Vol. 2, No 6 –
April 8, 2004
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.
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http://www.spiritinmatters.com/SIM-v2n6-40804.htm
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FROM THIS VANTAGE POINT...
Trust the Rhythms of Your Life
Life sometimes
feels like a stroll in the park on a sunny day and other times it’s like running
a marathon in a pack of thousands. One day may flow easily with feelings of
accomplishment while the next day you awaken next day out of sync and never able
to catch up.
My life has been a
marathon lately, which is why it’s been several weeks since the last issue. Of
course, there have been two trips, one to Panama and one to San Francisco, but
the real reason I haven’t written for a while is that...I am learning to trust
the rhythms of my life. I have allowed my inner urgings to tell me when to
write.
When I worked in
the corporate world at a time scheduled job, I expected myself to be productive
from 8 to 5 everyday. I now realize this was unnatural. Some days I accomplished
much and others I just goofed off. Those days I felt guilty and berated myself
to do better, achieve more the next day.
What if you trusted
the rhythms of your life? What if you let your inner urging direct your day?
Listening to your inner urge - call it guidance, soul direction or inspiration -
can result in more accomplishment and less stress since you are moving with and
not against your natural rhythm.
Sure there are
deadlines that may put requirements on just what you must do and when, but if
you look clearly at the circumstance, you probably still have more flexibility
to go with your natural flow that you have been allowing yourself. Often the
deadlines that are most stressful are actually deadlines that are self-imposed.
Learning to listen
to inner guidance about what to do today is learning to trust the rhythm of your
life. Oh, how much easier and more joyful life can be!
(Your comments are
always welcome at SpiritInMatters@aol.com.)
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“The greatest catalyst to your being able to hear your inner voice, see the
truth about yourself and the world you live in, is to simply believe you can.
Believing in yourself pulls back the curtain of illusion and allows you to see
the truth.”
---Sonia Choquette
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COMING EVENTS
The Power and Glory of Your Uniqueness
Sunday, May 16, 2004 - 10-5 PM
501 Slaters Lane #422, Alexandria, VA
Limited to 6 people - $85
Call to register (703-548-4553) and provide birth data by May 10.
Through a group astrological experience, we will explore each person’s unique
attributes, confirming the importance of honoring who we are, and acknowledging
our vital contribution to the wholeness of life. The goal is enhanced self-love,
appreciation of diversity and recognition of our unity.
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FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION...
THE WORLD'S VIEW OF
U.S.
By Howard LaFranchi,
Staff writer, The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2004/0317/p04s01-usfp.htm
A new survey of global attitudes finds the world more in tune with José Luis
Rodríguez Zapatero, the new leader of Spain, than with George W. Bush: Across
Europe and in key Muslim countries allied with the US, publics continue to hold
negative views of the US, its handling of its leadership position in the world,
and the war in Iraq.
Just as Mr. Zapatero causes waves in transatlantic relations - by calling the
war in Iraq an "error" and insisting Spain will alter its recent close relations
with the US to emphasize closer ties with the rest of Europe - the new survey by
the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press promises to feed new debate
about America's relations with the world. "The divide between the US and Europe
is only getting wider," says Carroll Doherty, editor of the Pew Research Center.
"It's beyond a question of America's image, it's now to the point where people
want action based on their opposition to the US."
On the anniversary of the war in Iraq, world opinion of the US and its policies
is in many countries worse than its already low levels of a year ago. Opinion of
the US in France and Germany is at least as negative as at the war's conclusion,
the survey finds. More marked is the plummet registered in British views. Last
year 61 percent of Britons supported joining the US in the war in Iraq - today
43 percent support the war.
The result is that even Britons want a foreign policy that is independent of the
US. "Across Europe, we found people supporting the emergence of a European Union
that can stand up and be an equal power to the US," says Mr. Doherty.
At a time when the US continues to wrangle with how to reach Muslim audiences
and improve its image with them, the survey offers a sobering picture. Support
for Osama bin Laden remains strong in countries ranging from Jordan to Pakistan
- where the Al Qaeda leader is viewed favorably by 65 percent of the population.
Doherty says a "glimmer of hope" can be seen in the fact that the percentage of
people "very unfavorable" to the US has fallen in all the Muslim countries
surveyed since last year. In Turkey for example, it fell from 68 percent to 45
percent.
