The residence of Virtual Architect Edward Ballinger in Second Life
Creating Art is like a voyage of
discovery, like going where you
have never gone before, and that
is when the going gets good.
Sculptor Lee Bontecu
Continue reading "ANNOUNCING: ARTNOTES: YOUR PERSONAL MUSE" »
THERE ARE NOW OVER 70 POSTS IN THE WRITERS LIB COLLECTION IN
COWBIRD
http://cowbird.com/alex-noble/collections/
Liberate your inner writer with inspiration, prompts, and coaching from some of my favorite writers.
Creating Art is like a voyage of
discovery, like going where you
have never gone before, and that
is when the going gets good.
Sculptor Lee Bontecu
Would you like to have a personal Muse?
I’d like to offer you a source of inspiration in the form of my new project, ARTNOTES.
This is a companion blog for those of you who are artists as well as writers.
Continue reading "ARTNOTES: YOUR PERSONAL MUSE - FOR ARTISTS" »
Ready to get serious about writing? I am now posting regular tips, resources and prompts on www.cowbird.com, a writing community.
I am covering all aspects of writing and publishing which can help you find success in the new universe of social media and electronic books.
Think: Whole Earth Catalogue for Writers...
While the focus is on Writing Practice as a spiritual discipline, overcoming writers' block, and liberating your Inner Writer, many other subjects will be covered as well, from Agents to how to use Twitter to promote your book, and more.
Here are the first 21 articles in the WRITERS LIB Collection, which you can find on Cowbird at this link:
Almost everything they teach us about the ancient history is wrong: origin of men, civilizations and pyramids. Homo sapiens sapiens is not a result of the evolution and biologists will never find a “missing link”, because the intelligent man is product of genetic engineering. Sumerians are not the beginning of the civilized men, but rather beginning of another cycle of humanity. And finally, original pyramids, most superior and oldest, were made by advanced builders who knew energy, astronomy and construction better than we do.
In order to understand the ancient monuments, we need to view them through three realms: physical, energy and spiritual. Our scientific instruments are simply not enough to explain the purpose of oldest pyramids, for example. Mainstream scientists, archaeologists, historians and anthropologists, are often main obstacle for scientific progress.
Gap between physical and spiritual science is to be bridged if we want to get fully understanding of the past.
Start activating change where you are now
From Bill Harvey's Blog At:
What’s my evidence that you’re a world changer? You read my stuff. That’s my evidence.
I get an interesting if fuzzy picture of who reads this blog from the people who thank me for it. And from some indirect measures, such as how rarely people leave public comments, instead emailing me; what does this tell us: private types who read in this blog information that is also kind of private. It’s about the inner life. Inner, not outer, means that it isn’t something people talk about. If they’re going to talk to me about it, they don’t want to do it publicly.
Aristotle considered the inner life the most important thing to Humanity. If he saw what Acceleritis has done to shrink the inner life down to the smallest part of one’s existence, he would become depressed.
"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human
existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being."
- Carl Jung
The New Diary is about a completely modern concept of journal writing. It has little to do with the rigid daily calendar diary you may have kept as a child or the factual travelogue you wrote to recall the Grand Canyon. Instead, it is a tool for tapping the full power of your inner resources.
The New Diary is as much for those who already keep a journal as it is for those who have never kept one. It does not tell you the "right" way to keep a diary; rather, it offers numerous possibilities for using the diary to achieve your own purposes. It is a place for you to clarify goals, visualize the future, and focus your engergies; a means of freeing your intuition and imagination; a workbook for exploring your dreams, your past, and your present life.
It is for everyone seeking concrete methods for dealing with personal problems. It is for women and men interested in achieving self-reliance and inner liberation, for artists and writers seeking new techniques for overcoming blocks to creativity.
Are you ready to allow more sparkling abundance and prosperity into your life?
It's time to release blockages that impede your progress. Most people think that becoming more prosperous has to do with external conditions. However, there is a spiritual secret . . . it truly starts within YOU.
