Interesting … Chinese … times … eh?

whether it is “true” or not, the following is a bit like smelling salts … pungent and awakening, an old friend used to say, “we sit here half-asleep and then all of a sudden both feet hit the floor and we experience full sobriety”

______________________________________________

GAME-CHANGING EVENTS NOW UNDERWAY -- THE DRAGON RISES

Benjamin Fulford gave additional insider detail on how this story of the tungsten forgeries fits into the 'big picture' on the November 17, 2009 entry on his website (emphasis added):

China quietly introduces new financial system

China has stealthily introduced a new financial system based on the renminbi, which is well on its way to becoming fully convertible -- according to a high-level Chinese source.

In addition, China is purchasing 10,000 tons of gold to back up a new fund designed to develop and market heretofore forbidden and suppressed [i.e. UFO-related free-energy] technologies.

The fund will be based outside of China, and will be controlled by prominent members of the Chinese overseas community.

The gold purchase will take some time because of the logistics of transporting it -- and the Chinese wish to test it thoroughly. Both the Chinese government and MI6 now confirm reports that much of the gold sold by the Federal Reserve Board over the past decade is in fact gold-plated tungsten.

For its part, the renminbi is now convertible with South American currencies, the rouble, Middle-Eastern currencies, the yen, South East Asian currencies and African currencies.

“We will slowly introduce our new financial system in parallel with the old one and hope that people steadily migrate towards it,” the Chinese official says. 

Meanwhile, the latest G20 meeting ended in acrimony and chaos.

The leadership of the West is in total disarray, and will remain so until the Federal Reserve Board’s bankruptcy becomes visible even to the most brainwashed section of the Western public.

This is now expected by January or February.

Both MI6 and a senior Chinese government source now predict the collapse of the Federal Reserve dollar by that time.

We are also hearing various reports that many Pentagon and other US alphabet suit agency figures with both US and Israeli citizenship have recently fled to Israel. Things are coming to a head.

the above quote popped out of a massive David Wilcock transmission on Christmas eve … he knows how to give a timely gift … this takes time to read and may need some grains of salt, but your intuition will guide you and if you make it through, leave a comment here.  I’d like to see what we’re thinking.

How Ironic … well that’s a nice way of putting it.

They say Mohamed El-Erian was “having a heart attack” at the way Larry Summers, then Harvard president was handling the large cash element of the University’s finances.  He only lost 1.8B there … and it is less than reassuring that he is now the head of Obama’s Economic team.  I got a small kick out of the the Moslem gentleman’s distress over the mad American’s foolhardy fearlessness.  The cash part is usually what is not used for gambling, except by opportunistic males on their way to infamy either at home or elsewhere.

It’s ALWAYS a Question of Balance

This rock washed up on the Nova Scotian shore at Arisaig … an overnight appearance, balanced on less than 2 inches of space.

You really have to click on this to see it properly and in full perspective.

amazing, eh?

Primarily for Photos

Are these paragraphs intriguing?

A mathematical representation of an action at a distance effect is called a field, such as a gravitational or electric field. It was Albert Einstein’s foremost hope to find a single relation which would express the effect of both electric and gravitational phenomena; in fact, a theory which would unify the whole of physics, a unified field theory. Einstein believed that this was a creation of total order and that all physical phenomena were evolved from a single source.

This unified field theory, describing matter as pure field, has been
accomplished now. It seems that the entire situation was analogous to the solution of a ponderously complex Chinese puzzle. If you can find that the right key turns among so many wrong ones, the puzzle easily falls apart. Dewey B. Larson found the solution to this problem, and the puzzle not only fell apart, but revealed an elegantly adequate unified field theory rich in practical results; and, like a good Chinese puzzle, the solution was not complex, just unexpected. Instead of assuming five dimensions, Larson assumed six, and properly labelled them as the three dimensions of space and the three dimensions of time. He assumed that there is a three-dimensional coordinate time analogous to our observed three-dimensional space.

The result of this approach is that one can now calculate from the basic postulate of Larson’s theory any physical value within our physical universe, from sub-atomic to stellar. This long-sought-after unified field theory is different because we are accustomed to thinking of time as one-dimensional, as a stream moving in one direction. Yet once you get the hang of it, coordinate time is mathematically a more comfortable concept with which to deal. Professor Frank Meyer of the Department of Physics at
the University of Wisconsin presently distributes a quarterly newsletter to scientists interested in Larson’s new theory which explores perplexing questions in physical theory using Larson’s approach. I was interested in testing Larson’s theory and made extensive calculations using his postulate. I became convinced that his theory is indeed a workable unified field theory.

Here is Larson’s 3 volume, The Structure of the Physical Universe. (pdf can be downloaded, with a right click …), a reference to  Frank Meyer’s website and to the International Society of Unified Science, Inc.

(my apologies for dumping this on you like this …. after my shower this morning the command was, “get this to Photos” … I had many other thoughts about how to do it gradually and politely which might have ended up being, “never” … so it is what it is.)

Let me know if you get it here, otherwise I will put this link on Facebook for you.

burkhold@gmail.com

Reality Tunnels vs The Science of Peace

Two pieces have come to my attention which I think are suggesting a common view, but which, at least on the surface seem like different approaches.

First, a scientific view, with Reality Tunnels in focus pointing to our tendency to not only believe our own version of Reality, but to produce/project it.

 

Coming from a more metaphysical direction, David Wilcock is also undermining the cultural dualism which binds us to our “position” rather than opening to the Present.  In his introduction to The Science of Peace there is much to reflect on.

The Mayan Prophecy of 2012 update

Jose Arguelles, early student of CTR, promoted the 1987 Harmonic Convergence event(s) and has not stopped working on the revolutionary lunar calendar since.

Here is an update from his site.  This is as close to horse mouth you can get on this topic.  20 Questions answered.

While no one can say with any certainty if this type of occurrence will come to pass, this is definitely a hot topic among scientists who are forecasting that we are nearing the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. This is significant because we are in a whole new technological era than we were fifty years ago. According to the National Center for Atmospheric Research: "The next sunspot cycle will be 30-50% stronger than the last one...

Reality as Opera … Metaphorce be wit u: Rainer

The music plays, turns ominous, bad news arrives, people react … sun comes out another day, a flute plays, we feel better … as information begins to shape our worlds as surely as the weather or the music … Al Gore publishes An Inconvenient Truth which turns out to turn on one piece of data that is misinterpreted in his movie … Counterpoint – a BBC production:  The Great Global Warming Swindle

Which jibes with David Wilcock pointing out that the significant warming effects are coming from cycles that are larger than our solar – planetary system.  Climate change is occurring on the other planets in the solar system.

Could it be that all of these information flows are like the music and libretto of an opera, massaging our awareness to become more open and awake … to see more clearly rather than run hither and thither like Henny Penny.  Perhaps we can relax and not worry excessively today about which part of the sky is reported to be falling and behave decently with our fellows on this spaceship.

