Opportunistic, Sleazy Republicans Rush to Propose Torrent of Cruel Policies Toward Syrian Refugees | Alternet

GOP presidential hopefuls took to the air Sunday to do their usual fearmongering.

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"LOVE" the purest love: Sufi defined

Love

by Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh

All human beings during their lives experience love and friendship to some extent. Human love can be classified into three basic categories according to its intensity, quality and limitations.

The first form of love is friendship based on social conventions where two people behave in accordance with the principle: "I for myself, you for yourself; we love each other, but we have no expectations of each other." This form of love is that of ordinary people, whose love relationships tend to be of this nature.

The second form of love is based on a more solid foundation, and those who live together usually experience this kind of love: "I for you, you for me; we love each other, having mutual expectations of each other." This form of love includes profound love as well as the love found within most families, involving emotional give and take on a more or less equal footing.

The third kind of love transcends all conventions based on mutual expectations, being founded on the following principle: "I am for you, you are for whoever you choose; I accept whatever you want without any expectations whatsoever."

The sufi's devotion to God and to the master of the Path exemplifies this latter form of love. This third kind of love is not based upon any constraints or conditions; the sufi who possesses this kind of love says with contentment and submission to God: "I am satisfied with whatever You want, without any expectations, and love You without any thought of reward."

The sufi's love of God involves no expectation of reward or fear of punishment, for the sufi does not have any wishes and demands. The sufi embraces and loves God's wrath as much as His grace, His hardheartedness as much as His fidelity.

Only a few sufis have managed to annihilate themselves in the Beloved through the path of such love and friendship. It is about these sufis that Rumi has said:

Everything is the Beloved,
     and the lover but a veil;
The Beloved is alive,
     while the lover is dead.

Thus, we see that the highest form of human love is 'sufi love'. Alas, it is a polo ball that only the most distinguished and perfected of humans are worthy of putting into play.

Shaking Off Emotional Detachment - Evolution Counseling

CLICK HERE TO READ: Shaking Off Emotional Detachment - Evolution Counseling

"There Are Men Too Gentle to Live Among Wolves" by James Kavanaugh / read by Nicholas Temple

Much deep gratitude for this kind of  man...this poem memorializes this type of masculine beauty.......

Watch This Baby Adorably Prank Her Dad By Fake Crying As He Tries To Cut Her Nails

Hard to say who is funnier....Dad or baby!!!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ADORABLE BRIEF VIDEO!

Kevin Powell: Activist, Writer, Public Speaker

"As a charismatic speaker, leader, and 

a very good writer, Kevin Powell has 

the courage...to be fully human, and 

this will bring the deepest revolution of all.

—GLORIA STEINEM


Kevin Powell is one of the most acclaimed political, cultural, literary and hip-hop voices in America today. Kevin is a native of Jersey City, raised by a single mother in extreme poverty, but managed to study at Rutgers University in New Brunswick thanks to New Jersey’s Educational Opportunity Fund. Kevin has gone on to be the author of 12 books, including his newest title, The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy’s Journey into Manhood. It is a critically acclaimed and brutally honest memoir about his life, including his youth. In 2018, he will publish a biography of Tupac Shakur, the late rapper and controversial American icon. Kevin's writings have also appeared in CNN.com, Esquire, Ebony, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, ESPN.com and Vibe Magazine, where he worked for many years as a senior writer, interviewing such diverse public figures as Tupac Shakur and General Colin Powell.."

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THIS CRITICAL VOICE OF OUR TIMES

"Once a Cheater, Always a Cheater... Maybe Not" | Psychology Today

Excerpt:  "I'm here to help you do that because I am uniquely qualified. I'm an adulterer who happens to be a licensed clinician and willing to tell the truth about why I chose to have an affair. I have an expertise in the "psychology of infidelity", not from a text book or social media platform, but from living the excruciating pain of having an affair that resulted in adivorce, growing up and searching my own soul for the answers to "why I did it", and earning the trust and affections of the woman I betrayed again resulting in a magical reconciliation where we just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary..."      CLICK HERE TO READ

A Healing Gift to Humanity/ from Joao Cota-Robles through Frederic Delarue

Exquisite music for healing ... dreaming ... visualization ... loving ... meditating ... being....

