The unaware are unaware that they are unaware. That being true, what does it mean to be aware?
A rabbit is highly aware. Sight and sound are refined so as to warn it of danger. A rabbit is frequently in flight mode. So we can be aware at a very basic level.
Moving up the scal , an animal that is able to feel human affection and love is aware of it. They feel the owner is looking at them or feel that they are coming home before other people in the family know that; (confirmed by biologist Rupert Sheldrake).
Humans show awareness when they take care near traffic, or previously when they were hunting or fighting. Heightened states of awareness cause a flood of adrenalin in the body to produce heightened reactions.
So what type of awareness are we talking of here when we call a political movement The Awareness party?
The Awareness Party is based on two basic awarenesses.
1. Our planet Earth is a living system. Everything about it is alive, the biosphere; the trees and plants, the soil and microbes. Everything is alive including us, and the water and the chemical elements from which we are made. Nothing is inert.
2. We are one. We are one planet with one dominant species; humanity. No divisions of colour, culture, country, or creed can detract from this.
Being aware of those two facts would make it impossible to have war, because the respect and caring we would have for our own species would remove the need to kill.
Being aware of the celestial being that is the earth makes it urgent that we look after ‘her’, and all the living communities on ‘her’. Humanity is one system, but from earth worms to cockroaches, we all play a part in the balance on earth (positive or negative).
Awareness is also a type of sensitivity. As we become more aware, our sensitivities become increased so we know that life is more than a physical journey from birth to death. We know, for example, that the way we conduct ourselves on that journey bears a part to play not only in our own happiness, but in those around us’ happiness. This makes many of us feel a certain responsibility first to ourselves, but also to our neighbours. Those of us who do not have to struggle to feed and clothe ourselves and who sleep in a warm bed at night probably realise that we are the privileged minority on this planet and so may choose to tithe a portion of our income, or regularly donate to charity in order to keep the flow of money moving.
To be really aware of who we are and what we are here for is usually considered to be a spiritual or religious journey that is very personal from one person to another. To be aware of a group consciousness and the similarities that we all posess is a different type of awareness again.
So to be aware can mean many different things to different people. What we can all agree upon, I think , is that we are a group of people, nearly 7 billion of us, on a most glorious living system, called earth, that is spinning in space inside a galaxy called the Milky Way. We have no means of leaving this planet for good, so we need to care for our larger home, just as we would for the apartment or ‘quarter acre section’ that we call home. We need to care for our human family, just as we would care for our close family.
So ‘awareness’ is an expansion of what we ordinarily do; an expansion of how we are when at our best and most compassionate; an extension of the small local picture, to the big picture of planet Earth.
Lisa Er
www.TheAwarenessParty.com
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
We are all one!
We are all one.
The above phrase is used so much that one might think that everyone understands it, but that is not so.
To say we are all one is a lovely idea. It means that we all have an abiding connection with whatever we presume “God” to be. “God”, whether we call “him” God or Allah or Buddah or Christ, or The Universe, is an all pervading energy that manifests differently in different people’s reality. How people have been taught, and their cultural influences depends on their perspective. Does this mean that we then need to think of ourselves as different from each other? NO!
Unfortunately my neighbour’s religion has taught her that Allah is not God and therefore all Muslims are wrong, and she is right. This is SO sad. The idea that we are right and others are wrong is a hugely difficult issue. When we look at the big picture we can see that what is right for some is wrong for others so we would do well to follow one teaching that appears in some religions which says that we must not judge.
We are all one species – humanity. If little green men came visiting we would soon say that humans are one and green people are others but even that would not be so! All of the universe is connected. Nothing is separate. Quantum physics can verify this. Energy is what creates matter. Matter creates form and we see things from the point of view of form. However, there are holograms and fractals and atoms and particles and nanoparticles that we can’t see so we can only trust that they are there.
We send text messages but we can’t see the message fly off with wings to its destination. We know that radio waves and VHS and other waves are floating around in our space but we don’t deny their existence.
So why do we not accept that we are all one, all connected. Is it because we can’t see it? Accepting that we are all one is the first step on any spiritual path. As long as we feel separate from our next door neighbour, our parents, or those from another culture, then we have not put your foot on the first rung of the spiritual ladder.
We can challenge ourselves: catch ourselves complaining about that ...... driver from overseas. Then ask the question, “what are we rejecting within our own selves that requires us to reject other people”? When we complain about the prime minister, or the US president, or BP’s president, or any other person, we are rejecting something about ourselves; for as we are all one we live inside that same one reality together.
Have you ever thought about the air we breathe? We all breathe the same air. When a number of us are in a room with the doors and windows shut we notice that the air gets stale, deprived of oxygen, because it has been inside all of our lungs. It has also been moving around all the world. It has been in your neighbours lungs, or Ghengis Khan’s way back when!
Really understanding that we are all one requires practice daily. We all give lip service to it, but to really live it is another thing altogether. To really feel that ‘one’ connection we need to be able to feel LOVE. That’s the key. To love everyone means that we come from a place of oneness. Love is always pure and true and kind. It can be practiced through kindness and compassion. It can be expressed through everything we do.
