Author: Aaron

Mauritania and the former Spanish Sahara

Scene at the beach in Nouakchott, Mauritania

Mauritania has a need for modern infrastructure and help is on it’s way as diplomatic relations have been forged by the leadership to present projects to the modernize the country with more water, roads and waste management system that generate electricity from clean-burning plastic garbage. We hope to solve two problems at once, plus create jobs.

Mauritania from the CIA World Fact Book

Map by Alvaro1984 18 – Own work, Public Domain, Link

Independent from France in 1960, Mauritania annexed the southern third of the former Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara) in 1976 but relinquished it after three years of raids by the Polisario guerrilla front seeking independence for the territory. Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed TAYA seized power in a coup in 1984 and ruled Mauritania with a heavy hand for more than two decades. A series of presidential elections that he held were widely seen as flawed. A bloodless coup in August 2005 deposed President TAYA and ushered in a military council that oversaw a transition to democratic rule. Independent candidate Sidi Ould Cheikh ABDALLAHI was inaugurated in April 2007 as Mauritania’s first freely and fairly elected president. His term ended prematurely in August 2008 when a military junta led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel AZIZ deposed him and installed a military council government. AZIZ was subsequently elected president in July 2009 and sworn in the following month. AZIZ sustained injuries from an accidental shooting by his own troops in October 2012 but has continued to maintain his authority. He was reelected in 2014 to a second and final term as president (according to the present constitution). AZIZ will be replaced through elections scheduled for June 2019. The country continues to experience ethnic tensions among three major groups: Arabic-speaking descendants of slaves (Haratines), Arabic-speaking “White Moors” (Beydane), and members of Sub-Saharan ethnic groups mostly originating in the Senegal River valley (Halpulaar, Soninke, and Wolof).

Fishermen boat carrying sardines on Nouakchott beach

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) launched a series of attacks in Mauritania between 2005 and 2011, murdering American and foreign tourists and aid workers, attacking diplomatic and government facilities, and ambushing Mauritanian soldiers and gendarmes. A successful strategy against terrorism that combines dialogue with the terrorists and military actions has prevented the country from further terrorist attacks since 2011. However, AQIM and similar groups remain active in neighbouring Mali and elsewhere in the Sahel region and continue to pose a threat to Mauritanians and foreign visitors.

Demographic profile of Mauritania:

With a sustained total fertility rate of about 4 children per woman and almost 60% of the population under the age of 25, Mauritania’s population is likely to continue growing for the foreseeable future. Mauritania’s large youth cohort is vital to its development prospects, but available schooling does not adequately prepare students for the workplace. Girls continue to be underrepresented in the classroom, educational quality remains poor, and the dropout rate is high. The literacy rate is only about 50%, even though access to primary education has improved since the mid-2000s. Women’s restricted access to education and discriminatory laws maintain gender inequality – worsened by early and forced marriages and female genital cutting.

Class one student at Ahmed Ould Hakki Primary School, Tarhil, Nouakchott, Mauritania. Mauritanian families of today, whether they live in rural areas or they live in the city, want education for their daughters, says Mohamed Ould Khalil, Head of Administration, ENI-NKTT (L’Ecole Normale des Instituteurs de Nouakchott). A long time ago some families and some Mauritanian communities, depending on the region, were reluctant to send their children to school even the boys. They felt it was a tool of colonization. But after independence (1960), when people started see the benefits of school, everything changed. People wanted their sons and their daughters to go to school. And today, wherever you go in Mauritania everyone wants to send their daughters to school because even in the poorest communities people have seen the girls who have succeeded and they have seen what they have been able to do for their families. So today everyone is striving for school.

The denial of education to black Moors also helps to perpetuate slavery. Although Mauritania abolished slavery in 1981 (the last country in the world to do so) and made it a criminal offence in 2007, the millenniums-old practice persists largely because anti-slavery laws are rarely enforced and the custom is so ingrained. According to a 2018 nongovernmental organization’s report, a little more than 2% of Mauritania’s population is enslaved, which includes individuals subjected to forced labour and forced marriage, although many thousands of individuals who are legally free contend with discrimination, poor education, and a lack of identity papers and, therefore, live in de facto slavery. The UN and international press outlets have claimed that up to 20% of Mauritania’s population is enslaved, which would be the highest rate worldwide.

