I always try to tell people that tiny things can lead to big results, and to look for the little hinges on which the big doors swing. For instance, one tiny little thing I’d do if I were President would be to push recognition of stevia, the natural sweetener, which the FDA refuses to let us know about.

What would be the domino effect? Less sugar everywhere, less obesity, less health problems, less diabetes, healthier Americans … all because of the recognition and permission to use one natural sweetener that is far far better than sugar on so many different levels. You have to think of the domino effect of tiny acts to see how to change the world for the better.

By the way, there’s a new soft drink made from stevia called ZEVIA. Can’t wait to try it.

And another thing while I’m at it … the labeling rules of the FDA forbid manufacturers from telling you if they did NOT use hormones in their milk production, or their food was NOT irradiated and all sorts of other things we want to know about. Why outlaw such disclosures? Because the FDA bows to big business rather than the public, and big business doesn’t want us to know about the healthier options so we’d buy them..

Such small legislative changes like this could revolutionize the nation. That’s how you should think….what small thing can I do that would have tremendous results in benefitting the public?  I’m sure you could collect tons of ideas like this that cost absolutely nothing and yet the ramifications are so gigantically beneficial that we’re stupid for not doing them. Makes you wonder sometimes if someone isn’t being compensated  or rewarded in some way to keep everyone from being healthier.

There is a new book out …  Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think  by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed. People say the contents contain many counterintuitive findings, as pertaining to terrorism and religious radicals, but I don’t find them hard to understand at all. As I usually point out, it has to do with politics more than anything else we call "religion". Islam just happens to be the main religion, and thus abbreviated focus, in the areas of which the world has a real politik interest – namely oil since supplies are running out.

Clipping a few apt words of summary from http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0517/p12s04-wogi.html (Christian Science Monitor, accessed August 21, 2008) we find:

When asked why they supported the attacks, the radicals gave political rather than religious reasons. They have a sense of political frustration and feel humiliated and threatened by the West. Those who opposed the attacks often gave religious reasons for doing so.

Radicals are no more religious than the general population and do not attend mosque more frequently.

What distinguishes them is not their perception of Western culture or freedoms, but their perception of US policies. Even radicals say they support democracy. But 63 percent of radicals do not believe that the United States will allow people in the region to fashion their own political future without direct US influence.

When I first found out about  Samuel P. Huntington’s book  The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order years ago, I looked at it and the conclusions, noted the extraordinary press it was getting, and immediately knew that such a book was getting such extraordinary press despite a lacluster thesis and conclusions I disagreed with because the powers must be setting the stage for a push against Islam in the future. Fast forward: 100% correct. You have to note the books that get pushed by the great news agencies because there is often a politial motive behind them.

Actually, I knew the upcoming battle was not a "push against Islam," because there really is NO clash  of civilizations as people would like you to believe — unless you set out to manufacture one.  What they were after was setting the stage, via an expedient excuse, cause, rationale, or cover, thesis, philosophy  …for an upcoming attempt to seize geopoltical assets necessary for the long run — OIL, which as in the hands of Arab cvountries, but you couldn’t say that so you had to use the proxy of ISLAM.

Thus we then had the push into Afghanistan, Iraq, and now the attempts to go into Iran and control the whole of Eurasia … all as mentioned in the Project for a New Amercian Century (PNAC members include Dick Cheney, Richard Armitrage, Scooter Libby, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton, Elliott Abrams, Richard Perle — names familiar) political positions piece book by Zbigniew Brzezinski ( The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives) which explained the upcoming strategy:

"For America, the chief geopolitical prize is Eurasia) Now a non-Eurasian power is preeminent in Eurasia — and America’s global primacy is directly dependent on how long and how effectively its preponderance on the Eurasian continent is sustained. (p.30)

"Two basic steps are thus required: first, to identify the geostrategically dynamic Eurasian states that have the power to cause a potentially important shift in the international distribution of power and to decipher the central external goals of their respective political elites and the likely consequences of their seeking to attain them; second, to formulate specific U.S. policies to offset, co-opt, and/or control the above." (p. 40)

"To put it in a terminology that harkens back to the more brutal age of ancient empires, the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together." (p.40)

"Henceforth, the United States may have to determine how to cope with regional coalitions that seek to push America out of Eurasia, thereby threatening America’s status as a global power." (p.55)

"With warning signs on the horizon across Europe and Asia, any successful American policy must focus on Eurasia as a whole and be guided by a Geostrategic design." (p.197)

These guys should all be taking lessons from my book on Kuan Tzu because it contains the strategies that will work to accomplish the goals they  set out to accomplish. Frankly, THEIR strategies are, by all my yardsticks, failures in both the short run and long run.  Kuan Tzu tells you why. And if you don’t understand any of what I’m writing about, then you shouldn’t consider yourself qualified for political office at the level of statesmanship required to lead a nation. You have to think strategy, long term trends, chess moves …. You shouldn’t necessarily agree with my opinions or adopt them, but MUST think geopolitically about what a leader must do to secure the fate of their nation. If you don’t then you’re just not qualified.

