To summarize, while he was in medical school, he would go to the animal shelters, adopt cats, treat them as pets in his home for a while, then take them into the lab to perform fatal experiments on them. He justifies his acts by saying that they were in the name of medicine and science. He glosses over it by referring to all of this as something he did in the past, as though the decisions we make in the past don't form who we are now. Even worse, according to this article, Frist recently said something "about the power he felt when holding the last beats of a dog's heart in his hand."
The article says that, "To his credit, the future senator wrote that it was a "heinous and dishonest thing to do."" However, what he is referring to is the adopting of the cats as pets (animal shelters won't knowingly allow someone to "adopt" an animal if it is for "scientific research"), NOT to what he did to the cats in the laboratory.
When I look at my cats—their trust, their intelligence, their patience, their love—I can't imagine how any human being could take such a creature and deliberately subject them to pain, suffering, and death. And isn't this one of the warning signs of a psychopathic personality, that he tortures small animals for pleasure? Hiding behind science doesn't work when he has already made RECENT statements such as that about the power he felt when holding a dog's dying heart in his hands.
]]>The simplest answer is, just try it, and see if anything comes to you. I believe that channeling is actually just another form of communication, a form that we all must learn eventually. You might as well start practicing now.
But before you start, ask for spiritual contacts and guidance. When you do so, specify that you only want contact with the very highest, most worthy and loving spirits possible (because there are evil spirits out there, and I am sure you don’t want contact with them!). If there is a human being you trust that you can ask for advice and guidance, then that is also wise to do, though, as always, I caution you to be your own authority, and to listen to what is in your heart. No matter who someone is, if what he or she says doesn't feel right or sound right to you, then trust your own instincts and intuition and do what you feel is right instead.
Then, to try your hand at channeling, it is probably easiest to start by asking for guidance on or answers to some specific questions or issues you have. Set aside some time when you are rested and won’t be disturbed. Make yourself comfortable and relaxed (though, contrary to popular fiction, a darkened room and incense are not required), have some paper and a pencil handy (or some kind of sound recording equipment), and ask your first question. I don’t recommend using a computer to record your questions and answers because, in my own experience, the process of typing interferes to a small extent with the ability to listen to the information coming through.
After you ask your question, listen internally for any kind of answer or response. It might come as words, images, tastes, sounds, or just a “knowing” or sudden presence of information that wasn’t there before. Whatever the answer, spend a bit of time with the answer, exploring it, thinking about it, and perhaps asking further questions of it, to see if more information comes through, then record the answer either by taking notes on paper or recording it by voice. If you are very brave and feel lead to do so, you can speak your question aloud, then speak the answer as or right after you receive it.
It is actually a good sign if the information feels like it is coming from a source that is not you. It is also a very good sign if the information source feels warm, loving, and vast.
Don’t spend too much time on one question, though. Keep asking. Stop when you are tired. Try it again when you are rested.
Initially, you may not get any answers, or they may be short or unclear. Don’t worry about it. In this case, practice is a very good thing. Just keep practicing. You will get better at it.
]]>The simplest answer is that you know it when it is true—when real information comes through, it has a feeling of truth to it. But it isn’t that simple. In order to be able to know it, there are a number of personal qualities that need to be in place.
If you feel you have these traits, then you are mostly there!
Next, it is important to ask for spiritual contacts and guidance, and to specify when you ask that you only want contact with the very highest, most worthy and loving spirits possible (because there are evil spirits out there, and I am sure you don’t want contact with them!). If there is a human being you trust that you can ask for advice and guidance, then that is also wise to do, though, as always, I caution you to be your own authority, and to listen to what is in your heart. No matter who someone is, if what he or she says doesn't feel right or sound right to you, then trust your own instincts and intuition and do what you feel is right instead.
I know this is a really short piece, but it encapsulates a lot of thinking I’ve done on this topic.
]]>For those of you who shy away from poetry, or find it hard to follow: The first stanza is being said to Terence, the poet, by his friends, complaining that they think his poetry is stupid and useless and depressing.