You absolutely DO have the power to turn your life around, and this high-voltage course will accelerate your path into glorious, magnificent abundance. The journey can be fun, easy, and joyful!
From: Formula for Success - Where Science Meets Spirit
http://www.formulaformiracles.net/Audio-Programs-and-CDs/Unleash-Your-Inner-Millionaire.html
Brent Phillips was a successful MIT-trained engineer who experienced a miracle change when his arm (immobile and frozen at the elbow after a surgery) healed in an instant after a single session of the holistic technique Theta Healing!
He was so transformed by this experience that he gave up his career in technology and dedicated all of his science and engineering talent and experience to master instant healing and personal holistic transformation. Today, he shares the magic and miracles of Theta HealingTM with his students and clients around the world.
Full Information About Brent Phillips, Theta Healing, and Available Programs at:
What is Theta HealingTM?
Theta HealingTM is a holistic healing technique which directly addresses your subconscious mind to fix the "bugs in your software", allowing miraculous instant healings and profound transformations. Whether you seek to transform your health, your finances, your relationships or your spirituality, Theta is a surprisingly fast and easy way to make permanent, lasting, and effective changes in your life.
Jeffrey Stauch is no slouch when it comes to asking people for money—and he shares how he gets it done in his new title, "Effective Frontline Fundraising," recently published by Apress.
Stauch got his start by canvassing for political groups on the streets of Boston and quickly progressed to his current position as a prime fundraiser for a prestigious New England College. “Asking for $5—and getting it—takes about as much skill and guts as asking for $1 million,” said Stauch. “The principles are the same. And anyone can learn them.”
Continue reading "NON-PROFITS: Effective Frontline Fundraising " »
MORE THAN SINGING, LLC is committed to creating a world where:
• People have affordable access to tools and information to help them realize and develop the power and beauty of their voices.
• People feel comfortable to sing which supports self-esteem, expression and harmonious community.
• Singing, recognized as a complement to wellness and growth, is utilized to improve concentration, imagination, productivity and emotional balance in diverse settings.
W H Y I S I T M O R E
T H A N S I N G I N G ?
Jocelyn hears more than singing in the human voice. She hears the beauty of a life speaking its truth and passions, the resolution of a human spirit in word and song.
See Biographical Information About Jocelyn, Below:
Continue reading "MoreThan Singing, More Than Speaking - With Jocelyn Rasmussen" »
Full Information and Listing of Each Year's Programs Since 1995:
Since 1995, Visionaries, Inc. has been producing Visionaries documentary series for public television. Hosted by Sam Waterston of Law & Order, the documentary series highlights the rarely told stories of nonprofit organizations all around the world that are working to make a positive difference in their community and beyond.
Visionaries' production crews have traveled across six continents and to more than 50 American cities to profile the extraordinary work of true philanthropists- people dedicating their lives and careers to the service of others. From Refugees International to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and art museums to humane societies, Visionaries tells the stories of individuals dedicated to changing the status quo in an effort to promote positive coexistence. The documentaries seek to inspire vast audiences, serve as catalysts for positive social change and promote philanthropy on a global level.
Continue reading "Visionaries, Inc - Award Winning Public TV Series Since 1995" »
Alex Noble
You want to write. You intend to write. You almost wrote something yesterday, but… You know you have worlds to say. But all you can do is stare at the blank page.
Stare, stare, stare. You feel stuck, empty, useless, unworthy, ridiculous, a pretender in the world of ideas. You feel shame, guilt, despair.
Nothing comes. If feels as though your Muse has left town for Mozambique, with no forwarding address and her cell phone number is no longer in service. What to do? There is a name for it, and your condition is called “Writer’s Block.”
The good news is that there is a cure.
Continue reading "Alex Noble - Writing Secrets: What to Do When Your Muse Leaves Town" »
Presented by the Chopra Foundation, this Third Annual International Sages and Scientists Symposium, being held from March 3 to 5, 2012 at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, will address some of the most urgent questions facing our future evolution, including:
Are we in the midst of a major paradigm shift in science?