Do not get me wrong … climate change is very real, but it is only fair to point out that this being entirely man-made is now, once again, in question.  The following snapshot shows that temperature went down, during the 4 most industrial decades.  I get as nervous about green evangelicals as about the other variety.  This Calvinist thaang is hard to shake.  To a scientist, Al Gore’s key graph below shows CO2 as a lagging “indicator” … i.e when there is warming C02 increases follow.  This makes sense, as gases are released from melting ice.

The green line is the Earth's overall temperature. There is a steady warming trend through the first half of the 20th century, up until the end of World War II -- where everyone could "chill out" and relax. Temperatures immediately started going down, worldwide. Then, global temperatures CONTINUED decreasing, steadily, through the entire "Post-War Economic Boom" -- even while our production of "greenhouse gases" was skyrocketing.

At the exact point that the 'boom' ends, thanks to the sudden gas crisis and widespread economic recession in the early 1970s, global temperatures started INCREASING... and have been going up ever since.

David Wilcock goes on to say that the best scientific warming data suggests that our own state of consciousness is far more potentially "toxic" and damaging to the planet -- the way we think each day, as we move through our apparently private lives -- than any industrial emissions we are creating.

Maybe the youthful injunction to Chill makes sense.

sometimes we forget … here’s less than 10 minutes to remember

Reggie muses about intimacy … and how it cannot be held on to …  Press arrow to play.

Then he speaks of love, not as Kahil Gibran would, but in a realistic way that touches our hearts at a deeper place than mere poetry ... Click here to watch.  …  use back arrow to return here.

Finally, whispering “the Beauty”, the way Kurtz whispered, “the horror”  …  in awe of the magnificence of the moment we never leave even though our mind strays quite far …

In case you just have to see that bag dancing one more time ….

 

Poetry trips the thinking mind, we fall awake … immersed in that deeper place.  For those whose thinking mind is tripping anyway, video clips can release the trap door.

Warren Buffet bets on the future Big Time

Looks like Rapid Rail Service and all the Green advantages of that might be in the works with a massive vote for Mr. B, buying an entire railway … this is HUGE!

Another special voice

Could you be tempted to do something you think you don’t believe in?

This link will show you only two pictures.  Comment if you dare.

That one needs a chaser and Kate Schutt will do it.

I wake to CBC radio 1 and on weekends Stan Carew is playing music that is often very fresh … the purity of this voice startled me awake and all week has not lost its verve.  The other tunes offered are also of similar wonderful quality … AND … she played the Carleton in Halifax last Tuesday night.

Study isolates virus in chronic fatigue sufferers

This should be good news … Reuters reports “Researchers found the virus, known as XMRV, in the blood of 68 out of 101 chronic fatigue syndrome patients. The same virus showed up in only 8 of 218 healthy people, they reported on Thursday in the journal Science.”

Then this line had me screaming,”NO, NO, NO!”

“the study offers hope that CFS sufferers might gain relief from a cocktail of drugs designed to fight AIDS, cancer and inflammation.”

So now that we know you’re not crazy, we can give you a “cocktail” of all the worst poisons we have discovered will not quite kill you.

This ain’t the evening TV news …

David Wilcock is always a source for stimulating and challenging information that is definitely NOT Infotainment.   This will take me a few posts to do justice to and I’ll start by briefly introducing the characters:

Brian O’Leary is a Physicist who was training to be an astronaut on the Mars mission that never happened.  He aborted his academic career when he discovered that scientific methods could be applied to the huge territory outside the official box of Scientism, the modern religion.  Brian is now an advocate for Free Energy solutions and uses methods he learned from years in the peace movement.

“Henry Deacon” has been talking to David as an Insider who feels he must reveal what he knows and in these pieces finally actually appears as Art Neumann, his real identity.  He seem somewhat strange, but I think that’s because he has realized that he is now fulfilling his mission in life and is no longer afraid of the consequences.

Pete Peterson is an inventor-genius and has proven that acupressure not only works but is the way the body functions.  He also has worked on inside government projects and has contacts in there.

Steven Greer is an emergency room doctor who has found his mission to be advocating for government disclosure of the UFO and ET contacts that have continued over many years.  He created a remarkable event with many congress people in July of 2001 which probably would have led to disclosure much sooner if 9/11 had not occurred.

When these people get together there is lots of fascinating information revealed, but it is also work on the part of the viewer, because it is not polished, edited and massaged and some of the interviewers are tremendous obstacles to hearing the story of the persons we might want to hear.  Their projections get smeared all over the place.  The key quality of these people is their tremendous heart and bravery in the face of cultural, business and government suppression of the knowledge they have pursued.  I feel like I am meeting fellow warriors in these videos.

I am going to introduce them in the order I watched them myself.  (if you want to bypass my blah, blah go here) Pete Peterson is in the middle of a 4 hour session when he began to talk about medical diagnosis and treatment based on acupressure and demonstrates as he is speaking a way to tone up your meridians.  (15 – 30 minutes in)  The interaction between Pete and David seems odd at times, but I concluded that the first 2 hours were interviewed by Bill who is running the camera and Pete is still focused mainly there.  At the end of the 4 hours he expresses a strong connection with David going forward, so don’t let that put you off.

Medical “science” is now claiming to get 6% accuracy in diagnosis up from 5%.  Pete is claiming better than 80% by examining the organs through the acupressure points, then correlating with a database of substances that includes Every Thing … creating an electro-magnetic simulation in the body of what a substance will do, then measuring the point under observation.  When a match is found that affects that point, the amount (dosage) is adjusted for optimum, MEASURED effect … all of this BEFORE the person ingests anything.  Not surprisingly, the results are excellent and felt almost immediately by the person.  Of course, very few of the substances selected in this way are Big Pharma’s “best sellers” … probably why your local MD doesn’t have one of these devices yet.

After going deeper into this in the last couple of days, I am now thinking in the following metaphor:

The acupressure grid is like an electro-magnetic matrix that the rest of the physical hangs on to as condensed light … this in contrast to our usual assumption that we are meat hanging on a skeleton of condensed mineral matter.  With this view, it is understandable that your hands and fingers feel buzzed when you begin to probe and massage some of these points.  I found a great little pamphlet that gives you all you’ll need to start working with specific aches, pains and groans.  Nice pictures to help you find the “Spot”

Is this the ONE … Microsoft gives some hints

Watch this and see if you might be able to read on it and do some useful work even … or at least dream in colour.

Drunvalo Melchizedek Video

He starts by stating categorically that the spirituality of Tibet and India is moving to South America ... and then goes on, and quite far on ... fasten your psychic seatbelt for this. Not your usual grandpa reminiscences ...

Part 1 of a series from an old friend.  Merkaba if you get there is a very interesting meditation vehicle (more on that in other clips) and he does, in part 2 talk quite a bit about it … this fellow talks of himself as a “walk-in” … someone who appeared here from elsewhere with “inside” info … always fascinating and a tad mind-blowing to listen to him talk about vanguard stuff as if its, well, ordinary. I'm going to paste part 2 here and then let you explore it further if you wish.  When a section ends the Youtube offerings to further material are very relevant.

