hope this is a safe place

[lionandlamb]

to ask the following question that weighs on me heavily, but I fear would be not received well if I were to pose it to most people. i don't know how many here have a pessimistic view of the future of this planet, as I do, but if you do share my sentiment, can I pose this obvious question:

Why are people are still having children?

Any thoughts appreciated.

[carolyn]

If you are referring to the overpopulation problem in conjunction with the many atrocities on the planet today, I wonder the same thing. My thoughts are that many feel "entitled" to have children.... that it's their "right". While I do think there are certainly some that are truly good for contributing to the preservation of our species (Cameron and Davindia for two!), I think many should think again.

[Colleen]

I can truly understand how easy it can be to slip into having a pessimistic view of the many things occurring in our world, but we have to be optimistic or how can our thoughts and actions create the changes needed in this world. Thoughts are things! We do have an overpopulation problem, but aside from that, we, all of us, are a living expression of God, The Great Spirit or whatever term you prefer to use. We were created as a way for God to express himself/herself. We were created with free will which gives us the choice to procreate or not to procreate. I understand there are those who create children and then do not love them, cherish and raise them as we would hope. I also understand there are unwanted children all over this world who have been abandoned and therefore, become orphans or street children and get caught up in the bad in this world, BUT, all of this comes out of the fact that we were given free will. We are here to learn and to grow and to overcome and learn our lessons, whatever they may be. This may be part of our Karma or our chidrens Karma. This is true for all of us and in many cases having children in this uncertain world is a part of that. Where would the future of this planet be at all if we didn't have future generations here to create these desperately needed changes. Perhaps, I am immensely idealistic, but as I see it more and more people are on intense personal spiritual paths, learning, growing, evolving and this cannot help but reach the younger generation and help to create the needed changes in this world. This is my hope for our planets future!

[lionandlamb]

for thoughtfully and non-judgmentally acknowledging my post. i hope that more join into the discussion as i really need to bounce it around and hear other's views ... this issue gives me much angst.

i fear that should i broach this topic with most people they would, at best, look at me like i was from outer space, or at worst feel i was sacriligious or an awful person for questioning something so 'sacred'. on the contrary I am an extremely empathic person, but fortunately or unfortunately, am pretty unconventional and question everything. my nephew (he's in his late 30's)recently sent me a short email that his wife is pregnant. trying to be true to myself and yet not 'rain on their parade' i replied "wow. congratulations. may you all be safe and sound". that's all i could muster.

colleen i wish i could share your idealism ... but i just don't see large sale evidence that the human race will evolve up fast enough … i think as a collective whole we are going downhill fast … there are even scientists who are saying it’s too late in terms of global warming.

i process everything that is going on the world, all the selfishness, cruelty, global warming and a dark picture is forming for me. what we do to the penguins and the polar we eventually do to ourselves don’t you think? people having babies, again, selfishness … they have a notion of what joy a child of their own seed will bring to them, but are they considering the welfare of that child?

i just don’t get what i see as major denial … to ‘stick our heads into the sand, just pretend that life is grand, and hope that everything will turn out okay’. that is what i see as true human nature.

[lionandlamb]

dick sutphen. during a health crisis i got his healing acceleration self-hypnosis video and it helped tremendously pre-and post-surgery. i get his newsletter, and while I retain a healthy skepticism about a lot of what i hear, at the same time i have a strong intuitive feeling that the metaphysical realm is a real thing.

I intend to listen to the other shows on the site (Carolyn -- will certainly catch Cameron and Davindia on your recommendation.)

[Peter (NL)]

My world view and future vision is quite different.

I recognize daily that this is the best time to have ever lived. Never in the history of human kind has there been so much abundance and opportunity. Those that can read this experience more comforts than kings of past times.

That we are shaping the world, is something we can all agree on. In some ways we realize we have shaped things into things we do not prefer. But all the time we have been manifesting this with our unbounded ability to create. It's our thoughts that lead to our feelings and actions. Every single human being has the freedom to pick thoughts, no matter what condition you put the person in. It's our thoughts that are creating the world.