Nouakchott, Mauritania

Drought, poverty, and unemployment have driven out migration from Mauritania since the 1970s. Early flows were directed toward other West African countries, including Senegal, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, and Gambia. The 1989 Mauritania-Senegal conflict forced thousands of black Mauritanians to take refuge in Senegal and pushed labour migrants toward the Gulf, Libya, and Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Mauritania has accepted migrants from neighbouring countries to fill labour shortages since its independence in 1960 and more recently has received refugees escaping civil wars, including tens of thousands of Tuaregs who fled Mali in 2012.

Banana sales woman in Morroco market in Nouakchott, Mauritania

Mauritania was an important transit point for sub-Saharan migrants moving illegally to North Africa and Europe. In the mid-2000s, as border patrols increased in the Strait of Gibraltar, security increased around Spain’s North African enclaves (Ceuta and Melilla), and Moroccan border controls intensified, illegal migration flows shifted from the Western Mediterranean to Spain’s Canary Islands. In 2006, departure points moved southward along the West African coast from Morocco and Western Sahara to Mauritania’s two key ports (Nouadhibou and the capital Nouakchott), and illegal migration to the Canaries peaked at almost 32,000. The numbers fell dramatically in the following years because of joint patrolling off the West African coast by Frontex (the EU’s border protection agency), Spain, Mauritania, and Senegal; the expansion of Spain’s border surveillance system; and the 2008 European economic downturn.

Nouakchott tackles water shortages

Population Distribution

With most of the country being a desert, vast areas of the country, particularly in the central, northern, and eastern areas, are without sizable population clusters; half the population lives in or around the coastal capital of Nouakchott; smaller clusters are found near the southern border with Mali and Senegal.

Photo credit: valerian.guillot on Visual hunt / CC BY Photo credit: Magharebia on VisualHunt.com / CC BY Photo credit: valerian.guillot on Visual hunt / CC BY Photo credit: amelimage on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-SA

August 3, 2019
Christ Conscientiousness is not Cliche

The Way was perverted into something other than what it was meant to be, simple and easy to remember. Christ Conscientiousness was to love God with all your heart and treat others as your brothers. That’s all, nothing deep or philosophical, just those two key tenets. So simple in fact that it need not be written down, nor signed by the author, Jesus.

It’s a challenging topic to talk about because his name conjures impressions of evangelical, or some form of religious dogma that recruiters use, like by pressure tactics such as; have you been saved? This is why it’s so difficult to cut the message down to the quick and straight to the point: Christ Conscientiousness is a state of being, not a religion.

There’s a good reason that Jesus didn’t author a book, since there was only one thing it would say – love your enemy.

To quote the Bible is cliche but for sure there are excellent examples of how we could enjoy a better life, by improving how we think about other people, by not judging and by showing more compassion. There doesn’t need to be a life-altering character shift, just an atonement of attitude and behaviour. Every aggravating situation is another opportunity to act correctly, every interaction, every thought and every word, is a new chance to get it right.

Lucky for me that I was able to admit to myself that I love Jesus, just for showing us “The Way” and I am forever thankful that I was able to recognize my constant need to appreciate his legacy. It gives me joy and makes me happy, so that ‘way of thinking” replaced any dark thoughts.

A Course in Miracles has helped me enormously, I will never be able to recommend ACIM enough, for me it made a big difference. Also, the name “Foundation for Inner Peace” was something everyone wants to join.

Christ Conscientiousness Photo on Visual hunt

August 2, 2019
Orchids and Orgonite Pyramids

SUBGENUS Polychilos SECTION Amboinenses Sweet 1968 Lifeform: Epiphyte Distribution: Sumatera (Kep. Mentawai) (42 SUM)

My lucky day today, as I acquired a spectacular two stem Phalaenopsis Orchid, from my favourite plant store in the West End of Vancouver. Windsor Market it’s called, operated by really nice people originally from Japan. Windsor Market has been on Robson Street for as long as I can remember, expert in cut flowers, orchids, as well as house plants, plus an entire section with a large orchid selection but no Orgonite Pyramids (yet).

