisdom has already been there. Before, it looks impossible because our consciousness has not evolved to the point where we can understand. But we are evolving. We are at the point where we are beginning to understand.

But knowledge is one thing. Experience is another. We are in the physical world to experience. And nobody can take you there but you yourself.

Each of us progress at a different rate. With that in mind, we should inspire our children to achieve as far as they can, yet at the same thing, we should not punish them for progressing at their own rate.

Same thing with the world. We should inspire nations to achieve as far as they can, yet at the same time, we should not punish them for progressing at their own rate.

Draft Gore

Well, today I received an e-mail - to draft Gore.
Yes, I signed the petition.
The website is www.draftgore.com in case you are interested.

I am still hungry for a good presidential candidate I can support
Who knows, with enough public support, he might reconsider running

One of the things that I heard often is ...
Candidates, when they are running, they say many wonderful things
But when it comes time to deliver, they often run short
And then the public lose trusts on them
Then they stop caring
They don't think things will change

Yes, if we allow ourselves to be driven by the outside, then it does affect us
But, if we are driven by the compassion within, then we continue to care, and we affect the environment around us.

As far as things won't change ...
I tell you, everything changes. Change is a constant, haven't you heard that? It's up to us to decide which way it will change to. You can change unconsciously or you can change consciously, but change is inevitable.

Free Market

God explains ...

In the United States, the top one and a half percent hold more wealth than the botton 90 percent. The net worth of the richest 834,000 people is nearly a trillion dollars greater than the poorest 84 trillion people combined.

You Americans tend to see class status as a function of individual effort. Some have 'made good,' so you assume that anybody can. That view is simplistic and naive. It assumes that everyone has equal opportunity, when in fact, in America just as in Mexico, the rich and powerful strive and connive to hold on to their money and their power and to increase it.

They do so by systematically eliminating competition, by institutionally minimizing true opportunity, and by collectively controlling the flow and the growth of weath.

This they accomplish through all manner of devices, from unfair labor practices which exploit the masses of the world's poor to good-old-boy network competitive practices which minimize (and all but destroy) a newcomer's chances of entering the Inner Circle of the successful.

They then seek to control public policy and governmental programs around the world to further ensure that the masses of people remain regulated, controlled, and subservient.

In most cases, it isn't rich individuals who do it; it's the social systems and institutions they represent. Those systems and institutions were created by the rich and powerful - and it is the rich and powerful who continue to support them.

By standing behind such social systems and institutions, individuals can wash their hands of any personal responsibility for the conditions which oppress the masses while favoring the rich and the powerful.

For example, let's go back to health care in America. Millions of America's poor have no access to preventive medical care. One cannot point to any individual doctor and say 'this is your doing, it is your fault' that, in the richest nation on earth, millions cannot get in to see a doctor unless they're in dire straits in an emergency room.

No individual doctor is to blame for that, yet all doctors benefit. The entire medical profession - and every allied industry - enjoys unprecedented profits from a delivery system which has institutionalized discrimination against the working poor and the unemployed.

And that's just one example of how the 'system' keeps the rich rich and the poor poor.

The point is that it is the rich and powerful who support such social structures and staunchly resist any real effort to change them. They stand against any political or economic approach which seeks to provide true opportunity and genuine dignity for all people.

Most of the rich and powerful, taken individually, are certainly nice enough people, with as much compassion and sympathy as anyone. But mention a concept as threatening to them as yearly income limits (even ridiculously high limits, such as $25 million annually), and they start whining about usurpation of individual rights, erosion of the 'American Way', and 'lost incentives'.

Yet what about the right of all people to live in minimally decent surroundings, with enough food to keep from starving, enough clothing to stay warm? What about the right of people everywhere to have adequate health care - the right not to have to suffer or die from relatively minor medical complications, which those with money overcome with the snap of a finger?

The resources of your planet - including the fruits and labors of the masses of the indescribably poor who are continually and systematically exploited - belong to all the world's people, not just those who are rich and powerful enough to do the exploiting.