"Come," they say, "make poems that are lively."
The rest of the poem is Terence's reply, explaining why he thinks poetry—his style of poetry, at any rate—is worth the writing and the hearing.
"If you want lively stuff, drink," he says. "While you are drunk, all will be well with the world. But it won't last, and when you are sober again, the world will be as it always has been. If you want to understand the world better, turn to poetry. It might even enable you to survive longer." Thus, the gist of his message, which ends on a thoughtful note. But a plain summary like this cannot convey the humor of this poem. Read! Laugh! Enjoy!
(Also note that "victuals," which means food, is pronounced "vittles," rhyming with skittles.)
]]> Terence, This is Stupid Stuffby A. E. Housman (1859-1936)
"Terence, this is stupid stuff:
You eat your victuals fast enough;
There can't be much amiss, 'tis clear,
To see the rate you drink your beer.
But oh, good Lord, the verse you make,
It gives a chap the belly-ache.
The cow, the old cow, she is dead;
It sleeps well, the horned head:
We poor lads, 'tis our turn now
To hear such tunes as killed the cow.
Pretty friendship 'tis to rhyme
Your friends to death before their time
Moping, melancholy, mad:
Come, pipe a tune to dance to, lad."
Why, if 'tis dancing you would be
There's brisker pipes than poetry.
Say, for what were hopyards meant,
Or why was Burton built on Trent?
Oh, many a peer of England brews
Livelier liquor than the Muse,
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God's ways to man.
Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink
For fellows whom it hurts to think:
Look into the pewter pot
To see the world as the world's not.
And faith, 'tis pleasant till 'tis past:
The mischief is that 'twill not last.
Oh I have been to Ludlow fair
And left my necktie god knows where,
And carried half-way home, or near,
Pints and quarts of Ludlow beer:
Then the world seemed none so bad,
And I myself a sterling lad;
And down in lovely muck I've lain,
Happy, 'til I woke again.
Then I saw the morning sky:
Heigho, the tale was all a lie;
The world, it was the old world yet,
I was I, my things were wet,
And nothing now remained to do
But begin the game anew.
Therefore, since the world has still
Much good, but much less good than ill,
And while the sun and moon endure
Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure,
I'd face it as a wise man would,
And train for ill and not for good.
'Tis true, the stuff I bring for sale
Is not so brisk a brew as ale:
Out of a stem that scored the hand
I wrung it in a weary land.
But take it: if the smack is sour,
The better for the embittered hour;
It should do good to heart and head
When your soul is in my soul's stead;
And I will friend you, if I may,
In the dark and cloudy day.
There was a king reigned in the East:
There, when kings will sit to feast,
They get their fill before they think
With poisoned meat and poisoned drink.
He gathered all that springs to birth
From the many-venomed earth;
First a little, thence to more,
He sampled all her killing store;
And easy, smiling, seasoned sound,
Sate the king when healths went round.
They put arsenic in his meat
And stared aghast to watch him eat;
They poured strychnine in his cup
And shook to see him drink it up:
They shook, they stared as white's their shirt:
Them it was their poison hurt.
I tell the tale that I heard told.
Mithridates, he died old.
Apparently, however, Philips thought it was a good idea, and ran with it.
I am so glad that I disconnnected myself from the time sink that is television ten years ago. I've never regretted it, and I strongly encourage others to experiment with removing it from their lives.
For those of you who are wondering, yes, I do now own a television set, but it isn't receive any kind of cable or broadcasts; it is strictly for watching DVDs. But whether you watch television or not isn't the point. The point is that, if you do choose to watch it, you are entitled to watch what you want, and to skip or avoid that which you do not want. When companies begin to think that they own you—that you must either be forced to watch commercials or pay to be able to skip them when fast-forwarding on a recording you have made—then something is seriously out of balance here. In fact, if you are like most Americans and have cable service, you have already paid to watch anything you receive on your television. So, since you have already paid, why should you pay again for the privilege of not watching something?