For Disorganized Writer wanabees

I’m browsing the torrent listings and see The Power of Less and have to find out what that’s about … discovering that the author learned how to make substantial changes in his own life and has become a very widely read blogger on Zen Habits.  He has also has produced an organizational approach, taking off on GTD, calling it Zen To Done (ZTD) … streamlining and enhancing David Allen’s very popular methods.  I like his bend on this.

Not stopping there, he developed Write to Done which encourages writers in their writing and also has some focus on how to find readers.  With the ubiquitous context sensitive ads in the sidebar I found How To Sell Your eBook.  

Combine all of this with Suite 101 the 5th most popular Canadian web site which is a place for free-lance writing in all categories to be gathered and promoted.

Now don’t say I never publish anything useful.

Lehman brothers as Sacrifice for the Global Economy

Ironic indeed, but today some people are saying that allowing Lehman Brothers to fail a year ago, panicked the US government into making the funds available to save AIG and probably B of A and, of course Goldman Sachs.

But this chap thinks it was luck rather than brilliance on the parts of Messieurs Paulson and Bernanke.

Now here is a globalism that is more global

Magna wins Opel bid. After months of deliberation, General Motors decided to sell a 55% stake in its Opel unit to the consortium of Magna International (MGA) and Russia's Sberbank, while keeping a 35% stake for itself and a 10% stake for employees. The deal is a victory for Germany's Angela Merkel, who had lobbied for Magna's bid and could get a boost in the upcoming elections, as well as for Russia, which has aggressively pushed for a role in the consolidating global car market. Details of German financing for the deal will be finalized in the next few weeks. (Read GM's press release)

Ya Gotta Wonder …. not quite over the top, but close

What would a Beer Bike be?

Some kind of vehicle with up to 22 people and a central bar with many litres of beef careening through the streets of Amsterdam.

Reuters Article

 

Introducing, “The Man from Brazil”

Paulo Celho is a phenomenon … who else has sold 100 MILLION books … and many of them by giving them away.  The interior story is more interesting, still.  He takes a walking 500 mile pilgrimage in 1986 and writes about that.  He then writes, The Alchemist, which sold 900 copies, but since then 65 million … a story of spiritual search, discovery and awakening.  Oh yes, he had a spiritual awakening on the Road to Santiago.  He is amazingly prolific and does not stop … you can discuss The Alchemist with him on line; he checks 2 – 3 times a day to see if someone is there … he has a website called “Warrior of the Light” that has a sharp, incisive piece every couple of weeks. 

To make this all the more challenging, his books mostly start with, “

O Mary, conceived without sin,
pray for us who turn to you. Amen

The Prologue to The Pilgrimage, begins the movement from a man as mystic acolyte to the one whose heart opened to the world … read:

‘And now, before the sacred countenance of RAM, you must touch with your hands the Word of Life and acquire such power as you need to become a witness to that Word throughout the World’.
     The master raised high my new sword, still sheathed in its scabbard. The flames on the bonfire crackled – a good omen, indicating that the ritual should continue. I knelt and, with my bare hands, began to dig into the earth.
     It was the night of January 2, 1986, and we were in Itatiaia, high on one of the peaks in the Serra do Mar, close to the formation known as the Agulhas Negras (Black Needles) in Brazil. My Master and I were accompanied by my wife, one of my disciples, a local guide,
and a representative of the great fraternity that is comprised of esoteric orders from all over the world – the fraternity known as ‘The Tradition.’ The five of us – and the guide, who had been told what was to happen – were participating in my ordination as a Master of the Order of RAM.
     I finished digging a smooth, elongated hole in the dirt. With great solemnity, I placed my hands on the earth and spoke the ritual words. My wife drew near and handed me the sword I had used for more than ten years; it had been a great help to me during hundreds of magical operations. I placed it in the hole I had dug, covered it with dirt, and smoothed the surface. As I did so, I thought of the many tests I had endured, of all I had learned, and of the strange phenomena I had been able to invoke simply because I had had that ancient and friendly sword with me. Now it was to be devoured by  the earth, the iron of its blade and the wood of its hilt returning to nourish the source from which its power had come.
     The Master approached me and placed my new sword on the earth that now covered the grave of my ancient one. All of us spread our arms wide, and the Master, invoking his power, created a strange light that surrounded us; it did not illuminate, but it was clearly
visible, and it caused the figures of those who were there to take on a color that was different from the yellowish tinge cast by the fire. Then, drawing his own sword, he touched it to my shoulders and my forehead as he said, ‘By the power and the love of RAM, I anoint you Master and Knight of the Order, now and for all the days of your life. R for rigor, A for adoration, and M for mercy; R for regnum, A for agnus, and M for mundi. Let not your sword remain for long in its scabbard, lest it rust. And when you draw your sword, it must never be replaced without having performed an act of goodness, opened a
new path, or tasted the blood of an enemy.’

     With the point of his sword, he lightly cut my forehead. From then on, I was no longer required to remain silent. No longer did I have to hide my capabilities nor maintain secrecy regarding the marvels I had learned to accomplish on the road of the Tradition. From that moment on, I was a Magus.
     I reached out to take my new sword of indestructible steel and wood, with its black and red hilt and black scabbard. But as my hands touched the scabbard and as I prepared to pick it up, the Master came forward and stepped on my fingers with all his might. I screamed
and let go of the sword.
    I looked at him, astonished. The strange light had disappeared, and his face had taken on a phantasmagoric appearance, heightened by the flames of the bonfire.
     He returned my gaze coldly, called to my wife, and gave her the sword, speaking a few words that I could not hear. Turning to me, he said, ‘Take away your hand; it has deceived you. The road of the Tradition is not for the chosen few. It is everyone’s road. And the power that you think you have is worthless, because it is a power
that is shared by all. You should have refused the sword.  If you had done so, it would have been given to you, because you would have shown that your heart was pure. But just as I feared, at the supreme moment you stumbled and fell. Because of your avidity, you will now
have to seek again for your sword. And because of your pride, you will have to seek it among simple people.  Because of your fascination with miracles, you will have to struggle to recapture what was about to be given to you so generously.’
     The world seemed to fall away from me. I knelt there unable to think about anything. Once I had returned my old sword to the earth, I could not retrieve it. And since the new one had not been given to me, I now had to begin my quest for it all over again, powerless and
defenceless. On the day of my Celestial Ordination, my Master’s violence had brought me back to earth.
     The guide smothered the fire, and my wife helped me up. She had my new sword in her hands, but according to the rules of the Tradition, I could not touch it without permission from my Master. We descended through the forest in silence, following the guide’s
lantern, until we reached the narrow dirt road where the cars were parked.
     Nobody said goodbye. My wife put the sword in the trunk of the car and started the engine. We were quiet for a long time as she carefully navigated around the bumps and holes in the road.
     ‘Don’t worry,’ she said, trying to encourage me. ‘I’m
sure you’ll get it back.’
     I asked her what the Master had said to her.
    ‘He said three things to me. First, that he should have brought along something warm to wear, because it was much colder up there than he had expected. Second, that he wasn’t surprised at anything that had happened up there, that this has happened many times before with others who have reached the same point as you. And third, that your sword would be waiting for you at the right time, on the right day, at some point on the road that you will have to travel. I don’t know either the day or the time. He only told me where I should hide it.’
    ‘And what road was he talking about?’ I asked nervously.
   ‘Ah, well, that he didn’t explain very well. He just said that you should look on the map of Spain for a medieval route known as the Strange Road to Santiago.’

