"Be The Change..."

"Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace, to be real, must be unaffected by outside circumstances."

Mohandas Gandhi

I'm sure you can see the connection between the quote from Gandhi and the picture of the children...

Three posts ago, our E-Mail Reporter, Sandy, had some provocative questions about "starving" children. Those kids over there sure aren't starving; at least not physically (and their spirits look pretty bright...)

The post just before this one concerned our Vision and how it shapes our action.

Here's Sandy once more with her take on that post:

Alex,
This, what you say here, is to me, an extremely important thing to be said!!! I think it's also one reason why Abdu'l-Baha exhorts us to BE HAPPY!! BE HAPPY!!! I mean, not to be of such good cheer and so giddy that all good sense goes out the window, but to be on a level of happiness, because of detachment from this material world, that our wings don't become helplessly and hopelessly stuck in the mess on the ground! God's guidance has always been here with us and always will be. The quote below that came in yesterday on quote-a-day says it perfectly, I think.
~ Sandy

"It behooveth him who is a wayfarer in the path of God and a wanderer in
His way to detach himself from all who are in the heavens and on the earth.
He must renounce all save God, that perchance the portals of mercy may be
unlocked before his face and the breezes of providence may waft over him.
And when he hath inscribed upon his soul that which We have vouchsafed unto
him of the quintessence of inner meaning and explanation, he will fathom all
the secrets of these allusions, and God shall bestow upon his heart a divine
tranquillity and cause him to be of them that are at peace with themselves."

Baha'u'llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries--Javahiru'l-Asrar, pp. 25-26, para 33

"...be of them that are at peace with themselves."

Starting with this post, I'm going to veer in the direction of Spiritual Commentary on Global Events; and, I certainly pray you'll help me out...

The posts recently have dealt with our personal spiritual perspective, which is crucial for any attainment in the global arena!

So...

I'll begin by pointing to GlobalVoices once again: the site that pulls together blogs from all over the world (sort of a global perspective on many individuals' spiritual quests). If you scroll down the sidebar aways, you'll see the B.I.D.E. Global Blog Feed. It's from GlobalVoices.

Next, I want to bring your attention to a global "news" site that stresses reporting on the areas of maximum activity that aim at making our World a better place to live on: getting it back to a self-sustaining state (which includes a whole lot of inner spiritual strength...). The site is called OneWorld. This site is extremely dense with ripe information!

Yes! Magazine is the publication of Positive Futures Network: "an independent, nonprofit organization supporting people’s active engagement in creating a just, sustainable, and compassionate world." Here we have the awareness of personal tools we need in our global striving.

Next is OneCountry, a publication that stresses the deeper spiritual weapons we need to Wage Peace!

Finally, I present WorldPress.Org, the most "HardNews" site of the bunch. And, right here is where I need Your help...

Just below is a string of recent articles from WorldPress. I want to bring some Spiritual Commentary to one of those articles.

Will You Help?

Leave a comment (or, e-mail me: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com) with your pick, O.K.?

In the Spotlight

'Shia Democracy': Myth or Reality? (Part I) Shiism is another Islam, with its own identity and at least 200 million worldwide adherents. Perhaps the concept of "Shia democracy" holds a ray of hope for furthering democracy in the Muslim world. By Sreeram Chaulia.

Chile Surpasses One Million Broadband Connections Leading Latin America in Internet access and use, Chile also boasts the highest broadband penetration rate and is beginning to emerge as a regional leader in information technology. By Nathan Crooks.

Congo: Prisoners Endure Appalling Conditions As they dug a grave for one of their fellow inmates, detainees in Bunia Central Prison decided to use the occasion to protest against appalling conditions in the jail. From IRIN.

Paris Journal: Hype Happens Unlike hell, the Jeu de Paume contemporary art museum is not paved with good intentions. But it is hung with them at the moment. By Brent Gregston.

Congo: Rights Groups Call for Marie Therese Nlandu's Release Nlandu was arrested on Nov. 21, three weeks before President Kabila's inauguration, when she went to Kin-Maziere Police Station to visit and bring food to six of her associates. By Ambrose Musiyiwa.

NATO: Quo Vadis? Recently as part of the on going "war on terror," however, NATO has been active well beyond its traditional area of operations—in Afghanistan, the horn of Africa, and Lebanon. By Michael Werbowski.

Return of Somalia's Warlords The Islamic regime, which had progressively taken control of much of Somalia, was overthrown in December by an Ethiopian invasion force backed—financially and militarily—by the United States. From Green Left Weekly.

North Korea Offers to Halt Nuclear Program Senior North Korean negotiators have expressed Pyongyang's willingness to reach an agreement in return for economic and financial concessions. By Rich Bowden.

