Category: Imagine

At the moment the thought is that, “The world’s deepest secrets all lead back to Sumer in Mesopatamia, the first known great civilization, located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers at the headwaters of the Persian Gulf. In biblical times, it was called Chaldea or Shinar. Today it is known as Iraq.” -RULE BY SECRECY by Jim Marr

Who isn’t enthralled by ancient findings being discovered in almost impossible to reach caves in the world’s highest mountains? – Caves with magnificent art from ancient times on their walls, and beautiful temples carved out of the mountains. How was this done is the big question. Some think they know the answer.

T’ai Shan: A Sacred Chinese Mountain, a 7,000 step climb with magnificence views  along the way and at the top. (My cousin Pauline didn’t say much about Tai Shan when she visited there; it’s an outer and inner journey.)

Stonehenge – “Some believe these stone circles are linked harmonically in a golden chain of light which becomes visible to some minds at special times of the year.” -SACRED PLACES by James A Swan

The Chartres Cathedral, which I’ve yet to see, and why haven’t I? Among other things, no one knows the way in which the stained glass of the Chartres Cathedral was made as “…the secret of its manufacture was never revealed….” Imagine that!

Tarxien and Hal Saflieni in Malta, “possibly the most ancient of them all.” I’m grateful I went and saw. Hopefully, graffiti artists will not continue to do damage to Malta’s ancient sites.

The Pyramids, Indeed, -highway nearby,  vendors, wanna be guides, etc. are all there, too, waiting for the tourists. It’s fine-all part of our time, not the ancient. We can still stand in awe.

Easter Island, I met a gutsy, well-traveled, British woman in Panama who said, “You haven’t seen anything unless you’ve seen Easter Island.” I’m not sure that’s true, but she’s convinced, so it must be true for her. Gazing at 600 plus gigantic statues and the abu funnerary platforms has to be impressive. Jennifer Westwood, in her book, MYSTERIOUS PLACES, writes of the history of Easter Island, and, once again, it’s about: “It may be that…”, “Or it may have been….”, and “Legend tells of….” Easter Island’s secrets seem well-kept.

If you are in quest of places of mystery throughout the world, MYSTERIOUS PLACES with its many beautiful pictures, descriptions, and stories of the ancient world will set your imagination ablaze.

There’s a book written by Byron Katie, A THOUSAND NAMES FOR JOY. The book is easy to read. It reminds me somewhat of Eckhart Tolle’s book, THE POWER OF NOW, in that both books stress that pain and suffering are caused by our thoughts. Sometimes you just have to spend time with books that don’t assault the senses, and are a pleasure to read.
www.thework.com www.eckharttolle.com

I experienced a flash after reading a passage from A THOUSAND NAMES FOR JOY. It was this: all books, newspapers, magazines, televisions, radios, computers, and telephones-even paper, pencils, pens-were wiped away, as in, gone, (for an unspecified period of time). Now it’s up to us human beings to come to a greater understanding about Life.

Yes, all these things are gone and are replaced with a gift of time-time to understand Life within and without. And something becomes available to us. Us! Yes, we become authentically available to ourselves and then to others. In this flash of mine, we’re able to tap into parts of ourselves we never knew existed because we previously depended too much on information coming at us full speed 24/7.

And the information age returned, but not in the same way ever again because people discovered incredible things about themselves, and they began living their own authentic way instead of ways dictated by others.

Well, perhaps in lieu of the disappearance of the information age, some of us can strap on a backpack, find a feel-good place in the world, and for an unspecified period of time, begin to uncover parts of ourselves waiting and wanting to be revealed. If not that, than we can find a place within ourselves.

Imagine what could happen, what would happen.

What will you be doing to welcome the New Year? Will you welcome it quietly listening to your favorite music? Spend the evening playing Scrabble with family or friends? Invite a crowd over for dinner? Go north with skiis or snowboard? Go south for fun in the sun? Travel around the world till 2008? Spend a weekend at a monastery or meditation retreat? Hang out at your favorite spot? Will you welcome the New Year sipping orange juice and eating popcorn with your children.

Those twelve months in the year 2007- what will they bring us on a global scale?

And on a personal note- what do you want 2007 to be for you?

A baby’s face shows an innocent look-loving, curious-having no doubt about the goodness of life. Wish that were forever so for you, Sebastian. Recently Michael sent photos of my grandson, Sebastian. I stared at his face for a long time. And I asked the picture, “What are you thinking about Sebastian? Your face is completely serene. Where have you come from and what are you feeling in that beautiful tiny body? May responsibility in life not change the calmness of your look. May the world shift its present state to a connection with its spiritual side so that you, Sebastian, can grow up in a world with less stress, less depression, less addictions, and more kindness, more compassion, more support of one human being to another.

Yes, Sebastian, when I saw the pictures of you, that is what I thought. It can happen, you know. It should happen. There is so much beauty in our world. Imagine bringing it to the surface and seeing it in everything we do so that your generation will live life differently and make this a kinder, gentler more understanding world.

Did you happen to read Tijn Touber’s column in Odemagazine July/August 2006? He wrote about watching the Beatles Anthology for 10 hours, and, while watching, he noticed the “look in the eyes of the girls” in the audience. It was almost as if they couldn’t deal with the emotions they were feeling. And as he listened again to their songs, the writer said he was struck by the beauty of their originality, and originality was in much of what they did. And originality is what our civilization is now lacking. Tijn Touber reminds us in his column that the Maya calendar stops in the year 2012. And we know what is suggested by this. However, this is not about gloom and doom. It’s about seeing the world with new eyes, to not be imitators. We have to find a way to inspire ourselves, to bring a newness to the world. to bring a beautiful vitality back to civilization. Otherwise, why go on? At present we’re “rehashing.” We’re saturated with copies of everything. What will inspire us to be creators? Perhaps we need to unclog our mind to get to a place that will allow us to bring about a radical change in the way we interpret life.