I hereby declare the New Age to be over! What! you say? Has It started? Whenever the words 'new age' are mentioned, people conjure up images of astral traveling, tarot cards, channeling dead people, guru worship, psychics and even cults. All things that have given new age spirituality a bad rap. It's got baggage. I want to untie myself from those words. I want to talk to the people that have no interest in those aspects of new age. I want to talk about a time of awakening to a whole new perspective on life. We humans love labels, so I am creating a new one. Welcome to the NEXT AGE.

I know, you look at your browser and see that the name is NextNewAge. Well I had to keep it in the domain name so people could find there way here. You know SEO, and all that. I haven't made The Next Age a household word ... yet!

The term "new age" isn't new. It's been around since the late 1800's. Edgar Casey was called new age back in the early 1900's. The new age, came of age, in the '60s. The hippie era and the use of LSD and other mind expanding drugs helped people start questioning the norm. Rebelling from society's focus on money and consumerism. They started looking at a bigger picture of what human life was about. Eastern mysticism was integrated along with ancient wisdom from many cultures of the world. Metaphysics or "beyond psychics" was a label that got attached. People were seeking enlightenment. Unfortunately all kinds of things got thrown into the general category of "new age" which gave people the impression of it being "out there" and therefore not real.

I am not saying that the practices and rituals that are associated with the new age community have no validity. It's not for me to judge. Everyone has free will to choose what works for them. The beauty of the messages that I hear from new-agers is in the consistency. We seem to all be saying the same things but I have the feeling we are saying them to each other. Whenever I write or say the term new age, I can just feel the cringe of the people I am trying to speak to. I have been writing about new age spirituality for a while now but I don't want to just talk to other new-agers. That's like singing to the choir.

My intent is and always has been to help people who have had little or no exposure to this wild concept that humanity is going through a shift. A total shift in human behavior. A whole new perspective on what being human is all about. I want to share my experiences about the changes I have been through in hope of helping others to have the huge shift in perspective that I have experienced. I do know that unless we all wake up together it won't happen. We are all in this together with each of us on our own schedule. Whatever I can do to help with this process as a way of giving back for the gift that I have been given, then this site will have served it's purpose. So with the goal of being more inclusive I am dropping the new age and launching the Next Age.  
    
So what is the Next Age?

The Next Age is about self empowerment. It's knowing that we are whole and complete without needing anything or anyone outside our selves. It's about being not doing. It's about discovering our true eternal self. It's about not having the need for the words of angelic beings or gurus to give us the answers. It's about knowing that we have the answers and all we need to do is look within. It's about leaving the practice of following the leader to embrace the one of following our selves. It's about knowing that we alone have the power and responsibilty to create our experiences in life.  

The Next Age is about simplifying. Simplifying the concepts of enlightenment or awakening or evolving or whatever label you want to use because it can be boiled down to a few basic concepts. We love to complicate things but my intent with this site is to cut away the fluff and make these concepts digestible for general consumption.

Next Age will also be offering real life examples of what is happening in the world from the view that we are going through a huge change right now. News articles, scientific discoveries, cultural changes, examples of us recognizing the oneness of all things. Instead of just giving you nice sounding words, actually showing that the change I speak of is happening right now.

So the Next Age is here. I have officially christened it and had a coming out party. It was a great celebration even though it was just me and this keyboard. There`s a slide presentation accessed in the right sidebar that`s quick to watch that sums up the site.

I am just completing an ebook called The Next Age (pretty original huh?) and it will have available shortly. Oh and by the way ... My name is Seth Garrison and I am excited to begin this new journey. I promise I won't get too serious or long winded ... Did I say that? Ok, I promise.

So welcome to the Next Age.

Tags: Next_new_age Nextage Awakening

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I haven't spent too much time lately here at Jasons. This post explains why. I have been setting up change in my life. The only thing that I keep constant. I wrote this on Nov 3rd.

I landed in the land of the Maya on the 29th and got Internet access on Halloween so my "plan" of announcing my new site, which was to be live before I left, didn't happen. Typical of plans. Things are always changing. My new host had a dDos attack off and on in the last two weeks of October so I couldn't access the site during the off times

I love the land and the people of the Yucatan. The Mayans emit such loving peaceful energy. The males radiate such a feminine energy. Not the stereotype Latin macho you may think. They exhibit it in the way they show respect for the women and children around them. The Mayan smile is the most open, joyful smile that displays their open hearts. I am very lucky to be around them. Their wisdom and enlightenment are so obvious to me. Their prophesies tell of the change that act as a cornerstone for this site and the new site launched today. It is appropriate to be with them to do this.