     This writing crackles with authenticity … I have the main works in electronic form.  Let me know if your appetite is whet enough. 

     He believes in peer-to-peer sharing of books and even created a Pirate Cuelho site to distribute his books.  Got him in trouble with his publisher, HarperCollins.

More Mind/Body nagging for attention

I was going to put this down the article as evidence, but let’s start with it because it really illustrates the most poignant aspect of the human condition/suffering/samsara:

I am a TMS Dr. Sarno veteran. I understand all the concepts. I first started reading his teachings in the early 90’s. After applying the principals, the pain would disappear in about 3-4 months BUT I would always have a recurrence every 4-5 years. At one point my back pain went away and I had TMJ for 3 years. Not until I realized TMJ could be TMS did it disappear. QUESTION: Why do I keep having recurrences? I am having one right now and haven’t been able to get rid of it for 6 months. I even ordered Dr. Sarno’s video lecture. Can you tell me why I have recurrences and why does it take 4-5 years to occur? I am concerned that this time it is hanging on even longer. Can you help me?

Here is what Dr. Sarno says about that:

Sarno's "Symptom-Imperative" is most important. If a physical symptom caused by the brain is relieved, the brain simply creates another (substitute) symptom to "protect" us and keep us unaware of the REPFs. Repressed Emotional and Psychological Factors.

Now, if you’re still with me and want to learn more, here is a link that introduces Dr. Sarno’s ideas and Dr. Schechter’s therapy and links further etc.  At first just scroll down a bit to see the scope.  I’m going to copy the key points in case you don’t want to link right now:

Some Profound Implications of Sarno's Mindbody Paradigm!

• Many common ailments, regarded by the "medical establishment" as having a physical origin, in reality stem from "repressed emotional and psychological factors" (REPFs)
• The human brain has a mechanism to "protect" us from REPFs by keeping us unaware of them -- they're too severe for us to experience.
• The brain causes physical symptoms to distract us so we don't get consciously exposed to the REPFs.
• The brain can cause physical symptoms by reducing blood flow to parts of the body, and by other means.
• Some of these symptoms can be relieved through drugs, surgery, and other treatments.
• Sarno's "Symptom-Imperative" is most important. If a physical symptom caused by the brain is relieved, the brain simply creates another (substitute) symptom to "protect" us and keep us unaware of the REPFs.
• The solution for an individual with brain-caused symptoms is to understand the Sarno Paradigm, to become aware of the REPFs and to deal with them consciously.

"As psychiatrist and theorist Wilhelm Reich explained it, the personality is created around moments of pain so uncomfortable that they are blocked off. A person's character or persona is thus a chronicle of where he or she has been alienated from his or her self. Ways of coping with psychic pains, which are themselves assiduously avoided, create our individuality -- that's the real reason why the ways of coping are so (boldly) defended. We hang on to our cocooned pain because the thought of looking directly at it seems unimaginably worse than what we suffer living around these cocoons." -- Jennifer Michael Hecht (Doubt: A History)

In case it’s not obvious, this is the same argument as in Answer Cancer, n’est pas?

I’m curious as to whether Windhorse, Tonglen or Forgiveness can go right to core of this, or do we need more specific paths to address these “wounds”?

The Difference between an Evangelist and a Comedian … don’t expect the audio meter to tell.

The cadence and rhythm are similar, as is the intensity … there the roads part and Bill Cosby delivers a graduation address that will lift your spirits as well as your heart.  From the first phrase, replacing “Ladies and Gentlemen” with “NERDS” you’re in for something different.  Twenty minutes to increase your self-confidence.

high fashion that makes you think?

Dries van Noten is a Belgium designer who woke me up last night with this Fall Collection.  These are worth waiting for in HQ … just start them in HQ, pause, wait for a few minutes and click play icon.

If this whets your appetite for more and more visual feasting on clothing that awakens your appreciation for texture and colour, then his Spring 2006 Collection and Fall 2006 Collections might do the trick. 

Catching up to Paul Levy

The Alchemy article got my attention big-time … amplified by both of your interests.  I then read We Are All Shamans in Training … and at this moment in the Audio interview he is talking about supersaturated solutions crystallizing and I’m experiencing cascading synchronicities.  Somewhere in the middle, I read the first chapter of the Bush book … you gotta luv the sense of humour … diagnosis Malignant Egophrenia or ME disease aka Mad Emperor syndrome.

“Malignant egophrenia is an expression of, and is at the root of, the extreme polarization and dissociation in both the human psyche and the world process at large. The disease is archetypal in nature, which is to say that it has eternally re-created itself and played itself out over the course of history. We can even say that it’s the "bug" in the system that has in-formed and given shape to all of the conflict and disharmony of human relationships. ME disease is as old as the human species. However, we’re now at the point in our evolution where we can finally recognize it, see it, give it a name, and diagnose it.”

News you can use … Best Flu Protection – who knew? Walk in the Light said the old hymn.

… from David Wilcock discussing the recent “pandemic” …

“My friend and confidante "Henry Deacon" — a whistleblower who was placed in a variety of extremely classified projects — again reminded me recently that simply taking vitamin D3, either at 2400 or 5000 IU, can almost entirely eliminate the threat of viral infection and disease.

And the best way to ‘take’ vitamin D is to simply get 15-20 minutes of direct sunlight on your skin, without sunscreen, each day.  “

… so back outside kids and please don’t stop to put on that sunscreen which is probably more dangerous than the sunshine.

Nah, they can’t be serious, say it ain’t so, Joe

Evidence of Government Manipulation of the Stock Market … don’t tell us The Plunge Protection teams are back!  I’m actually relieved that someone else can see this stuff … anyone, who, like me, is watching it in real time, goes, “Whaaaaaaat is that?”and how could you possibly trade it?  

… and on a more sombre note, Obituary for Leonard Schlain mentioned far below in an earlier post.

Leonard on BBC … especially for Marilyn

Link to video from a Japanese youTube type site … the first cut, late 80’s version of First We Take Manhattan, has him way more “outside” as the jazzmen would put it … slashing the lyrics across the music, tempting the synchronization to keep up … yeah!

note: you can goto fullscreen with the little box in the lower right of the video applet

Deep Thoughts from Jeremy Grantham

Quarterly Letter to Investors from a veteran ... if you want to get the flavour of how one can think with both sides of ones mind and speak as objectively as is currently possible ...

(this applet lets you see enough to tell whether you want to click on the link. above the applet window which will take you to the full page view of the document. You can toggle full screen with the X or square in the top right corner of the applet or use + or Ctrl + to magnify in the applet window.)

