Ambient Chillout Playlist with Juggaloshane 420

Just chill with me and Juggaloshane420.
This sort of thing illustrates the positive power of the Internet.
I've never met Juggaloshane. But through this sharing, we've met on a certain level.

I've decided that I like Juggaloshane. Whatever our differences, our souls have a common wish for peace and harmony.

I could judge Shane based on the "Juggalo" or the "420" parts of his name, but I won't. Those are just identifying characteristics. 

Shane's a soul trying to navigate this difficult world. So am I.

I send him love and light.

Peace.

The Cheesy One

Dream Tree Program During Anti-Bullying Week

Maps: Let Go of the Fear

Perhaps trance music and psychedelic lighting isn't your thing, but the message is a clear one that we should all heed. LET GO OF THE FEAR! Only then can we begin to heal.

Hate is part of fear. We fear what we don't understand. Let go of the fear, let go of the hate.

Namaste.

Skepticism vs. Cynicism

 

Skepticism vs. Cynicism

by

Opal

 

The team normally uses these as prompts for flash fiction, but given the words, I was inspired to do a non-fiction bit.

 

So very often, people confuse the skeptical view with cynical bitterness. The two are not the same, and it makes me sigh to think that they have been so convoluted.

 

In this day and time, cynics have endeavored to saturate the world with naysaying and sneering mockery. To make the bold claim "I am right and all others are wrong" proves to be a grievous error in judgment time and again. It matters not whether the one making the claim proclaims the supreme might of the deity ze worships; or if the claimant is stating that there is, without a doubt, no higher power of any kind, nor nothing beyond the material Universe.

 

There is no slight difference in saying "I cannot believe something which cannot at this time be scientifically proven" and saying "If it cannot be scientifically proven at this time, it cannot in fact be true." There was a time when people believed the Earth to be flat, believed that the Earth was orbited by the Sun and all other celestial bodies, and would have laughed anyone who stated that one day people would go to the Moon out of town.

 

We are always on the threshold of new discovery. Why not unwind from the tension of the need to be right? It is not necessary to believe exactly as another believes. All is perception. Why cut down another's thoughts with a tongue like a sword?

Everything we believe is theory. Why can we all not share our theories without a need to be right, especially when it comes to subjects about which we still have so little understanding?

 

 

However, no matter what scientists proclaim, I say that Pluto will always be the ninth planet in our Solar System!

 

Namaste.

 

~Opal~

Here's a song for Pluto, and for you, dear Visitor.

Different Vantage Points on the Journey

Different Vantage Points on the Journey

by

Opal 

I wanted to comment on the post by my friend Lily regarding whether or not things can be considered magical, but what I had to say was a little too long to be a comment. 

One commenter said that ze (not sure if commenter is male or female) did not agree with Lily's assessment that it is hard to see such a troubled world as magical. Ze was respectful in zir comments. However, Teammate Illsa took zir statement to be minimizing Lily's experiences as a person traveling through the Dark Night of the Soul. 

Illsa's expression of defense of her friend and indignation at a perceived attack is a third viewpoint.

May I express the viewpoint that none of these individuals are wrong in their perceptions of the world. They are simply coming from different vantage points on their own personal journey.

GSB sees the world as full of magic. Ze is not wrong. There are many magical things in the world, and in a sense there is magic in everything. I perceive magic as being an energy. Everything has energy.

Lily sees the world as being rather a sorrowful place and is at a point where she has trouble perceiving anything as being magical or good. Lily is not wrong. The world is indeed a place of sorrow and suffering.

Illsa sees the world as being filled with threats to that which is good. She is not wrong. There is a lot to fear in the world.

What is key is to respect the fact that we are all on different parts of the journey to enlightenment, the journey away from suffering. No person's experiences will duplicate another's. We are all alone in our particular experiences. Yet we can share similarities and alleviate our loneliness.

It is what is.

Namaste.

