The first morsel is to destroy

all evils,

The second morsel is to practice

all good deeds,

The third morsel is to save

all sentient beings --

May we all attain the Path to Buddhahood.

 

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone! I want to begin the New Year with this prayer because it reminds us all to be a giver. Sacred - means worthy of respect. And it is in our modern days of time that food is seen out of respect. In our fridge, if it is a bit rotten, discoloured, wilted or too soft, we tend to trash it. I used to work at a cafe and I couldn't believe how much food was wasted. When food does not sell or when plates came back to us with just a few bites and then in the dump it travels. It bothered me a lot. A lot of energy/conditions involved into producing the food on a plate. I haven't thought of sacred food as much these years but the awareness came back to me as I read the article called "Gift of Food" by Vandana Shiva in a magazine called Resurgence in which agricultural crisis, heath crisis and poverty were discussed. Here is my mini summary of it below.

I learnt about "Annadana" - an Indian word meaning giving of food and how food is sacred. "The giver of food is the giver of life."

True isn’t it? Food creates life. Without food, we would starve and die with hunger pains. And believe me, when we are hungry, we will not be picky about our food and we will eat every piece of it.

It talks about gratitude, “the very possibility of our being alive is based on the lives of all kinds of beings that have gone before us--our parents, the soil, the earthworms--and that is why the giving of food in Indian thought have been treated as everyday sacrifice
that we have to perform.”

Did you know that the poorest villages, when the people use their bread ovens, the first piece of baked bread was given to the cow first then to whoever was in hunger?

Did you know that in this tribal area called Chattisgarh, people make beautiful weave design with rice in a paddy for birds to eat during off season in the rice field?

Did you know that in harvest festival in South India, women often decorate their house with beautiful artwork using rice called Kolam? It is to feed the ants. Yes, you heard it, ants. I understand some of us would be disguised or shock. It is really beautiful if you think about it. It is an offering to life.  It is a good deed. It is because of them that we exist. All beings, insects, soil organisms, earthworms etc gave us the conditions for life, food. They make the soil fertile allowing life to grow on it and creating healthy food.

The big problem is when we decide to take out nature’s role. We used nitrates as fertilizer and poison to keep bugs dead. “When you have the right balance, living organisms never become pests; they all coexist, and none of them destroys your crops.” We genetically modified our food source (GMO). The crops are engineered so the plants release toxins throughout its core. The effect is the birds and insects eat the part of it and die so fewer crops for insects and birds.

People ask: “How can we protect biodiversity if we are to meet growing human needs?

How are we are going to meet growing human needs without protecting biodiversity?

There seems to be surpluses of food in the West but is that really true when you do not calculate labour-displacement, species-displacement, and resource-destroying while only seeing labour-production? It is not cool when we have food as a result of taking it away from others. Are we really creating more food? Is the more “less nutrition, less species, less nourishment, [fewer] farmers? The giving of food is related to the idea that every one of us is born in debt to other beings; our very condition of being born depends on this debt…to the bees and the butterflies that pollinate our crops, to the earthworms and the fungi and the microbes and the bacteria in the soil that are constantly working away to create fertility that our chemical fertilizers can never, never replenish.”

Be like nature, be generous, one seed from nature can produce enough food to feed many people. But with one GMO seed, we are doing the opposite of giving. “It is taking food from the food chain and the web of life.”

What we can do:

1. Support your local organic stores.

2. Waste less food.

3. Be mindful of insects when you walk

4. Help a worm in need when it rains.

5. Provide bird friends some seeds

6. Do not litter.

Want to add more to my list? New suggestions are below.

7. Consider becoming vegetarian and / or vegan.

8. Support your local veggie restaurant.

9. Eat a high proportion of nourishing foods compared to "Junk" foods.

10. Start an organic garden on your own or with friends and family.

11. Take a moment before you eat your food and imagine where it came from before it got to you, and where it go after it leaves you. Then give thanks.

12. Invite friends over and cook for them. Take the opportunity to lovingly share with them how you made the food, the choices and why.