I am in a small fishing village on the Mayan Riviera and found a beachfront apartment to rent. I created a great beginning to the winter.

I am announcing the new age to be over and created a site that is dedicated to the simplifying of the concept of the human awakening that is happening right now. My intent with this site is to appeal to the newly awakened or people that are just starting to ask the questions.

I want to cut away the baggage that the words "new age" carry with them. The baggage that may deter people from hearing the message because it's considered to far "out there." I believe to accomplish this shift that we can't use the old modalities and practices of the new age. We have to keep it simple. All things are based on a few simple processes that can be universally applied and I believe this process of awaking is no different. We humans love to complicate things. We all are all in this together so if I can help even one person to awaken my purpose with this site will be fulfilled.

I have a new label for this time for humanity. We love labels, so I played with the words and came up this one. I call it ...

The Next Age

I have condensed the awakening to five basic points. In the sidebar is a slide presentation that gives a quick overview of what the next age is about. If you click on it, then click the "full screen" icon you can see my first attempt at making one. I have sections on news, science, unity and nature where I give examples that demonstrate that this change is real and it's happening everyday - one heart at a time.

I have migrated some of the posts from The Source For Seth, so for previous visitors, you may find some duplication with some minor changes and updates. I hope you will follow me to The Next Age as I cherish your past support.

I thought it would be best to announce this change today because tomorrow I would be competing with a much bigger change in the US. Ok you're right a much, much bigger change.

Change is in the air. Can you feel it? Economic change, Political change. And now with my site change :) it is the word of the year.

Thanks to my loyal readers and I hope to see all of you in

The Next Age

Tags: The-next-age Change-to-the-next-age

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CERN's LHC (Large Hadron Collider) was launched today in a quest to look for God. Well they don't exactly use those words to describe this monumental project, I do. This project began on paper over 20 years ago with construction starting in 1996. It was completed and launched successfully today. What does this have to do with new age spirituality you ask? This project is where science and spirituality will once again come back together as one.

CERN which is acronym for it's French name of Conseil Europeen Pour Recherche Nuclear or European Organization For Nuclear Research. It began in 1954 consisting of physicists from 20 European countries but has since become a worldwide collaboration. It's major focus of research is nuclear physics. One of many notable results of this collaboration has been the Internet which was designed by Tim Berners-Lee, a CERN scientist, who created it out of the need for information sharing between scientists.

In simplified terms the LHC is the a giant scientific experiment that is basically trying to recreate the conditions of the universe just after the big bang. They are sending these hadrons or particles in opposite directions to have them collide with each other. The resulting effect is where they hope to discover the answers to the origins and workings of the universe.

In the last 150 or so years the world has adopted science as the new trusted source for determining what's real. Science works on the premise that if it can't be seen and reproduced in a lab, than it's not real. We have come to rely on science as the ultimate truth supplier. Science knows that there are unseen elements like magnetism, gravity and so called dark-energy where the effects can be measured, but not seen. They also know that most of the universe is made up of this unseen energy.

Science has known that there is some kind of invisible force field that holds everything together. It is called the "Higgs field" along with the "Higgs boson" named by Peter Higgs who formulated this explanation of the missing unseen item. It is also called the "God particle."

They are also looking for hidden dimensions to help explain concepts like the weakness of gravity and do particles enter these hidden dimensions only to reappear. Sounds woo-woo to me.

Spirituality is based on the belief in things that are unseen. Truths that are taken on faith alone. In other words, blindly. Unscientifically proven to be real.

One of new age spirituality's basic concepts is that everything in the universe is connected by an invisible web. Another is that there is more to our reality than the 3D world that we can see. That there are more dimensions that are layered on top. Dimensions, where there are forces at work that determine our experience in the physical world. That we can connect and interact with these unseen dimensions to alter the events of our lives. Sounds woo-woo huh? Have you read anything about the LHC or what's happening in quantum physics lately?

