Social Morning, Home of Heidi B.

     This morning members of our group were guests at the home of Heidi B. in Whitefish Bay. Heidi outdid herself with a spread of breakfast baked dishes, bagles and creamed cheese, fruit, and cake along with coffee, tea, etc. Heidi's home was festive with Holiday decorations and I enjoyed viewing the many objects of art and character placed around her home.

     She made a special point of taking us upstairs to show us her collection of Steiff stuffed toys. Someone asked me: "What is the significance of Steiff?" I had to explain that during the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt the idea of a Teddy Bear was born in the United States based on a cartoon showing President Roosevelt in Mississippi to resolve a border dispute between Missiisippi and Louisiana, refusing to shoot a bear his aids had tied up for him to shoot. The cartoon was published nation wide and the wild bear Teddy refused to shoot became known as Teddy's Bear, was made into stuffed bears by a small toy shop in New York City, thus starting the love affair with the Teddy Bear in this country. Simultaneously in Germany, Richard Steiff, son of a toy manufacturer, Margaret Steiff, drew more cuddly models of stuffed bears, modifying that companies stiff bears that were on all fours to an upright bear which was softer and more cuddly. This newer Steiff version of the stuffed bear appeared at a Leipzig toy fair where American buyers saw it, knew the Teddy Bear craze that was going on in the US, and brought the Steiff bear to the US. Hence the story of the simultaneous appearance of the cuddly stuffed bear in the US and Germany in the early 20th century. Heidi's collection includes not only bears, but many other Steiff stuffed animals.

     We had the unusual pleasure of hearing Paul play his guitar for us. He has learned this instrument admirably and provided some background music to our conversations. Then he played two songs to which we could sing. They are two Beatle Songs. But I am not sure that most of us would listen or completely hear the words when listening to the Beatles sing them. We had the words printed out for us and I, for one, was surprised at the depth of the words. They are printed here for your perusal. Click Read More below.

Winter Solstice

     Sharleen presented some information on the Winter Solstice which just occurred one day ago. Also on the eve of the winter solstice, there was a complete lunar eclipse of a full moon. This is the first time this has happened since the 1600s. Unfortunately cloudy overcast here in the Midwest and other storms over much of the US prevented most from seeing this momentous lunar eclipse.

     December 22 entry from Pocketful of Miracles.

     Seed Thought: The time has come for celebration, for the Light has been reborn! The animals fell the stirringof the lifeforce deep within their dens. The seedsssssss begin to stir within the womb of Mother Earth, and we know that the cycle of life will continue for another year. Rejoice, for today the time of light is greater than the time of darkness. Rejoice, for today the Christ Principle is born within.

     Prayer/Practice:  Welcome the Divine Light today. Take a few letting-go breaths and relax into thte inner stillness. In the space above you and slightly in front of you, imagine Jesus, Mary, the Buddha, a Great Light or whatever symbol of the Divine you feel especially close to. Give thanks for the rebirth of the Light within yourself and in the world. Now imagine that a Living Light is flowing from the Divine to you, showering over you and entering through the top of your head. Let the Light penetrate all your cells, awakening them from their ancient sleep, and washing away any darkness that obscures the Sun withinin your Heart. See your heartlight, the Christ principle within, shining as bright as the star over Bethlehem. Allow it to grow brighter and brighter, uniting with the light of God, surrounding you in a glowing egg of light. Send the light out into the world with the Meta blessing.

"May there be peace on earth, may the hearts of all beings be open, may all be reborn in forgiveness, may all creation reflect the Glory of God."

Continue on (Read More) for quotes from the writing of all great spiritual traditions that relate to Light and Peace.

Schedule of Near Future Spirit Mind Body Meeting Topics:

December 23, 2010  Sharleen will present information about the Winter Solstice. She asks that anyone who
          has information or something about solstice to feel free to include it.

December 30, 2010 Gunther Pohlman Society meeting, to be held at the Home of Heidi. Starting time 7:45
          to 8 AM. There will be no meditation. Address will be announced and emailed to everyone.

January 6, 2011  Bake Off

January 13, 2011  Quotes, Quips, & Quizzical Queries by Eric

January 20 & January 27 will be one of two possibilities: Sharleen: Thinking as a Spiritual Activity. Or
          Tom who has a presentation to be rescheduled.

February 3, 2011  Bake Off

February 10, 2011 Rod Schleck, from Burdick Middle School will be presenting, as a guest of Dave.

February 17, 2011  Heart Sutra.

March 3, Bakeoff

March 10, 2011 Judy K will present.

March 17, 2011 Tim will present Happines, and Job Flow, a continuation of a previous presentations by Tim.

Meditation and prayer Ceremony by Jean H.

We have a very talented prayer leader in our Spirit Mind Body Group. Jean H. leads us in guided meditation and prayer several times a year. This morning Jean moved us all by conducting such a service/ceremony. She wished our spiritual potential would grow into much more than we think we are and she hoped this ceremony would enable that goal.  Calmed by music (first one of my favorites Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata) and Jean's calming voice, we relaxed our body piece by piece, joint by joint and got ourselves ready for the prayer service. Then Jean guided us in "relaxing our heart", that is opening ourselves to receive the serenity of the occasion. We used our breath to guide us in this opening segment. Jean said, "Breath is spirit and spirit is life!"

Then we spent a short time in silence to let Jean's many guiding words soak in and to become as serene as we possibly could, escaping from the whirlwind of this season into this small Mindfulness Center with our friends from our Spirit Mind Body Group.

Jean usually conducts candle lighting with her ceremonies because the light is so calming and symbolizes in many religions serenity, spirituality and opening of the heart, to make the light shine within.

Jean then lit her candle and spoke of a characteristic or quality within herself for which she is thankful. She then passed the light on to the person next to her, lighting that person's candle. Then that person and each in his/her turn passed the light around the room each recognizing and giving thanks for an inner quality for which they are thankful. It is easier to thank and recognize others for their gifts, but sometimes it is difficult to recognize, confess and be thankful for inner qualities that we all have and recognize them as allowing us to move forward in our spiritual evolution.

After all the candles were lit and each of us had spoken our little piece, we randomly spoke the name of people that we wanted to include in our prayers. Then we mindfully and prayerfully placed the candle in the receptical near the altar prepared by Jean. We observed a moment of serenity with these candles all lit. Each person had taken a message from a small dish. These messages were single words that might be a beacon for going forth from this ceremony. Perhaps it would apply to something we had to accomplish, or to something that we wanted to achieve, or to our current meditations. They were single words like honesty, clarity, courage, resilience, happiness, joy, serenity, hope etc. The group broke up discussing their word and how it applied to them or their current activites in life.

Jean recommends the Jesuit prayers and chants at the following website: http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/

Following are some photos of a sacred place that you might contemplate with your meditations: These are photos of the Cologne, Germany Cathedral.