(I will abbreviate my bootless rant on how cable television was promoted, back when it was first gaining strength, as a way to watch television that was free of commercials. Petitions were circulating asking the good, kind voters to permit cable television to come into the Santa Clara area back in the late 1960s/early 1970s, and that was the claim, right there in black and white: Cable television will not have commericals. Period. Hah, I say.)
If you want to do something about this, visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Web site, join them, donate to them, write to your legislators, or do all three. Don't just sit there and complain later when you find yourself paying twice for advertising you never wanted to see once.
While on the subject of personal freedoms, take a look at this guy's Web log. I like how he thinks.
]]>All the teas are attractively packaged in sturdy, re-usable tea tins. I've tried almost all of them now and they are all delicious. On behalf of micro-entrepeneurs and woman business owners everywhere, thank you!
]]>Sure, some people abuse their rights and privileges, but as soon as you make something illegal because some people abuse their rights, you are on the way to a police state in which no one has rights and no one is free.
]]>I took the photos at the Los Angeles Radio Reading Service's broadcast site. The Los Angeles Radio Reading Service (LARRS) is a non-profit service for those who are blind or print-impaired in Los Angeles County. Every year, LARRS provides a professional audio description and commentary of the Tournament of Roses Rose Parade. This year, despite extremely adverse weather conditions, they did their usual top-notch job, whose professionalism rivals any other broadcast. You can't tell from their broadcast that they are working on a shoestring budget under a tiny canopy that barely protects the broadcasters and their equipment from the weather.
I have known the LARRS project director, Jolie Mason, since our days in college together (too many years ago to mention). She is determined and resourceful, and is doing everything she can to make LARRS a success. One of her current projects is to create a top-notch, professional sound recording studio, which LARRS can use for their own needs and also rent out to help pay their costs. In other words, instead of having to rely solely on donations, with the completion of this studio, LARRS can start to become self-sustaining. If you can help in any way; in particular, if you can donate any money to help complete the studio, please contact them. If you speak with Jolie, and you have a high chance of doing so, say that Marina sent you. :-)
]]>I once met a woman, a tarot reader, with whom I spent some time getting acquainted. I liked her a lot and I hoped she would be a new friend. Then one day we were talking about friendship and what it meant to us, and I said that I wanted friends who were honest, reasonably self-aware, able to admit to their mistakes, and who had a good sense of humor. She turned to me and said--and I will never forget this, because it astounded me so much--"You ask a lot of your friends." I didn't know what to say.
Needless to say, I stopped seeking her out after that. In saying to me that I was "asking a lot," she was saying that she felt that honesty, self-awareness, the ability to admit mistakes, and a sense of humor were all beyond anything one could reasonably ask of, well, at least of her. Fine, fine. We all have the right to set our own standards for our relationships. But with that attitude, she surely wasn't going to be someone I would want around. I mean--what? I should accept someone, trust someone, who is already self-declared as dishonest, self-obtuse, unable to apologize, and has no sense of humor? No thanks.
]]> Honesty Permeates EverythingHonesty permeates everything. Some people might call it the Truth, with a capital T. Ingrid Katal says that "truth is simple; everything else is complicated," and I wholeheartedly agree with her. Although I have not been completely honest myself my entire life, I have rarely strayed from the truth, and the habit of honesty is deeply ingrained.
One thing that I am particularly proud of is the fact that I have never lied to my daughter. This was a personal commitment I made to myself and to her before she was born, and one that I have never found difficult to carry through. I believe that the wonderful person she has turned out to be is due in part to the fact that I have always loved her fiercely and deeply and that I have, among other things, not lied to her. (Though this is the thing I am most proud of, in fact I am at a dsiadvantage when it comes to lying. I've never felt comfortable doing it the very few times I have. My transgressions fell mostly in the area of long ago calling in sick to work when I didn't feel I was truly sick enough to stay home; after a few times of trying that out, I decided to just be honest and tell my boss that I was taking a sick day even though I wasn't sick. Since I am a dedicated and valuable worker, this was acceptable to my managers and to me.)