Physicists have been talking about this kind of stuff for some time but has mostly been theory. The LHC is the best chance they have had so far to be able to see these unseen connectors and hidden dimensions. They have made some amazing "guesses" but have many gaps in the overall picture. A lot of physicists have been working their whole careers to have something like the LHC experiment that could either fill in those gaps or send them back to the drawing board.

I know that we are connected. I know that their are more dimensions than the ones we can see. Can I prove it? No. Do I need proof? No. I know that the glue that holds everything in the universe together is spirit or God or the universal energy called love. I know I can interact with the unseen dimensions to affect my physical world. My passion is that the world can see what I see. Know what I know. Feel what I feel. Will science give everyone the proof that we seem to need with this experiment?

Before there was science, there was only faith. We believed in the existence of the unseen without the need for repeatable proof and many still do. If you really listen to science and compare it to new age concepts there is a striking similarity. They are saying the same things but using different words.

I am cheering for the scientists at CERN. I am hoping that they find the answers that they seek. It is time to put science and spirituality together on the same page. It's time for humanity to get on the same page. I am hoping this experiment will take the woo-woo of science and the woo-woo of new age spirituality and together it will form the final piece that is needed for the awakening that I so passionately desire for all of us.

P.S. The first collision will be app. Oct 21/08. Some have predicted that it will be the end of the world. They say recreating the "Big Bang" will destroy the earth. Noticed I said "they." We won't hear of any analysis of the data until probably the spring of '09.

Tags: CERN LHC New_age_spirituality Dimensions

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There are two transitions a soul goes through in a lifetime. Birth and death. When someone is dying we can really get a glimpse of the soul that we all have within us. The spirit that I call our true self. Looking at death from a different perspective than the usual sadness and grief will allow both you and the person dying some proof of the existence of the true self and what happens to our soul after our body dies. I had an experience yesterday that I wanted to share. It adds more validation that the soul is more than just pretty words.

Geriatric ward doctors and nurses probably have many of these types of stories. There have been lots of books written about near-death experiences and anyone who has had a loved one die can also tell their own stories about witnessing "different" behavior of a loved one close to death.

I got on the bus yesterday and the driver, Kathleen, was there. I had not seen her for a couple of months so I asked her how she was. The last time I had seen her she told me that she visiting her brother in the hospital a lot but never discussed his condition and I didn't ask. I asked her how her brother was. I don't usually talk much to any drivers other than hi, bye but Kathleen speaks English so I have spoken to her more. I hit the "on button" when I asked about her brother.

She proceeded to tell me that he had died and then poured out her heart describing the last few days of his life. She loved him very much and would visit him daily, often staying over night to be with him. She told me that a few days before he died he would point his finger to the ceiling and ask if she could see Mama or Uncle Gilles or whoever. All the people he asked about were dead. Kathleen would just calmly tell him that she did not see them.

One morning she got to the hospital and he told her that he had spent the whole night with his cat, Mimille, who he loved dearly and was also not living. He said she slept on his bed with him and he petted her and she purred all night.

Her brother was unable to walk because of his advanced condition or even raise himself out of bed. She described to me that a few hours before he died he started to get very agitated and was trying to get up from the bed. He was very upset with Kathleen saying to her, while pointing up to the ceiling,

"Don't you see them. They are waiting for me. I have to go. Help me up. There standing there in the light."

Kathleen and the nurse kept trying to settle him down and were holding him in bed as he was struggling to get up. They gave him shots of sedatives that had no effect on him. Finally they gave him enough that he stopped struggling and died 20 minutes later.

A pretty familiar story for anyone who had experience with watching a person die.

With Overlight there is a segment that works with people who are dying. Helping them with the fear that many experience surrounding this transition. I also know that there is one person that we designate before we come into a lifetime that agrees to be there when we pass. They also agree to give us "permission" to leave. It is a sacred contract that we have all made. It can be anyone. A nurse, a son or daughter, or in Kathleen's case, a sister. Many will fight death until they do receive that "permission." Permission may sound like weird word to use but that is in essence what happens, even though it may not be spoken that way.
 
I asked Kathleen if she gave him permission to leave? She stopped talking, looked at me straight in the eye and said,

"Yes, I did."

She was the only one present when he died. His wife and other family members lived in a nearby town and Kathleen could feel his death was coming but was unable to reach them before he died.

