Universal Truths That We All Agree On????

I am participating in a dialogue with an international community on different issues:

Thanks for bringing this important poll to us, H Ahmadi - and thanks for everyone's thoughtful replies.

I am wondering if we can elevate this dialogue to universal inspirational quotes that everyone agrees on? How about this one?

"It seems to me a dreadful thing to have a soul controlled by geography." Georges Santayana

Blessing to all, Ron

"...at one with the universe." Dr. Jill Taylor

I continue to be inspired by Jill's book MY STROKE OF INSIGHT :

"I felt like a genie liberated from its bottle. The energy of my spirit seemed to flow like a great whale gliding through a sea of silent euphoria. Finer that the finest of pleasures we can experience as physical beings, this absence of physical boundary was one of glorious bliss. As my consciousness dwelled in a flow of sweet tranquility, it was obvious to me that I would never be able to squeeze the enormousness of my spirit back inside this tiny cellular matrix." p.67

"......my consciousness shifted away from feeling like a solid, to a perception of myself as a fluid - at one with the universe." Dr. Taylor's MY STROKE OF INSIGHT (p. 136)


Here are comments about Dr. Taylor's book here:
Rory commented:
Dr Taylor says: "I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemispheres, the more peace we will project into the world, and the more peaceful our planet will be."
Bridgie said...
I loved the video by Jill Bolte Taylor on TED. www.ted.com/talks/jilltaylorAlso, did you see Dr Taylor's interviews with Oprah on Soul Series - wonderful!Best of all is her book MY STROKE OF INSIGHT - I've read it twice already. Second time better than the firstDr. Taylor is a great inspiration. The lessons in the book are life-changing...very simple yet very powerful.Here's the link to the book http://www.amazon.com/My-Stroke-Insight-Scientists-Personal/dp/0670020745/ref=pd_ts_b_12?ie=UTF8&s=booksand here's the link to Oprah's interviewshttp://www2.oprah.com/spiritself/oss/guest/oss_guest_jboltetaylor.jhtml

Stella said...
Oprah's 4 interviews with Jill Bolte Taylor were the first that Oprah did after Eckhart Tolle and they take everything Tolle talks about to another level. Oprah's copy of Jill's book, MY STROKE OF INSIGHT, was dog-eared and all marked up and kept reading from it the way she read from A New Earth and recommended it highly.Oprah's recommendation was enough for me. I read My Stroke of Insight and I loved it too. This story is as inspiring as The Last Lecture or Tuesdays with Morrie - and even better, it has a Happy Ending! I bought the book on Amazon because they have it for 40% off retail and they also had an amazing interview with Dr Taylor that I haven't seen anywhere else - Here is the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/My-Stroke-Insight-Scientists-Personal/dp/0670020745/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211471755&sr=1-2

Rosemary said...
I read "My Stroke of Insight" in one sitting - I couldn't put it down. I laughed. I cried. It was a fantastic book (I heard it's a NYTimes Bestseller and I can see why!), but I also think it will be the start of a new, transformative Movement! No one wants to have a stroke as Jill Bolte Taylor did, but her experience can teach us all how to live better lives. Her TED.com speech was one of the most incredibly moving, stimulating, wonderful videos I've ever seen. Her Oprah Soul Series interviews were fascinating. They should make a movie of her life so everyone sees it. This is the Real Deal and gives me hope for humanity.

sabrina said...
This is great news for me. I have a girlfriend who has the same condition as Dr. Jill - AVM. Perhaps this will help inspire her as she is having a really down time at the moment.One Love .. Sabrina

Reyna said...
I have been recommending a book called "My Stroke of Insight - a Brain Scientist's Personal Journey" by Jill Bolte Taylor and also a TEDTalk Dr. Taylor gave on the TED dot com site. And you don't have to take my word for it - Dr. Taylor was named Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People, the New York Times wrote about her and her book is a NYTimes Bestseller),

