• World Mind Society January 22 - 04:53 pm

What is our Dream?

When Ossama bin Laden struck with human bombs at the heart of American life by destroying the World Trade Twin Towers, hitting the Pentagon building, and other targets, he was saying to us, to the world, that he hates our Dream. To him and his entourage of like minds, our Dream is too noisy, too fast, too incomprehensible, too erotic, too free, too strong. They have a different dream which envisions them in power over the world with their ideas and beliefs; but instead it is our Dream, the one the modern World is dreaming, the one the others either envy or study; a dream that is largely American and European in origin but which celebrates all the socio-cultural realities of our world. We revel in the broad diversity of humanity and are enriched by the kaleidoscope of human dreams of all colors and beliefs. But that joy with which we had been anticipating the new Millennium, the Millennium of Peace and Hope, had instead triggered an opposite response in some sectors of human civilization. It triggered a response of hate.

What is it that we love and dream of, that the enemies of our culture hate? Is it our freedoms, our rights to being who we are? Is it our music, our dance? Our films and theatre? Is it our story telling, our visions? Is it our space program, our sciences, our technology? Or are they merely afraid of our power, the economic and military strength of our civilization? Are we the unapproachable city on the golden mount they cannot have? Is it our charity, worldwide, that makes them hate us? Or is it us, the Who we are that they cannot be?

We have a freedom to explore that had been guaranteed by our constitutional human rights. This is not a perfect freedom, for we struggle in our confusion how to make it better, but it is something we had achieved over the last two and a half centuries. And it works. As a free people, we are powerful. Yet, in that freedom we are also curious. We explore ideas that may to outsiders seem profane, though in fact we seek more closely the divine. Even in the freedom to believe as we choose, even if we choose to believe in nothing, we are seeking something in ourselves, that something that makes us so uniquely human. We allow for all religions to exist, yet we seek secularism in how we administer our rights and freedom of exchange, of ideas, of communications, of personal choice, and of our worship of God. When the founders of our nation drafted the Declaration of Independence, they aimed at an independence not only from King George's repression, but an independence of the soul. The Jeffersonian Dream is embodied in us. We have inalienable rights to be who we are in our pursuit of happiness, equally before the law. Is this not a most powerful concept that had driven our civilization forward in ways none other had done before?

Now we are at war. But with whom? We are not at war with Islam. We are not at war with the people who believe differently from the Christians, or Jews or Hindus or Buddhists. And we are not at war with the individual human beings of the planet who worship the Holy Book of the Qu'ran. We are at war with the criminals who would destroy lives of those whose Dream is different from theirs. The enemy is criminality. It is the abuse of force to take away human freedoms. The enemy is banditry, coercion, intolerance, deceit, corruption, and self serving power, the rule of fear. We are at war with the regressive forces of human beings who are lost in their Dream, and who would abuse others from regaining what they no longer have. We have the power and the freedom to Dream, and it is this that they hate in us, that they would take away.

We should be slow to use force, but must be quick to avert trespass. It is always better to remain neutral in between states of war, but nor can we as human beings remain silent and cowed when coerced. We cannot live in fear. Criminality may never be tolerated, for it strikes at the heart of Who we are. The real enemy is not Ossama in Laden, nor the Muslim fundamentalist, nor the false teachers who teach hate, but the hearts and minds of those who had lost the Dream. The enemy is in every one of us who would take that Dream away from another. To fight this war, we need to know what is our Dream, and make that same vision true for others. If they are lost, we need to find their hearts and minds. They need to turn away from fear and rediscover the vision of what is their Dream. Each one of us has a Dream.

If we can succeed in lifting the oppression of the mind that makes them lose their Dream, we will win this war against those who would oppress us. It is an unfortunate fact of reality that force requires force to push back, but it should not be the primary focus of the struggle. The real struggle is over human beings's minds who would use force to coerce the world into being as they are, oppressed by fear into dreaming of oppressing others. But that is criminality, and criminality is not the Dream. We need to fight against criminality in all its forms, including that of terrorism, if we are to preserve what we had discovered. We need to lift up humanity to a newer vision of what and who it is we are. We need to show the divine in each and every one of us, young and old, man and woman, black and white and yellow and red and brown. We are human beings who are on the threshold of discovering our great uniqueness as conscious manifestations of a much greater consciousness of our universe. We cannot get there unless we come as free and aware human beings. We need to overcome fear, for that is the way to Peace. And we will.

That is our Dream.

Editors, Humancafe.

