b2evolution at cbrunning.net

Question: Mother, what is real meditation?
Amma: Real meditation arises when the mind constantly flows towards the object of meditation. In that state the sadhak's mind will become firmly fixed on the form of his Beloved Deity during meditation.

Meditation is not simply sitting with eyes closed. It is a state of unbroken concentration like an endless stream. At present, if somebody were to ask if we are meditating, we would say "Yes." Suppose we keep some water on the stove to make tea. If someone asks what we are doing, we would say that we are making tea. Actually, the water is only getting heated up; it is only the beginning. We have not yet added the tea leaves, milk or sugar. Even then, we will say that we are making tea. Likewise, we say that we are meditating, but it is only the beginning. We have not yet reached the state of real meditation. We will get spiritual strength only if we still the mind, which is at present revelling on the material plane. The mind will run around when we sit idle. "Where is my child? How is my wife? Has she gone to the office?" It will wander like this. Meditation is to stop such wandering. In the beginning stages of our spiritual practice, the mind may continue to roam about. This can be stopped only through constant and determined practice.

Children, you have been discriminating between the eternal and the non-eternal for a long time. God alone is eternal. Our life's goal is to attain Him. Son, you should not forget this.

-Mata Amritanandamayi Awaken Children! Volume II

Link: http://medialens.org

I thought I'd post something saying thanks to the editors of Media Lens. This year they've posted articles regarding their ten years with Media Lens, including:

Ten Years Of Media Lens - Operation Rheinübung, Or: Our Problem With Mainstream Dissidents

Ten Years Of Media Lens - Some Questions And Answers

"Grownups believe they have grown up, that they should no longer be like children, and that childlike qualities are something to be ashamed of. But what really has grown up in the grownup is the ego. The body, intellect, and ego may have grown, but the heart, i.e., such essential qualities as love and compassion, is on its death bed. People think they have become mature adults. But are they really grown up and mature?

The body has changed from a child's body into a grownup body, but the inner personality is still undeveloped.

If you continue to cling to the past, you cannot call it maturity. Of course, you can find people with a so-called mature ego, but among them you will not find a truly mature human being. A person with a mature ego may behave in a decent and refined way, but he still acts and speaks in the light of his past. His words and actions in the present are rooted in his past experiences. He has made many mistakes in the past. He has learned a lot from all those experiences; and now, whenever he says or does anything, he is careful not to repeat the same mistakes and not to say something foolish, because he knows from experience that this could create problems. So he chooses his words carefully and acts with deliberation. This shows that the past is still working within him, in a subtle, refined, and powerful way. We may call this maturity, intellectual maturity or maturity of the ego -- but it is not real maturity.

Real, genuine maturity develops when you drop the ego and you stop dwelling in the past. When the inner Self is allowed to express itself, without being tainted or interrupted by the ego, a spontaneous and genuine maturity unfolds."

-Amma

Amma guides us.

"Parents should start explaining spiritual ideas to children at an early age. Even if they acquire bad habits when they grow up, the good impressions dormant in their subconscious mind will bring them back to the right path in due course."

Link: http://theonion.com

Sometimes I laugh if the front page of The Onion catches my eye...

finding something funny for this July 4th:
• Man Who Fought For Americans' Rights Demands Americans Stop Exercising Their Rights
• Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be

from the version of this post on 2010 June 09:
• Massive Flow Of Bullshit Continues To Gush From BP Headquarters
• New Eco-Friendly Cigarettes Kill Destructive Human Beings Over Time

Link: http://cbrunning.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=32

Oops, I never filled in any posts for this category.  We have a bunch of good food recipes at the phpBB at cbrunning.net

Our kids like to eat quinoa. They especially like it flavored with flax oil and/or tamari.

Link: http://lynnestewart.org

"The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee has a speakers bureau made up of attorneys and activists able to speak at an event in your area."