Child-Safety Experts Call For Restrictions On Childhood Imagination

Child-Safety Experts Call For Restrictions On Childhood Imagination

WASHINGTON, DC—"By constantly reminding kids that they're human children with no magical skills, you ensure that they will live a long life", said child-safety expert Kenneth McMillan.

Some penetrating, provocative "nonsense"...

How Do You Feel? >>> What Do You See?

I've been on a path of treatment for chronic depression for the last six months. This blog is a clear therapeutic aid for me.

To focus on what's Important, to clear my Vision, to reach out for Understanding and Share what I find...

God created us to Relate!

Some would, undoubtedly, say that the Internet isn't the place to do it. Actually, finding friends in cyberspace and maintaining those friendships is , to me, like what folks call "talking to angels".

All the normal cues for a physical relationship are removed. It's down to mostly words and the meaning they can carry. I'm certainly aware of all the techno-aids that are trying to mimic real-space interaction and the only one I use is provocative pictures--I'm not trying to cheat myself and pretend I'm in the same physical space when I'm not; I want to feel like I'm talking to Angels...

I chose that picture of roses because of my cyber-friend, Alexys Fairfield. I purposely defocused most of the picture to hint at something she wrote about the other day: Eyes In The Sky.

In that blog post, she said:

"I've always felt that there were eyes watching me. Eyes that need no invitation. Eyes that emanate warmth and kindness. Eyes that remind me of my past. Eyes that guide me to my future. Eyes that said nothing, but said it all. Eyes of resplendent glory and faith. Eyes of the invisible that became very clear.

"I do know that we are more susceptible to blind spots when we are overburdened. We can decrease our blind spots by becoming more aware of their existence. By becoming aware of "another set of eyes." They have always been there. Just ask your inner spirit to show you your blind spots. To define your vision. You may be surprised at what you find.

"When we do things that keep us from achieving the best we can achieve, we are blinded by the light. When there is a cohesion of our action and spirit, we are guided by the light.

"So on your journey to your ultimate self, don't forget to pack your extra set of eyes to help you through the murkiness. You are not alone. The eyes in the sky are upon you. Now and always."

Alexys always gives me a spark of Inspiration, a nudge toward clearer Vision.

I have another Friend, my most trustworthy human Angel, a man who spent 40 years in prison for His beliefs and left this physical realm in 1921. On the topic of Vision and what brings Joy or Pain He said:

“In this world we are influenced by two sentiments, Joy and Pain. Joy gives us wings! In times of joy our strength is more vital, our intellect keener, and our understanding less clouded. We seem better able to cope with the world and to find our sphere of usefulness. But when sadness visits us we become weak, our strength leaves us, our comprehension is dim and our intelligence veiled. The actualities of life seem to elude our grasp, the eyes of our spirits fail to discover the sacred mysteries, and we become even as dead beings. There is no human being untouched by these two influences; but all the sorrow and the grief that exist come from the world of matter--the spiritual world bestows only the joy! If we suffer it is the outcome of material things, and all the trials and troubles come from this world of illusion.”

~~~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, pp. 109-110

Where In The World ?

I have no idea where in the world this picture was taken. That's just fine, though, 'cause I wanted a place that was extremely different from where I am.

I live in southwestern Ohio in the United States--no mountains, just hills; no isolated cabins on the edge of glaciers...

Pictures from space have shown us how "small" our planet is but pictures down here can definitely show how "small" We are.

And, when it comes to my feelings about the big/small world and my small/big place in it, the best way I've seen it said is: "Glory not in love for your country, but in love for all mankind."

There's a service down aways on the sidebar called "B.I.D.E. Global Blog Feed". It comes from a site I want to praise and encourage you to visit: GlobalVoices

Their slogan is: "The world is talking. Are you listening?"

And, here's their agenda:

"GlobalVoices seeks to amplify, curate and aggregate the global conversation online - with a focus on countries and communities outside the U.S. and Western Europe. We are committed to developing tools, institutions and relationships that will help all voices everywhere to be heard."

It's exhilarating just to go there and browse the blogs from so many countries but it's downright uplifting to peruse their Resources:

How-to guides:

Reporters Without Borders Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents
(Mirror sites: here for English and for Chinese here and here.)

Anoniblog Guide: Guide to anonymous blogging by Ethan Zuckerman

Useful Documents:

Infrastructure of Democracy: Statement by a working group at the Club de Madrid on how not to destroy the internet while fighting terrorism

Six recommendations to ensure freedom of expression on the Internet from Reporters Without Borders and the OSCE.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights: including the universal right to free speech for all human beings.

Communities:

The Digital Divide Network: the Internet’s largest community for educators, activists, policy makers and concerned citizens working to bridge the digital divide.

Media Bloggers Association: a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting MBA members and their blogs, educating bloggers, and promoting the explosion of citizen’s media.

Omidyar Network: online community dedicated to making the world a better place.

Free hosting, free content:

Internet Archive: Universal access to human knowledge.

Ourmedia: free storage and free bandwidth for your videos, audio files, photos, text or software. Forever. No catches.

Creative Commons: a nonprofit that offers a flexible copyright for creative work.

Organizations supporting online free speech:

Berkman Center for Internet & Society: host organization for Global Voices Online.

Internet Freedom of Expression Exchange: defending global freedom of expression. Check out their Tunisia monitoring group.

Reporters Without Borders: fighting for freedom of the press worldwide.

Committee to Protect Bloggers: an independent organization dedicated to bloggers’ rights around the world.

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Defending freedom in the digital world.

Human Rights Watch: Defending human rights worldwide.

Spirit of America: supporting champions of freedom, democracy, and peace.

Who's Starving ?

{ image credit }

The post preceding this was only hours old when our intrepid E-Mail Reporter, Sandy, fired off a provocative response. It's more questions than answers and it set me to searching for understanding.

It'll take me awhile to answer all her questions but, in my search for the image over there, I did find the article:
When Endemic Malnutrition is Labeled as Famine...

Here's Sandy:

"Just a thought and some questions.....

"Have you ever noticed that in the photographs of the starving babies and children, that the adults in the photos don't ever look as emaciated as the babies and children do?

"Sometimes in these same photos the adults don't even look like they are starving or very hungry. I read somewhere, once, that it was because in these countries the parents and adults will eat first and then give what is left over to the children. The adults must be eating the same nutritionally poor food the children are right? Why don't the adults look worse the wear? If there isn't much food left over, which many times there isn't, the children then, well, ... just starve.

"This may not be the norm all over the world but, in some parts of the world, it would seem that education on this matter would be extremely important to these people.

"Now, if disease in these children is preventing what little poor nutrition they are getting from providing nourishment to their bodies, then, one would have to say, it's not only from lack of good food but from childhood disease as well, which was documented in the article, but my question is:

"The parents of these children appear to be very young themselves so how did they stave off these same diseases themselves in their childhoods and how did they get through and survive the lack of food, which was not very long ago, and how is it that they're not dying of starvation and disease themselves like their children are?

"Or are they?"

~ Sandy

Rich Kids + Poor Kids = Our Kids

There have been a number of posts here covering the issues of children. You can find some of them by clicking on the words in our Tag Cloud over in the sidebar.

Today's post was sparked by an article on the OneWorld site entitled, UNICEF report on childhood in industrialised countries.

At first I wondered why all that time and money was spent on assessing kids in the rich countries. Then it dawned on me that seeing the sad plight of children in the "best" countries on Earth could spur action to help All children.

Another thought I had was: Why does it take an official study to "prove" what most of us already know? I'm sure there's someone out there who could supply a rational reason but it'll still amaze me...

If you want to bypass the commentary about the report and read the original, it's available as a .pdf file: Report Card 7, Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Well-being in Rich Countries.

OneWorld is a dynamite site with a wealth of information you'll rarely see in mainstream media.

Here are a few links from a sidebar of their article:

Other stories on Child poverty full listing

	Disparities affecting children cloud economic good news story
	A quarter of the world’s children seriously underweight
	UNICEF, MSF and WFP join forces to save children’s lives in Niger

Science & Religion

This is one of the latest pictures of our Solar System neighbor, Saturn.

It was taken by the spacecraft, Cassini, which has been tirelessly working to expand our knowledge of Saturn since 2004. And that mission began after the spacecraft had taken seven years just to reach Saturn.

Some folks like to say we shouldn't spend so much on space missions when people here on earth need so much. This is a valid concern, yet there's much more money than is spent on space in the pockets of people who have more money than they know what to do with...

Sure, they earned it (hopefully honestly) and have the right to decide what they want to do with it. Still, there's a crying need for all members of humanity to become more spiritual and truly help each other.

I'll leave final answers of this money-for-space issue to history...

Carolyn Porco, the Cassini Imaging Team Leader, maintains a site full of marvelous images called, CICLOPS/Space Science Institute.

Just in case you haven't thought about our neighbor Saturn recently, here's a picture showing the relative sizes of our major neighbors (Saturn's the one to the right of Jupiter...):

And for those who doubt that Science and Religion can agree, I propose looking into the message, Science and Religion Explored.

One closing thought:

Many people think Spirituality is somehow divorced from daily living. To me this seems to fall far short of the evidence. If God created everything, wouldn't it make sense that Spirituality would hold all the answers for our mundane, day-to-day problems (personal or global)?

Where Do I Turn? - Continued . . .

Please read the post preceding this first.

I'd finished writing that post and began scanning B.I.D.E. Global Blog Feed in the sidebar, had a blog post catch my eye, followed it down and it lead me to another blog from which I must quote.

I put that man's picture here because he looks like a really decent person and I really can't tell what Faith he may have. Also, I bet he wouldn't hold it against a person if they belonged to a Faith other than his.

If you haven't read the post before this one, please do 'cause it will make this one make more sense; although, the 14-year-old Iraqi girl that I'll be quoting, really does make a ton of sense all on her own.

So . . .

Here's a quote from the blog, Days of My Life ~ Talk about daily life of a teenage girl in Iraq:

"I got a letter from a dear friend of mine telling me that the media says that the Sunnis kill the Shiites and the Shiites kill Sunnites in Iraq .. OOOOHHHHH Of course that is not true , Sunnites and Shiites have been living together for ages , they marry each other , I have relatives married Shiites women\men, if that was true , that means my parents’ uncle should kill his wife ,my mom’s uncle should kill his wife , some of my parents’ cousins should kill their wives\husbands !!!!!!!! and I should kill my two best friends , that is ridiculous…

"In my grandparents’ neighborhood, there are people from many religions there are Muslims(Sunnites, Shiites) , Christians , Subba , &Armenians.. they are more than neighbors , like one family , when my eye problem happened ( I had Deplopia) our Christian neighbors went to the church and lightened candles for me , and our Shiites neighbors went to Karbala , she traveled to another city , just to pray for me ( Karbala is a religious place specially for Shiites ), the examples are so many . I’ve talked about that in many posts . and said that in many interviews , and I will keep saying that till the people in the world start to realize , that Iraqis (Sunnites and Shiites) live in Iraq for more than 1400 years, they are MUSLIMS and IRAQIS.

"We go shopping together , if we need any help , we ask our neighbors to help us , because we are all Iraqis , no matter what are our religion , nor creeds , I didn’t know what are Shiites and Sunnites until I was 12 years old, and lately it appears that there are more creeds , Shafee and hanafy !!!!!! and other creeds , I don’t know which one I belong to , and I don’t even want to know , those names are not important , we all believe in the same god , and say the same prayers , no matter how do we stand and those formals if we put our hand together when we pray or not !!!!!!, what’s important is what is there inside our hearts .

"So , NO we don’t kill each other , the terrorists who kill Shiites are the same who kill Sunnites , it is impossible that Good Iraqis kill each other , no matter what is their religions nor creeds …
In my own big family , there are Arabs and Kurd , Sunnites and Shiites , Iraqis Americans , British , Turks , and Germans ( my parent’s uncle married a British lady , his daughter married a guy originally from Germany , and my dad’s cousin has a Turkish wife, many of my relatives married Shiites ) , what a mixture !!....

"From many nationalities and creeds. We are one big family..."

Where Do I Turn?

So much is wrong in the world...

So much effort must be spent just to stay slightly positive...

Most folks just give up.

Oh, they may still go to a church or mosque or temple but beyond a passing prayer for peace, not much gets done...

Our post, The Death of Violence !, has 64 simple and powerful things each of us could do, every day, to further peace...

But...

Beyond the good deeds we all need to do lies the need for a solid connection to a Spiritual Path.

Back in the post, My God, Your God, Our God, I listed quite a few Names of God from different cultures and Faiths. Right here, I want to list these names of the major Founders of Religion: Zarathustra, Krishna, Buddha, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, The Báb, and Bahá’u’lláh.

More and more people are coming to realize that these Prophets of God were all speaking the same "Language". When you look carefully at the core teachings of each of Their Faiths, you find the very same Truths. The only real variance in what They each brought to us is in the social laws, which must change periodically as humanity grows up...

So, how does a person decide which Faith to cleave to? If they're all teaching basically the same thing why do people fight over their religious beliefs?

According to a WebPage titled, Major Branches of Religions Ranked by Number of Adherents, there are twelve "classical" major world religions and 65 "branches" in those twelve "classical" styles of Faith.

If you look at that page, you'll find Many More "sub-branches"...

Ever get the suspicion that all those flavors of religion are created by people and may or may not have much to do with God's Wishes?

The more I talk to earnest believers in various Faiths, the more I find agreement that the Prophets each brought the Faith of God and people immediately began to erode It's pristine beauty and purity, created their own materialized variants, and made it quite easy for massive human slaughter due to "religious" strife !

This is one post I really hope to get many comments on...