Serendipity!

After yesterday's post, by sheer coincidence, ( sheer coincidence??!!) I received today a link which takes us on a trip round the planet with views from a low flying satellite.


Just copy and paste the following for a great experience!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZObXgVNlRo&feature=player_embedded

Rising above the Local View

One of the happenings of the last fifty years has been man's space travel. When we first saw photographs of the earth from space, it was absolutely awesome - our first view of our beautiful blue planet. Now we receive images regularly from all over the universe...of the planets, stars and galaxies.

Yet, I have been reading recently some of the quotes from some of the early space explorers and what their experience caused in them. It was really inspiring to me and I felt offered some real encouragement to rise above the local view ....so thought I'd share some on the blog.

Here are a few of them

" The first day or so, we all pointed to our countries. The third or fourth day, we were pointing to our continents. By the fifth day, we were aware of only one earth." Sultan Bin Salman Al Saud, Saudi Arabia


"As I looked down.....I watched the extent of one ocean touch the shores of separate continents. Two words leaped to mind....commonality and interdependence. We are one world. John-David Barton USA

" Having seen the sun, the stars, the planet, you become more full of life, softer. You begin to look at all living things with real trepidation and you begin to be more kind and patient with the people around you." Boris Volynov USSR

These are just three but there were hundreds of quotes , well worth researching 'space quotes' on google ...each one of them was so touching and moving.

Getting ahead of the action/reaction ...

So much of human history has been based on a sort of action/ re-action. One person does X so another person does Y.....Perhaps the easiest to see examples of this are in countries, or religions going to war with each other....France's and Germany's history with each other is a prime example of this. Or another example is the church's reaction to the new discoveries of the Renaissance in the sixteenth century where they could only base their views against the dogma of the past and re-act to the new thinkers and brand them as heretics. Often, the really new arisings in history cause a major re-action as it threatens the old order. At a more local level, we all know the story of kids re-acting against their parents through the centuries....more of this action / re-action.

New science is confirming today what mystics and Eastern theology has propounded for millennium...that we are all part of an interconnected living web....how we think, how we re-act, actually alters what happens to us, and alters the world we live in ...so what better topic of contemplation for any thinking person than to consider what they actually want in their life....not only based against the past, but with a vibrant view to the future they would want to build.

I was reading a book recently, which dealt a great deal in revenge...and I found it poignant and profoundly sad. One person is offended by what they consider foul behaviour from another and then enter this tangled web of paying them back. They start to engage in the very kind of thing that offended them in the first place. In other words, they move away from who they really are, away from the best of themselves, and become more like the person or incident which has upset them. Expressions get used like 'what goes around comes around' but what a very unfortunate and personal adding up about the meaning of a profound statement which reflects the truth that life is accountable.

Something I personally find really useful is when I feel myself getting drawn into conflict...is to go through a three step process... See it from my point of view, then imagine it from the other's viewpoint, then thirdly try to find some third place, some neutral context to try to see something of the truth and flaws in both sides of the story , try to rise above the bias of both of us and find a new context within which to re-appraise the whole situation.

So, with a revenge situation , a person might pause when they feel themselves drawn into this to and fro, this see saw effect .."they did this to me, so I'll do this to them"....and stop and consider firstly perhaps what provoked the first action, secondly what they really think about the vengeful thoughts they are having, and thirdly the context might be what kind of future do they really want, and whether the consequences of their re-actions are where they want to be heading. This rises above the action /rea-action where one's past governs one's future and instead one's intention about the future pulls one's forward.

It's a much brighter and more positive energy.


And wouldn't it be so brilliant, if we collectively begin to build the history we want, and let the worst of the past stay right there..in the past?

The Ocean

A friend today emailed me some fascinating facts about the ocean ...sent out by Conservation International

70% of the world's surface is covered by ocean yet only 1% of Earth's oceans are protected

1 billion people depend on the ocean for it's main source of protein

70-80% of the oxygen we breathe is produced by the oceans

90% of large predatory fish such as cod, shark or blue fin tuna have almost disappeared world wide. ..these top predators being an absolutely vital part in the food chain

1 in 4 of all marine species live on coral reef eco sytems yet already 20% of the worlds coral sytems have been lost and another 20% degraded.