Neve Shalom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In my previous post about Gerald Kogan, PhD, I referenced a training in Israel in 1999.  At Neve Shalon, the experiences I had, whether therapeutic training, being in Israel and taking part in exploration especially of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, discovering the culture(s), meeting therapists from many other countries, and countless other rich and deep experiences ... was a marker for my life.  It was, and continues, to be the richest educational experience I have ever had.

When we we there, I took many photos. But one I took and treasure deeply is one of the corner of a rock wall behind my room.  It was so significant as a nexus of all my feelings in that space.  It seemed to me, then and now, that is was a symbol of grounding ... of strength ... of the flood of my lessons there ... of deep appreciation of a few who were determined not to allow me to slide into not participating because of insecurity (I was the youngest (in therapeutic practice years, but not chronological age!). In progressing, I sure made my share of mistakes which, unbelievably, I remember as if it were yesterday.  From close people there, I experienced no shortage of gentle and clear confrontation ... all deeply beneficial to this day, this minute.


When I returned, and people asked me the usual "vacation" questions, I discovered that I could barely answer, save some rather rote and pleasant response.  To this day, some 16 years later, it is still a "diamond in my heart", of more carats than I could ever count..... still uneffable.


This link is about Neve Shalom:


Neve Shalom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(ongoing)

In Memoriam: Gerald Kogan, PhD

In 1999, I attended an international training in Israel, between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  It was co-facilitated by Jerry and Willy Kogan (Jerry's wife), and a psychotherapist from North Carolina, Ernest A McCoy, LCSW.

Since I had not spoken with Jerry or Willy since, I decided to look them up.  It was then that it became apparent that Jerry had passed almost two years ago.  

One would have to know how unspeakable that training experience was, as provided by these 3 gifted psychotherapists.

It is actually wrenching not to go into detail about the training and its mark upon my life, personally and professionally, but this is in memory of Jerry, whose professional life is detailed below, so it is surely best that Jerry 'speaks'.  

I am posting it, because it reveals to me, my own experience of Jerry.  His being a mensch (a person of integrity and honor;  a good person) came alive again for me in this brief video, particularly his discussions about aging and permission.

Jerry speaks about teaching.  My experience of him for those days, was that he was a teacher even when he wasn't.  In viewing this, I hope your intuition and experience of Jerry is as rich as I  encountered in viewing.  

This life summary was on Facebook, and written by Rainer Geissler, MA, MFT, on March 18, 2014, subsequent to Jerry's transition:

In memory of Gerald Kogan Ph.D., Gestalt therapist, mentor, trainer, and ongoing inspiration in my work.

Gerald was co-founder and co-director of GENI (Gestalt Educational Network International), Frankfurt, Germany, co-founder of the German Association of Gestalt Therapy (DVG) and the European Association of Counseling.

Gerald was a psychotherapist, teacher and poet, who began learning about people by riding the subways of New York as a kid and traveling around the United States as a teenager. He later had the good fortune to study with Fritz and Laura Perls, Eugene Sagan, Virginia Satir, Carl Rogers and others. After working with people for nearly four decades and living on three continents, he continued to be interested in consciousness and learning about healing practices. He is the author of a book of poetry, a book on bodywork and various articles on Gestalt Therapy. He was a co-director of Gestalt Education Network International (GENI) in Frankfurt, Germany, where he also held a psychotherapy practice as Independent Mental Health Care Professional.

"If you make friends with yourself....."