Review of the book: Evidence for an Afterlife, by Jeffrey Long MD

     During this week's session, Ann S presented a review of the book Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near Death Experiences by Dr. Jeffrey Long with John Perry. Under Read More below I have posted the hand out that summarized this book. After reading through my review, the group discussed what they thought of this book, and if it could be considered a scientific study of the Near Death Experience. Most thought that the analysis in the book was as close to science that one could get in a study of these experiences since objective production or testing of such experiences could not be done. The author analyzed a questionnaire reporting anecdotal experiences. However, the author was able to illicit 1300 such anecdotes. He tried to then apply some statistical analysis to these anecdotes. The question was asked whether the book did produce belief in the group in the afterlife. About 2/3 of the group raised their hand that yes they did believe. Read the review to see if you would like to get the book and read the entire premise there.

Bake off on the Bhagavatam. December 2, 2010

     One member of the group presented two items for discussion in juxtaposition. The first was a small quote from the Bhagavatam. First for those who do not know, the Srimad Bhagavatam is a large book containing 18,000 verses which is considered the Hindu "Bible". It was credited mostly to Veda Vyasa and thought to have been set down in about the 9th or 10th century CD. However large parts of this Veda could have been written before, and passed down over many centuries being edited and altered over centuries. At least small parts were seen in material that goes back as far as 500 CD. This book consists of bhakti (devotions) to the gods, and mainly to Krishna. Parts also describe the life of Krishna, who is an avatar, or incarnation of the Hindu god, Vishnu. Following is a quote that our member wished us to read and then juxtapose with another reading on psychological transference which is printed second here.

    Quote from the Bhagavatam: "Krishna said: Friends love one another actuated by selfish interests; there is no true friendliness there, but only self-interest. Others love even those who do not love them-- this is like paternal affections; here the love is actuated by dharma and friendliness, an it is blameless. Yet others do not love even those that love them; they are either sages who delight in their own self, they whose desires have all been fulfilled, ungrateful people or they who hate their own benefactors and elders. As for me, I do not love even those who love me, so that they may never forget me nor take me for granted, but remain forever immersed in quest of me -- like a poor man who found a pearl which he lost, and is, therefore, for ever looking for it. It is on this account that I disappeared from your midst for a while. But, I tell you, even if I am born again and again for many millennia, I will not be able to repay the debt I owe you nor to recompense your pure love for me."

    The second quote comes from an essay entitled Two Cheers for Romance by Stanley Cavell. In this essay Stanley is considering a movie about Charlotte Vale in which she gives up a widower that she was to marry in exchange for her therapist. But what she is feeling for her therapist is likely transference. Here is the quote: "Now before you jump to the conclusion that she has not resolved her transference in her relation with her therapist -- matter surely to bre considered -- I hope you will be willing to thin of these words and images in terms of Freud's 1915 essay, Observations on Transference-Love, in which he insists in all honesty on the point that "the state of being in love which makes its appearance in the course of analytic treatment (ie., the transference-love) has the characteristics of a 'genuine' love. The analyst does not act to fulfill this love in its own terms because it is exactly his or her peculiar task not to act on it, but instead to teach an attitude that allows freedom from the dictation of action by desire. One might say that it is only because of transference-love is a version of real love that this learning can take place. The question for me is whether Charlotte Vale's modification and satisfaction of the various strands of her desire (and the concept of marriage) may be imagined as achieving a credible and creditable degree of psychic freedom. She had written to Dr. Jaquith to inform him of breaking her engagrement to the eligible widower, expressing her confusion over her action. This man, she said, offered everything a woman is supposed to want: a man of her own, a home of her own, a child of her own. Now in these terms my question about this film becomes: Do we see to her version of these things, including work of her own? Or do we feel, on the contrary, that she has merely fallen into the grip of an ideology which forces her to find substitute compensations for the actual or literal possession of such things, as those things are themselves now only substitute compensations for the genuine autonomous queest for a woman's own existence?"

     I don't think the group saw a connection between these two quoted paragraphs. One group member said he was quite disappointed in Krishna's viewpoint. He appears to be somewhat of a jerk. But some thought that this Krishna quote is a story that is taken out of context and really is like a parable to illustrate some teachings.

     Then several in the group talked about transference in psychoanalytic practice. Transference usually occurs by recalling a former loving relationship -- a later version of something that came before but is forgotten. When transference-love has occurred, it might take several years of therapy for the patient to work through the previous traumatic experience in a relationship. A relationship with a therapist who does not traumatize may show the patient that a more healthy relationship can exist.

    One member stated that for example adulation of a Buddhist teacher can be a trap. The one who is adulating is not free to move on, and the one who is adulated is also trapped.

    We asked the member who brought these two quotes what he thought might be their connection or what point he wanted to use these quotes to make. He just found them interesting when juxtaposed. But I think the consensus was that there was no connection between these two types of love.

Change in Schedule:

     November 18, 2010  Gary continues leading discussion about Biocentrism, by Robert Lanza MD

     November 25, 2010   Thanksgiving. No meeting.

     December 2, 2010  Bake Off

     December 9, 2010  Near Death Experiences. Book by Jeffrey Long MD

     December 16, 2010   Centering prayer, Jean H.

     December 23, 2010 Sharleen will present info on the Winter Solstice.

     December 30, 2010 Gunther Pohlmann Society

     January 20 & 27, 2010  Possibly we will learn about focusing by presentation from Tom R.

    February 3, 2010  Bake Off

     February 10, 2010  Dave and Judy K will have a guest, by the name of Rob Schleck ? sp, to discuss education.

    February 17, 2010  Paul N will present the Heart Sutra.

Biocentrism, by Gary

       Biocentrism, book by Robert Lanza MD.
Dr Lanza is a stem cell researcher and has written well respected treatises in his field. But this is his first venture into a book of this nature. He is postulating a paradigm shift in the theory of our universe and of consciousness.
     On this date we spent the first of two sessions discussing and questioning Dr. Robert Lanza's 7 principles of Bicentrism. There was considerable discussion because these  concepts were hard for us to wrap our minds around.
      First Principle of Biocentrism: What we perceive as reality is a process that involves our consciousness. An "exteranl reality, if it existed, would --by definition--have to exist in space. But this is meaningless, because space and timea re not absolute realities but rather tools of the human and animal mind.

     Second Principle of Biocentrism: Our external and internal perceptions are inextricably intertwined. They are different sides of the same coin and cannot be divorced from one another.

     Third Principle of Biocentrism: The behavior of subatomic particles -- indeed all particles and objects -- is inextricably linked to the presence of an observer. Without the presence of a conscious observer, they at best exist in an indetermined state of probability waves.

     Fourth Principle of Biocentrism: Without consciousness, "matter" dwells in an undetermined state of probability. Any universe that could have preceded consciousness only existed in a probability state.

     Fifth Principle of Biocentrism: The structure of the universe is explainable only through biocentrism. The universe is fin-tuned for life, which makes perfect sense as life creates the universe, not the other way around. The "universe" is simply the complete spatio-temporal logic of the self.

     Sixth Principle of Biocentrism: time does not have a real existence outsdie of animal-sense perception. It is the process by which we perceive changes in the universe.