The figures go on and on but rather than blind ourselves with figures and stats , how about considering that this state of affairs has only occurred because of the way people have thought, the kind of lack of value and forethought that has allowed
it to happen.....It strikes me yet again, how utterly vital it is for us to think as citizens of the planet, with respect for the whole eco-system and the part all life plays with it. To think with self interest, either individually or as a country is simply a non sustainable way of going on ...as the current trends demonstrate all too well.

New Discoveries

Looking this morning at the online Telegraph's article about new species of plants and vertebrates discovered in the Amazon was very inspiring ..apparently over 1200 new species discovered over the past decade and another new one every three days or so ...many weird and wonderful exotic birds, spiders and animals....breathtaking really!

Chatting to a friend by email about this , his response was "Thank God we shall never know everything of the gifts that are around us. Similar discoveries keep an edge on our appetite to ever look forward"

What a great attitude, I thought... ( especially as the person concerned is not far from 80 years old)...to look beyond the thrill of the physical discovery and appreciate how important it is to keep that sense of search in the human faculty alive and active.

In many ways, compared to just a few centuries ago, we know so much about the physical world around us ...and such knowledge is widely available....but how much do we really know about the human faculty? Even today, scientists estimate we probably only use about 10 or 20% of our brain capacity ....so what a great search to find ways to bring more of it out of latency...to develop the new faculties this might release and discover the unknown possibilities of ourselves !

Ladies in Kenya - pioneering a more humane world

I went to a very inspiring talk & slide show last night by Mary Noble, one of the founders of an educational organization for women called Feminenza who are working in Kenya in the area of Forgiveness and Reconciliation. They are going to be training forgiveness and reconciliation councillors, with the help of funding from Unifem, part of the United Nations.

Wow, what a very refreshing evening ! We all know what a very troubled continent Africa is, and particularly distressing is the ongoing conflict and violence between various tribes. The ladies who are gong to be taking part in this training are all women who are working on various initiatives such as schools, churches, peace groups who are intent on leaving behind the violence and helping build a new more unified and harmonious future. We saw slide after slide of those gorgeous bright faces, with eyes which reflected both the suffering they had gone through and the determination and hope for a better tomorrow.

You could feel too a deep humanity and bright spirituality. This feels so much the way of the world citizens of tomorrow...positively seeking to leave behind the cruel aspects of history and actively pathfinding new ways to build a kinder, more humane world.

All strength to them!

Permanent Influences

I listened to a fascinating program on the radio this week about Beethoven writing the Emperor Concerto in 1809.

He was writing at a time when Austria and Napoleonic France were at war and Napoleon's army was actually shelling Vienna. All the court and dignitaries had fled from the city to safer climes, but Beethoven remained and whilst the battle was going on around him, wrote this most exquisite piece of music.

I found the program so thought provoking from several angles. One was that despite the turmoil of the war at that time, the aspect which still moves people most today is the music itself. Not the history, not even the composer but it is the harmonies and rhythms which have an enduring , almost 'permanent' quality. In fact one of the young men on air talked of the piece as something, which despite the ups and downs of living, this piece of music was something which brought strength and stability for him...something which improved the quality of life and upon which he could depend.

It caused me to wonder what it might be from our times which would endure,centuries later? Would it perhaps be that this was a time of intense change where amidst the turbulence and breakdown of various aspects of society, something new was also appearing ..something which heralded an evolution of consciousness, a real elevation for humanity ?

Finding New Value ...

*
*
Driving to work today, I heard a report from one of the gardeners at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew , speaking of the fear that as many as 20% of all plants are facing extinction, majorly because of human intervention in their habitats.

The person in the interview was obviously passionate about plants and attempting to evoke in us listeners a value for the part plants play in our lives. He went through a number of 'uses' from building to musical instruments to medicines, clothing and so on....and yes, one can only marvel at the multiple uses people have made of the natural worlds.

