Finally - a conspiracy I am happy to be a part of!

A SPIRITUAL CONSPIRACY

On the surface of the world right now there is
war and violence and things seem dark.
But calmly and quietly, at the same time,
something else is happening underground
An inner revolution is taking place
and certain individuals are being called to a higher light.
It is a silent revolution.
From the inside out.
From the ground up.
This is a Global operation.
A Spiritual Conspiracy.
There are sleeper cells in every nation on the planet.
You won't see us on the TV
You won't read about us in the newspaper
You won't hear about us on the radio
We don't seek any glory
We don't wear any uniform
We come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles
Most of us work anonymously
We are quietly working behind the scenes
in every country and culture of the world
Cities big and small, mountains and valleys,
in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands
You could pass by one of us on the street
and not even notice
We go undercover
We remain behind the scenes
It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done
Occasionally we spot each other in the street
We give a quiet nod and continue on our way
During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs
But behind the false storefront at night
is where the real work takes place
Some call us the Conscious Army
We are slowly creating a new world
with the power of our minds and hearts
We follow, with passion and joy
Our orders come from the Central Spiritual Intelligence
We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one is looking
Poems ~ Hugs ~ Music ~ Photography ~ Movies ~ Kind words ~
Smiles ~ Meditation and prayer ~ Dance ~ Social activism ~ Websites
Blogs ~ Random acts of kindness...
We each express ourselves in our own unique ways
with our own unique gifts and talents
Be the change you want to see in the world
That is the motto that fills our hearts
We know it is the only way real transformation takes place
We know that quietly and humbly we have the
power of all the oceans combined
Our work is slow and meticulous
Like the formation of mountains
It is not even visible at first glance
And yet with it entire tectonic plates
shall be moved in the centuries to come
Love is the new religion of the 21st century
You don't have to be a highly educated person
Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it
It comes from the intelligence of the heart
Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings
Be the change you want to see in the world
Nobody else can do it for you
We are now recruiting
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have.
All are welcome
The door is open

* * *

Great necessities call out great virtues. ~ Abigail Adams

For Easter...

Beware of identity theft this Easter

Caution! It appears there are Easter Bunny and other impostors

on the loose, so be on the lookout....

http://daily-chuckle.blogspot.com/2009/04/beware-of-identity-theft-this-easter.html
http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/4712

Thank you to my Michigan friend Dawn for sharing! :-)

Peace ~ Molly

* * *

There must be always remaining in every life, some place for the singing of angels, some place for that which in itself is breathless and beautiful. ~ Howard Thurman

A 3-year-old tells all from his mother's restroom stall.

If you’ve had children, or taken care of them, this is hilarious and too cute!

Thank you to my friend and co-worker Erin for sharing...

A 3 year old tells all from his mother’s restroom stall -

By Shannon Popkin

My little guy, Cade, is quite a talker. He loves to communicate and does it quite well. He talks to people constantly, whether we’re in the library, the grocery store or at a drive~thru window. People often comment on how clearly he speaks for a just turned 3 year old, and you never have to ask him to turn up the volume; it’s always fully cranked….

There have been several embarrassing times that I’ve wished the meaning of his words would have been masked by a not so audible voice, but never have I wished this more than last week at Costco. Halfway through our shoppingtrip, nature called, so I took Cade with me into the restroom….

If you’d been one of the ladies in the restroom that evening, this is what you would have heard coming from the second to last stall… ‘Mommy, are you gonna go potty? Oh! Why are you putting toiwet paper on the potty, Mommy? Oh! You gonna sit down on da toiwet paper now? Mommy, what are you doing? Mommy, are you gonna go stinkies on the potty?’