“If you find the above questions intriguing, you are most welcome to join me and my colleagues as we go deep into dialogue about our emerging future,” said Chopra, founder of the Chopra Foundation. “Everything will be examined from the perspectives of both sages and scientists with the goal of finding common ground.
“At the end of the symposium, we will summarize the current understanding of the issues that deeply affect all of us at the core of our being. We aim to propel scientific investigation and research in the areas of consciousness.”
The Chopra Foundation is requesting a donation of $1,995—$1,000 of which is tax deductible—for general participation, after which registration will be complimentary. Contributions to the Symposium will be used to support collaborative research on the realization of consciousness, carry on the Foundation’s other charitable work, and pay expenses for the
program.
Accommodations are available at The La Costa Resort and Spa. Please register online at http://www.choprafoundation.org and use the promo code #54E883 or call (800) 854-5000.
When making a reservation, please mention “The Chopra Foundation Sages and Scientists Symposium” to receive the special discounted rate: $169.00 per night. This rate excludes resort fees and taxes, and is based on availability.
It is time to create new stories, and rediscover our place in the global web of life!
Come visit A New Story Foundation: www.anewstory.org
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Envision the earth's life-sustaining processes as a beautiful and diverse web of interrelationships--a kaleidoscope of patterns, rhythms, and connections whose very complexity and multitude of possibilities remind us that cooperation, sharing, honesty, humility, and love should be the guidelines for our behavior toward one another and the earth. -- Ecosustainability student
Our Vision - Rediscovering Humanity's Niche: Following the lead of author Daniel Quinn, we believe that modern society has lost its way. Humans have abandoned the tried and true survival mechanisms established over thousands of millennia, forgetting that they were once a fully-integrated member of the global ecosystem. We believe that the tired old story modern society tells itself has seen its last days, and that the global self-deception is about to be exposed for what it is. We believe it is time for new stories, stories that tell of the rediscovery of humanity's place in the global web of life. We envision a time when these new stories depicting humans within nature, and not separate from it, will be the human story.
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Continue reading "Our Vision: Rediscovering Humanity's Niche" »
Duane Elgin
The next five to ten years represent an unprecedented break in the human journey. We are between stories, or the guiding narratives, that serve as beacons for our collective future. For example, the “American Dream” that pulled the U.S. forward for at least three generations is fast becoming the world’s nightmare as the excesses of consumerism produce climate disruption, the depletion of cheap oil, growing income disparities, and more. Instead of a different “dream,” people want wide-awake visions of real possibilities told in ways that are believable and compelling.
We face big challenges and it will take an equally big vision to transform conflict into cooperation and draw us into a promising future. The most difficult challenge facing humanity is not devising solutions to the energy crisis or climate crisis or population crisis; rather, it is bringing images and stories of the human journey into our collective awareness that empower us to look beyond a future of great adversity and to see a future of great opportunity. Stories of great transition offer alternative big-picture perspectives that place our time of transition in a larger context and illuminate a promising future. These narratives are of universal concern, simple and relatively easy to understand, emotionally powerful, and able to call forth our higher potentials; and all involve a time of profound initiation and deep transformation.
Be yourself, speak freely, and think small
One of the saddest sentences I know is “I wish I had asked my mother about that.” Or my father. Or my grandmother. Or my grandfather. As every parent knows, our children are not as fascinated by our fascinating lives as we are. Only when they have children of their own—and feel the first twinges of their own advancing age—do they suddenly want to know more about their family heritage and all its accretions of anecdote and lore. “What exactly were those stories my dad used to tell about coming to America?” “Where exactly was that farm in the Midwest where my mother grew up?”