An illustration of why spirituality is not One Size Fits All

Actually, it's just a short animation about a couple of guys and a jigsaw puzzle. But I see it as a good metaphor for why it isn't good to shove your particuar brand of religion on other people.

Theme Thursday: Magical

 

It is very difficult to believe that anything can be magical in a world which is so full of pain, suffering, and inequality.

It is hard to believe that there is anything magical when one is feeling psychological pain.

It is hard to believe that there is anything magical when some people have so much and others have nothing.

Yet in spite of being mentally ill, being betrayed time and again because I trusted the wrong people, and realizing that I will never amount to anything worthwhile.

I still have to believe that somewhere, somehow, there is something magical.

Because without this belief, there is no reason to go on.

 

Magic does exist.

Scientifically speaking, there is no such thing as magic, there is only science that we don't yet understand.

I don't say this sneeringly to belittle the idea of magic.

I'm not that sort of person.

 

The fact that the Universe exists is magic.

Being scientific does not believe that one can't believe in things that we can't yet understand.

In fact, it's rather unscientific not to believe in possibilities.

 

Peace,

Lily

 

Try your hand at Theme Thursday

Relaxing Music for Connecting with the Universal Energies

Just a Thought: The 1980's vs. The 2010's

Card and description found here.

Just a Thought: The 1980's vs. The 2010's

It's a funny thing, I make more money now than I ever made, but I am able to buy a lot less with it. I'm not idealizing the 80's. I grew up then, and plenty was wrong, and some of what was wrong then may have led to some of what is wrong now. However, people could buy a lot more for their money. Jobs were plentiful. The climate of consciousness was hopeful. Perhaps we as a whole were so taken up in living for the moment that we didn't think about the future. Then the future came and clobbered us.

~Tempest~

Beautiful Celtic Music Mix #2: The Mystery of the Circle

For meditation, creative inspiration, or just listening.

Awakening

Here's one to get the ball rolling. This is a view on the process of awakening to a higher state of mind. The narrator expresses a belief that one goes through a period of cynicism when breaking out of old dogma in order to ascend to the higher truth.

If you have things that you do that tend to put you in touch with the Higher Energies, it is not necessary to abandon those tools. Just realize that they are tools for channeling the Universal Energy.

Meditation, prayers, spell work, all these things have the same outcome: to get oneself out of the logical and analytical mind which we must rely on in order to survive in the body. Once outside this logical and analytical state, the Energy can flow freely. It is healthy to relax the analytical mind in this way, just as sleep is healthy for the body.

When in the state referred to by the narrator as Dark Night of the Soul, feel free to question, to drift on the tides. Do not put too much stock in seeking a concrete answer. In my time, I have found there is no one concrete answer. There are many paths.

Need for material goods, need for adulation, these things are the needs of the ego. One need not become a hermit and live in abject poverty. But it is imperative to question your motives on occasion. Ego-based goals never lead to happiness.

I am struggling with this right now myself. I am in the dark, but occasionally light creeps in.

Love, Light, and Peace

About Us

 

As the blog address suggests, we are seekers. To simplify, we are taking an agnostic approach to spiritual topics. We have a variety of spiritual beliefs and, while we are not working in a laboratory, we are attempting to be analytical in our approach.

We may dislike religious institutions, but we are not hateful towards those who believe in deities. Some of us do. All of us believe there is a power greater than ourselves.

We believe that skepticism is healthy, but cynicism tends to be poisonous.

We are not going to belittle religious beliefs wholesale by sneeringly comparing deities to the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, or the Tooth Fairy. We may crack wise about religious institutions, but we believe them to be more political than spiritual in any case.

There are many paths, but there is one truth. That truth must be Love, or we are all doomed.

Love our cosmos, our planet, and all dwellers thereon. Love and respect one another.

Beyond that, it's all just so much theory, which is fun to discuss.

 

Love, Light, and Peace