And here is how the exploitation works: Your rich industrialists go into a country or an area where there is no work at all, where the people are destitute, where there is abject poverty. The rich set up factory there, offering those poor people jobs - sometimes 10-, 12-, and 14-hour a day jobs - at substandard, if not to say subhuman, wages. Not enough, mind you, to allow those workers to escape their rat-infested villages, but just enough to let them live that way, as opposed to having no food or shelter at all.

And when they are called on it, these capitalists say, 'Hey, they've got it better than before, don't they? We've improved their lot! The people are taking the jobs, aren't they? Why, we've brought them opportunity! And we're taking all the risks!"

Yet how much risk is there is paying people 75 cents an hour to manufacture sneakers which are going to sell for $125 a pair?

Is this risk-taking or exploitation, pure and simple?

Such a system of rank obscenity could exist only in a world motivated by greed, where profit margin, not human dignity, is the first consideration.

Those who say that 'relative to the standards of their society, those peasants are doing wonderfully!' are hypocrites of the first order. They would throw a drowning man a rope, but refuse to pull him to shore. Then they would brag that a rope is better than a rock.

Rather than raising the people to true dignity, these 'haves' give the world's 'have-nots' just enough to make them dependent - but not enough to ever make them truly powerful. For people of true economic power have the ability to then impact, and not merely be subject to the 'system.'. And that's the last thing the creators of the system want!

So the conspiracy continues. And for most of the rich and powerful, it is not a conspiracy of action, but a conspiracy of silence.

So go now - go your way - and by all means say nothing about the obscenity of a socioeconomic system which rewards a corporate executive with a 70-million-dollar bonus for increasing sales of a soft drink, while 70 million people can't afford the luxury of drinking the stuff - much less eating enough to stay healthy.

Don't see the obscenity of it. Call this the world's Free Market Economy, and tell everyone you are proud of it.

Yet it is written:
If thou wilt be perfect,
go and sell what thou hast, and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.
But when the young man heard this, he went away,
sorrowful, for he has great possessions.

The Left Hand of God

Michael Lerner has written a book 'The Left Hand of God' to counter the Religious Right.

I have heard a lot about the Religious Right, and thought they are quite militant, but here is a paragraph in Michael Lerner's book which may explain why.

In George Grant's book 'The Changing of Guard: Biblical Principles for Political Action', it says ...

'Christians have an objective, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ - to have dominion in civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness. But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice. It is dominion we are after. Not just influence. It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time. It is dominion we are after. World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for anything less ... Thus, Christian politics has as its primary intent the conquest of the land - of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts and governments for the Kingdom of Christ.'

But here is another version of how Christ can come back. From Alice Bailey 'Serving Humanity', Christ comes back when sufficient number of people have learned to share. This knowledge came from the Tibetans, ironically, and it is then, we understand how Occidental Buddhism is connected to Christianity. Now in my meditation, it was the symbols of the Tara that were given to me. And Taras are Buddha of Compassion according to the Tibetans. So, you can see why I try to inspire the spirit of compassion within mankind. If I get sufficient number, Christ may return.

I am not that religious. But for those who want Christ to return, the latter way would be a better way, wouldn't you say?

Micheal Lerner is forming such an organization - The Left Hand of God, which advocate the compassionate side of God.

Free Speech

'Free speech' is a good concept. It allows people to speak out without fear.

For example, with all the things that I have said about this administration, I could have been thrown in jail if I am in Vietnam, a 'communist' country.

I believe the intention of free speech is to allow you to express disagreements without fear. However, when people use language to abuse other people, put down other people, I think that is free speech abused.

For example, the President declared that 'North Korea, Iran and Iraq as the axis of evil.' Americans like soundbites, but that is a very destructive thing to say.

Subsequently, we see Iran expressed its desire to continue with its nuclear program.

Now, we are seeing North Korea testing its nuclear capabilities.

To hear the president say he doesn't understand why North Korea does what it is doing is amazing. If he is sincere about his caring for the North Koreans, he should apologize for his use of words.

Every political season, I observe politicians just destroy one another up with their use of words. I guess it's the test to see who is more 'callous', because sensitive people probably would not survive this onslaught.