Mailing Address:
The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
350 Broadway, Suite 700, New York, NY 10013

Link: http://approvideo.org

link to many Appropriate and Sustainable Technology videos and documents

Another link that might work is http://wiki.edc-cu.org/blogs/index.php/videos

Link: http://leftforum.org/about

"rekindling the radical imagination"

I believe in the value of practicing control of this mind before more kindling, though I do see myself looking forward to performing positive actions with everybody as much as I can every day sometime sooner than later so let us improve. Amen

Link: http://specialtransit.org

Special Transit is a private nonprofit organization in Boulder that provides transportation options for people with limited mobility. They have provided transportation to Jaya and the kids ...we are grateful.

every being is dear, every being, being

Om

Link: http://www.theonion.com/video/breaking-news-some-bullshit-happening-somewhere,16928/

Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere

http://media.theonion.com/flash/video/embedded_player.swf?&videoid=16928

May I properly fall at the feet in worship of Divine Mother Ammachi, living Master... May I seek not the last breath of air, but Her Alone.

Link: http://www.eff.org/foia/social-network-monitoring

The EFF's post today is titled
EFF Posts Documents Detailing Law Enforcement Collection of Data From Social Media Sites

Link: http://www.ae911truth.org

information slideshow selection link:
http://www.ae911truth.org/ppt_web/ppt_selection.php

Link: http://www.zcommunications.org/newinternational.htm

I endorsed this... Read the proposal at Zcommunications.org: specific link is http://www.zcommunications.org/newinternational.htm

"We, the undersigned, endorse the idea of a new International and urge that its creation include assessing, refining, augmenting, and then implementing as many of the following points as the International’s participants themselves, after due deliberation, decide mutually agreeable:

1. A new International should be primarily concerned (at least) with:

Read it at Zcom

Om

Both the boys are so big now! Shivan regularly talks in sentences. They need more space and regular interaction. We all Love each other a lot,

Link: http://www.medialens.org/alerts/10/100203_haiti_the_broken.php

"Joining compassion with reason means asking why over 80 per cent of Haiti's population of 10 million people live in abject poverty. Why less than 45 per cent of all Haitians have access to potable water. Why the life expectancy rate in Haiti is only 53 years. Why seventy-six per cent of Haiti's children under the age of five are underweight, or suffer from stunted growth, with 63 per cent of Haitians undernourished. Why 1 in every 10,000 Haitians has access to a doctor. (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/haiti/intro.htm)"

Link: http://murrayhillweb.com/pr-012510.html

Kids, use your discrimination

Howard Zinn passed away Jan 27, 2010

Link: http://cbrunning.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=412

56 days passed between Shannon's seizures on October 26 2009 and December 21.

Link: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/12/surveillance-shocker-sprint-received-8-million-law

"Sprint received over 8 million requests for its customers' information in the past 13 months. That doesn't count requests for basic identification and billing information, or wiretapping requests, or requests to monitor who is calling who, or even requests for less-precise location data based on which cell phone towers a cell phone was in contact with. That's just GPS. And, that's not including legal requests from civil litigants, or from foreign intelligence investigators. That's just law enforcement. And, that's not counting the few other major cell phone carriers like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. That's just Sprint."

Read the entire article at eff.org

You may be interested in an earlier link I made to an article "FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool" -- even when it's "powered off"

Link: http://www.dlshq.org/religions/gita_siva.htm

"THE HOLY Gita Jayanti, or the birthday of the Bhagavad Gita, is celebrated throughout India by all the admirers and lovers of this most sacred scripture on the eleventh day (Ekadashi) of the bright half of the month of Margaseersha (December-January), according to the Hindu almanac. It was on this day that Sanjaya narrated to King Dhritarashtra the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, and thus made the glorious teachings of the Lord available to us, and to people of the world, for all time."

- Sri Swami Sivananda

"The teachings of the Gita are broad, universal and sublime. Its teachings do not belong to any cult, sect, creed, particular age, place or country. They are meant for the people of the whole world at large. The teachings are based on the Upanishads, the ancient wisdom of the seers (Rishis) and sages. It teaches a method which is within the reach of all. It has a message for the solace, peace, freedom, salvation and perfection of all human beings."

Om - I bow down to Her who is unattainable through imagination or thought

- Lalita Sahasranama verse 113

"Before creation existed there was Cosmic Consciousness: Spirit or God, the Absolute, ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new Bliss beyond form and manifestation. When creation came into being, Cosmic Consciousness "descended" into the physical universe where it manifests as Christ Consciousness:⁺ the omnipresent pure reflection of God's intelligence and consciousness inherent and hidden within all creation. When the Christ Consciousness descends into the physical body of man it becomes soul, or superconsciousness: the ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new bliss of God individualized by encasement in the body. When the soul becomes identified with the body, it manifests as ego, mortal consciousness. Yoga teaches that the soul must climb back up the ladder of consciousness to Spirit.⁺⁺

+ The Hindu scriptures refer to Christ Consciousness as Kutastha Chaitanya, universal consciousness or omnipresent intelligence.