Inspirational Video With "Stroke of Insight" Scientist
99.99% OneOprah's Soul Series If video does not play here, I suggest going to oprah.com. & buying Dr. Taylor's inspirational book Stroke of Insight. Four parts to this video about 20 minutes per part - very fun to watch! Oprah's interview is brilliant.Also, Dr. Taylor appears on ted.com
Jill Bolte TaylorWhen she was a young girl, brain scientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor became fascinated with the functions of the human brain. Jill, one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2008, has a brother with schizophrenia, and his brain disorder led Jill to dedicate her career to studying severe mental illnesses as a Harvard-trained neuroanatomist. While she worked to uncover the differences between the brains of people born with mental illnesses and those who were not, something remarkable happened to Jill's own brain—it went silent. On December 10, 1996, at age 37, Jill awoke with intense pain behind her left eye—a blood vessel had exploded in the left hemisphere of her brain, and within hours, Jill could no longer walk, talk, read or write. She was suffering from an arteriovenous malformation—a rare type of stroke. While Jill struggled to phone for help, she was aware that the left hemisphere of her brain was shutting down, taking with it her language, organizing and other analytical skills. Without the dominant left side of her brain controlling her thoughts, Jill says her mind went silent, leaving only the right side of the brain functioning. Through the right side of her brain, Jill says her consciousness shifted away from reality—and the trauma her body was suffering through—and into a place of inner peace and Nirvana. The experience was life-changing. Not only did Jill face years of recovery after her stroke—and major brain surgery to remove a large blood clot in her brain—she also discovered a better quality of life through increased use of the right hemisphere of her brain. She's now an artist as well as a scientist, creating anatomically correct stained-glass replicas of brains that are sold as fine art. She's also published My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey. The book explains in scientific detail exactly what happened during Jill's stroke and how she recovered. It also takes a closer look at how the right hemisphere of the brain works and how Jill says people with normal brains can access it to find their own inner peace and improve their quality of life and the lives of those around you.I saw a lecture by Dr. Bolte (another pod cast, I think) while I was at the Feminist Leadership Academy in April.Thanks for your response, C. The "podcast" is on ted.com. I like this one better because of Oprah's brilliant interview, Ron.It was terrific! CThanks for the endorsement. I'll be sure to watch it! CC, You are welcome, the relationship/interview between Oprah and Jill is an "insight" itself. Tears came to Oprah's eyes several times as well as to ours watching it. The book Stroke of Insight is a must, also.One of most important books to come around in a long time. She describes caregivers coming to her in hospital as either "energy givers" or as "energy takers", vividly describing how important the "bedside manner" is ........she is now teaching first year medical students.Her description of her Mother coming to her, while she was in "infantile state", was a tear dropper also. She did not know who it was, yet her Mother got into bed with her and wrapped herself around her, just what she needed as a patient, then her Mother took her home with her............
I have seen this.....remarkable. Committing to Oneness Group:Thanks for the response, Sally. I am looking at possibly dialoguing about "felt" experiences of oneness at the group, with a goal of feeling group oneness.I have a couple of stories I would like to share - one a feeling of Oneness with the Universe (an experience on a sailboat), and the other a feeling of Oneness with another being (it was not romantic though not ruling that out.) These were vital epiphanies in my life that have kept me motivated to "commit to everyday experiences of Oneness" thus leading to the inquiry: How can we feel oneness with those we apparently think, feel and look so differently?"Committing to Oneness: An Inquiry, Meditation, & Dialogue GroupYours in Oneness, Ron
There is a silence into which the world can not intrude.There is an ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost.There is a sense of holiness in you the thought of sin has never touched.All this today you will remember.ACIM

What an Eco-resort could look like:

ON going green, for Agustine, and others interested:

Ron,There are lots of eco-tourism sites around the world- Maui, St John VI, and others… all with different environments. Your writer should visit, and see what type of systems work for him based on his climate and economics. People pay a premium for being in the eco-sensitive environment, and in the end, maintenance costs and upkeep and infrastructure would be actually much less costly over time and potential revenue would be greater. He should seek expert advisors and investors to help, perhaps after touring the other eco-resorts, and create something better. It would be better financially for him too. We write about eco-tourism and the various resorts in the magazine occasionally, and many magazines feature them, especially in wintertime.

Natural Awakenings Grand Strand EditionKeith Waller, Publisher

Thanks for quick insightful response, Keith, I will send this on to him and Jackie, as I told you, I hope to see her 'retreat" go green also. We cannot have too many!
Committed to helping make planet a more cozy place, Ron



Ron the advice Keith gives is hands on serious stuff. Augustin if you need help and details just give the word.
Amir Hedayat-Vaziri,

Now THAT's the spirit! Bravo All!
William

Nuclear - a Clean, Safe Energy Source?

