How to be magnetic: attractive energy

• Source for Understanding Men and Women: Alison Armstrong

Goddess Reclaimed: Initiations to Unleash Power

How can we increase our magnetic feminine energy and learn how to be magnetic, how to attract everything we desire from our divine feminine goddess energy? It would be life changing. We must first learn to heal wounds in the psyche and shadow-self, increasing our feminine energy with self-love.

How can we increase feminine pleasure, receive from our soft feminine energy, become irresistible, and learn to magnetize everything we could ever want? This video begins to make suggestion. If it serves, say so in the comments and please share with our sisters, beloved ones.

Can it be empowering to participate in a straight women's circle with Syma Kharal?

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Man or machine?

Kate Nitshe shares that, “With Syma [Kharal]'s support, I was able to remove the darkness that had engulfed me and for the first time in a long time, I was able to see the light.

Would it help or hurt to love myself first? Help

“Syma helped heal my heart and allowed me to see all of my potential. I have been living lightheartedly and surrounding myself with people who positively serve me.

“I can't thank Syma enough. Syma CARES. She is genuine and truly wants to support you to become the best version of yourself."

Is there any hope for MEN and nontoxic masculine energy?

Who needs jerk men? The mainstream media says we can be happy lesbian families.

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Understanding Men/Women (Orion's Method)

According to Alison Armstrong (alisonarmstrong.com), “Men have a natural attentiveness to providing what women need. One problem is they don't always know what women need. A bigger problem is the women themselves don't know what they need, even if they were willing to ask for it.

“Women want to help men get what they need, if only to keep them from being so grumpy and frustrated. But men ignore their needs until they reach the 'breaking point,' and the way they ask then causes women to resist providing it!

“The lack of information, misunderstandings, inability to speak up — and on top of that, the way we project our needs onto others — well, it’s going to be a mess for sure!”

Singer-songwriter Alanis M.

Alanis Morrisette shares that, “Alison [Armstrong]'s deep understanding and love of men moved me to a whole other level of clarity and peace about a gender that has confounded me for a long time. I feel like the wool has been pulled from my eyes and I can see men in a new and more loving way.”

Racist, pro-genocide, right wing radio host Dennis Prager agrees: “Alison Armstrong...is in my view brilliant and gifted beyond words with an original mind. Original minds are very rare, and she has it combined with a good heart and that's a terrific combination.”

• Making Sense of Men (Alison Armstrong)
• Alison Armstrong (@thealisonarmstrong) • Instagram
• In memoriam for Alison Armstrong's lost husband Greg
• 3 Ways to Magnetic Feminine Energy (Flourishing Goddess)
• Syma Kharal, flourishinggoddess.com, Feb. 22, 2023; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven (eds.). Wisdom Quarterly

Say NO to Genocide Joe! Morehouse College

Pres. Biden greeted by protesters at Morehouse College commencement

(Face the Nation) May 19, 2024: Some students and faculty at Morehouse College greeted Pres. Biden with a silent protest by wearing Palestinian scarves or the color of the flag as the president delivered the commencement at the all-male historically Black university. Nikole Killion reports.

ABOUT: "Face the Nation" is America's premier Sunday morning public affairs program. The broadcast is one of the longest-running news programs in the history of television, having debuted Nov. 7, 1954, on CBS. Every Sunday, "Face the Nation" moderator and CBS News senior foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan welcomes leaders, newsmakers, and experts to a lively round table discussion of current events and the latest news.

Ex-Christian Black Magician on Islam (video)

Pfc. Sandoval, Shauna Schwartz, Sheldon S., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Black magician admits: "Muslims are immune to evil spells and curses"

(Muslim Convert Stories) Dec. 11, 2023: This is magician Dravon Thatcher who recently made a statement that Muslims (followers of Allah and Islam) are immune to curses and evil spells cast by black magicians.

According to Thatcher, the regular practice of praying five times a day to Allah creates a protective "spiritual shield" for them.

Swedish beauty: I hated Islam...until I became a Muslim. (Magnetized?)