Now that, for me, was very cool stuff. Not only that she opened up to me like that but that her description of her brother's behavior was another example of us being eternal beings. He knew he had to go. He knew where he was going. Her brother's soul was fully present for her to connect with and I know she did.

Why do I keep talking about our real self? Like this post or this one about Paul Potts. Because I want to give you some real life examples. Not just flowery words and concepts that sound nice but are too abstract to relate to.

Plus, I love to connect to another's real self. Heart to heart. Soul to soul. Kathleen gave me that feeling. That connection. I knew that she had also experienced it with her brother. That kind of stuff juices me up.(weird huh? bet you thought it was girls)

I am not sure how anyone can believe that we're born, we die, end of story. Anyone who has been present during a person's death and who really opens their eyes to observe what happens can take away from that experience, if they didn't know already, a belief that there has to be more to the story. Often witnessing the death of a loved one can be a life altering event that opens us up to a wider perspective on life and on who we truly are.   

Death is not an end. We are eternal. We are just changing form. We're leaving our bodies behind and returning to our true state. If we eliminate our ingrained fear of death and know that we are not our bodies but our true self is our soul, then the transition of the soul can be a glorious event. It can be a celebration of our return to home.

Our soul is formless. Our soul is energy and energy can't die. Having this knowledge sure makes living each day a lot sweeter and easier. We can all live each day with the knowledge that the story never ends.

P.S. If you haven't seen the Paul Pott's video (which you probably have) check it out. Everytime I watch it, it makes me cry.

Tags: Dyingsoul-transitiongod-selfhigher-self

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Google has finally done it.

The new traffic generating buzz word is Social Marketing. Using social sites to create traffic and increase your position in the search engine results has come of age.

There are so many social bookmarking and social networks on the net that it can be tiring and time consuming to broadcast your site and products out into the socialsphere.

There are so many people here on Jason's that have their own sites that promote their books or products and services that I wanted to tell you about the biggest news to come into this area ever.

Google, very quietly, has jumped into social marketing in a huge way. You can get in on the ground floor of a method of marketing your products with using the might of Google. And they are mighty and smart too. They have introduced changes that will let you incorporate all your social marketing efforts in one place.

This will save you tons of time and effort. Whenever Google does anything it is big and has a huge impact on the net as a whole.

I was introduced to a guy who has worked night and day trying to figure out the most effective way to generate traffic using social sites. His name is Chris Lang. He is a SEO guy that knows his stuff on how to increase your site's popularity, which in turn means more traffic, which means more sales.

He has compiled this new information into an ebook called "Wickedly Evil Social Marketing Tactics" Don't misinterpret the name. This is all white hat, above board stuff, that gives you all the information on the new Google system plus breaks down 15 other social sites that people use to generate traffic. He tells us how to use them effectively and what value each one has. So it's not just about Google, it gives an overall picture on what works in this increasingly overcrowded world of social sites.

This info is just for people who want to increase their traffic and site popularity. It's not necessary if you use social sites just for fun.

There are so many people here that offer products or services through websites that I had to get this information out to you.

This is the second writing of this book because of what Google did on August 13th. Very few people know about this yet. I bought the first book and have just upgraded to the new edition. Just for the Google information alone it is worth the money.

Chris discusses 15 Social Networks like

Digg

StumbleUpon

My Yahoo

Propeller

MyBlogLog

Technorati

Flickr

Squidoo

And more

He gives you the way to maximize the traffic from each site and breaks down how effective they are to your search ranking, eliminating a lot of wasted time and effort.

If you don't use Social Marketing right now, You should. It is the new way to generate free traffic. If you are just starting, Chris's book will save you loads of time so you can concentrate on the sites that produce results.

And Google with this new initiative is going to take over the social marketing scene. Of that I have no doubt!

The rundown on the books contents is here. At the very least go to Chris's site and read his aricles about Social Marketing.

You can get in the ground floor of the next big thing to hit the Internet.

Tags: Google Traffic Digg Site-popularity Google-reader Friend-connect

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You are not allowed! How do those words make you feel? They make me immediately sit up and say "says who?" We are constantly being told those words in our society. We have so many rules that have been placed to "protect" us from each other. I spend my days putting out messages of how we are shifting into a new world. Let's talk about being allowing.

