Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.

It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control.

It's presence is an indication of ripened experience,
and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws
and operations of thought.




A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself
as a thought-evolved being, for such knowledge necessitates
the understanding of others as the result of thought.




...

As he develops a right understanding,
and sees more and more clearly
the internal relations of things
by the action of cause and effect,
he ceases to fuss and fume and worry and grieve,
and remains poised, steadfast, serene.

...










The more tranquil a man becomes,
the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.

The strong calm man is always loved and revered.

He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land,
or a sheltering rock in a storm.

...

How insignificant mere money-seeking looks
in comparison with a serene life -
a life that dwells in the ocean of Truth,
beneath the waves,
beyond the reach of tempests,
in the Eternal Calm.

How many people we know who sour their lives,
who ruin all that is sweet and beautiful.

...

It is a question whether the great majority of people
do not ruin their lives and mar their happiness by lack of self control.


...

Only the wise man, only he whose thoughts are controlled and purified,
makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey him.

...


Self-control is strength.

Right thought is mastery.

Calmness is power.


Say unto your heart, "Peace, be still."

---

(Thomas Troward)

Secrets of the Occult:

Part 1 ... The Magicians

(video)

Thanks, Alice.

The Frequency-Holders

The outward movement into form does not express itself with equal intensity in all people.

Some feel a strong urge to build, create, become involved, achieve, make an impact upon the world.

If they are unconscious, their ego will, of course, take over and use the energy of the outgoing cycle for its own purposes.

This, however, also greatly reduces the flow of creative energy available to them and increasingly they need to rely on “efforting” to get what they want.

If they are conscious, those people in whom the outward movement is strong will be highly creative.

Others, after the natural expansion that comes with growing up has run its course, lead an outwardly unremarkable, seemingly more passive and relatively uneventful existence.

They are more inward looking by nature, and for them the outward movement into form is minimal.

They would rather return home than go out.

They have no desire to get strongly involved in or change the world.



If they have any ambitions, they usually don’t go beyond finding something to do that gives them a degree of independence.

Some of them find it hard to fit into the world.

Some are lucky enough to find a protective niche where they can lead a relatively sheltered life, a job that provides them with a regular income or a small business of their own.



Some may feel drawn toward living in a spiritual community or monastery.

Others may become dropouts and live on the margins of society they feel they have little in common with.

Some turn to drugs because they find living in this world too painful.

Others eventually become healer or spiritual teachers, that is to say,
teachers of Being.




In past ages, they would probably have been called contemplatives.

There is no place for them, it seems, in our contemporary civilization.



On the arising new earth, however, their role is just as vital as that of the creators, the doers, the reformers.

Their function is to anchor the frequency of the new consciousness on this planet.

I call them the frequency-holders.

They are here to generate consciousness through the activities of daily life, through their interactions with others as well as through “just being.”

In this way, they endow the seemingly insignificant with profound meaning.

Their task is to bring spacious stillness into this world by being absolutely present in whatever they do.

There is consciousness and therefore quality in what they do, even the simplest task.

Their purpose is to do everything in a sacred manner.

As each human being is an integral part of the collective human consciousness, they affect the world much more deeply than is visible on the surface of their lives.

...from the book,
"A New Earth,"
by Eckhart Tolle

A Legacy of Progress ... (The Sixties)

---

(...from the new book, "America Dreaming," ... by Laban Carrick Hill)

---

“To me all the problems began in the Sixties.”
-
--- retired Texas Republican Congressman
and House Majority Leader Dick Armey

---

“Whatever the future holds, and as satisfactory as my life is today,
I miss the Sixties and always will.”
-
---former Democratic State Senator in California, former SDS activist
and Chicago Seven defendant Tom Hayden

---

A more equitable nation
MAKING A
A LEGACY OF PROGRESS
RAINBOW
or the rise of a welfare state?

