Apples: iPad – 5 missing features ;)

iPad thoughts:
#1: To small harddrive for a media device [yes, Im legit with my tunes]
#2: No camera, facing or rear on this media device? [Upgrade...]
#3: What about the artist, I mean you could have a virtual wacom here!
#4: No Flash… Wife and my site is a Flash art gallery!
#5: What about using that 3G to make some phone calls? And/or wi-fi with skype?

Now the above is “magical”, no?
Oh well! Conclusion: Other then the above, its cool!

Peace

dAlen

666 – the number of man [scared of yourself?]

Intro:
When you say/hear/read the number 666, what comes to mind?
What is the automated emotional response/thought associated with this number?

Perhaps its one of indifference with no specific relevance or meaning?

Of course not.
Regardless of your beliefs, whether it be agnostic, theistic, or whatnot, this number has had a stigma associated with it for centuries as being no other than the devils personal number.

Lets step back for a moment:
This mindset, or understanding, is one of many illustrations which show where we are currently at as a society.

And quite frankly, with all of our technological toys, we are not too far.
We are quite at the infant state to be sure, and left to our own devices its a wonder we are still alive…

To clarify, the issue is not whether one believes in what some may call a fairy tale. The issue is actually more sinister and not at all benign.

The issue is ‘herd’ mentality, and a lack of self critical thinking and analysis. In short, not only do we not know how to think, we cant even read what is in front of us without someone telling us what it says… [which typically is not remotely close, but is used to further an agenda.]

Again, there are many examples in life concerning this, but lets just stick with this particular example for now, starting with the following text:

Revelation 13:18: “Let the person who has understanding count the number of the beast: the number is that of man; and mans number is 666.”

So what are we hiding from? Ourselves?:
As we see in the above text, 666 is the number of man.
Yet it has been easier to call it the ‘devils’ number throughout the ages, thus either be paranoid about it, or dismissing it altogether for the so called ‘modern man’.

This again highlights the issue with modern day humanity… there is no middle ground.

The fact is that the Bible is a fairy tale book for a majority of people.
And by this, I do not mean agnostics, and whatnot, I refer to the people who hold it dear to them.

This is clearly due to the fact that, despite their sincerest efforts, many Christians have no clue what it is they are reading… they have been lost in what someone else has told them it is saying… doctrine/dogma, etc.

And on the other hand, many who claim to be of a scientific mind, discard the Bible completely. The truth lies in between.

life is stranger than fiction
Truth of the matter is the Bible has quite a bit of relevant truth in there for humanity that is not even understood on a base level.

All the while people cling to ideologies which are really irrelevant, and even quite contradictory to the knowledge within the book itself.

As it says, “my people perish for a lack of knowledge”.

How do you go about getting knowledge and wisdom?

Its actually quite simple:
“You will find when you search with all your heart”.

As simple as this may sound, we are quite a deceptive species.
So deceptive that we dont even know when we are lying to ourselves.

Again and again we are told, “fear not”, yet those who call themselves Christians are typically the ones who live in a perpetual state of fear and keep that wheel in motion.

[We criticize the witch hunts of centuries ago, yet continue them to this day in another form. - We laugh piously at the pharisees for not understanding how they were the same as those who stoned the prophets of old, all the while we hold stones in our hand ready to cast at the first person who does not agree with our ideology. And those stones can come in many 'right'eous forms.]

Solution:
Again, the Bible holds the key in the two verses I quoted above.
- Dont fear
- Search with ALL your heart.

Does this lead you outside of your comfortable denomination or even religion?

Does this lead you into religion if your agnostic, etc.?

You wont find until you can truly ‘open your mind’ to what is possible.
As Einstein said, “I want to know the mind of God”… and you cannot know anything with a mind filled with judgements on things we dont remotely have a clue about.

It amazes me the gap in peoples mindset, religious or not… no one seems to be able to think past what someone tells them to think… or what the group thinks. Im not saying this is bad, but to actually make any evolutionary progress, if I may use that term, it will take some time.

Conclusion:
There is a lot to discover out there, a lot to learn.
The information is now out there, via the internet, etc., so that if you want you can begin to search and to formulate your own hypothesis.