Remember the Degrassi Zit remedy song? "Everybody wants something, they'll never give up." The trend of society today is everybody wanting something and they never give up, a car, a  house,  more clothes, more furniture/decor for the house, to be on top, to be beautiful, to be ageless, to be immortal. When there is so much want, it can be stressful and so there is more hatred, greed, jealousy, violence and crime, suicides and war.

I started reading "Tuesdays with Morrie" and it was really inspiring. The man was dying yet he is quite positive about his situation. He has a disease that slowly cause his body and limbs to break down and lose function on them yet he manage to keep an uplift spirit. He says " It's only horrible if you see it that way...It's horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing. But it's also wonderful because of all the time I get to say goodbye."

Wow! That is wisdom. So perhaps having nothing is something. Because when there is nothing, there is potential to have something but we do not want that something. We want nothing because nothing is that opportunity for change. It  is the opportunity that  allows everything and anything that is possible. For example, if a writer needs to write a story. He needs to start from a blank page or nothing before ideas come and get  recorded. What about homeless people? They have nothing yet they are in so much suffering? The nothing I am referring to means the nothing that comes after your basic necessities of life have been met such as food, shelter, clothing.

Monks and nuns have nothing and they seem perfectly content. But don't they have peace, love? Isn't that something? Great peace and love is the product of having nothing. Nothing = no possession, no fear, no worries, no anger, no jealousy, no greed, no hatred, no attachments...no problems. When we have so much something, it clouds our minds from clarity, wisdom.

Wisdom is like the mirror of a lake. It is crystal clear from surface to the bottom. No residue, no suspended solids. When there are storms, waves and ripples, we can not see through to the bottom and it becomes clouded like when we are too busy at life that we forget about living it. We suffer because we associate life with having many something and we value something as normal and valuable.

Sometimes..actually I think society or norm thinking is nuts. Yes. NUTS! Ya, I said it. I have Big urges to go opposite to it. Hell, perhaps that is the answer!!! Do everything that is opposite of what the majority of the world thinks. Lavish eating = eating simpicity, Big house = cozy place, luxury car = midsize/small or walk/bus,  eating meat = vegetarian/vegan/raw, eating fast food = eating whole food, buying brand clothes = buying warm clothes, having children = no children/adopt/pets,  etc. Well, what if what the majority of the world do is positive, peaceful, loving? Then what will you do with your idea of going opposite to it? I would say there is no problems therefore no need to go opposite to it :)

Something to think about.

What do we see...by the door, on the sofa, on a chair, on a table? Why, it is the one and only doggie cat Flo. Yes, a cat who acts much like a dog! An affectionate loving companion whom is one of my bests of friends. Meet Flo.

Things Flo loves:

*taking walks outside and fresh air.
*displaying her many sleeping positions on the floor, sofa, chair, table, pillow..etc.
*playing fetch with sparkle foam balls. 
*playing ping pong with sparkle balls with the bedroom/bathroom doors.
*playing chase the strings / yard / ribbons.
*drink from the tap when thirsty.
*doing yoga stretches
*cleaning herself

Gotta love Flo:

*staying in the same room with you.
*Cuddle with you part of the night under the blankets.
*Mewls to go outside, if she is ignored, mewls again into your face.
*Do the flop for love and attention - lots of petting and tummy rubs.
*Greeting you outside the shower.

Flo's flavourite Food:

*vegan kibble bits from Evolutions
*can mock duck
*Yves bacon slices
*falafels
*oat grass
* So Nice strawberry soya yogurt

Flo's flavourite drinks:

*water
*coconut milk
*wheat grass

After Flo's arrival, I realized how human cats are. Heck! She is human in a cat body. She is the same like us, capable of love, fear, jealousy, worries, pain and pleasure. Through her I see all kinds of beautiful animals. Her hind legs remind me of bunnies, her ears: pigs, her whiskers: mice, her tail: squirrels, her eyes: owls, her fur: chickens, her gallops: horses, her sit: lions and many more.