Even with 'free speech', we should pay attention to what we say to others.

Health

God explains ...

Now let's understand what you probably already know: all illness is self-created. Even conventional medical doctors are now seeing how people make themselves sick.

Most people do so quite unconsciously..

So when they get sick, they don't know what hit them. It feels as though something has befallen them, rather than that they did something to themselves. This occurs because most people move through life unconsciously.

People smoke and wonder why they get cancer.

People ingest animals and fat and wonder why they get blocked arteries.

People stay angry all their lives and wonder why they get heart attacks.

People compete with other people - mercilessly and under incredible stress - and wonder why they have strokes.

The not-so-obvious truth is that most people worry themselves to death.

Worry is just about the worst form of mental activity there is - next to hate, which is deeply self-destructive. Worry is pointless. It is wasted mental energy. It also creates bio-chemical reactions which harm the body, producing everything from indigestion to coronary arrest, and a multitude of things in between.

Health will improve almost at once when worrying ends.

Worry is the activity of a mind which does not understand its connection with Me.

Hatred is the most severely damaging mental condition. It poisons the body, and its effects are virtually irreversible.

Fear is the opposite of everything you are, and so has an effect of opposite to your mental and physical health. Fear is worry magnified.

Worry, hate, fear - together with their offshoots: anxiety, bitterness, impatience, avarice, unkindness, judgmentalness, and condemnation - all attack the body at the cellular level. It is impossible to have a healthy body under these conditions.

Similarly - although to a lesser degree - conceit, self-indulgence, and greed lead to physical illness, or lack of well-being.

All illness is created first in the mind.

Nothing occurs in your life - nothing - which is not first a thought. Thoughts are like magnets, drawing effects to you. The thought may not always be obvious, and thus clearly causative, as in "I'm going to contract a terrible disease." The thought may be (and usually is) far more subtle than that. ("I am not worthy to live.") ("My life is always a mess.") ("I am a loser.") ("God is going to punish me.") ("I'm sick and tired of my life!")

Thoughts are very subtle, yet extremely powerful form of energy. Words are less subtle, more dense. Actions are the most dense of all. Action is energy in heavy physical form, in heavy physical motion. When you think, say, and act out negative concept such as 'I am a loser,' you place tremendous creative energy into motion. Small wonder you come down with a cold. That would be the least of it.

It is very difficult to reverse the effects of negative thinking once they have taken physical form. Not impossible - but very difficult. It takes an act of extreme faith. It requires an extraordinary belief in the positive force of the universe - whether you call it God, Goddess, the Unmoved Mover, Prime Force, First Cause, or whatever.

Healers have just such faith. It is a faith that crosses into the Absolute Knowing. They know that you are meant to be whole, complete, and perfect in this moment now. This knowingness is also a thought - a very powerful one. It is the power to move mountains - to say nothing of molecules in your body. That is why healers can heal, often even at a distance.

Thoughts know no distance. Thought travels around the world and traverses the universe faster than you can say the word.

"Say but the word and my servant shall be healed." And it was so, in that selfsame hour, even before his sentence was finished. Such was the faith of the centurion.

Yet you are mental lepers. Your mind is eaten away with negative thoughts. Some of these are thrust upon you. Many of these you actually make up - conjure up - yourselves, and then harbor and entertain for hours, days, weeks, months - even years.

... and you wonder why you are sick.

You can 'solve some of your health problems,' as you put it, by solving the problems in your thinking. Yes, you can heal some of the conditions you have already acquired (given yourself), as well as prevent major new problems from developing. And you can do this all by changing your thinking.

Also - and I hate to suggest this because it sounds so mundane coming, as it were, from God, but - for God's sake, take better care of yourself.

You take rotten care of your body, paying little attention at all until you suspect something's going wrong with it. You do virtually nothing in the way of preventive maintenance. You take better care of your car than you do of your body - and that's not saying much.

Not only do you fail to prevent breakdowns with regular checkups, once-a-year physicals, and use of therapies and medicines you've been given (why do you to the doctor, get her help, then not use the remedies she suggests? Can you answer Me that one?)- you also mistreat your body terrible between these visits about which you do nothing!