What I love about the orchid; is everything

Phalaenopsis venosa

In my studio I have a grandfather clock that my grandfather Lloyd made while at the University of Toronto in the nineteen twenties, that’s where he met Lola, my outrageously cool Grandma (both deceased). Hanging beside the clock is a pastel artwork that Lola created, depicting Green Bay in West Kelowna, where I grew up. A view from the house on the lake that my family owned for 35 years. I treasure both works of art equally (lol).

Under the picture and beside the grandfather clock is an antique wooden card table, with four collapsible wooden legs and a green felt top for cards. That little table had belonged to my Mom’s grandmother, whom we called Granny Batt, she carried it over from Ireland as she was an avid card player and champion Bridge player. On top of the table sits my fabulous orchid.

The orchid reminds us that everything is a cycle of living and dying. The elegant wise woman named Pong, selected my orchid for me, said that the two stems would produce blooms for about five months. The price is pennies per day to host an exotic living and breathing plant in closest personal proximity, as they inspire us to make the most of our life cycle.

I often smile thinking that those dearly departed souls had touched those things one hundred years ago and that they were fond of what I am fond of. So much so that I am using the grandfather clock for an orgonite collection and currently have a bright fire-engine red Chinese lantern hanging inside the clock case, it resembles the heart and shows also my respect for China. After all, it was China who helped build British Columbia and the railway to Toronto.

Orgonite is something you may not have heard of but you will. My youngest sister and I became fascinated by orgonite pyramids a few years ago and bought some, talked to allot of people, read everything we could get our hands on and did everything short of making our own Orgonite pyramids, which we are still considering. The fact of the matter is that Orgone energy exists everywhere and it is entirely possible to tap into, we just don’t know how yet.

Alanis Morissette does a great interview with an expert named Michelle Hood, you’ll find her link below. Best place to see Orgonite pyramids is Pinterest Boards and the secret how it’s made.

The Power of Orgone Pyramids: An Interview with Michelle Hood

Evaluation of Orgone Energy from Wikipedia

Orgone was closely associated with sexuality: Wilhelm Reich (the person who named it orgone), following Freud, saw nascent sexuality as the primary energetic force of life. The term itself was chosen to share a root with the word orgasm, which both Reich and Freud took to be a fundamental expression of psychological health. This focus on sexuality, while acceptable in the clinical perspective of Viennese psychoanalytic circles, scandalized the conservative American public even as it appealed to countercultural figures like William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.

In at least some cases, Reich’s experimental techniques do not appear to have been very careful, or to have taken precautions to remove experimental bias. Reich was concerned with experimental verification from other scientists. Albert Einstein agreed to participate, but thought Reich’s research lacked scientific detachment and experimental rigor; and concluded that the effect was simply due to the temperature gradient inside the room. “Through these experiments I regard the matter as completely solved,” he wrote to Reich on 7 February 1941. Upon further correspondence from Reich, Einstein replied that he could not devote any further time to the matter and asked that his name not be misused for advertising purposes.

Orgonite Pyramids Photo credit: sunoochi on Visualhunt / CC BY Phalaenopsis venosa Photo credit: Emilio Esteban-Infantes on Visualhunt / CC BY-NC-ND

August 1, 2019
2019 Number Magic in the Chinese Year of the Pig

Hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas) – Paignton Zoo, Devon – May 2019

It’s true Number Magic as All the people in the world are of the same age this year!

It’s amazing: this year all the people in the world are all in the same age group, all equal to 2019. Just like number magic, this year is special. It happens only once every 1,000 years.

This year your age + your year of birth, each individual is = 2019. For example, you are 55 years old and you were born in 1964, which adds up to 2019. Very strange, even the Chinese and foreign masters can not explain.

Please calculate and see if the answer is 2019. It’s a thousand-year wait! Good shot! Go to the circle of friends, let everybody calculate it!

The Pig in the Coastal City of Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea

Pig (zodiac)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Pig (豬) is the twelfth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in Chinese zodiac, in relation to the Chinese calendar and system of horology, and paralleling the system of ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches. Although the term “zodiac” (etymologically referring to a “[circle of] little animals”) is used in the phrase “Chinese zodiac”, there is a major difference between the Chinese usage and Western astrology: the zodiacal animals (including the zodiacal Pig) do not relate to the zodiac as the area of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun, the Moon, and visible planets across the celestial sphere‘s constellations, over the course of the year.