As I say, these are men who believe they are patriots in their thinking about the US, securing its future,  and attaining world hegemony. Every country wants that. However, their track record (and thus prior understanding of what’s required and the proper moves that position the US securely) shows they are absolutely lousy at strategy and tactics (as the results show) despite their positions of power and their patriotic intentions. They are more intellectual  thinkers then wisdom gifted and depend too much on moves that might help certain corporations rather than the country. I call their intentions "patriotic" because all statesmen want their country to survive, grow, prosper, excel, stand out, etc. and must plan for survival issues. Singapore does this well. Israel tries to do this well but is beginning to fail without noticing it. France has been slipping, and Britain as well without overtly showing it. New Zealand does this well. Some South American countries are starting to do this VERY well. Anyway, because of their dependence on wishful thinking rather than wisdom understanding,  thus we have the mess we are in in all sorts of dimensions – militarily, budgetwise, the economic front including manufacturing and employment, financial,  world opinion,and so forth.

The Chinese, for  instance, are doing a bang up job in Africa policywise, and it seems that Africa (trendwise) will eventually turn its back on the US within one or two decades. The US will have very little influence in such countries unless it invades them when the future comes, though there will be lots of "humanitarian" reasons one could develop for just such interventions. In Africa  China is  clearly winning the superpower game as most nations turn away from the bullying US with its endless demands and consistent track record of constantly turning on allies (because its strategies weren’t long term wise in the first place, and focused on business profits without being well thought out). Playing for the long term, with consistency and determination, the Chinese will win there. As its manufacturing base builds and middle class starts to form, China is poised to replace the US as the world’s economic engine of both consumer and producer within 1-2 decades. The remingbi, if not within 20 years, will probably become the main exchange currency of Asia. I agree with investor Jimmy Rogers on its ascendacy 100%. When its currency replaces the Yen in improtance, people will say they could not see it yet anyone can see it. Previous to the US it was England, after the US it will be China. Naturally I have policies and strategies to counter this, but who will consider them? Such things you never reveal publicly anyway.

What exactly have we achieved so far through our geopoltical moves?  Let’s go over a small list …

* Secure foreign oil fields? (not if  troops aren’t permanently stationed there or the next administartion reverses things or the occupied nations kick us out). 
* Secure the US manufacturing base? (not with the move to ousourcing approved in catering to corporate business wishing ever increasing profits that don’t enrich the nation or populace)
* Strengthen the dollar? (no nation in history has saved itself by debasing its currency)
* Create more friends abroad? (we’ve created  more extremists and terrorists bent on revenge then we have eliminated, and actually provided a rationale for their existence … plus alientated many countries who now have the thought we cannot be trusted or depended upon because of too many alliances)
* Strengthened our bond with Allies? (the recent Georgian debacle proved to nations that being over-extended, we can’t do much of anything to satisfy mutual protection treaties we’ve signed on for  … do you think they WON’T rethink where they will buy their next weapons and who they should start making deals with)
* Lowered the budget deficit (One word for you: Iraq. Second word for you: Banking crisis ready to cost billions more at taxpayer expense)
* United the nation? (by promoting a Mexican open-door immigration policy for individuals who speak a foreign language and have trouble integrating)

Putting it bluntly: many of the world’s citizens now hate us and given a chance, will turn on us or to other international players. We’ve lost our ability to stand as the shining knight, or lecture other countries on freedom, democracy, rights, etc. As we become less and less of an important player due to supplying less product to the world (the manufacturing base is deteriorating, and agriculture is threatened) and as our currency becomes less improtant as a medium of exchance or reserve currency, it will happen. Slwoly but surely. So all those guys in Washington really don’t know the long term Kuan Tzu strategies of sages for turning things around. You can use them to make your country stay on top or get to the top. One day I’ll write a book on how to make a country rich, but right now this one will suffice.

Anti-americanism is much more important to us than these guys think. Good will and trustworthiness, as Warren Buffet can say, are more important than the mere fact of controlling an oil nation, or thinking you can control it, because of its multi-faceted ramifications. My book on Kuan Tzu, the only book on achieving world hegemoney in the marketplace, provides lessons on how to reverse things and achieve geopolitical dominance  correctly. Basically, the Bush administration has been a dismal failure when it comes to securing the future of the US; most all the policies instuted have worked to weaken us rather than to attain the grand objectives. When Rumsfeld was around, the Rumsfeld-Cheny-Bush trio reminded me of cases in Chinese history where you had a dim-witted emperor surrounded by two euncuhs (Cheney’s had 4 heart operations and Rumsfeld is in his 70’s) controlling access to him and ruining the country in the meantime. History will not judge these men kindly although they may have had good intentions for American superpower status. I don’t criticize intentions or people — I just say the startegies have not worked, have done the opposite, are lousy and practically everyone now sees it. But of course, while in office people aren’t honest enough to admit it.

That aside, the real BIG wars in the future will be fought over WATER. Not oil, WATER. India and China might fight over this, the States in the US will see conflict, all over the world there will be water wars. The veneer of the conflicts will take the shape of something else, but water control will be the target. See Trevor Constable’s work on how to make the weather rain, or collapse hurricanes, via chi machines if you’re interested in micro solutions for certainlocalities when imperiled.

And speaking of water, if it weren’t for water unavilability we’d already have coal liquification plants in the US galore that woud supply lots of oil needs,  provide countless jobs, and actually act as a Keynesian push for the economy. Water is the deficient culprit holding these plants up. Similarly, the best replacement for biofuels I’ve ever seen is also unfortunately water dependent . See the  great video below. If these algae facilities – based upon GROW TO ORDER SPECIFICATIONS — were to become abundant, we would have a new source of fertilizer as well as biofuels as well at efficiences undreamed of. It just takes political will to make this happen.

