Sally Heppleston
January 7, 2010
AT AGE 29, ex-nanny and yoga lover Amanda is in a rut.
Amanda is an unlucky-in-love yoga teacher who writes "For Idiots" travel guides to make a living.
Fed up with her photographer boyfriend who refuses to settle down, she embarks on a journey to India, the birthplace of yoga, to research spiritual enlightenment.
She is hoping her travels will turn her into the serene and centred woman she's always wanted to be.
After finally setting foot in India, Amanda suddenly realises enlightenment isn't exactly what she thought it was. In fact, most of India is nothing like she'd pictured.
She travels from yoga centres to ashrams to Buddhist temples on a quest for true awakening, but her illusions fade with each new and strange yoga teacher she meets.
Throughout her travels through India, Amanda is forced to look deep within herself for the answers she has been seeking from yogic masters.
Author Anne Cushman is a contributing editor to a yoga journal and she co-directs a meditation training program.
Enlightenment for Beginners is her first novel.
This witty, sassy and at times hilarious novel will appeal to female readers who find great escapism in "chick flicks" and television shows, such as Sex and the City
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Video Game Looking for Spiritual Enlightenment - Not!
When it was announced that Visceral Games, the company behind Dead Space was going to tackle a video game adaptation of Inferno, the first part of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, there was plenty of (understandable) doubt that it would translate well between formats. After all, how can a huge, metaphorical and spiritual journey translate into a third-person action game?
Let’s not mince words as far as the changes made to the source material, as anyone looking for an accurate portrayal of Dante’s journey through the netherworld with the poet Virgil will be sorely disappointed. I’m not going to go deep into spoiler territory just yet, but Dante has a far more cliché reason to journey through the underworld than spiritual enlightenment...a girl.
That’s right, Dante now has to chase the spirit of his lady-love through Hell and face off against its army in the process (while being the best damn God of War clone you’ve ever played). Visceral has worked some programming magic to ensure that the frame rate never drops below a silken 60 frames per second, and it’s really quite exhilarating, if familiar. Veterans of Kratos’ journeys will find themselves settling in with Dante almost immediately, with a bony scythe (a weapon Dante procured after killing Death) replacing the Blades of Chaos quite nicely.
http://www.fearnet.com/news/reviews/b17840_first_impressions_dantersquos_inferno.html
Let’s not mince words as far as the changes made to the source material, as anyone looking for an accurate portrayal of Dante’s journey through the netherworld with the poet Virgil will be sorely disappointed. I’m not going to go deep into spoiler territory just yet, but Dante has a far more cliché reason to journey through the underworld than spiritual enlightenment...a girl.
That’s right, Dante now has to chase the spirit of his lady-love through Hell and face off against its army in the process (while being the best damn God of War clone you’ve ever played). Visceral has worked some programming magic to ensure that the frame rate never drops below a silken 60 frames per second, and it’s really quite exhilarating, if familiar. Veterans of Kratos’ journeys will find themselves settling in with Dante almost immediately, with a bony scythe (a weapon Dante procured after killing Death) replacing the Blades of Chaos quite nicely.
http://www.fearnet.com/news/reviews/b17840_first_impressions_dantersquos_inferno.html
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Hollywood Selling Spiritual Movies
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123102973.html?hpid=sec-religion
By Robert W. Butler
Sunday, January 3, 2010
It's everywhere at the multiplex these days: religion. Or if that word makes you uncomfortable, you can go with the more general "spirituality."
In movies as varied as the dead serious "The Road," the uplifting family picture "The Blind Side," the biting comedy "The Invention of Lying" and even James Cameron's sci-fi opus "Avatar," issues of faith and morality and mankind's place in the universe are all the rage.
Not all of these movies embrace religion. Some question human gullibility. Some ask for evidence of a higher purpose in what often seems a random universe. But whether they encourage prayer or doubt, they're all part of the zeitgeist.
But why now?
"There are two schools of thought about that," said Greg Wright, an editor at HollywoodJesus.com, which examines popular culture from a religious perspective.