Recognizing that human beings are aimed to grow, our minds are built for learning and experiencing life. As a population as a whole we learn, we create, we are shaping the world with our total sum of thoughts. And all the while it is working in perfect order, regardless if what you see are things that you do not want in your reality. We are evolving as a whole, with leaps and bounds, we fall, we get back up, we have successes, we have failures.

To say the world is doing bad - as you more or less project it lionlamb, is putting a laserlike focus on all that didn't go perfectly to our satisfaction. We get used to focussing like this. It is reflected in ours news networks. From all around the world we report all the negative occurences we do not want. When you become conditioned to look at just the negative it's easy develop a belief that the world isn't doing too good a place.

It's like looking at one word in a book that makes you shiver and don't understand. Imagine just looking at that word without ever reading on. Without reading the whole story, we can't make sense of it. And we don't recognize the brilliance of the book. We don't see all the love and the joy in the book. If you stick to looking at that single word, or that single passage. You forget about the book, you forget about the story, you don't see the whole anymore. You don't experience all the stories in the book.
And all the while you are the author of the book of life.

As children we don't know that we are writing. Children are writing without placing judgment on what we write. Children are always focussed on how the story continues and the next adventure. This is how life is ment to be.

Reality all the time is shaping perfectly in accordance to the energy we put out in terms of our thoughts, feelings and actions. Take responsibility for the energy you put out. Ask yourself the question - is the energy that you put out in accordance with what you want? Are your beliefs serving you or doing a disservice?

And for those that worry about the world: Is the energy you are putting out in accordance with how you want the world to be? Are your beliefs serving the world or proving a disservice?

So take responsibility for your energy in terms of thoughts, feelings and actions. To be able to do that you need to take part in becoming conscious of your ability to create. Let awareness lead to consciously creating the future you desire, leave judgment behind and reconnect with all those qualities children have. The playful unjudging nature of children is not a child's asset. It is innate to human beings and spirit. People need to reacquaint with that.

More and more people are becoming aware every day. What you see in the world is a reflection of that. This radiostation - the best in the world - is a reflection of that - it's geared toward breathing consciousness into people's minds. They are getting half a million visitors a month.

I agree the wake up call seems late. But we are shifting toward incredible things. That a book like 'the secret' is a bestseller portrays that we are wanting to create things better. We are moving toward thinking differently and expanding our consciousness. Let's move with our vision in mind for a better future and unchained limits.

My friend was doing a photoproject on the 6 basic emotions the face depicts crossculturally (stated by Ekman): Happy , sad, angry, fear, disgust and surprise. I was looking at the pictures and thinking. Well how many times have I put on a sad face? how many times have I put on the anger face, or the disgust face, or the fear face? If I would have to quantify it, how would it compare to the amount of times I was smiling and laughing? It's like a 1000 to 1 at the very least.

Think and stop to think how many people are smiling across the world right now. (We got 6 billion people on the planet. ) Unquantifiable.

It's just a hint. Life is abundant -

I love how ctr says it. Consciousness in action.

Life is curiousity in action.

[lionandlamb]

hi peter. thank you for your thoughts. i must say i envy all the positivity here. i do value all the wonderful ideas offered as to how an individual can be a better person and have a better life, but as a planet I do not see that we have the time to get to where we collectively would like to go.

I think it is an interesting and fair question to ask, did you all maybe have happy childhood's or something? My family was dysfunctional, not the worst not the best, parents died early/tragically, admittedly am prone to melancholy either by nature or nurture, but I do think I have the critical judgment to separate the wheat from the chaff here and don't think I'm unreasonable to view the future of this planet the way I do.

Yes there may be much abundance and opportunity in these times, brought about by a soaring technology in the last 50 years, but we have yet to solve our social problems. This makes me very sad. I see the vast majority of the human race as still very reptilian with a long way to go. Most subscribe to a dogmatic religion and call themselves spiritual, while one has nothing to do with the other. All that results are vicious cycles of divisiveness and horrific inhumanity.

It is a comfort, small though, that there are people like you and all here, who are on a higher evolutionary track, but it is the minority do you not think?

Perhaps you are correct that my view is distorted. But simply put, would you not agree that what we do to the penguins and the polar bears, we do to ourselves? Do you think we still have the luxury of time to get to being the very best we can be?

