The place where we have always longed to be ... Rod Romney ...

Thanks, Rod, for this wonderul reflection on death -
and to Sky for forwarding it.

--- SpiritWarriorSky@aol.com wrote:

> From: SpiritWarriorSky@aol.com

ACCEPTING THE DEATH OF EACH OTHER
Rodney R. Romney

A few months ago (May 17) in this column I wrote about "Making Friends with Our Own Death." Little did I then realize then that I would soon be faced with the challenge of making friends with the death of a member of my immediate family. My brother Dick died on July 18 after a brief but intensive bout with cancer.

We had gathered as a family around his bedside in a hospital room, where he had been struggling for several weeks, when he looked at me and said weakly, "I am tired of this and ready to go. Please pray for me." I held his hand and prayed that God would bless him and all of us as we learned to let go of life and trust it into the hands of the One who had created us. As my prayer ended, I felt his hand relax in mine. Within a few minutes he was gone. I watched the light of life fade from his eyes and felt his heart rate slow down and eventually cease. In the aftermath of that experience, I realized it is sometimes easier to accept our own death than it is
to accept the death of a loved one.

This brother was a person who had a great love for nature and its creatures. He had never manifested any interest in organized religion and avoided formal religious services whenever he could. Still he was religious in his own way, finding his strength in nature and the outdoors rather than in a church. By contrast, I had spent most of my adult life as a minister planning and conducting all kinds of religious services. Yet in those final moments of his life, we were equal, both seeking comfort and guidance from the unknown and the invisible force of life.

Several days later after his death, as we were sorting through some of his things, I discovered that he had a laminated copy of my column on making friends with our own death. I realized then that he must have found meaning in my words, for he had died with peace and total acceptance of the fact that his life was over. I can only hope that when my own moment of departure comes, I will enter into it with as much trust as he had shown.

There are two primary experiences on this earth that are absolutely universal: birth and death. Birth brings us into this life, and death takes us out of it. Birth is labeled as the beginning, while death is viewed as the end. Most religions believe in something called eternal life and portray death as a second birthing into a higher realm of life. Some religions believe that only those with a certain belief will enter into eternal life, while those refusing to embrace this belief will enter into a realm of eternal punishment for their sins. A few religions believe that death is a total mystery, and that there is no clear proof of a life beyond this one.

Who is right?

For me, both life and death are parts of a seamless whole. We are all eternal creatures created in love, a love that never leaves us, even when we die. Both life and death are mysteries, and religions are human-made systems, which have been developed in an attempt to penetrate the mystery. In this life, we may never fully know the answers to all the questions we seek, yet when we least deserve it we may feel ourselves loved, and in our darkest moments we may find light. No matter who we are or what religion we embrace, we are all homesick travelers, trying to find our way home. God loves each of us fully and completely, and in that love we will eventually find our way back to the place where are fully known and fully loved, the place where we have always longed to be.

Fwd: You must know that each soul is striving towards the Light, even as you are ...

Thanks to David Enroth (Sky) for the following:

SpiritWarriorSky@aol.com wrote:

Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 07:38:43 EDT

. . .
The rich group of religions and spiritual traditions in our world offer many languages by which we experience the light of love. Here is one from the Gentle Brother musings of White Eagle:

"Never forget that you have within you this power, this light, generated by love; and that you have to train yourself through love towards God and humanity, to generate this light, this dynamic power. The light of the spirit can shine from your heart, from your whole body. The heart-centre of man can be like a torch on a dark night, and can cast a beam into darkened highways.

One of the most difficult lessons to learn is that of patience. Impatience holds back many a soul who is on the spiritual path. And in the inner mystery schools of the past, the candidate was always taught the inadvisability of rushing forward too quickly, because by being too eager the candidate might be blinded. Therefore a soul must work patiently with chisel and gavel upon the rough ashlar of being, which the soul can only hope to perfect with long and patient work.

Learn patience, and you will enter into that peace which brings power.

The second quality we would speak of is love. Perhaps you think we should have put love first? But patience is necessary in order to learn love. When we speak of love, we do not mean sentiment of emotion. Love is of the spirit, and by it you recognize the spirit in others. Love refrains from judgment, never attributes motives to another, for God alone knows the heart of your companions along the path. It is so easy to misjudge. Refrain always. If you do not understand, know that time will come when you will understand the reason for certain things happening.