In Chinese astrology, “zodiacal” animals refer to fixed cycles of twelve animals. The same cycle of twelve is used for cycles of years and cycles of hours. In the case of years, the cycle of twelve corresponds to the twelve-year cycle of Jupiter. In the case of the hours, the twelve hours represent twelve double-hours for each period of night and day. In the continuous sexagenary cycle of sixty years, every twelfth year corresponds to hai, 亥 (the twelfth of the twelve Earthly Branches); this re-recurring twelfth year is commonly called the Year of the Pig (豬年).

There are five types of Pigs, named after the Chinese elements. In order, they are: Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth. These correspond to the Heavenly Stems. Thus, there are five pig years in every sexegenary cycle. For example, in the year 2019, the Earthly Branch is the twelfth, hài, and the Heavenly Stem is the sixth, jǐ 己. The Chinese New Year in 2019 is February fifth: this corresponds with the beginning of both the sexegenary year of jǐ hài and also the zodiac year of the Earth Pig.

In the Japanese zodiac and the Tibetan zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the boar. In the Dai zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the elephant. In the Gurung zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the deer.

Pig in the Chinese zodiac legend

According to the myths, the Pig was the last to arrive when the Jade Emperor called for the great meeting. Other sources said that Buddha called for a great meeting when he was about to leave the Earth. The Pig came in last.

Legend has it that just as the emperor was about to call it a day, an oink and squeal was heard from a little Pig. The term “lazy Pig” is due here as the Pig got hungry during the race, promptly stopped for a feast then fell asleep. After the nap, the Pig continued the race and was named the 12th and last animal of the zodiac cycle.

Other sources say that given his very stout form, he was just too slow a swimmer, and thus he could not do anything against the other animals.

Number Magic Photo credit: Dis da fi we on VisualHunt / CC BY-NC-SA

July 31, 2019
Naughty Beaver Strikes Again

For those with eyes to see and ears to hear. The most important thing I’ve been telling people for well over a year now, is that Naughty Beaver is connecting dots with Flower of Life and also explaining how Nostradamus had foretold the sequence of events that are happening, specifically the Great Sign in the Sky (as described in Revelation 12).

The reason I say for those with eyes to see, is that everyone on earth is seeing changes and only some people are understanding what is happening. For me it was the ringing in the ears that enabled me to find Naughty Beaver in the first place, however I had been researching space too and believe in the Hopi Prophecy. For over ten years I have been watching and learning about the heavens (also known as space), since it’s mentioned over one hundred times in the Bible.

For sure the flower of life geometry is real but why spray from above?

Worth searching images of great sign in the sky to see for yourself and read about Revelation 12, then ask yourself the chances that so many signs of tribulation could be possible, with a few yet to come, which I won’t mention but the message contained is one of great hope, peace is ahead.

Naughty Beaver has taken a radical path to arrive at the conclusions he’s sharing with us, the thing is though, it all makes perfect logical sense. However, it feels weird accept that benevolent races would spray us too (assuming that malevolent forces have been spraying us for decades). In many ways that’s my major grievance, since I really resent that Geo-engineering and cloud seeding happens.

The Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), the main telescope of the Vatican Observatory. The dome to the left houses the telescope itself; the space to the right are the control room and the living space for the observers.

A couple of other huge clues set me on the path of the Red Star a very long time ago, for example “Wormwood Observatory” in West Australia and that the Vatican would be so heavily invested in the building the most powerful observatory with the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope.

The 1.8 meter Alice P. Lennon Telescope and its Thomas J. Bannan Astrophysics Facility, known together as the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), is a Gregorian telescope observing in the optical and infrared situated on Mount Graham in southeast Arizona, United States. It achieved its first light (first starlight to pass through a telescope onto its detector) in 1993.

VATT is part of the Mount Graham International Observatory and is operated by the Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world, in partnership with The University of Arizona.

Naughty Beaver Photo credit: CatDancing on VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC

July 30, 2019
Kahlil Gibran as in the Beloved Prophet

Kahlil Gibran, photograph by Fred Holland Day, c. 1898

The first Poet I ever knew of was Kahlil Gibran and as a young boy I can remember his books in my house. My family has collected Gibran since his writing, sketches and art became popular in the nineteen sixty’s and seventies. My Mom has several early issues of “The Prophet” as well as Beloved prophet : the love letters of Kahlil Gibran and Mary Haskell.