Is Nuclear a Clean and Safe Energy Source?
Ron Alexander

When nuclear plants were first opening in the Southeast, local people saw them as part of an economic boon, as their salaries were much higher than the other local industries. Unfortunately, the new workers were not educated adequately of the danger of radiation poisoning, especially the long-term more subtle effect.
Jan, a science major at UNC, was an adventurer, who loved Marine Science and sailing. Unable to get a lucrative job, she went back to UNC graduate school in Environmental Science (specializing in water quality). Upon getting her M.A., she accepted a job as one of the first Radiation Safety Officers at a Nuclear Plant in North Carolina. She was shocked at the carelessness of the workers there, especially when transferring the waste to tankers for a trip to Barnwell, South Carolina Nuclear Waste Facilities. Since she was new, she had a hard time exerting any influence over the workers. They had already been doing it their unsafe way for over a decade. Jan, who quit after a couple of frustrating years, agrees that the conditions were much like that of the 1983 movie “Silkwood”. This film was based on a true story about Karen Silkwood, who worked at a nuclear processing plant, and was mysteriously killed in an accident, while taking evidence of unsafe practices to a reporter.
Andy, a welder, making a relatively good living, in North Carolina, when he was accepted a much higher salary to work at the same nuclear plant. He verifies that most of his co-workers were careless, and even when radiated, would leave early or even skip the prescribed scrubbing. “What you can’t see can’t hurt you.” appeared to be common theme with many of these workers.
Andy’s extraordinary story typifies the danger of Nuclear plants to our environment. One of his primary jobs was to check the welds and valves on the Plutonium tank. A leak from this seventy foot high tank could be catastrophic, so Andy spent a lot of his time checking the tank’s weld spots and valves. It was brought home to him how vital his job was to the security of the plant, when the first few times he checked the valves and weld spots, there were three security officers with shotguns pointing at him. He said they were ordered to shoot him, if he started welding above the primary valve, as there would be no other valve to stop the leak. His only child was born with Spina Bifida, a condition never seen before in his or his wife’s family.
My ex-wife’s father died of radiation poisoning from the Savannah River Plant when he was in his mid-forties. There was no doubt about the cause of his tragic early death, as all his children living at home at the time of his demise were awarded a hefty sum of money, from the federal government.
Nuclear power is a carbon-free fuel and is promoted as a “clean” fuel. However, the by-product - depleted uranium is highly toxic, hard to transfer safely, and has a half-life of 4.5 million years, meaning wherever it is stored, is permanently contaminated. As there is a limited diminishing supply of fossil fuel, so it is with uranium, continually escalating the price of this very expensive fuel. Is it a safe and clean alternative energy source?

My Deepest Truth & Key to World Peace

I have been reflecting on truth inspired by Bill, Amir and Marie on this board, and it can be mind boggling so I meditated and came up with a simpler (deeper) Truth for me:
My Deepest Truth: WE ARE ALL ONE
"Bhagavan states that there is only one cause for human problems and that is a sense of separateness-the sense that the world can be divided into 'me' and 'not me'."The ultimate potential of the Oneness Blessing is much more that in its effect on the individual. The Blessing can precipitate a shift toward a completely different state of consciousness, where the sense of 'me' as a separate entity dissolves. What remains is a simple and direct realization of Oneness, unclouded by the conceptual mind. The Oneness Blessing has been able to catalyze this shift for thousands of people, both in India and in the rest of the world. This is something so profoundly simple and glorious that it defies logical description. Oneness is the heart's deepest longing, the song of ages."
from AWAKENING INTO ONENESS (ARJUNA ARDAGH) Also see onenessmovement.org &
wings@wingsofspirit.com

In gratitude for the Reality of our Oneness, Ron


Digesting all this wonderfull stuff. Amir


Ron, I have a simpler way of looking at truth....The only cause of problems for us humans is our separateness from our Heavenly Father, our Creator God.... we have been separated by sin and the only bridge between us and God is our acceptance of Jesus Christ into our hearts and let the Holy Spirit guide us in the way we should go.I say to Him, "Not my will be done but Yours....use me today to be a blessing to those whom I am in contact with, so I may show the glory of your Love to them and be of service."Immersed in His Love and sharing with youse,sister Marie-Dominique


Just checked in for my daily wonderful dose of MD - Ron - you have struck on the great universal truth - We ARE all one! MD - Phillippians 2: 3,5 - the ultimate servant mentality is shown here BECAUSE in the eyes of Jesus the Christ, we ARE one.
Blessings, Bill



Thank you, William & Marie, for providing inspirational, Biblical verses, as being a Christian, I really welcome the Judeo-Christian evidence, as sometimes it may be harder to find than in Buddhism, Bahi'a, Sufism, etc.

THE GREAT UNIFYING FORCE THAT CONNECTS US ALL!

Dr. Martin Luther King in his book STRENGTH TO LOVE has a chp. called "Paul's letter to American Christians". As Paul wrote his letters from a jail cell so did Dr. King.Here is a few cogent quotes from this important chapter:"Be sure the means you employ are as pure as the end you seek. As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using love as your chief weapon. Let no man pull you so low that you hate him......But before leaving, I must say to you ....that love is the most durable power in the world......I have discovered that the highest good is love. THIS PRINCIPLE IS AT THE CENTER OF THE COSMOS (my capitals). IT IS THE GREAT UNIFYING FORCE OF LIFE. GOD IS LOVE. HE WHO LOVES HAS DISCOVERED THE CLUE TO THE MEANING OF ULTIMATE REALITY: he who hates stands in immediate candidacy for nonbeing.

Dear Bill, Marie, Amir, et.al.

The Key to World Peace

I have been heartened this weekend to read that Tony Blair, the former P.M. of England, has formed a very well-financed interfaith foundation "that will enlist religion as a force for conflict resolution & economic development rather than violence and strive."

Nobody has written about this interfaith connection better than Dr. King, I believe: "Hindu, Moslem, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist Belief":"When I speak of love, I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that Force which all great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: 'Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.'"

One God, One Love, One Mind, Ron