Image by Marxchivist via Flickr

By Grant Lawrence

Source: Bodhi Thunder

Are you ready for this.

The latest on the Noah’s Ark find is that a former member of the expedition now says that the story is probably a hoax.

I know you are barely able to believe the news. But the supposed Biblical Boat discovery is most likely a media stunt.

.…’”If the world wants to think this is a wonderful discovery, that’s fine,” Randall Price, an archaeologist who in 2008 was working with the Chinese-led evangelical team, told The Christian Science Monitor. “My problem is that, in the end, proper analysis may show this to be a hoax and negatively reflect how gullible Christians can be….” …Price says that those photos of the supposed ark include cobwebs in the corners of the structure’s rafters, “something just not possible in these conditions…..”‘ (Source: AOL News)

You know, I will let you in on a little secret. I knew the Noah’s Ark find wasn’t true all along.

How?

Because the Noah’s Ark story is fictional boys and girls.

Now I hate to break it to my fundamentalist friends. But this is the 21st century. The stories of the Old Testament are just stories. A boat can’t hold all of the world’s ‘2 of every kind’ animals and whatever else they supposedly had on there. Adam and Eve were not in the Garden of Eden. The world wasn’t created in 7 days. Jonah wasn’t eaten by a whale and then coughed up. The stories are just cultural myths used to entertain and to explain according to ancient beliefs.

So guess what.

We should quit looking for Arks and the Garden of Eden. They didn’t exist.

Sorry, but somebody’s got to say it.

Image by stephjoyous via Flickr

By Grant Lawrence

This game is obviously no game.

Source: Bodhi Thunder

According to the AP, a 12 year old in Santa Monica California accidentally killed himself by engaging in a ‘choking game.’

The ‘choking game’ cuts off oxygen to the brain. It reportedly gives a thrill for the person playing the game. The boy, in this case, used a rope and tied it around his neck. He was taken to the hospital where he died soon after.

From 1995 to 2007, 85 children have died playing the ‘choking game,’ according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This game is obviously no game.

Although adults engage in the highly dangerous intentional asphyxiation for sexual gratification. Children engage in the ‘choking game’ in an attempt to get a high without drugs.

“….According to Dr. Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners in London^[1], the game is pursued primarily by children “to get a high without taking drugs.” Children “aren’t playing this game for sexual gratification.” It is frequently confused with erotic asphyxiation, which is oxygen deprivation for sexual arousal. Unlike erotic asphyxiation, practice of the fainting game appears to be uncommon in adulthood…..” (Source: Wikipedia)

Image by FriskoDude via Flickr

By Grant Lawrence

Source: Bodhi Thunder

There have been numerous claims about the holy men of India, ‘fakirs’, not eating or sleeping. Sometimes they have even been buried alive for months and years and survived. Or so the story goes.

Although I am a bit skeptical, scientists have studied the Indian holy men and found that they could not debunk many of them.

Now there’s a report of 70 year old Prahlad Jani, an Indian fakir, who has been under constant observation by scientists for 10 days to see if he actually won’t eat or drink.

Guess what?

The fakir is not a faker.

During the 10 days, reports are that he didn’t consume anything. He didn’t pass urine or a stool. He is in great shape which, unfortunately, most eaters and drinkers of humanity cannot make the same claim.

According to the BBC, ‘”….A series of tests conducted on him show his body mechanism is that of a normal person,” said Dr Desai. Mr Jani spends most of his time in a cave near the Ambaji temple in Gujarat state.

He spent his 10 days in hospital in a specially prepared room, with a sealed-off toilet and constant video surveillance. To help the doctors verify his claims, Mr Jani agreed to avoid bathing for his time in hospital. The only fluid he was allowed was a small amount of water, to use as mouthwash……(Source)”

Jani claims to have survived several decades without food or water. Scientists say that the urine his body produces is being reabsorbed by his bladder.

So how does Jani go without food or drink?

He is worshiped as a Goddess, and evidently draws his rather divine power from a certain Goddess.

But if anyone wishes to investigate this sort of thing, especially the way food prices are skyrocketing during this depression. Then you can google breatharians. You will also find many other people that say they live without food or water.

These people generally claim they live off prana or the energy of the universe that exists all around them.

“Inedia is the alleged ability to live without food. Breatharianism is a related concept, in which believers claim food and possibly water are not necessary, and that humans can be sustained solely by prana (the vital life force in Hinduism), or according to some, by the energy in sunlight. The terms breatharianism or inedia may also refer to this philosophy practised as a lifestyle in place of the usual diet….” (Source: Wikipedia)

I don’t know about the rest of my dear readers, but if I could go and live off nothing but the energy of the universe I would definitely do it.