Indeed. Our dream is to find happiness without violence. It can be done, to a greater or lesser extent. Perhaps by uncovering our fears about life, do we then understand ourselves and the meaning behind this jouney of ours; our striving to become self-empowered [powerful] people.

Our dreams then are to create a purpose. The contradiction is that violence precludes that very goal. No people; no purpose(?).


Peace,

Walrus

Dear editors of "What is our Dream",

Your article is very well written and I fully agree with what you are saying. The Baha'i Faith teaches us the "Independent search for the truth". Here is where Islamic Fundamentalist do not want and cannot comprehend this glorious principle. They want to tell everyone how to believe, how to act and how to behave . They appoint themselves to do that task. They use force, coercion and plain street gang tactics to get into power. Look at all those Hisballah, Islamic Jihad and the like... (this also includes Saddam Hussein and all the rest of the dictators of the Arab world), they appoint themselves and use criminal tactics to prevent decent people to think for themselves. Unfortunately those who actually suffer the most are the quite, non-involved Moslems who want to stay out of trouble and live in peace. However they find themselves in the midst of hatred, unescapable poverty, intolerance and a very violent world. Civilization in these parts of the world has been at a standstill for a very long period of time. That is why I strongly believe that God has sent us Baha'u'llah to give the Moslems and the rest of the world, principles and teaching that will get us all out of this horrible mess.

I am including with this response an article written by the Italian Journalist Oriana Fallaci, I don't know if you ever heard of her. Please read her article at:
http://www.hsje.org/oriana_fallaci_on_antisemitism.htm
http://www.dennisprager.com/articles_radioshow/fallaci.htm

Sincerely,

Win their "hearts and minds."

If the new US Government radio broadcasts to the Middle East Arabs is news, with messages of democracy and tolerance, then there will be hope. If propaganda, then not useful. See BBC article on the net: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/not_in_website/syndication/monitoring/media_reports/2728829.stm

As told to Celsia:


BREAKFAST AT MCDONALD'S... READ TILL THE END This is a good story and is

true, please read it all the way through till the end! (After the story

there are some very interesting facts!): I am a mother of three (ages 14,

12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had

to take was Sociology. The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the

qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with. Her last

project of the term was called "Smile." The class was asked to go out and

smile at three people and document their reactions. I am a very friendly

person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway, so, I thought

this would be a piece of cake, literally. Soon after we were assigned the

project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald's one crisp

March morning. It was just our way of sharing special play time with our

son. We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden

everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did. I did

not move an inch .... an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of

me as I turned to see why they had moved. As I turned around I smelled a

horrible "dirty body" smell, and there standing behind me were two poor

homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was

"smiling". His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he

searched for acceptance. He said, "Good day" as he counted the few coins he

had been clutching.


The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I

realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue eyed gentleman

was his salvation.


I held my tears as I stood there with them.


The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted.


He said, "Coffee is all Miss" because that was all they could afford. (If

they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy

something. He just wanted to be warm).


Then I really felt it - the compulsion was so great I almost reached out

and embraced the little man with the blue eyes.


That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me, judging

my every action. I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to

give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray.


I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a

resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue eyed

gentleman's cold hand. He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and

said, "Thank you.."


I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, "I did not do this for you.

God is here working through me to give you hope."


I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat

down my husband smiled at me and said, "That is why God gave you to me,

Honey. To give me hope."


We held hands for a moment and at that time we knew that only because of

the Grace that we had been given were we able to give. We are not church

goers, but we are believers. That day showed me the pure Light of God's

sweet love.


I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in

hand. I turned in "my project" and the instructor read it. Then she looked

up at me and said, "Can I share this?"


I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class. She began to read

and that is when I knew that we as human beings and being part of God,

share this need to heal people and to be healed.


In my own way I had touched the people at McDonald's, my husband, son,

instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I

spent as a college student. I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I

would ever learn:


UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE.


Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may read this

and learn how to LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS - NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE

PEOPLE.


If you think this story has touched you in any way, please send this to

everyone you know.


There is an Angel sent to watch over you.


In order for her to work, you must pass this on to the people you want

watched over. An Angel wrote: Many people will walk in and out of your

life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart. To handle

yourself, use your head. To handle others, use your heart.


God Gives every bird it's food, but He does not throw it into it's nest.