At this point, I started mentally counting how many women had been in the restroom when I walked in. Several stalls were full. 4? 5? Maybe we could wait until they all left before I had to make my debut out of this stall and reveal my identity…. Cade continued, ‘Mommy, you ARE going stinkies, aren’t you? Oh, dats a good girl, Mommy! Are you gonna get some candy for going stinkies on the potty? Let me see doze stinkies, Mommy! Oh, Mommy! I’m trying to see in dere. Oh, I seedem! Dat is a very good girl, Mommy. You ARE gonna get some candy!’ I heard a few faint chuckles coming from the stalls on either side of me. Where is a screaming new born when you need one? Good grief. This was really gettingembarrassing. I was definitely waiting a long time before exiting….

Trying to divert him, I said, ‘Why don’t you look in Mommy’s purse and see if you can find some candy. We’ll both have some. ‘No, I’m trying to see doze more stinkies. Oh! Mommy!’ He started to gag at this point. ‘Uh oh, Mommy.I fink I’m gonna frow up. Mommy, doze stinkies are making me frow up!! Dat is so gross!! As the gags became louder so did the chuckles outside my stall….

I quickly flushed the toilet in hopes of changing the subject. I began to reason with myself: Okay, there are four other toilets. If I count four flushes, I can be reasonably assured that those who overheard this embarrassing monologue will be long gone. ‘Mommy! Would you get off the potty, now? I want you to be done doing stinkies! Get up! Get up!’ He grunted as he tried to pull me.

Now I could hear full-blown laughter…. I bent down to count the feet outside my door. ‘Oh, are you wooking under dere, Mommy? You wooking under da door? What were you wooking at, Mommy? You wooking at da wady’s feet?’ More laughter. I stood inside the locked door and tried to assess the situation. ‘Mommy, it’s time to wash our hands, now. We have to go out now, Mommy.’ He started pounding on the door. ‘Mommy, don’t you want to wash your hands? I want to go out!!’

I saw that my ‘wait ‘em out’ plan was unraveling. I sheepishly opened the door, and found, standing outside my stall, twenty to thirty ladies crowded around the stall, all smiling and starting to applaud. My first thought wascomplete embarrassment, then I thought, ‘Where’s the fine print on the motherhood contract’ where I signed away every bit of my dignity and privacy?’ But as my little boy gave me a big, cheeky grin while he rubbed bubbly soapbetween his chubby little hands, I thought, ‘I’d sign it all away again, just to be known as ‘Mommy’ to this little fellow.’

Shannon Popkin is a freelance writer and mother of three.

She lives with her family in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

http://community.babycenter.com/post/a7849935/too_cute

A Poem

Warm Greetings

This poem, and the following post written by Derrick Jensen, were both shared with myself and the other women who gathered one week ago for a weekend of being in ceremony and close to the Earth. Each touched my heart.

Peace & Blessings ~ Molly

* * *

We've been reading it wrong.

It's a story of how we took

nature down with us all right,

but not because we're such

important hot shots that what

we decide goes for everybody,

or the Creator is such an abusive

s.o.b. that he punishes the innocent

for the crimes of the guilty if

the guilty are godly enough.

We are a twisted species.

We bend our view of the universe

around ourselves as center cog.

By our distortion we have injured Eden.

We haven't a clue.

Complexity grants that the least
significant events or choices
affect everything to infinity --
microbes on pear trees, and
the honey bee as well as
human beings.

Our infant species dreamed it was

above its elders, beyond its betters,

the high-chair tyrant entitled to rule

the rest, and worse -- granted this

by a god. We named the others and

proclaimed them Other, ourselves

what counts, holier than them.

We threw ourselves out of Eden.

Injured by us but alive,

it's still here all around us.

We have only to return to our senses,

wake from our hubris, sit down

with our creature kin and humbly ask

by what name each knows itself,

and listen, without denial or defense,

for the names they have been saving up

to call us.

Once that's over we can negotiate

everything and start again

with what's left.

Then --

In the beginning . . .