     Seventh Principle of Biocentrism: Space, like time, is not an object or a thing Space is another form of our animal understanding and does not have an independent reality. We carry space and time around with us like turtles with shells. Thus, there is no absolute self-existing matrix in which physical events occur independent of life.

     If you obtain this book to read and better understand these principles, turn to Page 91 and 92 and read a great paragraph that describes this reasoning.

     Gary plans to spend next week in further discussion of this important book.


   

Gary's Presentation on Biocentrism and the book by Dr. Lanza.

Every now and then, a simple yet radical idea shakes the very foundations of knowledge. The startling discovery that the world was not flat challenged and ultimately changed the way people perceived themselves and their relationships with the world. For most humans of the 15th century, the notion of Earth as ball of rock was nonsense. The whole of Western natural philosophy is undergoing a sea change again, forced upon us by the experimental findings of quantum theory. At the same time, these findings have increased our doubt and uncertainty about traditional physical explanations of the universe’s genesis and structure.

Biocentrism completes this shift in worldview, turning the planet upside down again with the revolutionary view that life creates the universe instead of the other way around. In this new paradigm, life is not just an accidental byproduct of the laws of physics.

Biocentrism takes the reader on a seemingly improbable but ultimately inescapable journey through a foreign universe–our own–from the viewpoints of an acclaimed biologist and a leading astronomer. Switching perspective from physics to biology unlocks the cages in which Western science has unwittingly managed to confine itself. Biocentrism shatters the reader’s ideas of life, time and space, and even death. At the same time, it releases us from the dull worldview that life is merely the activity of an admixture of carbon and a few other elements; it suggests the exhilarating possibility that life is fundamentally immortal.

Biocentrism awakens in readers a new sense of possibility and is full of so many shocking new perspectives that the reader will never see reality the same way again.

Here is a site which states some of Lanza's premises and also raises questions about some of them. I am looking forward to hearing Gary's presentation.



Below is a link that presents some of Lanza's ideas and also some contradictory ideas as well.
http://nirmukta.com/2009/12/14/biocentrism-demystified-a-response-to-deepak-chopra-and-robert-lanzas-notion-of-a-conscious-universe/

Schedule for Upcoming Spirit Mind Body meetings.

     November 11 and 18, 2010  Gary presenting a book by Robert Lanza MD., Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe. 

     November 25. No meeting. Thanksgiving.

     December 2, 2010  Bake Off

     December 9, 2010  Ann S presenting the data presented in the book: Evidence of the AfterLife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences. by Jeffrey Long MD, with Paul Perry.
Dr. Long is a radiation oncologist who gathered people's near death experience stories online and applied statistical analysis to them to formulate the data as evidence for an afterlife.

     December 16 and December 23, 2010  The topic is Focusing

     December 30, 2010  Gunther Pohlmann Society.

    

A Combination of spiritual items: November 4, 2010

     Jean H performed one of her centering prayer services. As usual this provides a very spiritual transformation for the group.

      Heidi brought Pandau (Hmong) tribal art pieces which are needlework and textiles done in primary colors and very attractive.  This folk needle craft is 4000 years old. The pieces Heidi presented belong to a former student of Heidi's. Below is a newspaper article about this folk art. Hopefully it is readable.

Another newspaper article about health care, and hospice care led to a discussion of these topics and end of life issues.

Marriage, Renewal and Ancient History October 28, 2010

     The SpiritMindBody Session opened this time with a restatement of the marriage vows by one of our leaders, Todd and D and his wife Sue. Ten years ago this year they were married in a Buddhist Ceremony conducted by another of our leaders, Paul. This couple decided they wanted to repeat the vows at this time. Our group witnessed this very moving ceremony.    

Next week: Gunther Pohlman Society Meeting: More of his writings.

     Also the author, Ann, is planning on presenting the book, Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences by Dr. Jeffrey Long, a radiation oncologist. Presentation scheduled right now for December 9, 2010. So if you would like to read ahead and be exceptionally prepared for the Dec 9 discussion, read this book. There is also a website: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34953759 where Dr. Jeffrey Long talks to a woman who describes a Near Death Experience on MSNBC. Check it out.

September 23, 2010 "Why" by Paul N.

     Paul N. has taken up guitar in the last several years. He had played for our group once before, and decided to play for us again today. He composes music himself, but in this case he chose to play and sing a song by Neil Young, called "Harvest Moon" in celebration of the harvest moon, which is the first full moon after the fall equinox. Below are the words for this song. We enjoyed hearing the song to open our session.

Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin'
We could dream this night away.

But there's a full moon risin'
Let's go dancin' in the light.
We know where the music's playin'
Let's go out and feel the night.

Beause I'm still in love with you.
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon.

When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart.

But now it's gettin' late
And the moon is climbin' high
I want to celebrate
Se it shinin' in you eye.

Because I'm still in love with you.
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon.

     Paul then asked the group: Why do we human beings question everything? What purpose does that serve?

     Inquiry is important; in fact, inquiry and mindfulness are one and the same thing, just coming from different directions.

     But we do question all the time. And there is a certain futility to the questioning. Our world is always a little bit off from the way things are and how we perceive them, so we always question.

     Paul presented a handout with various quotes about questioning:
          "With perception there is deception" by Thich Nhat Hanh. We know that everyone perceives things slightly differently. We are all deceived by our perception.

     The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle was discussed briefly. The below paragraphs are from Wikipedia's definition of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle:

In quantum mechanics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states by precise inequalities that certain pairs of physical properties, such as position and momentum, cannot be simultaneously known to arbitrarily high precision. That is, the more precisely one property is measured, the less precisely the other can be measured. The principle states that a minimum exists for the product of the uncertainties in these properties that is equal to or greater than one half of the reduced Planck's constant (ħ = h/2π).

Published by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, the principle means that it is impossible to determine simultaneously both the position and momentum of an electron or any other particle with any great degree of accuracy or certainty. Moreover, his principle is not a statement about the limitations of a researcher's ability to measure particular quantities of a system, but it is a statement about the nature of the system itself as described by the equations of quantum mechanics.

In quantum physics, a particle is described by a wave packet, which gives rise to this phenomenon. Consider the measurement of the position of a particle. It could be anywhere the particle's wave packet has non-zero amplitude, meaning the position is uncertain – it could be almost anywhere along the wave packet. To obtain an accurate reading of position, this wave packet must be 'compressed' as much as possible, meaning it must be made up of increasing numbers of sine waves added together. The momentum of the particle is proportional to the wavenumber of one of these waves, but it could be any of them. So a more precise position measurement–by adding together more waves–means the momentum measurement becomes less precise (and vice versa).

The only kind of wave with a definite position is concentrated at one point, and such a wave has an indefinite wavelength (and therefore an indefinite momentum). Conversely, the only kind of wave with a definite wavelength is an infinite regular periodic oscillation over all space, which has no definite position. So in quantum mechanics, there can be no states that describe a particle with both a definite position and a definite momentum. The more precise the position, the less precise the momentum.

     Paul discussed the fallibility of memory. Everytime you reboot a memory, you corrupt it. So your memories change. When we live things over and over again, we change them, or they become wrong, unreal, altered by our emotions. Fear, anger, and righteousness make us believe our wrong memories more.