But this discussion isn't about myself, except by way of example. It is instead about honesty (and the truth) and why it is so important.
Why is honesty so important? I recall how horrified I was in the mid-1980s when a male co-worker, who was a heavy user of personal ads as a way to find dates, said that it bothered him not in the slightest when he found out he had been lied to. "How," I asked him, "could you know that you were dealing with the real person if they are dishonest?" (It was only many years later that I realized that he was basically just looking for sexual partners, so he really didn't care because even their names didn't really matter to him, and he definitely didn't plan anything long term anyway. But still the question stands. Why would you want to be with someone even temporarily if they have lied to you?)
For example, if someone says that she loves the great outdoors, and you do too, and you take her camping, but it turns out that she loathes all things outdoorsy, then what? Especially, if she doesn't admit it, but instead takes it out on you by being cranky (or worse)? And in fact I have seen relationships based upon just this sort of deception, where the woman would say whatever she thought her lover wanted her to say, so that he would stay with her or even marry her. The truth always ended up coming out and wreaking havoc.
Why on earth would someone want to marry a man when she knows that he is marrying a lie and not who she really is? All his interactions with her are based on lies. He is at a disadvantage because he doesn't know that he is interacting with a lie, a mask she has fabricated and thrust between the two of them. He is not in fact interacting with the real her, and, while he may have a sense of uneasiness or of something not being quite right, he probably does not know what the problem truly is. She knows, but she feels guilty and dirty, if she is admitting the lie to herself at all, and hasn't gone into denial about it. Though she knew it was a lie when she told it.
Denial is just a way of lying to yourself. And the longer you allow the deception to carry on, the harder it is going to be to rectify it without major ramifications--and, in all likelihood, unless the man is a saint and loves you beyond reason, one of the ramifications is going to be the end of the relationship. (Mind you, I am not talking about one lie, told in a moment of weakness, which you regret and confess to. Anyone can do this, and should be allowed a second chance. I am talking about a habitual kind of lying.)
Of course, some men are deceivers and liars too, don't get me wrong--and probably just as many men as women.
One big problem with lying is that people start to doubt you. Once they know that you have lied, and especially once they know you have lied more than once, and especially if there was no justification for that lie (such as saving someone's life by lying to a criminal, though even then there is room for doubt as to whether that is the best course), but instead that you were lying to boast, or to boost your ego, or to (you think) look good in someone's eyes, or just because the lie sounded better in your own ears than what you see as the mundane truth, then people will start to discount everything you say. They may never say anything to you directly--after all, you have shown that you are less than trustworthy--but they will certainly be discussing it among themselves, and making decisions about whether they even want to continue to associate with you. If they do continue, and you should be thankful if they do, because it means they are kindly giving you a chance to rectify your ways, you can bet they aren't going to share everything with you. You will be on the outer edges, the periphery, and not in their closest circles. Unless, of course, they are liars themselves, in which case they still won't trust you, but they may be your closest "friends" (on the principle that birds of a feather flock together).
Another problem with lying is that it is much harder to regain a person's trust once you have lost it. And if you don't think that is such a big thing now, wait until someone who really matters to you puts some distance between you and them when they find out you have lied to them on a regular basis. No matter how much you beg or plead, a person can't--and shouldn't--set aside their knowledge that you have fundamentally broken a trust between you. And depending on the severity of the break, it is possible that you may never be in that person's life again in any significant way. Ever.
And yes, for those men who are wondering, cheating on your spouse is dishonest. If you really must have sex with another woman, have the decency to end your current relationship before skying off to the next. If you just want sex, have the decency not to get involved with women who want more. There are plenty of women out there who just want sex too--find them. You may not like them, but do you really care? That's what comes with the territory--when people are at the emotional, mental, and spiritual development level where they are having sex with whoever just for the sake of having sex, it is unlikely that either of you will be around long enough to notice, let alone care, what kind of person they are.