Writers are the custodians of memory, and that’s what you must become if you want to leave some kind of record of your life and of the family you were born into. That record can take many shapes. It can be a formal memoir—a careful act of literary construction. Or it can be an informal family history, written to tell your children and your grandchildren about the family they were born into. It can be the oral history that you extract by tape recorder from a parent or a grandparent too old or too sick to do any writing. Or it can be anything else you want it to be: some hybrid mixture of history and reminiscence. Whatever it is, it’s an important kind of writing. Too often memories die with their owner, and too often time surprises us by running out.
Continue reading "How to Write a Memoir - William Zinsser" »
The Rosette Nebula is not the only cosmic cloud of gas and dust to evoke the imagery of flowers - but it is the most famous. At the edge of a large molecular cloud in Monoceros, some 5,000 light years away, the petals of this rose are actually a stellar nursery whose lovely, symmetric shape is sculpted by the winds and radiation from its central cluster of hot young stars.
From New Paradigm Digest: www.newparadigmdigest.com
http://www.thevenusproject.com/
Paradise or Oblivion details the root causes of the systemic value disorders and detrimental symptoms caused by our current established system. This video presentation advocates a new socio-economic system, which is updated to present-day knowledge, featuring the life-long work of Social Engineer, Futurist, Inventor and Industrial Designer Jacque Fresco, which he calls a Resource-Based Economy.
The film details the need to outgrow the dated and inefficient methods of politics, law, business, or any other “establishment” notions of human affairs, and use the methods of science, combined with high technology, to provide for the needs of all the world’s people. It is not based on the opinions of the political and financial elite or on illusionary so-called democracies, but on maintaining a dynamic equilibrium with the planet that could ultimately provide abundance for all people.
Paradise or Oblivion, by The Venus Project, introduces the viewer to a more appropriate value system that would be required to enable this caring and holistic approach to benefit human civilization. This alternative surpasses the need for a monetary-based, controlled, and scarcity-oriented environment, which we find ourselves in today.
*This is NOT the “major motion picture” that The Venus Project is working towards but rather is a 52 min. documentary to introduce the aims and proposals to new people. Paradise or Oblivion will be released in March 2012 and we will post a link to the documentary as soon as it is released.
In the meantime, if you are not familiar with the work of Jacque Fresco and his Venus Project, here is a link to his highly informative newsletter and The Venus Project site. Fresco is one of the most brilliant minds of our time and his visionary proposals make total sense. He just raised funds to hire a screenwriter to develop a feature film that can inform the world that a solution exists to humanity’s challenges. This film cannot arrive too soon. Like Buckminster Fuller before him, the world is fortunate to have his brilliant mind and heart in service to life. NPD will continue to update readers on Jacque’s progress as it means our progress.
Excellent audio files from some of our leading scholars on great myths and stories. Hear James Hillman, Ram Dass, Thomas Moore, Coleman Barks and many others...
http://shop.betterlisten.com/collections/myth-story
About the Featured Audio, The Indigenous People's Message to the World:
About this program: BetterListen! was called in to document on audio, the lectures and cultural music presentations at The First World Conference of Indigenous Peoples in 1992. The result is this award winning program produced by David Ison, endorsed by The United Nations, Starred Review in Publisher's Weekly and now available for the first time in digital format.
"This is our chance to listen to a message from people closely connected to the Earth. The industrial world has put their very existence at stake. Stop and listen to their world!" - Mickey Hart (Author of Drumming at the Edge of Magic and Planet Drum, drummer with the Grateful Dead.)
"This authentic product is a "Who's who of ritual tribal music and ceremony" - Publishers Weekly.
FREE DOWNLOAD AT BETTER LISTEN!
http://shop.betterlisten.com/products/the-educated-heart-by-robert-bly
During this talk, Iron John author Robert Bly gives a delicate and lively view of the fantastic flowering of feeling in 12th Century Provence. The feeling thought, developed from Arabic, Gnostic, and Albigensian sources, blossoms as love poetry famous at that time. In this recording, Bly distinguishes between the literal mode, the psychological mode, and the mythological mode, and locates the “Amor” or ecstatic love in the latter, which led to Sufism among the Arabs. Bly’s recitation of Provencal poetry brings to awareness the terrible loss we suffered when these traditions were uprooted and destroyed.
