Leo Babauta – USA
A simplicity manifesto in the Age of Distraction
Part one
How to focus…
About focus
This book, “focus”, is by Leo Babauta, creator of zen habits and minimalist. It was written publicly, online, in small bursts, with feedback from readers throughout the writing process. It would be much worse without their wonderful help.
Juan Carlos Murillo Gonzales – Costa Rica
Full title:
CONFLICT PREVENTION, CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND RECONCILIATION AMONG DISPLACED POPULATIONS: SOME FIELD EXPERIENCES.
[This talk was given during the meeting of International Theosophy Conferences: “KARMIC CYCLES: WHEELS OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH”, in Wheaton, Illinois, August 9-12, 2012.]
Juan Carlos Murillo Gonzales
I. INTRODUCTION
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to be here today and to present some ideas related to the international protection of refugees, particularly as regards to some field examples on how to promote conflict prevention, conflict resolution and reconciliation among forcibly displaced populations.
Over the past years, I have been in contact and benefited from the close friendship and exchange of ideas with theosophists living in Costa Rica and The Netherlands. I believe that those discussions have helped me to have a quite different and broader perspective of life, the world and the way I do my work for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), particularly in the field of promotion of international refuge law.
Edi Bilimoria – The U.K.
The TS has attracted and (hopefully) will continue to attract scientists of the highest calibre. Leaving aside to the realm of Theosophical folklore the question whether Einstein possessed a copy of the SD, in the early days the TS attracted such luminaries of sc as Crookes, Lodge, Edison were members of the TS. But I would like to concentrate on and acknowledge the contribution of those scientists whom I had the privilege of knowing personally and for decades, most of whom were instrumental in what is known as the TRC. (Theosophical Research Centre)
Although written some time ago the following is still very significant and actual. The article “The end never justifies the means” is taken from the web site of the TS Point Loma –Blavatsky House in The Hague, Holland. Next to possible solutions it offers answers to questions many have.
The end never justifies the means
A peaceful answer to terrorism.
After the dreadful events on the 11th of September 2001 in the United States of America everyone poses the same questions. Where do we go from here? Will there be a third World War? But against whom? The enemy has become invisible. Should we retaliate these acts of terror? But how? Would that not be the cause for even more violence? These are confusing and fearful times for most of us.
Islam is one of the three major Abrahamic religions, the other two being Judaism and Christianity. All are derived from the Jewish patriarch Abraham (hence the term), and all share some common features: they are monotheistic; they posit a masculine God who intervenes in human history; they are based on traditional scriptures; and they have a focus on “end times,” that is, the end of the world as we know it, which is to be superseded by a heavenly world of a different kind. Of these three, Islam has been the most aggressively proselytizing.
Kathleen F. Hall – Canada
Roma mothers with their children
For the past two years I have been involved with educational research issues centered on Roma (Gypsy) children. Throughout this period I have gained knowledge and insights into Roma history, culture, and traditions. I have also observed the increasing persecution mounting against the Roma in east-central Europe under changing political and economic climates. The Roma have now become the scapegoats for the financial woes of many of these countries and blatant discrimination aimed at eradicating the Roma people and their culture seems to be part of the political agenda. As a humanitarian and Theosophist, I am compelled to advocate for the rights of the Roma people and to work towards educating North Americans about the life threatening and growing persecution that is taking place in many east-central European countries. Of grave concern is the safety of families whose lives are endangered, and those who struggle to survive under the crippling effects of rampant poverty.
The Roma are amongst the most persecuted people on earth. They are also the largest minority in the European Union with a population of seven to fifteen million (Greenberg, 2010). Most Roma living in the EU face racial, structural, and social discrimination, as well as multiple discriminations on the basis of gender, age, disability, and sexuality (Toth, 2010). The Roma suffer extreme poverty as many have no chance of employment. They often have to live in substandard and unsafe housing in mahalas (quarters or neighbourhoods) within dilapidated, pieced together shelters without water, electricity, or sewage. They usually have no access to medical care, and Roma children are frequently denied a proper education. Many Roma children are placed in segregated schools, or classes for the mentally challenged, and are given a sub-standard education if any at all (Greenberg, 2010).
Roma children
Read more: The Persecution of the Roma in East-Central Europe
Doreen Domb – USA
Health is a harmonious meshing of life – spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically.
REIKI {ray-key} - Japanese (REI - universal spiritually guided; KI - life force energy) is a particularly high frequency healing that naturally seeks to restore & rebalance one’s own vital force. Whether addressing it as ki, qi (chi), or prana, all refer to this ubiquitous life energy. Our physical body is alive due to the animating qualities of this non-physical life force flowing through it.
This holistic healthcare modality acts simultaneously upon the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels, connecting with the body’s own natural restorative abilities to manifest deep relaxation, and to re-establish an equilibrium of well-being. Through the laying on of hands, which is an ancient technique of energy transference, the body’s innate wisdom knows what it needs and takes what it needs from this gentle, yet all-pervading healing energy.
Edi Bilimoria – the U.K.
[Based on talk given at the Guildford Group of The Scientific and Medical Network]
EXPOSITION
The principal tenets of the ancient Mysteries – from Vendanta, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism in the east, and Plato, the Kabbalah and Alchemy in the west, now synthesized in a modern idiom by the likes of H. P. Blavatsky, Paul Brunton and Ken Wilbur in what is sometimes referred to now as the perennial philosophy – affirm the fact of the radical Unity of the ultimate essence of each part of Nature, such that: existence is One organic Being, not a combination of several things linked together; hence, there is no such thing as dead matter; therefore everything is endowed with consciousness, is indeed the product of consciousness. If these propositions are taken to be true not as a dogma or a blind belief, but in the sense of a working hypothesis to be investigated as we do in good science (and incidentally these ideas are finding ever-increasing corroboration from quantum physics), then the natural corollary is that:
1. The primacy of consciousness is the ultimate Reality which we may choose to call the Divine or by any other name; and if that be the case then;
2. There is One fundamental law – Divine Law – that functions at all levels. Not a collection of separate laws but One law; all the laws of physical nature that science has discovered to such perfection such as electromagnetism, light, etc. being the tributaries from the one central stream of Divine law (which Einstein intuitively realized when he spent the last thirty years or so of his life attempting to unify gravity with electromagnetism); and so
3. self-consistently, all manifestation spanning the whole spectrum from the macrocosm to the microcosm is the expression in Nature of the operation of Divine Law; in which case, Nature being the visible garb and expression of the Divine must, like a hologram, mirror Divine Law as a whole, and in her various aspects resemble a fractal from a master pattern.
Read more: Nature Mirrors the Divine: In Her Laws and In Her Art
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