Neda

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Our Evolution.

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Video of Neda's Dying Moments

War is Evil

I've been studying non-violence these past months, finding ever more reasons that War is never necessary and Peace is our only Hope.

I felt a strong need to show people the gruesome results of war, especially the results when visited on children...

I found a blog article that made me sick!

I think every feeling, thinking human should expose themselves to the pictures in This Article; especially if you're like me and live in relative isolation from the results of War.

When we don't take actions for Peace we do violence to any spiritual feelings we may have.

Take this action for Peace. Look at these violent images. Let them sink into your soul and propel you to take action against their evilness.

I'll quote one of the Comments to a reprint of the original article:

"GOD ALLMIGHTY … Haitham - I am 36 years in medicine/mostly ICU and I thought there is not much I haven’t seen so far but these pictures made my heart miss several beats! WHAT KIND OF ANIMALS DID THAT?????? I have seriously problems to grasp the incomprehensible …

"And if the previous pictures are not horrid enough, what absolutely got me was the last … a fetus, maybe 4-5 months old … shot! How evil can it get?? How horrid .. I am missing the right words - what a terrible nightmare, what a horror!!"

Did you look at the pictures?

If you didn't I urge you to do it before you read the following list of simple actions you can take to further peace.

Why look at gruesome pictures before reading ways to further peace? Because most of us are far too content in our little worlds of relative calm. The truth is that we are One Human Family! If your biological family were involved you'd do whatever it takes to help.

Well...

This is your Spiritual Family...

64 Simple Actions Anyone Can Take To Further Peace In Our World

1 -- Today, I will reflect on what peace means to me.
2 -- Today, I will look at opportunities to be a peacemaker.
3 -- Today, I will practice nonviolence and respect for Mother Earth by making good use of her resources.
4 -- Today, I will take time to admire and appreciate nature.
5 -- Today, I will plant seeds--plants or constructive ideas.
6 -- Today, I will hold a vision of plenty for all the world's hungry and be open to guidance as to how I can help alleviate some of that hunger.
7 -- Today, I will acknowledge every human being's fundamental right to justice, equity, and equality.
8 -- Today, I will appreciate the earth's bounty and all of those who work to make my food available (i.e., grower, trucker, grocery clerk, cook, waitress, etc.)
9 -- Today, I will work to understand and respect another culture.
10 -- Today, I will oppose injustice, not people.
11 -- Today, I will look beyond stereotypes and prejudices.
12 -- Today, I will choose to be aware of what I talk about and I will refuse to gossip.
13 -- Today, I will live in the present moment and release the past.
14 -- Today, I will silently acknowledge all the leaders throughout the world.
15 -- Today, I will speak with kindness, respect, and patience to every person that I talk with on the telephone.
16 -- Today, I will affirm my value and worth with positive "self talk" and refuse to put myself down.
17 -- Today, I will tell the truth and speak honestly from the heart.
18 -- Today, I will cause a ripple effect of good by an act of kindness toward another.
19 -- Today, I will choose to use my talents to serve others by volunteering a portion of my time.
20 -- Today, I will say a blessing for greater understanding whenever I see evidence of crime, vandalism, or graffiti.
21 -- Today, I will say "No" to ideas or actions that violate me or others.
22 -- Today, I will turn off anything that portrays or supports violence whether on television, in the movies, or on the Internet.
23 -- Today, I will greet this day--everyone and everything--with openness and acceptance as if I were encountering them for the first time.
24 -- Today, I will drive with tolerance and patience.
25 -- Today, I will constructively channel my anger, frustration, or jealousy into healthy physical activities (i.e., doing sit-ups, picking up trash, taking a walk, etc).
26 -- Today, I will take time to appreciate the people who provide me with challenges in my life, especially those who make me angry or frustrated.
27 -- Today, I will talk less and listen more.
28 -- Today, I will notice the peacefulness in the world around me.
29 -- Today, I will recognize that my actions directly affect others.
30 -- Today, I will take time to tell a family member or friend how much they mean to me.
31 -- Today, I will acknowledge and thank someone for acting kindly.
32 -- Today, I will send a kind, anonymous message to someone.
33 -- Today, I will identify something special in everyone I meet.
34 -- Today, I will discuss ideas about nonviolence with a friend to gain new perspectives.
35 -- Today, I will practice praise rather than criticism.
36 -- Today, I will strive to learn from my mistakes.
37 -- Today, I will tell at least one person they are special and important.
38 -- Today, I will hold children tenderly in thought and/or action.
39 -- Today, I will listen without defending and speak without judgment.
40 -- Today, I will help someone in trouble.
41 -- Today, I will listen with an open heart to at least one person.
42 -- Today, I will treat the elderly I encounter with respect and dignity.
43 -- Today, I will treat the children I encounter with respect and care, knowing that I serve as a model to them.
44 -- Today, I will see my co-workers in a new light--with understanding and compassion.
45 -- Today, I will be open to other ways of thinking and acting that are different from my own.
46 -- Today, I will think of at least three alternate ways I can handle a situation when confronted with conflict.
47 -- Today, I will work to help others resolve differences.
48 -- Today, I will express my feeling honestly and nonviolently with respect for myself and others.
49 -- Today, I will sit down with my family for one meal.
50 -- Today, I will set an example of a peacemaker by promoting nonviolent responses.
51 -- Today, I will use no violent language.
52 -- Today, I will pause for reflection.
53 -- Today, I will hold no one hostage to the past, seeing each-as I see myself-as a work in process.
54 -- Today, I will make a conscious effort to smile at someone whom I have held a grudge against in the past.
55 -- Today, I will practice compassion and forgiveness by apologizing to someone whom I have hurt in the past.
56 -- Today, I will reflect on whom I need to forgive and take at least one step in that direction.
57 -- Today, I will forgive myself.
58 -- Today, I will embrace the spiritual belief of my heart in my own personal and reflective way.
59 -- Today, I will enlarge my capacity to embrace differences and appreciate the value of every human being.
60 -- Today, I will be compassionate in my thoughts, words, and actions.
61 -- Today, I will cultivate my moral strength and courage through education and creative nonviolent action.
62 -- Today, I will practice compassion and forgiveness for myself and others.
63 -- Today, I will use my talents to serve others as well as myself.
64 -- Today, I will serve humanity by dedicating myself to a vision greater than myself.