[Peter (NL)]

I love penguins.

As far a dysfunctional families are concerned, the majority of us have a dysfunctional family. Keep in mind though that what is defined as 'dysfunctional' is just an imaginary and imposed estimation that creates a false way to compare things.

But the heart of the matter is, poor childhoods, conditions and experiences don't define who we are, it simply comes down to what you are offering on an energetic level in terms of thoughts, feelings and actions.

It is easy to rationalize any type of thinking, I can see the logic in your thoughts, and they are fair. It is logical. But we can also make rational to get involved in wars. And that can seem perfectly logical.

But all these rationalisations stem from limiting beliefs. And beliefs are just things we made up. But we find us taking on beliefs that don't serve us and we limit ourselves by beliefs. The greatest people on the planet were people that moved beyond common beliefs. Everything that we take for granted for today, like the cars we drive and the planes we travel in. At the time of there invention the majority of us believed it couldn't be done. But it all started with a single person believing it could be done.

As you state - 'the soaring technology in the last 50 years - demonstrates our ability to change the world very very fast - and this is ever increasing. We have got the manifesting thing down. It takes but one mind to start changing the world. More and more people are learning the power of thought.

There are a lot of minds working on a better world.
* Multiple companies are working on clean free energy technologies. (www.steorn.com is one of them)--> we are nearing the time where we won't have to use fossil fuels or nuclear energy and we'll have more energy than we will have ever had. This is just a matter of time, and it's drawing near very very fast.
* There are groups organising communal meditation for peace. Meditating for peace has dramatic effects. A single mind can literally effect thousands of people by meditating (the famous '93 experiment: http://istpp.org/crime_prevention/). It is awe inspiring.
* There are communities being built founded on love, creativity, acceptance and connectedness. (www.damanhur.org for example) These communities will be modeled all across the world.
* we have more tools available to us than ever before. More and more people have access to it every day. Dick Sutphen delivers us a host of tools as you mentioned. And he's just the tip of the iceberg. I could write a list from here to Cape Town.
* Ben& Jerries keeps launching exciting new flavors.
* The secret is spreading like wildfire and every single person that picks up that stuff and uses it for the betterment for him or herself will ultimately make the world better. For every abundant person the worlds becomes a little more abundant.
* CTR connects with half a million visitors a month and they are growing.

Acknowledge and discover the power of your mind. The planet improves when the people on it individually improve. When people flourish because they are in tune with their passions, on an energetic level they are attracting love, gratitude, desire and creativity. It starts with yourself.

Worry never solved a thing. It's just prolonging a vibration that by law will bring return a world that is in vibration with that. All the worry about global warming, wars and poverty just prolongs its existence.

Don't worry how others think. Or wether they are doing the right thing or not. It simply comes down to the individual. It starts and ends there. So choose your thoughts, add the feeling and the actions. Move toward aligning yourself with the vibration that would be in accordance with the planet that you would like to live on.

Darkness can't make light disappear. But light in turn eliminates darkness without effort. You are in control of the 'Wattitude' - you control your lightbulbs brightness. You can do it with your mind - we all can.

And you can do it in incremental steps. Choose better feeling thoughts. Become aware of your beliefs and pick beliefs you would rather have and move toward internalizing them.

Enjoy your weekend!

ps.
and just another awe inspiring example about the power of a single mind:
www.zerolimits.info

[Colleen]