 

Of course, the new Daniel Nocera breakthrough in  fuel cell energy storage for solar energy applications, using common chemicals like cobalt and phosphate, will see a revolution in solar energy soon, too, as well as solar cells being printed on plastic sheets.

 

These interesting videos were sent to me by a friend, and make you wonder why everything fits together so nicely. Not just in one or two or three or ten or twenty but in COUNTLESS places … and then on Mars, too!

http://www.nealadams.com/nmu.html

and this video:

Incidentally, in one lecture Shakyamuni Buddha explained how the earth had formed, and how beings from the Form Realm came here, tasted the earth, and liked it. Intime, from eating the tasty earth they changed their bodies’ density and could not leave. The sutras say he then demonstrated this by supernaturally extending his hand deep into the earth to retrieve some of it which he let the assembly taste.

Now why did his hand have to stretch DEEP into the earth to do this? Has it gotten bigger over time, perhaps growing just as we grow though in a process we don’t understand … for instance one involving chi or other unseen forces that involve inflation?

Who knows? I have no opinion on the matter since I have no science on the matter. The videos are interesting regardless.

 

Recently I spoke about incorruptibility of the body after death, a phenomenon noted of cultivators in countless religions. This includes Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism and Christianity … yes, Christianity. I am sure there are even Islamic saints who have exhibited physical incorruption after death but such accounts would not be readily available to those who only speak English, and thus I don’t have any that I can remember. The point is, it’s  non-denominational phenomenon. if you cultivate WELL then you can achieve it. The same goes for relics, or sariras. If you clean out your chi channels you can do this. If you clean them out, you can even reach a stage where you survive on air (and your hormones) alone.

Now comes the case of the boy in Nepal who meditates every day in a tree trunk and never seems to eat or drink. He also does not seem to move at all. People ask me constantly, "Is this real? Is this possible? Is there trickery going on?"

http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/xleje_circusoflife_the-boy-with-divine-powers-buddha-b/video/x6bb2j_the-boy-with-divine-powers-15

First, I don’t know if the boy’s state is genuine. I haven’t seen him at all. The question is therefore whether it’s possible. Even if he’s faking it (he’s not faking motionlessness), the question is whether such spiritual gong-fu exists.

As to inedia — the ability to survive for days if not weeks or months with no or very little food or water due to spiritual efforts (cultivation of meditation), it is well recognized that many Christian saints, including female saints, exhibited it. The Eastern religions recognize its existence as well.

Swami Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi mentions that the Catholic nun Therese Neumann exhibited inedia from her spiritual cultivation. It has been witnessed in many Indian adepts as well, such as Pawahari Baba, Giri Bala, and Devaraha Baba. In Christianity we also have St. Lidwina of Schiedam who ate nothing for 28 years, Venerable Domenica dal Paradiso for 20 years, Blessed Nicholas Von Flue for 19 years, Louise Lateau for 12 years. The list goes on.

Is the boy exhibiting inedia?  I’m not there and investigators aren’t given access to him at night to know for sure. Why would I care anyway — to me the only important thing is my own cultivation efforts and progress.

There are indeed samadhi states wherein one stays within samadhi for days, weeks or even years without food or water. I know of two very famous cases off the top of my head.

One case, which you can find in The Insider’s Guide to the Best and Worst Spiritual Paths and Practices, was a Buddhist monk who was found inside a tree trunk 300 years after he entered this type of samadhi. Another case, reported by Xuan Zang in his travels to India, occurred when he was crossing a mountain and saw a patch of land without snow. Digging down, he found a huge body and realized it was a cultivator in samadhi. The records don’t indicate how he aroused the giant, but when he did, he somehow was able to communicate with him and found out he was a student of Dipankara Buddha (the one before Shakyamuni) and was waiting for Shakyamuni. Xuan Zang told  him that he missed Shakyamuni, so the man said he was going to enter into samadhi and wait for the next Buddh’as coming … that of Maitreya.

"Hold on," said Xuan Zang. "What if you miss Maitreya as well because you don’t arise from your samadhi? I have a better way."

"What is it?" asked the cultivator.

Xuan Zang pointed him in the direction of China and described the palaces, and told him to be born in one of the palaces as the son of the king so that he could have all the things necessary to cultivate the dharma. "Okay" the man said, and he left his body and projected his spirit in that direction.

Years later when Xuan Zang returned to China, he asked the Emperor if a child had been born in the palace at the appropriate time. None of the King’s wives nor concubines had given birth.   Perplexed, Xuan Zang asked if any other officials had a son born, and after checking they discovered a general had born a tremendously talented son who was skillful in literature.

After some discussions with Xuan Zang, who insisted this must be the man who had tremendous cultivation abiltities. it was decided that the Emperor ask the young man to become a monk for him, which could hardly be refused. Otherwise, there was no way this talented individual would agree to become a monk.  To refuse a request from the Emperor to become a monk on his behalf was a great affront, so the lad agreed to do so only under three conditions:

1. That he could read any books and literature he liked, not being limited to Buddhist sutras
2. That he could enjoy eating meat and drinking wine, which was forbidden to monks
3. That he could enjoy the compnay and presence of maidens

This lad became the famous monk Kuei chi and eevrywhere he went was followed by a cart of books, food and his maidens. Thus he was called the "three cart master."

