Questioning the 'swine flu' and the nature and business of vaccines

(above pic from this fashionable article: motoaus.com/news/latest/...wine-flu.html )

I will provide official reports, differing reports and my own questions for your assesment. This is not to spread fear, but to support awareness, our ability to be open, and take a deeper look at what is before us in the world, to truly question "what is going on?". I truly welcome any perspective or insights.

When all the 'bird flu' scare was happening I read this article that felt to be enlightening:

HOW MANY AMERICANS REALLY DIE OF THE FLU EACH YEAR?
nomorefakenews.com/archives...eview.php
(the American Lung Association article refered to:)
www.lungusa.org/atf/cf/%7B...%7D/PI1.PDF

UN BLACKMAIL? (and what about Malaria? GOOD QUESTION! Please read...)
www.nomorefakenews.com/archiv...iew.php

So what is going on with the numbers?

On the numbers:

Please ask if the 'reasons' posited here sound scientific enough and offer enough accurate information to state that there are so many deaths due to flu.

Questions and Answers Regarding Estimating Deaths from Seasonal Influenza in the United States
www.cdc.gov/flu/about/di...ed_deaths.htm

And answering questions:

Swine flu: Your questions answered
www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/...rs/index.html

Excerpt:

"1. Hasn't swine flu been around for a while?

Yes. Swine flu was first identified in 1930 when researchers isolated the virus in a pig. In 1976, more than 200 soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey, got swine flu. From 1976 until 2005, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received approximately one report every year or two of humans with swine flu. From December 2005 until January 2009, there were 12 cases of swine flu reported." (end of excerptt)

What I want to know is: Why do these things start up in Military compounds?

Inluenza 1918:
www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/in...deAMEX86.html

And after asking that question I found this article:

Vaccines as Biological Weapons?
Live Avian Flu Virus Placed in Baxter Vaccine Materials Sent to 18 Countries
Tuesday, March 03, 2009 by: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
www.naturalnews.com/025760_B..._flu.html

(excerpt:)
"Examine the historical record. You'll find that the 1918 flu originated with servicemen. Even more interestingly, it began in multiple cities, simultaneously! There is no single point of origin with the 1918 flu. It appears to have "spontaneously" sprung up across multiple cities all at once, including a military base in Kansas. (Kansas? Yep. So how did it get to Kansas in an era when air traffic was virtually non-existent? Vaccines, of course!) www.naturalnews.com/military.html

All those cities and servicemen have one thing in common: Flu shot vaccinations given to them by the military.

If you put the pieces together on this, it's not too difficult to suspect that influenza could potentially be used as a tool of control by governments or drug companies to catalyze outrageous profit-taking or power grabbing agendas. A desperate, infected population will gladly give up anything or pay anything for the promise of being cured."
(end excerpt)

From this Times of India article:
Virus mix-up by lab could have resulted in pandemic
AGENCIES 6 March 2009, 12:02am IST
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Heal...2.cms

"Accidental release of a mixture of live H5N1 and H3N2 viruses could have resulted in dire consequences. While H5N1 doesn't easily infect people, H3N2 viruses do. If someone exposed to a mixture of the two had been simultaneously infected with both strains, he or she could have served as an incubator for a hybrid virus able to transmit easily to and among people."

Well, that is a loaded statement. Wouldn't you say?

So, at this point let's take a look at the 1976 'swine flu':

Congressman Paul on the Recent Swine Flu Scare
www.youtube.com/watch

1976 Swine Flu Propaganda
www.youtube.com/watch

How the pandemic swine flu virus came to be
www.latimes.com/features/h...33423.story


Excerpt from an article on No More Fake News that offers some perspective to consider:

~~~~~~~~~~

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

You have to understand, for example, that if a person exhibits certain symptoms---fatigue, congestion, elevated temperature, and so on---and he has been around other people who have been labeled PROBABLE SWINE FLU CASES, there is a chance this person, too, will be designated with the “probable” diagnosis.

The medical net is cast as wide as possible.

Millions and millions of people around the world display the so-called symptoms of flu. Ordinary flu. And this in itself is not a cause for alarm. To switch over and call some of these people “probable Swine Flu cases” is meaningless---except that it brings more fear---because the public has been programmed to react with fear when the Swine Flu label is applied.

In other words, there is a self-generated feedback loop of ridiculous and unsubstantiated diagnosis.

Little by little, fake epidemic by fake epidemic, the public is being trained to knuckle under to pronouncements by medical authorities and their government allies.

And in case you haven’t noticed, there is a growing Homeland Security aspect to all of this. “Terrorism” and “epidemic” are being linked under the same umbrella. Both labels, when applied, cause these authorities to swing into action and make dire predictions.

It’s good for business---the business of selling drugs and vaccines (pharmaceutical companies) and the business of government agencies who need “emergencies” to respond to, so they can prove their worth when it comes time to extract funding from Congress.

As I never tire of pointing out (I’ve been writing about this since 1988), medical control of the citizenry is a very good fascist strategy, because there appears to be no partisan or political agenda at work. Everything is done under the banner of: “we’re here to care for you and look out for you and cure your ills.”

- Jon Rappoport