Kahlil Gibran Self-portrait, c. 1911

Gibran is the third-best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Laozi. The Prophet has been translated into as many as 110 languages His mother, Kamila, daughter of a priest, was thirty when he was born; his father, Kahlil, was her third husband. As a result of his family’s poverty, Gibran received no formal schooling during his youth in Lebanon. However, priests visited him regularly and taught him about the Bible and the Arabic language.

Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931, at the age of 48. The causes were cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis due to prolonged serious alcoholism. Gibran started drinking seriously during or after publication of The Prophet. Several years before his death, he locked himself in his apartment, away from visitors, drinking all day. Gibran expressed the wish that he be buried in Lebanon.

This wish was fulfilled in 1932, when Mary Haskell and his sister Mariana purchased the Mar Sarkis Monastery in Lebanon, which has since become the Gibran Museum. Written next to Gibran’s grave are the words “a word I want to see written on my grave: I am alive like you, and I am standing beside you. Close your eyes and look around, you will see me in front of you.”

Illustration from The Madman, His Parables and Poems, 1918

Gibran willed the contents of his studio to Mary Haskell. There she discovered her letters to him spanning twenty-three years. She initially agreed to burn them because of their intimacy, but recognizing their historical value she saved them. She gave them, along with his letters to her which she had also saved, to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library before she died in 1964. Excerpts of the over 600 letters were published in “Beloved Prophet” in 1972.

The Gibran Museum and Gibran’s final resting place, in Bsharri

Mary Haskell Minis (she wed Jacob Florance Minis in 1923) donated her personal collection of nearly one hundred original works of art by Gibran to the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia in 1950. Haskell had been thinking of placing her collection at the Telfair as early as 1914. In a letter to Gibran, she wrote “I am thinking of other museums … the unique little Telfair Gallery in Savannah, Ga., that Gari Melchers chooses pictures for. There when I was a visiting child, form burst upon my astonished little soul.” Haskell’s gift to the Telfair is the largest public collection of Gibran’s visual art in the country, consisting of five oils and numerous works on paper rendered in the artist’s lyrical style, which reflects the influence of symbolism. The future American royalties to his books were willed to his hometown of Bsharri, to be “used for good causes”.

NOTE: An excellent must read – The Borderless World of Kahlil Gibran

The Prophet (Gibran) cover, 1923 Source (WP:NFCC#4) Photo credit: antonè on VisualHunt / CC BY

July 29, 2019
Recreation Addiction

Every day I ride my bicycle around the 1,000 acre park, it’s ten kilometres and takes about 45 minutes if you don’t stop. It’s my Recreation Addiction, probably a pro could ride the loop in half the time it takes me, since I intentionally ride to make it last and try to take as much time as I can. No two laps are the same but every time I attempt to re-create the feeling I had the first time, as an aspect of creation and the sheer joy, of being a creator in it.

A few years ago I got the idea to take a photo of the girl in the wetsuit bronze statue, which is about halfway around. I also take those photos because it’s captures North Vancouver in the background and over the girl’s shoulder you can see Lions Gate hospital where I was born, so each photo commemorates that moment in my life and keeps a time stamp of the occasion, it’s a ritual for me. I have over 500 now.

On a completely different note…. I reached Lesson #320 in A Course in Miracles and then the next page was Chapter 11; as follows.

What Is Creation?

1. Creation is the sum of all God’s Thoughts, in number infinite, and everywhere without all limit. Only love creates, and only like itself. There was no time when all that it created was not there. Nor will there be a time when anything that it created suffers any loss. Forever and forever are God’s Thoughts exactly as they were and as they are, unchanged through time and after time is done.

2. God’s Thoughts are given all the power that their own Creator has. For He would add to love by its extension. Thus His Son shares in creation, and must therefore share in power to create. What God has willed to be forever One will still be One when time is over; and will not be changed throughout the course of time, remaining as it was before the thought of time began.

3. Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth. Creation is the holy Son of God, for in creation is His Will complete in every aspect, making every part container of the whole. Its oneness is forever guaranteed inviolate; forever held within His holy Will, beyond all possibility of harm, of separation, imperfection and of any spot upon its sinlessness.

4. We are creation; we the Sons of God. We seem to be discrete, and unaware of our eternal unity with Him. Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fears, there still is certainty. For love remains with all its Thoughts, its sureness being theirs. God’s memory is in our holy minds, which know their oneness and their unity with their Creator. Let our function be only to let this memory return, only to let God’s Will be done on earth, only to be restored to sanity, and to be but as God created us.

5. Our Father calls to us. We hear His Voice, and we forgive creation in the Name of its Creator, Holiness Itself, Whose Holiness His Own creation shares; Whose Holiness is still a part of us.

Recreation Addiction Photo on Visualhunt

July 28, 2019
Free Heart, Free Mind, Free Spirit is a Free Soul

Free Heart, Free Mind, Free Spirit is a Free Soul was an expression from the manuscript of Dr. Nicolas Kimaz N.D. and below are a few more excerpts and quotes that Dr. Nic included to help make his case. Overall the story is an extremely rich and candid biography of the most extraordinary life.

The book of Proverbs is perhaps the best place in the Bible to learn of biblical wisdom. Proverbs 1:7 speaks of both biblical knowledge and wisdom: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, / but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”To fear the Lord is to start on the path to knowledge, and God can then begin to provide us with wisdom through Christ, who the Bible says is wisdom itself: “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Ironically, the entire 31 Chapters of Proverbs is summed up in its last few verses where the writer gives proper homage and describes the “wise woman” in verses 10-31, but it is the last 2 verses that are most poignant and relevant, “… but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the product of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates.”

But the bottom line is, my friend, the real battle is not with the world, but is with yourself. This a war that has been going on forever and you always have decisions to make, decisions about whose side you are going to take in that war inside you, the corrupt spirit or the truthful spirit. Is that decision going to be based on knowledge, or wisdom?

Jesus Himself said, “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

“Whoever is full of wisdom is naturally compassionate;in fact we recognize that someone has gained spiritual wisdom by seeing their compassionate behavior . . . Individuals and countries with power need to develop wisdom and compassion, for without these attributes, there is a danger that the power will be used to oppress and exploit others.”― Ravi Ravindra

Free Soul Photo credit: efou222 on VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA Photo credit: nasrulekram on VisualHunt / CC BY

July 27, 2019
Living the life of a Creator

Being a creator sounds so God-like, of course I want to be a creator. Ever since I first saw the Interwebs I wanted to create some and there only ever been one way to learn how. Then Youtube became the craze, now the norm and 7 years ago I embarked on video creation. This is my calling, I love it! Please consider making a contribution and Become a Patron!

A Course in Miracles, of which I am a student, suggests that teaching and learning are the same thing, plus that everyone has a ministry to manage, whether you want to look at it that way, or use that term, the point I’m making is that for me to help make the world a better place, I have to make myself better and bring my best. I overcame my apathy, now I want to create.

My writing has been getting more fluid and natural, I’m beginning to enjoy reading some of what I write. My objective with this blog was to write every day, no-matter how bad or boring because I can come back later (often do). The first key to writing is to write.

They teach that you should write what you know about, so I often talk about my past, which benefits in my own atonement, also an ACIM concept and the underlying truth in happiness is connected to forgiveness, therefore we can release self-grievances by confessing something in writing and then forgive yourself. Hope I don’t offend anyone with my candor but it’s all part of a process.

I’ve become very dedicate to spiritual practice and ask for my daily bread, which in a metaphorical manner was an awesome synchronicity today, that in a video I produced today, when I was closing the dialog remembered to mention that Great Britain had a new prime minister, whom I like, named Boris Johnson, or BoJo as we all know. Anyway, I said “congratulations, please lead us to the promised land (meaning Brexit) but those words came out of my mouth.

About an hour later I was reading a brilliant, formerly unpublished manuscript, actually the memoirs of Dr. Nicolas Kimaze and he made a statement that Lebanon is mentioned 71 times in the Bible and in modern history how desecrated it had been and then this wonderful bread crumb….