The Rev. Alla Renee Bozarth

Poet and priest, Wisdom House, Oregon

From Prayers For a Thousand Years

There is a Language Older Than Words

There is a language older by far and deeper than words. It is the language of bodies, of body on body, wind on snow, rain on trees, wave on stone. It is the language of dream, of gesture, of symbol, of memory. We have forgotten that it exists. If we are to survive, we must remember this language. We must relearn how to think like a planet.

I remember walking into a cold January afternoon several years ago. My breath hung white in the air, and two dogs danced at my feet. I heard in the distance the clamor of geese, then stood speechless to watch a huge V fly low overhead. I opened my mouth to say something - I didn't know what it would be - and heard my voice say three times, "Godspeed." Suddenly, and for no reason I could understand, I burst into tears. Then I ran into the house.

Walking back outside later and staring into the now empty sky, I realized that in speaking not only had I been wishing the geese well for their journey south, but they had been using my voice and my breath to wish me just-as-well on my own just-as-difficult journey - this journey of opposition to the culture that is destroying life on the planet. The tears, it came clear to me, had been neighter from sorrow nor joy, but from homecoming, like a sailor who has been toolong at sea, and who spontaneously bursts into sobs on feeling those tentative first steps back on solid ground, back at home.

If we are to survive, we need the planet's help, just as it needs ours. To dismantle the walls we've so laboriously constructed to constrict our broken hearts, we must step away from our isolation from the rest of the world. There is a whole world waiting for us, ready to welcome us home. They have missed us as sorely as we have missed them. It is time. Return.

Godspeed.

Derrick Jensen

Environmentalist, California

From Prayers for a Thousand Years

Thousand-Hand Guan Yin

Warmest Greetings

My friend Sharif just sent me this while doing work in Sri Lanka.

It is Amazing, Beautiful, Extraordinay.

And Sharif shares that "all of the young dancers are COMPLETELY DEAF.

You can see the people in the 4 corners of the screen,

giving them their visual cues."

I know Guan Yin, or Kuan Yin, as the Goddess of Compassion

and have been deeply drawn to Her for years now.

For more information, please go here:

http://www.taoism.net/guanyin/home.htm

This is the amazing video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgHmSdpjEIk

Enjoy!

Brightest Blessings,

Molly

* * *

Compassion literally means to feel with, to suffer with. Everyone is capable of compassion, and yet everyone tends to avoid it because it's uncomfortable. And the avoidance produces psychic numbing -- resistance to experiencing our pain for the world and other beings.

~ Joanna Macy

Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

~ HH The Dalai Lama

When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space.

~ Pema Chodron

May 4th: Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Speak in Portland!

I would not miss this for anything!:

Bishop Tutu Is Coming To Oregon

Monday, May 4, 2009, at 6:30 p.m.

The Chiles Center, University of Portland

5000 N. Willamette Blvd., Portland, Oregon

The 40th annual Collins Lecture, presented by Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO), is scheduled for the evening of Monday, May 4, 2009, at the University of Portland, Chiles Center. The theme is “The Transformative Power of Reconciliation in Society.” Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus from Cape Town, South Africa, will be the featured keynote speaker.

Archbishop Tutu has led a formidable crusade in support of justice and racial conciliation in South Africa. His tireless work was recognized in 1984, when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Following a short stint as the Bishop of Johannesburg, Tutu was elected Archbishop of Cape Town in 1986—an office he held until his retirement in 1996.

In 1996, Archbishop Tutu was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission—the body set up to probe gross human rights violations during apartheid. Since the presentation of the Commission’s report to the president in 1998, Tutu has been the visiting professor at several overseas universities, and he has also published several books.

The evening event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a multicultural concert, followed by the lecture at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 (plus service fee) at www.TicketMaster.com. You may also purchase tickets at the Chiles Center box office. Details about an afternoon leadership summit on reconciliation will be available on EMO’s Web site at www.emoregon.org.

For more information, contact Jan Elfers at (503) 221-1054, ext. 208, or jelfers@emoregon.org.