She deepens the bond I have with all other animals beings that exist and help me see that they exist not for mankind to use as objects. They are alive, living, have emotions and consciousness, not to our level but it is there. Because we are the stronger ones, we have the duty to take care and protect all other beings that are below us. When we take care of others, we take care of us.

I just wanted to share some of her quirks that made my heart smile.

What makes your heart smile?

Resources below for interest:

Compassion over killing

Peta

Meow foundation

Vegan outreach

The issue of aging came across to me today as a friend phoned me up asking for my opinion. From a third person's point of view, I can only listen and offer a few ideas for her to work with. Her parents are aging and she is struggling on the issue of putting them into a nursing home. It is a tough issue indeed. Her dad needs extra care while her mom is a bit better yet is tired and weak. She applied them for nursing care but she is still not sure about it and wondering if it is a right choice.

What can I say, I just told her to look at both circumstances and weigh it out. Call up the nursing place for an appointment to see the place. We got to know how the environment will fit the individuals. Is it loving, are the staffs helpful, are there many activities plan for the seniors and is it well equiped? Ask if her parents will like it? Her mom prefers going to the nursing home than personal care at home yet she is worried if her mom will regret the decision later.

Another dilema that was brought up was her dad and mom would have to split up in the nursing home because of different care. Why would they do that? It would just isolate them more.  I suggested for her to make many questions about the facilities and provide her parents background information to the nursing place so perhaps knowing the situation, they may allow them to stay in the same or units near each other. Those are hard choices for anyone.

And as for having people over to take care of the parents at home, her mom has a fear of opening doors to strangers and worrys about not being at home if the personal care assistant was on duty.

Complex hey? Aging issue is so difficult. We all do not want to age in a way that others have to take care of us. There is a certain debt we do not want to owe. I certainly do not have a problem with aging but it is the health issue of aging that makes things a bit more messy. Before I turned vegetarian, I saw how it is a struggle to have a number of different kind of pills to take and just time managing them for intake can be a drag. It makes my heart very heavy to see my grandma having to take all those artificial chemicals drugs into body just so she feels better. She still tells me that there are side effects yet she has to take them because the benefits out weigh the negative effects. One thing about high pressure pill is that once we start taking them to reduce hypertension, it is likely to be taken for a long time.

Perhaps eating a healthy and balance diet with less or no meat will be helpful although seniors tend to eat less and so in total, there is not enough variety in their diet. My grandma has her own philosophy of eating so she often tend to ignore information that is suggested to her. Her friends seems more credible than me.

I guess in a way, one of reasons I became a vegan is to make myself credible and hopefully allow myself as an example of health for others. In addition, I don't want to be taking millions of pills in my life. It's just no fun. That is why it is so important to take care of our body. When the body is healthy and balance, the mind is healthy and balance. We need both to succeed. 

All beginnings are difficult but we must take a chance. A very important chance because the outcome is good health for ourselves. I remember that when I first started, there were many comments or stress from family members, especially on my facial complexion such as "you look green and yellow, its not a healthy diet". I would feel like an outcast because I had to eat from my own plate while others can mix and match. It seem to be a problem for them than me. I was sticky bubble gum, I stick with it because my stubborness nature. After a couple of years, the remarks vanished completely and my grandma would even cook me many yummy vegan dinners each time I come to visit. So, change is possible, it is just a matter of time and stubborness :P

My time to reflect. A task that is vital to the sanity of our lives. Life can get very tiring and time can seems to be at a constant race when we go go go and do not bother to slow down and look around us. Beauties lies everywhere, the trees, the sky, the singing of the birds, the sun, the joy and freedom we have in health. Our legs allow us to walk, our eyes allow us to see, our wonders and curiousity to discover and play. The freedom of choice, freedom of religion/beliefs and the diversity of having different qualities and interests. Sameness is quite dull at times because there is no stimulus for growth. Although sameness can provide conditions for discipline and stillness, we also need to do it with balance. I think we need the variety to learn and grow. The comparison helps us see and learn beyond our senses and images.