The question is:
Do you have to have an answer? Or can you be comfortable in the ‘not knowing’ phase of things? Getting pieces to the puzzle here and there.

Perhaps that really is a better summary of the issue with humanity – everyone wants to feel like they ‘know’ and thus accepting a half-truth or full out fantasy is easier than what appears to be hanging over an ‘abyss’ of emptiness. [When in reality it flying over limitless potential]

As for 666, you want to know what it is about?
First get to know yourself.

Peace

dAlen

p.s.
Technology is a tool – neither good or bad, its how you use it that determines what it does. Logical no?

From a certain perspective, everything is “technology”.
Everything in this chaotic universe works under one governing principle – love.

Much more to be said, but in reality nothing that can be said that wouldnt say what you already know/have access to. Life is a journey and its to the individual. “Work out your own salvation”, “you need no teacher”, etc.

Enjoy Art

Enjoy!
Light of Infinity

Peace,

Light of Infinity Team

Prince William – The Homeless

Dear Prince William,

In this day and age of computers, technology, and internet, I have no doubt that this post -or one similar will draw your attention to it… and perhaps a lesson can be learned concerning your attempt to relate to the homeless as mentioned at this link at the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8427418.stm?ls

The message is very short, in-fact all you have to do is watch one of the old episodes of the American t.v. series “Fantasy Island” to really get the point.
Its the episode in which a prince, ironically enough, tries to feel what its like to be a working man – and he figures he can handle it.

Its not enough to experience the physical aspect, as Mr. Roarke of Fantasy island well pointed out, but the psychological barriers that accompany the day in and day out physical work.

There are a couple of factors that you may have overlooked or taken for granted, which one is your health comparative to the homeless, and this aspect goes to affecting the second aspect – a vital aspect… the psychological.

One day in the snow wont show you necessarily what it is like going through what they actually experience. The psychological can drag the physical, and vice-versa, until one just surrenders and is no more.

While I applaud your concern, I do hope that you truly realize that there is more to the other side of life then what you would even wish to consider.

I have had a unique situation in which I can relate to both sides of the fence.
[While Ive never been 'filthy' rich by any stretch of the imagination, I have had a peak in both the aspects of life, and each has there own struggles - some not realized - that the situation brings to it.]

The only practical advice I could give someone who is trying to relate to someone is to better understand who it is they are… vs. what or who they think they are.
There are different guides to this, many of them are oft misunderstood, and each guide is like an onion with a more profound meaning as you apply one level of the teaching to your life…

In this modern age, an audio book called the “New Earth” [Eckhart Tolle], is a good pointer. [Ironically for me a lot of older spiritual text became clear after listening to this - but to each their own.]

The main point is, and especially if you will become any influence as a world leader one day, is dropping the identification with who you think you are, as well as any identifications you build up around what/who you believe others to be. – To rule effectively, you will have to understand both. And only God knows that this world from its ‘royalty’ to its corporate leaders are ruled out of ‘fear’ and thus we have a lot of the issues we see around us today.

God help us when a green puppet, Yoda from star wars, is the wisest among us.
“Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffereing” – at least until you realize you dont need to suffer.

Peace,

dAlen [Independent ruler of my own life]

Tips Concerning Anger…

For the most part it is simply said like this: “All you need is Love”

Jesus said the whole law hung on two bits – loving God and loving your neighbor as much as you love yourself. [which obviously there are quite a few self loathers out there.]

Obviously there is an issue of not quite grasping what this concept of ‘love’ is about.

Paul gave a pretty detailed definition of love – no, not the Beatles Paul… John wrote that song anyway
But still, the meaning and practicality is lost for the most part to the masses.

Quite simply Ill put it this way… “live and let live” [I know, a couple of you are going to think Ive been listening to too many songs] lol
But really, its all about acceptance – which does not mean you cannot make change.

If someone is an idiot, thats their problem… dont make it yours.
Something I have been learning over the years with Aikido [and this isnt what is taught, its my own understanding of things] is that the way to win a fight is to not even create the situation in which the fight may occur.

Its amazing how often we believe that things could be no other way… we are quite stubborn as a human race. We dont see the myriad of options out there available to us, or we feel weaker if we have to choose that which [to our ego] would make us look weak. [break the consistency of the little story we fabricated about ourselves.]

