As I posted on Feb.20, Patanjali stated that the resulting confident knowledge-of-self can motivate an individual to be that ethical step needed for the solution to Golding's warning about man's potential for brutality to his fellow man.
Coincidentally, there were a number of Greek philosophies talking the same rap. which were very important during New Testament times. Perhaps the greatest philosopher in the world's history was Socrates with his motto, "know thyself". Socrates tried to help people look inside themselves and search out the basic questions about life. But his searching questions, with no easy answers, made a lot of people irritated with him. They felt that he was corrupting the youth. He ought to stick with teaching the right ideas, and leave all those questions alone.
I say no, do not stop the questioning! What do you think?
Friday, February 27, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
What William Golding Meant
If you remember the terrific movie Lord of the Flies you'll also remember shaking your head to hopefully sort it all out .
Golding says it best in a quote I recently came across:
"The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system, however apparently logical or respectable."
The story serves as a warning of man's potential for brutality to his fellow man.
The great Indian sage Patanjali, over 1500 years ago, composed a series of aphorisms, or Sutras, to explain Yoga to his contemporaries. They become, however, a practical aid to the spiritual life: an aid that can be used by the devotees of any religion or as an enhancement to the evolving of theories in psychology. The results of absorbing these "threads" of life, can shape a person's conduct profoundly. The resulting confident knowledge-of-self can motivate an individual to be that ethical step needed for the solution to Golding's warning.
...more to follow
Golding says it best in a quote I recently came across:
"The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system, however apparently logical or respectable."
The story serves as a warning of man's potential for brutality to his fellow man.
The great Indian sage Patanjali, over 1500 years ago, composed a series of aphorisms, or Sutras, to explain Yoga to his contemporaries. They become, however, a practical aid to the spiritual life: an aid that can be used by the devotees of any religion or as an enhancement to the evolving of theories in psychology. The results of absorbing these "threads" of life, can shape a person's conduct profoundly. The resulting confident knowledge-of-self can motivate an individual to be that ethical step needed for the solution to Golding's warning.
...more to follow
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
What Does it Mean to Live in the Desert?
Why would anybody do that?
Perhaps these are reasons to do it; to know exactly who you are, where you are going, and what is your purpose in life?
But can we go from total unawareness to full consciousness this way. Is it possible?
Okay, I think you can. But first you must create your own desert. The desert of the mind, isolated from the sprawl of other minds. This requires to live differently. To be your purpose, to be your message...to proclaim your message!
Of course what I'm getting at is the "vegan message". Having it heard is a constant struggle against the current tide of the times, culture and society we live in today. Let's face it, you won't see vegan Boca burgers being advertised during the Super Bowl!
What does it mean to live in this desert? Like it or not, it isn't always comfortable having to remind people to respect animal life. You have to be counter cultural, standing up against society
risking peace for a bout of arguing.
Tell me, why in the world must eating a plant be soooo much in need of defense over eating some chicken's knuckle, or pigs tongue?
All we ask is a life based on good conduct and reason. Yes, reason. C'mon...reasonable living already. Healthy living.
How far into the desert must we go to get away from the atrocities?
As Tolstoy says in his 1885 treatise called, My Religion:
"This life you can use by living in conformity to reason, or you can waste it by living in opposition to reason..."
I think it still holds true today.
I want more people to think about going vegan. It's not that hard. Really. I mean, ice skating is harder you know.
Join me. Join the many.
You are NOT incapable of reason!
Perhaps these are reasons to do it; to know exactly who you are, where you are going, and what is your purpose in life?
But can we go from total unawareness to full consciousness this way. Is it possible?
Okay, I think you can. But first you must create your own desert. The desert of the mind, isolated from the sprawl of other minds. This requires to live differently. To be your purpose, to be your message...to proclaim your message!
Of course what I'm getting at is the "vegan message". Having it heard is a constant struggle against the current tide of the times, culture and society we live in today. Let's face it, you won't see vegan Boca burgers being advertised during the Super Bowl!
What does it mean to live in this desert? Like it or not, it isn't always comfortable having to remind people to respect animal life. You have to be counter cultural, standing up against society
risking peace for a bout of arguing.
Tell me, why in the world must eating a plant be soooo much in need of defense over eating some chicken's knuckle, or pigs tongue?
All we ask is a life based on good conduct and reason. Yes, reason. C'mon...reasonable living already. Healthy living.
