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From the Publisher
The Monotheistic
Fallacy A recent Newsweek article by Kenneth L. Woodward entitled "The Bible and the Qur’an" joined the many efforts since September 11 to answer how Christianity and Islam can live together in peace. There is a reason why these efforts continue to fail. Mr. Woodward’s article reveals how difficult it is to find "seeds of reconciliation," as he calls them, in the holy books and traditions of two monotheistic religions. The "roots of conflict" he does find are real enough, but he falls short of dealing with the core issues from which the struggles between Islam and Judeo-Christianity have always sprung, and always will.
The Blessing
Place:
When I contacted David (he lives in this area now) to ascertain biographical details about his life, he told me that two of his other books (Pilgrim in Aquarius and Parent as Mystic, Mystic as Parent) contained the basic information I was seeking. We discussed his impending schedule and set some tentative deadline dates (for me); I ordered the additional books, and went about reading all three.
Celestopea:
City of Dreams
StarWatch
Just Our Yards:
JOY
Seeking Peace
in a Violent World
Seven Keys
to Intuition and Understanding Sages and mystics from Jesus of Nazareth to Deepak Chopra have pointed to the same reality: we are bubbles of conscious awareness in a sea of mind. Many are the implications, not the least of which is that the accumulated knowledge of the ages, from the mystery of the pyramids to the location of your car keys, is but the thickness of the bubble wall away. This is not news. We've all heard at one time or another that the knowledge of the universe resides within. The tricky part is to draw it out. The news I bring today is that you were born with this power.
Love (and
Enlightenment) American Style
We've been meditating, repeating affirmations, chanting, ritualizing, gathering blessings from this guru and learning that method, going to yoga class, to therapy. We've sipped at soulful soup, made four agreements, conversed with God. Sometimes we actually get that experience of whatever it is that we are seeking or seeking to drop.
A Journey
through the Zodiac
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If you
didn’t take a few minutes to fill out our 
Late last spring, prior to the date of
its official publication, I was given David Spangler’s most
recent book, Blessing: The Art and the Practice. As I
looked it over, I decided I wanted to do something more than
"just" a review, because David is (and has been for
nearly forty years) a major force in what’s been called
"New Age," "New Thought," "human potential,"
and a variety of other things in those intervening years.
Imagine the fabled city
of Atlantis rising from the ocean depths, a beautiful, futuristic
wonder of curves and domes set upon the sparkling sea where a
diverse, multiracial, multicultural, highly educated society
prospers and enjoys radiant health while living extraordinarily
long lives.
By adding the universal year 2002 (2+0+0+2=4) to
the 4th month of April, we come up with the vibration of 8. The
8 month represents an opportunity to achieve greater mastery
in our lives. It’s a great month for taking a look at your
goals and brainstorming new possibilities for accomplishing them
that you might not have thought of before. Try to suspend the
critic, the cynic, and the skeptic and move into new, uncharted
territory.
We are celebrating my favorite holiday this month,
All Fools Day, but I don’t think we can afford to be foolish
about our personal responsibility for the care of our yards,
commons, and health any longer. As I was looking up photographers
in the phone book, I noticed the incredible list of physicians
I had to wade through to get back to photographers. There are
specialists for every part of one’s anatomy and every disease,
and there is an increasing list of "alternatives" to
choose from as well. Pages 228 through 263: imagine, 35 pages
of doctors one can choose! It did not include dentists, psychologists,
massage therapists, nurses, or any other healthcare providers,
mind you.
Everyone knows that many of the worst horrors of
human history have taken place in the name of religion. To this
day, people kill, maim, and hate in the name of their version
of God. America’s new war is dangerously close to a conflict
between two religions that have faced off in the past and shed
oceans of blood and gore. Even if this is not the case in actual
fact, the propaganda war has already been lost in the streets
and back alleys of Muslim nations the world over. Our president
did not help matters with his misguided use of the word "crusade"
at the beginning of "Operation Enduring Freedom." There
could be no word more packed with rage and agony for people of
the Middle East, whose memories span centuries.
Byron Katie, founder of a remarkable self-inquiry
process called The Work, had an extraordinary "spiritual
awakening" in the midst of an ordinary small-town American
life. But what makes The Work of Byron Katie so radical is that
it's so simple, so un-mystical, so straightforward, so American.
If you were born between the dates listed above,
you probably know yourself as "an Aries." What you
are actually describing is the position of the sun in the sky
on the day you were born. If we had looked at the sun on that
day, it would have appeared to be in the constellation of Aries
the Ram. Accordingly, your astrological birth chart will show
that your "sun is in Aries." Whatever sign the sun
is in when you are born describes your core identity, so it is
appropriate that most of us can name our sun sign and perhaps
know a little bit about its basic characteristics.