---

When it comes to the ‘60s, everyone seems to disagree. Armey and Hayden are not unique in their completely opposite assessments of the era. No two people seem to be able to agree on the legacy of the ‘60s. Some saw a more equitable and humane nation, open to all its citizens. Others decried the rise of the welfare state, where the government intervened to take away personal responsibility.

Passionate reactions confirm just how important and influential the era was. Whether or not you believe this decade had a positive influence on contemporary culture, it has affected us all---even those who were born a decade or more later. Every aspect of the nation changed, from the highest levels of government and corporate culture to how we dispose of our garbage.

Just a quick glance around your neighborhood will provide real evidence.

In almost every village, town, and city in the country, people set aside their used plastic, glass jars, aluminum, metal, and newspapers. Then, once a week, these items are either set curbside in blue containers to be collected or dropped off at waste management centers for recycling. As well, a significant portion of the American populace compost kitchen and yard wastes in their backyards. Before the ‘60s all of that trash would have been buried in the town dump in such a way that it would not decompose for a millennium or more. That town and city dumps are now called waste management centers tells us a lot about how our thinking has changed about the environment.

On the streets today, many of the cars are hybrids that contain engines running on a combination of batteries and gasoline. These cars emit significantly less pollution than traditional gasoline-fueled vehicles and have become the fastest-growing segment in the automotive industry. But the passage of the clean air and water acts in Congress are still threatened by companies opting out of the compliance and by developers drilling in protected areas.

On a national level, minorities have gained significant representation, influence, and power in government. Perhaps the most dramatic example is in Memphis, Tennessee, the city where Martin Luther King was assassinated. Memphis now has an African-American mayor, an African-American U.S. congressman, and a predominantly African-American city council. When King died, the government establishment was all white, despite the fact that nearly half of the city’s citizens were black. Birmingham, Alabama, nicknamed Bombingham in the ‘60s for all the racial bombings, is also governed by an African-American mayor. This change in the power structure of local governments is common all over the South as well as in other parts of the country.

---

SUSTAINABILITY

In the late 1990s a new approach to thinking about humankind’s relationship with the environment was captured in the coining of the term “Sustainability.” Though the word has been around for centuries, only recently has it become popular to use to describe an attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the future. Sustainability describes the attempt to coordinate economic, social, institutional, and environmental areas to protect and nourish both the human and nonhuman environment.

---

Despite this real progress, not all African Americans have found a route to the American Dream. Although blacks account for only 12 percent of the U.S. population, 44 percent of all prisoners in the United States are black. About a third of all African-American men are under the supervision of the criminal justice system, and about 12 percent of African-American men in their twenties and thirties are incarcerated. These astronomical incarceration rates have huge social and economic consequences for black women, black children, and black communities.

Still race, ethnicity, and gender have on the whole become less of a factor in the public sphere. Despite the fact that women and minorities have not yet won the highest office in the nation---the presidency---they are represented on the Supreme Court and as heads of key federal departments, such as secretary of state and attorney general. One encouraging indication of how the country’s views on race have changed is Nike’s “Be Like Mike” advertising campaign n the 1990s. Considered the greatest basketball player ever, Michael Jordan so inspired kids and adults that he transcended racial boundaries to become America’s iconic hero. Before the ‘60s this would never have happened.

For women, changes begun in the ‘60s have meant a steady movement toward equality in the workplace and at home. Though women’s salaries are still not comparable to men’s they have increased steadily. In 1963, women earned 58 cents for every dollar a man made. Today, that has risen to 76 cents to every dollar a man makes. Corporations have changed their policies to allow women maternity leave, which was not the case before the Women’s Liberation Movement. This openness to women’s issues has also made it possible for men to get paternity leave. It has encouraged corporations to offer its employees on-site day care and leave for elder care. None of this would have happened without women speaking up for their rights. Though women still struggle with balancing career goals and motherhood, the real difference from the ‘60s is that women are in this struggle, instead of in the battle to be allowed to have a job at all.