++ Yoga teaches that the abode of the soul -- of man's life and divine consciousness -- is in the subtle spiritual centers in the brain: Sahasrara, the thousand-petaled lotus at the top of the cerebrum, seat of cosmic consciousness; Kutastha, at the point between the eyebrows, seat of Christ consciousness; and the medullary center (connected by polarity to the Kutastha), seat of superconsciousness. Descending into the body (and body-consciousness) from these centers of highest spiritual perception, life and consciousness flow down the spine, passing through five astral spinal centers (see chakras in glossary) and branching outward into physical organs of life, sensory perception, and action.

To regain the blissful realization of its oneness with God, the soul of man must retrace its downward course, ascending by the sacred spinal route to its home in the higher cerebral centers of divine awareness. This is accomplished by the practice of guru-given scientific techniques of yogic meditation, such as may be learned from the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons. (See glossary)"

Paramahansa Yogananda. Man's Eternal Quest: Collected Talks and Essays On Realizing God In Daily Life, Volume I. Second ed. Page 17.

I pray for veterans and for those in the militaries. I love them.

Link: http://studentsfororwell.org

I'm recalling a time in the place where I was employed right after sept, 11 2001 getting a visit by irritated "suits" with the earpieces getup after their surveillance of the bookstore spotted a small flyer in the window that read:

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
BUSH IS PRESIDENT

"Children, Mother knows that it is difficult for you who live in the midst of material pleasures and with family ties, to remember God constantly. But when you become aware that you are not remembering Him, immediately repent, 'O Lord, I have forgotten you for this much time. I have forgotten to chant your name for this length of time. O Lord, please forgive me. Please bestow upon me the mental strength to cherish Your form within and Your name on my lips constantly and incessantly. O Lord, please do not let me waste time like this. Let the desire to behold Thy form burn within me.' Having repented and prayed thus, immediately start repeating the mantra. Again you might forget it. Don't worry, go on applying the same technique of repentance and prayer whenever you realise that you have not been chanting the mantra for a long time. Slowly in due course, you will develop the power to remember Him incessantly."

-Amma

There can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within the souls of men. — Black Elk, Oglala Lakota

In other words, purify youself.

I read Black Elk Speaks a couple of years ago and recognize that I have on occasion seen that which he writes about in something like daydreams... since I was a kid.

Link: http://www.ainfos.ca/en/ainfos23202.html

...the link to this informative article is provided thanks to:
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists

And amongst many others, many thanks to Pittsburgh Indymedia, the Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project, Pittsburgh Organizing Group, and Pittsburgh Thomas Merton Center...

I think yinz did good

Check out some videos of the G20 events in Pittsburgh at the G-Infinity site ( currently at http://indypgh.org/g20/ )

Jaya is apparently experiencing a lower-than-normal seizure threshold lately.  Not only have the generalized seizures been more frequent, but yesterday morning she almost had another one...  it stayed partial tho.

Her fatigue gets real intense at these times.  Hope she feels better today and the boys are helping me let her sleep in!

Link: http://medialens.org/alerts/09/091001_iran_the_war.php

MEDIA ALERT: IRAN - THE WAR DANCE


On September 19, the Irish Times reported:

“Israel has rejected the call by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and open up its atomic sites to international inspection.” (Mark Weiss, ‘Israel spurns nuclear watchdog's call to open atomic sites to inspection,’ Irish Times, September 19, 2009; http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0919/1224254860406.html)

The IAEA, which met in Vienna on September 18, adopted a resolution expressing concern about “Israeli nuclear capabilities” and called on agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei to work on the issue. The motion was adopted by 49 votes to 45, with 16 abstentions.

Read more at medialens.org

It is only through understanding spiritual principles and performing spiritual practices that we will gain the right understanding and the right mental attitude in order to persevere in performing good actions no matter what kind of response we get in return.

Once Saint Eknath saw a scorpion floundering in a pool of water. He decided to save it by stretching out his finger, but the scorpion stung him. Eknath briefly withdrew his hand, wincing in pain. After a few moments Eknath again tried to rescue the scorpion from the water, but the scorpion stung him again. This went on for some time.