Now aside from the interesting story, which has lots of lessons (the roots of lust are not cut off even for one demonstrating such powerful samadhi), I want to point out how you awaken someone from samadhi. Never ever touch their body. It can hurt them, and is considered a trangression of discipline to touch, jostle someone in samadhi-dhyana. It’s very dangerous to do so.

To awaken someone abiding in the first dhyana, you can do so by SOUND. You can strike a small gong, or chime next to their ear and they will awaken.

People in the second dhyana are easily startled by light.

As to the samadhi of infinite space, you can also bring someone out it by a loud noise …. by sound. For the samadhi of nothingness you must wait for the individual to come out themselves. In the cases cited, probably the people brought the monks out of their many year samadhi by sound.

Now back to the boy in nepal. Can you fast for a long period of time for spiritual practice? Yes….I have written of this in detail in Measuring Meditation, but a different phenomena is going on here. You can find an excerpt on fasting meditation practice here, which are the most advanced materials you will ever read on this topic. Measuring Meditation contains all sorts of gems like this too numerous to mention.

As to the state of this boy and whether it is genuine or trickery or half and half, I have no idea and no comment. But it gave me an excellent way to teach you about fasting meditation, about how to awaken people from samadhi, and two example sof multi-year samadhi that can last hundreds of years.

Are such things possible? Yes. But only for advanced cultivators at high stages of meditation. But like the case of Kuei Chi showed, this is not enlightenment but rather kung-fu (gong-fu) practice. It is not a way to gain liberation or free yourself from the passions. Nevertheless, the stage is quite commendable for anyone who has such progress to do it.

 We could also go into the practice of eating air, or samadhi that lasts days without your leaving it, and so many other related phenomena. Cultivation has teachings on all sorts of phenomena like this. The point is to study and undertsand them, and then achieve something yourself.

Many years ago I wished to write a book entitled Genes are not Your Destiny. Neither is your environment, as Mencius would say, although it plays a big part in it. Go read Mencius and you’ll see.

Bruce Lipton, in his various works (books, videos, etc.), has seconded many of my views in this regard and provides the scientific paradigm for the same opinion. In short, genes do their thing based on what the cellular receptors of your body tell them to do. The inside of the cell doesn’t just decide to go wild, make this protein or that enzyme, but does so based on what the receptors "tell it" to do. Cellular receptors look like hairs or limbs sticking out from the membranes of cells, and  twist, turn, wiggle, fold or react … however you wish to word it and affecting the inside of the cell when they do so … based upon what they contact in the bloodstream.

Aha! Immediately this brings up the notion that if you flood your blood stream with good stuff … from good nutrition and supplements, etc. — then good things will happen. Bad stuff and bad things will happen. Continual overexposure   to a bad environment provokes an unfortunate reaction as the body tries to compensate but is eventually overwhelmed and cannot. Solution? Better environment, better good stuff to avoid a negative fate, negative outcome. White Fat Cow actually talks about this in a different way, but the same lesson comes forth. Meditation for Beautiful Skin is an entire book built around this concept.

[By the way, this article is not about this book, but I received this testimonial just the other day:

"I would like to write a testimonial regarding "Meditation for Beautiful Skin" although I have not read the entire book yet. You may use any part or all of the testimonial. It all is fascinating reading. I do not know where to start with this book. I have read large sections of this book, however, I am not finished yet because I just wanted to actually start practicing some of the information from the book.

"This book is filled with meditation techniques, nutritional information and other information regarding beauty tips. This is obviously much more than a book on superficial beauty. I set up a routine based on information from this book and am starting to see great results after only a few weeks of application. My skin is becoming so smooth and I have had several experiences with alternate states of consciousness that felt profound.

"This book is loaded with lots of practical short term and long term practices and techniques. I like the fact that you have many different alternatives to reach your spiritual, health and beauty goals from reading this book. The author really seems to have put a lot of time and research into supplying and validating information regarding everything that is in this book. This author even goes as far as telling you where to go to obtain products mentioned in the book. I am certain that anyone who is looking for practical information on how to meditate while improving their physical appearance will find more than enough help in this book."

Patricia Lodge
epamail.epa.gov]

Okay, so if you don’t activate genes because the cellular receptors don’t fire … because you in turn take care of yourself and start doing more  of the right things than wrong things, that’s a prescription for healthy living. With this understanding of cellular receptors, we then also have an understanding for why cardiovascular disease, in a family where it dominates, doesn’t seem to strike all the  family members …. and also why it can be reversed. Just do the things that don’t activate the receptors to set off the genes. Same for diabetes [see Julian Whitaker's book on reversing diabetes].  Those who eat right and exercise and take supplements designed to counter such a condition, more often than not don’t seem to activate the genes that would imperil them. A doctor would just call this "healthy living" but Lipton decribes it in terms of whether or not you activate receptors based on what you do or don’t do as a habit. In other words, he describes it from the basis of biochemistry and genes.

In short, it comes down to the same old story of exercise and good nutrition. So what about cancer, and preventative masectomies when you find out you have a "cancer gene."