Third Way panics over Bernie Sanders and the new American mainstream

CLICK TO READ: Third Way panics over Bernie Sanders and the new American mainstream

What is Love? - Buddhism

"The secret to love is that it is the quality of our love for others, not how much someone loves us, that makes us happy. This means we don’t need to “find the right person” we just need to develop and improve our own love for as many people as we can. We may feel that we only really love a few people, but actually our potential to love is limitless! The more people we love, and the purer our love is, the happier we will be."

In my view, love is the lifelong lesson. We throw that word out so casually, so flippantly, and so thoughtlessly ... that the rich depth is totally obscured. I reflect upon my own use of that word over the decades of my life with a gentle forgiving smile to myself, because the depth and essence becomes clearer every week I live.

When I was young, or even younger than the present, I would always come to discover that the embodiment of what I then felt, I now see as a less complete notion. I have no doubt whatsoever that I will see the present love I experience in the same way. At least I hope I do.

Love is not really about anything "other than the Other". So many, as did I, sink into their own projections of another. In essence, that is rather disrespectful, because we have created the Other as what we want them to be....and not who they really are.

Love, to me, is often experienced over years of the vicissitudes and uncertainty we may have unswervingly experienced with the Other. Of course, frequently, we have made healthy decisions to disengage, yet we can still honor that person's journey through life. That can have many endings, too assorted to review here. 

 Once in a while (or more frequently!), we grow enough to experience a person's, or our own, earlier decisions. And, with humility, we now can really "see" the other person. 

 At the same time, we remain healthily detached from others who appear to be at odds with our values.  The article asserts:

"There is no perfect person, but there is perfect love. We need to build real love in our heart. This doesn’t happen overnight, but by gradually improving the quality of our love, we are moving towards a goal worth working for–real, unconditional love. If we can love for the right reasons, unchanging reasons, then our love for all living beings will increase through our personal relationships."


“It is sometimes very difficult to distinguish between our love and our attachment for others, but when we are able to do so, we will see that it is invariably the attachment that is the cause of our suffering. Pure unconditional love never causes any pain or worry but only peace and joy.”
–Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

This is a brief, but cogent article...hope you enjoy!CLICK HERE TO READ!

Rilke on Letting Go......."The Swan"

THE SWAN

by Rilke

This laboring through what is still undone,

as though, legs bound, we hobbled along the way is like the awkward walking of the swan.

And dying -- to let go, no longer feel

the solid ground we stand on every day --

is like his anxious letting himself fall

into the water, which receives him gently, and which, as though with reverence and joy,

draws back past him in streams on either side;

while, infinitle silent and aware,

in his full majesty and ever more

indifferent,  he condescends to glide.

Once I lived for a time on the shores of a lake where swans were brought in by some residents to live.  I was in total wonder of their presence, so close.  I would sit on the bank, studying them intently. Even more interesting, is to study them as an archetype with their untold grace and majesty of spirit as they glide.  Yet under the water their legs are going at an amazing rate to project them forward.  They were also the hierarchy of the water animals in that lake...geese, ducks, etc.

As each would glide up and down the lake, you could see the others literally moving out of the way, in both respect and, likely, some fear.  For if one would challenge the gliding, or quest for food, the swan would become immediately ired.  What could easily be a called a brawl would ensue.  In the end, the swan was always victor.

The swan has many psychological meanings.  A Jungian-based summary is found on:

http://www.animaestudosjunguianos.com.br/artigos_show_en.php?cod=3&cat=2

A dream sense is found at :

http://www.whats-your-sign.com/swan-meaning-and-symbolism.html

The above poem has always fascinated me, with its many implications, it could be representative of aging, or death. Or, it can be the release we can effect in our everyday lives.  That involves much practice.  To me, it involves a trust in process, a trust of Universe / Creator, to provide to us dependent on our energy, soul vibrations, and degree of JOY we are able to access frequently.

Indeed, it is the JOY factor.  Often joy is the breathtaking bestowal awarded us in our later years.  The ultimate requirement is an enduring and boundless journey of humility, accountability, compassion, courage, resiliency ... and loving. 