Finally an onlooker asked Eknath, "Why do you keep trying to rescue a scorpion knowing it will only sting you in return?"

Eknath explained, "It is the nature of the scorpion to sting; it is my nature to love. Why should I give up my nature to love just because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting?" Finally the scorpion, held in thrall by the power of Eknath's compassion, refrained from stinging him anymore, and Eknath happily retrieved the scorpion and placed it safely on the ground.

Only spirituality can give us the strength to go on loving and serving others, even when they only sting us in return. As the Buddha said, "Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love -- this is the eternal law."

from The Blessed Life, by Swami Ramakrishnananda Puri

Link: http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

Leonard Peltier: Decades in Prison for a Crime He Didn't Commit

I am Barack Obama's Prisoner Now ...I first read this at http://denverabc.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/i-am-barack-obamas-political-prisoner-now/ also at http://www.counterpunch.org/peltier09112009.html

I've seen info on Leonard Peltier at http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info and http://www.leonardpeltier.net

~ Love, Chris

false flags and insanity notwithstanding, All is Divine

Link: http://www.dlshq.org/saints/siva.htm

"You must be very correct, very punctual, very regular. You should discipline yourself rigidly. Otherwise, you cannot attain the highest, the Realisation. It is not an easy task. Happy-go-lucky type easy temperament is no good in spiritual pursuits. Have you noticed how correct, how strict, how disciplined are the soldiers in the army? They have to stand in the parade according to the unit or battalion they belong to. They have to be absolutely spick and span. They do polishing of the shoes and brass by themselves. Even if a single button is dull, the inspecting officer spots the soldier and puts him into quarter-guard, and he will have to do fettling duty. They are always fighting fit, trim and clean, neat and tidy, because they have been drilled into this sort of correctness, precision and training. When an ordinary soldier is required to be so disciplined, so correct, so punctual, so regular, then what to say about you, O aspirant! A spiritual aspirant has to be even ten times more strict, regular, punctual, correct, well-disciplined. A soldier fights to win a battle, whereas an aspirant has to win the kingdom of heaven, win Kaivalya Moksha. Therefore, never give leniency to your mind." ~Sivananda

from "Practised Before Preaching", a chapter of Sri Swami Chidananda's book Swami Sivananda: Saint, Sage and Godman

Link: http://softwarefreedomday.org

Events may be held locally to your area.

this is from http://softwarefreedomday.org/about:

"Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Our goal in this celebration is to educate the worldwide public about of the benefits of using high quality FOSS in education, in government, at home, and in business -- in short, everywhere! The non-profit company Software Freedom International coordinates SFD at a global level, providing support, giveaways and a point of collaboration, but volunteer teams around the world organize the local SFD events to impact their own communities."

Happy Labor Day

Link: http://www.dlshq.org/religions/ganesh.htm

Om Sri Ganeshaya Namaha!

Om Gung Ganapathaye Namah!

Today is the festival celebration of the birthday of Lord Ganesha.

He is the Lord of power and wisdom.

Link: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10675.shtml

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10675.shtml

Link: http://www.amritapuri.org/amma/life/ananda/

"Oh Man, merge in your Self!" ~Mata Amritanandamayi Devi

Link: http://www.medialens.org/alerts/09/090629_turning_children_into.php

Introduction and full excerpt at medialens.org

TURNING CHILDREN INTO CONSUMERS
by Sharon Beder -- extracted from “This Little Kiddy Went to Market: The Corporate Capture of Childhood”, Pluto Press, London, 2009.

Children are naïve about advertising and can easily be manipulated and exploited by marketers to want and demand their products. Corporate marketers believe that over time they can be shaped into lifelong consumers with brand loyalties and that can be profitable for decades to come. What is more, children influence family spending decisions worth hundreds of billions of dollars on household items like furniture, electrical appliances and computers, vacations, and even the family car.

Corporations began targeting their marketing messages directly to children during the 1980s, as affluent adult markets became saturated with consumer goods. Large firms established ‘kids’ departments and smaller firms specialised in marketing to children. A number of advertising industry publications were created such as Selling to Kids and Marketing to Kids Report. The academic literature began to feature studies of children as consumers.