JGLetter_1Q09

You Wanted a Simple Explanation … the global financial crisis in Pictures

Here it is … The Global Financial Crisis in Pictures … did that help?  I didn’t think so … following up on the previous article, there are some things which are beyond comprehension and are best left that way. 

If it could be agreed that we are ALL part of something and that ANY solution must pass the test of best for EVERYONE, not just for me and my gang

….

       ….. things might become more and more comprehensible.

While it is usually best to stick to one topic, this morning the news that a bunch of whales of the insurance industry (life, property and auto) have been made eligible for US govt bailouts has to be a footnote here … what would result if these fear merchants were allowed to collapse and people began to realize that betting your life is maybe not the best way to experience peace and serenity.

Finally someone, and in this case, the US President, says that US Long-term debt is unsustainable.  That being said, exactly how is the withdrawal going to be managed?

Ooops, one more … a discussion of the Mar – May rally with the middle part on the role of Quant funds quite illuminating … if nothing else, the machinations of HUGE funds in the market are being challenged by the, wait for it, self-correcting nature of market itself … who would have guessed.  It’s hard to believe the bets made by the quants, but this has been the story for the last few years … new and more risky attempts by the sharpy numbers guys to get an edge which unravels now almost before the skater gets up on it.  Per our fairness doctrine, here is the contrary view

We’ve Reached a Turning Point

I want to admonish you, gentle reader, that a turning point in our journey has been reached. For those of you who have forgotten the Psychic Apocalypse, please click on the reference link in the header of this blog to refresh your memory … I want to get a bit more serious about this topic and argue, persuasively, I hope, that the challenges of our time are Good News, that it is Just Time for certain experiences and perceptions to occur and for the individual and collective human journeys to change.

{a really useful aside for those who yet to discover that on most browsers Ctrl + enlarges the page, so those of us with senior challenged vision can read almost anything. Ctrl – reduces the size … that’s The Ctrl key held down while pressing the + sign key over at the far right on most keyboards. Mac users probably use that special key you have instead of Ctrl)

Now the following quote from the theologian who coined the phrase: “Ground of Being” as a modern way to talk about god …

suggests, to me, that we have, here described, a test for how we are doing … that if we are NOT taking refuge in clinging to the past (and failed) we just might be facing the present and emerging future in a useful direction. I would suggest that we are seeing around us the surprising behaviour of many people and groups, in many different contexts to be more like deer in the headlights than like Ku Klux Klansmen … and that if this pause to digest the present perception does not collapse into some kind of reactionary spasm, we might have a chance to navigate our times. And this means you, too … if you are you are not looking for that lost scripture to guide you, but are experiencing a gap in understanding … good on ya!

Here is some potential guidance/advice:

This is a summary of the Sedona Method invented by Lester Levinson in 1952 at age 42 when he was told he had 2 weeks to live. In 3 months time, doing the above repeatedly and Releasing everything he could dig out of his unconscious realm, bring it to consciousness and let it go, Lester was healthy, free of dis-ease and lived another 42 years. He would say to himself, “Could you let _____ go?” … “Would you?” … “When?” … one of his disciples has suggested that the answers are Yes, Yes and Now … again and again means to release over and over on that area until it is clear … this is felt experientially.

And finally, lest you think I have gone feeble minded on you, there is some method to my madness … (here you might need to magnify as described above with Ctrl +)

So, perhaps, we can take some heart, dear reader, that the complexities and confusion around us are the inevitable development of a new phase in evolution for humans, our societies and our global culture. Renate asked the wonderful question: Is hyper-inflation possible when everyone is printing money as fast as they can?

_______________ bottom line __________ relative to what?

Current tidbits from the US financial swamp

Refi fever takes hold. The rush of homeowners to refinance mortgages at lower rates is sparking a boom in home lending, prompting banks to hire thousands of new employees. The Mortgage Bankers Association estimates lenders could originate up to $2.78T in new mortgages this year, 80% of that involving refinancing. Economists estimate U.S. homeowners could save $18B on mortgage repayments this year if they refinance.

Take the money, or else. We already knew that then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson twisted bank executives' arms to accept a combined $125B in TARP money, but documents obtained yesterday by watchdog Judicial Watch shed new light on the extent of the coercion. "If a capital infusion is not appealing, you should be aware that your regulator will require it in any circumstance," CEOs read in a set of Talking Points handed out by Paulson. The documents "show our government exercising unrestrained power over the private sector," Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said in a statement, and alleges the Obama administration continues to cover up present Secretary Geithner's role in "this infamous bankers meeting."

Banks sue MBIA over split. Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), JPMorgan (JPM), HSBC (HBC), Barclays (BCS), and 13 other large financial institutions are suing bond insurer MBIA (MBI), over its decision to split its businesses earlier this year into "good" and "bad" banks. The group claims the split was fraudulent, and left the insurance arma virtual shell company, with no ability to pay the banks' claims.

Dare we question recent rule changes? ... do we overlook unfairness because "our side" is winning

During the financial crisis era (fall - winter), I have been bothered by the way the common man's hatred has been deliberately focused on the banks and the Wall Street establishment. Not that I believe these titans to be without blame or innocent in any way. It's just that there are distortions in our perceptions when we get emotional, and there are larger distortions when we are in anger and hatred.  This post from the ever vigilant “Tyler Durden” reprints a letter from one of the dreaded hedge-fund managers which in a well-argued way points out the attempt by the current US administration to change the rules in favour of their supporters, much like the previous administration made sure the rules were changed (deregulation) to favour their supporters.  For those of you who don’t want to delve into the details, let me simply state the current case:  Bankruptcy (think Chrysler) is a process to evaluate who should get what of the “remains” and usually bond holders are ahead in the line because they were willing to accept less profit in order to ensure that place in line in the event of a failure of the business.  Mr. O has sarcastically suggested that the bondholders or their representatives have been unwilling to sacrifice for the common good, by insisting that they should indeed be first in line, ahead of the unions as the rules have stated.  It gets pretty close to suggesting lack of patriotism, just as Mr. B did when people questioned his rule changing a few years ago.  This is disturbing because it demonstrates where politics has always failed us and may well continue to do so.

Let’s review an emotional scale from the bottom up:  Apathy, Grief, Fear, Lust, Anger, Pride, Courage, Acceptance and Peace.

Politicians are tempted to roil the lower group as long as we allow that to play.  As we move ourselves up the scale, those strategies fail to move us, but we may be called upon to help calm our neighbours.  (Self) righteousness is ultimately painful as well as mean, so beware the temptation the title points out.

Good Environmental Policy is Good Economic Policy

Non other than the remaining Kennedy lineage holder makes the above point in 2 minutes.  I’m glad someone is making this all too obvious point, because we are going to be tempted to forsake the environment for short term fixes again and again.

Not exactly a counter point, but a broader view of the environment than is usually taken by the “green” folks, is made by Peter Huber.  Would you believe that many of the pet green proposals will end up with more carbon in the environment?  Read this and draw your own conclusions.  It is all too clear that the environmental debate has become as polarized as the political debates and voices from the centre are needed to move forward.