The most visible area of improvement for women has been in sports. With the 1972 enactment of Title IX by the U.S. government---which guarantees equal access to sports for women---women’s participation in sports has skyrocketed from 290,000 high school girls to more than 1.9 million high school girls participating in competitive sports. The benefits of Title IX also surface in other areas of women’s lives. High school girls who participate in competitive sports are less likely to become pregnant while in school and are more likely to graduate from high school. The downside of increased participation by women has been that men’s sports programs at high schools and colleges now have to compete for the same dollars. This has led some schools to eliminate expensive sports programs such as football in order to balance the needs of women’s programs.

---

Another highly controversial issue to come out of the ‘60s was the emergence of women’s reproductive rights. Birth control pills allowed women to be in charge of their bodies in ways that were inconceivable in the previous generation. Women could choose whether to become pregnant or not. This allowed women to go to college and start careers. Although the landmark abortion case, Roe v. Wade did not occur until 1973, it was clearly a legacy of the women’s rights movement. The Supreme Court’s granting women the right to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy in the first trimester is an enduring controversy that still divides the nation.

---

WHO SAYS … Too Much Freedom is Too Much?

Nearly every night gay bars and clubs were raided in cities across America. Gays and lesbians were harassed, beaten and arrested simply because of their sexual orientation in the ‘60s. In the early morning of June 28, 1969, around 1:30 a.m., the gay community had finally had enough. Police raided an illegal bar, the Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village. Rather than simply run, like most patrons did when police raided a gay bar, customers resisted. Within minutes the police were overwhelmed. More than 2,000 people chanted “Gay Power!” and threw bottles and rocks at the police. Over the next few days gays and lesbians battled the police. Hundreds were beaten and injured. The Stonewall Riot became the signature event that launched the gay rights movement and began the long, difficult fight to change public opinion on homosexuality.

In 1965, 82 percent of men and 52 percent of women said that homosexuality represented a “clear threat” to the American way of life. By 2005, a CBS poll recorded just how much opinions had changed over forty years. Fifty-seven percent of Americans now believed that homosexuals should be allowed to enter into either marriage or civil union relationships. Another 2005 poll, this time by Gallup, showed that 90 percent of the respondents believed that gays and lesbians deserved protections against employment discrimination. Unfortunately, only seventeen states and the District of Columbia ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, while only eight states ban discrimination based on gender orientation. The gay rights movement has made extraordinary advances since Stonewall in 1969, but LBGT (Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender) people are the victims every day of small and large discriminations that go unnoticed by the rest of the country’s population.

---

For Native Americans, the most obvious difference has been the fact that the U.S. government has changed its policy of trying to eliminate their culture. Now Indian tribes have a lot more freedom not just to celebrate and practice their cultural heritage but also to make their own choices about their lives. One of the biggest indicators of this change is the increase of people who claim Native American heritage. In 1960, only 524,000 people identified themselves as American Indian. By 1990, that number had risen to 1.9 million, and by 2000, the number more than doubled to 4.1 million. That’s nearly and 800 percent increase.

Many tribes across the country have established profitable casinos, which have raised the living conditions of its members. Consequently, the median household income of Native Americans ($31,799) has risen above that of African Americans ($28,679) and Hispanics ($31,703). This is a significant change for the positive when you consider that Native Americans were the poorest minority in the country and were subject to a government policy of annihilation. The sad fact, however, is that American Indians, like most other minorities in the United States, still lag behind the dominant white culture when it comes to economic success and opportunity.

When looking at the progress Hispanics have made in America, one number stands out: Between 2000 and 2050, the Hispanic population is expected to triple, from 35.6 million to 102.6 million. The voice and power of Americans of Hispanic origin are increasing. California is home to 12.4 million Hispanics, while Texas is home to 7.8 million. Thirteen states---including Arizona, New York, Georgia, Illinois, and Washington---have Hispanic populations of more than a half a million. Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, is Hispanic. One characteristic that describes Hispanic culture and heritage is diversity. Hispanic people come from all over South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. What binds them is that they can trace their origin or descent to Spain. While Hispanics are making considerable progress, they still trail behind their non-Hispanic White counterparts in income, jobs, education, and housing. The hope is that as the country becomes more brown and less white, more and more opportunities will open up. Only time will tell.