     We all live by certain unprovable truths or assumptions. (Is this what is meant by faith?) But given our distorted memories, we all come to a place where we have to make things fit together based on these assumptions that we have. Memory is subjective and the main point of our memory is to support the ego. Whatever we see is not really the way things are. The ego is a me versus you type of thinking process.

     We want to be certain. Most of us don't live comfortably with uncertainty. There are real things that are fairly certain -- we drive on the right side of the road, and others do also. But if you apply this to political beliefs and try to arrive at the same degree of certainty, it doesn't work. For example, assume Democrats are better than Republicans. Our assumptions don't work here, and we get into trouble.
Someone said, "Being uncertain is uncomfortable, but being certain is ridiculous."

     And yet we question: Socrates said: "The unexamined life is not worth living."

     "People with opinions just go around bothering each other"  Buddha said this.

     A study was done at UW. A group of people who believed that Saddam Hussein planned 9/11. This group was given the truth and shown evidence to prove that this was not the case. They then realized and admitted that they had been wrong about this information, but they still did not change their opinion about the war in Iraq. They still maintained that the war was necessary though the main reason they had used to back it had been proven wrong.

     We would rather be ruined than changed.
     We would rather die in our dread
     Than take up the cross of the moment
     And let our illusions die.   by W.H. Auden

     The superego beomes involved here. It is judgemental and self observing. It's sort of a higher level or exagerated ego. For a person grounded in self, groundlessness is very fearful. So ego protects us from this. Yet the truth is that ground is an illusion, so we are basicly groundless.

     Belief allows change of the idea. Dogma can't be changed.

     There is always questioning. What is the alternative to always questioning? Various answers came from the group: 1) Being a bliss ninny. 2) accepting 3) proselytizing 4) preaching. Some of these results of not questions are not for the good of humanity. There has to be a dialogue. When we conduct a monologue with out ego we are defending our dogma because it cannot be changed. This has led to great uncivility in our time from the interaction on the street corner all the way to political campaigns and the reaction of those in the highest offices of power.

     The last two quotes are from Paul himself:
     " Being uncertain and even being wrong is inevitable. Being open is a deep practice, essential to the Fourth Noble Truth" (a viewpoint).
     "Questioning when there are no answers, or even worse, when it leads to self-deception, can be a problem. Spiritual growth or ego?"

    

Sept 16, 2010 Facts about the Middle East Crisis, from the Israeli Point of View

          On this date, Judy K brought 3 guests to present to our group. The main presenter was Ivan M. Lang of Glendale, from the Committee for Truth and Justice. Other members of the Committee present were:
 James Beer,PHD in Marriage and Family Therapy

Gerald Glazer,MS Northwestern University/ Real estate broker/ Math Professor

Nancy Weiss Mc Guide MS/ UWM and Theater at Nicolet High School

They are coming to St. Matthias Curch on October 17,2010 from 4 PM - 6 PM. The film,"The Case for Israel" will be shown at St.Matthias.
 
        Here is a "letter to the editor" from the Jewish Chronicle of September 2010 written by our speaker, Ivan M. Lang.
    "Bloomfield confuses Congress with Obama"
     "In the August Chronicle, Douglas Bloomfield in his opinion article denied accusations that President Obama 'dangerously undermines Israel's security" by listing actions taken by Congress and not Obama.
     While it is true that Congress has continued to support Israel by funding military projects in Israel, none of this has anything to do with Obama.
     Obama agreed to sell the following military hardware to various Arab countrie.
     Eygpt: Apach Longbow helicopters, 24 F-16's and 156 F-16 jet engines, four batteries of Harpoon Cruise missiles, fast missile boats, 450 Hellfire anti-tank missiles.
     Saudi Arabia: 2,742 Hellfire anti-tank missiles.
     Jordon: 1,808 Hellfire anti-tank missiles and 162 launchers with night vision.
     United Arab Emirates: 1600 laser guided smart bombs, 800 one-ton  bombs, and 400 bunker buster bombs.
     Morocco: 24 F-16s.
     What war are these countries fighting?
     Obama also chose the following anti-Israel advisors for key positions in his government: Chas Freeman as chair of National Intelligence Council; Chuck Hagel as co-chair of the Presidential International Advisory Board; Samantha Power as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor; James Jones, as National Security Advisor; Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations; Rosa Brooks as Undersecretary of Defense advisor.
     Ralph Peters, former Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, said on Fox News in March: "This is our first anti-Israel President; it's bewildering and astonishing."
     Thank G-d we we live in a country that still has separation of powers.
Ivan M. Lang of Glendale.
After the publication of this opinion piece, the writer informed the Chronicle that after he wrote this letter, Obama agreed to sell Israel 20 F-35jets.

     I believe you all received the slides from this discussion via email. I tried to post them on this site but could not do that. The adobe file would not transfer. If any of you would like to have a copy of them please send me an email, at annselzer@gmail.com. I will send you the slides.

Sept 9, 2010 Conscience, Freedom, and Prayer by Thomas Merton.

     On Sept 9, 2010 Gary S presented Chapter Three from "No Man Is An Island" by Thomas Merton.

From W.L. Lyons Brown Library, Thomas Merton Center, Bellarmine University, below is a brief summary about Thomas Merton. Following this summary, is a chronology of Thomas Merton life and works.  You can see that he was a particularly prolific Catholic writer in the Trappist, Cistercian persuasian. After the summary and chronology,  there is a copy of Chapter 3 from "No Man Is An Island" by Thomas Merton which we discussed. The underlining is Gary's and it emphasizes what he felt was important; the group discussed several of these points at this Sept 9 meeting. Gary said that he likes this chapter, particularly in the beginning, because it seems to match Gary's cosmology which he has presented to us before. If you click on the Read More below you will find these items.

Sept 2, 2010 Bake Off

     Again Bake Off for our spiritual group showed that we definitely have a need for this type of free-for-all session periodically. Spirit Mind Body without a BakeOff is like trees without the wind, flowers without the sun, or soil without the fertilizer. However this photo certainly expresses the friendly discussions that we have at our BakeOffs. It should be noted that these impala disagreements in Africa never really hurt either of the two ungulates.

     Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport
We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.
My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!
The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy.
And I mean, he was really friendly.
So I asked, 'Why did you must do that?
This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'
This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call,

The Law of the Garbage Truck

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks.
They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.
As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.
Don't take it personally.

Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.
Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.
Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so ... Love the people who treat you right.
Pray for the ones who don't.

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a garbage free day.

The group liked this little piece. We spoke of ways to express this same goal. Members presented various anecdotes :
One person witnessed the frustration of a couple standing in a grocery check out line: The woman turned to the man and said: "I am not going to let this woman steal my joy."

"I am not going to let this person live in my head rentfree" ie with all the resentments that such a person might build up in us.