Tickets $20, available at www.TicketMaster.com or the Chiles Center box office.

http://oregonfaithreport.com/2009/02/bishop-tutu-coming-to-oregon/

http://africabridge.org/donate-your-pencils-for-tanzanian-students.html

http://www.emoregon.org/pdfs/2009_Collins_Save_the_Date_flyer.pdf

* * *

The Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation: http://www.tutufoundation-usa.org/

* * *

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.

Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.

~ Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Friday, April 10th: Lecture With Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona

Natural Way: Indigenous Voices is Honored to Present

Lecture and Workshop with Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona

When Dr. Mehl-Madrona entered Stanford University School of Medicine in California in 1973, he realized that his culture had much to offer mainstream society. He is currently an associate Professor of Family Medicine and Psychiatry at the University Of Saskatchewan College Of Medicine and the author of four books: “Coyote Medicine”, “Coyote Healing”, “Coyote Wisdom”, and “Narrative Medicine”. He brings forth an indigenous perspective to the mainstream world. He actively pursues his relationship with indigenous culture: through research programs to treat diabetes with traditional medicines; through attending ceremonies; and through working with Northern Saskatchewan reserves to provide psychiatric services.

Lecture: Aboriginal Models for Integration of Mind, Spirit & Body

Friday, April 10, 2009 , 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Dr. Mehl-Madrona weaves indigenous cultural wisdom into his practice as an MD and clinical psychologist. In this lecture, he will compare and contrast allopathic medicine with native healing practices. He will also discuss various systems of healing from diverse cultures around the world (including Western technological medicine), and will describe these systems as stories of the culture to which the healing is being applied.

Location: PSU Multicultural Center, Room 228, Smith Memorial Union,

1825 SW Broadway at Harrison, Portland, Oregon

Donation: $10-$20 requested.

Workshop: Coyote Wisdom: Bridging Cultures to Reduce Health Disparities

Saturday, April 11, 2009, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

In this workshop, Dr. Mehl-Madrona will explore the different ways that cultures define health and disease. Stories which cultures tell about health and disease will be discussed as well as the role of traditional healers in reducing health disparities. Dr. Mehl-Madrona will reflect upon models for health provider/traditional healer interactions and collaborations. There will be a talking circle, then the workshop will close with a short ceremony.

Location: Wahkeena Falls Room, University Place Hotel

310 SW Lincoln/4th Avenue, Portland, Oregon

Cost: $40; Click here to purchase tickets

Advance ticket purchases encouraged. Seating limited to 50 participants.

Co-sponsors: Earth & Spirit Council at www.earthandspirit.org ; PSU Multicultural Center; PSU Center for Health & Social Inequality Research; and PSU School of Social Work

http://www.earthandspirit.org/NaturalWay/lewisM040909.html

***

Website for Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona: http://www.mehl-madrona.com/

* * *

My personal goals include the furthering of a paradigm shift within medicine, psychiatry, and psychology toward aligning with indigenous knowledge systems and providing healing activities more in line with what traditional cultures have offered. I am interested in our creating new science that is not the same old, same old linear boredom of Newton and conventional statistics, but that uses complexity theory and quantum physics concepts to explore our world, and, more importantly, to find ways to help each other to heal and to grow and change. ~ Lewis Mehl-Madrona, MD, PhD, MPhil

Help During Chaotic Times

By Justine Willis Toms

We are living in a time of a collective leap in consciousness. Consciousness is changing for the better. This is the Good News.

On the other hand, when such a dynamic sense of change is unfolding on such a giant scale there is the presence of chaos.