First, there is no such thing as a "cancer gene". There may be a tendency for cancer, but your fate is not in the genes. It’s in what you do or don’t do. So start doing more of the right things if you find out you have this "genetic predispositon" and stop doing the wrong things.

Even the US government says most cancers are caused by environmental factors or there are nutritional causes, Therefore, to maximize your chances of avoiding cancer, eat right, detoxify, make sure your lymph channels are unrestricted, untwisted, untangled, etc. and stay away from pesticides, radiation, excess EMF and so forth.

I talk about breast health in several articles:

What I’d Do If I Was A woman Who Got Breast Cancer

Breast Cysts, Breast Health

Meditation Methods to Help Fight Cancer

Fight Cancer With Alternative Therapies

Cancer and Natural Medicine Cures

What to Do When You Have Cancer

I talk about a lot of these things and what to do about them in my Beautiful Skin book, which you should probably pick up if interested. If helps clean you out both internally and externally.

What would I do if I found I had this gene?

First thing:  a big, big, big, big , big thing. I’d detoxify every year BIG TIME – Richard Schulze products, Sally Rogers glutathione-lipoic acid detoxification protocols for the liver, etc. etc. I love Nature’s Pure Body for this purpose. I do it every year with two bottles at least.

Second — lymph drainage massage for the breast every year to keep the lymph channels clear. In my articles I explain how to find someone who can do this.

Third – eat right. I like Master Naturopath David Getoff’s ideas on eating as natural as possible. A big thing you should do is get an allergy test from a blood work lab like Immunolabs, find out what foods make you sick that you don’t know about, and stop eating them. They’re taxing your immune system. Cut them out and you’ll lose weight and probably feel better, too. Unbelievable results. Basically, you’re "removing the probable causes".

And of course there are special anti-cancer supplements you can take.

Once or twice a year you should do an immune boosting routine to help clean everything out. That’s why I never worry about colds and flus. They help you rev up your immune system to clean out the garbage that’s accumulated over time, like a typhoon in Asia that comes along every year and blows away the trees and plants that are too weak and encumbering the rest of the vegetation. Recessions do that too, by the way — they come along and get rid of weak economic players too fragile for the economic system.

So genes are NOT your destiny. React but don’t overreact. Change your habits and you change your life. You change your risks, you change everything.

And don’t forget to meditate, too!

This is a really good 90 second map of the birth and spread of religions:

http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html

Several points of interest:

* The mother of the great cultivation techniques in the world is definitely India. As to Egypt/Babylonia and Assyria,  and the Aztec/Mayan civilizations, nothing much is left to tell us of their techniques and traditions. All civilizations die out in time due to lack of merit or in socio-political terms, the civilization just ran its course. Same for peoples, same for nations … religions are no different (witness Zorasterism). Plenty of spiritual techniques and philosophies were developed in India, many of which have been duplicated in European traditions with their Indian (or even Tibetan) first origins ignored. Perhaps due to the feng shui of the region (its chi) or some other reason, this is where the great cultivation masters sprout up time and time again … most great masters in ancient times went EAST and East meant India or Asia for training purposes. WHo knows where Jesus went during his lost years?

* Buddhism originated on top of these Indian systems and picked from the very best for its teaching structure. It appealed only to the highest levels of educated society and had to be robust to stand their scrutiny as well as really be a guiding path through the countless India competing schools and dogmas. In time, it died out in India due to public preference for ceremonies and the unwillingness to buy into personal responsibility for liberation cultivation, etc. and grafted itself onto China, and  the rest of Asia. China had developed its own set of independent but similar spiritual traditions, so was able to use Buddhist principles to enhance them. As my teacher often says, the great Buddhas when they want to be born are born into poor countries where there is a LARGE population, not small countries like Tibet where their influence would be minimal. China and India fit these qualifications.

* Islam originated in poor, waterless desert kingdoms where the living is not the easiest. Due to the corresponding lack of merit  within the populace (otherwise you’re not born into such poor regions lacking any cultivationculture as well), the main method of Mohammed was to instruct merit making and cultivation through disciplined prayer cultivation several times a day. Discipline + cultivation build up the merit of a people over time – witness Japan’s economic resurgence this century due to national sacrifice and discipline. It’s interesting that Islam spread through a method similar to the Bodhisattva Manjushri: "I have a book of laws and a sword. Follow the one or you get the other." This was the way to graft a civilizing influence onto the people and create a great and noble civilization in time that might never have developed otherwise. It’s imposed onthem, otherwise it would never take hold. Expedient means for the situation at hand, but certainly not for today.

* Christianity’s spread was sporadic and diffuse at first, mostly due to missionary influences rather than the logic of stream itself, and its origins actually concentrated on people considered the lowest levels in society. Without the influence of St. Paul, who had practically no cultivation accomplishments but just an intellect, it was turned into a religion. Missionary work, rather than excellence of the logic of the tradition or robustness of its cultivation methods, is still the main way it grows today.  It thrives primarily in rich countries, which is akin to saying nations with lots of merit. Incidentally, it emphasizes charity, good works and offering which have corresponding karmic returns, and there is this tie-in as to why  many rich countries (not all) have a Christian bias.