Who is Tyler Durden?

.… well most people know “him” as a character in the movie The Fight Club, which is really not about fighting although that might be easy to miss if all you see are surfaces … “Tyler” now appears in other guises by those who realize that an almost perfect foil, perhaps the first since John Galt in Atlas Shrugged has appeared, barfed up by the zeitgeist and run with by among others, a guru to pickup artists and, what this article is about, an amazingly, screamingly fast becoming inevitable Market commentator … read someone else’s take on this. 

When the someone, who is no one is able to become someone else and from that amazingly free platform say whatever one wishes … you have Zero Hedge … and, probably just in time.  Note the header:  "ON A LONG ENOUGH TIMELINE, THE SURVIVAL RATE FOR EVERYONE DROPS TO ZERO"  ….

Working backwards to the philosophy of the movie character, here is a summary, useful for, well, everyone.  Especially Creatives!

Here is the pure Zero Hedge link, just refresh it in a couple of hours and you’ll see how prolific whomever is.  After reading this for several days, it is clear that this source is akin to the massive “AI’s” in Gibson’s Neuromancer.  Check out this bitchy little dig at Goldman.  Read this guy/gal/collective even if you understand less than 10% of what is being written.  You’ll begin to understand the brave new terrrain.  We’ll soon be saying post 10-07 or something like that and it will mean a LOT more than post 9-11.

Another Answer to Cancer

Dr. William Donald Kelley, a dentist who cured himself of liver and pancreatic cancer, independently found, much like Max Gerson that diet is the KEY … and fresh is best.  For this he was much persecuted, but managed to see 33,000 people, assisting them with the process of cancer.  He did become a bit paranoid in the end and Section II reflects that, but the first part of the book is potentially very helpful.  Read it here on the web.  I believe that these explorations of cancer are MORE valuable to those of us who have yet to manifest symptoms of what is becoming all too prevalent as time goes on.  That our food supply has passed from the hands of farmers into the hands of business is tragic and we all must find ways of relating to the consequences.  This is further light in that dim room.

A Beacon is set in NYC … Energy Retrofit of Empire State Building, all 6500 windows.

RMI = Rocky Mountain Institute

April 6, 2009 saw one of the most significant announcements in Rocky Mountain Institute’s history. The Empire State Building, New York’s most iconic skyscraper is set to undergo a groundbreaking energy efficiency retrofit. RMI, serving as a technical advisor, helped design a program that will lead to a 38 percent reduction in the building’s energy use. This will cost $13 million, save approximately $4.4 million per year in energy costs, and thus yield a 3-year payback on investment! If you think this is exciting news, you are not alone. So far, over 500 news publications around the world have featured stories on The Empire State Building's “going green.”

Through The Empire State Building program, RMI and its partners revolutionized the process for analyzing and retrofitting existing buildings to use energy more efficiently. By taking the right steps in the right order and reducing loads before looking at supplying additional energy to the building, they set a great precedent for the retrofit of other aging buildings around the world.

The integrative design approach RMI introduced will yield about double the normal level of savings in such projects, yet at comparable or lower cost, by optimally combining a whole package of improvements. For example, 6,500 windows will be remanufactured onsite—a world first, saving a huge amount of truck traffic—into “superwindows” that nearly triple their insulating value and are almost perfect in letting in light without heat. The better windows and state of the art lighting will cut the cooling load by one-third. This lets the old chillers be reduced and renovated rather than expanded and replaced…saving capital that helps pay for the other improvements.

I Must have been Sleeping

Just discovered DharmaNet … well see for yourself the feast that is offered here.  Even some vintage Trungpa video from 1974 Summer at Naropa I think.  This is a place for the post post-modern student to hang out.

It’s Just Time … in as many ways as you can imagine

This is the most significant piece of information I have come across since the beginning of the financial crisis … it’s worth reading even if you don’t understand 90% of it, because you will still have 25 new ideas and/or perspectives.  The best introduction to the piece is this blog article from Seeking Alpha.  The comments contain the links you will need to check out the background on Martin Armstrong who writes the paper I am recommending on an old typewriter from his jail cell, where he is, from his point of view, a political prisoner. 

It’s Just Time is a relatively short (71 Page) manifesto describing the interaction of various cycles to produce forecasts which, in the past, were very accurate.  The second half of the article describe his situation, why he is in jail and what he thinks should be done to rescue the current economic situation.  You can get a lot from the article without understanding the numbers or the math/physics and the 2nd half is a great adventure story and, perhaps, cautionary tale.

Wikipedia article on Martin  …  Martin’s 1999 article “The Business Cycle and the Future”

Even if you think this man is a crook, the ideas in the article(s) may still be of great value to you and the times.

Have we turned the corner?

This week Nouriel Roubini aka Dr. Doom, one of the harshest critical voices on the economist front, found a way to see a light at the end of the tunnel of recession and said we will not go into depression.  The markets were frisky and frothy and would not give up their euphoria that started when rumours of the toxic asset purchase plan first surfaced a few short weeks ago.  The Dow has moved from 6500 to 8000 in that time.  Those who bought the relative junk of General Motors and Shitibank at around $1 per share 3 weeks ago made triple their money.  Treasury Secretary Geithner is insisting that this is workable without disaster a necessity.

However, master trend analyst Gerald Celente is predicting Great Depression or worse levels by 2012, with 25 % unemployment, a commercial real estate crash, ghost malls with the only possible salvation the discovery of some new form of energy equivalent to the discovery of fire.

Who knows?  If you were betting you would have to go with the trend master, because trends are the most reliable way of predicting future events.  But with the relative ignorance of this present moment in history, all bets are off!

Across town, so to speak, the young musician brothers Benjamin and Daniel Stewart have followed up their Zeitgeist-like Esoteric Agenda with another internet video movie entitled Kymatica.  In this one they step forward, stepping on fear into the Warrior’s World … seeing the human struggle for wisdom and in the end seeing the essence of that struggle.  They urge us to recognize that the world we see is a reflection of what is going on inside of us and relate to our own dark shadows, rather than project our anger onto a world we cannot understand without the clarity on the other side of that transition.  Voices like these that urge us to take this moment to heal ourselves from our own ignorance and fear rather than to  see excuses outside for sinking into despair, are a welcome, refreshing and ultimately hopeful sign that a spiritual renewal is beckoning.  There is a koan-like suggestion in the middle of this movie that we are not who the State would like us to think we are, that YOUR NAME capitalized is not really you at all unless you go along with this bizarre residue of naval commercial law.  This is definitely worth the time to view and contemplate.  Kymatica

Some People will never accept that Karma is fair

with more than one tongue in cheek

Is Somebody Monkeying Around?