I am one of those people that eat to live, or eat when under great deal of stress. I really find eating takes up too much time and costs too much. So if I could give up food and water, I would not only help myself save time and money but I would also keep my carbon footprint very low. That would be good for everyone. The plants would be a lot happier knowing that I gave up eating them (I don’t eat many animals anyway).

So if anyone has been really going a long time without food or drink, I am envious of you. Please feel free to let us know how you have been able to do it and what your experiences are.

Image via Wikipedia

By Grant Lawrence

Source: Bodhi-Thunder

OK boys and girls its story time.

According to an account given by a person named Victor Martinez, a supposed former federal employee that runs an email news and information service, US agencies have been involved in hunting human looking extra-terrestrials.

Supposedly one of Martinez’ US Defense Intelligence Agency contacts is spilling the beans on ‘OPERATION TANGO-SIERRA.

“….The DIA contact reportedly provided information about the monitoring and intervention by U.S. officials regarding a particular extraterrestrial being posing as a human within the U.S., Martinez wrote in his e-mail report…..“(Source: American Chronicle)

‘OPERATION TANGO-SIERRA’ supposedly occurred in the US in the 1980s. This was about the time that former President Reagan had a fondness for telling his world audiences that it would be great if there were ETs attacking the world so humans could unite behind a common enemy.

It seems that Reagan thought humans were incapable of uniting unless it was to kill something.

He may have a point.

Some have speculated that Reagan knew ET Aliens were in fact here, and perhaps the US was worried about what they were doing. After all, abductions and animal mutilations are not indicative of Alien beings acting with a great respect for us earth beings.

The story of ‘OPERATION TANGO-SIERRA goes something like this. A human government employee reported that she was abducted by an Alien (not illegal but otherworldly) and there was a big hunt on for the ET. The good news is that the government employee was evidently not an IRS agent because no one would have likely cared. I guess everyone liked this government employee so they took her word seriously.

At any rate, here is a bit of the story of ‘OPERATION TANGO-SIERRA’ from the supposed US Defense Intelligence Agent:

‘”…..I was directly involved with ‘Operation TANGO-SIERRA.’ It involved the finding, tracking and eventual capture of an extraterrestrial entity.”

“The original operation began in early 1980 when an Earth female was identified by U.S. intelligence as being a so-called ‘alien abductee.’ She had been abducted by a male non-human in 1977 which was her first abduction,” the source allegedly told Martinez.

“This woman was single, 23-years-old and a trusted, well-respected U.S. government employee.”

“The male non-human showed the Earth woman abductee projections of alien life on another planet. The projection was from a small, triangle device. The woman viewed this projection which she described as images displayed in a 3-dimensional ‘holographic’ view.”

The information source also claimed, “The male non-human never harmed the Earth woman abductee. During the three years of her ongoing abduction, the Earth woman was taken by the male non-human through a ‘veil of light’ to another place. The Earth woman described this place as being ‘a light bubble.’ She would sit inside the bubble and view these holographic projections with the male non-human….. (SOURCE)”‘

The good news is that the female government abductee was able to help finger her ET kidnapper. There were also other government abductees who claimed that ET had infiltrated the highest offices of government.

If this is true it may help explain Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld.

The government OPERATION rounded up the human looking ET were they were able to interrogate him. He worked as a government records clerk were he could make his own documents, I guess. I am not sure how high a records clerk is in the government. But according to this story, it must be pretty damn high up and important.

But it seems that if you were able to travel across the galaxy, you wouldn’t have to work in some boring government job as a records clerk. You could easily make up your own records that would look pretty convincing. It also seems odd that if you are able to make yourself look human, then you wouldn’t have to worry about copying government documents.

This all makes for a great story but it hardly seems credible.

Why?

I don’t think there is any mention of torturing the ET. You certainly couldn’t get to the truth if you couldn’t do something like waterboard the poor human looking Alien. If they didn’t give the Alien an enhanced interrogation then they couldn’t have learned anything of value. I am certain that CIA operatives would have tortured the ET because how else could they have determined if the Aliens were going to blow up the world.

Image via Wikipedia

By Grant Lawrence

Source: Bodhi Thunder

Last March, after our “Environmental President” Obama decided to expand offshore drilling with the lie that it will help make America more energy independent. I wrote “The Oily Obama Scam: New Drilling Will Do Nothing for America’s Energy Independence”

In it I predicted the further environmental degradation that would obviously occur by the expansion of offshore drilling for oil and natural gas off America’s coast.