~~~~~~~~~~

Unanswered questions...

Study: Tamiflu may do children more harm than good
www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/e...iflu.relenza/

David Icke - July 12th 2009 - Don't Take The Flu Vaccine!
www.youtube.com/watch

For discerment purposes, here are a few official articles

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_vaccine

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiomersal

Internists Remind Public To Get Seasonal Flu Shot
www.medicalnewstoday.com/artic...50.php
("Every year in the U.S. about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu-related complications.")

Reflections on the 1976 Swine Flu Vaccination Program
www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/v...1/05-1007.htm

I just found this 2005 article interesting considering that it is co-authored by Barack Obama:

Op-Ed Contributors
Grounding a Pandemic
By BARACK OBAMA and RICHARD LUGAR
Published: June 6, 2005
www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06...6obama.html

Let's take a look at one statement:

"At the moment, effective responses to an avian flu pandemic are limited and will come far too late for many people in Southeast Asia. Indeed, so far more than 60 percent of those diagnosed with the avian flu have died."

60%? Well 60% of what?

www.searo.who.int/EN/Sectio...on1027.htm
"WHO has reported 141 laboratory confirmed human cases of avian influenza in Indonesia, with 115 deaths since July 2005. Thailand has reported 25 cases with 17 deaths since December 2003.

The South-East Asia Region accounts for 168 cases and 132 deaths from Avian Influenza A (H5N1)."

Well, that puts things into perspective, but not as intimidating when stated this way, is it?. Here is the WHO chart:

Cumulative Number of Confirmed Human Cases of Avian Influenza A/(H5N1) Reported to WHO
24 September 2009
www.who.int/csr/disease/...en/index.html

And how about these statements from the op-ed article:

"The precedent that experts fear is the 1918 flu pandemic, which began in the American Midwest and swept the planet in the era before air travel,..."

1918 influenza: the mother of all pandemics
Taubenberger JK, Morens DM.
2006 Jan [date cited].
www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/v...1/05-0979.htm

"When and Where Did the 1918 Influenza Pandemic Arise?

Before and after 1918, most influenza pandemics developed in Asia and spread from there to the rest of the world. Confounding definite assignment of a geographic point of origin, the 1918 pandemic spread more or less simultaneously in 3 distinct waves during an ≈12-month period in 1918–1919, in Europe, Asia, and North America (the first wave was best described in the United States in March 1918). Historical and epidemiologic data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin of the virus (21), and recent phylogenetic analysis of the 1918 viral genome does not place the virus in any geographic context (19)."

This states it "...spread more or less simultaneously...", so how did it sweep the planet so quickly?

"...killing 20 million to 40 million people."

Why so vague on the number of deaths? Perhaps because they keep changing?

Flu epidemic hits Seattle on October 3, 1918.
By David Wilma, January 01, 2000
www.historylink.org/index.cfm

"Throughout the world, at least 21 million people died, including some 700,000 in the United States."

And once again from 1918 influenza: the mother of all pandemics:

"The "Spanish" influenza pandemic of 1918–1919, which caused ≈50 million deaths worldwide..."

Updating the accounts: global mortality of the 1918-1920 "Spanish" influenza pandemic:
preview.tinyurl.com/yefzlde

"Further research has seen the consistent upward revision of the estimated global mortality of the pandemic, which a 1920s calculation put in the vicinity of 21.5 million. A 1991 paper revised the mortality as being in the range 24.7-39.3 million. This paper suggests that it was of the order of 50 million. However, it must be acknowledged that even this vast figure may be substantially lower than the real toll, perhaps as much as 100 percent understated."

Even Wikipedia isn't sure, but the number is rising: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic

"The pandemic lasted from March 1918 to June 1920,[3] spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. It is estimated that anywhere from 50 to 100 million people were killed worldwide."