If we are spiritual beings having a physical experience on this earth, then we need to express it throughout every facet of our lives. This includes politics.
Please visit www.theawarenessparty.com and see what can be done in the spirit of “oneness”.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Is 1080 the Answer to Saving our Forests?
(This article was written for the August edition of Healthy Options magazine. Healthy Options has, however, been shut down. There are rumours about there being limits to our freedom of speech by the pharmacutical industry - but this is just rumour. I have not spoken to anyone involved.)
Is there really anyone in this country who would want to see the bush avidly consumed by possums, or our native bird’s eggs greedily tucked into by the rats and stoats that have taken up residency in our wilderness? I doubt it.
So why is there such a ‘to do’ about aerial drops of 1080 pellets, that are intended to fix the problem?
Sodium monofluoroacetate, or 1080, was developed as an insecticide and rodenticide. The poison is a slow killer. When ingested the animal suffers a prolonged and horrific death. Herbivores take the longest to die – up to 44hrs, while carnivores can take up to 21hrs. Many experience convulsions, lying on the ground kicking, and making running motions with their hind legs before dying, some even screaming. This is happening right now in our bush lands in various parts of the country.
Compound 1080 was developed in 1944. Scientists described it as so generally and highly toxic that it was too dangerous for general distribution. It is legal in the United States only in a special sheep collar used in some states. Coyotes attacking domestic sheep puncture the collar and contact the poison, which kills them. In 1998 Oregon’s Governor even prohibited the use of such 1080-filled collars.
New Zealand uses 85% of all the 1080 that is manufactured in the world. Much of this is dropped by helicopter into native bush areas where trapping is said to be challenging. It is also dropped near farms when the Animal Health Board considers it prudent to kill possums because of the risk of bovine TB, which would then affect the local dairy farm. However, this puts dogs and livestock at risk of poisoning.
Secondary poisoning is a serious problem with 1080, as an animal, bird or insect can eat a carcass that has died from 1080, and the poison is then transferred, so unintentional deaths occur. Hunters are also concerned that they might shoot a pig or a deer, that has ingested 1080, and take it home to put in the freezer, consequently becoming part of the secondary poisoning chain themselves.
1080 began being used in traps in New Zealand in the 1950s. It is said there were about 70 million Brushtail possums when aerial drops began, and there are still about the same number, bearing in mind that assessing numbers is difficult. Is then the culling working, and should we continue? Is it appropriate to drop an aerial poison that states on the pack that all carcasses poisoned by 1080 should be buried immediately? How could DOC or the Animal Health Board possibly do that?
So we have dead carcasses as well as uneaten bait on our soil and in the streams in our water catchment areas. This is clean green New Zealand, right? This is clean green NZ that also uses the endocrine disrupter Round-up, and fumigates with methyl bromide. It is time that we spoke out against the use of all toxins in New Zealand and not just 1080.
Somehow in all this we seem to think that humans are the only ones with the answer, yet nature gives us clues all the time. I watched in dismay the other day when a cabbage white butterfly was fluttering around the seedlings in my garden and I had a fleeting thought that I should rush to the shops and get an insecticide – well only fleeting! Now I have a very busy thrush in the garden, hopping amongst the plants, no doubt finding caterpillars, and I have seen a couple of empty snail shells. Nature is dealing with the problem. I have also advised my garden that one plant of each type is available for insects to eat, but to please leave the other plants alone! This is called working with nature, and is something we are just beginning to return to – as our ancestors had much more understanding than we do of how Papatuanuku (Gaia) can take care of all living things, including us!
Noetic author Lynne McTaggert, said, “Science is a story told in instalments”. Lynne featured in Dan Brown’s new book,” The Lost Symbol”. In the book, Katherine Solomon became fascinated about how human intention could change the world. The movie Avatar has opened our imaginations to other ways of relating to nature. New thought in books and movies heralds the way for change.
Scientists generally seem to be able to provide ‘peer reviewed’ facts supporting either side that they want to promote and that seems true for the 1080 debate. That aside, scientists Murphy and Bradfield reported that stoat populations have been seen to increase after aerial 1080. It was found that, after the initial rat knock-down, stoats switched from a diet that was 50% rat to one that was 46% birds. On some of the islands where aerial 1080 has been used, causing the possum numbers to decrease markedly, the rat population increased; and so a highly lethal anticoagulant, called brodifacoum, has to be dropped to kill them.
How would Mother Nature respond to all this? The ‘biological imperative’ theory states that when a species is threatened, providing there is food, they actually produce more young. So the big question is - are we, by our intervention, actually causing the imbalance in nature that then leads to the increase in pest numbers and the subsequent threat to our biodiversity?
Do we really know what the ultimate outcomes of using toxins are? How sure are we of the long term effects? Shouldn’t the precautionary principle prevail: when in doubt, don’t? There is enough doubt and discomfort about 1080 to suggest that another way, a kinder, gentler way needs to be found to support nature in finding her balance.