All of these religions grow over time, spread and will die over time. All of them. Nothing is permananet. New masters will arise with expedient teachings for a time. Some will take hold and some won’t. Some will spread, some won’t. It’s really that simple. The crux is to find cultivation teachings within a tradition and hold to those for your own personal development. As to external dogmas, many are created, warped, twisted, etc. for political expediency and to rule populations rather than being commandments of religion or eternal laws of universe. But ignorant people don’t know that, and even if you do, one must fit in to the status quo or risk life, limb, wealth, reputation and so forth. It’s as simple as that.

 

With admiration, and at times awe, I sometimes sneak a glance at the Beijing Olympics. The one thing that strikes me is the fact that the athletes got to this level from one thing: training, training, training, practice, practice, practice. This is something I point out in White Fat Cow — you have to set up a schedule of practice for something you really want, and then stick to it religiously, with discipline. That’s how they all achieved sports excellence, and the rights to even compete at the Olympic Games.

Naturally you know I want to pull this into the topic of meditation, or cultivation. If you don’t do the same — if you just pursue spiritual cultivation haphazardly, then we can say another life is wasted. You won’t achieve anything without cultivation work and effort, and that requires practice. Practice requires either discipline or motivation, not just reading books, study and lectures. The best way to  practice is to force yourself to practice by setting up some schedule like Ben Franklin, Liao Fan, and other famous people. That’s how you attain proficiency and then excellence in any field. To just read about it is not enough. Go out and do it, achieve it. You can read White Fat Cow for more information.

White Fat Cow - I’ve never had a bad comment on it!

Now about the Olympics in general. I watched US swimmer Michael Phelps with admiration, and was amazed at the flexibility of his joints when I watched the underwater scenes of his legs and ankles. Do you know how you can increase your athleticism and sports proficiency? Zhealth.net. Get it, try it. It’s expensive, but one of the best things I’ve ever found for people, especially if you’re older. Phelps’s excellence reminds me of this training. If you work every joint through its full range of motion three times per day…and it only takes 10 minutes…you will see tremendous improvement in aches and pains, flexibility and performance. It’s expensive at $85 for the CD, but well worth it.

Zhealth.net….. R-Phase and then I-phase, if you like it and do it.

Now about the Olympics ceremony – marvelous. I don’t think anyone will be able to duplicate its excellence  …or be willing to spend the $80 million it took to create it.. I get a kick out of the fact that China replaced the little girl who sang the opening song with another who "looked prettier." The Chinese do things like this all the time. I remember reading years ago about how they used to try to cheat the world on how great Communism was. Officials would travel form the US and other countries, be brought to rural regions surrounded by lush agricultural fields, and would be told that this was normal for China everywhere. Smart (I should say "wise") officials would pull up and peer underneath the bottom of the tents and hunts that the Chinese said had been there for years, and plainly see the fresh grass proving the Chinese were faking things. Of course, many officials were not so wise, nor intellectuals, and bought into it. Ha Ha

Recently, some upper level Shaolin monks, from the famous Shaolin temple, told me that when Putin visits China from Russia, he loves to see marital arts competitions and brings Russian athletes for contests. Once he invited a match between his athletes and the famous Shaolin monks. This was just recently, mind you. Not wishing to lose the match and thereby "lose face," the Chinese worried that the monks weren’t good enough so they secretly went throughout China to find the best martial artists, shaved their heads and dressed them in monk’s robes,  claimed they were full time monks, and then let the competition begin. So when I see a 13-14 year old Chinese gymnast being passed off as 15 years or older, it’s the same story all over again.

I have so many stories about deception like this that people wouldn’t even believe them. I remember that one airline company in China, when starting out, bought a Boeing aircraft, and to get a second aircraft took out a loan on the first which was forbidden by contract. The insurance company said "no way, it’s the same plane" even though the Chinese tried to change the plane’s numbers and change all documents to that effect. But the company’s Chairman rallied every single department in China to change ALL paperwork for the plane within 3 days, and with a massive forgery campaign (of which he is still immensely proud today), presented the documents and then took the extra step of pushing for the firing of the poor insurance guy doing his job who claimed it was all faked. That’s China for you.

But this is not to take anything away from the excellence of the Chinese athletes. I’m just in the mood to tell stories today and tell you how the world really works. How does the world really work? Well Georgia recently INVADED South Ossetia WITHOUT PROVOCATION and started killing Russians there — over 2000 people. Russia responded, first with a UN request which was squashed, and then with an invasion to stop the genocide. Yes, this was "genocide." Everyone wants the US to go into Darfur and stop the killing, but we have no strategic interests there so nothing gets done. Russia didn’t wait around but just immediately went in and stopped the killing of its people. Georgia didn’t do this without the backing of the US, who supplies weapons to Georgia as does Israel, and the timing was chosen to make George Bush at the Olympics look totally innocent and uninvolved with the matter. You see, you must always play to appearances, just as the Chinese do. And by the way, this was a great strategic blunder because Russia will, in all likelihood, now sell missiles to Syria and Russia is likely to set up a base of operations in Cuba and give double tit-for-tat every time the US makes an aggressive or expansionist move. A good article for how blunderous the move was to encourage Georgia in its excursion:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/opinion/24steel.html

But here’s how the real world works — the US press makes it out like Russia is the bad guy for intervening to stop the killing of innocent civilians.  The comparison to the fact that we went into Iraq without any justification (as compared to the Russians) and are still there years later without an exit time-table (as opposed to our demands the Russians pull out immediately) is not brought up anywhere on TV. That is how the  real world works.  The guys in charge in Washington have pulled off another geopolitical blunder. I’ve the only book on how to win the world and rule the world out there and they keep violating every tenet within it to further the collapse of US hegemony and world prominence. See my book on Kuan Tzu strategies if you want to know how to gain world hegemony without looking like it, something these guys just don’t understand. 