• 

  Buddha = compassion + wisdom

  [EDITOR'S NOTE: Probably the sincere practice of anyone's religion, even Christianity, might provide the same sort of protection. The key seems to be a sadhana or "daily practice" of virtue and faith, learning (knowledge) and sincerity, reducing our ego and handing it over to the Universe, whoever or whatever we might regard as a higher power in life. Hinduism is beautiful in this regard for having Sanskrit terms for it. The Creator God is Brahma, called Maha Brahma in Buddhism, but the real "GOD" is Brahman, the ultimate reality behind the illusory world we find ourselves in. Each religion, while not having words for it, might make the same distinction. Is it a jealous tribal god one is following, or a universal god-force in the universe (like Love), beyond conception or attributes that is the real god or godhead or higher divinity? Do sincere Muslims really believe that Allah is a petty god like Yahweh/Jehovah seems to be? Or do mystics and transcendentalists see God in the fullness of the All, the Unity, the transpersonal, a BRAHMAN supreme like the traditions of the East seem to see? Buddhism and Jainism are nontheistic, so these are not applicable issues to worry about in daily practice. But there is a higher Truth, an ultimate Truth, an impersonal reality beyond all speculation, and when one awakens and realizes the Truth, attains enlightenment and thereby finds liberation, being set free by the Truth, there's no need to argue. Any or all religions might help us along the way at some point in our journeys, our lives, and many past and future lives. Today you're a hypocritical Christian or Jew, but later you're reborn a Muslim for having hated them. Today you kill and hunt and praise hunting and killing, but in the future, you suffer for it and turn away from that kind of evil. And religions told you "Don't kill" but you didn't listen until it was too late. And religions, taken over by some evil force, maybe the CIA or Shaytan/Satan, tell you "kill," in contradiction to what they have always been saying, which is not to kill but to preserve life and be kind and welcoming to strangers as precious guests, to listen to and respect others for all their beliefs, even while disagreeing, and thereby becoming a person closer to sincerity, holiness, goodness, with a bright future in the course of life after life, here and in the heavens or elsewhere on the downward path. Religion is a verb, what we do every day. If religion makes us better, do religion. If it does not, reject religion. It's still possible to be a good person, making no room for evil to enter in. Why in the world do the Abrahamic religions fight so much? Why do they attack and kill the Dharmic religions? My country, the USA, is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world. MLK Jr. realized that and said so. We're starting to realize that.]

I went to Israel to be more Jewish, but I'm all European, zero Middle Eastern

• Help: World's largest cleft charity | Smile Train
• VIDEO: Homosexuality in the Islamic World?

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Is there "FAITH" in Buddhism?

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary: Terms and Doctrines edited by Wisdom Quarterly

 

There are many faiths based only on faith.

Buddhism does have and rely, at least in the beginning, on "faith." But it is not blind faith. It is confidence and conviction -- a verifiable faith called saddhā.

 

Buddhists are said to have saddha if "they believe in the Awakened One's enlightenment" (MN 53; A.V, 2), and in the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha), by going for guidance (ti-sarana) to them. This "faith," however, should be ākāravatā saddhā dassanamūlika ("reasoned and rooted in understanding," MN 47) so that it is verifiable in this life.

One investigates and tests the object of faith (MN 47, MN 95). A Buddhist's faith is aligned with a spirit of free inquiry. So "doubt about things giving rise to doubt" (A. II, 65; S. XLII, 13) is admitted, and inquiry into them is encouraged.

Balance faith with knowledge

Faith can help to start, wisdom to finish.

The "faculty of faith" should be balanced with the "faculty of wisdom." (See indriya-samatta).

It is said: "A monastic who has understanding, establishes confidence/faith in accordance with that understanding" (S. XLVIII, 45).

Through wisdom (understanding), faith/confidence becomes an inner certainty that matures into firm conviction based on one's own direct experience.

Faith is called the seed (Sn. v. 77) of all wholesome states because -- according to commentarial explanations -- it inspires the mind/heart with confidence (okappana, pasāda) and determination, for "launching out" (pakkhandhana, see MN 122) to get across the flood of samsāra, the Ocean of Suffering, the Wheel of Life and Death.

Unshakable faith

Unshakable faith, that is, complete confidence is attained by reaching the first stage of enlightenment called stream-entry or stream-winning, when the fetter of skeptical doubt is eliminated.

Unshakable confidence (avecca-pasāda) in the Three Jewels is one of the characteristic qualities of the stream-winners.

Faith is a mental concomitant, present in all karmically wholesome states, and its corresponding neutral consciousness. (See Table II). It is one of the Four Streams of Merit, one of the Five Spiritual Faculties, Five Spiritual Powers, Elements of Exertion, and one of the Seven Treasures.

See Faith in the Buddha's Teaching by Soma Thera (BPS.lk, Wheel #262) and "Does Saddhā mean Faith?'' by Ven. Ñānamoli Thera (Wheel #52/53).

How to enter Buddhism

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Bhikkhu Khantipalo (Sydney, Australia), Lay Buddhist Practice: The Shrine Room, Uposatha Day, Rains Residence (BPS.lk/Access to Insight.org)

If one were to read only one book on Buddhism, it might be What the Buddha Taught

The Big Buddha, Lantau Island, Hong Kong, China (Clicksnap/flickr.com)

 

I just want Truth! Me, too! Me, too!

What can a lay Western Buddhist can do even though home is far from Buddhist lands, temples, and societies?
 

There are various daily and periodic events on the Buddhist calendar. But which items can be practiced by lay Buddhists without access to monastics, monasteries, temples, relic shrines (stupas), and so on?
 

Out of the rich traditions available in Buddhist countries, let's look at only three: the daily service chanted in honor of the Three Treasures (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) with some recollections and meditation; the lunar observance (uposatha) days with the Eight Precepts; and the Rains-Residence period of three months intensive practice. What is important is having some daily Dharma-practice.

 

Even where isolated Buddhists are fortunate enough to be near some Buddhist center, they will still benefit from these Buddhist practices, all of which are based on similar methods used in the East.
 