"The more paranoid elements of our culture tend to think Hollywood has a proactive agenda, that producers have a grand scheme to use movies to shape the thinking of audiences. I don't subscribe to that school.
"I believe that Hollywood gives audiences what audiences want to see. If people don't want to see movies with certain messages, they won't buy tickets.
"So if there's a trend out there, it's one reflecting what people are already thinking and feeling," Wright said.
No coincidenceAnd what are we thinking?
Sister Rose Pacatte, who reviews movies for the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Los Angeles, said it isn't mere coincidence that a new animated version of Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" came along in 2009. The film was released in the wake of an economic crisis fueled by greedy self-interest on an unprecedented scale, she said.
"Being a good man of business will not save your soul. That's an essential message of 'A Christmas Carol' and one emphasized by this version," she said.
Dickens's tale may have little to say about God and Jesus, but it stresses charity and the dangers of poverty and ignorance, she said.
By Robert W. Butler
Sunday, January 3, 2010
It's everywhere at the multiplex these days: religion. Or if that word makes you uncomfortable, you can go with the more general "spirituality."
In movies as varied as the dead serious "The Road," the uplifting family picture "The Blind Side," the biting comedy "The Invention of Lying" and even James Cameron's sci-fi opus "Avatar," issues of faith and morality and mankind's place in the universe are all the rage.
Not all of these movies embrace religion. Some question human gullibility. Some ask for evidence of a higher purpose in what often seems a random universe. But whether they encourage prayer or doubt, they're all part of the zeitgeist.
But why now?
"There are two schools of thought about that," said Greg Wright, an editor at HollywoodJesus.com, which examines popular culture from a religious perspective.
"The more paranoid elements of our culture tend to think Hollywood has a proactive agenda, that producers have a grand scheme to use movies to shape the thinking of audiences. I don't subscribe to that school.
"I believe that Hollywood gives audiences what audiences want to see. If people don't want to see movies with certain messages, they won't buy tickets.
"So if there's a trend out there, it's one reflecting what people are already thinking and feeling," Wright said.
No coincidenceAnd what are we thinking?
Sister Rose Pacatte, who reviews movies for the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Los Angeles, said it isn't mere coincidence that a new animated version of Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" came along in 2009. The film was released in the wake of an economic crisis fueled by greedy self-interest on an unprecedented scale, she said.
"Being a good man of business will not save your soul. That's an essential message of 'A Christmas Carol' and one emphasized by this version," she said.
Dickens's tale may have little to say about God and Jesus, but it stresses charity and the dangers of poverty and ignorance, she said.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Spiritual Film Maker a Coming
By Chris Lee
January 3, 2010
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Call the RZA hip-hop's foremost alchemist. The self-professed former drug dealer-turned-Grammy-winning rapper-producer has defied all odds to spin not lead into gold, but démodé pop culture and arcane philosophical beliefs into platinum disc upon platinum disc.
And now, after spending years under the tutelage of several high-profile filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, he's preparing to unleash his unique mash-up sensibility on the big screen, in a project that will be part chop-socky flick, part spaghetti western and all RZA.
As founding father of the hard-core Staten Island rap collective Wu-Tang Clan, RZA (pronounced "rizza," given name: Robert Diggs) conflated the spiritual enlightenment found in '70s kung fu movies with racially incendiary teachings from the Five-Percent Nation of Islam, adding to the mix references to Taoism and comic books, numerology and snippets of mafia don movie dialogue, articulating a plaintive yet hard-bitten ghetto cri de coeur.
The upshot was an almost unparalleled string of hits that started with the Clan's epochal 1993 debut LP, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)," and encompasses such releases as Method Man's multiplatinum-selling "Tical," Raekwon the Chef's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx . . ." (widely regarded as one of hip-hop's greatest albums) and Ol' Dirty Bastard's gold-selling "Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version," another ranking rap classic.