Kuan Tzu strategies - how to rule the world, unite the world, become a world leader, turn your state into a superpower, get elected,etc.

Just over 50 years ago, Master Nan said the US had about 50 years left of good fortune being the number one country in the world. As the clock ticked by, he’d lower the number of years left and now the 50 year mark has passed with his words oh so true. The unwise military moves of the US, combined with the crumbling of the US monetary and economic system due to decades of debt proliferation and outsourcing to destroy its economic base are starting to show. But remember that our position of dominance means that the deterioration will take time, but you can see the seeds planted that almost cannot be reversed unless a sage were to come into office. Many of the wisest people I talk to share the same view, and quietly comment that the Bush changes re not something that can be reversed with 3-4 presidential elections.

By the way, the economic cycles show a depressional peak in 2014-2015, but strange enough, a fake market rebound in 2009-2010 for whatever reason. Who knows? Like Zimbabwe, where it took 10 or 15 years to really get a collapse going, things will go up and down and totter until they finally break. Like Jimmy Rogers, I don’t think the Fed will last though the next 20 years. Bernake is just an academic. Paulson is doing a fantastic job but Bernake is not up to it. Then again, we tend to never elect men into the Fed for brilliance but because they tend to be mediocre and won’t rock the boat. Volker was the last great one in the position of Fed chairman.

My only point is to make you wake up. For real news you can always search through www.Rense.com for the nuggets that will keep you informed of what’s really going on in the world. Ignore a lot of the crazy stuff but read the news from all over the world to piece together the real state of the union. I never watch TV news — useless since it’s all controlled by 4-5 large corporations. there used to be over 130 separate, independent,competitive news agencies in the US but there are now only five who do not want to rock the boat or challenge the government (even when it’s being stupid against our best interests, and their failures show that when they THINK they’re making the best moves in our geopolitical interests they’re still just ignorant neophytes and just stupid at it, and their policies are likely to be reversed anyway by subsequent administrations — very high lack of wisdom), and thus you never hear what’s really going on.

The Internet is taking up the slack, but that’s why it’s so dangerous and they want to regulate it. It’s all a matter of control. Unfortunately they don’t realize that you need a reality check on the government and business, just as Democrats are supposed to watch the Republicans and vica verse, for without this things really will go out of bounds as people let profit considerations overide what’s good for the people. But who am I to talk?  … I have no power, no money, no status, no influence, no importance, no voice. You’re the guy who has to do something. Just my two cents.

Be wise, be well, have fun, Autumn is here.

I know quite a few Filipinos who love to tell me about their nation’s ghost stories. They’re not exactly stories of ghosts but of supernatural creatures that live in the remote jungles and forested countrysides of the Island.

Let me recount a few …

First there is the story of a type of being that looks human, but whose upper body can detach from the trunk, and fly off to find its food. What does it look for? Human babies or a pregnant woman carrying a child… the stories are not clear on this. It can kill a child or cause a miscarriage because it feeds on the baby’s chi.

The Chinese and Japanese have a similar story of beings who look human but whose heads fly off at night and secretly sit atop rafters above a baby’s crib. Then the being extends a long thin tongue down to the resting infant, reminiscent of the  poisoned thread once used by a ninja to try to kill James Bond, and tries to suck the baby’s chi to feed upon it.

Another story is of water ghosts, and China has this same type of ghost as the Philippines, attested to by hundreds of stories. It seems that there are certain water ghosts who cannot be reborn as humans unless they find someone to take their place, and so they try to drown people to find a replacement for their position. Usually they live near a bend in a river where other people have drowned. When people claim they hear talking at night on a river or lake even though no one is around, that’s often this type of ghost.

One of my friends was actually playing with friends in such a spot and was sucked into and underneath the water even though it was only thigh deep. Two of her friends drowned and their bodies were found days later "stuffed" under rocks in the shallow water. She managed to escape by praying and struggle, but lost a bracelet tied to her ankle. To this day she swears she felt she was being pulled under by a hand and could not understand it in a river only waist deep. However, all  her friends knew to avoid that spot but for some reason they all partied there the day of the accident. She  felt something bad might happen because they saw a flock of crows leaving the spot right before they settled, recognizing it as a bad omen, but they all set about the partying anyway. Such is karma.

Another being in the Philippines looks like a centaur and kidnaps young girls as a bride, while various female forest denizens seeking husbands will invite men to stay with them who, even though refusing, find out that their brief conversation has cost them  a month in human time, which they discover upon completing their journey through the forest paths and returning home. Of course this is a great cover story for a man who wants to hide his extracurricular activities, too, but I have friends whose chaste relatives were psychic and have experienced this in the Philippines, being targeted probably because of their psychic abilities in the first place.

There’s also the case of Filipino giants who smoke cigars and whose footprints can be found in soft mud. Sometimes their rolled up tobacco leaves, several feet long and inches thick used to make cigars, are often found discarded in the forests and end up perplexing the infrequent travelers who see the burnt ends.