More from Mr. Rappoport:

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009

It isn’t just Obama’s health plan. It isn’t just the fear mongering around fake epidemics. The medical/pharmaceutical establishment is moving a step at a time toward making illness a badge of honor.

Children of a new generation are learning that it pays to have some disorder or another: ADHD, clinical depression, SAD, Bipolar Disorder. There are perks. The child doesn’t have to grow up with a great goal and the energy and determination to pursue it. He can become, instead, a person with an illness, and he can develop a whole language to describe it. It’s a fall-back position for him.

“If at first you don’t succeed, obtain a diagnosis from a psychiatrist.”

Of course, the medications dispensed to “treat” these “disorders” are highly toxic. They scramble, for example, neurotransmitter systems in the brain. They act like speed drugs. They repress a wide-ranging emotional life, substituting instead a dead zone.

As time passes, the medical/pharmaceutical juggernaut obtains more control over people’s lives. It presents itself as the ultimate “care giver,” with only the best interests of the patient at heart. A chemical messiah.

People want to believe in something. So they move under the medical umbrella and seek an authority to supply them with cradle to grave guidance.

This journey is marked with many signposts (disease and disorder labels) that offer excuses for failing to find a truly satisfying life.

The chief bureaucrats at The Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization are the priests of a new religion. They pretend to know the unchallengeable facts of an arcane catechism. They know how [to] issue orders and inform the masses about new disease threats. They know how to build a whole cosmology of disaster and imbue it with the sounds of authenticity. In this, they replicate the kinds of fairy tales that lead the slaves of organized religions.

“We care, we dispense, we command, we point the way.”

The separation of church and state was wisely written into the Constitution. But this new religion works hand in glove with government. That’s the rub. Its dictums and flaws and false assumptions and compromised research and greed and hunger for control are increasingly aligned with the Nanny State itself. With extensive media cooperation, the medical religion can ignore and bury many legitimate factual criticisms of its so-called science.

The push in the direction of trying to make certain vaccines compulsory is just one instance of this overall power play.

- Jon Rappoport

And a little more perspective on reporting of numbers and seriousness, this time in regards to smallpox:

LYING ABOUT VACCINES
www.nomorefakenews.com/archiv...iew.php

It seems to me that it is a guessing game as to the actual number of deaths and really how these viruses come to be. I am not hearing anything substancial that explains where they originate, how they mutate, why vaccinations when they don't seem to offer much help and quite often do more harm than good? I could write more perspective on this, but I want to leave it more open ended and await any perspective you may have.

I feel this article sums it up failry nicely and offers some more questioning perspective on the nature of the vaccines(scroll down for this article, the page in the link also includes the flu stats piece by Mr. Rappoport at the top):

Flu Treatment
www.life-enthusiast.com/news/s_flu.htm
by Mark Sircus Ac., OMD
International Medical Veritas Association
www.imva.info

Bill Hicks, Jim Marrs and the 'interconnectedness' of things

Okay now, I feel to begin this with a clarification:

I am not into violence references or sarcasm as a 'normal/regular' form of communication, but I do feel that the expression of exasperation with absurdities/insanities of life as a means of conveying such can be appropriate when spoken and shared with mature adults. I find it is actually very sane to do so at times. This is not meant as a simple 'complaining' about life, but honestly attempting to communicate something deeply felt to perhaps share insight and the potential for real sanity. I do not necessarily agree with all of Hicks' perceptions, but I honor and admire the 'brutal' honesty(have always admired people of this nature) with which he shares them. With this said read on....

And in his own words:

"Well, with a five minute UFO experience I got a taste of holiness I never got in 20 years of religion. All the things I talk about are foils to point out perceptions, so I really don't have anything I'm against so much as I'm for, and that's what I think my material keeps pointing at -- deflating balloons, deflating fantasies and trying to find some element of truth."

~~~~

"We are the perfect and holy children of God, and I don't see, being the perfect and holy children of God, how any limits could be put upon us...not at all. That's the point of my act. I just want to be free of the fears and anxieties of death and the superstitions of religion. Being raised in a baptist...with an avenging God, a God who created hell for his children. I'm sorry, but...no. Wrong. You're wrong. That's an insane God and therefore not mine. Because, see, God would be very sane, don't you get it? That's my act. Everything branches off from that."