Without love, power is destructive and self-consuming. The fires of power, longing for power, consume the soul; the warmth of love gives life. It is not enough to say, 'I love'; love must be your innermost and spontaneous response towards every soul you encounter. You must know that each soul is striving towards the Light, even as you are.

Try to translate this ideal into daily life, and never fail to be loving in all your communications and interactions with your brother or sister."

The former RC nun Karen Armstrong talks about seeing the Light in our Muslim brothers and sisters:

By Karen Armstrong, the author of Islam: a Short History.

"Blame politics, not Islam," By Karen Armstrong 

Fundamentalism is often a form of nationalism in religious disguise.

LAST YEAR I attended a conference in the United States about security and intelligence in the so-called war on terror and was astonished to hear one of the more belligerent participants, who as far as I could tell had nothing but contempt for religion, strongly argue that as a purely practical expedient, politicians and the media must stop referring to "Muslim terrorism." It was obvious, he said, that the atrocities had nothing to do with Islam, and to suggest otherwise was not merely inaccurate but dangerously counterproductive.

Rhetoric is a powerful weapon in any conflict. We cannot hope to convert Osama bin Laden from his vicious ideology; our priority must be to stem the flow of young people into organisations such as the Al-Qaeda, instead of alienating them by routinely coupling their religion with immoral violence. Incorrect statements about Islam have convinced too many in the Muslim world that the West is an implacable enemy. Yet as we found at the conference, it is not easy to find an alternative for referring to this terrorism; however, the attempt can be a salutary exercise that reveals the complexity of what we are up against.

We need a phrase that is more exact than "Islamic terror." These acts may be committed by people who call themselves Muslims, but they violate essential Islamic principles.

The Quran prohibits aggressive warfare, permits war only in self-defense and insists that the true Islamic values are peace, reconciliation and forgiveness. It also states firmly that there must be no coercion in religious matters, and for centuries Islam had a much better record of religious tolerance than Christianity. 

Like the Bible, the Quran has its share of aggressive texts, but like all the great religions, its main thrust is towards kindliness and compassion. Islamic law outlaws war against any country in which Muslims are allowed to practice their religion freely, and forbids the use of fire, the destruction of buildings and the killing of innocent civilians in a military campaign. So although Muslims, like Christians or Jews, have all too often failed to live up to their ideals, it is not because of the religion per se. 

We rarely, if ever, called the Irish Republican Army bombings "Catholic" terrorism because we knew enough to realise that this was not essentially a religious campaign.

Indeed, like the Irish republican movement, many fundamentalist movements worldwide are simply new forms of nationalism in a highly unorthodox religious guise. This is obviously the case with Zionist fundamentalism in Israel and the fervently patriotic Christian right in the U.S.

In the Muslim world, too, where the European nationalist ideology has always seemed an alien import, fundamentalisms are often more about a search for social identity and national self-definition than religion. They represent a widespread desire to return to the roots of the culture, before it was invaded and weakened by the colonial powers.

Because it is increasingly recognised that the terrorists in no way represent mainstream Islam, some prefer to call them jihadists, but this is not very satisfactory. Extremists and unscrupulous politicians have purloined the word for their own purposes, but the real meaning of jihad is not "holy war" but "struggle" or "effort." Muslims are commanded to make a massive attempt on all fronts -- social, economic, intellectual, ethical and spiritual -- to put the will of God into practice.

Sometimes a military effort may be a regrettable necessity in order to defend decent values, but an oft-quoted tradition has the Prophet Muhammad saying after a military victory:

"We are coming back from the Lesser Jihad [that is, the battle] and returning to the Greater Jihad" -- the far more important, difficult and momentous struggle to reform our own society and our own hearts.

Jihad is thus a cherished spiritual value that, for most Muslims, has no connection with violence. Last year, at the University of Kentucky, I met a delightful young man called Jihad; his parents had given him that name in the hope that he would become not a holy warrior, but a truly spiritual man who would make the world a better place. The term jihadi terrorism is likely to be offensive, therefore, and will win no hearts or minds.

At our conference in Washington, many people favoured "Wahhabi terrorism." They pointed out that most of the hijackers on September 11 came from Saudi Arabia, where a peculiarly intolerant form of Islam known as Wahhabism was the state religion. They argued that this description would be popular with those Muslims who tended to be hostile to the Saudis. I was not happy, however, because even though the narrow, sometimes bigoted vision of Wahhabism makes it a fruitful ground for extremism, the vast majority of Wahhabis do not commit acts of terror.