The era of the Sixties exposed many fault lines in our culture and gave voice to many who had none previously.

The legacy is that overt discrimination and government-sanctioned discrimination against minorities has been outlawed. There are now laws in place that guarantee many of the rights and liberties that were limited during the ‘60s. Where progress most noticeably has lagged has been with economic opportunity. Sociologist Eric J. Krieg argues that “racism is built into the very structure of our economic system.” In short, while our laws prohibit racism, our economic system of unfettered capitalism still leaves those without money vulnerable. He sees this vulnerability manifest itself in neighborhoods of the economically weak---those who live in low-income communities and communities of color. These neighborhoods are most likely also to be the home of the most dangerous hazardous waste sites. As an example, he cites the HUD public housing in North Cambridge, Massachusetts. “These enormous towers and open spaces with soccer fields were built on top of a landfill,” explains Krieg. “Here you have a great economic decision, saving state money by placing people in need of housing right-square in the middle of the most polluted section of town.” When Krieg sees figures of high rates of childhood leukemia and asthma as well as low scores in local schools, he’s not surprised. “If you live in a poisonous environment, that home is going to be a contributing factor in the causes of bad health and education,” he concludes. It’s basic logic, when common sense tells us our home is our castle---or perhaps our grave.

Most people witnessed the dramatic disparity between the affluent and the poor in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. The poor communities in New Orleans, which were predominantly African-American, suffered the most. The neighborhoods were largely located in the most vulnerable areas below sea level. Unlike more affluent communities, which were on higher ground, these areas were most at risk of flooding and also least able to protect themselves. It was also these poor communities that were not evacuated, because the city did not provide transportation to those who did not have their own cars and trucks. What Hurricane Katrina highlighted was a vulnerability that poor communities have because they are not affluent. Because they are poor and lack economic power, they do not have strong representation in the business community or in government.

The era of the ‘60s exposed many fault lines in our culture and gave voice to many who had none previously. That some of the issues raised and some of the revolutions started are still ongoing demonstrates how deep seated these problems are and how necessary it is that our democracy continue to debate them. The lesson learned from the ‘60s was that all people---young, old, and in between---could make a difference.

That was a very important lesson indeed.

---

(...from the new book, "America Dreaming," ... by Laban Carrick Hill)

The Final Phase of Creation

(...from the book, "Mind Magic," by Marta Hiatt.)

Spirit has been progressively evolving through the atomic, mineral,
plant, and animal phases, and finally to humankind.

It appears that it still has one more phase of development
before it finally merges back into itself, the All.

This sixth phase is termed the Cosmic or Divine phase of creation.

… Cosmically conscious men and women
were living in a state of awareness far advanced
over those of the ordinary people we deal with
in our everyday existence, those who are locked into the human phase
and cannot conceive of anything beyond the material world.

Cosmic consciousness means
the state of awareness or knowledge you have
when you become consciously aware
of the organization of the universe
and of your oneness with it.

Furthermore, you will be able to translate this knowledge
into a living experience.

There are three forms, or levels, of consciousness: simple, self, and cosmic;
and we can symbolically place everything that exists on this continuum.

The first section represents the lowest forms of life
with just simple consciousness
---from inorganic matter to the least evolved human being,
primitive man.

The second portion begins with primitive man
and ends with the highest type of individual,
such as Albert Schweitzer, Buddha, or Socrates.

The third portion represents the lowest type of cosmic consciousness
on up to the fully developed divine awareness
typifying the perfect human being.

Everyone is situated on this scale.

… Down through the ages there have been a number of individuals
who have developed this power of transcendent realization.