   Now came the fireworks. One attendee brought up that there are not really any differences between man and woman, but rather just social styles that are prominent. An author she had read introduced this idea and thought this would level out gender differences and disagreements. The group had a lot to say about this idea. Many thought that there really is a hard wiring in the brain that determines differences between men and women. Indeed this has been shown scientifically. But could even these so-called hard wired personality characteristics be altered by social style and environment? There are certain gender rituals that become ingrained in our behavior and that is socially OK but one should not expect another to follow those rituals. In general in conflicts once the conflicting parties agree on what the disagreement is about, there can be harmony ie agreement to disagree. The group balanced their discussion by talking of ethnic and nationalistic effects on social style. To demonstrate how the gender difference discussion proceeded during this BakeOff, at one point we not only discussed but actually took a poll on which way the toilet paper should be mounted in the bathroom -- under or over. No agreement was reached and we agreed to disagree. Hard wired gender differences are well represented in the following photo. Enough said!

August 26, 2010 Being Right; the benefit of being wrong.

     Tom R presented the articles posted on the most recent schedule under "Read More".
  

 The book titled Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art by Stephen Nachmanovitch was the source of one of the articles we read.  The author is a violinist, composer, poet, teacher, and computer artist. He studied psychology and literature at Harvard and has a PhD in History of Consciousness from UC Santa Cruz. He has a volume of work in improvisation; he has performed his own music internationally, in live concert. He has written music, created videos, and used the computer in his field of visual music where videos and computer software have been used to create a mixed media piece called American Zen.

   Discussion centered on the second chapter entitled Learning from our mistakes. Discussion centered on the need that we have to always be right! It is a difficult psychological obstacle to overcome. Yet if we can overcome this we can expand our consciousness by learning from our mistakes and not being so threatened by being wrong. To accomplish this, we must recognize the unconscious defense that "I am right", and ignore the fear and defensiveness that arises. Then you can learn from the mistake. We discussed what happens when you know you are right but someone counteracts you and you can't convince the others. What do you do? Several suggestions were put forth: 1) Say "Let me think about it" which gives you time and gets you out of the controversy at least for the time being. 2) Or just always say yes, always agree. Then you will not develop the wall and the amygdala's fear, anger and lose your self confidence. However, sometimes this saying yes can get you into trouble. 3) Another way to proceed is to stay with your belief and just let the other person or people stay with there's. Agree to disagree.

   Again you may read both these articles which we discussed today on the Read More button of our schedule, the previous post.

   Here are two paragraphs from Chapter 2, which we read today, which pertains to this idea of learning from mistakes as well as how to deal with the obstacle or the counterproductive viewpoint that threatens to destroy your self confidence:

 From Free Play, Chapter 2.
   "We all know how pearls are made. When a grain of grit accidentally slips into an oyster’s shell, the oyster encysts it, secreting more and more of a thick, smooth mucus that hardens in microscopic layer after layer over the foreign irritation until it becomes a perfectly smooth, round, hard, shiny thing of beauty. The oyster thereby transforms both the grit and itself into something new, transforming the intrusion of error or otherness into its system, completing the gestalt according to its own oyster nature.
   "If the oyster had hands, there would be no pearl. Because the oyster is forced to live with the irritation for an extended period of time, the pearl comes to be. ( My comment: A very nice analogy which brings this whole idea into focus)  ......
  " Life throws at us innumerable irritations that can be mobilized for pearl making, including all the irritating people who come our way. Occasionally we are stuck with a petty tyrant who makes our life hell. Sometimes these situations, while miserable at the time, cause us to sharpen, focus, and mobilize our inner resources in the most surprising ways. We become, then, no longer victims of circumstance, but able to use circumstance as the vehicle of creativity. This is the well-known principle of Jujitsu, taking your opponent’s blows and using their own energy to deflect them to your advantage. When you fall, you raise yourself by pushing against the spot where you fell."

   For those who would like to investigate this book further, the intention of this entire book is as follows and as quoted on the book website by the author: "This book is about the inner sources of spontaneous creation. It is about where art in the widest sense comes from. It is about why we create and what we learn when we do. It is about the flow of unhindered creative energy: the joy of making art in all its varied forms.
   "Free Play is directed toward people in any field who want to contact, honor, and strengthen their own creative powers. It integrates material from a wide variety of sources among the arts, sciences, and spiritual traditions of humanity. Filled with unusual quotes, amusing and illuminating anecdotes, and original metaphors, it reveals how inspiration arises within us, how that inspiration may be blocked, derailed or obscured by certain unavoidable facts of life, and how finally it can be liberated - how we can be liberated - to speak or sing, write or paint, dance or play, with our own authentic voice.
   "The whole enterprise of improvisation in life and art, of recovering free play and awakening creativity, is about being true to ourselves and our visions. It brings us into direct, active contact with boundless creative energies that we may not even know we had."

   Another Note: Word Art. I mentioned an Internet site which allows you to create word art by entering a story, a paragraph, a bunch of words that have meaning to you, or a family tree. The software will use those words to create a piece of art. It is particularly attractive if you enter surnames and places of birth from your family tree. Those words that appear more commonly will be larger or bolder than those that are less common. You have some control because you can pick colors, sizes, and fonts that are used. Create a piece of word art that is actually framable. The site is http://www.wordle.net/. Have fun creating.

Schedule

August 26, 2010  Tom R's presentation will be based on Free Play, Improvisation in Life and Art by Stephen Nachmanovitch, Tarcher/Putnam 1990
Click Read More below to see an attached chapter we will be discussing. Also there is an excerpt from Being Wrong which we will be discussing also.

Sept 2nd   Bake Off

Sept 9th  Gary will present Chapter 3 from Thomas Merton's book: No Man Is An Island.

Sept 16th Judy has presenters coming to discuss the Middle Eastern controversy. 

Sept 23rd Paul N. will present "Why?"

Sept 30th, Gunther Pohlmann Society.
Being Wrong Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz

October 1, Bake Off

October 7, Eric W will present or else next week on the 14th. Exact week will be announced.

October 14, Eric W. will present.

October 21, History of Marriage by Tom R.

Aug 19, 2010 "Flow"

     On this date, Tim presented an article from Psychology Today, (http://www.psychologytoday.com/). We read this article which is a summary from Finding Flow by Mihalyi Csikczentmihalyi. 1997. We read through this article in parts. As is usual for the group we read about 1/3 to 1/2 of the article. You may access the complete article at http://www.psychologytoday.com/node/25074

Aug 12, 2010 Nic presented.

     I don't have any information about this meeting. If anyone out there has comments or a hand out to put on our blog, please let me know. Email me at annselzer@gmail.com.

Bake Off on Aug 5, 2010

A bake off was held on Aug 5, 2010. Comments were wide ranging. Your blog author does not have a summary, unfortunately.

Guenther Pohlmann Society Meeting, July 30, 2010

      On July 30, 2010, our group read together a portion of a monograph by Guenther P. Pohlmann MD entitled The Nature of Our Religiosity, An Array of My Thoughts.  We read two sections: The Layered Backgrounds of My Own Ontogeny and Observations and Reflections on Our Spiritual Nature.