However, I couldn't help feeling that if we are to find a re-newed value in the world around us, perhaps it needs to start not in what plants do for us but in their own intrinsic special part in the planet's Eco system ..their own inherent beauty, and the laws of nature which underpin their existence.

*Photos copyright of Claire Zeevi

'Solar Maxima'

It's a fascinating feature of life today that there is so much information in the press about what we might expect over the next few years, whilst at the same time very little clarity about the ramifications of the 'predictions'.

A recent example is the news item about expected solar storms ...some solar physicists, like David Hathaway of the National Space Science and Technology Center having predicted them to begin around 2010-11. Others like Mausumi Dikpati of The National Center for Atmospheric Research, in the news this week, predicting 2012 as the most likely time for the major storms. ( 2012..that year again??!!)

Both, however, are agreed that we can expect the most intense 'solar maximum' in fifty years. The next sunspot cycle is likely to be 30-50% stronger than the last one in 1958 which caused disruptions and increased Aurora Borealis sightings. With so much more technology of a sensitive electrical nature today, it's not clear just how disruptive the solar activity might be but it is expected to affect cell phones, GPS, weather satellites and many other 'modern technologies'...quite what that encompasses is unclear ...and one wonders just how much of an effect it might have on computers systems which play such a central role in every aspect of our society from finance, business, education, defence as well as health and social services.

Few aspects of Western society could run smoothly if we had glitches in the world of computing and technology.

For more details of the 'coming storm', as well as very interesting and readable info about the cycles of the sun check out http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/10mar_stormwarning/

Note: diagram above from the Nasa Science article

Reactivity and Sensitivity

Recently, we seem to be more bombarded than ever with visual images of the pain and suffering that is going on around the planet, both human and animal. I had a circular yesterday through the post asking for donations to help mistreated donkeys in the third world, made all the more evocative by visual memories of recent TV ads for the same charity.

On the one hand, you can only say what a good thing that someone is doing something about animal cruelty, wherever it is, but it also occurred to me that in our modern world, there is an unfortunate side effect to the sheer volume of exposure we now have, from ads, to daily newspapers, TV, radio, the net and so on ......

It's a very natural thing to respond and help, when we meet suffering. And as an example, living in the country one simply does not ignore a suffering animal, no more than one would walk past a person in distress.

Yet, when over exposed to information of suffering, and knowing one can't respond to ALL of it, does it begin to shut us down? To cause us to anesthetize ourselves away from the empathetic feeling, because the feeling is too much, and does not lead to alleviating actions?

To boldly go where others have gone before!!

Last night, I read about a fascinating experiment where a control group of non Japanese speakers was given three short passage in Japanese to memorise.



One was a traditional Japanese rhyme learned in Japan over centuries.Another was a newly composed verse.And a third was a random selection of non sequential words.

All looked and sounded fairly similar to non Japanese speakers.

The participants by far found it easiest to learn and memorise the traditional verse.

Now, why might that be? Does a set of words carry with it history, does the fact of other brains having learned the same words for centuries establish a pattern that makes it easier for others to learn it?

Is there some unconscious, unseen communication between brains ? Is there a hidden 'syntax' that is common to all languages, that sits behind the words in individual languages



Whatever the explanation, it's fascinating and yet another of those un-explained connections which don't quite fit in with a purely material view of the world!

"You can't step into the same river twice"

" You cannot step into the same river twice, for fresh waters are forever flowing in" Heraclites


I've been revisiting a great book by Deepak Chopra recently...Perfect Health. A real inspiration in healthy thinking.

One of the analogies he used really caught me...we tend to think of our body as a "frozen sculpture" yet he likens it more to a moving river.

Here are some interesting body cell cycles.

Adipose tissue ( fat cells) fill up with fat and empty out constantly..so all of it is exchanged in about three weeks. ( Great aid for weight watchers to know the fat they feel won't be there so soon!!!) We get a new stomach lining every five days. Skin is renewed every five weeks. Our skeleton is entirely renewed every three months.

Every year about 98% of the total number of atoms in the body are replaced, something confirmed by radioisotope studies at the Oak Ridge laboratories in California.