Osama bin Laden was not inspired by Wahhabism but by the writings of Egyptian ideologue Sayyid Qutb, who was executed by President Nasser in 1966. Almost every fundamentalist movement in Sunni Islam has been strongly influenced by Qutb, so there is a good case for calling the violence that some of his followers commit "Qutbian terrorism." Qutb urged his followers to withdraw from the moral and spiritual barbarism of modern society and fight it to the death.

Western people should learn more about such thinkers as Qutb, and become aware of the many dramatically different shades of opinion in the Muslim world. There are too many lazy, unexamined assumptions about Islam, which tends to be regarded as an amorphous, monolithic entity. Remarks such as "they hate our freedom" may give some a righteous glow, but they are not useful, because they are rarely accompanied by a rigorous analysis of who exactly "they" are.

Instructive tale

The story of Qutb is also instructive as a reminder that militant religiosity is often the product of social, economic and political factors. Qutb was imprisoned for 15 years in one of Nasser's concentration camps, where he and thousands of other members of the Muslim Brotherhood were subjected to physical and mental torture. He entered the camp as a moderate, but the prison made him a fundamentalist. Modern secularism, as he had experienced it under Nasser, seemed a great evil and a lethal assault on faith.

Precise intelligence is essential in any conflict. It is important to know who our enemies are, but equally crucial to know who they are not.

It is even more vital to avoid turning potential friends into foes. By making the disciplined effort to name our enemies correctly, we will learn more about them, and come one step nearer, perhaps, to solving the seemingly intractable and increasingly perilous problems of our divided world.

(Karen Armstrong is the author of Islam: a Short History.)

God's peace to you this day ... Sky

[+] Islam is a religion of peace, by Dr. Amer Araim

By Dr. Amer Araim
GUEST COMMENTARY
Contra Costa Times, July 9, 2005

EVERY DAY after completing my dawn prayers, I supplicate to Allah to preserve peace and tranquility in this country and to let peace and justice prevail all over the world.

Then I watch the news on television and read the news on the Internet and the morning papers. I have been shocked this morning since watching the mass murder and in particular the victims of the terrorist attacks in London.

I am deeply concerned at the news reports indicating that Muslim individuals or so-called Islamic groups were responsible for these despicable actions.

Islam is the religion of peace and does not condone these heinous actions. My memory took me back to more than three years ago when New York and Washington D.C. were attacked.

I recall the solid unity amongst all Americans including the members of the Muslim communities, supported by the entire world in expressing solidarity with the victims of those abominable attacks.

The prayers and calls for peace and to work together to end the scourge of terrorism from the world were very powerful.

Since speaking at Civic Park in Walnut Creek a few days after the tragic events of 9/11 and until now I have always been invited to churches and other places of worship, colleges, schools and hospitals to emphasize this unity.

The theme of my speeches has always concentrated on renunciation of violence and that all problems should be resolved by peaceful means.

One of my main objectives is to promote a better understanding between the Muslim community and other sectors of the society.

In my sermons and lectures at different mosques in this county, I have always stressed that the Muslim community is an integral part of the American society.

We share the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and in particular the freedom of worship.

Allah bestowed so many bounties on this country and we must praise and thank Him for that.

To achieve acceptance by Allah we must work for peace and justice in the world. I also emphasize that in the Quran there is an important command concerning the fulfilling of pledges, contracts and commitments.

This command is repeated more than 20 times in different forms. I have always pointed out that when we came to the United States of America for the first time we gave pledges to respect the laws and regulations of this country, which include absolute rejection of violence.

These commitments we gave to the United States authorities are in the meantime given to Allah the Lord of the world.

In accordance with Islamic belief Allah is the witness for the pledges we give. Therefore, violating these commitments are not only violations of the laws of this country, but also a wicked and sinful act and contrary to the commands of Allah.

I am sure that Muslims in Britain are not only abhorring these terrorist attacks but also share the agony and grief of the family of the victims of this mass murder.

Reading and listening to the statements of British officials, I am pleased that they confirmed that the majority of British Muslims detest these acts of terrorism.

We should not be in disarray as a result of this latest terrorist action. We, in America, should strengthen our solidarity, preach the sanctity of human lives and continue our good work for peace and justice at home and abroad.

Araim, a Muslim Imam, is a member of the Intefaith Council of Contra Costa County and adjunct professor of the Middle East at Diablo Valley College.

The Most Important Teaching?

by Rabbi Ted Falcon, Ph.D.