Needless to say in this great turning of an age, there exists more than a little chaos.How, then, do we find and maintain our balance and optimism in the midst of this great turning? I suggest that we would do well to engage in what I call the, "Four Keys of Wisdom."The Four Keys are:

Circulate – not isolate. Remember to rub shoulders with life
Stay curious – Curiosity is an antidote to fear
Be optimistic – optimism is an antidote to worry
Develop circles of "Friends of the heart" who support you in your fullness

Circulate Not Isolate

It is important to get out of the house and rub shoulders with life. The mainstream media broadcasts, as if in one continuous loop, a litany of disasters, downturns, and miseries. This seduces us into staying at home and becoming paranoid and paralyzed. I suggest we go on a media fast of this kind of negative reporting, that holds up so few positive examples of the many breakthroughs that are happening all around us. Get out and circulate. Great synchronicities can happen when you rub shoulders with new people outside your well worn paths of circulation. Make yourself available to walk the corridors of life. Remember to circulate – not isolate.

Stay Curious

Curiosity is an antidote to fear. It is like taking a deep breath of fresh air. Curiosity has a lightness to it; it lets in the light. The in-breath oxygenates the blood which, in turn, brings oxygen to the brain and helps us to think more creatively and to be more imaginative. Curiosity helps us to be pilgrims of possibilities.When I start to catch myself spiraling down into fear and contraction, I say to myself, "Pull, up, pull up, be curious, not afraid.". Don't waste your time or energy wallowing in the paralyzing force of fear; move to curiosity where you can more effectively deal with daily challenges.

Be Optimistic

Optimism is an antidote to worry. The in-breath brings our bodies oxygen, optimism is like the blood that carries the oxygen. If we are worried we become tense. In fact worry has a negative physiological affect on the body as well as the mind and spirit. Through time this can be quite debilitating. Whereas optimism is the life blood of our soul.These two keys, curiosity and optimism keep us healthy. Being in a state of fear and worry is like contracting pneumonia. It stops the breath, which, in turn slows the blood flow, the brain is deprived of oxygen, and the blood becomes stagnant. Staying curious and optimistic will keep us healthy in body, mind, and spirit.

Develop a Circle of "Friends of the Heart"

Hang out with friends who support you in your fullness. Humans are more intelligent when we are in the company of others who are listening deeply to one another. There is an alchemical change that happens when we have truly been heard and witnessed by others. Having a community of friends of the heart is good for your brain power. Having deep conversations with others is good for developing your genius. We are more intelligent together.

There is an African saying that goes like this: "A friend is someone who knows your song and sings it to you when you have forgotten it." Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused.

When you are feeling overwhelmed by these chaotic times and you are questioning your purpose use these four keys to unlock your positive potential.

* * *

Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace, for example, starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. ~ HH The Dalai Lama

"We the People" to "King of the World": "YOU'RE FIRED!" ...a letter from Michael Moore

Warm Greetings

I appreciate this heartfelt piece from Michael Moore. I appreciate this both because Detroit is my childhood hometown and because what is happening in Detroit affects us all because we are all connected. And radical changes like this one that President Obama is taking one huge step at a time give me hope. Hope for us all. Blessings ~ Molly

* * *

Friends,

Nothing like it has ever happened. The President of the United States, the elected representative of the people, has just told the head of General Motors -- a company that's spent more years at #1 on the Fortune 500 list than anyone else -- "You're fired!"

I simply can't believe it. This stunning, unprecedented action has left me speechless for the past two days. I keep saying, "Did Obama really fire the chairman of General Motors? The wealthiest and most powerful corporation of the 20th century? Can he do that? Really? Well, damn! What else can he do?!"

This bold move has sent the heads of corporate America spinning and spewing pea soup. Obama has issued this edict: The government of, by, and for the people is in charge here, not big business. John McCain got it. On the floor of the Senate he asked, "What does this signal send to other corporations and financial institutions about whether the federal government will fire them as well?" Senator Bob Corker said it "should send a chill through all Americans who believe in free enterprise." The stock market plunged as the masters of the universe asked themselves, "Am I next?" And they whispered to each other, "What are we going to do about this Obama?"

Not much, fellows. He has the massive will of the American people behind him -- and he has been granted permission by us to do what he sees fit. If you liked this week's all-net 3-pointer, stay tuned.