Healing Prayer Service: July 22, 2010

     Healing prayer service conducted by Jean.  She set up her altar with a hydrangea bouquet, candles, incense and the famous "Old Testament" Holy Trinity Icon of the Rublev style. (See below, first footnote under "Read More")  She led us in her usual expert way, first to develop concentration, to relax all parts of the body and center our prayerful thoughts on the heart. The group read together the following prayer from St. Bernadette Chapel, Lourdes, France. (See below, second footnote under "Read More")

     Lay your hands gently upon us,
     Let their touch render your peace,
     Let them bring your forgiveness and healing.
     Lay your hands, gently lay your hands.

     You were sent to free the broken-hearted,
     You were sent to give sight to the blind,
     You desire to heal all our illness,
      Lay your hands, gently lay your hands.

     Lord, we come to you through one another.
     Lord, we come to you in all our need.
     Lord, we come to you seeking wholeness.
     Lay your hands, gently lay your hands.


    Then we sat in guided meditation for those who needed our prayers for healing. We went around the group and pariticipants named those, either themselves, or loved ones, or friends who needed prayers for healing. Finally Jean annointed with oil  (See below, third footnote under "Read More" below) and prayed for any of those of the group who needed prayers for healing. Music was used to add beauty and soulfulness to the proceedings.  We closed with singing, and reciting the Lord's Prayer or Our Father together.

Reminder: Next Meeting, July 22

    Our good friend Jean will present her always moving healing prayer service for Todd. We will all try to be present to participate.

July 15, 2010 Unplanned Bake Off

Varanasi, India: cleansing meditation in the Holy Ganges River

  
     Chuck was supposed to lead the discussion this week, but there might have been some miscommunication. At any rate we ended up doing a make shift Bake Off.

     Eric mentioned that he had been angry at someone and he went to mow the lawn. At first he was aggressively mowing the lawn and thinking aggressive thoughts but then there was a switch to accepting the anger, naming it, and then focusing on the present moment. We discussed how this could have happened. The Buddhists, if angry, often do walking meditation.
    
    You need to name the anger, recognize it, tell the person you are angry and that you are suffering with it, try to talk it out, then one needs to let it go. Forgiveness may be involved at this point. Anger itself if allowed to proceed reinforces the process of getting angry. If we are able to stop this circling process, we will be able to take the novelty and surprise out of the anger, move the anger from the amygdala and put it in the frontal lobes where it becomes less threatening and less damaging.

     Our heart become involved in this as well and even as in HeartMath, gratitude and appreciation enter into the thinking. We may even be able to walk with tonglen during our walking meditation. Some traditions try to throw anger and negative emotions into the earth just as we do with our human waste at the dump site, and earth will transform these wastes into flowers and trees. Just so with our anger, it will transform the anger into positive emotions.

     Hitting pillows does not work. You just get very good at hitting pillows. The only value to such an aggressive practice such as hitting pillows would be to get over repression of the anger to bring it forward so that it might be recognized, named and then dealt with.

     The idea that someone made you angry is a faulty perception. This perception waters the seeds of anger. A better term is to say or think: "I have anger" rather than "I am angry."

     Dick showed us a form of walking meditation that uses the phrase: "Lift up your heart." While walking, hold one hand on your heart and the other hand over your abdomen. While meditating and walking, try to separate these hands slightly; the movement apart with only be a centimeter or so. But this is actually lifting up your heart, as it says in the Bible. We tried this walking meditation briefly. Someone else recalls a form of meditation where one puts one's hand on another's heart and even breath together with the other person. Some say in certain yoga practices, your "lead with your heart." Jean described that during her yoga practice she has moved to put her hands one on top of the other in front of her heart with the palms facing upward as though receiving a gift. All of these comments proved to us how important posture is during these different practices, especially if the posture is symbolic and becomes a natural part of the practice.

     Again we discussed about the necessity of regular meditation practice. People often give excuses why they are not meditating regularly, sometimes saying they forgot to meditate. Indeed, change to a regular practice is hard. There is a part of our brain that doesn't want us to meditate because such regular practice is putting that part of the brain out of business, so to speak. There are two recommendations for overcoming these excuses and moving to regular meditation practice: 1.) Have a place set up for meditation that you go to regularly. It might be set up with your cushion, with a Buddha, or with candles, other paraphenalia for meditation, or it just might be a corner or wall with a comfortable chair. 2.) Hook meditation to something that you do every day. For example, take your toothbrush with you to meditation and only put the toothbrush away after your meditation. Then if you do not do the meditation, and put your toothbrush away first, you will feel strongly that something is missing.

     In the end, our discussion shifted to work and jobs Sharleen asked two questions about work. 1) Do we work to serve others in the workplace? or 2) What in the work makes you happy? The former is extrinsic, and the latter intrinsic. Tim discussed this briefly and gave us a preview of his planned discussion on the schedule for August.

     Next week is Jean's healing prayer service for Todd. Be sure to come.

  

Contemplation of Toys, July 8, 2010

Andrew Lloyd Funny Face tin walker, 1920s

     On July 8, 2010, I hosted the Spirit Mind Body group at my home for Meditation, followed by a breakfast of quiche, fresh fruit, bagles and spreads, orange juice and coffee. Then I took the group through the house to different sites where I had presented groups of some items of my toy collections. On the dinette table were 9 different issues of the card game, Touring, and later editions called Mille Bourne. It is interesting to see the illustrations on the cards with the earliest Model T cars, advancing to more modern ones from the 1950s and 1960s. Chess sets graced the dining room table. I put my subcollection of nesting blocks on the foyer table. This collection commenced with a cardboard set of nesting blocks that belonged to my mother, probably dating from the 1920s. Since it is entirely of cardboard, it would be classed as collectibles called ephemera. I have never seen a similar set anywhere, including on ebay. We moved onto the living room where I displayed a couple of old board games, Parcheesi and Round the World with Nellie Bly. I presented the history of Nellie Bly, the journalist who was before her time, also the history of Fisher Price Toys, and other toy companies. Also I demonstrated the Whistling Questioner, a question game that uses air channels to provide a whistle for the correctly matched question and answer. From this area we climbed upstairs to the toyroom where everyone saw a toy that they remembered from their childhood. The Richmond School blackboard easels with rolled paper information windows on top, one from my mother's childhood, and one from mine were popular when the rolled information windows were demonstrated. From the toy room, we moved across the hall to my library, where we viewed steroscopes from the late 1800s and the Viewmaster with its round discs which is another way to present three dimensional pictures. Heidi brought some of her toys which included collectible dolls and Stieff teddy bears. I was able to present the history of Teddy's Bear both from the United States development based on a cartoon about Teddy Roosevelt and the simultaneous development in Germany of Stieff stuffed bears.

Hit the button below, Read More, to see more pictures of toys seen during this event.