Yesterday on this network the question of nudity came up and is being voted on. My vision for us is that we are limitless. We are allowing of all flavors of the truth. That nothing is bad or good it just is. That we will treat each other with respect and live with the only "rule" that is prevalent in all texts of every religion ever thought up by man and that is "Do unto others... "
They all have this rule in one form or another.

My new world has people who are open and truthful and not afraid to say something if they feel it. As Debra says "Be real - say what you feel." No more secrets. No more hiding. No more separation. No more judgment of other people or events. Loving one another and all things. Knowing the oneness of all things and showing that with our actions that by what we do to another is what we are doing to our self.

Nudity. The human body. The temple for the soul. It is beautiful no matter what shape it takes. It is a piece of God. Is it something to be ashamed of or is it just certain parts of it that are beautiful and the rest is not? How is it that we can be so selective on what is good and what is not?

What is offensive? Nothing, in my view, but I understand that not all look at things the way I do. It is only "offensive" if we choose to react that way. Offensive is a subjective concept that is different for everyone. That's too confusing for me. I want simple. The way to achieve that is to understand that nothing is offensive. Nothing is bad or good. It just is.

Tasteful. Also subjective. Who decides that? Is there a societal rule book and if there is why? Sure you can say well you can't do this and you can't do that but I can bet there will be 900 different answers if Jason members are asked that. Too confusing. Too complicated.

In 1500 BC Egypt was a country that was separated into the Upper and Lower Nile. Each area had 80 + gods that they worshipped. There was great fiction between these areas because each one thought they held the truth. Akhenaten, the first Pharaoh of Egypt came along and united Egypt under one god, one religion, one truth. He used the symbol of the sun as the depiction of God. He also brought in the reign of truth. There was to be no lying, nothing hidden, no secrets. Artists were to paint and sculpt subjects just as their eyes saw them. They were like photographs.

Another facet was that the population was to be unclothed. Akhenaten said that wearing clothes was hiding which was a form of lying. His partner Nefertiti was seen in many sculptures without clothes.

Throughout our history the societal "rules" regarding the wearing of clothes has bounced back and forth. Puritan England is where we derive most of our ingrained notions of nudity being "offensive." That has changed a lot in the last 50 years but obviously it is still a heated debate as proven here by Jason's attempt on being allowing of everyone's 'truth.'

Do children wear clothes? Not if they can get away with it they don't. If is freedom. It doesn't have to be about sex. It's our society that seems to have the need to equate the unclothed body as reserved for sex and nothing else. To me it represents truth. It represents allowing of each other's choices. If I don't want to see it I have the choice not to. We all do.

If we teach our children that our bodies are bad and need to be hidden then what is that saying to them. The answer about this site having a 'family' theme so no nudity seems to an opposing statement. In our families do we care if one member is seen unclothed? Does it offend us? Does it make us want to have sex?

Being open. Being real. Allowing. That's my vision for us all. We can't pick and choose when it's ok and when it's not. Freedom to be whoever we choose should be just that not living in fear of offending someone. If anyone is offended then they may have to examine their feelings as to why. What gives me that feeling. Is it because I was taught that my body is bad and cannot be exposed? Or that sex is a bad thing.

It reminds me of the law they just passed here about stores not being able to display cigarettes because if young people see them they will want to smoke. Typical example of rule making taken to the ridiculous.

Anyway enough said. Stepping back from this can we really see the awesome people that are members of this site putting up porn movies on the blog or whatever. I can't see it. What for. That is not the intention of people on this site from what I have seen. Nudity is just part of who we are. It's part of human life just like sex is. Why do we have to stow it away as if it didn't exist because of fear of offending someone. If we all live our lives in fear of things, what will we do? Nothing. I trust that we all can live by the only rule we will ever need.

The Golden Rule "Do unto others... "

Tags: Allowing Judgment Nudity Trust

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"Remember who we truly are." WTH does that mean? Many new-agers use this phrase, including me. Whenever I do I ask myself does anyone know what that means. It's one of those statements that people make and no one questions it. They just nod their head. Sometimes I see their eyes getting glossy and I'm sure they must be thinking - Yeah -Okay - Whatever. I know what I mean when I use it so let's see if I can explain it. I'll start with what we are not and see if the explanation emerges from there.

