Back to July 2007
Mind States - July 2007
Soulistic Living: Unleash the God Within
by Christian Martinen
An Early Morning Revelation
I woke up one morning at 4 a.m. feeling like I had been touched by a magic wand. Instantly, I understood that what we refer to as "the pain of the human condition" hinges on the perception that our world is based in duality. Duality creates separation and division. This ultimately leads to physical pain. These early morning revelations would form the basis of what I would later call Soulistic Living.
In order to step away from life experience based in duality, it is important to understand that the sole purpose of our brain is to interpret and process information delivered through our senses.The brain is not the source from which to create. We all know that human thought infused with energy such as faith, will power, fear and other emotions equals manifestation. The real place from which to create and manifest our world is our soul, which is limitless and reflects the oneness of all things. Creating from this place is Soulistic Living. This is not a religion, new age trend, or self help modality. This is a way of life. It is the truth of our Being.
We tend to let our emotional, mental, or physical body take control of our lives and manifestations. These three bodies are based in Duality. They have a beginning and end. They reflect gender and are a part of material experience. Our soul body is timeless, unlimited and at one with creation.
Our soul reflects the highest, purest form of love we carry within us. We are one with all people, the planet, the universe and all that is. We are one consciousness, one energy field. Oneness is the platform from which to create our lives. We have been created by one source. This source created the entire universe in perfection. This perfection is reflected in nature, the universe, and in every human being. There is no deficiency or unbalance in nature. The laws of the universe reflect the same perfection for each of our lives, with no exception.
How, then, can we have a life reflecting suffering, burden and lack? The reason for us to have seemingly negative experiences lies solely in the fact that we have adopted the "belief" that our life experience is based in duality. This belief will be reversed when we understand oneness as the "truth." We will learn to live, breathe and be oneness while unleashing the God within us. We are one with God when we create and live from our soul. A soulistic life represents fulfillment, abundance, and joy. It is time for humanity to get back the harmony, balance and perfection that are our birthrights. It is intended for us to experience Heaven on Earth.
Discover The Bodies Inside You
Here is an exercise that will assist you in locating your different bodies.
- Lie down on your bed or couchanywhere where you can rest comfortably. Close your eyes and take several deep breaths. Relax.
- Start to feel the different bodies that are housed inside you. There are four to concentrate on: the brain/mental body, the emotional body, the physical body and the spiritual body. When you move your focus to your head, you can feel the mental body. When you move your focus to the chest area, you feel your emotional/heart body. Then when you focus on the skin, you feel your physical body. The spiritual body is located beyond the physical body, but we can still feel it. It is larger than us, and is not limited to our physical experience.
- When you locate the bodies, start playing with them by switching your attention from one to anotheryour mental to your physical, to your emotional and then to your spiritual. Your spiritual body reigns over all others. You can feel it extend to the universe and beyond.
Thoughts deriving from our spiritual body should give you the fuel to create your reality. That body is programmed with "universal truth" that all is one, all is abundance, and all is love and good. Stepping away from duality requires the creation of thoughts that derive from our spiritual body. Coming from this place, our reality will shift into heaven on earth while unleashing the God within.
Christian Martinen is author of Soulistic LivingA Life in Oneness. He leads workshops in Soulistic Living. For more information on up-coming workshops and book release go to www.lifeinoneness.com. He can be reached at info@lifeinoneness.com
Gather The Children
Xbox. Myspace. MTV. Your children love them, and despite your best efforts, they have your kid's attention in a headlock. Meanwhile, that bike in the garage is collecting dust. Why is it that cyberspace has become so much more enticing than the natural world? And what can busy parents do to combat peer pressure in school and the media to help their children develop a relationship with their natural surroundings?
Gather The Children is an innovative youth camp that enriches the bond between children and their local San Diego coastal-desert environment. It promotes awareness of natural cycles and fosters the understanding of native floral and faunal relations. At Gather the Children, learning is celebrated as an experiential and collaborative process, maintained through hands-on projects, interactive workshops, group activities, independent exploration, and dialogues on stewardship.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 60% of families with children ages 0 to 6 have the television on for half of the day, while 30% of families keep it turned on constantly, thus indirectly discouraging outdoor play.
Studies conducted by the bicycle industry show that children's bicycle sales have declined 21% from 2000-2004, while disorders such as childhood obesity and ADHD are significantly on the rise.