That got me thinking how important it is to give ourselves the freedom to change and improve.....and somehow isn't it encouraging to know our body is in this constant flow of change itself, and that we can work in partnership with it ?

Bee Decline, Cell Phones and Electro-magnetism

Last year, bee population in the UK went down by 17%, and in the US by 30%. Worrying figures indeed.

The reasons for the decline are still unclear....pesticides, parasite mites called varroa and climate change are often cited as major factors.

However there is interesting new research being done at Punjab university in Northern India, which believes that cell phones could also be in part to blame for the decline in bees. They fitted cell phones to the hives and powered them up for two fifteen minute periods each day. Within three months, the bees stopped producing honey, egg production by the queen halved and the size of the hive reduced dramatically.

Another study by Andrew Goldsworthy at UK's Imperial College, London is studying the biological effects of electro-magnetic fields, and also believes it's possible that cell phones may be affecting bees.

There is a pigment in bees ( and other animals) called cryptochrome, which is used for navigation. It is used to sense the earth's magnetic field and thus helps bees find their way back to the hive. The signal from cell phones disturbs the cryptochrome molecules, thus causing bees to get lost and not find their way back to the hive. Indeed Goldsworthy has suggested to UK communications regulators OFCOM that they change the phone frequencies to one which would not have this affect.

At the same time, experts on bees such as the scientific director of the International Bee Research Centre at Sussex University comments that although they appreciate that bees are sensitive to electro magnetism, they are unsure whether bees use the earth's electro magnetic fields in navigation...so even, the bee experts are unsure in this area.


It seems to me that there is an urgent need to understand more about the electro magnetic fields of the planet and how flora, fauna and human life interacts with it.

After all, if this is indeed an important factor in the decline of bees, our major pollinators, then there is no time to lose! Life is indeed an inter-related living eco sytem in which every part affects every other And we are living in a time when our understanding of the significance of being part of this living organism, is expanding all the time.

Yet when it comes to the possibility of losing our bees, it highlights our urgent need to expand our understanding in these areas.

Population Growth

I've been re-reading some charts on the rate of population growth recently, and really it strikes me this is one huge 'elephant in the room' about which we must all surely be concerned....and particularly world leaders who are monitoring the global trends

Here are some figures taken from an article on Wikipedia
In 1500, estimated population was half a billion
In 1804, the world population reached about 1 billion
By 1927, it had doubled to 2 billion
By 1960, we were up to 3 billion
4 billion by 1974, 5 billion in 1987 and 6 in 1999

In 2009, the United Nations estimated would reach 7 billion by 2011-2012 .....( and the US census rates us currently about 6,858,200,000 so the 7 billion estimate is not far off ) On current growth rates the projection is to reach about 9 billion by the middle of this century.

One has to ask how on earth our planet can support these kind of numbers ?

Crop Circles

One of the really fascinating aspects about Crop Circles is you almost never see them in the news!!!

It's hard to know quite what to think about them...but as they had come up in a conversation recently, I thought I'd do a bit of a google about them...and was absolutely amazed to see the number of 'photographs' on the net. Literally hundreds of them from as recently as this week..loads of them in Wiltshire, UK. That seems to be a very popular place for such events.

Now, many people dismiss them as hoaxes, and I'm sure some of them are ....but really, they are becoming so elaborate, one wonders how on earth they could be created so beautifully and in such short spaces of time. And if they are all hoaxes, why has the whole concept not been completely discredited? Attached here are a couple of photos of one in Southern Holland from last summer which is particularly stunning and evocative.

Question remains however, if they are not all man made hoaxes, what on earth are they.

'Faxes' from another intelligence ??!!!

Effect of Thought on Genetics

I read an article on the web yesterday about recent research in Russia into the effects of thought and language on our genes

Absolutely fascinating ! Though not so surprising really as they are now confirming scientifically what has been understood in many circles for thousands of years.