Goodmorning all! I have to agree with what Peter has written and that is not to disregard your comments lionandlamb. Many aspects of this subject are coming to mind as I read these posts and am writing my reply. I wholeheartedly agree that it is an individual thing, we individually have the power to create change; change in our individual thoughts and actions; change in our beliefs and views on life. I think we all come from what is termed a dysfunctional family, or that is what we name it. As Peter said we are not defined by that. My mother died when I was seven years old in a very tragic car accident. My father remarried and that had its sour moments and dysfunctions for 15 years. I have been through many pains and sorrows, but I do not let that define who I am at all, and I remain positive about life despite those things I have gone through. Those experiences have had a part in who I am and who I am becoming on a day to day basis. I refuse to allow myself to get caught up in or dwell on the negative aspects of this world. I know and firmly believe that 'Thoughts are things and we create with these thoughts'. I also believe that with The law of attraction, like attracts like, negative attracts negative and so on. In the past, through hurt or circumstances I have allowed myself to indulge in self-pity, and basically wallowed in my sadness about certain situations in my life. I concentrated on the negative and eventually it seemed, that is all there was. It's like a breeding ground and then eventually you see that negative thought patterns are clearly not the place to be. I am not at all saying that is where you are at lionandlamb, but I do think that being empathic you have to, for your own sake learn to practice detachment and protect yourself and your personal energy field or aura from the negativity you see and feel around you. It is just too easy to get caught up in it. I have found it takes more strength of will to stay focused on the positive, but how much better life is when you realize that you can create good in this world, even if it is just in your immediate environment, family or community. That's where it all begins. I try to do this everday with my children, some days I am more successful :), some days not so much. If every individual did this we would get where we should be as a whole. Our world is evolving and awakening to our individual, as well as, collective power and ability to make positive changes. It is occurring everyday, maybe not as outwardly noticeable as we would like, but it is indeed taking place. Lionandlamb, I too came to CTR through reading Dick Sutphen's books and more recently through his incredible cd's. I wish I had come across Dick's work earlier. He is fantastic and I highly recommend his books to you. I am not sure how long you have been interested in metaphysics, but read what you are drawn to, and keep reading and going within yourself for the answers, for they are there, and they will come, and a whole new positive place will open up for you. This being said, applying yourself to this is also necessary. As Dick says we cannot change what we do not recognize. All it takes is recognition and from there it just takes off. I am not at all judging your views or ideas, but the fact is, if we concentrate on the negative all that can come or all that we will attract is more negative. Hence, if we stay focused on the positive, we will bring more positive. Enjoy and be happy this weekend. I know I will be!

[carolyn]

I was particularly interested in the link to Damanhur but it doesn't work. Bummer. I did some searching on the internet and didn't find much but what is out there is spotty. Hadn't heard of it before but apparently it's over in Italy. I'd like to see something like that here.

Some great words, Peter! But write less next time! I don't have all day to read! :p

[admin]

Hi Carolyn

the link for Damanhur is www.damanhur.org

Cameron

[carolyn]

Thanks, Cameron. Your link worked. I don't know why Peter's didn't work. Oh well. We need to start a community here. Then I'll know where I want to move!

[lionandlamb]

thanks colleen and all for your kind responses. not too talkative right now and also digesting everything said here ... but just wanted to let you know i read your posts and even checked out the links provided. Peter -a lot of what the guy from TM said reminds of what Dyer and Chopra have to say. You prompted a reminder to myself about doing meditation by myself or in an assisted way. Has anyone here heard of, or done, the 10 day Vipassana Meditation retreat?

Colleen you were on the money about 'detachment' and i contemplate that alot in terms of the avoiding making the same mistakes i have made in life, and am cultivating that slowly. that is a very rich topic, as are all the topics here. I also looked at your artwork and liked it very much. I am an artist also (well, admittedly, a 'sometimes' artist).

Take care all.

[Colleen]

Lionandlamb, I'm glad some of what we are all talking about is providing food for thought. Also, thank you for your compliment regarding my artwork. It would be great if you brought your 'sometimes' artist out more often. I always find it so therapuetic and calming when I paint. It is like a working meditation for me. Give it a try and Take care!

[tvance]

Everyday there is a chance to stand forth in your own truth. By not buying into the media where they are promoting fear, war, and hardships ...you are helping the love, peace, and harmony frequency.

We create what we fear because we are thinking of that thought. We vibrate at fear. We attract fear. We are aiding in the destruction of Earth.

Nothing can happen to you!
You are a spiritual being and playing a virtual reality game called "Life on Earth." It feels real, but it is just a game...

We have a choice to "dream in" -- and create the new paradigm of experience here.

What feels better?
Fear or fun?
Reach for the feelings that feel better.
Defrag your mind of negative programs... then you can believe that this is a safe place!