I also explained:

“…Although the Gulf of Mexico will be further trashed by President Obama’s decision, the good news is that supposedly America will have more oil so we can move beyond depending on foreign sources for our energy needs. President Obama, we are told, is helping to make America energy independent by polluting the coastlines. It is a dirty choice that but it has to be made. President Obama has to secure America’s energy needs and blah, blah, blah, and more blah, blah, blah.

So our peace prize winning, environmental President has to do what he has to do.

But what is not being mentioned by the managed sound bites and the spin in the media is that the oil that will eventually come from the coast or in Alaska will be sold by oil companies on the world market. Oil speculators can then drive up the prices for a barrel of the oil by reselling it over and over and over. The new American coastal oil, like our domestic oil does now, will likely end up all over the world because there is no rule on keeping the oil in this country. This is called capitalism and trade….”

Yet it didn’t take too long, unfortunately, for an oil rig disaster to prove that Obama’s Offshore Oil Independence Policy is an environmentally destructive and unsound policy besides being built on a big fat lie.

“….the Transocean, Ltd. oil drilling rig exploded and sank off the coast of Louisiana last week, it set off a chain of events that could have long-term economic and environmental effects on several southern U.S. states. It also could affect President Barack Obama’s plans to increase off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico….

….The short-term effect is that it is not possible to fish for shrimp in waters that are polluted by oil,” he said. “The oil gets into the product and also it fouls the nets. So any place where there is visible oil, they would have to shut down fishing. The second problem is a longer-term problem as to whether there is anything that is toxic in the water that is going to impact shrimp survival,” said Sackton.….”Source: VOA News

So the Gods have sent us another warning that humans need to set aside the greed of the corporate elite and start thinking about the well being of all of life. After all, expanding the super wealth of monopolistic oil giants by more offshore drilling has no promise at all of making America energy independent and it will only further sicken the planet.

So enough with the lies of corporate political puppets!

It is time for the people to take our planet back for the good of ourselves and the planet. Perhaps there will be no more warnings from the Gods. Instead, next time it may just be total environmental devastation.

Image via Wikipedia

6:6 But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have
shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your
Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.

Jesus, from the Sermon on the Mount

Is the universe eternal? Is it not eternal? Is the universe finite? Is it infinite? Is soul the same as the body? Is the soul one thing and the body another? Does the Tathagata exist after death? Does He not exist after death? Does He both (at the same time) exist and not exist after death? Does He both (at the same time) neither exist nor not exist? The Buddha who had truly realized the nature of these issues observed noble silence.

Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera, ‘What Buddhists Believe’

Center down into abasement and nothingness. … This is what I labored after: to be empty, to know nothing, to call for nothing, and to desire to do nothing.

American Quaker Elias Hicks (1748-1830)

For the most part, Spirituality in the West has either been abandoned as a form of nonsense that is still lingering from the ‘Dark Ages,’ or it is made to serve as a source of feel good reassurance for ‘True Believers’ so they continue in their ignorance and selfishness.

But there is another alternative to these Spiritual misconceptions.

There is a Transformational Spirituality that can expand our consciousness as it raise our being into a more functional, humane personhood. This Spirituality is not found in words or dogma, but in the Quiet of our Infinite (Buddha, Christ, Cosmic, etc.) Mind.

As black holes may be the key to interstellar and interdimensional travel, the emptiness of Silence is the key to Transformational Being.

This is not merely conjecture.

Numerous Saints, Mystics, and Holy Beings have declared the Transformational power of silence. Their psyches expanded into higher being by touching the great mother of Silence. Their testimonies declare the Transformational power of Stillness.

These mystics of every religious tradition are generally dismissed by skeptics. Their collective ‘wisdom’ is often denied by the materialists and the closed minded as merely a matter of chance, and perhaps the product of delusional, dysfunctional, and disorientated minds. Surely, there are those declared mystics of the past that may have been struggling with mental illnesses and psychosis. But true Spiritual understanding should not only expand the person’s mind, but also make them more functional and more humane. We have in history, numerous examples of that.

There is also an excellent collective example of the power of Silence.

The Religious Society of Friends, Quakers, although extremely small in numbers were always on the forefront of progressive movements throughout their history. They were leaders in the abolition movement against slavery, the peace movement, prison reform movement (against capital punishment), and social reform in poverty, housing, and education. They also were in leaders in advocating woman’s rights.