I was in a fight before… [couple times actually]
It started because two dudes thought they were ‘right’. – Ever get that feeling ‘you are right’ and the whole world has to see it ‘your way’…

This broke out into a shouting match, and the next thing you know Mr. Judo jumps on me and I end up getting him in a headlock waiting for him to chill. Of course this really didnt help, so I end up on the floor and as the bear comes toward me I kicked him in the face, popped up and to make sure he wouldnt further attack me… I popped him in the nose.

Somewhere in there, his nose started bleeding. [We had a previous encounter where he put a joint lock on me and my finger was sensitive for about a year... in that time I did not fight him as he had someone with him.]

Anyway, now that I know Aikido, I can verify for both of these situations that I could have pinned him down and not ‘worn out’ like with the head lock… until he calmed down.

But, what I also learned is a simple fact… even though the dude came up trying to push his ideas on me – I could have simply walked away before the whole thing blew up in both of our faces. – No shame in this, as there really is no truth to egoic stories anyway.

This lesson took way over 30 years to finally sink into my head… but I believe I got it. My temperament has quite mellowed over the past few years as a few facts have begin to take hold on my life… one being this concept of love.

Part of this concept of love is the realization that we are not tied to these stories that we make up and so often identify with. Life is fluid – like Bruce Lee said, “be the water and eventually you will make an art peace out of the mountain side as you continue to rub up against it.” [rough paraphrase]

Anyway, I share this story [again] as its a real and practical example that conflict can easily be solved by how we choose to react to the present moment. If we treat it as an enemy, it will be so. – The only person who has power to move you emotionally is you.

So people dont have to conform to your likeness before you can have peace, nor do people have to be convinced of anything. – Perhaps this is the greatest change for me as I was quite the zealot my whole life… missionary, etc.

But with all my zeal and witnessing, some facts came to light in my younger years.
You will never… I will say this again, never will you be able to truly convince anyone of what is real.

Sure… you will be able to potentially get them to swop to the polar opposite – but thats not “change you can believe in” – its just the egos last stand to ensnare you fully.
If you ponder this all the way through you will understand Jesus teaching about “Twice the Son of Hell”.

I have written about this before, and may do so again to give it a bit of clarity. But any change someone makes has to be of their own… no amount of arguing or debating will matter when it comes to the one truth that actually exist.

So what is outside of this one truth – or better yet, what does this one truth consist of?
Letting people be. “Let it be, let it be” [o.k., now Paul gets some credit.]

Sure, share, whatever – and you dont have to feel isolated from someone as they ‘dont believe in your way’, etc. There is a tendency to feel threatened by people who do not ’see the light’ as so many people claim to have… and people continue on in their little closed circles., etc.

But if you can see that the person is not what they identify themselves with – you know what… they are less threatening. [hey, I have a mother-in-law - I speak from experience]

When you unwrap the person from mental labels, you do what Jesus did and allow people to change paths and try new things. – Again, this is why things like A.A. really dont solve anything. [I have written about this as well.]

All this, when clearly understood is the catalyst for true change… that change starts and ends in you. Too often we try to change what is outside of us, while struggling inside… it will not work.

Hey, things may take time… Paul said that you have to be changed “by the renewing of your minds” – simply stated, you created a certain neuro path way… it may take some serious effort to reprogram that path.
In a sense, we are all brainwashed with our ‘truths’ and we have to watch, or put an effort into what we feed ourselves.

As the good book says, you dont need a teacher, you have the spirit – in short this means that you can loosen up and stop the fear and do your searching. “When you search with all your heart you will find”.

For me two things were a vital influence in my life…
1- the unconditional love my wife showed me
2- Eckhart Tolles audio books. [I listened to him practically day and night and its like an onion where I get something deeper as time goes on.]

I realize that for some Christians, and non-Christians alike, Eckhart doesnt vibe.
Well Ram Dass, Jesus, Buddah, all say practically the same thing. [If you disagree I would probably think you never 'searched with all your heart' as the writings speak for themselves... God is not limited in how 'it' expresses 'itself'.