CICADA INVASION:
Eastern U.S. Braces for Bug Swarm
John Roach for
National Geographic News
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0329_040329_cicadas.html
The largest group,
or brood, of periodical cicadas is set to invade the eastern U.S. from May to
June. Cicadas—insects that spend most of their lives as nymphs, burrowed
underground and sucking sap from tree roots—emerge once every 17 years,
transform into adults, reproduce, and then die.
[For a map of the
effected area, go to
http://aolsvc.aol.com/research/cicada/cicada_map.htm]
DESPITE THE
SLUGGISH ECONOMY, WELFARE ROLLS ACTUALLY SHRANK
By Robert Pear,
March 22, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/22/national/22WELF.html
In a trend that has
surprised many experts, the federal welfare rolls have declined over the last
three years, even as unemployment, poverty and the number of food stamp
recipients have surged in a weak economy.
After Congress
overhauled the nation's welfare system in 1996, the number of families receiving
benefits dropped much faster than federal and state officials had expected. Even
more remarkable, officials say, the rolls did not grow during the recession of
2001 or the sluggish economy since.
In fact, in the
last three years, the number of families on welfare has declined slightly, to
two million, which is less than half the number receiving public assistance when
President Bill Clinton signed the welfare law in August 1996.
Experts suggest
many reasons. People work harder to find jobs before seeking public assistance.
Welfare recipients have learned job skills and a work ethic. States provide
child care and other non-cash help so they can keep jobs after leaving welfare.
And, some experts say, new rules and requirements may intimidate poor people
from seeking welfare.
THE MAGIC REVOLVING
DOOR ILLUSTRATED
First take a bunch of corporate cash and buy a seat in Congress...
By Matt Wuerker
http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/properties/Wuerker/art_images/243LT_lr.jpg
[Click through to a
cartoon that would be funnier if it weren’t so truth.]
SCIENCE ON VERGE OF
NEW 'CREATION''
Labs say they have
nearly all the tools to make artificial life
By Ronald Kotulak,
Tribune science reporter
March 28 2004
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/chi-
More than 3.5 billion years after nature transformed
non-living matter into living things, populating Earth with a cornucopia of
animals and plants, scientists say they are finally ready to try their hand at
creating life.
If they succeed, humanity will enter a new age of "living technology," where
harnessing the power of life to spontaneously adapt to complex situations could
solve problems that now defy modern engineering.
Scientists eagerly talk of a new world of ultra-small living machines, where
marvelously made-to-order cells heal the body, clean up pollutants, transform
electronics and communication, and much more.
The researchers say it may be possible to make sweaters that mend themselves. Or
computers that fix their own glitches.
Though some experts see this new technology as providing unlimited benefits,
others worry about the moral appropriateness of human-made life and the
introduction of new species with the potential to evolve into creatures that
could run amok.
... Unlike any other technology invented by humans,
creating artificial life will be as jarring to our concepts of ourselves as
discovering living creatures on other planets in the universe would be. It also
would bring into sharper focus the age-old questions of "What is life?" and
"Where do we come from?"
"The ability to make new forms of life from scratch--molecular living systems
from chemicals we get from a chemical supply store--is going to have a profound
impact on society, much of it positive, but some of it potentially negative,"
said Mark Bedau, professor of philosophy and humanities at Reed College in
Portland, Ore., and editor-in-chief of the Artificial Life Journal.
"Aside from the vast scientific insights that will come, there will be vast
commercial and economic benefits, so much so that it's hard to contemplate in
concrete detail what many of them will be," he said.
But the first artificial life also is likely to shock people's religious and
cultural belief systems.
"People from many different backgrounds have special views about what life is:
how it originates, the special sanctity it has, the special dignity it
deserves," Bedau said. "The ability to make new forms of life will perturb all
of that. We need to think through the implications and how we are going to react
to them."
THE MEDICARE ROAD
SHOW VIDEO
Families USA
Walter Cronkite
looks at the new Medicare drug law with personal stories from seniors.
http://www.familiesusa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Medicare_Road_Show_video
Calculate Your
Costs under the New Medicare Rx Drug Law
http://www.familiesusa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=medicare_calc
[If you are a loved
one is trying to make sense of this new legislation, you may find these two
links useful.]
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“Evil (ignorance)
is like a shadow-it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of
light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stomp on
it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical
resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on
it.”
---Shakti Gawain
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©2004 Spirit in Matters: Taking a Higher View of Life on Earth - 501 Slaters
Lane #422, Alexandria, VA 22314. All rights reserved. Permission is granted
for reproduction or redistribution of the e-newsletter in its entirety only.