I write this letter to you in memory of the hundreds of thousands of workers over the past 25+ years who have been tossed into the trash heap by General Motors. Many saw their lives ruined for good. They turned to alcohol or drugs, their marriages fell apart, some took their own lives. Most moved on, moved out, moved over, moved away. They ended up working two jobs for half the pay they were getting at GM. And they cursed the CEO of GM for bringing ruin to their lives.

Not one of them ever thought that one day they would witness the CEO receive the same treatment. Of course Chairman Wagoner will not have to sign up for food stamps or be evicted from his home or tell his kids they'll be going to the community college, not the university. Instead, he will get a $23 million golden parachute. But the slip in his hands is still pink, just like the hundreds of thousands that others received -- except his was issued by us, via the Obama-man. Here's the door, buster. See ya. Don't wanna be ya.

I began my day today in Washington, D.C. I went to the U.S. Senate and got into their Finance Committee's hearing on the Wall Street bailout. The overseers wanted to know how the banks spent the money. And many of these banks won't tell them. They've taken trillions and nobody knows where the money went. It certainly didn't go to create jobs, relieve mortgage holders, or free up loans that people need. It was so shocking to listen to this, I had to leave before it was over. But it gave me an idea for the movie I was shooting.

Later, I stopped by the National Archives to stand in line to see the original copy of our Constitution. I thought about how twenty years ago this month I was just down the street finishing my first film, a personal plea to warn the nation about GM and the deadly economy it ruled. On that March day in 1989 I was broke, having collected the last of my unemployment checks, relying on help from my friends (Bob and Siri would take me out to dinner and always pick up the check, the assistant manager at the movie theater would sneak me in so I could watch an occasional movie, Laurie and Jack bought an old Steenbeck (editing) machine for me, John Richard would slip me an unused plane ticket so I could go home for Christmas, Rod would do anything for me and drive to Flint whenever I needed something for the film). My late mother (she would've turned 88 tomorrow if she were still with us) and my GM autoworker dad told me in the kitchen they wanted to help and handed me a check for an astounding thousand dollars. I didn't know they even had a thousand dollars. I refused it, they insisted I take it -- "No!" -- and then, in that parental voice, told me I was to cash it so I could finish my movie. I did. And I did.

So on that March day in 1989, as I was driving down Pennsylvania Avenue, my 9-year-old car just died. I coasted over to the curb, put my head down on the steering wheel and started to cry. I had no money to take it in to be repaired, and I certainly had nothing to pay the tow truck driver. So I got out, screwed the license plates off so I wouldn't be fined, turned my back and just left it there for good. I looked over at the building next to me. It said "National Archives." What better place to donate my dead car, I thought, as I walked the rest of the way home.

Though it wasn't easy for me, I still never had to suffer what so many of my friends and neighbors went through, thanks to General Motors and an economic system rigged against them. I wonder what they must have all thought when they woke up this Monday morning to read in the Detroit News or the Detroit Free Press the headlines that Obama had fired the CEO of GM. Oh -- wait a minute. They couldn't read that. There was no Free Press or News. Monday was the day that both papers ended home delivery. It was cancelled (as it will be for four days every week) because the daily newspapers, like General Motors, like Detroit, are broke.

I await the President's next superhero move.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.comMichaelMoore.com
(Go State!)

P.S. Please know that it has not been lost on any of us from the Rust Belt how our corporate bigwigs were treated (remember, the auto companies wanted a loan, not a handout) compared to how the titans of Wall Street got trillions of free cash, lunch at the White House and a photo op with the Prez. Trust me, we get it. And, if there is a God in heaven, the thieves of Wall Street will soon pay. Also... the sight of our president having to promise that he would back every GM warranty and give consumers a bonus if they trade in their old Grand Am for a hybrid, was alternately sad, hilarious, and just plain weird. This is what it's come to: the Commander in Chief of the Free World is now Mr. Goodwrench. Jeesh.