Came across a great website which hopefully to later share and found this Rumi poem that I haven't come across before. Enjoy!

Breathing

Hello everyone, hopefully you all are well!

Haven't blogged in months, nor have I been on Gaia much this past year. Been putting most of my energy towards my job (consultant at Meltwater News and my girlfriend Jackie.

All of my old interests have remained- photography, guitar etc... but they have unfortunately taken a backseat.

However, I am reading an interesting book called Psycho-Kinesis: Moving Matter with the Mind by a NASA fellow from the 70s, Adrian V. Clark. It has got me thinking on a variety of fronts:

• Adrian reference's Stewart White's 'The Unobstructed Universe' several times  - I read it over 2 years ago and it gave me what I found to be the most intriguing introduction to what life after death may be like.

• Photons photons photons. I believe one of the next scientific revolutions will be a pushing past the dogma of bio-chemical theory into coherence (bio-photonic) theory that realizes we (i.e. cells) communicate faster than chemical and even elelctric signals. That implies that we are comprised of fields of light, and our biochemistry reflects that; we do not originate from the mere 'collocation of atoms!' Much more on this down the line...
  

• Psychic phemonena seem to be real. I have never witnessed anything 'paranormal', but I have experienced enough synchronicities to realize that we are arising from an intelligence far beyond our own that has natural laws we have yet to understand and abide by. Not aliens, not the word 'God', but from  the light and life inside us that we have yet to unfurl.

As always, not enough time in the day...so much more I'd like to say! :)

-Still haven't written the Ken WIlber/Alex Jones thoughts. Or the Ken Wilber/integral politcs/terrorism/globaldemocracy/global slavery post either. Last may be the Ken Wilber/subtle enery/astral plane/biophotons one.

-Still trying to figure out how to live (read: pay the bills) in a world that's gone mad. I need to lead the world but I have yet to lead myself...that's where Jackie has helped me tremendously :)

-Sensuality reflects biophotonic coherence/wellness and aliveness and growth/challenging the boundaries (of the body/mind)/status quo. That's why sexuality is so regulated and perverted in our society. But such a fine line between throwing ourselves in the light and compromising our spirit...we have to find a way to grow in love!

Got to go! Take care everyone. Much love and peace

Hi Everyone!

Hopefully life is treating everyone well. As always, there's not enough time in the day...been working hard and focusing most of my energy on Meltwater News.

Going to Austin Social Innoator Network's first meeting tomorrow!

Camping at Enchanted Rock this saturday! It's supposed to be 80+ and not a cloud in the sky :)

Just watched Alex Jones' newest movie called 'the Obama Deception' this evening...still mulling things over in my head.

I hope to write a challenging post combining Wilber and Alex Jones...we'll see how that comes out.

In the mean time, peace and love!

Hello again!

Here's a poem I've been going over recently:

Interesting and rousing speech from Rep. Marcy Kapture.

Now on to Amy Goodman.


"Civil unrest and crowd control...nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous crowds."


This potential move by the U.S. government would indicate a step towards martial law, and unfortunately this does not surprise me. I'm holding my breath and am not going to make any political statements on this issue until it actually happens.

In light of how corporatized and mediasized the current presidential race is, I am fearful that martial law creeping in will go relatively unnoticed and unchecked.

Good night and good luck.

Ah, the working life. What a strange world it is. You never know where the world will take you, but you wake up each day and off you go.

With that being said, blessings and good luck to C4Chaos, who now no longer works for Gaia. He introduced me to this website back when it was Zaadz.

Today was my 11th day of work. It's fun, challenging, and still new. Without boring you with details, Meltwater News is a forward thinking company as it offers tools that track 'business critical information' (think google search engine for media analysis) for essentially anyone who finds the service valuable. Our clients range from the biggest companies in the world to the smallest, from non-profits to actual people. After graduating and deciding not to pursue a Doctorate in Psychology, I hoped to find a company that aligned with my values. Not easy. However, I get to decide which companies I go after (aka cold call!). It seems like a harsh business but I have genuine interest in helping alternative energy/health companies, nanotech, etc..So I hope to do well learning how to help businesses I believe in. If you have any companies that you think could use our services, please let me know, I would love to see if I can help!