The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Psalm 92:12 King James Version (KJV)

Living the life of a Creator, an online content creator, it’s not quite as heavenly as it sounds because it takes so long to learn how to do technical things and in order to get good we must first suck and someone like you has to endure our bad creation. The encouragement of someone reading and liking something is incredible and when someone becomes a patron it’s like you’ve won an Academy Award.

Today I became an official content creator at Patreon.

Become a Patron!

Living the life of a Creator Photo credit: rhett maxwell on Visualhunt.com / CC BY

July 26, 2019
Apple Cider Vinegar, Peyote and Carlos Castaneda

Astrophytum asterias (Zucc.) Lem. 1150

Just had my evening shot of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar and remembered the time I ate peyote buttons, in the very north of British Columbia, in the middle of winter. (Bragg is not a sponsor).

The fur on the buttons you see, on the outside of the Astrophytum asterias cactus (above) are poisonous (arsenic) and have to be carefully cut off with a razor blade. The taste of those little buttons is ten times more wretched than vinegar to the body, the second you bite in it’s almost too much. Really interesting effect from the plant though, extremely introspective, without time (as we know it) very deep understanding of things in a new way. Probably a good idea to have a guide but make sure you have lot’s of time on your hands and forget about food, you’ll not be able to hold anything down, even if it looks good.

The thing that I remember most was that it was 40 below and my first Christmas away from home, I was 18 years old and living alone, it was holiday season so every one was festive in the town of Fort Nelson and from outside the houses I could see the waves of energy and heat pulsing off the frozen exteriors, like I had special vision. Also the sound of my own boots crunching on frozen snow was almost an endless source of fascination, to the point where one single step was filled with intense new interpretation of the sounds. Walking and walking and observing every detail with awe. I can still remember the experience, it was deep.

Organic, Raw, Unfiltered, with the ‘Mother’ (Naturally Gluten Free – Certified Non-GMO)

People have asked me if Apple Cider Vinegar has helped me, or what benefits have I noticed since I started. Truth is that I don’t know for sure but I do believe I discover a breakthrough technique. The idea came to me from watching Wim Hof (the Iceman) describe how the mind as ability to control systems of the body, we just didn’t know we could.

The Teachings of Don Juan

Apple Cider Vinegar is revolting to drink, the only thing I know worse is peyote buttons, which are a natural source of mescaline, they taste so bad that some people wretch and others just can’t put them in their mouth. It was a long time ago but I remember it well because I was living inside the arctic circle at the time. My peyote adventures were inspired by Carlos Castaneda and his incredible; “Teachings of Don Juan.”

I learned long ago, from experience that clarity, sobriety and fitness is way more fun and the clean mind too important, to risk by playing with recreational drugs. I’ve lived substance free for many years, however I do plan to experience Ayahuasca some day in the future (in Brazil). Fortunately for me, altered states hold no interest any more. Plus, to be clear I never did trust anything synthetic, so Apple Cider Vinegar becomes my substance of choice now. My technique is a “Power of Intention” excercise and practice of wisdom right from Don Juan. I use the shock of the taste, hold it under my tongue while engaging my mind to re-set my body.

By breathing in the correct sequence, while you hold the apple cider vinegar under your tongue, you can force the shock of the revulsion into your body as a blast of energy from God. Imagine that some ignorant sick people put vinegar in the mouth of Jesus, when he was told it was water. Think how you are going to survive and thrive! Play sequence of thoughts in your mind and become fully aware of your immune system. In those seconds your mind has sent big wave of love through your body. You just joy jolted your entire system, now swallow!

As with so many things, it’s the simple repetitive discipline of doing it day after day. The key difference is the Power of Intention and the amount of focus you’re able to conjure with your mind. Frankly, many people just don’t have the time nor the inclination but I want influence over my own body, so for a daily ritual I borrow from the Yaqui Way of Knowledge suggested by The Practical Wisdom of the Shamans of Ancient Mexico.

Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca, iowaska, or yagé, is an entheogenic brew made out of Banisteriopsis caapi vine and other ingredients. The brew is used as a traditional spiritual medicine in ceremonies among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin. It has been reported that some psychoactive effects can be felt from consuming the ayahuasca vine alone.

Peyote Photo credit: Skolnik Collection on VisualHunt.com / CC BY-ND

July 25, 2019