That prayer, meditation and repetitive thought patterns have a definite effect on our very genes. Positive thinking can not only inhibit some unfortunate sequences of deterioration in our genetics ( think we call it healing!!) but perhaps even more intriguing, can also unlock sequences in what is called 'junk DNA'

Actually called 'junk' that because scientists can't yet work out what it's for!!!

In fact, it is estimated that 90% of our DNA is 'junk' ....that really got me to wondering just what that 90% could be for? Perhaps some of it is now redundant, but wouldn't it make equal sense that some of it is not yet activated ?

Doesn't that just remind you of similar figures that are estimated re the amount of our brain we currently use???!!!!

And it's fascinating too that the word E-Volution means literally to roll out..perhaps it's some of our latent DNA sequences which, when unlocked, open up the next stage on our long evolutionary journey.

Wonder what thoughts, what energy might be the triggers?

A Time of Transition

Recently I've been working with colleagues on a new webinar series, 'Living in Times of Change' Today I've been researching one of the series about being pioneers in a time of transition



I find the idea of being 'in transition' very liberating indeed. It acknowledges the reality of our current society breaking down and a new one appearing and ready to be born. It means we can know the worst about the problems, but not be based in them. Leaves us open to a new vision, new energy, new thinking ....and of course a great attraction to work along side others who feel the same way!

It reminds me of travelling overseas...when you break a long journey in the transit lounge. Last time I travelled from London to Sydney, I spent a few hours in Hong Kong 'in transit' Great feeling...on the move, no luggage, no worries ..time to explore and knowing there was another plane to take you to where you want to be!

Well, living today, it's not like we know quite what plane we are going to get on, in the bigger sense, or necessarily quite where we will arrive, but it does have that same sense of adventure and movement ..the need to travel light and be ready for imminent take off!!

PS You can hear a recording of the first webinar in the series on the TFC website www.templatesforchange.org or use the link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/470742048 if you would like to join in, free of charge, on the next one ...
Be great to get your comments and feedback!

Reflections

Travelling to work this morning, I heard a radio show which gave me food for thought. Over half the planet's population now live in cities. That's a lot of people!!


The presenter was commenting on one aspect of difference which was the degree to which people in the countryside identified in a loving way with the place where they lived, compared to those in the city.

It got me to thinking about how important a sense of belonging is, and how fortifying ones home ecology actually is to one's general sense of well being. I know life in the cities is more stimulating & culturally interesting, and for many fantastic and enjoyable places to be, as well as economically more rewarding or just plain necessary, but I wonder what percentage of those city dwellers feel they are transient and without real roots?

And how many still manage to keep alive that healing connection with the planet and the natural worlds which is such an important and stabilising part of life in fast moving times?

Isn't it Amazing ?

Isn't it brilliant that we have access to the micro worlds and the macro worlds?



One of the great benefits of modern technology is that we are admitted into worlds to which previous generations had no access.

We can appreciate the internal pattern of a cell, make comparison to the atoms spinning around the nucleus to the planets spinning around the sun ..allow our mind to be moved and stretched into the strange re-current patterns and templates at play within the universe.


Knowing that as we have new connective thoughts, so pathways form up in our brain .

I wonder if this ability of the mind to form these new pathways, in some strange way, helps build the inter-connectivity which scientists are discovering is a property throughout the universe? Is human consciousness part of the 'plasma' that brings it all together in a more intelligent, feeling way?

Updating our Psyche

I've written before about how unique this generation is, in terms of being the first ever to be able to participate in evolution consciously...and each time I think about it, it still thrills me!! However, on the weekend I was reading a great book by Thomas Berry and Brian Schwimme, where another angle of this was highlighted.

Throughout history right up to industrial times, cultures acorss the world have had a view of life which has appreciated the significance of the repetitional seasonal cycles of life. This has an obvious outplay and signficance in the seasons, both with reference to the practicalities of farming and fishing, and also with a ceremonial appreciation of the vibrancy of the re-appearance of spring (eg May Day Celebrations) or the fruiting of the harvest in Autumn ( eg Harvest Thanksgiving Festivals) This offered a powerful rhythm and stability to life.