Keep this going

What is my Dream? I do not know all that I know, though somewhere in me is hidden something that I know is my Dream. On a vast scale of a world Dream, I imagine that there will come a time when human beings will love one another, that they will not seek to gain from the other but give instead. Small steps taken to make things better will have a great ripple effect on all the souls we touch and spread like a blanket of our humanness to all things around us, even those things we think of as being non living. We radiate from inside ourselves with a special light, a love that reaches deep into everything we touch, and give it that light. But on a more personal scale, of what I am inside myself, I seek to find my truth, my whoness of Who I am. The closer I come to that truth, the more alive and free I feel within my experience of being in this world. And as I find that inner truth within myself, I hope I can find ways of sharing it with others, so that they too can be more truly Who they are. I suspect, though I cannot know this for sure, that if we all do this, to find our inner truths, then we will all benefit and shine more brightly with that special inner light we had been given. To be alive is the greatest gift we can imagine, a powerful and blessed gift from a Dream far greater than we are ever able of knowing. And yet, we are that Dream, for we are alive. So smile, for in that smile, you reveal to others that you are a blessed being.

Ivan

GREED

I recently had a conversation with a friend who believed, as many do, that greed is the root of all evil. I cannot disagree with this, except to point out, as I did to my friend, that even greed has a root cause. True, greed is what makes us want to acquire things, to keep up with possessions had by others, why for example here in Southern California, the Mercedes or BMW or large SUV is a car of choice for those who see themselves as having arrived. There is no harm in this, that we wish to show off what we have achieved, even if they are mere tokens. What makes greed more sinister, I believe, is that it becomes a way of life by choice. Then greed is indeed a root of all evil.

The other side of the spectrum from greed might by humility. I had originally thought of kindness too, but realized that even greedy people can be kind. So in humility, such as failing to display tokens of wealth, or power, such become undesirable or meaningless in a world of greed. The true mark of this humility is in a person who has great wealth, and power, but one would never know it by how they present themselves. Of course, this rarely happens here, where wealth is prominently displayed, but I had seen it in old money, such as I found when I lived in New England, for example, though increasingly more rare. Humility is not easy in our human nature, since we all want, so this too is a choice we must make, to choose humility, which often is more difficult than the choice of greed.

What came from our conversation was that behind greed had to be some sort of fear. This may be a fear of loss, of hunger, of powerlessness, of dispossession, of rejection by others, and ultimately of not being loved. If one drives a twelve year old economy car when all around others have newish luxury cars, it is difficult to feel acceptance, which not infrequently manifests in how we are treated on the road. And it is also in our human nature that we need acceptance. In some societies, such as I had on encountered at times in India, humility is prized, so a wealthy merchant who at the end of his lucrative careers gives away his wealth to become an ascetic, for example, is valued. But this does not have a uniformly consistent effect on Indian society, since greed is as much a factor in their world as in ours. So the choice that must be made, consciously, is one of becoming less afraid, of not being coerced, as it were, into accepting that we have to display wealth in order to feel self worth. On the contrary, it may even be more elegant to not display it, and to maintain a certain dignity in reserve by showing humility instead. This, I believe, is the mark of great people, those who have the ability to display wealth, but choose not to, for in them their self worth is solidly confident and internal.

Fear is perhaps the root of all evil, more so than greed. If we can alleviate fears in ourselves and our fellow human beings, then greed becomes less desirable or necessary. Evil men are often greedy, but they do not have to be, since they can also be evil from nothing. But evil men universally have fear, some deep seated fear they cannot alleviate within themselves, and thus most often must present themselves to the world as successful, powerful, and visibly wealthy. The big houses, cars, jewels, estates, personal islands, entourage of beautiful women, or men, are marks of those who suffer some internal fear. For them to make the choice of humility is difficult, if not impossible, for they fear they will be rejected or lessened somehow if they do not display their wealth. And if so, then they must either consciously or subconsciously choose greed. This is not an evil in itself, it merely shows off their lack of inner composure, of inner confidence and strength, so that their ability to make a choice of giving rather than taking, one of humility rather than greed, is symptomatic of their inner fears.

Why do I choose to live in Southern California, or New York, where humility is more often supplanted by greed? Because here, as anywhere in the world, there are also those who are humble, and kind. To me, they who can love are more powerful than any display of wealth, or greed. In the end, it does not matter to me what they have, because I have myself, and around me I have those I love.

Ivan

The new wheel.

Even wonder what the first inventor of the wheel
went through? His tribe must have said "what in
the world would you want to do that for? It is so
much easier to just pick it up and carry it!"

Change does not come easy, the rest is history.

V

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY 2003!

We must remember how precious is a country where you are free to choose, protected from trespass, and able to pursue your personal dreams. Let's work hard to never lose these human rights, to be with dignity who we are, both as a people and individually as human beings. Freedom is not free.

God Bless America.