But after the Wu's tightly knit fabric started to unravel around 2004, RZA began to focus more on film. In recent years, he has been scoring such movies as "Blade: Trinity" and making cameo appearances in Jim Jarmusch's "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" and other films. His encyclopedic knowledge of Hong Kong cinema notwithstanding, the producer didn't have any particular ambition to set moviedom on fire. Until, that is, he got a fateful phone call from then-Miramax Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein.
"Hey RZA, it's Harvey," the RZA recalled, lapsing into a raspy imitation of Weinstein's cigarette-seasoned growl. "I want you to be in my movie. You got a new career now."
Since that appearance with Clive Owen in 2005's "Derailed," RZA has built a respectable filmography with small roles in a number of high-profile, big-budget studio movies, among them Judd Apatow's "Funny People" and Ridley Scott's "American Gangster," as well as a turn in "The Hangover" director Todd Phillips' upcoming comedy, "Due Date," and Paul Haggis' "The Next Three Days" -- a role that reunited him with "Gangster" co-star Russell Crowe.
"I'm working up in the movie business," RZA said. "Maybe in the movie business, I'm working down. How long are you going to be a celebrity? I like the art. I like how it feels to act."
So do such other rappers-turned-actors as LL Cool J, Common, Xzibit, Ludacris, DMX, Ice Cube and even Snoop Dogg. But befitting the producer's magpie ability to glean and repackage cultural stimuli from across the high-low divide, RZA says his acting efforts are in the service of his next career act: a move behind the camera.
With no small amount of backup from a cadre of top-flight filmmakers -- including independent cinema luminary Jarmusch and Hong Kong action movie ace John Woo, but most significantly, Tarantino -- the RZA-rector, as he is sometimes known, is now in final preparations for his debut as a writer-director, "The Man With the Iron Fist." And unlike the fates of some musicians' directorial efforts (say, Madonna's "Filth and Wisdom" or Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst's "The Education of Charlie Banks"), RZA's movie industry backers swear he has the right combination of creativity, chutzpah and discipline to achieve liftoff at the box office.
Planned as a genre-busting opening salvo to the industry, the movie is being produced by "torture porn" poster boy Eli Roth, the writer-director of such low-cost, high-yield horror films as "Hostel" and "Hostel: Part II."
(For the time being, though, both filmmakers prefer to remain mum on specific plot points, although Roth allows that "Man With the Iron Fist" should appeal to "an audience that's hungry for kung fu but not grindhouse. Something that's modern, like 'Blade.' ")
"RZA is such a creative fountain. The script is great, he's got characters, jokes. What he does with lyrics, he does with dialogue," Roth said. "And he's done such a great mix: spaghetti western, kung fu, modern fighting infused with hip-hop and multiculture. He has this whole comic book universe figured out. I know he's going to make a brilliant film."
Of course, none of it would be possible without Tarantino, who godfathered Roth's "Hostel" into production as an executive producer and introduced the filmmaker to RZA. A longtime admirer of Wu-Tang Clan's sonic mélange, with his own deeply felt appreciation for the Shaolin monk movie cannon, Tarantino first hired RZA to create the electro-ambient, quasi-hip-hop score for his two-volume kung fu drama " Kill Bill." But their working relationship didn't end there. Tarantino has allowed the RZA to soak up production know-how on the set of every movie he's done since 2003.
Tarantino said he identifies with the hip-hop producer's skill in macromanaging the nine Clan members' unwieldy energies into a cohesive form. "You have to understand that even though they're very different, being a producer on a record is not too different from being a director of film -- especially with something like Wu-Tang Clan," Tarantino said. "All these guys have their different contributions. Everyone has a say. But ultimately, the album is RZA's decision. That's very similar to what a director does. It's a lot like how I was influenced by Phil Spector."
Still, RZA says he would not make the move into filmmaking without Tarantino's explicit blessing.
"Tarantino is my teacher," RZA said solemnly, echoing -- whether intentionally or not -- the kind of dialogue you'd hear in a martial-arts film. "I've watched hundreds of movies with him and spent hundreds of hours learning craft from him. I'm a disciple of Tarantino."