How far into the desert must we go to get away from the atrocities?
As Tolstoy says in his 1885 treatise called, My Religion:
"This life you can use by living in conformity to reason, or you can waste it by living in opposition to reason..."
I think it still holds true today.
I want more people to think about going vegan. It's not that hard. Really. I mean, ice skating is harder you know.
Join me. Join the many.
You are NOT incapable of reason!
Friday, January 23, 2009
You are the only answer
Of all the people you will know in a lifetime, you are the only one you will never leave or lose.
To the question of your life, you are the only answer.
To the problems of your life, you are the only solution.
Jo Coudert
Advice from a Failure
Scroll down on right side, below Profile, to read more.
To the question of your life, you are the only answer.
To the problems of your life, you are the only solution.
Jo Coudert
Advice from a Failure
Scroll down on right side, below Profile, to read more.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Wow...What an Awesome MeetUp!!!
This was a MeetUp experience not to be missed! The food was awesome, and the gathering of so many like-minded people in one place just fortified, once again, fortified ,and enriched ;-) our goal to convert the world over to a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle! Right?! I'm glad we finally got a description from the waiter on the mysterious, doughnut-shaped item, later identified as Taro Root, because it was delicious and we want to go buy some. Our table became very engaged in lively talk and thanks to the efforts of Joyce and Jeff supplying us with Name Tags made it easy to interact precisely. (is that even possible?) We wish Dave good luck on his goal to open up a fast-food vegan/vegetarian restaurant, tentatively named by Joyce as, No Bull.
That Delicious and Mysterious Doughnut-shaped Object was 
taro root
[ TAHR-oh; TEHR-oh ]
A starchy, potato-like tuber with a brown, fibrous skin and gray-white (sometimes purple-tinged) flesh. Taro is grown in tropical areas and is an important starchy food in West Africa, the Caribbean and Polynesian islands. A variety of taro grown in the southern United States since the early 1900s is called dasheen. Taro roots range in length from about 5 inches to a foot or more, and can be several inches wide. Though acrid-tasting in its raw state, the root has a somewhat nutlike flavor when cooked. It's also extremely easy to digest. It should be noted, however, that some varieties are highly toxic unless thoroughly cooked. The taro root has large edible leaves (called callaloo in the Caribbean) which can be prepared and eaten like mustard or turnip greens. Taro root can be found in ethnic markets and some specialty produce stores. Choose roots that are firm and smooth and refrigerate up to 4 days. Much like the potato, the taro root may be prepared in a variety of ways including boiling, frying and baking. In Hawaii, it's used to make the famous (or infamous) POI.
[ TAHR-oh; TEHR-oh ]
A starchy, potato-like tuber with a brown, fibrous skin and gray-white (sometimes purple-tinged) flesh. Taro is grown in tropical areas and is an important starchy food in West Africa, the Caribbean and Polynesian islands. A variety of taro grown in the southern United States since the early 1900s is called dasheen. Taro roots range in length from about 5 inches to a foot or more, and can be several inches wide. Though acrid-tasting in its raw state, the root has a somewhat nutlike flavor when cooked. It's also extremely easy to digest. It should be noted, however, that some varieties are highly toxic unless thoroughly cooked. The taro root has large edible leaves (called callaloo in the Caribbean) which can be prepared and eaten like mustard or turnip greens. Taro root can be found in ethnic markets and some specialty produce stores. Choose roots that are firm and smooth and refrigerate up to 4 days. Much like the potato, the taro root may be prepared in a variety of ways including boiling, frying and baking. In Hawaii, it's used to make the famous (or infamous) POI.
See this link for a few pictures and a description of the experience at the latest vegan MeetUp held a Green Melody!
Please leave a comment either here or there. I'd love to talk about it!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Green Melody Vegan Invasion!
Going to the big MeetUp today with my daughter, Bridget (27 weeks pregnamt) and my wife Karen.
Should be over 40 people. I'll give you a review tomorrow.
Jan 18
Sun 2:00 PM
Location
Green Melody
519 N BroadwayJericho, NY 11753516-681-5715
Should be over 40 people. I'll give you a review tomorrow.
Jan 18
Sun 2:00 PM
Location
Green Melody
519 N BroadwayJericho, NY 11753516-681-5715
Thursday, January 15, 2009
We're Animals
“We’re animals — mammals,” she’s fond of saying. “Our deepest memories are of Earth. I think we forget, but reconnect with those ancestral memories when we go out into nature. We remember that everything is interrelated. Nothing stands alone.”