Some of them are chronicled in an extremely interesting 1901 book,
Dr. Maurice Bucke’s Cosmic Consciousness.

It provides an extensive history of the Illuminati
before the twentieth century. …

He explores the lives of people such as Spinoza, Emerson,
Walt Whitman, Dante, Buddha, and Christ. …

Dr Bucke writes:

“…Along with the conciousness of the cosmos
there occurs an intellectual enlightenment
or illumination
which alone would place the individual
on a new plane of existence
---would make him almost a member
of a new species. …”


… Dr. Thurman Fleet, founder of Concept-Therapy, states:

“,,,There are many other masters or illuminated souls
engaged in other work, both on this plane,
and on many other planes of existence,
who are interested in helping to advance
the consciousness of the world.”

To move into the Divine or Cosmic Phase,
one must develop and learn to rely on intuition.
… The bargain intuition drives is that it will serve you,
if you serve it.

… We must become increasingly aware of the inner world
and constantly tune our consciousness toward it.
What we are seeking is habitual, spiritual consciousness:
a constant awareness of our oneness with all of life.

Dr Bucke states:

“The immediate future of our race is indescribably hopeful.

The germ of cosmic consciousness
has been planted in many individuals;
and as this germ grows, more and more people
will come into an understanding of this higher state
until finally the majority of the race will have
some degree of cosmic knowledge.

… Men and women will know that God is within them;
that the world is ruled by immutable laws,
and by knowing the laws they will know that it
is beneficial to obey them.

… Each day lived will be a day dedicated to the Divine;
… knowing that the entire universe with all its good
exists for, and belongs to it, forever.

Each person will come to know that
violation of spiritual laws does not pay.

… Peace and happiness will be abundant everywhere.”

Cosmic consciousness comes to the person who learns,
and lives by, the higher spiritual principles that govern life.

… You must become one with the cosmic by obeying the laws involved.

You may have a very great desire to attain cosmic consciousness,
but … the will must be trained over and over again until,
by a natural habit, it will do the bidding of the higher self.

… When a person is a disciple of the higher path,
he or she must be resolute about the quest.

... Until the will has been sufficiently trained and developed,
all progress is rendered utterly impossible.


… When people seek enlightenment with single-mindedness,
they are sure to get it.

… Spirit is limited by the medium through which it expresses itself

… Its expression through our medium depends upon
the condition of that medium.

… Through constantly learning to contact our inner self,
we can get our life in tune
with the Great Conductor of the Universe,
thereby becoming a perfect expression of Spirit Within.

This is our task as human beings.


In one Concept-Therapy texts, Dr. Fleet states that:

“There seems to come a time for all of us when
… our attention reverts to the world within.

Trying to figure out a solution to the problems of life,
we become seekers after truth.
… If we persist in our journey,
we finally become aware
of the orderly arrangement of the universe.

We become cognizant of a great, all-pervading Power
which rules everything.

… No longer does the material world absorb all our attention.
Something new has come into our lives.
… We then enter the path leading to cosmic consciousness.

` New life seems to come: our vitality is rejuvenated;
we eagerly absorb all that we can.

We study, we meditate,
and in our studying and meditation we find,
here and there, a bit of truth.

… At long last one great truth dawns upon us:
the world and everything in it
is governed and operates by laws
---great cosmological principles.

… We will find that which we have long sought,
the truth of the cosmic organization.

We take a firm hold on
the Eternal Principles of Natural law:
… an awareness of the One.”

This, then, is our goal,
the goal toward which we are all striving,
whether or not we are aware of it.

Spiritual men and women are the saviors of the world,
and the spiritual person is also the creative one.

… That individual’s life and thought proceed
from the spiritual realm
, thus bringing a creative life into the world
that is not dictated by the lives of others;
it is an original creation.

The truly spiritual person always changes the world in some way.
… (Plato, Kant, Schweitzer, Spinoza, … Walt Whitman)


It is the experience of the Infinite that enable us
to break through the isolation, anxiety, and estrangement
of self-conscious existence.