The mind AKA the ego needs definitions. It works through comparison and labels and needs to put concepts in a box. The ego needs to define who we are. Define a self-image. Define self worth. The ego has the need to constantly be fed. Whether it is to diminish or enhance the image it doesn't matter. It only needs the blank filled in. I am (fill in the blank). We'll start with the easy one:

We are not our things. We love to use things to define who we are. Starting with my toys, then my car, my house, etc. The ego loves things because it's easy to define self using what things we have compared to other people. Evita from Evolving Beings wrote a post this week about David Hoffman, a documentary filmmaker, who just lost all his "things" in a fire. He chose to look at the positive of the event without getting all messed up at the loss of his treasures. Evita discusses the concept about us not being our things.

"Can't take it with us" is a truism that we all know and describes the place that things hold in our true identity. The things we have or don't have are definitely not who we truly are.

We are not what we do. I am a doctor, lawyer, Indian chief. Our education, Our societal "status. The ego needs these labels to makes sense of who we are. I am smart or I am stupid or I am rich or poor. These labels change over time. They are not with us from birth to death therefore how can they be who we truly are. Once again, they are just the box that our mind likes to put us in to give us the illusion of self. Defining our self-worth by designating what we do to who we are. Anything that changes with time cannot be who we are.

We are not our roles. I am a father, mother, husband, wife. I am black, I am Canadian. I am Jewish. I am a Christian I am a victim. These identifications are merely roles. Our mind can attach to these roles and we can believe that they are who we are. Aren't they just more examples of food for the ego to put us into a form?

We are not our minds. Many like to identify our self with our thoughts. The mind uses the content of our life to define who we are. It uses our past "story," and it uses what I have mentioned to form the sense of self. It uses our past beliefs to determine who we are. Lots of people have great minds but does that make them who they are? Is that all we are? Are they better human beings because of their minds? Can we think our way through life? Our mind is a great tool for interpreting information. That's what it is - a tool. Not who we are.

We are not our bodies. When we look in the mirror what do we see? The mind uses the body to form an identity. We are either male or female. Fat or thin. Beautiful or ugly. The physical image we see in the mirror can often be confused with who we are. Many  people tie their sense of self worth with the outward appearance of their body, both to enhance or diminish their sense of who they are and their place in society. Society in general does a great job of perpetrating that illusion. Of course these aspects change over time so if we think that we are our body then when that beauty or strength is lost we can also lose our sense of self. This happens to many who believe their outward appearance is who they are. That can't be who we are.

Our body consists of water and carbon. How can a blob of these elements be who we are. The ritual of dressing up the body at a funeral for all to take one last look at the person makes me laugh. Can that be the person's true self in that coffin?

My mother passed in 2001. She had lung cancer and had quit chemo. She was basically waiting to die. Her breathing was very labored because of her condition. I was on my way back from Vancouver to be with her when she transitioned. My sister described what happened moments before she died. She said my mother took one deep breath and after that her breathing became even and unimpeded.

I knew that at the moment she took that deep breath was when her true self left her body. Her eternal self moved on.

That's a clue to the answer of who we truly are.

If we are not our things or what we do or our roles in society or our minds or our bodies then we must be the observer of all these things. Shut off your mind for a minute and feel. Can you feel the core of your being? Can you feel the life force running through your body? Can you stand back and observe that your mind is thinking. That awareness is your true self. Like someone who had an out of body experience or near death give witness to this awareness.

So many names for it. Divine self, god self, higher self, soul. It has no form. When you peel away all the layers it's what is left at the core.

Your true self has no fear. It is eternal. It has no needs. It has no feelings of separation. It has no limitations or walls. It is your awareness of right now. Not your past. Not your future. It has the inner peace that we all crave because it knows without needing to understand how it knows. It's what comes to the forefront in times like the death of a loved one or a time of emotional upheaval when the mind steps aside and allows your true self to be in control. When anything that you have identified with as self is lost, like wealth or a job or like David, his things. These times are your opportunity to see your true self. To become aware that you are not those things.

When you open up and see who you really are you are experiencing the awakening I so often talk about. You are recognizing your true self. Once you know who you are you will never feel unworthy or imperfect. You will not be driven or defined by ego. You will be the observer of your human life story. You gain the ability to detach yourself from it and see it for what it truly is. A game of life and you get to play it for a while until you return to your formless self. Only now when we remember who we truly are we can go from doing to be-ing.