He continued: "When Eli said, 'I want to help you make your movie,' we had to go to Quentin. The teacher. He said, 'You and Eli are ready. You have my blessing.' "
January 3, 2010
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* printPrint
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Share
* increase text size decrease text size Text Size
Call the RZA hip-hop's foremost alchemist. The self-professed former drug dealer-turned-Grammy-winning rapper-producer has defied all odds to spin not lead into gold, but démodé pop culture and arcane philosophical beliefs into platinum disc upon platinum disc.
And now, after spending years under the tutelage of several high-profile filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, he's preparing to unleash his unique mash-up sensibility on the big screen, in a project that will be part chop-socky flick, part spaghetti western and all RZA.
As founding father of the hard-core Staten Island rap collective Wu-Tang Clan, RZA (pronounced "rizza," given name: Robert Diggs) conflated the spiritual enlightenment found in '70s kung fu movies with racially incendiary teachings from the Five-Percent Nation of Islam, adding to the mix references to Taoism and comic books, numerology and snippets of mafia don movie dialogue, articulating a plaintive yet hard-bitten ghetto cri de coeur.
The upshot was an almost unparalleled string of hits that started with the Clan's epochal 1993 debut LP, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)," and encompasses such releases as Method Man's multiplatinum-selling "Tical," Raekwon the Chef's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx . . ." (widely regarded as one of hip-hop's greatest albums) and Ol' Dirty Bastard's gold-selling "Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version," another ranking rap classic.
But after the Wu's tightly knit fabric started to unravel around 2004, RZA began to focus more on film. In recent years, he has been scoring such movies as "Blade: Trinity" and making cameo appearances in Jim Jarmusch's "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" and other films. His encyclopedic knowledge of Hong Kong cinema notwithstanding, the producer didn't have any particular ambition to set moviedom on fire. Until, that is, he got a fateful phone call from then-Miramax Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein.
"Hey RZA, it's Harvey," the RZA recalled, lapsing into a raspy imitation of Weinstein's cigarette-seasoned growl. "I want you to be in my movie. You got a new career now."
Since that appearance with Clive Owen in 2005's "Derailed," RZA has built a respectable filmography with small roles in a number of high-profile, big-budget studio movies, among them Judd Apatow's "Funny People" and Ridley Scott's "American Gangster," as well as a turn in "The Hangover" director Todd Phillips' upcoming comedy, "Due Date," and Paul Haggis' "The Next Three Days" -- a role that reunited him with "Gangster" co-star Russell Crowe.
"I'm working up in the movie business," RZA said. "Maybe in the movie business, I'm working down. How long are you going to be a celebrity? I like the art. I like how it feels to act."
So do such other rappers-turned-actors as LL Cool J, Common, Xzibit, Ludacris, DMX, Ice Cube and even Snoop Dogg. But befitting the producer's magpie ability to glean and repackage cultural stimuli from across the high-low divide, RZA says his acting efforts are in the service of his next career act: a move behind the camera.
With no small amount of backup from a cadre of top-flight filmmakers -- including independent cinema luminary Jarmusch and Hong Kong action movie ace John Woo, but most significantly, Tarantino -- the RZA-rector, as he is sometimes known, is now in final preparations for his debut as a writer-director, "The Man With the Iron Fist." And unlike the fates of some musicians' directorial efforts (say, Madonna's "Filth and Wisdom" or Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst's "The Education of Charlie Banks"), RZA's movie industry backers swear he has the right combination of creativity, chutzpah and discipline to achieve liftoff at the box office.
Planned as a genre-busting opening salvo to the industry, the movie is being produced by "torture porn" poster boy Eli Roth, the writer-director of such low-cost, high-yield horror films as "Hostel" and "Hostel: Part II."
(For the time being, though, both filmmakers prefer to remain mum on specific plot points, although Roth allows that "Man With the Iron Fist" should appeal to "an audience that's hungry for kung fu but not grindhouse. Something that's modern, like 'Blade.' ")
"RZA is such a creative fountain. The script is great, he's got characters, jokes. What he does with lyrics, he does with dialogue," Roth said. "And he's done such a great mix: spaghetti western, kung fu, modern fighting infused with hip-hop and multiculture. He has this whole comic book universe figured out. I know he's going to make a brilliant film."