As a rabbi and as a spiritual teacher, the most important teaching I know is that God is One. Oh, I know those who read such a sentence might think, "What's so newsworthy about that? I don't hear anybody going around preaching multiple gods these days!" And that is true. It is also true that through the years of my journey -- and I have been a rabbi for 37 years -- I have discovered how very difficult that realization of One really is.

Some weeks ago I was talking with a devout Christian. "You and I share the same God," he confided. "But Allah is not our God." I have thought about his comment, aware that I have heard similar words from my own people. Sometimes, I realized, it is the very word, "God," that inhibits our ability to appreciate the Universal that is One.

In our tradition, God is referred to by many names, yet God is essentially beyond name. God is called Ha-Makom, "The Place," because God is the place of all that is. There is nowhere else to be.

The unpronounceable "name" of God, formed from the Hebrew letters Yod, Hay, Vav, Hay, and referred to in English with the letters YHVH, comes from the Hebrew verb meaning "to be," and most likely is an attempt to express "Being Without Limit."

There is no possible word for that which is without limit, so we utilize those four Hebrew letters to "point" to a reality that cannot be named. Because every name "defines" that which is named -- draws a circle around it so it can be distinguished from that which is not that named -- there is no way for language to adequately communicate a name without limitation.

The One Being In Whom All Else Is contains everything that can be. We are all part of Existence -- and whenever we try to refer to that which is totally Inclusive, and therefore beyond language to capture, we might use capital letters to remind us that we are reaching toward Something Greater of which we are all a part. As the ancient Psalmist sang, all opposites, all polarities, both light and darkness, are held as One in this Greater Reality. (Psalm 139, for example.)

For me, the Hasidic teachers who taught that everything is God, yet God is more than everything, provide the foundation for my own understanding. As a cell or a molecule or an atom is complete in itself, so is each of us a whole being. Together we make up a greater whole. All Creation makes up the Greatest Whole. Thus is reality made up of "wholes" rather than of "parts."

Now one might still wonder, "Why does this rabbi think that we need to hear that God is One?"

I believe that the most pressing challenges facing us as human beings cannot be solved without a spiritual awakening to the Oneness we share. From the level of our separate egos -- individual, corporate, national -- no real peace is ever possible.

The consequence of truly knowing that God is One is the expanded capacity to love, the natural desire to help alleviate suffering, the joyful urge to find ways of living in harmony and in support. We no longer strive to convince ourselves or others that we are "more right" than anyone else; we begin to seek a deeper appreciation of the wisdom contained in all people and all traditions.

How do you know that you are truly learning to have One God? When you can look into yourself and embrace previously disowned aspects of your being, and when you can look outside yourself and know that all beings are actually your brothers and your sisters, you begin to know One. When your heart opens to the laughter and the tears of all those around you, then you begin to know One. When you take the actions necessary in the world but refrain from hating those with whom you disagree, then you are beginning to know One.

When Hillel spoke his famous dictum, "Do not do to others that which is hateful to you," he was speaking much more than an ethical imperative. He was speaking from the recognition that the Life that awakens in me and the Life that awakens in you is One Life. What we do to each other we essentially do to ourselves. How many wars need we engage in before we realize that killing will never lead to peace, that hating will never lead to love? Peace and Love awaken from the ground of Oneness met and celebrated.

I am so grateful to be part of a tradition whose motto is "The Eternal is our God, the Eternal is One." I am so blessed to be part of a People who learned that love follows the realization of One.

I just wish we would remember the reality of our motto and the depth of our teaching. I wish we would remember that God is One.

[Rabbi Ted Falcon, Ph.D., founded Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue in Seattle and Bellevue as a place to explore the spiritual teachings of Judaism. Ted provides spiritual counseling for individuals and couples, and is the co-author of Judaism For Dummies and author of A Journey of Awakening. He believes that meditation can help us connect with our Oneness. He is also the co-founder of Lev Shalom.

© 2004 Rabbi Ted Falcon, Ph.D. All rights reserved.]

[+] Coming Down from the Peak

by Dr. Philip M. Cook

When one scales a mountain it is reasonable to expect that the descent will be easier than the ascent. Often we anticipate a beautiful vista of the other side of the peak. Returning from a peak may bring new perspectives, new directions, important events.

In the bible Moses carried two large rock tablets up Mt. Sinai and returned with the ten commandments recorded on them. Jesus advanced the commandments and laid the foundation for Christianity in his Sermon on the Mount. The Disciples enthusiastically brought Christ’s words down the mountain and eventually carried them to distant places and times.

