Mindfulness Makes You Less Caring? Karma’s Role

A recent research report, “Potential negative consequences of mindfulness in the moral domain” came up with a mind-blowing conclusion: that practicing mindfulness makes you less caring. Surprising given that some of the biggest names in spirituality practice mindfulness and advocate its use; people such as the Dali Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh. Similarly, Eckhart Tolle teaches being present, focusing on the moment, which is very similar to mindfulness.

How can this be?

Karma has altered mindfulness. Because everything has karma, everything picks up karma and over time this begins to change and alter the original intent or purpose of things, whether it be mindfulness, a religion, an organization, a discipline, or… What do I mean?

When I was working on my latest book, Everything Has Karma: Learning to Embrace Our Interconnectedness, I wanted to show how wonderful practices such as the energy healing technique of Reiki have devolved over time.  To do this I turned to a book I had read a few years earlier, What's Wrong with Mindfulness (And What Isn't): Zen Perspectives. Editors Barry Magid and Robert Rosenbaum argued that Mindfulness has been misappropriated by the Western marketplace and been commercialized; and is now being practiced on business retreats, at medical centers, by sports teams, by the military and more.

All of these various practitioners (business people, athletes, soldiers…) of mindfulness have had an influence in shaping what it has become today. Sadly, they have run over its reverence and spiritual dimension. Because of this mindfulness has suffered.

As Simon Schindler, the author of the study, noted “Mindfulness — without being embedded in an ethical context — may thus have downsides regarding interpersonal and moral behavior that have been so far ignored by researchers and also practitioners…”

So, yes, it may well be the Mindfulness today can be a drag on your morality.

If you are serious about your spiritual development (practice meditation, attend religious services, practice social justice, work with the poor…) you have to get karma right, and understand that everything has karma.

Blessings,
madis

PS I have several author talks coming up for Everything Has Karma that will give you the chance to learn more, Author Talks--Everything has Karma

Author Talks--Everything has Karma

Author Talks Begin in September

Starting in September I will be doing author talks on my upcoming book Everything Has Karma: Learning to Embrace Our Interconnectedness I will have books for sale with me.

Below are the talks I have scheduled so far. They include a sacred walk at Pagan Pride Day in Central New York. Most events are FREE.. I anticipate I will be booking more venues.

To keep abreast of my talks and events please click on, Author Talks or Events on the upper right..  

Sep 14, Sat.       Syracuse        Paine Branch  Library       Everything Has Karma
2:00 PM                                    113 Nichols Ave                FREE

Sep 19, Th.        N. Syracuse    N. Syr. Community Ct.      Everything Has Karma  
6:30 PM                                     700 S. Bay Road              $5 Admission-Dowsers

Sep 21, Sat.       Liverpool         Long Branch Park,           Pagan Pride (food donation)
10 AM                Syr-Onon Pk..  3813 Long Branch Rd.    Sacred Walk--Sign Up, Limited Space 
12 Noon                                                                              Talk Karma/ Pagan--Ritual, Ceremony

Oct 4, Fri            Dewitt              Dewitt Library                  Reading, w/other authors
6:30-8:30 PM                              5110 Jamesville Rd        10 minute reading Karma 

Oct 5, Sat.         Rochester        Monroe Central Lib          Everything Has Karma  
1 PM                                           115 South Ave                FREE
4 PM                  Macedon          Books, Etc.                      Everything Has Karma  
                                                   78 W Main St                   FREE

Oct 26, Sat        East Syr..         E. Syracuse Library          Everything Has Karma                                                    10:30 AM                                   4990 James Street           FREE

Oct 29 Tues.     Cazenovia       Cazenovia Library            Everything Has Karma  
7 PM                                           100 Albany St.                FREE

Nov 7 Th.          Brewerton         Brewerton Library           Everything Has Karma                                                        
6:30 PM                                      5440 Bennett St.             FREE

Nov 13 Wed.      Herkimer         The Java Shop                Everything Has Karma  
6 PM                                           143 N. Main Street          FREE

Nov 17 Sun        Norwich           Bonnie Gales.                 Everything Has Karma  
                                                                                           Potluck