Today the Quakers are leaders in advocating for political prisoners, those with AIDS, those who are addicted to drugs, and those that are most vulnerable in society. They “emphasizes social equality and the need to accept every person individually, and not to regard anyone only as a member of a class or category. Friends oppose discrimination or exploitation on the grounds of creed, race, sex, sexual orientation, mental or physical ability, age or social status. This testimony also seeks a fairer distribution of wealth, and equal opportunities for employment and education, and in housing and health services.” (Source: Wikipedia)

The Quakers, by any measure, are a pretty impressive group.

But what has nourished the Quaker psyche and motivated their impressive Spirituality?

Silent Worship.

“….During worship, a message may come to us. Friends have found that messages may be for our personal reflection or for sharing on another occasion. Or they may be a leading to stand and speak. Friends value spoken messages that come from the heart and are prompted by the Spirit, and we also value the silence we share together. Following a spoken message, we return to the silence to examine ourselves in the Light of that message. Meeting for worship ends when one Friend, designated in advance, shakes hands with his or her neighbors. Then everyone shakes hands. No two meetings are ever the same….” (Source: FGC Online Library)

So here we have a group of high functioning, progressive, and humane people leading the Transformation of Society as they have personally transformed their own psyche’s. They do this by the transformational power of Quiet. Their method of worship (a form of meditation) allows them to tap into the infinite and draw from it to expand their minds and hearts.

But we don’t need to join the Society of Friends to tap into our infinite potential (although you may want to). This we can do at any time by entering into the Quiet and being Still. We may at first not notice too much other than our ‘Monkey Mind.’ A mind jumping from one thought to another and from one day dream to the next. But by entering into the Quiet on a regular basis, we will eventually begin to ‘Uncondition’ our mind and our heart from it’s familial, cultural, societal, and cultural constraints.

This ‘Unconditioning’ or ‘Deprogramming’ will open expand our minds and hearts to a new Transformation of Being. I believe it is our Spiritual Destiny to expand our understanding and to tap into the infinite. We are all Buddhas in the making. The door to our Buddhahood is opened through Silence.

This Spiritual Evolutionary process needs to be jump started by many right now. We are in perilous times and it is crucial that we expand our hearts and minds to move us past the dangers. The proper understanding and actions can emerge for human and eco-survival. But we must be able to enter into the Quiet to gain the wisdom and strength to deal with the systemic collapse and chaos that is unfolding. It doesn’t require any belief, but it does require practice.

Both the Dalai Lama and Obama are frauds.

The Dalai Lama has a history of oppression of another Tibetan Buddhist sect, being on the payroll of the CIA, promoting just wars and not condemning the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and even promoting disaster capitalism.

I am a Buddhist. That means I have to try to tell the truth. That also means, to me, that I have to try to expose fraud, especially when the fraudsters pose as righteous political and religious leaders.

Grant

See Also

Obama, Dalai Lama top world’s most popular leaders: poll

PARIS (AFP) – US President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama are the world’s two most popular leaders, according to a poll conducted in six countries and released on Friday.

Obama won 77 percent backing, one percentage point higher than in November, in the poll conducted by Harris Interactive for France24 and Radio France-Internationale.

The Tibetan spiritual leader was at second place at 75 percent, followed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at 62 percent…..Source: Raw Story

Image via Wikipedia

By Grant Lawrence

Source: Bodhi Thunder

Below is a link (A to Z) of a database of US Catholic Priests accused of sexual abuse

What is astounding about this database is the volume of Priests accused of sexual abuse here in the US. But we all know by now that the problem just isn’t a US problem. It is a worldwide problem.

Just recently Belgium’s longest serving Bishop resigned, saying he was sorry for abusing young boy when he was a priest.

The rot extends all the way to the very top. Pope Benedict has been embroiled in the scandal for his own actions in disregarding charges of sexual abuse. Numerous warnings went to the Vatican, including Ratzinger, in the Mid 90s about an American pedophile priest. Those warnings fell on deaf ears at the Vatican as the pedophile priest continued to molest deaf students at school. The Pope is also charged with allowing a German pedophile priest to continue in his ministry after receiving therapy. The priest went on to molest others.

What is just as disturbing is the Vatican had a policy of hiding the sex abuse by priests. This policy was issued by Archbishiop Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict). In a Vatican letter to Bishops in 2001, Ratzinger, while still a Cardinal, ordered bishops to keep quiet on sex abuse by priests.

See Also

A ‘Pontifical Secret,’ Ratzinger’s 2001 Letter Ordered Bishops to be Quiet on Sex Abuse

Warnings of Sexual Abuse by Priest of Deaf Students fell on the Deaf Ears of Ratzinger