What kind of world do you want to live in?

It is pretty well understaood in spiritual circles, and increasingly even in some circles in science, that our mental world calls forth the external circumstances of our lives. If that’s so, then the clearer our image of the world we wish to live in, the more powerful our visualizing ability, and the stronger our “pull” toward another world. So, wouldn’t it be a good idea to sharpen our vision?

The mechanism for doing so is simple enough! Write out your vision, and when you’ve written it out, sharpen it, refine it, re-write it. And when you’ve written it out — subject to revision as often as you feel the need, as your inner world clears, perhaps — mull it, ponder it, let the vision become an integated part of your everyday mental world, rather than a wistful “wouldn’t it be nice if….”

This is not about producing a literary masterpiece. It is a mental exercise that has the potential to become part of your spiritual discipline.

An example, from my friend Nancy Ford:

My world is a safe, peaceful and abundant universe where conscious, loving and responsible beings live in an integrated, mutually beneficial manner with all other forms of life, balanced and harmonious.

A society that is aware of the determining factor of choice in the events surrounding their lives, and the life of their communities. The sensibility and understanding that to destroy another is to destroy oneself. The ability to live without causing damage or pollution and to transmute any that exists,

An honoring of diversity as the norm and the desire to learn from others, including off-planet beings, and other life forms,

A world where all are sheltered, fed, clothed, educated, and have access to advancement,

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E.R.

In the fall of 2004, at the end of several days of asthma during a business trip to Ohio, I wound up being taken by ambulance from the Charlottesville Airport to the Emergency Room at UVA Hospital. I am a very independent person, but on that day I had realized that I had reached my limit, so I allowed myself to be taken care of.

I have many a quarrel with the conventional medical system, but that brief period of enforced observation (I tottered home the next day) reminded me of the love and caring that may be found within any such institution.

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Tide, Rising

My friend Rich Spees and I had a brief exchange this morning after I left a comment on his blog entry about the first world-wide Gallop Poll on what the world’s people actually think about things. (It’s very interesting, if long. Find it at the-sacred-path.com).

Rich said he didn’t think the crowd in power would pay any attention, as it is not in the best interest of the governing crowd to give the masses what they want. I replied:

“Fortunately the people at the top of the food chain who always think they are important because they can fire people and jail people and kill them, and because they get free helicopter rides and VIP treatment everywhere – are just scum riding the wave. The wave is what counts, not the scum. So I don’t worry much about what they’re willing to do; what counts is what they will be forced to do. When has it ever been different?”

Waves always have self-important scum riding on them. It reminded me of a poem I wrote long ago, which follows.

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Witnessing Clouds

Jim Price and I have never met, but we are friends, brought together by temperament and indefinables. I know him as a gifted writer, for one thing. Yesterday he sent me an email saying, “In response to your blog entry today, here’s a poem I wrote years ago about clouds. A spell of clouds is a group, like a flock of birds. It may be the only word I’ve coined, but I like the sound of it.”

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Archibald MacLeish — seeing our future

In going through old journals, I found this poem copied out, by Archibald MacLeish, titled “Conversation in a Belfry,” from Ten Conversations. It was written more than 30 years ago, and is, unfortunately, truer now than then, even.

Conversation in a Belfry

Centennial bell that will not ring,

Tell me why your iron tongue

Rusts in the rain, your mouth is dumb.

Why are you silent, bell?

                                                For shame.

You are not shamed.

                                    Not I but you.

We? With all we’ve done and do?

We’ve ruled ourselves two hundred years.

No name on earth is proud as ours.

  Continue reading Archibald MacLeish — seeing our future

An interesting little computation

I said a while ago that it is now realized that the subconscious mind processes about 42 million bits of information in the one second that it takes the conscious mind to process about 42 bit, for a million-to-one difference.

This means that if I glance at something for one second, the subconscious sees what the conscious mind might see if it looked at the same thing for 16,667 minutes, or nearly 28 hours, or more than 11 and a half days.It struck me this morning, perhaps this has something to do with what we often call intuition, and something to do with meditation.

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