Reminder: Next meeting at home of Ann Selzer. Topic: Toys

Next meeting we will start at 7:30 or 7:45 at the home of Ann Selzer, 10522 N. Circle Road, Mequon, WI 53092  Phone: 262 241 5747

Your email will contain a link to a map showing how to get to my home. Here is the link to the map.  http://maps.google.com/maps?f=s&ie=UTF8&ll=43.2109,-87.90895&spn=0.010322,0.030427&z=15

And below are directions from the Mindfulness Center to my home. You can adopt these directions depending on where you are coming from. These directions advise you to get off I 43 at Mequon Road and go south on Lakeshore Drive to Circle Road. But if coming north you can also exit I 43 at Port Washington Road and take Katherine and then Zedler to Lakeshore Drive.

WI-32 N
12.7 mi 28 mins

From the Mindfulness Center at 1922 E Park PlMilwaukee, WI 53211
1. Head west on E Park Pl toward N Cramer St 0.1 mi

2. Take the 2nd right onto N Oakland Ave 0.3 mi

3. Turn left at E Locust St 1.6 mi

4. Turn right at N 7th St 220 ft

5. Take the ramp on the left onto I-43 N 10.4 mi

6. Take exit 85 for WI-57 S/WI-167 W/Mequon Rd 0.2 mi

7. Turn right at Mequon Rd 0.8 mi

8. Mequon Rd turns slightly right and becomes N Lake Shore Dr 0.8 mi

9. Turn left at E Circle Rd 0.1 mi

10. Turn left at N Circle Rd

Destination will be on the left 0.2 mi


10522 N Circle RdMequon, WI 53092

We will have a light breakfast. Then we will basicly play with my toys. There is a computer Power Point presentation to look at for those that wish to showing a few toys and their history. There will be toys around the house to view and touch, and my toy room is something to see. Among other things, we will look at Viewmaster slides, and an old steroscope with its slides. There are some pre electronic questioning machines which are quite fascinating. There are play sets, electric trains, dollhouses, old books, Slinky, Etch a Sketch, and many many more.

Bake Off on July 1, 2010

     On this Bake Off Day, we discussed an article called "No time, no excuse" from the book, Rework  by Jason Fried and David Henemeir Hansson.  We all agreed that timing and not having time for meditation, and living in mindfulness is one of the biggest complaints that people have. Gary S. commented that from a physics stand pont, the basic quantum measurement is timeless. We really don't need to consider time.

The Shenpa Syndrome

On June 24, 2010 we met to discuss The Shenpa Syndrome. Paul led the discussion. We utilized a writing of Pema Chodran's from her website. The discussion was active as usual. All the attendees recognized the feeling of shenpa, the sticky, gut feeling when we are criticized, or otherwise affected in a negative way. We feel a closing, a defensive stance, and then this can deteriorate further to low self esteem, self denigration, and/or blame and anger at the other. We can also recognize shenpa in another during our interpersonal relationships. The trick is how to deal with shenpa in others and in ourselves and stop it before it cycles downward into a cacophony of negative feelings. The article offers some very practical ways to block this feeling, to avoid getting so hooked by these negative feelings, to keep ourselves open and compassionate and help others do the same. Click on "Read More" below to read the article.

Healing Prayer Service for the Gulf, Jean Hausman. Article by David Spangler on the Gulf

     We were to have a Healing Prayer Service for Todd, but he couldn't be present. Therefore Jean led us in guided prayer for the Gulf.

     First, she passed around photos of ice crystals from various forms of water from badly polluted to crystal clear. Photographs of the water crystals over time demonstrated an effect of prayer on those waters as well, making the crystals more as they should appear, like snow flakes. Following is the web address for these photos:  http://www.wellnessgoods.com/messages.asp. If you didn't have time to peruse this handout at the meeting, view it at this website. The concept is very interesting.

Photo of water, Fujiwara Dam before prayer                      Fujiwara Dam water, after prayer

   











 Then we took turns reading the following article by David Spangler, posted on his blog. David Spangler was a founding member of the Findborn Foundation, a Scottich charitable trust which formed one of the largest communes in Britain which was started in the 1970s to attempt as a community to practice spirituality in every day life. This was a group of people who believed that plant growth could be influenced by earth consciousness. They practiced organic gardening and positive thinking methods applied to all forms of daily life. The ecovillage still associated with this Foundation has approximately 3000 people living and working there from all over the world. The Foundation supports many educational opportunities on site and conferences. The Findhorn Ecovillage is intended to be a tangible demonstration of the links between the spiritual, social, ecological, and economic aspects of life.

      Jean led us in guided prayer taking all the following article into consideration. It was very moving; I had tears in my eyes.

Click below to see the entire article by David Spangler that we read at the June 21 meeting.

Schedule for Near Future, SpiritMindBody Group

Schedule for Spirit Mind Body Group Meetings: June - August 2010

June 17, 2010: Jean Hausman, Healing Prayer Service

June 24, 2010: Paul Norton, Shempa                            

                         July 1, 2010: Gunther Pohlmann Society, his article discussion            

 July 8, 2010: Presentation of Nostalgic Antique Toys,  

Home of Ann Selzer, maps to follow.

July 15, 2010: Chuck O'Keefe                                       

July 22, 2010: Jean Hausman, Report on conference     

she attended.

July 29, 2010: Gunther Pohlmann Society meeting         

August 5, 2010: Bake Off                                                

August 19, 2010: Tim, Job Flow                                     

                

Impromptu BakeOff, June 10, 2010

     I learned when I came to this meeting, the first for me in 6 weeks, that I was supposed to be presenting my antique toys. Unfortunately I did not know about this change on the schedule. I had thought I was doing that June 24.

     But we decided to have an impromptu Bake Off today which turned out very open and very laid back. Following are some of the ideas discussed. We also sort of made up a new schedule because of this unplanned change today.  There was an interest to come to the author's home to view the antique toys; we will do that on July 8. Please see the planned schedule in the next posting.

Quantam Mechanics as a Metaphor for the Search for Meaning by Gary Schnell.

  
 I was so sorry to miss these discussions of this particular topic. This blog author has been reading (or attempting to read) various physicist authors writing about quantam applications to spirituality and the cosmos. Some of these readable authors such as Amit Gaswami PhD, physicist, have captured my scientific mind and have provided a way for me to get my mind around the idea of life after death, and transcendence. Some of Gaswami's books are: The Quantum Doctor, The Visionary Window, The Self-Aware Universe, The Physics of the Soul, and Science and Spirituality, a Quantum Integration.
Amit Goswami, PhD is professor emeritus in the physics department of the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon where he has taught since 1968. He is a pioneer of the new paradigm of science called science within consciousness.
     I understand that the group spent several weeks discussing the following presentation by Gary Schnell. I have included his notes for your records and your perusal if you did not get them at the meeting.

     He is using the book, Quantum Theology by Diarmuid O'Murcha. Read on for more information about this author's ideas.