UNIVERSAL CREDENTIALS

If anyone ever asks "what are your credentials?", simply answer "only that I am Who I am."

When enough people answer this way, the world will change.

Live your Dream! It's Who you are.

Ever wake up, and wonder what that dream was all about?

We all do, often, though most times the dream is a confused image more like a paint drop in a white base stirred up, so that its message is still there, but indecipherable.

Mostly, I do not remember my dreams, but I do wake up with a feeling of having dreamt something, and usually have some idea associated with this, maybe a quote or a strong sensation that can almost be expressed in words. It is this that I find most fascinating, that the mind had been working while sleeping and had something to say upon waking. This I find more interesting than the fleeting images that was the dream. I listen to my mind upon waking and wonder, what is it it wants to tell me?

Ivan

ONE LINER THOUGHTS ON MICRO-MIND


Don't think about it, make it happen.

Your mind knows more than you do.

If you can see it, you will do it.

Sleep on it, write it down, the process is the product.

Visualize healing thyself.

Feel gently, for you are a telepathic being.

No one else can know for you what you know.

You are never alone.

When in doubt, don't force it, leave it in God's hands.

*** IDA

LEAVE IT IN GOD'S HANDS

This is the ultimate human Dream, to communicate with God. Science does not allow for this, since we currently believe the universe is an unconscious state of being, intelligent only at the level of having scientifically identifiable laws that govern it. But is this true?

One cannot totally discount the possibility that the universe is communicating with us, and we with it, at a level that is incomprehensible to us. Our minds, in the realm of reason, are simply not powerful enough to understand such communications, so reason ignores it. Thus the possibility exists that we are being communicated with, and communicate back, at some level of mind, a micro-mind if you will, that is above reason. This higher-mind communication manifests itself in terms of our being, the Who we are in it, and how this Being then manifests for us our lives in it. Seeing it this way, only conceptually as a possibility for now since we are not equipped to see it otherwise, allows for us to reach for it at another level. This may be at the level of meditations, or feeling gently, or watching for how the universe responds to all our actions, and by extension to all our thoughts. We create our reality, the way we are, in terms of Who we are, and how we are in relation to this being Who. That is the communications from the universe, the Being that manifests for us our being. So the universe may be intelligent and conscious at levels still denied to our mind's ability to reason it, but it does not mean that because we cannot see it, it does not exist. In time, we may discover that the Universe is conscious at such great levels of consciousness that its only means of communicating with us, since we are essentially blind and mute in relation to it, is by manifesting for us our lives.

So 'leave it in God's hands' when it is too complex, for we are never alone. God is Love. This is more powerful then we can ever know.

Ivan

TAKARA'S DREAM MACHINE

From the Japanese company that brought us 'bowlingual' and 'mewolingual' to interpret what your pets are saying, now there will be a 'dream' machine to let you custom design your dreams. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3395505.stm
It's the next best thing to the remote on your TV. Can we dream in color?

There are more faces to God than a man can place finger to. There are more people staring at those fingers than at those faces. Con-science consciousness or unso, this is only one face, one finger. Watch- Godel incompleteness proof applied to science yields a science filled with fission and division. There is no chastity here, only unity. Is that division? Seeing, existing. Not seeing, not existing. One face. I have another Who for You. There is Breath in every Thing (and careful of my finger again) and every Thing contains a Breath. How can it otherwise be so? What can be said about consciousness here?

Lets us to Reason! Scale the breach! On the other slip with our swords at our sides and no enemy to hack- this is the road of here and now. Reason has littler use than to provide the not-shape of its container. Again, here I am, and the finger points. Science is that finger. Cause and effect. Just make sure to look down the line of sight and not up the barrel.

Dear Abdul, glad to have your thoughts!

I recently wrote elsewhere: "The Universe is a system that transforms itself from within into what it 'just is'." But that "what it just is" is a very loaded statement, since it is a universe capable of producing all the things humanly observable, that we can create, even that allows us the leisure to dream, and all the stars and galaxies.

One of these dreams is a 'heaven' on Earth in our future. It is the dream just at our fingertips from which we create our future. What will it be? Like the Universe, or the countless faces and names of God, it will surprise with an infinity of beauty and possibilities we have not even dreamt of. So, heaven is with us all the time, and at the same time in a paradoxical way, it is also forever unattainable to us. Though our souls deeply yearn for it, we are still too groggy with the sleep of the ages to know it.