Like the story of Moses when he asked God what name should I say when they ask me who you are. His answer was,

I Am That I Am

It can also be said, I will be that I will be. That's who we are. We are be-ings. We are spiritual be-ings. Our true self is a piece of God.

Formless .. Limitless .. Eternal.

I Am (no blank to fill)

Tags: Who-are-we True-self God_self Ego

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Falun Gong. This blog will be banned in Beijing because of mentioning these words. Also if I say "Tianamen Square" or "Free Tibet" then it's toast. I wonder if they have a Google alert for these words? Last week the Chinese government opened a crack in the door to allow Olympic journalists to access some web sites that would normally be banned. This change came as a result of pressure to make them live up to their word to the IOC when they got the games to allow uncensored Internet access for visitors. This access does not include any sites that talk about Falun Gong.

I talk about humanity evolving to the next level of consciousness. Changing from a paradigm of "follow the leader" to one of "following yourself." I have also said that it will take all of us to make this change happen. There has been a lot of global changes in the last 50 years that I can look at and use as examples of humanity becoming more unified and the world waking up to the remembrance of who we truly are.

I haven't given much thought or consideration to a full 20% of our population when it comes to accomplishing this shift. China is virtually the last bastion of Communism in the world. Communism is an example of a population following the leader. I have to include them in my picture of unity and self-empowerment for us all.

Starting on August 8th the world's attention will be centered in China. They have obvious population and economic influence in today's world but can they also be a catalyst for change and help bring on the shift that I call the New Age? Is Falun Gong the key to this change?

In 2000, along with my complete shift in perspective, I was also having changes happening in my body. My body was communicating or maybe I was finally listening. All day long I would be stretching unconsciously. I had an amazing amount of energy or chi that was flowing. My body would show me where I would need to stretch to release any blocks that I had. I am sure it looked strange but probably overshadowed by the words and concepts that were spewing from my mouth.

The feeling was similar to when we wake up in the morning and feel the need to stretch. Looking back it is probably the same thing only I was waking up to a whole new me and I did it all day long. This impulse to stretch led me to look at Tai-chi and Yoga but when I discovered Falun Gong I knew that was going to work for me at that time.

Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that is Buddhist in nature. It consists of moral teachings, a meditation, and four gentle stretching exercises that resemble tai-chi and are known in Chinese culture as qigong. It's teachings include the harmonizing of our body, mind and spirit to obtain balance and health. Another key part for me in the philosophy was the recognition and return to our original true self.

It's about taking responsibility for one's self and behaving in a way that embodies truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance. Practitioners describe these qualities to be universal principles that we should all strive for. It fit perfectly at the time for what I believed and what I was experiencing with my body changes as a way to allow the chi to flow freely.

The practice of Falun Gong or Falun Dafa was, and still is, for me, an amazing system for stimulating free flowing life force and experiencing still-mind meditation. It is also an effective practice for anyone who is interested in alternative ways to maintain body conditioning. It is now practiced by millions in some 70 countries outside of China which is a testament to it's validity. What I see with Falun Gong relative to China is that it can be used as a wake up call for a population that has been under the thumb of a repressive government for a long time. Something needs to happen to shake things up. Maybe it's Falun Gong. Maybe it's the Olympics.

Falun Gong became so popular in China that the government felt it threatened their continuing hold on the population.

This practice is centuries old and was handed down from single master to single disciple until 1992 when Li Hongzhi, the "master" of Falun Gong brought it to the public. He introduced not only the exercises, but the teachings that accompany it, which are messages of enlightenment and awakening.

The popularity soared to 70 million practitioners until 1999 when the government out of fear or possibly jealousy of it's popularity, began to imprison and persecute followers of Falun Gong. Some Party leaders saw Falun Gong, with its belief in the existence of Buddhas, Daos, and gods, and its conviction that anyone can reach a divine realm through self-refinement, as being in conflict with Party ideology. These struggles have been well documented since 1999 and the subject of human rights violations of the Chinese government.

Will these Olympic Games help change that? They seem to be showing some signs of change. Will it be just for the sake of the games after which it will be life as usual or will they bring about real change? We are all in this together. We need the billion plus people of China to wake up. To unite in this shift. The world is visiting this month. Can we help?