Two millennia later we ponder his message and our successes and failures to live by his words. Would that we always follow the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12): “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law”. And there were warnings of consequences for not doing so (Matthew 7:26-27): “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell - and great was its fall.”

A different kind of peak experience is looming for all humanity. This is a peak that people of the world have climbed unequally to different levels, yet all are bound to participate in the descent in one way or the other.

Ominously, the view from the peak does not appear to be what most expected on the way up. This peak is described by a relatively unknown concept called “peak oil”. What is this concept and why is it so important? First, we must appreciate the connections between energy and life.

Through God’s creation, energy has powered life; sustained life; driven evolution; and thus is a fundamental gift of God. The earth is our home. It is finite and essentially a closed system with the exception of solar energy input and heat loss to space.

The only sustainable energy source for earth is the sun. Thus, solar radiation provides the energetic limit for what we ultimately have to sustain ourselves: the food and water that we can gather and share; the shelters which protect us from the elements; the medicines that maintain our health; the ability to communicate with each other across great distances; and the preservation of knowledge for future generations.

Much less understood are the thermodynamically predictable negative consequences, such as pollution and soil depletion, which result from our present attempts to exceed the energy balance between earth and outer space.

Over millions of years, long before humans arrived, some living matter died, decayed in sediments and was transformed into fossil fuels to be stored in rock formations until recently resurrected and exploited by man.

Fossil fuels which include petroleum, natural gas, and coal became an amazing resource for humanity - a one time gift to be used for good or bad. Coal allowed the beginning of the industrial revolution and provides most of our abundant electric power today, as well as much of the carbon dioxide that contributes to global climate change.

Petroleum, or oil, is the most concentrated, adaptable, and transportable energy carrier. Look at the material things around you for something that does not contain chemicals made from oil, that does not depend on oil for its production, or is not powered by oil. Imagine your world without these things.

In Minnesota 80% of heating fuel is natural gas, yet natural gas production is already peaking in North America. Have we used these gifts wisely? In the latter half of the 20 th century, oil, gas, and coal were consumed, particularly in America, at ever increasing rates to spur economic growth and create untold riches for the fortunate minority.

Today millions more in developing countries want to join the petroleum based growth model. China and India’s present development strategies are greatly increasing the world demand for more energy and particularly for oil.

So world energy production must increase to meet the growing rate of consumption. With greater consumption both depleted resources and greater environmental debts will be passed on to future generations. What are the limits to this accelerating human consumption of earth’s natural capitol?

In recent times many have warned of the of the consequences of exceeding sustainable living conditions on earth. The peak oil concept rose out of the prediction in 1956 by a geophysicist, Dr. M. King Hubbert, that oil production in the U.S. would peak in about 1970 and decline thereafter. His model proved to be remarkably accurate and has since been applied to other countries and the whole world.

Now few doubt that a world peak in production followed by declining oil availability will occur. Basically only the timing of the peak is debated with estimates ranging from now to 2040. The annual amount of new oil discovered actually peaked in the 1960s and presently world oil reserves are being depleted three times faster than new reserves are discovered.

Although a significant amount of oil will remain to be extracted in the post peak period, more energy will be required to obtain it. This is because, consistent with Hubbert’s model, the sweetest and most available oil was extracted first in the quest for maximum profit and economic growth.

This is a highly predictable consequence of human behavior, consistent with classical economic theory but inconsistent with Christ’s sermon on the mount (Matthew 6:20 -21): “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.

To fully understand the injustice of accumulating material treasures on earth while many suffer in poverty, we need to recognize the context of this short period in history when fossil fuels are temporarily available to support growth of our presence on the planet.

The poor have been denied a chance to contribute to the discovery of sustainable conditions for all, while the rich have not seen the need because they are focused on accumulating wealth in order to assure themselves that they will not become poor.

Growth in justice, peace, love, compassion, wisdom, and responsibility for future generations has not followed the stock market advances. And the poor quality of our stewardship of other species and ecosystems has contradicted our need to be a full partner in the web of life.

The coming peak in oil production not only defines the climax of a historic material treasure gathering spree, it is a critical event because it coincides with rapidly increasing demand that is unlikely to be suppressed by increasing costs in response to insufficient energy supplies.

Lacking any world view or plans that address the post peak period, people have started to speculate on what conditions will occur when we come down from the peak. While we clearly need better guidance than individual’s speculations, we should recognize that this is potentially an evolutionary event for homo sapiens.