Continue reading "95 Questions to Help You Find Meaning & Happiness" »
Although NASA covered up the strange photon cloud that's now enveloped the solar system, the word has leaked out from some scientists.
And now, as the ominous cloud approaches it's affecting the sun and planets in measurable ways.
Amazingly, as the bizarre energy invades our space, some of the world's most famous pyramids are generating intense energy.
Several incredible incidents of visible power beams shooting skywards into space towards the region of the alien photonic cloud are well-documented.
At the same time, people around the world began hearing and recording frightening sounds—noises that seem as if the Earth itself is moaning and wailing.
All the phenomena—including measurements of the never-before-seen gigantic electrification of the turbulent sun—seem to be centered on the deadly photonic cloud that some have called a 'potential Doomsday space event.'
Pyramids beam energy to approaching space cloud
Ancient pyramids awake after centuries, millennia of slumber
Tourists screamed, others shot hasty videos with their camera phones as the Mayan pyramid rumbled. But no earthquake followed, instead a brilliant beam of light shot skyward into space as awed onlookers gasped, wondering what it meant.
Continue reading "EARTH MYSTERIES: Are Ancient Pyramids Waking Up?" »
Check your local NPR FM radio station for times.
etown’s mission is to educate, entertain and inspire a diverse audience, through music and conversation, to create a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable world. We’re heard from coast to coast on NPR, commercial, and community stations. Like old-time radio variety shows, every etown show is taped in front of a live audience and features performances from many of today’s top musical artists as well as conversation and information about our communities and our environment.
By Sandra Musser
The Mesoamerican god Quetzalcoatl and his twin brother came into being through virgin birth to the goddess Coatlice. He represents the Morning Star. But, the real story is found hidden...between the lines.
This Mesoamerican deity has been worshiped at least since the time of the Olmecs. Kukulcan or Ququmatz were the Mayan names. Quetzalcoatl (ket-tsul'kwot-ul) was Aztec, for the deity Feathered Serpent. For simplicities sake, I'll use this name throughout, because the Aztecs left us more information. Source: http://www.2012-spiritual-growth-prophecies.com/ Empowering Ways to Find Peace in a World of Chaos
Continue reading "2012: Mayan Prophecies and Quetzalcoatl" »
Assignment: Before reading this essay, think about who you need to forgive, take notes, and decide to forgive them. Write Now! GO!
By Sandra Musser
The healing power of forgiveness is the key to peace, health and happiness.
So what makes forgiveness so powerful? True forgiveness releases a feeling or emotion we consider negative from our psychic through understanding. Many understand the concept of forgiveness, but don’t incorporate true forgiveness into their lives. They say the words, "I forgive you." But are quick to remind the other person of the atrocity they committed when convenient. This is not forgiveness. True forgiveness has no conditions and is complete.
"...see forgiveness as the natural reaction to distress that rests on error, and thus "calls for help." Forgiveness is the only sane response...Unjustified forgiveness is attack. And this is all the world can ever given. It pardons "sinners" sometimes, but remains aware that they have sinned. And so they do not merit the forgiveness that it gives. This is the false forgiveness which the world employs to keep the sense of sin alive...If you can see your brother merits pardon, you have learned forgiveness is your right as much as his...Forgiveness recognized as merited will heal." A Course in Miracles
Source: http://www.2012-spiritual-growth-prophecies.com/
Continue reading "How the Power of Forgiveness Can Heal Your Life" »
From New Paradigm Digest: www.newparadigmdigest.com
In his little treasure of a book. Allan Hollinder, the father of Zenpreneurism, shares his lessons on living a soulful and integrated business and personal life. There are many great business books, but few pack in as much wisdom in 45 pages.
Allan supports readers in redefining what real success means from the accumulation of more and more money to identifying and sharing our authentic soul’s calling as well as our love, compassion and gratitude, attracting and welcoming our experiences, and leaving an honorable footprint on the planet.