However, with the new understandings about evolution and history, we now know that not only does life progress through the seasons, but that there are also times when humanity goes through radical leaps of update and progress....where old is left behind and new enters the arena of life on earth.

I wonder what effect that has on our psyche?

Neanderthal Woman Mock Up

Scanning through some articles on evolution and how previous species of humans may have looked, I came across this photo on the front of an old National Geographic. It was so unusual to find a computer mock up of a woman that I couldn't resist posting it on the blog...!!!

This has been recreated from cannibalised genetic material found about 43,000 years ago...and yes, they think some at least of the neanderthals had red hair!!!

Disturbing Fact

I just got an email in this morning from 'Food Matters' ....a fascinating organization in the US who research the connection between diet and mental health.

They mention that 10% of the population of the US are on Anti Depressants of some sort ....isn't that an astonishing percentage ? The kind of issue one would imagine would be top of any political agenda in one of the world's wealthiest countries to understand and address? They also mention that with all the health warnings about skin damage from the sun, perhaps 3 out of 4 people in the US are not getting enough Vit D.

What a crazy sort of world we live in ? Seems so vitally important to re-address the values and importances which have lead to this state of affairs.

The freedom of being in one's own element

Up, Up and Away!

I work on the ground floor of an old mansion house. This morning, when going upstairs to the kitchen to make some coffee, I heard some flapping sounds in one of the rooms, which is currently disused whilst repairs are going on in the ceiling

Somehow, a swallow had got into the room, and fallen into a large box and was flapping around. Covering the box over, I carried the whole thing to an open window, and tipped it on its side into the open air.

Thankfully, the bird was unharmed and swooped off into the air, displaying its marvellous acrobatic abilities!

It just struck me how important it is for any of us to 'fly' we really need to be in the 'element' or ecology that supports our excellence....and definitely need to get out of whatever box crimps our freedom !!

Who we are and have done..what we are and might still become ....

Well, more from the mid-summer mountain contemplation !

One of the uplifting thoughts from this morning was about the importance of dwelling sometimes ..not so much on who we are and what we have done ( both individually and collectively as a human race |) but on WHAT we are and what we might still become.

Watching the sun appear up over the horizon, the spreading light, the rising warmth and witnessing the sheer awesome beauty of it all, was fantastic. The intensity of the colours as the sun lit them up ( the blue of the sky was unbelievably, breathtakingly, beautiful and so vibrantly alive!) the range of sounds which carried across the valley from the sheep, to birds....even, surprisingly, to my neighbour's noisy pack of Jack Russells miles away ....was stunning.

As the sun first appeared through light cloud on the horizon , it looked so tiny and yet in truth we know it is so huge, compared to the tiny blue orb where we live. In thinking of the perspective of the largess of the sun upon our small fragile planet, it made me feel how tiny I myself am in relation to all that.

BUT, what an incredible gift we, as people, can bring to this amazing table of nature's plenty, because we have the innate ability to see the beauty of it all, to feel the energy , to perceive the constancy and amazing engineering of the spinning spheres of our solar system....we, who are so minuscule....yet have this huge wonderful ability to bring it all together in our minds..to be the ones who see, who feel, who compare...who can give a response which is more than reactive to our survival and continuance, who can perceive the history of the universe and make forecast of its future. Sure, that choice and creativity means we can mess things up ( and we do) but it also means we have the capacity to learn from our mistakes, to take a new position and consciously build a brighter future.

Wow, must get up and watch the sunrise more often!!

Mid Summer Musings

Mid summer today and what a gorgeous morning ! A friend and I got up at 3.15am and headed off to a nearby mountain moorland where we had a great view of the sunrise ..... very moving and much food for the soul!

We were fairly quiet over our respective flasks of coffee and fennell, interspersed with personal silent musings..and then exchanging about some of our reflections.

She had recently returned from a healing retreat in Bali where she had met an NGO who had been working in the Congo and was feeling rather overwhelmed by the scale of atrocities that people can perpetrate on each other. Indeed she was having to give up the NGO work as it was more than she could bear. My friend pondered about how many people might be giving up on humanity ever being able to live as a considerate, responsible part of the planetary ecology.