We have already chosen to try to pass beyond a fate based on natural selection as experienced by other species. Now the much more difficult choice is between continuing to act as selfish individuals or rather as a global community.

The later choice would require a conscious decision to modify our behavior, presumably make sacrifices for the common good, and thus would be the ultimate test of faith. Does anyone question where Jesus stands on this choice?

Many people when faced with the inevitability of peak oil and natural gas simply put their faith in technology to find a new energy gift to replace these fossil fuels, a second chance to reach for sustainable life.

Most scientists do not see that happening; at least not in this century. It would seem unwise to expect such when planning for the future. Others have already concluded that humanity’s descent from peak oil will lead to Armageddon and this is inevitable because it is God’s will.

Interestingly, Harmagedon in Hebrew refers to the plain at the foot of a mountain; a place where decisive battles are fought. But perhaps the great battle between good and evil is now and on the descent to come. If the descent from peak oil leads to Armageddon, it will be our plan and our doing, not God’s. We still have a short time in history to correct our course; to follow Christ’s teachings.

I believe that God places the future of humanity in all our hands. Behold - we are the generations that must change . Unique among the species, we have been given understanding of the physical and natural laws. Through Christ we have been given the rules and the way.

We have been given unlimited freedom to acquire knowledge and wisdom. We have the ability and privilege to plan our future in accordance with these conditions. We know that we are responsible for using natural resources wisely for the sustainable benefit of all; both now and in the future.

What will we do? Alone we are surely lost. We can not afford to continue to bury our heads in the sand upon which we have built our house.

At a time when we in this country have finally dared to discuss the future of our social security system and debate changes to insure its sustainability, shouldn’t we be concerned with the future of the world’s energy supplies and how wisely we use what remains?

For too long religions have been silent on this important matter. Despite the huge resistance to change, the ridicule, and the censorship awaiting those who publically espouse limits to material growth, we must together put aside our fears and move metaphorical mountains, even eventually without oil.

Let us this day begin to build a new awareness of the long term consequences of our actions. With a new vision of where we can and want to go, let us help find the best path down from the peak, for all of God’s creation.

[ Editorial Notes: It's nice to see a religious group taking a stand on Peak Oil. This article was originally a lay sermon given at the Peace United Church of Christ in Duluth, Minnesota. According to its website at http://peaceucc.org/:

"We are a diverse congregation. Young and old, single and married, liberal and conservative-all are welcome at Peace United Church of Christ (UCC). The UCC style emphasizes openness to new ideas, intellectual integrity and acceptance of diversity. We believe that Christianity is not simply a doctrine to be accepted, but a life to be lived, a faith to be expresses and celebrated. In keeping with these, Peace Church is dedicated the pursuit of social justice, reaching out to persons in need."

The original text was divided into smaller paragraphs to improve readability. -BA
Published on 13 Feb 2005 by Peace United Church of Christ. Archived on 19 Feb 2005.

RELATED NEWS:
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Charcoal fuel gets green light... http://www.energybulletin.net/5255.html

Liberating the power of 'local' on the North Coast... http://www.energybulletin.net/5314.html

Peak Oil and Permaculture: David Holmgren on Energy Descent... http://www.energybulletin.net/524.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original article available at http://peaceucc.org/shared_ministry/ sermon_cook.shtml.]

"Be still -- Know I am God"

(author unknown)

I speak to you.
Be still
Know
I am
God.

I spoke to you
when you were born.
I spoke to you
At your first sight.
I spoke to you
At your first word.
I spoke to you
At your first thought.
I spoke to you
At your first love.
I spoke to you
At your first song.
I speak to you
Through the grass of the meadows.
I speak to you
Through the trees of the forests.
I speak to you
Through the valleys and the hills.
I speak to you
Through the Holy Mountains.
I speak to you
Through the rain the snow.
I speak to you
Through the waves of the sea.
I speak to you
Through the dew of morning.
I speak to you
Through the peace of evening.
I speak to you
Through the splendor of the sun.
I speak to you
Through the brilliant stars.
I speak to you
Through the storm and the clouds.
I speak to you
Through the mysterious rainbow.
I will speak to you
When you are alone.
I will speak to you
Through the wisdom of the Ancients.
I will speak to you
At the end of time.
I will speak to you
When you have seen my Angels.
I will speak to you
Throughout Eternity.

I speak to you.
Be still
Know
I am
God.

[~from the Essene Gospel of Peace, Book Two: The Unknown Books of the Essenes. Thanks to David Enroth]