Of course, none of it would be possible without Tarantino, who godfathered Roth's "Hostel" into production as an executive producer and introduced the filmmaker to RZA. A longtime admirer of Wu-Tang Clan's sonic mélange, with his own deeply felt appreciation for the Shaolin monk movie cannon, Tarantino first hired RZA to create the electro-ambient, quasi-hip-hop score for his two-volume kung fu drama " Kill Bill." But their working relationship didn't end there. Tarantino has allowed the RZA to soak up production know-how on the set of every movie he's done since 2003.
Tarantino said he identifies with the hip-hop producer's skill in macromanaging the nine Clan members' unwieldy energies into a cohesive form. "You have to understand that even though they're very different, being a producer on a record is not too different from being a director of film -- especially with something like Wu-Tang Clan," Tarantino said. "All these guys have their different contributions. Everyone has a say. But ultimately, the album is RZA's decision. That's very similar to what a director does. It's a lot like how I was influenced by Phil Spector."
Still, RZA says he would not make the move into filmmaking without Tarantino's explicit blessing.
"Tarantino is my teacher," RZA said solemnly, echoing -- whether intentionally or not -- the kind of dialogue you'd hear in a martial-arts film. "I've watched hundreds of movies with him and spent hundreds of hours learning craft from him. I'm a disciple of Tarantino."
He continued: "When Eli said, 'I want to help you make your movie,' we had to go to Quentin. The teacher. He said, 'You and Eli are ready. You have my blessing.' "
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Searching for Christ on the Internet
An Internet-based Christian ministry has celebrated a milestone.
Global Media Outreach (GMO) was founded in 2004 to give people multiple opportunities to accept Christ. The ministry uses more than 90 different websites worldwide to spread the gospel. Earlier this month, the ten-millionth person this year indicated a decision for Christ through their websites.
Michelle Diedrich, communications director for the ministry, says GMO has been able to reach people when they are searching for answers about Christ.
"...[P]eople will go [to our websites] and do a spiritual search on 'God' or 'Jesus' or a crisis in their life, and they will be able to...find the gospel presentation at the point of their need," Diedrich explains.
"And when they get that, then they're able to tell us what that decision is -- and then they can fill out a form and we actually connect them with a volunteer through email."
More than 4,200 trained online missionaries serve with GMO, which is affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ International. GMO offices are located in Orlando, Florida, and Los Gatos, California.
Global Media Outreach (GMO) was founded in 2004 to give people multiple opportunities to accept Christ. The ministry uses more than 90 different websites worldwide to spread the gospel. Earlier this month, the ten-millionth person this year indicated a decision for Christ through their websites.
Michelle Diedrich, communications director for the ministry, says GMO has been able to reach people when they are searching for answers about Christ.
"...[P]eople will go [to our websites] and do a spiritual search on 'God' or 'Jesus' or a crisis in their life, and they will be able to...find the gospel presentation at the point of their need," Diedrich explains.
"And when they get that, then they're able to tell us what that decision is -- and then they can fill out a form and we actually connect them with a volunteer through email."
More than 4,200 trained online missionaries serve with GMO, which is affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ International. GMO offices are located in Orlando, Florida, and Los Gatos, California.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Spiritual Meditation in Vail, Colorado
VAIL, Colorado — The first gathering in the new year for the Vail Valley's Journeys in Living Spirituality is from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, in the Avon Library Community Room. The topic is renewal.
“A new year reminds us that it is time for renewal — renewal of our commitments to ourselves, our families, our communities and our lives,” says Rev. Catherine Zeeb. “We forget, though, to renew our spiritual commitment to our lives on a daily basis.”
Each gathering begins with silence/meditation, followed by an opening prayer or saying, then a lecture, question and discovery, then a closing prayer. This type of gathering, or satsang, allows those in attendance to ask their most pressing spiritual questions.