~~~~

from the forward to the book: Bill Hicks - Love All The People(The Essential Bill Hicks)

"Hicks thinks against society and insists on the importance of this intellectual freedom as a way to inspire others to think for themselves. 'To me the comic is the guy who says "Wait a minute" as the consensus forms. He's the antithesis of the mob mentality. The comic is a flame --- like Shiva the Destroyer, toppling idols no matter what they are. He keeps cutting everything back to the moment."

"The best thing I do is make connections. I connect 'everything'(italicized)."

~~~~

Now for the fun....

"I've been traveling a lot lately. I was over in Australia during Easter. It was interesting to note they celebrate Easter the same way we do -- commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus by telling our children a giant bunny rabbit... left chocolate eggs in the night.

Gee, I wonder why we are so messed up as a race. You know, I've read the Bible. I can't find the words 'bunny' or 'chocolate' in the whole book.

I think it's interesting how people act on their beliefs. A lot of Christians, for instance, wear crosses around their necks. Nice sentiment, but do you think when Jesus comes back, he's really going to want to look at a cross?

Ow! Maybe that's why he hasn't shown up yet.
(As Jesus looking down from Heaven)
'I'm not going, Dad. No, they're still wearing crosses -- they totally missed the point. When they start wearing fishes, I might go back again...No, I'm not going...O.K., I'll tell you what -- I'll go back as a bunny.' "

~~~~~~~~~

Okay now, continuing in the 'interconnectedness' of things vein:

I posted about a book I had been reading called 'rule by secrecy' by Jim Marrs...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Marrs

...and recently I found a link that appears to be the book online. Not sure if it is the whole book, but it looks to have informational links in addition to what is mentioned in the book. The web page has a bit of an 'alarmist' tone to it, which I can understand but am note prone to, but if you have an interest here it is:

www.bibliotecapleyades.net/soci...y.htm


Hmm, it appears I am honoring 'two truth tellin' Texans' today. :)


It all comes back to 'connectedness'...sooner or later, why not sooner? If we can realize the reality of our inherent 'nOneness' and live from this....this would be a much more enjoyable existence.

Just did a search on Youtube and found this good piece that I have heard before on CD(which is echoing what I just expressed) and am happy to share it with you:

Bill Hicks: What is the point to Life
www.youtube.com/watch

Peace All!

P.S. while searching for some pics to post with this I found this page which shows Hicks' censored(cut) act from the Letterman show on October 1, 1993. Apparently Hicks's mother went onto the Letterman show and David apologized for cutting it and showed it:

adap2k.blogspot.com/2009_01_...hive.html

Plus, it looks like I may have found another website to peruse. I like the header statement. ;)

A life goal...

...to play in the snow and soak in the hot springs with the Macaques of Japan. Perhaps when my son goes there to live after college. :)

www.youtube.com/watch
www.youtube.com/watch_popup

Two books to read

I know I have posted about these before, but this is a post I did today that includes some good excerpts and perspective writing.

How the Rich Are Destroying the Earth
www.chelseagreen.com/booksto...perback#

A good long excerpt from the book:
www.organicconsumers.org/artic...92.cfm

Almost finished with this book....

Rule by Secrecy
www.harpercollins.com/books/9...dex.aspx

Excerpts:
www.raven1.net/rulbysec.htm (just got this off a google search, am not familiar with the rest of the site, but it has a lot of excerpts)


These books present what may be extreme to most in the manner of how the world is viewed, but they offer questions and information in a straightforward and balanced manner that help to see the threads of power structures and the mind sets behind them that we may know on some level, yet help to bring it to the surface to see more clearly.

Even if you think you know what is going on and why, I recommend reading these. Not really to figure out 'who's doing what', but rather to see the 'big picture' in a different way perhaps, to be more aware of how interconnected it all is and how we are being faced with some serious choices right now. If we choose to face them. I don't believe in an 'us and them' or that 'we can stop them', but that we are being presented with an opportunity to meet the reality of our mortality head on....and in this meeting face the fear that is spiraling 'us' through this misery-ridden disaster as a world society to reveal the potential of realizing the strength and beauty of 'us' that is waiting to live wholly through 'us'.

The forwarding of the 'future' out of fear

Did a stream of consciousness following of links, connecting and collecting as I went:

Military Domains: Air, Land Sea and Now Cyberspace
www.livescience.com/technolo...mand.html

Hackers stole data on Pentagon's newest fighter jet
www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/2...ed/index.html

Pentagon approves creation of cyber command
www.alertnet.org/thenews/n...388687.htm

Pentagon Cyber Unit Prompts Questions
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...73.html

(you can check out the 'Star Wars' related articles in links of the first article 'Military Domains...')