Interactions with the natural world can be a solution to many associated childhood disorders. Dr. William Sullivan wrote in a 2001 paper entitled Coping with ADD that "children function better than usual after activities in green settings. The study also states that 'the greener a child's play area, the less severe his or her attention deficit symptoms."
The benefits of the outdoors are numerous for anyone, but it is of particular importance that our children, our Gods and Goddesses of the future, experience the vitality and beauty of our natural world and develop the sense to protect it.
Gather the Children encourages all forms of outdoor play. The main goal is to provide an easy opportunity for parents to know that their children are being cared for and also experiencing nature in the intimate way. Children can learn so much from simply tracing the veins of a leaf or staring up the vast trunk of a tree. This knowledge is not the kind that can be captured within the confines of a classroom or the print of a textbook.
Gather the Children is designed for children between the ages of 6 and 10. They also host small groups and encourage a sense of community. Organic vegetarian meals are provided. For registration and other information, please visit: www.gather-the-children.com
Her Story of History: Filmmaker Shonali Bose Discusses Amu
by John Esther
I don't want to deal with fantasy films. I want to throw some light on things people should know abouteven in the present. To make you think, essentially. Filmmaker Shonali Bose
In these heightened times of conflict between increasing globalization and intense nationalism, people are sensitive when it comes to criticism from "outsiders." Yet globalization forces us to ask the question: Whose culture, and history, is it? Who is truly on the outside as we become increasingly interconnected? No person is an island.
Within this framework we enter the world of filmmaker Shonali Bose and her film, Amu.
Amu tells the story of Kaju (Konkona Sensharma), a young woman whose visit to India uncovers some unhappy truths about her personal, and well as India's political, past. The film was inspired by the experiences of then 19-year-old Bose while working in relief camps during the Delhi riots of 1984.
"I really identify with her mother Keya (Brinda Karat)," Bose says. "For reasons out of her control, she was forced to live outside of India. As someone forced to live out of the country, I also wanted to explore that theme of Diaspora."
During the riots, 5,000 Sikhs were murdered in retaliation for the assassination of India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards.
"I felt very connected to the subject," says Bose. "I was a freshman in college at the time and worked through the horror. People had been waiting 20 years for justice to be served." Bose says that the state used religion as a divisive tool to instigate the riots.
"The riot didn't just happen because of the assassination," says Bose, "It was used to give the government sympathy. Many people hid Sikhs rather than let the mob get to them. It had nothing to with them being Sikhs; it had to do with them being (her) bodyguards."
"What was interesting about Indira's assassinators was they were both caught immediately," she continues. "One was killed on the spot, the other was in jail soon after. There was no real investigation into who was behind these bodyguards. It's kind of like, 'Who shot JFK?' "
Bose was raised in Calcutta, Bombay and Delhi, India and received her MFA at UCLA. She is an atheist but finds strength in the goddess imagery of India, especially in the mother goddess Durga.
"It's interesting to see these images of powerful women that have come from Ancient India and how in present society Indian women are treated as subservient,' she says. "Originally they were the center of power, energy and creativity."
The nowAmerican activist and filmmaker's intent in making Amu was to revisit and retell the story of the Delhi riots so the world would not forget this event that, in a very short time, killed more Sikhs in India than Americans in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. As someone who lives her life in two countries, Bose sees many similarities between India and the United States.
"These are the world's two largest democracies and they push the notion of democracy at the costs of a lot of other things," explains Bose. "Like Gandhi's assassination, Sept. 11 was used to push through certain policies like the Patriot Act, which they had a hard time pushing before."
Although 20 years has past since the riots, the film's subject matter made it difficult to find funding. Producers would sign on and then drop out of fear of retribution.
Bose's first financial break came when her husband, activist and scientist Bedabrata Pain, handed her a royalty check from NASA for his invention of the world's smallest camera.
Once the finances were set, Bose went to India where she met official resistance and received at least one death threat while making the film. After its completion, Bose encountered another obstacle when the regulatory board of India gave Amu an "A" ratingsimilar to an "R" in the US.
"I was so outraged that I didn't have a response at the time," she says. "There is no sex or violence in the film. This is straight political censorship."
The Board defended their ruling because " [Why] should young people know a history that is buried and forgotten?"
Others felt different. The film has won several awards including National Award, India for Best English Language Film and Best Director, English Language Film and the prestigious FIPRESCI Critics Award.
"The power is within us to make change," says Bose. The film Amu is set to open in the US this summer. Bose is a filmmaker who has substance behind her words.
For more information about Amu, go to www.amuthefilm.com.