Instead of settling for second best, ‘people power’ could promote a toxic free movement. Imagine then what innovations and discoveries would be created, in this wonderful land of entrepreneurship, new ideas, and new zeal.
http://www.enufisenuf.co.nz//
Is there really anyone in this country who would want to see the bush avidly consumed by possums, or our native bird’s eggs greedily tucked into by the rats and stoats that have taken up residency in our wilderness? I doubt it.
So why is there such a ‘to do’ about aerial drops of 1080 pellets, that are intended to fix the problem?
Sodium monofluoroacetate, or 1080, was developed as an insecticide and rodenticide. The poison is a slow killer. When ingested the animal suffers a prolonged and horrific death. Herbivores take the longest to die – up to 44hrs, while carnivores can take up to 21hrs. Many experience convulsions, lying on the ground kicking, and making running motions with their hind legs before dying, some even screaming. This is happening right now in our bush lands in various parts of the country.
Compound 1080 was developed in 1944. Scientists described it as so generally and highly toxic that it was too dangerous for general distribution. It is legal in the United States only in a special sheep collar used in some states. Coyotes attacking domestic sheep puncture the collar and contact the poison, which kills them. In 1998 Oregon’s Governor even prohibited the use of such 1080-filled collars.
New Zealand uses 85% of all the 1080 that is manufactured in the world. Much of this is dropped by helicopter into native bush areas where trapping is said to be challenging. It is also dropped near farms when the Animal Health Board considers it prudent to kill possums because of the risk of bovine TB, which would then affect the local dairy farm. However, this puts dogs and livestock at risk of poisoning.
Secondary poisoning is a serious problem with 1080, as an animal, bird or insect can eat a carcass that has died from 1080, and the poison is then transferred, so unintentional deaths occur. Hunters are also concerned that they might shoot a pig or a deer, that has ingested 1080, and take it home to put in the freezer, consequently becoming part of the secondary poisoning chain themselves.
1080 began being used in traps in New Zealand in the 1950s. It is said there were about 70 million Brushtail possums when aerial drops began, and there are still about the same number, bearing in mind that assessing numbers is difficult. Is then the culling working, and should we continue? Is it appropriate to drop an aerial poison that states on the pack that all carcasses poisoned by 1080 should be buried immediately? How could DOC or the Animal Health Board possibly do that?
So we have dead carcasses as well as uneaten bait on our soil and in the streams in our water catchment areas. This is clean green New Zealand, right? This is clean green NZ that also uses the endocrine disrupter Round-up, and fumigates with methyl bromide. It is time that we spoke out against the use of all toxins in New Zealand and not just 1080.
Somehow in all this we seem to think that humans are the only ones with the answer, yet nature gives us clues all the time. I watched in dismay the other day when a cabbage white butterfly was fluttering around the seedlings in my garden and I had a fleeting thought that I should rush to the shops and get an insecticide – well only fleeting! Now I have a very busy thrush in the garden, hopping amongst the plants, no doubt finding caterpillars, and I have seen a couple of empty snail shells. Nature is dealing with the problem. I have also advised my garden that one plant of each type is available for insects to eat, but to please leave the other plants alone! This is called working with nature, and is something we are just beginning to return to – as our ancestors had much more understanding than we do of how Papatuanuku (Gaia) can take care of all living things, including us!
Noetic author Lynne McTaggert, said, “Science is a story told in instalments”. Lynne featured in Dan Brown’s new book,” The Lost Symbol”. In the book, Katherine Solomon became fascinated about how human intention could change the world. The movie Avatar has opened our imaginations to other ways of relating to nature. New thought in books and movies heralds the way for change.
Scientists generally seem to be able to provide ‘peer reviewed’ facts supporting either side that they want to promote and that seems true for the 1080 debate. That aside, scientists Murphy and Bradfield reported that stoat populations have been seen to increase after aerial 1080. It was found that, after the initial rat knock-down, stoats switched from a diet that was 50% rat to one that was 46% birds. On some of the islands where aerial 1080 has been used, causing the possum numbers to decrease markedly, the rat population increased; and so a highly lethal anticoagulant, called brodifacoum, has to be dropped to kill them.
How would Mother Nature respond to all this? The ‘biological imperative’ theory states that when a species is threatened, providing there is food, they actually produce more young. So the big question is - are we, by our intervention, actually causing the imbalance in nature that then leads to the increase in pest numbers and the subsequent threat to our biodiversity?
Do we really know what the ultimate outcomes of using toxins are? How sure are we of the long term effects? Shouldn’t the precautionary principle prevail: when in doubt, don’t? There is enough doubt and discomfort about 1080 to suggest that another way, a kinder, gentler way needs to be found to support nature in finding her balance.
Instead of settling for second best, ‘people power’ could promote a toxic free movement. Imagine then what innovations and discoveries would be created, in this wonderful land of entrepreneurship, new ideas, and new zeal.
http://www.enufisenuf.co.nz//
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