Dec 5 Th.           Dewitt             Dewitt Library                  Everything Has Karma
7 PM                                          5110 Jamesville Rd        FREE

Rate of Climate Change has been underestimated--It's Much Worse

Scientific America  reported on the findings of a new book  Discerning Experts that the pace of climate change has been underestimated.  Here's a quote:

Because the oceans cover three fifths of the globe, this correction implies that previous estimates of overall global warming have been too low. Moreover it was reported recently that in the one place where it was carefully measured, the underwater melting that is driving disintegration of ice sheets and glaciers is occurring far faster than predicted by theory—as much as two orders of magnitude faster—throwing current model projections of sea level rise further in doubt.

Scientists Have Been Underestimating the Pace of Climate Change

Pretty wonky stuff. 

I made the post because I wanted to highlight that climate change is much worse than previously forecast and I expect that this trend will continue.

Click on the link in 'Labels" below to see some of the many other times we have underestimated Climate Change.

Are We Having An Old Testament Moment?

A few weeks back massive swarms of grasshoppers (aka. locusts)  invaded Las Vegas (sin city), I could not help and wonder, whether we were having an Old Testament moment. In others words, A POX of plagues, pestilence, locusts, fires, floods, winds, and other environmental catastrophes have been unleashed upon us (humankind) because we have not been living by God's laws.




We certainly have had our fill of environmental disasters wrought by climate change.

Report--Climate Change is an Existential Threat to Humankind

Civilization-Collapsing Megadroughts of Medieval Times Could Be in Store for a Warming Earth

Climate Change Really is Causing California’s Raging Wildfires

Climate crisis already causing deaths and childhood stunting, report reveals

Animals failing to adapt to speed of climate crisis, study finds .

Could the cause of our current environmental calamities as the bible teaches be the result of our inhumanity, cruelty, selfishness, violence, war and the like?

To some in our modern scienfiic world this sounds like lunacy.

Not for me.

I am an adherent of Advaita Vendanta; that we live in a sea consciousness and that all is consciousness. The world as we see it is an illusion, Maya. That there is a greater reality behind it--everyone and everything. It is all God.

You could call Vedanta a form of pantheism, everything is living and has a spirit ( for example see,The Eastern Hermetic School of Geomancy). So when we harm someone else we effectively harm God and ourselves, because everything is God. 

"When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence." Jeremiah 14.12

Politicians serve for personal plunder and defy the will of the people; wealth inequality has never been greater; we treat the alien as the other; while we "don't sell the poor for a pair of sandal"poverty, hunger and homelessness are still prevalent.

July the Hottest Month Ever

NOAA reported today that July as the hottest month on record ever since records began being kept. July was almost 2° hotter than the average July temperature for last century. This follows the hottest June ever.

July 2019 was hottest month on record for the planet

The Arctic and Anaaratic sea caps melted to historic low levels as well...

Climate Change the Heat is On

A few weeks back I posted an article on how rising temperatures from Climate Change would drive migration north in America.Climate Change is Driving Migration North  I mention this because the Washington Post had an interesting article on temperature changes in America,

2°C: BEYOND THE LIMIT 

Extreme climate change has arrived in America

The article points out that the much ballyhooed 2° threshold marking the point of no return has already been achieved in many parts of America. To make its case it talked about Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey that used to export ice blocks in the 1890's now has ice so thin that it is dangerous to walk on in the dead of winter.

What was also interesting was a graph showing the areas that have heated up dramatically since 1895. In a way it is a bit of contrast to the graph in my post that shows America's southeast getting scorched. But it should be pointed out we are talking about the future and the southeast is already pretty warm. So while northern Minnesota has heated up a lot since 1895 it  started from a much lower base.

Further America's northeast, the area that argued would benefit from climate change, has been heating up fast as the picture below shows. However, again the northeast is still a lot colder than the southeast, particularly areas like the Thousand Islands region, along the St. Lawrence Rive north of Lake Ontario.