I now live in southwest Austin and so I'm 15 - 35 minutes away (depending on traffic) from work and my girlfriend. Bummer. However, my girlfriend's place (co-op I used to live at) is less than 10 minutes away from work, so I often find myself sleeping there. I am certainly now in another  transition phase, as I am in the process of selling my mom's expedition and purchasing a civic of my own. I am also in the process of finding an apartment closer to my office downtown.

My life is strange...I am juggling the new 'young professional mentality' while still living out the 'college co-op crazy' dream...doing fine so far but probably not getting enough sleep!

I haven't been pursuing any integral practice as of late, only decently healthy eating and weightlifting 3x a week. I find myself very satisfied physically and emotionally with my girlfriend, but I have not been focusing on intellectually or spiritually growing as of late.


Some fun stuff though:

- Rockclimbing at the Greenbelt
- Free nutrition presentation and one on one follow up with Whole Food's In-house nutrionist Carly.
- Jamming around the co-op, sometimes with the drums.


I also received a gift certificate from amazon, so I bought 3 books:

Walden by Thoreau

Think on These Things by Jiddu Krishnamurti

Awareness Through Movement: Easy to Do Health Exercises to Improve Posture, Vision, Imagination, and Personal Awareness by Feldenkrais

I haven't received them yet, and I'm still not finished with Spiral Dynamics by Beck and Cohen. Almost though...

Anyways, I am finished with my fairly convoluted personal update. Say hello if you like.

Much love and peace...

I find myself surrounded by a lot of excitement these transitory days. I picked up my girlfriend Jackie from Houston on Saturday and I helped her move back in to 21st St. Co-op, where we met and lived last school year. With moving came swimming in the next door co-op's (and co-owned) pool, a trip to the annual Austin Hot Sauce Festival, and a sort of family reunion of the 50ish people I know who still live there.

For the past few days, I have been hanging out with Jackie and staying around the co-op while I am also looking to trade cars (Mom's expedition-bleh for a civic). Fun activities have included a raucous costume party to welcome the new members, free bouldering (for the first week of school) at the UT Gregory gym, playing classical guitar (Jackie's roommate has one), and general revelry and reunion.

Job starts this Tuesday.

Before then I plan to have a shiny newish civic and go camping with Jackie. I bought a REI Halfdome 2 HC tent (it was backordered so I hope it arrives by tomorrow), and Jackie just received her Z2 Chacos and a pocket rocket! 

Much love and peace to all in this mad world.

Saturday was the full moon midnight bike ride in Austin. I arrived a few minutes late, but we didn't take off until a little after 12:30. What a blast! The hills in Austin are challenging, especially when your back tire keeps deflating (luckily one of my friends had a portable pump), but the overall experience was great! We started off with probably 100 - 125 riders, and ended up around 3 45 am (after 3 or 4 10ish minute stops) at someone's house. After a little deliberation, we headed over to Kerby Lane, an Austin 24-hr classic diner. I didn't get home until a little after 5 am, but since my job doesn't start until September 2, I'm okay.

I also just bought a domain and web hosting service, so I'll be rolling out a photography website, hopefully in the next month or so. Stay tuned!

Much peace and love.

[from the New Yorker]


Check out this amazing story I found on Digg.com:

The Chameleon

The many lives of Frédéric Bourdin.