How Dare You Show This Picture !

{ image credit }

I debated putting this picture here but things are getting to me. . .

How dare anyone do that to children !

How dare we not do more to put an end to it !

For those just tuning in to this blog, the post, The Death of Violence !, has 64 simple yet powerfully effective things most anyone can do to add to the momentum of peace in our world.

Some may say there will never be an end to violence since humans are just wired that way. For anyone inclined to say that (or even harbor it in the dark recesses of their minds), I'll offer A Force More Powerful. It's a WebSite, a book, a TV documentary, and much more. Their effort chronicles 100 years of non-violent response to violent circumstances--responses which
Worked !!!

Tags: dead+babies, dead+children, death, children, youth, child, global+warming, violence, non-violence, Season+for+Non-Violence

Heaven and Earth

> Image Credit <
Nneka is a blogger to reckon with!
I scan many blogs most days, looking for topic ideas for this blog and, always, making an effort to stay tuned-in to where the culture's heading. My scanning is always slowed to a stop--to pause, read, and reflect--when I arrive at Nneka's blog:
Balanced Life Center ~ Spirituality Applied to Life
In her blog post from yesterday ( On Earth As It Is In Heaven ), she writes:

"When asked by his disciples how they should pray, Jesus responded with these words:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

"I pray the Our Father as it is written when I feel separate from God. It helps me to clear the seeming space between us. It reminds me that God is always with me, ever near."

She goes on to speak of the results of her "meditations" on what "heaven" means:

"Heaven, in this context, is not a physical destination in some time in the future. Heaven is the unseen realm of All there is. It is the space in which God abides. The place of radiant health, unconditional love, infinite supply, joy, harmony, and all good. It is like the steam form of H2O. Conversely, earth is the manifest realm. The place that we see, smell, taste, hear, and feel. We may experience challenges and triumphs. It is like the ice form of H2O.
"Between the two is our lens. A space of our own creation. The prayer, “On earth as it is in heaven,” helps to thin the layer between, or clear up the lens so that we may experience all that there is in the invisible."

Fascinating... I highly recommend your regularly reading her blog!

The very last sentence of her post is:
"Do you have any prayers that you learned as a child, but have come to understand as an adult?"

I had to answer yes and I had to bring the interaction between me and Nneka's blog here.

I published my first book of poetry last year. In that book was a poem that incorporated a prayer I'd said a gazillion times when I was a child. Scared me to hell but I said it; partly at the prompting of my parents, partly out of fear of God.
Here's the prayer:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

As an adult, I'd come to realize that this is a most positive prayer; yet still, in my late fifties, I added four more lines to the prayer, to calm the fevered bosom of my little boy self, alone with God, headed toward sleep, and afraid of death...

Here's my poem:

Child’s (?) Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep
And hope for dreams of bliss.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
His wish may I not miss.
If I should die before I wake,
May He make loved ones glad.
I pray the Lord my soul to take
But let folks not be sad.

This Just In !

That image is from a nice PhotoBlog called, WhatISee, and this post is happening because our first E-mail Reporter, Sandy, has already sent another report (in spite of being busy with getting ready to be a grandmother...) This report responds to my post, Life Is Deadly:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Death is full of life too. The two can't be separated. In life we can either find only death (an end) or we can find our purpose, live it, and through that living find eternal life.
"There is so very much to be said for being positive. It's a very practical approach to getting through this difficult physical world. It was said of `Abdu'l-Bahá [who spent 40 years in prison because of his spiritual beliefs] that: "he treads the mystic way with practical feet." I think this is how we all should tread the path of life.
"To me, being positive and spiritually centered is part of being practical because it's not practical to be negative. Negativity is nothing, it's void of anything useful and therefore is useless."
~ Sandy
P.S. I found the quote below which I thought supported your view.............

"Unless one accepts dire vicissitudes, he will not attain. To me prison is freedom, troubles rest me, death is life, and to be despised is honour. Therefore, I was happy all that time in prison. When one is released from the prison of self, that is indeed release, for that is the greater prison. When this release takes place, then one cannot be outwardly imprisoned. When they put my feet in stocks, I would say to the guard, 'You cannot imprison me, for here I have light and air and bread and water. There will come a time when my body will be in the ground, and I shall have neither light nor air nor food nor water, but even then I shall not be imprisoned.' The afflictions which come to humanity sometimes tend to centre the consciousness upon the limitations, and this is a veritable prison. Release comes by making of the will a Door through which the confirmations of the Spirit come."

(`Abdu'l-Bahá, `Abdu'l-Bahá in London, p. 120)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whew!
Thanks, Sandy!   Can I call you Grandma yet? ;-) I recently watched my sister become a grandmother (for the third time) and the most obvious thing to me was that she began to twitter and glow--her soul was singing...