I remembered when I was working at this cafe during university, I was once commented by a tall girl "you are short". It wasn't an issult, she just said it as the thought occured in her mind. It was spotanteous but I replied back " I am short because you are tall." She was puzzled but I explained that because she view herself  as tall when she compared herself to me, I became short. Relatively speaking, we are more than what words tell us. We are more than what the world tell us, what traditions tell us, what culture tell us etc. Words come from our senses and judgement. When things come from the mind of self, it is from ego. Mother Teresa said "when we judge, we have no time to love." As our time is taken by the thought of self first and others second. We lose sight of the truth, what Eckhart Tolle calls "the power of now." The opportunity to make peace, to be compassionate, to be playful and spontaneous and to love others as ourselves. They are ourselves because life works like a mirror. What we reflect will reflect back in time. Be mindful yet have fun in the process.

Yesterday's weather was beautiful in Calgary. We are in the middle of January month and snow is still very low and the air is quite warm. Not in the freezing minus degrees of twenties or thirties. The great conditions brought Ryan and myself to step out of the house. Our kitty asks every morning to go out for a breath. I understand her wanting. The fresh air awakens us all, allows us to reflect and pause on the wonders of the time in stillness, spaces for nothingness and peace of mind.

We also made time to go see "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." I highly recommend it if fantasy and adventure delights you. It is a fantasy film fill with magic, the wonders / curiousity of discovery, the concept of family, forgiveness, mortality and goodness. I love that the main characters were children because sometimes we forget about the wonders of childhood and the goodness, and honesty that we all possess.  The special effects were remarkable! The great battle scene, talking lions, and animals,  it is so realistic that you fall in love with them seeing a part of  ourselves in them. There is not a dull moment, the movie moves at a good pace.  Safe for children to go and see because there are no gory scenes. Humour and playfulness are also illustrated too. If you haven't seen it, check it out. It is a fun movie for all ages. A thought provocating movie as it allows all the good things presented in the movie to linger in our consciousness. Well, that's how I feel about it. What's yours?

Life is a bustling energetic busy bee. We come and go from this place to that place, we rush to work, rush to eat, rush to play, rush to rest. Well, we don't get much actual rest times. Some people are so good at juggling their activities while others are in such disarrayed that the slightest noise can break them into a headache or irritability. Stress really can weigh us heavily and our "field energies" can bounce off and effect others as well as ourselves.

Yesterday, I forgot to bring an utensil for my supper at work and knowing I had arrived early enough, I went around the building hunting for a plastic fork.  The experience was journey in itself. My first arrival was a sandwich deli. There should be some in there I assumed. The man questioned my question on the availability of forks, gave me a strange look and said "goodbye" ignoring my every existence. Okay, I shuffled across the long hallway pass a convenience store. I didn't bother to go in, if they had utensils, I would have had to buy it in packages so I continued on my way upstairs to the fourth floor cafeteria. I asked again, the lady stared bright eyes as though I am asking for sushi or a fishing boat. I repeated my question again and she said "Twenty-five cents". I walked over and pay for it but in the back of my mind, it is interesting to notice people's edgy and crankiness just for a plastic fork.

I guess, in the past, I would have let out steam but I guess I mellow out as the years gone by. If we look at it from a bird's eye point of view, it is just a speck..if we look at it from a satellite from space, we can't even locate it. There are so many people out there, and just because they are irritable does not mean I have to be in that state. Freedom is choice and some choices give us freedom and peace of mind and others give us frustrations, anger and suffering. What would you choose?

From an episode of the 70"s show, Jackie learns about dealing with prickly people (laurie). Hide tells Jackie, "We have to be zen." When Jackie questions about it, he says, the strategy is to be "aloof, be zen." Hides gets Jackie to insult him and he illustrates his zen to her. No matter what people say to push our boundaries, we are zen about it and response with "whatever", "that's cool" and be ambiguous. Of course, the humorous part of this episode is that Jackie takes the journey into zen, loses it, beats up the other girl in a cat fight and repeats "Whatever, that's cool". We got to give her credit for trying the zen path. It was a blast to watch because some part in me wanted to copy her actions and kick ass but then that is TV. Full drama, full emotions, full actions and full of false sub-conscious beliefs and identities.