Perhaps the biggest problem with dishonesty is not how it affects those around you. The biggest problem lies basically at your own core. When you lie, and then lie again, or lie to perpetuate a lie, each lie forms a little path inside your soul and brain, a path that can become bigger if you don't nip the action in the bud. And the bigger the path grows, the easier it is to lie, and so you lie more, in more areas of your life. Eventually, you start lying to yourself. Some people call this denial, and yes, denial is a form of dishonesty. A particularly insidious one at that, because what denial is at the very core is you lying to yourself--you telling yourself that some piece of reality is other than what it really is. And in that much, you have divested yourself of a true perception of reality. The more you lie to yourself, the more denial you go into, and therefore the less of the truth--of reality--you see.
Basically, if insanity is defined as not being aware of what reality is, then in lying to yourself you are not only going insane, but you are deliberately choosing to go insane rather than face reality. You are choosing to diminish your capacity to see what is really there, and, while you are at it, to distinguish right from wrong.
My words until now have been pretty blunt. I hope I have convinced some of you who are less than truthful to at least take a look at that aspect of your behavior and reconsider it. But now, with some gentleness, I want to take a look at some of the reasons for lying.
Fundamentally, a person lies because they are afraid. Think about it. If you weren't afraid of telling the truth, you would tell the truth, right? So if you are afraid of telling the truth, then perhaps it is time to take a look at yourself and your life situation and see what needs to change so that you are no longer afraid of lying.
Perhaps your spouse or partner is abusive to you--mentally, emotionally, sexually, or even physically--and the only way you can avoid harm is to lie to him or her. Perhaps, worse yet, they are harming your children. Of course, you should get out of that situation. I know it is hard, and I know that if you are in such a situation, you probably think you don't deserve better, or that the person you are with will change, or he/she doesn't mean it, or they will get better if only you do something differently.
Since I picked on women in my earlier example, I will use males as examples of abusive partners (since the majority of abusers are male anyway). Let's say that your partner is abusing you, but he periodically claims he will try to improve, and he even shows signs of improving for a short while before he goes back to beating you or making you feel small. You may think he will get better, but statistics and common sense say otherwise. Think about it. Only one of two things are possible. Either he has control over his abusive actions, in which case, since he is being abusive, the fact is that he enjoys it (and hence he will continue doing it), or he has no control over his actions, in which case it doesn't matter what he says, he is never going to change because he has deep-seated problems driving him. Some tiny percentage of men are abusive because they don't know any different--that tiny percentage of men is teachable, and it might even be possible to save a relationship with such a man. But he is rare, honey, very rare, so don't count on it. If you or your children (or both) are in danger (and if you are being abused in any way, you are in danger), then run away and find help. There are shelters for women and their children who are being abused. Find them. They can help you find your lost self-esteem and get you back on your feet and help you become stronger and more able to take care of yourself. If you are with an abuser because you don't think you can take care of yourself, know that that is a lie you have somewhere along the way come to believe about yourself, a lie that can be exposed.
But what if you aren't in that kind of situation? What if you are in perfectly normal situations, and yet you find yourself lying a lot? You might call it "stretching the truth" or "telling stories," and you may even think that, if you call your lies "stories," at least in your own head, that you are excused, because after all, fiction is acceptable even though it is "telling stories" and therefore a kind of lie. But the difference between fiction and lies is that, with fiction, everyone knows it is fiction and everyone understands it as such and as entertainment.
But if you tell an amusing but untrue anecdote about something you did to a sibling, for example, and you represent that anecdote as the truth, even by omission (i.e., you don't explicitly say, "this is the truth," but neither do you explicitly say, "this is a nice story that I have made up and there isn't much truth in it"), then you are lying. And believe me, your lies will have holes in them, and people will see them, and even if they are too polite to mention those holes, they notice and make mental notes to themselves that you are not perhaps the most reliable source of information. So ask yourself, what's the point? Why are you telling these stories as though they were true? If you fancy yourself a storyteller, then write these stories down as stories, not as the truth, and for God's sake, don't tell the stories to others as though they were the truth.