Prototype Missile Defense Satellites Primed for Test Flight
www.space.com/businesstec...siledef.html

...then saw these videos at the end of it all

Implanted. Enhanced. Invaded?: Human-Robot Mergers
www.livescience.com/common/m...layer.php

Future 'Bots: Robot-Human Convergence Begins
www.livescience.com/common/m...layer.php

In this second video it gives a prime example of the rationalization behind the forwarding of the 'robotic future' and the experimentation, exploitation, and mutation of nature for 'our needs'(profit and pleasure), which by this rationalization will most likely end 'us'(humans).

If nothing else at least watch the videos. Why? For awareness...awareness of how we as a species are 'selling ourselves short', quite literally shortening our time here by selling out to our insecurities and desires.

(pic from this page: www.scienceahead.com/entry/t...ologies/ which offers more 'propaganda/programing' and the 'selling of the future' worth a look....)

Michael Jackson: They Don’t Care About Us

Is there any question really about who 'they' are? In a relative/duality sense, 'us and them' exists, yes we can recognize and realize the unreality of 'us and them' in U'n'I~versality, but it may be necessary to get clear on the relative tendencies of the mind that separate, discriminate, and justify it with an air of 'superiority'. In this criteria: who are 'they'? We can see how this type of behavior exists within all of us, but for some of us this behavior has a more extreme and far reaching effect. Who today has such potential? And are we going to wait until 'they' care about 'us'? Or can 'we' care about 'them'(us...they are self) enough to stop supporting the misperceptions of 'themselves, the world and us'? How do we do this?

Come to see the underlying behaviors that are being enacted(look within, past surface identifications), admit how they exist within 'self/other'(embrace the darkness, forgive), so that they can easily be seen(witness without judgment)...then bear the energy of impulse that seeks to engage in the separating, fear based, over-consumptive actions(be still in the midst of conditioned response)....realize the Self that exists within us all, that is whole and unaffected by anything...is divine and pure regardless of manifesting energies of 'war and hatred'....and with all your heart pay attention to the peace that is desired in the world that exists as 'You', before, during and after any thought of 'you' arises(be aware of awareness...does awareness move...come or go...change in any way?).

Within this realization is the potential for all to awaken to the reality that 'we' do not exist as we think we do, as separate beings, but are as we are without any thought of 'who we are'....united, inseparable, wholly(Holy)...not 'One', for there would be two...only 'self' that is no~thing...essence/being of All.

This is the only chance for Peace....if 'we' are to realize this, if it is possible, it will be revealed...as it has and continually is 'here'.

This song is not shared to add to a sense of 'self pity' or story of victimization, but to offer the potential to feel deeper what is really wanted and to tell the truth of that within...and see where the willingness is to be done with all the stories that seek to separate, keep the ego-dream 'alive' that misperceives 'self'...and in this misperception 'fears', and in fearing enacts all the misery of the world upon it~Self.

May the Light be revealed, may Love live through 'Us'.

They Don’t Care About Us
Written and composed by michael jackson

Original prison version:
www.youtube.com/watch

(another 'sunnier' version continues where last video left off with Michael running through the alley...)
www.youtube.com/watch

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Situation, aggravation
Everybody allegation
In the suite, on the news
Everybody dog food
Bang bang, shock dead
Everybodys gone mad

All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us

Beat me, hate me
You can never break me
Will me, thrill me
You can never kill me
Do me, sue me
Everybody do me
Kick me, strike me
Dont you black or white me

All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us

Tell me what has become of my life
I have a wife and two children who love me
I am the victim of police brutality, now
Im tired of bein the victim of hate
Youre rapin me of my pride
Oh, for gods sake
I look to heaven to fulfill its prophecy...
Set me free

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Trepidation, speculation
Everybody allegation
In the suite, on the news
Everybody dog food
Black man, black mail
Throw your brother in jail

All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us

Tell me what has become of my rights
Am I invisible because you ignore me?
Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now
Im tired of bein the victim of shame
Theyre throwing me in a class with a bad name
I cant believe this is the land from which I came
You know I do really hate to say it
The government dont wanna see
But if roosevelt was livin
He wouldnt let this be, no, no

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Situation, speculation
Everybody litigation
Beat me, bash me
You can never trash me
Hit me, kick me
You can never get me

All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us

Some things in life they just dont wanna see
But if martin luther was livin
He wouldnt let this be

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Situation, segregation
Everybody allegation
In the suite, on the news
Everybody dog food
Kick me, strike me
Dont you wrong or right me

All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us

All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us

All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They dont really care about us


Memorial tribute: Just released short clip of Michael Jackson's last concert rehearsal at Staples Center, June 23, 2009 "They Don't Really Care About Us" © 2009 AEG Live, LLC. Orianthi Panagar is on guitar.
www.youtube.com/watch

Within This Human Condition

Bought a new Rumi book today....Love's Ripening: Rumi on the Heart's Journey (Shambhala)

Here is the first poem...