Usually, we can sense our stress, fatigue, nervous, crappy shrewish self. So if we can sense when it comes, we can resolve it at that moment. For me, meditating or looking at Buddha statues can bring peace. The Buddha statues does not fuss or care about my glaze, it stares back happily. I look again and it seems to be welcoming me with his grin. The Buddha statues seem to have a healing magic that completely sooth my worries, tensions, and fears away. The face full of serenity and equanimity that I can't help but smile and enjoy the Buddha's smile reflected back.  There is something in that smile that I noticed, it has a sense of mysterious qualities making me wonder as though it knows something we do not and if we want to know, we have to discover it ourselves.

A smile that is not full yet not small but a tad rising up at the rim. And at certain times when I see Buddha statues such as on retreats, I swear that the Buddha statues appears to be returning my smiles and watching me with protection . The Buddha statues are tools of reminder and guide. Sticky notes that suggest a consciousness of high position that keeps us on track of the path towards mindfulness until enlightenment. The Buddha statues are the reflections of all the Buddhas' beauties: compassion, peace of mind, creativity, imagination, concentration, wisdom, humour, playfulness, light-heartedness, and wondrous joy that is within all of us. They are one of our many teachers that allow the infinite extension of space within us to input as little or as big as positive or as negative as the world universes. Whatever our mind consist of, whatever it creates;  becomes into reality, it becomes our nature, our habits, and our personalities. The mind reflects from the heart and the heart reflects on the mind. A cycle of karmic energies flowing from one state to another. Isn't it better to hammer away ill - temper, anger, hostility, hatred, greed, jealousy, ill-will etc..? What kind and how many footprints do we want to leave in our sub-conscious?

"The great path has no gates,
Thousands of roads enter it.
When one passes through this gateless gate
He walks freely between heaven and earth."

You and me. He and She. Him and her. They and them. We are all different including our personalities and our experiences so our paths to enlightenment will be specially unique to us. What works for us may or may not work for others but it is great to share that knowledge and expand our horizons and get a taste of what we have not experience and learn from it. This weekend, I went on a Shambhala workshop training. Workshops that dealt with mind development and awareness to bring out the hidden treasures of our true self out into the world.

Level I: The Art of Being Human
Discovering basic goodness in the world and ourselves.

There were 17 of us in a yoga studio room with little rugs and cushions lined up in rows. The practitioners did a day and 1/2 of walking meditation, sitting meditation and Dharma talks with tea breaks in between. It was the push I needed to get out into the community and be involve and to work with my spiritual practice both internally and externally. It was a great feeling to return to meditation, any kind. The training gave me an opportunity to practice a different kind of meditation. The "Now" meditation, one that works from outside to inside bringing out our hidden treasures of our true self out into our everyday life. The meditations were on working with staying in the Present Moment of Now.

The distractions, sounds, sights outside the meditators are part of the tool for meditation. We included it instead of excluding them while in meditation. Ahh...it all makes sense now. I was wondering about the sudden "jolts" I get when I meditate..my area of focus was restricted. I was too focus on mental and body sensories that any sudden sounds or distractions from outside sends a quick state of fear and nervousness in me when the distractions projects into my ears such as the phone ringing or kitty meowing, or a sudden voice. It is incredible that just a change in mental state or preparation can eliminate that problem.

The technique is to focus 75% on the entire space around and 25% on the out breaths. We are reminded that the present moment of reality is found between breath in and breath out. For instance, when we are learning to ride a bike, falling is a must in order to learn but learning comes when we get back on the bike. Meditating is the same, if we get off track and get into scenarios, thoughts, la la land, we have to get back to our present moment of the practice. Breathing out was emphasized a great deal because breath afterall is life, no breathe, no life. If we want to sustain our well being, life, our planet, the breath of love, compassion, basic goodness, joy..equanimity and peace are our tools but so are the opposites to those qualities.