Spirit is all-pervasive in the universe,
and we are totally dependent upon this consciousness
for our existence.

In the certainty of the knowledge
of the omnipresent Spirit,
we can achieve inner peace.

… The conscious awareness that
everything and everyone is its existence
means that we are in a holy place
even when we are in the most worldly place;
for everything is rooted in the Divine Life.

… When you fully understand the real meaning
that you are a radiant expression
of the Divine Spirit in manifestation,
your behavior is always governed
by that one central concept.

… To what have you dedicated your life, your thoughts and actions?

That is your true religion.


… That person’s entire existential relationship to life
will be motivated, governed, and directed
by his inner, existential relationship to the Divine;
thus, it would be impossible to be unfaithful
to that illuminated understanding. ...

… It will not be an easy job,
but a lifelong struggle
requiring endless vigilance and rigorous self-discipline
for we are indeed giving up a part of ourselves
---our egotism.

… We must be prepared to analyze our emotional make-up
and systematically eliminate all of our negative, destructive traits.

… There is a probationary period we must go through
before achieving enlightenment
and being led into the full illumination.

… It evolves through a person by a natural process
as one evolves his or her own consciousness
through studying, meditation, and living life.


Once we make the conscious decision
to align ourselves with the spiritual world,
persistently endeavoring to overcome our lower nature,
we seem to receive help from some unseen force.

… We can feel safe in believing that help will come to us
through one avenue or another.

… If we persist in our determination,
in our single-mindedness,
insight and strength will come to us
in various ways and from various sources.


… In a sublime sense,
when we study the works of great thinkers
who have crossed the threshold before us,
our insight is awakened through appreciating theirs;
and we may discover inner realms they long ago explored.

…. Very few people have the necessary determination
to keep on with the struggle until they discover
the light on the path.

Usually an aspirant for the higher consciousness
has been brought to it by suffering much
from the superficialities of the world.


… Suffering makes her long for a higher life,
and her inner cry is heard echoing throughout the universe!.

She is then led here and there
to the knowledge that will enable her
to find the higher path.

… She begins to attract assistance to herself.
Through the medium of the laws of resonance and vibration,
she draws to herself kindred souls,
from this plane and others,
who enrich her mentally and spiritually. …

…. He knows intuitively that clinging to the lower self
will mean that the path will be beset with difficulties
and repeated pains, sorrows, and disappointments.

At times, while fighting the inner battle,
he secures brief glimpses of the beauty
of the spiritual realm;
… realizes that he can no longer harm others
because all life is One.

… Simultaneously, this person recognizes
that helping another
also means helping himself,
and the truth of “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
becomes a reality in his life.

Dr. Fleet states:

“…Having entered the region of reality,
you will accomplish everything without striving,
and all problems will easily be faced and handled by you.

You will concern yourself not with changing events,
but with the unchanging principle behind all things.

… You will enter into possession of the knowledge of higher worlds. …”



An all-embracing affirmation I particularly like is:
“I am becoming aware of my oneness with the Infinite.”

… You might try saying this affirmation as you fall asleep each night:
you’ll be surprised at the difference it will make in your life! …


… Eventually, some day, in another dimension of awareness,
we shall achieve the final destiny of the evolution of consciousness,
complete unity of Spirit with itself,
the merging of our self-consciousness back into the One,
but with greater understanding and enlightenment.


As Dr. Fleet states:

“… When we realize the profound simplicity of spiritual consciousness,
and have an unbiased, tranquil, blessed state of mind,
we will know that whatever happens to us is for our own good.

We will be content, and no longer the servant of the self,
but the servant of the Divine.

We will have nothing to defend, nothing to conceal,
nothing to attack, and no interests to guard,
therefore, we will be at peace.”


To become one with the Infinite is the goal of man,
and is a far greater possession
than anything else the world has to offer.

The man or woman who attains it will know the secret of immortality.