Twice in the last 2 days and increasingly observed recently … for example this morning the New Homes Report is reported something like this … New Home sales rose surprisingly 4% over last month when they were expected to drop 2 % although the figures from the previous month were adjusted lower 7% … does anyone else find this at least weird if not suspicious.  If you don’t monkey with the previous month’s data, the current month will be pretty much inline with expectations.  But with the radical adjustments to the previous month, the current month looks much better than expected and the lemmings buy the market with gusto.  If this is an intentional manipulation of the data, then it has an additional advantage.  The previous month would have looked WAY worse at the time if the Real figures had been reported.  Why bother doing that, when we can hold the bad news in our pocket, look like we are being dedicated to accuracy LATER and have a way of deflecting the bad news in the present at the same time.  Aren’t we supposed to be going for Win-Win as much as possible?  Oh, my bad, I forgot; we are in an illusions and what does it matter if some one appears to be distorting their version of it.

This is what the statement in the report itself actually looked like, but it is NOT what is reported in the financial press:

Sales of new one-family houses in February 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  This is 4.7 percent (±18.3%)* above the revised January rate of 322,000, but is 41.1 percent (±7.9%) below the February 2008 estimate of 572,000.

Note the fabulous standard deviation  4.7%^ (+/- 18.3%)

The “bottom line” is probably pretty close to correct, i.e. 250,000 less new home sales this year than last.  So, what is not a pretty picture is monkeyed around with until it looks, well, better than expected, which still does not equal anything like good.  The buying based on this begins the moment a better than expected number is seen … Mr. Market did sell it off at the expense of the idiots over the next 30 minutes.  But don’t be surprised if the evening news is still trying to find this as proof that the recession is over.

Oh, it’s actually better (or worse) than this when you read the US govt report.  It turns out they are now making adjustments which result from them having miscounted houses for years … hmmm … if you can’t count houses, better not try fingers.

Introducing Leonard Shlain … an escaped Renaissance hominoid

Listen up as this surgeon turned polymath explains the unusual patterns he sees in the web of human activities from Type to Sex.  This is the kind of gentleman who was disappearing from academia as I entered in the 60’s … the iconoclastic genius valued because they were different … somehow this one survived and found a way to express himself in books.  Three so far and one on the way.  The Alphabet Versus the Goddess came to my attention some years ago arguing that when the alphabet is received into a culture it becomes psychotic and violent for a period as it assimilates a new way of perceiving its world.  Not what most of us would imagine over breakfast.  Art and Physics argues that artists had the breakthrough ideas later discovered in science about 50 years later.  Would that be nature or nurture?  So enjoy a listen while watching such a mind peer into the upper realm to answer the questions of Conversations with History.

One thing after another … life goes on and on

This week the big inspiration was this talk by Paul Hawken about how there are a gazillion groups out there running around trying to help things change for the planet, whether it’s the environment or social conditions.  He argues that the total of these seemingly random movements amounts to a Movement that functions something like an immune system.  If you’re short on time the first 20 minutes will get you the main stuff.

Then Juan Enriquez describes how the economic collapse is going and how there is a possible reboot on the horizon from the convergence of work with bacteria, tissues and robots.  This is heady, almost disturbing stuff.

For those of you who think that the gender wars contain possibilities for personal transformation, here is an audio that will make you laugh while, perhaps, shocking your preconceptions into focus for you.  David Deida is a spiritual teacher who uses Sex as his headline and mines his subject deeply and thoroughly.  You have not heard this before.

Perspective ... who has it and how to get it?

Well in a period where the new Headline has already been coined: The Greatest Depression ... we could do worse than consult someone who understands what happened in the Soviet Union and already uses the acronym FUSA. Dmitry Orlov recently, Feb 13th, a Friday for you cognoscenti, gave a talk linked as follows:

Social Collapse: Best Practices

Thanks to Frank and Billy for the reference to Orlov. Mr. Orlov's blog has more if this works for you. Particularly significan in these parts is this piece on Local Food

On a different but related note, I watched a Lindsey Williams video last night. He predicted $50 oil in July and was laughed out of the room. The intiguing thing about him is his insistence that "The Elite" are bound by their moral code to tell everyone ahead of time what they are going to do and that he gets his material from them, not from some kind of prophecy despite him being a Baptist minister. This stuff is even almost too fringe for me, but in these times, keep all the items on the table.. Rev Williams has a book arguing for the oil game as a manipulation, entitled The Energy Non-Crisis ... he makes fun of the Bushies "God Bless America" suggesting these are code words of the New World Order ... and distinguishes them from his faith and belief. He sees US being pushed into hyperinflation and the $ destroyed within the next 12 months.

For those who think that it is time to pray, listen to George Michael suggesting we begin to pray for time ... first sung in 1996

In Honour of Joseph Vincent Brophy ... the closest of my generation to pass on ... a Ballad of sorts

This has shocked me, prodded me and nudged me along ... various dimensional lines ... he is so like us, mostly self-educated and iconoclastic ... he did the work and self-study to get all the naval tickets. I got to know him in the early 80's when he was studying and writing the 1st Mate ticket and stayed with me. He eventually got his Captain's papers and worked at sea for 30 years. In 1983 he was clipped by a snaking cable on a supply vessel and his right leg was shattered. In the recovery from the accident he received some of that famous tainted blood and hepatitis C which was unknown to him until the late 90's showing up on a health exam during a mortgage application. Hep C reduces the liver function which normally has about a 10 fold excess capacity which all of us take far too much advantage of during what is considered a normal lifetime,. Joe, like many of us has no love for doctors and their snake-oils, so he did not do much about the condition that was not all that apparent and when more acute trouble came refused biopsy because he had had one at some point and did not like the feeling of it. He also believed that if you receive a label you tend to play out the labelled role. I am going on about this for the living, especially those of the stubborn male persuasion, because health and well being centres around the liver, which is trying its best to detoxify the human experience. As long as it can, we generally thrive irrespective of our behaviours. While Joe waited too long to begin working with his liver, he did discover a Way to cleanse and rejeuvenate the liver which could be of great benefit ongoing, especially if there is an increase in the environmental toxicity. The nutshell version of the Gerson Therapy and a key link to the Gerson Videos Tapes 1 - 4 A doctor's report describing the AMA attacks on Gerson... disclaimer: the American Cancer Society is against this approach (maybe that makes it more attractive)

The other side of this journey was the discovery of Answer Cancer a rather disturbing book that insists that disease is a subconscious self-mutilation program. Run the other way, you might urge ... I didn't because of the auspicious coincidence of "finding" the book on my laptop in an odd moment in Halifax, when it would ordinarily have been lost in the thousands of info bits this collector cannot stop gathering, but they do erupt in interesting ways ... why is this important? I have been faced with my own seemingly self-sabotaging behaviour for, well, ever and Joe related to the information of his tumour development in what for someone so meticulous in other ways, was out of character. The author of the book points out that the body is leading physicians on a symptoms hunt, "you fixed my hip ... I have another hip and a knee and ... " when the root cause is an event between conception and 4 years old that is resolved by later life illness ... a radical, disturbing idea. Well I just watched a friend behave in ways that led to his physical demise far sooner than might have been and I find myself and most of the people I know involved to some extent in the same kind of confusion. I know, a good buddhist, would just say, "Samsara" but that is not satisfying for me. I believe this is the personal apocalypse that parallels the transformation the larger culture has engaged at this time. The book can be engaged in less than an hour and I urge you to do so and comment on your own experience.