Bake Off on May 6, 2010

Your blog author is back on duty again, following a 3.5 week trip to Eastern Europe and then surgery to remove a malignant melanoma from my arm. I am doing fine now and am most likely cured as evidenced by the depth of the lesion and negative sentinel node biopsy. But what a scare! Am still examining exactly what is to be gained spiritually and emotionally by this experience. I haven't decided yet, but will keep you posted.
     I am trying to catch up with the blog to the extent that I can, having not been at 5 meetings myself.
Regarding the Bake Off discussion of May 6, Sharleen Leonard sent me and several others a website which contains introductory audio messages by Jerry and Esther Hicks about the Abraham tapes. These are introductory messages mostly narrated by Jerry Hicks about his spiritual searching and some experiences he had in his searches. I have just started to listen to these messages. Apparently they have been circulating on the Internet since about 1986. Abraham is the word used to symbolize or represent messages that have come to various individuals during their spiritual searchings. The word Abraham in this context has come to represent a feeling of transcendence or enlightenment, or knowledge that seems to come over one from outside or seemingly from another dimension. In the beginning the audios sound a little like channeling but I plan to listen to them all and see what is there. If anyone is interested, the website is http://www.abraham-hicks.com/. You can listen to as many of the separate audios as you want.
      Does anyone recall anything else that as discussed at that Bake Off. If so enter your additions into the comments.

Schedule for Near Future, SpiritMindBody Group

May 6 meeting: Bake Off.

May 13 meeting, Gary S will present Quantum Psychology with handout.

June 24 meeting, Ann S will prsent antique toys which will provide nostalgia and a connection with your childhood.

The Guenther Pohlman Society Meeting, April 29, 2010

      Since this was the 5th Thursday of the month, this meeting was a meeting of the Guenther Pohlman Society Meeting. His daughter Heidi B brought a lovely poem favored by her father. She first read the following poem in German and then Todd D read it in English.

Mindfullness Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Todd D. presented a summary of some of the lessons that he teaches in a course he is leading, called Minfulness Based CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).  He calls this Emotional Recalibration.

Todd D will present next Thursday.

From Todd: "This Thursday I will present you with two of the most important teachings in mindfulness practice. Attached is the text for 14 teachings that I am using in my Mindfulness Based CBT course in two different file types, one or both of which you will be able to download. I will be talking about Peace of mind is a choice I make which is teaching #1 and #2 Things are not the way I see them now. Two off shoots of #2 are #2B The world I see does not victimize me and #4C (S)He who suffers is not really I. We will discuss these two ideas as well."

Techniques to Achieve Divine States

Dick Y. led our discussion on April 15, 2010. He has studied various practices to change his consciousness now for more than 30 years. He has read about and tried a multitude of techniques and felt stongly that he wanted to teach the group at least some of these techniques.

La Folia-- a musical presentation. April 8, 2010

     I, Ann S., was responsible for today's presentation. I tried to tantalize our members by just giving them the name of my presentation, but little information about what it was to be about. I think they were somewhat mystified and I think they were pleasantly surprised by the subject and the journey into music we took, ending with a very moving video to which we sang in unison.

Schedule

April 8     La Folia, by Ann S. A musical program

April 15   Techniques for Experiencing Divine States by Dick Y.

April 22   Three Aspects of Dharma Teaching by Todd D.
                        1) Things are not the way they seem.
                        2) Whoever suffers is not really me.
                        3) The world I see does not victimize.

April 29   The Gunther Pohlman Society meeting

May 6      Bake Off  

Bake Off, April 1, 2010

 Today Todd and Paul led the group in the annual spiritual practice of Sloof Lirpa.Todd announced that he had received a transmission from the Kjöxprz (Jolly) Lama that he wants the r put back in Lipa so that it is truely Lirpa. Last year the problem was with the f in Sloof, but this year the r must be put back in Lirpa. After this announcement, we all placed ourselves in the proper frame of mind, emotions controlled (sort of ). Timed to the sound of the Meditation bell manned by Paul, we chanted Awa Tagoo Siam, Awa Tagoo Siam, repetitively, the pitch going higher and the intensity building. Many members of the group were moved to tears, myself included, (mostly from clenching the jaws to keep from laughing). At the end of the practice, we all felt expanded in consciousness knowing that we were now thoroughly protected for one year from any threats or encounters with yeti.

Mysticism by Nic P. March 25, 2010

,     Our top secret presentation this morning was by Nic P. His topic was Mysticism. The whole group became very engrossed in Nic's self deprecating but moving presentation of some examples of mystical experiences that he has had.

Schedule for Near Future, SpiritMindBody Group

April 1, 2010       Bake Off and Board of Directors meeting.  (A Board of Directors' Meeting is in name only. There is no Board of Directors. All attendees participate in deciding and scheduling future presentations and the overall schedule.)

April 8, 2010       La Folia. The theme of this presentation involves music. You can google La Folia and find out where I am starting the presentation. But we will diverge. I hope you will be as moved as I was by a piece of music that we will end with. Come in good singing voices. Presented by Ann S.

April 15, 2010     Techniques for Experiencing Divine States. Presented by Dick Y.
 

Next Session, March 25 Presented by Nic P. Top Secret Topic

Thoughts for Pesach: sent by Gloria K.

Leaving Egypt and Seeing Our Fullest Selves --A Passover Message

from Rabbi Myriam Klotz and Diane Bloomfield

This message was sent to me by Gloria K, our Jewish clergy. I thought some might enjoy reading it for the upcoming Jewish holiday.

Aquinas Five Proofs

At various time like all humans, in our group,  we have wondered what God is, and indeed, probably most of us would admit we at times wonder if a God does exist. Is God a single being, a ground of being, or some force of quantum physics. As a possible answer to this age old question, one of our members provided this written version of Aquinas five proofs for the existence of God, as printed online at the website for John Carroll University in Cleveland.

The Evolution of God by Robert Wright, March 18, 2010 session

On Thursday, March 18, 2010 Dave K discussed the book The Evolution of God by Robert Wright. This book is quite a tome. As Dave said, you don't read this book like a novel. You need time and your need to approach it in small bites. That said, there is a lot to be gained by reading either parts or the whole of this important book.

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt Session 4

Here is a summary of Chapter 9, 10, and the conclusion, Chapter 11.

Bake Off March 4, 2010

     Today we had our monthly Bake Off in which members of the group bring items of spiritual writing or news of other sort with a spiritual bent to stimulate the discussion. As usual, these discussions can be free wheeling. A synopsis of today's discussion is presented here.

Kindness Poem, read by Eric at Feb 25 session

Kindness

By Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is

You must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment

Like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

Thinking the bus will never stop,

The passengers eating maize and chicken

Will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,

You must travel where the

Indian in a white poncho lies dead

By the side of the road.

You must see how this could be you, how he too was someone who journeyed through the night

With plans and the simple breath

That kept him alive.

Before you know kindness

As the deepest thing inside,

You must know sorrow

As the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

Catches the thread of all sorrows

And you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness

That makes sense anymore,

Only kindness that ties your shoes

And sends you out into the day

To mail letters and purchase bread,

Only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

it is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you every where

like a shadow or a friend.

 
The photos above are from the top in order:
 
Sunrise on the Holy Ganges River, the Aarti Ceremony of fire along the Holy Ganges River, riding the bus in India, a Hindu Holy man resting from the hot sun of the afternoon in Jaipur, women along the road with their colorful threads, bathing in the holy Ganges, the colorful scene of people along the holy Ganges River.