Slow Down and Open Up. Be pull by the Eastern Sun, let the beauties of nature and wisdom guide our battles with the knots of Nervousness, shyness, fears, worries in our system. They block us from genuine dialogue with others through work, play, and daily life producing artificial interactions and relationships but we need them. They are clever and they will make many many excuses convincing us to follow along their course but we need them. Do we repel discomfort and suffering? YES. But are they our friends? Yes. WhAT?

Here is why: in order to know comfort, we need discomfort. Long needs short, Day needs night, Up needs down, cold - hot, thick - thin, hatred reflects compassion and love, while suffering, we see peace, they need us and we need them, I need U, You need Me, We need Everyone, and Everyone needs Someone or Something in order to be inspired, exchange understanding and grow. Like the Shambhala instructor said, " there is a seed of truth and wisdom in all negative circumstances and knots. They exist for a reason. What reason, it is up to you to find out.

Interested? Here are some info: Shambhala centre

I watched my cat with curiosity as she was aroused by her curiosity of the water flow from the tap onto the bathroom sink. The sight of the clear organic liquid and the sounds of splashes and running rivers in a modern day sink kept her interest for about 5 minutes! That is a lot for a cat! Usually, she would drink up and jump off the counter but yesterday, she was filled with curiosity. She gawked at the water until her head tilted to the side looking at it with intense interest. After a long while, she even sat down in the convenience of the counter for comfort. It was a moment and sight that I had to pause and look. A Kodak moment you can say.

A click and snapped! The picture of her curiosity was impressed within me and I thought of curiosity. The element that moves us motivates us, and pushes us further into development, change, challenges and wisdom. Curiosity allows us to try new things, take risks, try different experiences and grow Grow GRow GROw GROW into the person we are now. Doesn't curiosity kill the cat? Not likely, unless the things of curiosity can cause harm such as a vacuum cleaner, the toilet, the heated stove, some dogs...etc.

Animals are intelligent beings, the difference in view is clarity.  To see clarity, we open our mind’s eyes. Our mind's eyes can give us much information, not just the appearance of image, but the colour, the texture, the dimension, the flavour, the feel, the taste, the foreground, the middle ground and the background if we observe deeply. To get the full picture, we have to look left, right, up and down, inside, outside and all around. This viewpoint widen so the picture becomes more clear. There are many layers of informations among other informations and illusions with our sight that we often do not see if we don't dig deeper enough. For instance, If we want to see a bottom of a lake, we have to wait until the water settles and calms because the suspended solids, the ripples; waves will blur our true sight.

All creatures have curiosity and wisdom; their curiosity and wisdom might be different from us, it might be use for a different purpose but it is there. If given the opportunity and freedom, they too can probably act with the same or greater curiosity and wisdom as my cat. Would I eat my cat? What!!! Of course, the response is NO and Never. Why?? She is my pet, my family, my friend, my teacher, my way of life and an important individual being that I value greatly.

What makes some animals pets and some food? Is it habits, taste buds, lifestyle, society, culture, majority of trend patterns that guides us? Why are there a need for commercials for meat purchase? Why are meat presented in nice packages? Why is it presented in chunks, pieces, and slices instead of the whole animal? What are there no cameras in slaughterhouses? Why do animals run in cages? Why does Chicken peck each other? Why do pigs chew each others tail? Why do dairy cows only live aprox. 4 yrs compared to 20 years naturally? Why do cows produce milk? Do animals feel pain? Do they cry, yelp, scream, kick, run, and push to free themselves from the cut of suffering and death? Will we act and do the same in the same circumstances?  

Curiosity is the drive and the tools for sharpening great skills, knowledge and wisdom. True, there are risks in curiosity but the benefits most certainly out weigh the negatives don't you agree? It is nice if our lives run as smooth as running water but it is the ripples, waves, and storms that make it more interesting and more meaningful. Flo thinks so too.