But as I mentioned, it is your choice, and there really is nothing to convince anyone of... the fact is as I just pointed out, you will know when the truth hits you... no matter what form it may take. [like that donkey in the Bible, truth may come in forms your not looking for.]

A true test of faith like Naaman the leper dude who thought things should be a certain way, and deemed the prophets way as a little unorthodox and downright dirty. – who was ‘right’?
Again, its not about ‘right’, but there are underlying principles to everything being said here, and like Jesus said, “he who has ears let him hear”

Peace

dAlen

On a side note: I started this whole thing out after remembering a comment by some rabbi which said, “to save yourself from a lot of anger, try to do things yourself as much as possible rather than asking others to do them for you.”

Nothing against delegation, but there is something to this… especially if you find yourself bickering at people for not doing things how you want it done.

assumptions

Intro:
What if everything you believed was right, but yet was completely misunderstood?
What if knowing that this was only the tip of the ice-berg would you want to know the truth… to truly understand?

If knowledge is power, what if the truth you found you were as an observer locked out, held helplessly above an abyss, viewing event below you that you cannot change?

Declaration of Truth:
Humanity seeks power, knowledge, yet lacks understanding and wisdom – and the discernment to even tell the difference.

We have the zealots and the martyrs, as well as the blood of the prophets spilled by a generation who does not understand that in their self-proclaimed innocence that they are as naive as their predecessors who wiped out those who led to the progress we all take for granted in modern day society.

Every place has its thing:
Surely you must realize by now that its all beyond us.
No, Im not speaking of the blind worship to a God[s] who long left us desolate to find out for ourselves we are not alone, yet remain puppets and slaves to that which we cannot see.

We pour our gratitude on those who exhibit powers – we do not understand and do not contemplate, or even deem it worthy to contemplate such greatness does not make one great.

The words and ability for comprehension alludes us as we ourselves, in our blindness, not wanting to see, grope around yelling out for answers that we care not to hear.

Savior crucified:
The savior is crucified time and again, yet only once has the savior been crucified – in our hearts and minds is the savior put up to hang, while in our own dark hearts we cease to yield to the consciousness in whom we have being.

Are we mere puppets controlled by an ruthless soul?
Does it matter if these dark powers prevail? To what extent is control and to what extent can a man be free if he does not wish to see? And then we must ask what is freedom as its tied into the very essence of consciousness… which is something, I dare say, humanity does not yet have.

Frozen Hell:
Trapped in a frozen state in time, peering out at what is, and learning the truth for which has been sought… the reality is as beautiful as the moment of the dawn of time, yet as frightening as the realization of the frozen wasteland of hell to which no man will escape until his/her service of eternity is slowly eaten up and expired.

Each cell and molecule readjusted, ready for re-birth, yet in this reincarnation of soul it is not what is implied by minds of yesteryear, but from the depths of knowing – yet not for the soul into which this happens, making their fate no worse than that of a being who would reincarnate, as if into an animal, unconscious of who he/she is and to what purpose their being has after their long slumber.

To reunite spirit and soul, is not to each man given… as the ‘good book’ puts it – some are but mere clay pots to be put for the fire, “who are you oh man to question your destiny?”

Pretty rough reality in that book, and yet many dont understand, less they drop into despair as to its true meaning. And what of the clay pot who learns of its use, imagine the reality of a block of stone before it is chiseled away and what was is transformed to something else. – oh, yes, find the beauty in this you will – yet not know what this means in regards to destiny.

Who will lift the the that which has become alive to become unto itself its own? The fires have passed many, yet few, through – what is left to this I do not know.

Conclusion:
Much can be said, but nothing would be understood. Tone, meaning, etc. – who am I to say anything to anyone, yet I share if – if even in the most obscure manner – my thoughts which are common to all who have the spark of life within them.

Solomon is to be paid heed to if one wishes to have a better grip on that which is important, and this may act as the catalyst for a global awakening which again will share with us the tree of life taken from us, oh so long ago in the garden.

Yet, I will say that such hopes, are a reflection of the clay which has taken unto itself life, now knowing the necessity of a bond between it and that from which it came – yet that from which it comes out… well look at human nature, it says all – but first you must know the meaning of all for the answer to be forthcoming.

Peace

dAlen