All are welcome at Journeys in Living Spirituality, including children. Donations are accepted but not expected. An unopened food donation for the Salvation Army is gracefully accepted as well.
The next Journeys in Living Spirituality will be held on Jan. 16. For more information, contact Narda Reigel at 970-376-3268 or Zeeb at 970-376-6660 or visit her Web site, www.healing-spirits.net.
“A new year reminds us that it is time for renewal — renewal of our commitments to ourselves, our families, our communities and our lives,” says Rev. Catherine Zeeb. “We forget, though, to renew our spiritual commitment to our lives on a daily basis.”
Each gathering begins with silence/meditation, followed by an opening prayer or saying, then a lecture, question and discovery, then a closing prayer. This type of gathering, or satsang, allows those in attendance to ask their most pressing spiritual questions.
All are welcome at Journeys in Living Spirituality, including children. Donations are accepted but not expected. An unopened food donation for the Salvation Army is gracefully accepted as well.
The next Journeys in Living Spirituality will be held on Jan. 16. For more information, contact Narda Reigel at 970-376-3268 or Zeeb at 970-376-6660 or visit her Web site, www.healing-spirits.net.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Predictions for Greater Spirituality for 2010
Greater spirituality among 2010 predictions
LINDA TURLEY-HANSEN, COMMENTARY
December 31, 2009 - 3:19PM
Is it really over - the life we're accustomed to? It seems that's the case. No matter whom I talk with, there's a consensus that things have shifted across the land. And most are convinced our world will continue to wobble in 2010.
There's strong sentiment that the current struggle in America will make the way for vast spiritual enlightenment to have its day. Before you anti-religious thinkers shudder, remember enlightenment is not confined to organized religion.
Recently, a daughter put in my hands a magazine titled Pure Inspiration (www.pureinspirationmag.com). Honestly, after reading and watching decades of news productions and the usual tripe-for-politics found within, I devoured its approach to what ails the world. It scrutinizes root causes, reminding us of our interconnection with every earthly thing and how our thoughts and actions have produced what we are today.
The idea that answers begin with the "one" is not a new concept, but don't count on it to reach critical mass soon. It's hard to motivate self when all around are proceeding as normal. However, what I like about the truth is, none of us needs to be victims. "Master of self" applies in every circumstance when willpower governs.
Back to those news magazines and media shows - and I mean shows - few of us can comprehend what the abdication of a balanced news media actually means to our democratic, citizen representation system. The old, reliable watchdogs are simply gone, leaving us at high risk.
Via the Web, we've watched the "rise of the anti-media" in a revolution that has forever changed how we share information. One example is found within the America's 1st Freedom magazine (January 2010), which reviews a book by Brian Anse Patrick. Patrick discusses a "horizontal, anti-media interpretive community," created by "co-equals, who create, share and interpret their own world." Commonality has found a new delivery vehicle, and the world's peoples are responding.
He claims the new system is responsible for the growth of the concealed-weapon carry movement among gun advocates, which would never have happened under the old media's watch. The seductiveness of the anti-media avenue may explain why the sanctity of the free Web is being eyed by powers that want to control minds and pocketbooks. They never quit.
For now, watch this trend for 2010 and beyond: Wedges of interests, disenchanted with our culture, will continue to develop and pull together, even unto isolation, provoked by a growing, cannibalistic U.S. and world governments, which have American riches within their sights.
The spiritually enlightened will expand among those pockets. More will embrace the intricate link among every living thing. The tie that binds us all has been ignored for ages, thus we're in trouble in the most simple of life issues such as the foods we eat, cosmetic addictions, and how we treat the Earth and its species; our human brothers and sisters not the least on a long list.
Include the collapse of moral values, the explosion of self-indulgence, the worship of riches and corruption in the highest and lowest places. And, clearly, there's the growing attitude that those who have worked hard to sustain themselves and families are required to take care of those who won't. Government's insistence on taxing its citizens to promote this practice for no other reason than political power will enslave all Americans in ways that will force every one of us to our knees.