Ripened Fruit

Do you remember how you came into existence?
You may not remember
because you arrived a little drunk.
Let me give you a hint:
Let go of your mind and then be mindful.
Close your ears and listen!

It is difficult to speak to your unripeness.
You may still be in your springtime,
unaware that autumn exists.
This world is a tree to which we cling----
we, the half-ripe fruit upon it.

The immature fruit clings tightly to the branch
because, not yet ripe, it's unfit for the palace.
When fruits become ripe, sweet, and juicy,
then, biting their lips,
they loosen their hold.

When the mouth has been sweetened by felicity,
the kingdom of the world loses it's appeal.
To be tightly attached to the world is immaturity.
As long as you're an embryo,
all you think about is sipping blood.

There's more to be said,
but let the Holy Spirit tell it.
You may even tell it to your own ear.
Neither I, nor some other "I," needs to tell you,
you who are also I.

Just as when you fall asleep,
you leave the presence of yourself
to enter another presence of yourself.
You hear something from yourself
and imagine that someone else
has secretly spoken to you in a dream.
But you are not a single "you,"
my friend----you are the wide sky and the deep sea.
Your awesome "You," which is nine hundredfold,
is where a hundred of your you's will drown.

Pleasure and happiness

Pleasure depends on things, happiness does not. As long as we believe that we need things to make us happy, we shall also believe that in their absence we must be miserable. Mind always shapes itself according to it's beliefs. Hence the importance of convincing oneself that one need not be prodded into happiness; that, on the contrary, pleasure is a distraction and a nuisance, for it merely increases the false conviction that one needs to have and do things to be happy, when in reality it is
just the opposite.

But why talk of happiness at all? You do not think of happiness except when you are unhappy. A man who says "Now I am happy" is between two sorrows, past and future. This happiness is mere excitement caused by relief from pain. Real happiness is utterly un-self-conscious. It is best expressed negatively as: "there is nothing wrong with me, I have nothing to worry about".

Once you have grasped the truth that the world is full of suffering, that to be born is a calamity, you will find the urge and the energy to go beyond. Pleasure puts you to sleep and pain wakes you up. If you do not want to suffer, don't go to sleep. You cannot know yourself through bliss alone, for bliss is your very nature. You must face the opposite, what you are not, to find enlightenment.

From:
end-to-suffering.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~

I would clarify that this does not mean to seek suffering, to be masochistic, but to not seek pleasure out of boredom, fear of not being 'okay' or 'happy'. See if there is the willingness to be present with 'suffering' and see what reveals itself in this willingness. The darkness must be faced to find the light.

MJ's 'Earth Song'

Here is a compilation of sharings from facebook:

Just saw this last night for this first time and I would have to say it is a fitting 'parting message'. It's not about despair or laying blame, just realizing and acknowledging...and facing it all, however we can...we can honor this gift of life or we can ignore it. I can say this: If we honor it, it will honor us....realize we are life, we are love...and love 'yourself'.

This was the Magic of Michael...that he gave voice to what was felt, regardless of how it was perceived. What do you feel from this...how will you perceive it...and respond?

Help by realizing how the world is harmed...acknowledge in what ways there is the participation in 'warring' on the world(earth, people, animals...all Beings) in relations of all kinds...and in whatever way possible: stop.

The paradox to this 'stopping' is to realize what is not 'harmed, changed, effected' by anything....that is always whole...this offers the space of peace that supports and enables true compassion and the possibility of 'healing' for the world.

www.videomela.com/video/402...-Earthsong

A pause can speak volumes....

Please watch the news video at the bottom of the article. It posts some good questions. Can you hear the lack of conviction in Obama's statements? Not sounding so eloquent or sure of himself. If we want real change we have to pay close attention and not accept anymore 'promises' or political rhetoric from anyone, no matter how well they talk or especially how 'charismatic' they are..

We Wouldn't Want to Inflame Anti-American Sentiment
by Glenn Greenwald
www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/14-8