Trump Guts the Endangered Species Act

Yesterday Donald Trump announced new rules to reduce the power of the Endangered Species Act.  The Endangered Species Act helped save the Bald Eagle, the Polar Bear, humpbacked whales and many others.

Father Sky, Mother Earth continued.

A few days ago I posted Father Sky powering an energy formation on Mother Earth a picture that showed rays from the sky above  powering an energy formation of Mother Earth. Alice Hardwood  reminded me of an incredible picture of hers that I posted a few years ago, Beautiful Pink Halo Over an Energy Vortex, of another apparatus of Mother Earth being powered by Father Sky.

As you can see it is an amazing picture.

https://www.aliceharwood.com/

Alice also sent me some more pictures of Father Sky showering Mother Earth in that same garden area of her property.

Thanks Alice.

Climate Change Threatens World Food Supplies

The United Nations came out with a report today saying that climate change is threatening food supplies and advocates we should pursue a plant based diet.

World food security increasingly at risk due to 'unprecedented' climate change impact, new UN report warns

More than 500 million people today live in areas affected by erosion linked to climate change, the UN warned on Thursday, before urging all countries to commit to sustainable land use to help limit greenhouse gas emissions before it is too late.

UNDP Chad/Jean Damascene Hakuzim. Desertification threatens the village of Tantaverom. Mbo Malloumu has taken the initiative to plant acacia seedlings to rehabilitate the land. In the past 50 years, Lake Chad basin shrank from 25,000 square kilometers to 2,000square kilometers.

The Sky Above powering an energy formation on Mother Earth

Below is a remarkable  picture showing a beam of light shining into the earth.

It was taken by Kathy Sindoni at Young Living's farm in Mona, Utah just outside of Salt lake city.  Kathy's friend, and fellow dowser, Peter Shell forwarded it to me. You may remember a few years back that Peter photographed our survey of the Ledges Area of South Hill and captured some incredible pictures of fairies (.Another Pixie or Faery in Peter Shell's Pictures from the Ledges Area?)

My dowsing shows that the light is being used to fuel an energy formation in our Mother that is primarily oval/circular in shape with some distinctive attachments.

What is so Amazing About the Picture

Intake The picture shows the Energy/Light going into the structure. I have never seen a picture of Energy/Light flowing into one of our Mother's parts. Pretty Amazing.

It also answers a question I have had for years about how structures like the one above are powered. Previously I had thought that the intake was larger, encompassing a larger swath.

Father Sky Clearly, the heavens above power aspects of Mother Earth. But is  there a larger   structure above us, that is powering it? or is more like lightning striking tellurics (what Feng Shui calls dragon lines) in the earth that power the Schumman Resonance, what many call the our Mother's heartbeat.

Healing  The structure being powered is a master energy/force/light that can be therapeutic. We know of similar at places like Lourdes, France, Chimayo New Mexico, Giza, Egypt.......Not necessarily the exact same type of structures, but very similar.

Energy,Light, or? We are so used to talking about energy--but energy is usually coarse (lower consciousness) essences. This is something of much more higher order.

Like Attracts Like It should not be a surprise that a farm for healing oils would be attracted to a formation of our Mother that can heal.

More.

Thanks to Kathy for sharing.

Feel free to distribute the above to friends. If you want to use the above information for a book, or other printed material, you will need permission.
Copyright.

Yesterday's Vigil at the Peacemaker's Sanctuary, Onondaga Lake

Yesterday's Vigil at the Peacemaker's Sanctuary was a moving and uplifting experience. Below you will find some pictures and media links.

Local Residents Hold Vigil for Victims in El Paso, Dayton Shootings_ Spectrum News

By Briana Smith Liverpool

(click  above to see the video)

Post Standard Article 

Prayer vigil gives Central New York community hope after 2 mass shootings

Syracuse Post Standard  Gallery of Pictures of the Vigil

I finally sawed off the beaver gnawed tree stumps near the far bench. I felt that they posed too great a risk if someone fell and was impaled upon one of them. A years back a friend pointed out that a beaver must gnawed the trees.Beavers at Onondaga Lake?

Thanks to everyone that turned out.

