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Dianne Eppler Adams Bringing Spirit into Everyday Life |
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SPIRIT IN MATTERS: Taking a Higher View of Life on Earth By Dianne Eppler Adams
Vol. 1, No 12 – Dec 19, 2003
GUIDING PRINCIPLES ...Ours is an interconnected, interdependent, sacred world. ...All relationships – personal, communal, national, global – are equal and best approached with fairness, respect, honesty, and compassion. ...Darkness is overcome, not by avoidance, but through shining the light of awareness on it and choosing otherwise.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` FROM THIS VANTAGE POINT...
What shall we do with Saddam?
Overriding the conversations and preparations for the holidays this week has been almost constant news, commentary and analysis about Saddam Hussein’s capture. Everyone is talking about what should happen to this despicable dictator, now humbly in captivity. Surely we don’t need one more treatise on the topic…or do we?
Let me begin by saying I am no apologist for Saddam Hussein. His inhumanity to his fellow human beings is well documented. What concerns me is the energy that’s behind the many proposals for dealing with Saddam – from secret tribunals to public hanging.
-->>If this is an interconnected world, Saddam’s fate is interconnected with my own. The punishment I envision for Saddam affects me.
That’s a tough statement to accept, I know. But in truth, the way we’d like to treat Saddam speaks loudly about how we treat ourselves for our own failings. We in essence project onto Saddam our non-accepting, unforgiving dark side...our hate and wish for revenge.
Certainly all of us have had times when we treated others badly (hopefully we’ve never sent anyone to their death). In fact, there have been moments in my life when I felt deep shame and disgust at my behavior. At those times, I would emotionally beat myself up, seeking to kill that behavior. But it didn’t work and in the end just led to low self-esteem and depression.
Now when I find myself ashamed of a word or deed, I assess how I could have acted differently and set an intention to change my behavior next time around – then I move on, forgiving myself for the error. The past is in the past and the future has a much happier potential without my carrying guilt forward.
So now where does Saddam come in? He has reportedly ordered many deaths (not unlike a dozen other despots currently in power around the globe). Hopefully, he will be given a fair, public trial and a just sentence. I personally do not favor capital punishment. Murdering a murder to me is Old Testament eye-for-an-eye behavior and you know what they say about that – “an eye-for-an-eye makes both people blind.”
I invite you to consider your thoughts about what to do with Saddam and be kinder and gentler with you own self judgments.
(Your comments are always welcome at SpiritInMatters@aol.com.)
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Buddha was once threatened with death by a bandit called Angulimal. "Then be good enough to fulfill my dying wish," said Buddha. "Cut off the branch of that tree." One slash of the sword, and it was done! "What now?" asked the bandit. "Put it back again," said Buddha. The bandit laughed. "You must be crazy to think that anyone can do that."
"On the contrary, it is you who are crazy to
think that you are mighty because
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AN INVITATION TO HEAR DIANNE SPEAK…
2004 Through Astrological Glasses – The Year Ahead Sunday, January 4, 2004, 7 PM at her home, 501 Slaters Lane #422, Alexandria, VA. $10. Call to register – (703) 548-4552
As we finish off 2003, it is natural to wonder what's ahead in the New Year. Will there be less conflict in the world? Will the economy improve? What about the elections? The major astrological alignments for the year ahead will be discussed. In this presentation, there will be clues provided for our nation and for each of us individually that hint at answers to those bigger questions.
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FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION...
SADDAM, THE GREAT DICTATOR OF FAIRY TALES
The Daily Telegraph – 12/17/03
[Dianne: Proof of his delusions and mental incapacity to really challenge the U.S.?]
Iraq's tyrant spent weeks before the war writing a novel about underground resistance, reports Jack Fairweather
Saddam Hussein spent the final weeks before the war writing a novel predicting that he would lead an underground resistance movement to victory over the Americans, rather than planning the defense of his regime.
As the war began and Saddam went into hiding 40,000 copies of Be Gone Demons! were rolling off the presses.
BATTLE TO CONTROL INTERNET THREATENS OPEN ACCESS By FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps – San Jose Mercury News http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/7495091.htm
The Internet was designed to defeat government or business control and to thwart discrimination against users, ideas or technologies. Intelligence and control were consciously placed at the ends of a non-discriminatory network. Anyone could access the Internet, with any kind of computer, for any type of application, and read or say pretty much what they wanted.
This Internet may be dying. At the behest of powerful interests, the FCC is buying into a warped vision that open networks should be replaced by closed networks and that the FCC should excuse broadband providers from longstanding non-discrimination requirements.
HARVESTING THE WIND
The Agribusiness Examiner – Dec 3, 2003
CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS: The Currency of our Democracy The Color of Money Project
[Dianne: I suggest you visit the website and look around. It may surprise you.]
Campaign money – not votes – is now the currency of our democracy, determining who runs for office, who wins, and who has the ear of elected officials. The candidate who raises the most campaign cash, more often than not, goes on to win the election.
Where does that money come from? The great amounts of cash come from neighborhoods where wealthy, non-Hispanic white populations dominate. Neighborhoods where African Americans and Latinos live are particularly underrepresented in terms of campaign dollars.
The Color of Money Project is devoted to illustrating this unfortunate fact—how a tiny elite group of privileged donors is more equal than others, and how there are direct consequences for people’s lives, from the wages they earn and the taxes they pay, to the quality of the schools their children attend and the air they breathe. We will demonstrate how Clean Money/Clean Elections campaign finance reform restores the American ideal of one person, one vote, and helps knock down barriers to participation in our democracy.
For a fun Christmas website...
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“Spirit merges with matter to sanctify the universe. Matter transcends to return to spirit. The interchangeability of matter and spirit means the starlit magic of the outermost life of our universe becomes the soul-light magic of the innermost life of our self. …We become conscious of the cosmos within us. We hear the music of peace, we hear the music of cooperation, we hear the music of love. …We realize that what affects anyone, anywhere affects everyone, everywhere. ...As we help others to heal, we heal ourselves..."
---Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Dubrovnik, Croatia, June 9, 2002
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ©2003 Spirit in Matters: Taking a Higher View of Life on Earth. All rights reserved. Permission is granted for reproduction or redistribution of the complete e-newsletter issue only. |