You do not exercise it, so it grows flabby, and worse yet, weak from non-use.

You do not nourish it properly, thereby weakening it further.

Then you fill it with toxins and poisons and the most absurb substances posing as food. And it still runs for you, this marverlous engine; still it chugs along, bravely pushing on in the face of this onslaught.

It's horrible. The conditions under which you ask your body to survive are horrible. But you will do little or nothing about them. You will read this, nod your head in regretful agreement, and go right back to the mistreatment. And do you know why?

Because you have no will to live.

It's not meant to be harsh, nor is it meant as an indictment. 'Harsh' is a relative term; a judgment you have laid on the words. 'Indictment' connotes guilt, and 'guilt' connotes wrongdoing. There is no wrongdoing involved her, hence no guilt and no indictment.

I have made a statement of truth. Like all statement of truth, it has the quality of waking you up. Some people don't like to be awakened. Most do not. Most would rather sleep.

The world is in the condition that it's in because the world is full of sleepwalkers.

I designed your magnificent body to last forever! And the earliest of you did live in the body virtually pain-free, and without fear of what you now call death.

The Inner Smile

Before you love others, you have to love yourself first. You have to know how to generate it within yourself so you can radiate it outward.

You can transform hate, which is stored in your heart, into love. You can transform anger, which is stored in the liver, into kindness. You can transform sadness, which is stored in your lungs, into courage. You can transform worry, which is stored in your stomach, into openness. You can transform fear, which is stored in your kidneys, into gentleness. Compassion is the combined energy from these virtues.

Your emotions affect your health and your health affects your emotions. Spend time each morning to meditate. Consult basic anatomy to learn where these organs are located. These meditations help heal your body, strengthen your compassion energy, and move you into your High Self quicker.

Close your eyes. Smile into your thyroid, parathyroid, thymus, and heart, and feel love and happiness arise. Smile into your lungs and feel courage arise. Smile into your stomach, spleen and pancreas, and feel openness and fairness arise. Smile into your liver and gallbladder and feel kindness arise. Smile into your kidneys and bladder and feel gentleness arise. Detoxify your body each morning with this exercise, and bring the spirit of compassion into the workplace.

Osama bin Laden Message

How does Osama bin Laden message affects you? Did it frighten you? Did it get you angry? He is bent on destruction, isn't he?

Violence is upon us. The media spread this message around the world and it affects us all. And if you are a person who reject violence, what do you do when you are confronted with violence?

This is the question I posed when I was young, living in a war-torn country, Vietnam. Sure, the short-term answer seems to be to arm yourself and fight back, but then, the cycle of violence would continue. And if you reject violence, and do not want to arm yourself, what do you do?

Does the advice 'Turn the other cheek, Love Thy Enemy' really work? That was the strategy I chose because I did not want to turn to violence. The fact that I am still alive demonstrates that this strategy can work, but to do this, you really have to open your heart and love your enemy. Beneath the violence that he displays, there is a pain within his heart. It is risky, but then, everything in life is risky. You simply make a decision that reflects you more and not let the environment affects you. And if your energy is strong, it might affects him, and opens his heart as well.

I was captured and a gun was pointed at me for information. I didn't say anything. He could have killed me, but something seems to stop him. He then turns his gun on another. Again, I didn't say anything. And again, something seems to stop him, and he just move on. If he had killed me, I would have forgiven him for he knows not what he is doing. I was faced with other conflicts as well, and at times, I had to fight. But then, it seems someone took over and was doing the fighting for me, and in the end, I was unharmed, but neither was the other. And at that point, I learned how compassionate people fight. And above all, there was calmness within me and not fear as I had expected.

This is a dangerous time. A person can be armed, but the weapon is getting increasingly dangerous. It can kill many people in an instant.

You can turn to violence and arm yourself, or you can train yourself in compassion and radiate it outward and affects the environment around you, and possibly bring peace to the world.

Osama bin Laden message is a message that can make your stomach churning, but then this is a wonderful time to practice your spirit of compassion. He provides you the opportunity to train yourself, and get your compassion energy stronger.