Just then across the valley, I heard a cuckoo calling out three times ( almost biblical!!!) My mind was caught by the timing of her question and the call from the cuckoo. It made me ponder whether some 'cuckoo' gene had gotten into the human genetic pool ..something which stands out as being equally incongruous with the natural humanity that most of us would want as the base platform for our lives on earth.

Reality and Virtuality

I had a skype call yesterday with my two gorgeous grandsons in Australia. The youngest was delighted with a new little app on my son's I-phone and I have to say it was rather fun! He could press an egg on the screen and each time a different animal would appear. First a mouse, then a rabbit and next a fox and so on ....press, pop and another animal ..very more-ish for a three year old!!

However, at the same time, it gave me food for thought too ..each time he told me which animal it was, I had quite a different chain of connected images to go with the animal which related to events which had just happened in the last couple of day. The rabbit, for example reminded me of the one my cat had just brought in that very morning and was the first sight of my day, as I went downstairs and into the kitchen ....very real indeed!! The fox reminded me of a visit to a friend's place a couple of days earlier..he has two large ponds and the little strip between the stretches of water is a favourite run of a rather friendly fox..trouble is, it is also a nesting place for a family of what was a pair of ducks and seven ducklings..now sadly down to a pair of ducks and three ducklings thanks to the fox!

The ipod was giving instant thrilling instant images, whilst for me in the countryside, each animal was very much part of the chain of life and living with a very physical and inter-connected element to it.

I do wonder just what long term effects the instancy and dis-connected factor of virtual reality will have on the minds of the young? With the animal app, perhaps it was simply charming and educational, but what about some of the other more aggressive virtual games?

The soft and the harsh

Like so many people in the UK, I've been shocked this week by the amount of death and violence reported on the news. What makes people lose it and turn feral, or feel they have the political right to kill another ? It seems to be a modern day phenomena that violence erupts like a volcano and then subsides again.

Even the report of a fox attacking two children in their beds seemed strange and un-nerving. Although we were told in the report this is not unusual behaviour for foxes, those of us who live in the countryside are well used to fox attacks of chickens in hen runs or lambs in the fields, but I've never heard of a fox going indoors, walking upstairs into a bedroom and attacking sleeping children.


Somehow the highlighting of the harsh caused my mind to be drawn to the tender side of life...and to follow are two snapshots of the kind of thing I mean ...


On Friday I took my cat to the vet and whilst sitting in the waiting room an elderly lady came in. She looked like she had suffered a recent stroke as one side of her face was crooked and her left eye drooping, and carried with her a large cage with a chicken snuggled comfortably on a blanket....she was totally focussing on the hen to the exclusion of the rest of us in the room (unusual at a country vet's) ..and you could just feel her care & concern towards her small avine companion.

The following morning I was sitting in a cafe having some coffee .. looking out of the window, watching passers by. Another elderly lady came along, obviously very arthritic and assisting herself with the use of a stout walking stick. She was accompanied by her mongoloid looking son for whom she had obviously cared his whole life. The bond between them was tangible..but what was so moving was that he was taking care of her, with his hand placed carefully on her back and steadying her as they moved along in harmony.

Somehow it is this tender side to life that to me seems at the heart of the special contribution that humanity has to bring to the table of life and living. That ability to exercise choice and consciousness to make the world a softer kinder place....

Just Imagine ......

What sort of incredible intelligence could design the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly???



I started to write this article about the amazing story of imaginal cells .....and their role in the phoenixing of the caterpillar into a butterfly but somehow I felt myself being stopped short .....somehow the sheer fact of what is possible in nature moved me more than the science of it's process.

Change is such an intrinsic part of living and yet I know that there is a part of me ( perhaps in all of us?) that thinks things will stay more or less stay the same.

To quote a wise man of the 20th century, Leo Armin, "we live to change and change in order to continue to live"

And when I look at the butterfly, it reminds me that I probably cannot even begin to imagine what changes lie ahead .... but it encourages me to make space for the unthought,the unknown and the unimaginable ...and to welcome the idea of it.