More fundamentally, ask yourself why you feel the need to tell these stories as truth in the first place. What fear is driving you to lie like that? Find that fear, confront it, face it down, and stop lying. You'll be happy you did.
I recently just completed reading The Secret Life of Bees. (If you haven't already read it, do yourself a favor and rush right out and get this book. Unlike so much of what passes for literature, especially these days, in which being dreary and jaded with life is The Thing, and in which many pieces of "literature" are mired in their own self-importantness, to the point where the writer has lost all sight of the readers--and reason--and instead has oh so carefully crafted a complete waste of time passing as literature, The Secret Life of Bees is a complete story--it has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and it is positive and a bit mystical but is very grounded in reality, and affirms love and friendship and many other positive human values. Buy it--you will be glad you did. I know I will be reading this book more than once.) Anyway, in this book, there is a passage that struck me as a good conclusion to this essay:
"Knowing can be a curse on a person's life. I'd traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn't know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can't ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours." (The Secret Life of Bees, hardcover edition, pages 255-256.)
]]>While I firmly support each state's right to govern itself however it likes in the social and political arenas, wolf management goes beyond society or politics and into the arena of survival of all species on earth. Giving management of wolves to the state of Idaho is like giving management of Jewish populations to the Nazis. Just as the Nazis before them, the state of Idaho has vowed to destroy what they perceive as a nuisance. In neither case does the group involved have any such right to do so. It would be naive of me to say that the Nazi problem has been solved, but at least good people are aware of the problem and are opposed to neo-Nazis. However, the state of Idaho not only remains recalcitrant about protecting wolves, but has now been given carte blanche to do as it pleases in regard to the wolves. The fox now guards the henhouse indeed.
If you think this action of Gale Norton's was ill-considered, you can at least send a letter of censure to Norton at this Web site.
]]>I finally decided that I want to burn some of my old vinyl albums to CDs so I can listen to them again. This meant finding a turntable that would play all three speeds and produce quality sound output.
After much research, I decided on the Audio-Technica AT-PL120 Professional Direct-Drive Turntable. Reviewers were unanimously happy with it, with the only drawback being that it is a manual turntable, which means you have to manually place and lift the arm. Not a problem as far as I am concerned. In exchange for that one inconvenience, you get a very high quality turntable with many features at a very reasonable price. The link I've provided has the best price I was able to find on this turntable. Buy! Enjoy!
]]>What kinds of hidden agendas can people have? They might want to
How can you recognize a hidden agenda? Pay attention to what a person says or does, and see how you feel in response to it. If someone says something that may seem like some kind of compliment, but feels like a put-down, then it could be an action arising out of a hidden agenda. If you confront that person about it (lovingly, of course), and they deny it or try to explain it away, give them the benefit of the doubt, but keep an eye on them. If the same kind of behavior continues, and you confront them again on it and they still deny it or explain it away, but continue acting the same, then the likelihood is high that it is a hidden agenda. (Sometimes a person's agendas are hidden even from themselves, because they are in denial about it.)
At that point, you need to decide what you want to do about/with that person. Do you want to keep associating with them? If it is a friend, you can drop the friendship—after all, what kind of friend continually tries to undermine you, control you, or make you feel bad about yourself?
If it is a family member or co-worker or, worse yet, a boss, it can be a little trickier—it is harder to just drop such people, but you are free to do everything you can to minimize contact with that person, and to also develop some defense strategies of your own.
If you are the book-reading sort, there are some excellent books you can read that can help raise your awareness about other people's hidden agendas and how to deal with them. Here is just a sampling (with links to Amazon.com, though you can also try your local library):
One thing to be aware of is that it takes time to learn to recognize hidden agendas, and even more time to learn the skills required to deal effectively with these agendas. A recent study has shown that being compassionate with yourself is actually more important when dealing with difficult situations than having good self-esteem. So be kind and gentle with yourself while you are learning, and know that there is always more to learn.
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