In the US the amount corporations spent marketing to children under twelve increased by five times between 1980 and 1990 and ten times more during the 1990s. In 2004 around $15 billion was being spent marketing to children. Conferences on the best ways to market to children are held all over the world. There are also awards for the best advertisements and marketing campaigns with hundreds of entries.

Read more of this excerpt at medialens.org

We had been seeing kids around that were Quinn's age or younger and really doing well with bicycling...

So Quinn picked it up immediately and was able to ride without the trainingwheels. Evidently mind over matter...

Link: http://nathanhutchinson.net

...our friend Nathan. Fantastic Artist

Nate does commissions -- call on him to get some art into your life.

Link: http://www.ic.org/link.php

Intentional Communities Website: provides information on the intentional communities movement including a searchable Communities Directory and hundreds of articles on community. Published by the FIC

The Communities Directory that they publish is also a really good resource; no computer necessary.

Link: http://cbrunning.net/b2evolution/

I saw a Newsweek at a coffeeshop today that said on the front in huge letters... "We are all socialists now"

I noticed that someone had made it a point to strategically place it on top of an International Socialist Review. That was funny...

Link: http://www.freemumia.com

US Supreme Court rejects appeal by Mumia Abu-Jamal for new trial
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/mumi-a07.shtml

"The United States Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal for a new trial by Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose struggle over more than a quarter century against his murder conviction in a politically and racially motivated frame-up has become a focus of international opposition to capital punishment and political repression.

The Court rejected, without comment, a writ of certiorari filed by Abu-Jamal's lawyers charging that his 1982 trial in the killing the previous year of a Philadelphia police officer should be discounted because the prosecution illegally excluded African-Americans from the jury. It requires only four of the nine justices to agree to hear such an appeal, meaning that at least one of the four nominally liberal members of the court refused to support the writ. The fact that the decision was issued without comment or dissent suggests that the decision was unanimous."

Some links:

Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 6:00 p.m
NYC: Emergency Meeting in Response to the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Mumia Abu-Jamal

http://millions4mumia.org

http://www.freemumia.com

http://www.abu-jamal-news.com

Link: http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/come_on_lighten_up_im_just?utm_source=b-section

From the Onion opinion column:

Come On, Lighten Up, I'm Just Being A Total Asshole

By Jeffrey Studges
March 26, 2009
Issue 45•13

Talk about not having a sense of humor. These days you can't even sit down, rudely interrupt someone's conversation, insult them directly to their face, and then act like a complete and utter asshole without people getting super offended by it. It's like, Christ—lighten up, will you?

from theonion.com

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/pers-m20.shtml

• Six years since the U.S. invasion
• In six years likely more than 1.3 million Iraqi deaths
• Millions of Iraqis are out of their homes, displaced
• 4,260 acknowledged U.S. Military deaths
• 30,000 Iraqis remain detained, most of them without charges, in US and Iraqi prisons, where torture continues
• The majority of the U.S. people are opposed
• U.S. President Obama has indicated he is with the military Wall Street

¹ http://www.arthistoryclub.com/art_history/Iraq

² http://countrystudies.us/iraq/30.htm

29.3 million population estimate for 2007? ^0,  0.9 25.4 million estimate for 2004? ¹ 17.9 million people lived there as of a 1991 estimate, a different estimate says 16.28 million in 1987 and 12 million + in 1975 ²

"One Million Dead in Iraq: Our Own Holocaust Denial"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18765.htm

there are various other official "credible" counts, there are efforts to confuse
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/conflicts/iraq_handover/numbers_game_revisited

Link: http://cbrunning.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=slideshow.Slideshow&g2_itemId=7

This is a link to a slideshow of our main photo gallery

Right now the slideshow draws from the large root-level album of mostly unlabeled family photos. It also requires javascript.

For most people, the best place to see our photos would be at this regular gallery link.

Link: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=4516

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)

NORML provides U.S. state law info regarding marijuana:

Link: http://www.republicoflakotah.com/?p=1347

I thought this was sad-but-true funny:

When told the reason for daylight saving time the old Indian said...

"Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket."

What is the reason for this massively disruptive thing called DST? I've never heard anything that sounds reasonable. Typical overwhelming bull all around

I'm still feeling it. "Little" stuff...

Fortunately we don't get totally railroaded by the clock as much as we could be. We didn't even realize that the clocks changed until Wednesday!?