Now some of these stories are made up, just as we can see in the Strange Tales of Liao Zhai, but of course some are real. There are lots of "invisible" beings in the world made of chi. There are dragons, nagas, fox spirits, turtle spirits, giants, elves, mahaghoras (GIANT, and I do mean BIG, snake spirits), and all sorts of minor heavenly beings as well.  Some good, some bad … just like the human realm. The number of invisible creatures on this world alone numbers in the  thousands.

I’ve had  a few encounters with such things, and my teacher has tons of stories as well, but I never seem to bump into "ghosts" while everyone else does. I’ve had friends visit Macau, a gambling mecca, and found their bed shaking in the night with little headless beings appearing in the clothes dresser room. I’ve heard lots of ghost stories from friends who have seen things first hand, but not me. I’ve had Chinese generals and tight politicians, who dare not tell such stories in public because of the ridicule, tell the most interesting supernatural stories … and mafia people who are supposed to show no fear recount their own tales of the supernatural.

Elves or sprites? I’ve had friends recount stories of how the young boys in their village threw sticks at the mounds where the elves live, and when they woke up in the morning they were covered with cuts and bruises that smelled of rotten fish and would not heal until the village elders apologized to the elf mounds, asked forgiveness, and offered a banquet of food. I’ve heard many stories of how  "worm" spirits are bred, trained and then fed to people to control them as a sort of evil yin magic. This happens in Vietnam and China. Stranger things still in Malaysia and Indonesia.

As to asuras or demons, I’ve got stories on these beings too — some good, some bad as usual. Even these beings cultivate. It’s best if your eyes are closed when an asura visits in near or it could produce redness around the eyes.

I’ve got many stories of these things. Some real, some fictional nonsense, of course, or just the details mixed up. They’re fun, interesting, and basically just teach you (1) to be a good human being, a virtuous person and (2) that there are other beings  in this world, too.

Don’t ever think the human being is at the top of the totem pole in the universe or in this world. Anyone who cultivates quickly finds out that above us are the asuras, then the Desire Realm heavenly beings, and then Form Realm beings. There are even Formless realm beings that are hard to reach because of the level of cultivation required. Shakyamuni Buddha categorized the beings in the universe in many ways, and this Buddha land (galaxy) has different beings than other Buddha lands. All of them are seeking the Tao, which means enlightenment or spiritual liberation. That’s the one commonality. The methods used in the different galaxies differs, but the principle of reaching our original nature and fundamental essence (while navigating karmic obstructions) stays the same highest goal.

The problem for us, as humans, is that some religions provide a path and means to attain samadhi and the Tao, and others do not, but simply provide religious rules to help you be a better person and earn good karma for a better rebirth. But if you really want to make spiritual progress then you have to cultivate. That’s why many spiritual beings of all types will come to listen to an enlightened master teach when he does because they all want spiritual progress. Nations have protector deities. Even the local police station and court house have protector deities and invisible beings discharging their duties, whatever they may be. They have their own independent world, sometimes a parallel world, and sometimes a function that links witht he fates of humans.

Is there anyone in charge of the whole thing? No. It just forms naturally over time, you can say from karma or evolution or however you want to describe it. It’s like a man who goes and makes a home in the middle of a desert. After finding out how to survive, by accident or planning other individuals join him and quickly create a lifestyle and culture that lets them survive. This links with the environment, local wildlife, weather, and so on. As time goes on, rules and regulations develop for the gorup as well as philosophy, cities, religion and economic development. It’s all a natural progression. As the city grows, its relationship with other cities and local wildlife, etc. develops in its own special way. So some spiritual beings develop a relationship with man in the same way, and then order themselves just as we develop our own laws and rules and regulations. And of course, some have nothing to do with humans. The variety of beings and relationships is infinite, and you can only speak in general terms. China and India have many stories on these things, and doubtless the ancient Egyptian, Aztec and Assyrian cultures must have had stories as well.

Over time this relationship,whatever it is, develops into a system and the whole thing keeps turning, turning, turning with transformation. There’s nothing special about it. You just don’t know about it because you  can’t see it. But yes, there is an Indra as the Hindus state, and a Mahesvara, and so forth … but there is no ultimate creator that is a person above everything. All this is just empty appearances. It’s all just empty interdependent origination. You can read books and say "No, it isn’t" but after you cultivate to a high enough stage ou find out that "Yes, this is th way it is."

The only real thing is the Tao, the fundamental nature, the original nature we call "God" in the West, "Allah" in Islam, and so forth. The question for us is how to realize THIS UNDERLYING ONE, the Unborn ONE. Sages awaken and teach this. When they are high stage they usually do a great job; low stage samadhi masters (like Moses) usually do a poor job and leave out lots of materials.

The point is — you have to cultivate and awaken for yourself. None of these beings can give you enlightenment or save you. They can teach you the way if they know it and have achievement themselves, but not usually. That’s why they too study under enlightened beings such as Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who have already reached the original nature. Ask Indra or Mahesvara the origin of the universe an dthey’ll say, "I don’t know, please ask a Buddha." Only someone who aciheives complete union and perfect enlightenment with It can understand and teach it.

So the question you must ask yourself is, "Do you know the way and do you have a method to practice it and are you doing so?" If not better start because it’s not about beliefs or ceremonies or membership in some sect or religion. Those things are useless. It’s all about cultivation progress.