Prayer Vigil, Monday August 5, 6 PM Peacemaker's Sanctuary, Onondaga Lake

Vigil of Remembrance, Meditation, and Commitment
Monday (8/5), 6 PM

Peacemaker's Sanctuary, Onondaga Lake

Friends,
Tragedy has sadly come to our country and community again, with the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio. We felt it important to gather and pray for those lost and to pray for peace.

We will be gathering a the Peacemaker's Sanctuary at Onondaga lake where we have gathered before. We hope that the great peace that was once born on the shores of this holy lake will return.

Our service will be led by David Pasinski who has provided solace to many grieving with his work as a chaplain. Joining him will be Ralph Singh who many may remember for the healing he brought to our community through his example of forgiving those that burned down his temple Gobind Sadan (Central Square, NY) in a hate crime in the aftermath of  9/11. He recently  wrote an editorial about bringing peace to children through his advocacy work with Wisdom Thinkers to develop a more compassionate world.
We must vaccinate our children against hate (Commentary)

With many of us angry over having to gather again to mourn and pray for healing after a mass shooting, we hope that our community's sanctuary will bring you consolation. The Peacemaker's Sanctuary has comforted many of us in challenging times. May it do so for you tomorrow.

Blessings,
madis

BRING BUG SPRAY.

BRING A CHAIR IF YOU NEED TO SIT.

You can click on Directions for the Peacemaker's Sanctuary Onondaga Lake , or look below.

FOLLOW THE PINK TAPE ONCE YOU PARK YOUR CAR ON IONA AND CROSS THE RAILROAD TRACKS.

I-90 Thruway--Exit 39, Take 690 East

I-81--Take 690 West

From 690- Take exit 5 (Van Vleck-State Fair Blvd.) Turn left onto State Fair Blvd going towards Lakeland (turn right if you are coming from 690 East.) About a 1/2 mile down take a left onto Beach Str. (an Empower bank is on the right.) Continue till end, turn left and park car on Iona street.

Corner of Beach and Iona Streets in Lakeland Cross the RR tracks and walk over the foot bridge (over Rte 690) and take a left. From the foot bridge it is about 150-200 yards to the Sanctuary. The cinder path will connect with a paved path, bear left. About 120-200 feet on your right you will see a clearing with a bench and an overflow duct that gives the appearance of a stream. Total time 5 minutes from parking. Or take the long way, a 20-30 minute walk from parking lot for the John Haley Memorial trial- across from Long Branch Park.

Look for a bench that says "Peacemaker's Sanctuary."

Onondaga Lake--Would you Swim in this Lake

There is a wonderful article, WOULD YOU SWIM IN ONONDAGA LAKE?,  by Richelle Brown in the current issue of Syracuse Peace Counci'l's Newsletter July/August 2019 PNL #867

With the county wanting to open up a section of the Willow Bay area of Onondaga Lake Park, the article reminds us that Onondaga Lake is a closed industrial landfill. 

The sewage and toxic chemicals were never removed from the lake, but were covered up. It is pathetic and sad that such a half-a)&?#ed approach would be taken. Further, the cap, or cover, covering the deadly chemicals on the lake's bottom has slipped off several occasions.

Sadly, one of the holiest places in the world has been treated with such disrespect.

Read WOULD YOU SWIM IN ONONDAGA LAKE?

Sacred Sites Update--Temple Concord, Syracuse, NY

Unfortunately, another sacred space with Fields of Consciousness (FOC), Temple Society of Concord, will be going into private hands. Temple Concord is listed on page 197 of Sacred Sites. It is also part of the  Prophetic Ley (Line) that connects several of Syracuse's social justice oriented places of worship.

Since the Temple will be turned into student housing I image people will continue to have access the part of the FOC that is located outside the Temple.

The Syracuse Post Standard had an op-ed today about why this historic building needs to be preserved. You can access the article by clicking on,
Weigh beauty, history in deciding future of Temple Concord (Editorial short take)

The FOC extends outside of the Temple on its right side in this old picture below. I image that people will be able to access this part of the FOC after it becomes student housing. SAD.