Resources:

Vegetarianism Bodhipaksa

The Dreaded Comparison: Human and Animal Slavery

Fish Intelligence

Meat Market

Inherited Dysfunction  

I just picked up Eckhart Tolle's book " A New Earth" at the library. I love it. I haven't finished reading it nor have I got to the middle of the book nor near the end..just on page 28 but I know I liked it already. He is very very very knowledgable and wise. He can take complexity and explain it with simplicity to encourage understanding. He talks about our inherited dysfunction of man and the universal truth that is presented in different teachings. In Buddhism, it is called dukkha, a word meaning "sufferings, unsatisfactoriness". In Hinduism, it is called Maya. This reminds me of the animation I watched about the Buddha's life..during the event when the Buddha was under the Bodhi tree before his enlightenment, he had to face Maya to move forward. Maya formed into beautiful girls to tempt him but he transformed them into falling flowers. That is where Maya came from! In Christianity, it is the original sin. Sin came from Greek meaning to miss the mark as "an archer misses the target" or missing the point of why we are here. It is neat to see the connections!  

Man's Madness  

He went on talking about the destruction of this inherited dysfunction and how it connects to the violence, warfare, and destructive abilities of man and how technology and science magnified the destructive impact of that dysfunction of the "human mind" on the planet, life - species and man himself. Alan Watts also talked about this with his "push of a button", how science and technology have growth to such a capacity that with one push, half or the whole planet can be destroyed in an instant. As I read each sentences, my thinking mind agrees. He talks about "collective manifestations" of that dyfunction is presented by our consciousness. I recall reading the same thing in a Buddhist book by Master Chin Kung as he said that the enivironment reflects our state of mind. Is it the fear and desire of man? How can we dissolve this? Be a good person? But we can not really try to be good, it's just too fake and really does not work. We end up being frustrated and unsatisfied because we can not live up to our image of "good" and eventually pick up habits of self loathe. What then? Eckhart Tolle says, there needs to be shift in consciousness in order for success to take place. "You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge." In Buddhism, the Buddha called this "Buddha nature, inner wisdom, Bodhi, basic goodness..etc". The transformation is called "Enlightenment" or "the ending of sufferings" in Buddhism, it is called "Salvation" in Christianity and liberation or awakening.   

Flowering of consciousness  

The inherited dysfunction arises from the "I" of self..an illusion of the self. One wants more this and that, power and land...rich and popularity. There is friction/tension against each other, my is better..my belief, my way of life is right while yours is wrong. It is the same with religion. Eckhart Tolle says we mistaken thoughts for truth. "They equate truth with thought (their mind), they claim to be in sole possession of the truth in an unconscious attempt to protect their identity".  At this rate of inherited dysfunction, the self-destructive button is a very close call. Our species are going into exinction, our climate in chaos with weird weathers, our forests in patches, our food full of chemicals..etc. It is now the time to face our choices for change- there is a need for conscious thought, speech, and actions. "What world do I want to create? If the structures of the human mind remains unchanged, we will always end up re -creating fundamentally the same world, the same evils, the same dysfunction."  

Glimpse of our Beauty inside  

Wonder why nature is so peaceful? Why people go camping, go hiking in the woods/mountains? Why outside is so refreshing? The cool breeze, the refreshing rain, the warm sun, the beautiful sky, the beautiful patterns of nature, the snow, the lakes, the trees, the plants, the flowers, the grasses, the organic and inorganic shapes, the lines, the textures, the colours, the scent. It is on page 26 that I find out why I can be at one with nature...why I love to look at fishes swimming in the water for hours and hours or watching my cat eat, sleep or play or why I used to collect rocks in the rain. They are the "Source of life out of which it came!" They are the ones that show you the way back to "God, the souce, to yourself," your inner Buddha. It is so exciting to connect the dots and be refresh again by new discoveries!