And, perhaps it's there that we'll embrace spiritual enlightenment and understand what it really means. However, here's the truth surrounding this transition: Governments cannot force mankind to adopt the link between all living things. The desire to live on a higher plateau rather than by base desires comes through free will, the love of self and life and for most of us, through the love of Deity. It requires inner change - not political lies.
This is the catch: History shows that, generally, such enlightenment comes through suffering. Shall we embrace or flee from the current shift? I say, bring it on.
Linda Turley-Hansen is a syndicated columnist and former veteran Phoenix television news anchor who lives in the East Valley. She can be reached by e-mail at turleyhansen@gmail.com.
LINDA TURLEY-HANSEN, COMMENTARY
December 31, 2009 - 3:19PM
Is it really over - the life we're accustomed to? It seems that's the case. No matter whom I talk with, there's a consensus that things have shifted across the land. And most are convinced our world will continue to wobble in 2010.
There's strong sentiment that the current struggle in America will make the way for vast spiritual enlightenment to have its day. Before you anti-religious thinkers shudder, remember enlightenment is not confined to organized religion.
Recently, a daughter put in my hands a magazine titled Pure Inspiration (www.pureinspirationmag.com). Honestly, after reading and watching decades of news productions and the usual tripe-for-politics found within, I devoured its approach to what ails the world. It scrutinizes root causes, reminding us of our interconnection with every earthly thing and how our thoughts and actions have produced what we are today.
The idea that answers begin with the "one" is not a new concept, but don't count on it to reach critical mass soon. It's hard to motivate self when all around are proceeding as normal. However, what I like about the truth is, none of us needs to be victims. "Master of self" applies in every circumstance when willpower governs.
Back to those news magazines and media shows - and I mean shows - few of us can comprehend what the abdication of a balanced news media actually means to our democratic, citizen representation system. The old, reliable watchdogs are simply gone, leaving us at high risk.
Via the Web, we've watched the "rise of the anti-media" in a revolution that has forever changed how we share information. One example is found within the America's 1st Freedom magazine (January 2010), which reviews a book by Brian Anse Patrick. Patrick discusses a "horizontal, anti-media interpretive community," created by "co-equals, who create, share and interpret their own world." Commonality has found a new delivery vehicle, and the world's peoples are responding.
He claims the new system is responsible for the growth of the concealed-weapon carry movement among gun advocates, which would never have happened under the old media's watch. The seductiveness of the anti-media avenue may explain why the sanctity of the free Web is being eyed by powers that want to control minds and pocketbooks. They never quit.
For now, watch this trend for 2010 and beyond: Wedges of interests, disenchanted with our culture, will continue to develop and pull together, even unto isolation, provoked by a growing, cannibalistic U.S. and world governments, which have American riches within their sights.
The spiritually enlightened will expand among those pockets. More will embrace the intricate link among every living thing. The tie that binds us all has been ignored for ages, thus we're in trouble in the most simple of life issues such as the foods we eat, cosmetic addictions, and how we treat the Earth and its species; our human brothers and sisters not the least on a long list.
Include the collapse of moral values, the explosion of self-indulgence, the worship of riches and corruption in the highest and lowest places. And, clearly, there's the growing attitude that those who have worked hard to sustain themselves and families are required to take care of those who won't. Government's insistence on taxing its citizens to promote this practice for no other reason than political power will enslave all Americans in ways that will force every one of us to our knees.
And, perhaps it's there that we'll embrace spiritual enlightenment and understand what it really means. However, here's the truth surrounding this transition: Governments cannot force mankind to adopt the link between all living things. The desire to live on a higher plateau rather than by base desires comes through free will, the love of self and life and for most of us, through the love of Deity. It requires inner change - not political lies.
This is the catch: History shows that, generally, such enlightenment comes through suffering. Shall we embrace or flee from the current shift? I say, bring it on.
Linda Turley-Hansen is a syndicated columnist and former veteran Phoenix television news anchor who lives in the East Valley. She can be reached by e-mail at turleyhansen@gmail.com.
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