Evolution of Consciousness or Conscious Evolution?

An ever growing number of people today believe we are on the brink of a new evolution of consciousness




...but did you ever stop and think this could be the first time EVER in our long history, that it could also be a CONSCIOUS evolution. Because of our ever growing understandings of evolution, we can recognise the significance of our times and this great new wave of possibility.

We can 'read the runes' so to speak of the significance of a new kind of spirituality that transcends differences of race and creed, appreciate the possibility of living a more integrated and interconnected life, recognise that compassion, kindness and humanity are as much the hallmark of being human as our intelligence or creative capabilities. We can learn from our past....see the shortfalls of a materialistic civilisation or a culture which disconnects from the healing aspects of nature.

There are so many ways to 'catch the wave'

And we can choose to get into the water, and find the ways to surf ! It really is a bit like being in the ocean ..you know its bigger and more powerful than you, with it's potential dangers..but so incredibly exhilarating and enlivening !!

Imaginal Cells

Many evolutionary thinkers today, such as Deepak Chopra or the 'Be the Change' presenters, are using the analogy of imaginal cells as a way to think about the gathering number of people who feel we are on the brink of a new evolution and are drawn to playing their part in this great spiritual adventure.

So what are Imaginal Cells?

We all know that butterflies begin their life as caterpillars, change to a chrysalis and metaphorphise into butterflies. It has to be one of the greatest mysteries and miracles of the natural worlds! But it's only recently I learned a bit more about the actual process of what happens ..and the following info comes form the 'sacred sites' website

When a caterpillar nears its transformation time, it begins to eat ravenously, consuming everything in sight. The caterpillar body then becomes heavy, outgrowing its own skin many times, until it is too bloated to move. Attaching to a branch it forms a chrysalis —an enclosing shell that limits the caterpillar’s freedom for the duration of the transformation.

Within the chrysalis a miracle occurs. Tiny cells, that biologists call “imaginal cells,” begin to appear. These cells are wholly different from caterpillar cells, carrying different information, vibrating to a different frequency – the frequency of the emerging butterfly. At first, the caterpillar’s immune system perceives these new cells as enemies. But the imaginal cells are not deterred. They continue to appear, in even greater numbers, recognizing each other, bonding together, until the new cells are numerous enough to organize into clumps. When enough cells have formed to make structures along the new organizational lines, the caterpillar’s immune system is overwhelmed. The caterpillar body then become a nutritious soup for the growth of the butterfly. When the butterfly is ready to hatch, the chrysalis becomes transparent.

Well, that is one fantastic story...is it not ? ..more fantastic than anything we could dream up ...and yet part of the reality of the world around us.

So the analogy being popularised is that those who are pioneering a new way for humanity are initially regarded as being 'intruders' and viewed in a hostile manner by the establishment. Yet slowly, initially in smaller cell groupings and then later by the groups clumping or networking together, they cease to be the intruders and gradually form the more dominant influence which becomes the foundation out from which a new civilisation can emerge..just like the butterfly does from the chrysalis.

There are many feature of this analogy which catch me but the one I want to highlight here which is totally incredible is that if what is being said is true, this is the first time EVER in the planet's history, when evolution is a conscious process. It's a spiritual adventure in which people are knowingly volunteering to be participant

WOW, now that is a real adventure into the unknown !!!!

A Stretch of the Imagination!

Just imagine 40,000 years ago when modern man ( and woman!) were travelling and spreading around the planet




....could either the neanderthals or even the developing early modern man possibly have conceived how we might look like and live today? The changes in brain capacity, intelligence, art, music, literature, space exploration, modern technology and on and on ?

Yet, our understandings of history, geology, evolution and of course technology allows us today to travel down that time line and imagine for ourselves what life might have been like for them all those millenium ago !

They couldn't have imagined us because simply we were in the future....and not yet happened

Likewise, the generations which will live ahead of us are in the future and perhaps beyond our own imaginings....but what a great idea to open our minds to the reality that life does change, does evolve and make some space to contemplate along what lines the future might draw humanity....along what lines would we like it to be drawn?