As Buddha said “Deeds done in harmony with one’s path of life are those which bring clarity, peace and harmony to the doer”.
Continue reading "Zenpreneurism 3.0: A New Manifesto for Entrepreneurs " »
Photo: Eric Tucker
Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Martha-Becks-Joy-Diet#ixzz1m8TM10If
Excerpt:
Here’s a recap:
Source: www.mindmagicprogram.com
Continue reading "Enlightenment is Just an Inch Away! - Bill Harvey" »
Here are two definitions of "epiphany":
A Book Published by Blurb: See Blurb Bookstore
Full Information at: www.blurb.com
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Learn how to publish a book and much more with our free how-to tips and tutorials or watch our two-minute BookSmart video and see how easy it is to make a coffee table photo book. Be sure to register and subscribe to Blurb emails to get the news first on Blurb events and promo code coupon offers.
From Yahoo Answers:
Before I answer the question directly, I have to comment that some of the same basic spiritual issues that we face today have been faced by seekers many thousands of years ago. So, in a way, our sense that we are at the crest of modernism and breaking new ground for the continuing enlightenment is only partially true. In many ways we may also be so advanced in some areas (such as our scientific and technical understanding of the world around us), that we have become morons on the spiritual plane. A good example of this is that western thinking barely acknowledges the reality of reincarnation. And all of those spiritual influences from the past (and perhaps the future) are at the core of who we are. This mindset (not shared by billons of non-Christian people around the world) thus shuts a major portal to self-knowledge.
So there were cultures and subcultures and people throughout history who really understood some fundamentals much better than we do even in our post-modern existence (and granted they may also have been clueless in other areas). And I have my own personal spin on the Percival legend that I haven't heard from other sources.
Continue reading "Why the Arthurian Legend of the Fisher King is Important Now..." »
Aboriginal Story Telling
Assignment: If you had 15 minutes to write down the 7 most important events of your life, what would they be? Then, choose one and write a short short story about what happened, and how this affected you. When did this happen? Who was involved? How old were you? Where did this take place? How long did this experience last? What blessings came from it? If it was a difficult experience, have you forgiven those involved? Write Now! GO!
Mixbook is the easy and fun way to make completely customizable photo books, cards, and calendars on the web – for free. With Mixbook, you aren’t limited to static pre-designed templates – our powerful design software gives you the freedom to lay out and design your creations to your heart’s content. We’ve dedicated ourselves to bringing you the best experience in creating photo products so that you can make keepsakes that truly reflect your vision. With Mixbook, you can truly Make It Yours™.
Full Information at the MixBook site: www.mixbook.com
Continue reading "Digital Photo Journals and eBooks: Try Mixbook!" »
Cover for "Stay Up Late"
Maira Kalman's art is whimsical, funny, childlike and fairly leaping with gorgeous bright color, as you will see when you visit her website:
A Tour through her magical, sometimes wacko world is guaranteed to brighten your day.
Assignment: Get a box of colored pencils, or some watercolors, and create something delightful in your journal. Paint Now! GO!
In Women Who Run With the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, a Jungian analyst and storyteller, retells a story about a handless maiden. It's a story that seems to me a kind of ideal story for a month in which I'm writing about ways in which a person can sometimes get stuck--hit obstacles--get bewildered. The story is one that I've found beneficial at crucial junctures in my own life, and it’s a story I have at times told in turn to patients or students when it seems that the labor that began so well—the first giddy success of creativity and vitality—has come to a grinding halt.
The story begins when a maiden loses her hands. She really does lose them—her entire hands. They’re cut off. It’s a moment of initiation. A loss of innocence. Her first serious loss. She has these stumps where she used to have hands, and she wanders, grieving, for many years.
Continue reading "The Handless Maiden: A Story for Difficult Times" »
The Journey
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.
~ Mary Oliver ~
(Dream Work)
