Science is one method …

Science is one method of understanding the world around us. Contrary to popular understanding, toting a conclusion to the exclusion of all other possibilities is not part of science; though it has become such in the politicized version of science. Indeed, science is about observation; creating a hypothesis based on observation in order to enhance our understanding; collecting evidence in support of, or in contradiction to this hypothesis; and/or testing the hypothesis through reproducible experimentation.

With regard to Evolution, the operative wording is “theory of”. As soon as one dismisses other theories you have stepped outside of the realm of science. Similarly with Climate Change. It is a rationale hypothesis that man’s industrial activities are at least partly responsible for climate change. But evidence also supports the idea that there are natural tendencies involved as well.

Proper science will always be inviting to new evidence and new theories. Science is an open platform for investigation and hypothesizing. Passionate attitudes about truth, are merely tools for commercial and political purposes.

Stop Shooting Arrows – by Thanissaro Bhikku

by Thanissaro Bhikku

Awakin.org

The Buddha compares pain with being shot by arrows. Physical pain is like being shot with one arrow, but then on top of that you shoot yourself with another arrow, the anguish you build up around the pain, is totally optional. When you’ve got a body, there are going to be pains. Even the Buddha had physical pains after his Awakening, but the difference is that he knew how not to shoot himself with those unnecessary second, third, fourth, and fifth arrows. And as it turns out, those are the ones that really hurt. Those are the ones causing the problems.

But you can’t just go marching in and say to yourself, “Okay, you! Out! Stop! Stop shooting arrows!” You’ve got to learn to see where the dividing line is between the physical pain and the mental pain. You do that by experimenting with the breath, experimenting with the labels you put on the pain, asking yourself questions about the pain — and sometimes the strange questions are the ones that ferret out the strange attitudes you’ve built up around the pain. For instance, you can ask, “What shape does the pain have?” It sounds like a strange question, but when you pursue it you find that your imagination has actually given the pain a shape. What happens when you don’t give it a shape? How does the pain move around? Is it moving around on its own or is it moving around because you’re pushing it around? These are things you have to learn through experiment. It’s only through experimentation that things begin to divide out on their own. In other words if you go in with preconceived notions, “The dividing line has to be here, or there,” it turns out that that’s not the case at all. You’re forcing your ignorance onto the pain which, of course, just makes it worse.

So you’ve got to learn how to experiment. How do changes in the breathing change the pain? How do changes in your concept of the pain change the pain? How about changes in your concept of how the mind relates to the body: Is the mind in the body? Is the body in the mind? Where in the body is the mind? These may seem like strange questions, but you begin to realize that the mind on an unarticulated level actually does think in those terms. And a lot of our basic assumptions of where the center of our awareness is, where the pain is in relation to that center, and how it affects that center: These play an important role in how we experience the pain and how we make ourselves suffer unnecessarily from it. So you have to experiment and test things.

Self-Acceptance – By Rev. Marcy Ellen

What Does the Mirror Show You?

By Rev. Marcy Ellen

OMTimes

Accepting one’s self fully is the first step in creating a New World that is steeped in love verses fear. The problem, although we may perceive it to be “out there” in the external world, really lies within each of us. Whenever we act out from the ego in anger or frustration the source of that anger or frustration is merely the result of our own self-denial. When we do not accept portions of ourselves because we don’t see them or because we don’t want to see them, then we do not have full self-acceptance which means we cannot love ourselves fully.

The physical world is a mirror. When you see and call attention to the faults in other people the reason that these faults seem obvious to you in the first place is because the universe is reflecting back to you a part of yourself that you refuse to see and therefore cannot accept. It does this because nature’s first order of business is evolution. In order for you to evolve spiritually or any other way you must first recognize the things that need evolving.

If you are judgemental, for example, but you do not recognize that flaw in yourself then the universe will reflect that quality back to you through other people. You will begin to see that quality highlighted in others until you have a self-reflecting “ah-ha” moment (as Oprah calls it) and realize, “whoa, wait a second. Maybe I’m judgemental.” When you have this “ah-ha” moment a few things immediately begin to happen. One is that now you have begun the process of accepting a part of yourself that you have been denying for some time so you are taking one more step towards being whole. The second is that once you accept this quality in yourself your awareness alone begins to transform this quality. You don’t have to DO anything to change. Evolution is always happening. You just have to be AWARE so that you can ALLOW it to happen through you. The third thing is that with self-acceptance comes self-love which is so important. If we do not have 100% self-love then we cannot extend 100% love outwardly to others in the world.

Think of self-love as the oxygen mask that pops out of the overhead compartment in an airplane when oxygen levels are dangerously low. Having self-love is akin to putting your oxygen mask on first before you assist others with theirs. Once you are fully receiving the amount of oxygen required for your health and survival then you are in a good place to assist others. If you run around trying to help others before putting your own mask on, not only will you NOT be any help to others but you will have created a situation that is detrimental to yourself as well.When you accept only certain things about yourself, then you cannot love yourself fully. If you only accept 50% of yourself but the other 50% you just don’t want to see or accept it would be like having an oxygen mask with an obstruction in the middle of the breathing tube. If you have the mask on but you are only receiving 50% of the available oxygen you may be more useful than someone who has no oxygen mask, but imagine how much more help you could give if you were breathing in 100% of the oxygen supply.When we accept ourselves fully then we are giving ourselves 100% of our love. We are breathing in all of the available oxygen. Now we can be confident that our abilities to share love with others will never be compromised. Everything must begin within us. When we fully love and accept ourselves, what we find is an outcome full of love and acceptance of those around us.

Your outside world is a reflection of your inside world. If you don’t like the reflection, change the person standing in front of the mirror. In order to ALLOW change to happen you must first ACCEPT all the parts that need changing. Then evolution will naturally happen through you.

Rev. Marcy Ellen is a spiritual channel, Reiki Master, radio host, and an author with a Master of Divinity Degree from the University of Metaphysical Sciences. She and her two children reside in Colorado. www.revmarcyellen.com