If Falun Gong is meant to survive in China, it will. Is it the catalyst for change in China? I have a feeling it is. All I can do is use my small voice to help spur it along but unfortunately my voice won't be heard.

The Source For Seth will definitely be ...

Banned in Beijing!

Tags: Falun_gong Beijing Internet_ban

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Humans are energetic beings. Physically and mentally we are affected by energy. Energy always seeks balance. Our bodies and minds need balance to maintain health. Energy sounds like another new age word, but it can also be described by using words like feelings or intuitions or senses or even electromagnetics. I like using the word energy. Energy is both inside us and all around us. Modern medicine is starting to recognize that imbalance can be the root cause of dis-ease. They often use words like imbalance to describe mental conditions. How important is balance? Where and how do we find balance? Nature may have the answer.

For most of our human history we have lived closely with the energy of nature. Modern society has increasingly become disconnected to nature. We live in cities where the energy that surrounds us is fast-paced, constant noise and lighting that is on 24 hours a day. The rat race. We assimilate the energy of our surroundings. We take on the energy that we live in.

Many times people will shut down their senses because their minds and bodies can't take the franticness that pervades urban living. Some who are more attuned to the energy around them, will create an imbalance within themselves. Could this be the cause for the numerous personal disorders we see in modern society?

Have you ever noticed that people who live in the mountains or by the sea or in any natural environment that is void of the energies of the city have a different "feel" about them? A calmer feel. When you look into their eyes, you can you see a peace and serenity that is different than city dwellers? The people that live in the natural areas can also tell if you are from the city. They can feel it. They may not verbalize it, but it's a feeling. That feeling is the energy that people take on from the place they live.

Where do city people want to go when they get time off? Camping, hiking, skiing, going to the beach, to the mountains. There is a reason for that. We are drawn to the energy of nature. It takes a few days to take on the energy but when we do it is a glorious feeling. We calm down. We slow down. We start to notice the beauty of things around us. We reconnect to the stars that we can seldom see in the city. We forget the daily worries that are constantly occupying our minds. We rejuvenate the connection to our soul. We balance with the energy of nature.

Can it be any wonder that people dream of getting out of the city to be able to rekindle that feeling. We are drawn back to nature because we have the inner urge and inner knowing that this is how we should feel. That we were meant to be connected to the energy of nature because we are part of nature. It is our true state of being. Nature's energy is what the mind and body desires and what it needs to sustain balanced health.

For some, the urge can get so strong that they will leave the city to relocate to a natural environment. Most will come back to the realities of jobs and obligations, only to look forward to their next weekend or vacation.

In 2007 MIND, the UK mental health organization released a report about how our connection with nature is an essential part of a healthy human psyche. The evidence in their findings was so strong that they recommended that UK doctors prescribe "Ecotherapy" to combat stress and depression rather than drugs. They may look at it differently than my perspective of the energy of nature but they are saying the same thing.

Yes, it would be nice if we could all live in nature, but it's not practical in modern society. Yet there are ways to use the balancing energy of nature even in the city. A quiet walk in the park. Digging in the garden. Sitting by a river. These places can have a similar balancing effect. It has to be more than just visiting a natural area and taking pictures, it's the experience of communing with nature and flowing in harmony with the natural rhythms of life.

The rejuvenating aspect of that weekend at the lake or a vacation in the mountains is well known. It will reduce stress, increase sensory awareness and boost creativity. Many also know what a spiritual experience connecting with nature can be. Balance of body, mind and spirit is the key to health and longevity. It is because we are energy. We are nature. We are one with all things in nature. Health is balance. Nature is balanced energy. Now you have a new age, energy healing perspective of why it is so important.

When we spend time in nature, it brings us back to our own nature. The nature that has been misplaced or lost in the city. Our bodies feel it. Our minds know it. Absorbing the energy of nature is like plugging into the source of life.

It's the middle of summer, so a perfect time to get out and soak up the healing, balancing energy of nature. If we understand why it is so important maybe we can alter our priorities to give this practice of reconnecting with nature the prominence it deserves. As a bonus to our health benefits, it's also inspirational, enjoyable and a heck of a lot of fun.

It's the weekend let's - "Get Outta Town!"

Tags: Natures-energy Seth-Garrison Balanced-health

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