My daugher Heidi who has a university science degree, said "Gerson doesn't have any labs" ... after 30 minutes I emailed her saying that he used the best laboratory, the human body ... it's old school meticulous observation and an insatiable search for what works, changing course even reversing at times ... the opposite view from reductionist labs of the present. Tape 1 is that part of the story. At any rate, thank you Joe for letting us be involved with your life and death. In the end, he had to endure the medical nightmare and got his electrolytes out of whack causing even more confusion, but finally surrendered and was able to pass on within 24 hours of that.

This about Sums it UP ... we don't know more than we know

A US Congressman, head of the Capital Markets committee admits the impermanence of $$$$

How will the formerly unthinkable happen?

Here is a comment about the extent of the financial tables turning OR more properly called, redistribrution of wealth movement

Several months back I came across some frightening news from the Fed which is just as relevant today. It revealed what a real house of cards we had been living in. Just in the third quarter 2008 alone, U.S. households lost $647 billion in real estate; $922 billion in stocks; $523 billion in mutual funds; $653 billion in life insurance and pension fund reserves; plus $128 billion in private business interests.

Total destruction of household wealth in the third quarter: $2.8 trillion, the worst in recorded history. That's four times more than the government's entire $700 billion bailout package (TARP). Total destruction of household wealth in the last year: $7.2 trillion or over TEN times more than the $700 billion TARP package.

Some of us have been talking about how from Universities to Grade Schools, and almost every government department imaginable, not forgetting the changing perception of BANKS, changes are imperative. ... these are institutions seemingly indestructible and tremendously resistant to constructive change ... we may be seeing what only a poet like D. H. Lawrence could imagine:

When we get out of the glass bottles of our ego
and when we escape like squirrels turning in the
cages of our personality
and get into the forest again,
we shall shiver with cold and fright
but things will happen to us
so that we don't know ourselves.
Cool, unlying life will rush in,
and passion will make our bodies taut with power,
we shall stamp our feet with new power
and old things will fall down
we shall laugh, and institutions will curl up like
burnt paper

One of those days ... not one of those days

... greeted this morning with an email that touched off an emotional storm ... my friend who has been ill, may well be dying ... when we think we are ill, all may well be well ... but ... when we think we are dying ... so it brought me to a STOP and may be the seminal gesture for the emergence of Stop 1st from its chrysalis ... i am already feeling the loss, without that being "on the table" ... what is this feeling of loss?  Who is losing What?

... i don't want you to think me cold, when i am as warm as i have ever been ...

now sinking deep in the 2nd attention ... the world is becoming a cubist puzzle visually, but awareness is peaceful, serene and bright ... realization that what we lose is the piece of "ourselves" we have identified as the other ... what may well be our entire experience of the other ... what we have "given" to the other ... perhaps why the situation surrounding death is so uncomfortable for the living ... we begin to think of ourselves just when our presence is most needed beyond that imagination ...

... at any rate it brought me to an edge ... and this evening reminded me of Edge.com and the words in memorium of the late john brockman ... and for those of you who missed it, here is the link to the downloadable book

February already, when it was March we were thinking was 6 months away

Time is flying and the signs are swirling about us. 

The Obama presidency has a fresh flavour about it ... seeing him relaxed and chatty with the sportscaster dude before the Super Bowl ... not being pushed around by the questions, or other peoples' notion of bipartisanship (the other side doesn't have to admit it and/or vote with us for us to accept their input and move on) ...

I am starting up/and over again with real time trading ... the mandatory retirement was helpful and the discovery of two major surrounding views should show some benefits:

1)  That due to morphic resonance or whatever we may wish to call it, we can ASSUME that knowledge sought/learned/integrated and mastered by others can be available to us in the moment we need it.   The Market Masters' sanguine view of the momentary action can guide us.  What would Jesse do?  What are the Whales doing?  In my case even more precise ... what would TacTrade do?

2)  The all-encompassing influence of supply and demand beyond being a term in the first paragraph in the trading manual ... Tom Williams and TradeGuider software have brought this View to the fore and it is a difference maker.  Brings volume out as a combination factor with price to guide us into a present view of the action.  Where do the Whales want this to go, now?

My apologies to those of you, for whom this is too much information ... I had to write it somewhere to make sure I do not discount what has transpired in the last 3 months and what is possible in the present ...

Volatility Trading still rules the day and these markets ... here a couple of links to help you to understand possible ways of going forward.

The Lost Science of Money a commercial message to introduce this important book ... download the book itself with a right click here and a Save Link As there ... it has been said that nobody understands money, maybe because of the mass delusions that have been propagated about it ... This book attempts to clarify what it is and how we might make better use of it, if we understood that!

Zeitgeist Addendum is another long video screed but ends with a huge new vision ... view the 2 hour movie here or if you want to down load it, patiently right click here

The Practicing Mind

Review: The Practicing Mind by Thomas M. Sterner

What follows is the review from Amazon.com ... I recommend going "Inside the Book", reading the excerpt and then choosing "Surprise me" as often as you are allowed. This is the missing piece for meditators and anyone who wants to learn anything

In a society of immediate gratification, Thomas M. Sterner's book THE PRACTICING MIND almost parodies itself. Designed to be a primer for slowing down, becoming more aware of the present moment, and increasing self-discipline and focus, Sterner's brilliance shines through in the brevity of this complex book's pages. Less than a hundred pages long, this tiny but intense book delivers enough information to contemplate and apply for a lifetime. THE PRACTICING MIND enables those of us immersed in the Western world's constant motion and hubbub to slow down, check within, and grow. The nine chapters detail in depth the steps to mastering any skill or achieving any goal. Sterner clearly explains, through the use of colorful, vivid examples, how mastery comes from practice through repetition - whether we're talking about learning a new habit, achieving a professional goal, or improving one's golf game. Each chapter begs to be mulled over, internalized, and applied. The principles sometimes overlap, enabling the reader to make deeper connections and realizations as they progress. In a gentle and encouraging manner, Sterner not only illuminates the "how's" - the process - he also enables the reader to see that not only are growth and change possible, but "with deliberate and repeated effort, progress is inevitable." This book is already a favorite of mine, highlighted and scribbled in, and slowly, patiently, I'm witnessing the result of reading this material in my daily life. This book is a must-read for anybody who is tired of today's widely accepted non-stop frenetic pace, for anybody sick of feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and out of balance, or for anybody who wouldn't even know where to find the roses, much less bother to take the time to stop and smell them --Tammy Cook, Reviewer for Roundtable Reviews

What I Found When I Got Home from the Retreat

My super highway ...



The sharp edge of the wind can make some sharp edges in the snow



It is also capable of doing rounded contours



The white line above the treetops is the snow-covered shore of PEI ... but this is really about "The Blue Yonder" ... that blue that is BLUE!



Where my eye looks out from ...