The Science Behind Why Working Before 10 Am Is Equivalent To Torture | The Mind Unleashed

While it’s pretty safe to say that most of us adults are typically deprived of sleep, one other reason may be less than optimistic about leaving the house and venturing to work at 8am is that it’s biologically unnatural.

The Science Behind Why Working Before 10 Am Is Equivalent To Torture | The Mind Unleashed

"The Prayer" / Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli

YouTube will not allow this to be played on any site due to copywrite issues.  It can be viewed on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7bK_G5hEjQ&ab_channel=%CA%9A%C9%9EMariahMonroe%CA%9A%C9%9E

Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli are two of the world's preeminent singers.  This rendition deeply moves me as I watch the interplay between this illustrious pair.  There is tenderness, a loving admiration of one another, and a passion for their art which is so very sweet, it touches the very soul........ their sympatico is utterly exquisite.

Celine, a quintessential and archetypal feminine portrait, has a voice like a bird, and shows unique sensitivity about the magic she is aware they are both offering to their audience. Andrea's face throughout, his micro expressions as well as his larger facial shifts in pleasure,  about this song with Celine, put a lump in my throat...and tears of utter reverence and enjoyment in my eyes.  It may be true that Bocelli does not see with his eyes, yet he clearly "sees" with his touch, insight, love, and vocal majesty.
BRAVO!  BRAVO!

Thoughts of the Tenth Insight

Tenth Insight:    At this level of expanded consciousness, we  become clearly aware of the life and death cycle of humanity. The Afterlife becomes, not as an abstract idea, but as a real place with real activities. As this rapid spiritualization continues, the veil between Earth and Heaven begins to part, and we rise to sense and feel those in the afterlife with a new reality.

 ~James Redfield ~

"Note to Self" and to those I love so deeply....

25 Mind-Blowing Ways Society Is About To Completely Change |

At the top of this blog, I have a quote about our children of this world.  It has always had deep meaning for me, about my family, my work, and my friends:

“Evolution is speeding up, not time. Consciousness is evolving, becoming aware of itself as creation's mentor. Children are evolution's front edge. They push at boundaries... challenge the status quo...irritate convention. That is their job...to set free all that sullies the human heart and blinds the mind to the relationship between the Creator and the Created." ~ P.M.H. Atwater~

Who really knows if all of the transitions in the article will evolve?  In any case, it is interesting to consider this world as portrayed by the author.  
If this all occurs, my grandchildren are wandering into quite a future.  Clearly, they will need every bit of spirit, strength and fortitude we can send them off with!

Parents can not really predict just what those skills will be, nor the indomitable nature our grandchildren and ALL children will have to have at their core. In my view, it is a "Note to Self" for parents to spend time trying to wrap their mind around that future in order to guide their parental steps with these precious people.

And the article, while speculative, provides a sense of how and why children are coming into this world very differently than previous generations.


CLICK HERE TO READ: 25 Mind-Blowing Ways Society Is About To Completely Change |

The narcissistic parent | Brainwashing Children

In my study of mental child abuse I’ve noticed how prevalent it is that the child abuser is highly narcissistic.

What’s a narcissistic parent? It’s someone who is self-absorbed, authoritarian (watch out for their outbursts), negative, a know-it-all, never culpable or blameworthy for anything, highly critical of others, secretive, cunning and conniving, manipulative, exploitive, stingy with others (but not themselves), ungrateful, a pathological liar (twists the truth with incredible ease), envious and competitive, deaf to other’s opinions, has zero empathy, doesn’t listen, doesn’t seek agreement (not a single ounce of agreeableness), brags and exaggerates, plays favorites (and it’s a rotating favorite list at that), has no boundaries, never asks you any questions, inept at basic manners, lacks a sense of humor (especially at themselves), and excels at making others feel guilty… He or she is one unhappy person who can successfully convince their targets that they are needed, and that without them their targets would be nothing.

Looking at these traits,........ CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING THIS IMPORTANT ARTICLE!