From the article

...At police headquarters, he admitted that he was Frédéric Bourdin, and that in the past decade and a half he had invented scores of identities, in more than fifteen countries and five languages. His aliases included Benjamin Kent, Jimmy Morins, Alex Dole, Sladjan Raskovic, Arnaud Orions, Giovanni Petrullo, and Michelangelo Martini. News reports claimed that he had even impersonated a tiger tamer and a priest, but, in truth, he had nearly always played a similar character: an abused or abandoned child. He was unusually adept at transforming his appearance—his facial hair, his weight, his walk, his mannerisms. “I can become whatever I want,” he liked to say. In 2004, when he pretended to be a fourteen-year-old French boy in the town of Grenoble, a doctor who examined him at the request of authorities concluded that he was, indeed, a teen-ager. A police captain in Pau noted, “When he talked in Spanish, he became a Spaniard. When he talked in English, he was an Englishman.” Chadourne said of him, “Of course, he lied, but what an actor!”

Over the years, Bourdin had insinuated himself into youth shelters, orphanages, foster homes, junior high schools, and children’s hospitals. His trail of cons extended to, among other places, Spain, Germany, Belgium, England, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Bosnia, Portugal, Austria, Slovakia, France, Sweden, Denmark, and America. The U.S. State Department warned that he was an “exceedingly clever” man who posed as a desperate child in order to “win sympathy,” and a French prosecutor called him “an incredible illusionist whose perversity is matched only by his intelligence.” Bourdin himself has said, “I am a manipulator. . . . My job is to manipulate.”

In Pau, the authorities launched an investigation to determine why a thirty-year-old man would pose as a teen-age orphan. They found no evidence of sexual deviance or pedophilia; they did not uncover any financial motive, either. “In my twenty-two years on the job, I’ve never seen a case like it,” Eric Maurel, the prosecutor, told me. “Usually people con for money. His profit seems to have been purely emotional.”

On his right forearm, police discovered a tattoo. It said “caméléon nantais”—“Chameleon from Nantes.”

Incredible...the well written article offers an exciting and stunning read so check out the rest.

This evening I attended my first personal development group meetup in Austin. As I mentioned last post, James Norris hosts the meetup and facilitates activities and discussion. He did a great job. I'd like to share with you the basic format of the event and my thoughts.

18th Meetup: Passion and Achievement

First things first - last meeting they assigned a 'homework' task, which was to "create something physical that highlights your life's passions/loves and/or achievements." Well that was perfect timing because I just produced and received in the mail my first DIY book of poetry, entitled Mirror of Fire. You're welcome to purchase it from wordclay's website if you feel so inclined ;) It needs editing and further work but it's online! The next part of the homework I identified my major passions/loves. I made it quite simple, and the categories overlap significantly:

Nature - camping/hiking/etc, being outdoors

Sport - soccer, tennis, etc > competition and self/team motivation

Science (upper left and upper right quadrants)
     Inner > contemplation/introspection, the nature of being
    Outer > different contours of reality, integration of knowledge in "broad orienting generalizations",

Exploration - life consists of unending new-ness, inherent mysteriousness, and adventure, which is very cool

Art - self-expression, creativity

After introductions, we did an optional group sharing event where we share a recent accomplishment. I said that I graduated college! I got a few laughs and claps for that (I believe I was 2nd youngest of the 10 of us).

The meat of the meetup focused on discussing passion and achievement. We shared our creations (book of poetry, etc) and spent time discussing our homework. At this time the diversity of age and experience really came through. One person wanted to design a geriatric living solution that doesn't compromise a person's autonomy. Another wanted to overcome shyness and guilt.

The highlight for me was exchanging info on upcoming interesting events.

On August 30th, the "Badass Adventures" meetup is receiving a tour/consulting session of Whole Foods (downtown Austin) from in-house nutritionist Carly Pollack. Sounds interesting huh?

A member of the Austin Neuro Lingustic Programming (NLP) meetup also attends this development group, and they are hosting Tom Best in a talk entitled 'Shamanism, NLP and the Alchemy of Energy' on the 26th of August. That's an enticing headline!

I can't say that I'll go to both (or either) of these events, but anyone in the Austin area is welcome to go - check out meetup.com to learn more. If I do go, I will blog about it and let y'all know how it went!

That's all for now. Much love and peace.