Nature writer Terry Tempest Williams challenges us to take part in spirited conversation and honest storytelling.
In Williams’ mind, both storytelling and listening are intimately linked to the land. “There are other languages being spoken by the wind, water and wings,” she continues reading. “I want to speak the language of the grasses, rooted yet soft and supple in the presence of wind before a storm. I want to write in the form of migratory geese like an arrow pointing south toward a direction of safety. Listen. Below us. Above us. Inside us.” She pauses, then adds, “If we listen to the land, we will know what to do.”
“What I mean is that if we allow ourselves contemplative time in nature — whether it’s gardening, going for a walk with the dog, or being in the heart of the southern Utah wilderness — then we can hear the voice of our conscience. If we listen to that voice, it asks us to be conscious. And if we become conscious we choose to live lives of consequence.”
Nature writer Terry Tempest Williams challenges us to take part in spirited conversation and honest storytelling.
In Williams’ mind, both storytelling and listening are intimately linked to the land. “There are other languages being spoken by the wind, water and wings,” she continues reading. “I want to speak the language of the grasses, rooted yet soft and supple in the presence of wind before a storm. I want to write in the form of migratory geese like an arrow pointing south toward a direction of safety. Listen. Below us. Above us. Inside us.” She pauses, then adds, “If we listen to the land, we will know what to do.”
“What I mean is that if we allow ourselves contemplative time in nature — whether it’s gardening, going for a walk with the dog, or being in the heart of the southern Utah wilderness — then we can hear the voice of our conscience. If we listen to that voice, it asks us to be conscious. And if we become conscious we choose to live lives of consequence.”
Percy and Mary
I didn't know this about the Shelleys (Percy Bysshe and wife Mary, who wrote Frankenstein)
WOW!!!:
From Wikipedia- "Vegetarianism
Both Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley were strong advocates of vegetarianism. Shelley wrote several essays on the subject, the most prominent of which being "A Vindication of Natural Diet" and "On the Vegetable System of Diet".
Shelley, in heartfelt dedication to sentient beings, wrote: "If the use of animal food be, in consequence, subversive to the peace of human society, how unwarrantable is the injustice and the barbarity which is exercised toward these miserable victims. They are called into existence by human artifice that they may drag out a short and miserable existence of slavery and disease, that their bodies may be mutilated, their social feelings outraged. It were much better that a sentient being should never have existed, than that it should have existed only to endure unmitigated misery"; "Never again may blood of bird or beast/ Stain with its venomous stream a human feast,/ To the pure skies in accusation steaming"; and "It is only by softening and disguising dead flesh by culinary preparation that it is rendered susceptible of mastication or digestion, and that the sight of its bloody juices and raw horror does not excite intolerable loathing and disgust."
Shelley was a strong advocate for social justice for the 'lower classes'. He witnessed many of the same mistreatments occurring in the domestication and slaughtering of animals, and he became a fighter for the rights of all living creatures that he saw being treated unjustly."
WOW!!!:
From Wikipedia- "Vegetarianism
Both Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley were strong advocates of vegetarianism. Shelley wrote several essays on the subject, the most prominent of which being "A Vindication of Natural Diet" and "On the Vegetable System of Diet".
Shelley, in heartfelt dedication to sentient beings, wrote: "If the use of animal food be, in consequence, subversive to the peace of human society, how unwarrantable is the injustice and the barbarity which is exercised toward these miserable victims. They are called into existence by human artifice that they may drag out a short and miserable existence of slavery and disease, that their bodies may be mutilated, their social feelings outraged. It were much better that a sentient being should never have existed, than that it should have existed only to endure unmitigated misery"; "Never again may blood of bird or beast/ Stain with its venomous stream a human feast,/ To the pure skies in accusation steaming"; and "It is only by softening and disguising dead flesh by culinary preparation that it is rendered susceptible of mastication or digestion, and that the sight of its bloody juices and raw horror does not excite intolerable loathing and disgust."
Shelley was a strong advocate for social justice for the 'lower classes'. He witnessed many of the same mistreatments occurring in the domestication and slaughtering of animals, and he became a fighter for the rights of all living creatures that he saw being treated unjustly."
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Prescription Recommends "Food"
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Is there a 1/4-pounder lurking somewhere?
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