Then, one may ask, if we are such beautiful beings, why so much unhappiness in the world, cruelty, deceit, killing? Let the fingers point where they will, but it is only a condition of our touch still too coarse to understand that all it touches is divine, and that at our fingertips our dreams are still malformed, unconscioius of really Who we are. We will reach for a more 'heaven on Earth' time when those dreams become more like the beauty our souls are endowed with. And then, we will wake up to a new reality far richer in love than we had ever known, or even knew we can know. Of this, I have absolutely no doubt, though it may take a while longer still.

But please, write again, for you are truly Welcome.

Ivan

THE DEAD ZONE - CHERNOBYL GHOST TOWN
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/

---

Quote:

"This old man lives in the Chernobyl area. He is one of 3.500 people that either refused to leave or returned to their villages after the meltdown in 1986. I admire those people, because each of them is a philosopher in their own way. When you ask if they are afraid, they say that they would rather die at home from radiation, than die in an unfamiliar place of home-sickness." --Elena
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/chapter3.html

Perhaps as many as 400,000 people died from this nuclear disaster in northern Ukraine. This is its sad memory, a world lost, empty, where wild animals reclaim their broken realm without fear of humans. Is this the future now?

---

This message is not for anyone who is a true believer in the Koran,the Bible or Torah. It is a question for those who have no faith but that of their own twisted need for power. What gives anyone the right to target and kill innocent children? not only is this act worthy of a punishment of those guilty by hunting down all responsable and ending their exisistance but this type of act will only breed eternal hatred and need for revenge.

A WELCOME FOR 2005

This past year 2004 had been one of much sadness, of natural disasters, epidemic disease, war, kidnappings and beheadings, the passing of iconic famous persons, corrupt voting, and finally the terrible tragedy of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Countered to these were examples of human decency and courage in the face of disaster, spontaneous aid to victims, human solidarity for hopes of a fair democracy, and steps to gain a better future for nations torn by war and oppression. From Darfur to DR Congo to Ukraine to Iraq to Afghanistan, to the tragedies of Shri Lanka, India, Sumatra, Thailand; there is hope the world will be a safer and better place in the new year. All who rushed to help, to make better, to heal, must be praised for their rich showing of their innate humanity. That is the praise that must take us into the new year. We welcome 2005 in the spirit of human solidarity and compassion, of a common helpfulness, a manifest dream of love for all humankind.

Humancafe.com editors

FIND THE LOVE II.

I wrote in "Find the Love" (see April 15, 2005) that we should approach, as aware beings, each other and all living things, in a way to find the love. This is a dream of our future consciousness, that we gain such great awareness that we know when we are loved, or are able to love others. And so is it with things, all living things, but most of all with ourselves, in our individual dreams. There is a universal harmony in loving things.

To love oneself. Is this not against our moral teachings? No, it is not. It means to have enough respect for ourselves that we want the very best for Who we are. Then, if we approach ourselves with such love, we are able to transfer this to others, and to all things. It means to be truthful, to be kind, consciously aware of our being, and to know when what we are doing is damaging to others, to all things. This is the ultimate moral teaching, of forgiveness for our imperfections, and in others, to know that we will never reach that perfection demanded of ourselves or each other. There is a limit to our talents to become the best, and we should accept these with calm and reverence. We are Who we are. That is a fact of our being, and there is no harm in allowing ourselves to be that. What we are in our innermost being, what we feel, what we dream, these are all valid, totally. Be kind to yourself, because that is the only way to true health. And when we can approach these with as much awareness as we can find, with a reverence often only after years of maturity, then that awareness is a perfection in itself. And if we fail in some way to match our self demands, or those of others, we can only do the very best. Our being will take care of itself, because we are forever connected with that Whoness throughout eternity. And because of that we can forgive ourselves, and others.

So dream, and approach all things in life with that dream, and reverence. This is our ultimate identity, of how we had been shaped by our universe over eons into the beings we are. The world out there may appear to be disinterested in you, but it is not. Our reality is so intimately connected with our presence here on Earth, or wherever, that it is as much a part of us, of Who we are, as are the stones of our planet. We are all One. So love your dream, love Who you are, and learn to love with inner kindness even if it is less than some perfection demanded of us. Be humble with yourself, and thus learn to be humble with others. So relax, and enjoy, and allow yourself to do your very best, but do it in a way balanced so that you do not forget Who you are in your dream. We are that living Dream, and when we do that, we gain health in both body and mind, and soul. Be careful what your eat, and kind to what must die for you. This is what Life is all about. Love thyself, from this existence to eternity, the air your breath and water your drink, the sounds you hear, right down to the rocks beneath your feet. It is all there for you, and in that love you will love all others. So be aware, and love your life. Find the love in your self. And That is the Love.

Ivan