Meditation is hard to begin in isolation because there are many hindrances and sharks around, subtle and overt dangers to derail one's sincere efforts (National Geographic).

 

These days there are many books on Buddhism, some reliable, some speculative, so that a Buddhist living in a country where the religion is newly introduced is likely to have some difficulty in discerning what is really the teaching of the Buddha.

However, this difficulty can be overcome by the study of the original sources, the Pali canon. Of course, if the student can gain the help of some well learned and practiced Buddhist, one will understand Dharma more quickly and thoroughly.

 

One will also be able to practice more easily. For it is a great difficulty, even if one has a good acquaintance with the sutras (the discourses of the Buddha), to know how to practice their teaching.

Finding the heart of wisdom (Horus2004)

This is more a problem for Buddhists who have to acquire all of their knowledge of the Dharma from books. One hears people like this say, "I am a Buddhist, but what should I practice?" [Buddhism is a practice, not a "belief" system.]

Is it enough to answer this question with more or less abstract categories, saying for instance, "Well, I can practice the Noble Eightfold Path!"?

Journey to the Buddha (Cliksnap)

After all, what does it mean to practice it, and how? It is not easy to practice the Dharma in an alien environment where Buddhist monastics, residences (temple-monasteries called viharas), and monuments containing relics (also called stupas, cetiyas, pagodas, or dagobas) are absent.

In Buddhist lands where these and other signs of the Dharma are to be seen, the lay person has many aids to practice and has access to help when difficulties arise.

But elsewhere the layperson must rely on books. Leaving aside those that are misleading (frequently written by Western people who have never thoroughly trained themselves in any Buddhist tradition), which even if the most authentic sources are studied, still tend to be selective of the materials available so that it is possible to get one-sided views.

We made it to the top (Clicksnap)

Now it can be a good corrective to stay in a Buddhist country for some time and get to know how things are done, but not everyone has the opportunity to do this. Here then let's touch upon a few common Buddhist practices being as general as possible so that descriptions are not peculiar to the Buddhist country I know best, Thailand, but may be common to many Buddhist traditions:

• Daily Practice:
  • The Shrine Room
  • The Offerings
  • Gestures of Respect
  • The Preliminary Formula for Revering the Buddha
  • The Three [Guides]
  • The Five Precepts
  • Recollections:
    • Recollection of the Three Treasures
    • Affirmation of [Guidance] in the Three Treasures
    • The Five Subjects for Daily Recollection
    • The Development of Loving-Kindness
  • Meditation
  • Rejoicing (Anumodana)
  • Chanting
  • The Laity's Practice of Dharma
• Lunar Observance (Uposatha)
  • The Eight Precepts
• The Rains Residence
• The Purpose of These Practices
• The Discourse to Visakha on the Uposatha with the Eight Practices
• Appendix of Pali Passages

"The Tree of Life" (2011 film)

Brad Pitt stars in a new film from Terrence Malick -- the acclaimed director of Badlands, Days of Heaven, and The Thin Red Line. The Tree of Life is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern American family in the 1950's.

It follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn), through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years. He tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt).

Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world: He is seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.

Through Malick's signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.

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• "1984" in 2011: U.S. House votes for "Patriot Act"
  

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to extend three key provisions of the Patriot Act until June 1, 2015. The Senate voted earlier in the day to approve the extension bill. The House vote was 250 in favor, with 153 opposed. Oppositions to the bill said it was an invasion of privacy and had hoped to add language providing for further oversight and audits of the activities the law permits. The three provisions are as follows: One would enable law enforcement officials to conduct surveillance on suspects without a warrant who switch communication devices, such as using disposable cellular phones. A second would let officials conduct warrant-less surveillance on suspects not currently linked to any known terrorist organization abroad. The third would enable officials access to suspects' business transactions without a warrant. Pres. Obama signed the bill using an auto pen machine from France. Source

Beliefs of All the World's Religions

Himalayan Academy

IF RELIGIONS HAVE EVER CONFUSED or confounded, take heart. The following gathers from hundreds of sources a simple summary of the world's major spiritual paths. The strength of this undertaking, brevity, is also its flaw. Complex and subtle distinctions and exceptions are consciously set aside for the sake of simplicity. There are hundreds of books addressing deeper matters, but none that have attempted a straightforward comparative summary. There is a need for a no nonsense review of religions.

• EXAMPLE: The goal of Buddhism is nirvana, the end of all suffering, literally, "blowing out." Theravada tradition describes the indescribable as "peace and tranquility." The Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions view it as "neither existence nor nonexistence," "emptiness and the unchanging essence of the Buddha" and "ultimate reality." It is synonymous with release from the bonds of desire, ego, suffering, and rebirth. Escape to reality. Of the ultimate reality it is said, "There is an unborn, an unoriginated, an unmade, an uncompounded...if there were not, no escape from the born, originated, made, and compounded would be possible." Nirvana is peace, happiness, and reality, not annihilation.

Juxtaposing a few major beliefs can highlight how the major world religions and secular philosophies are similar and different. This section will give a good grasp of the essential truths of every major religion practiced today on the planet. It may also dispel the myth that all religions are one, that they all seek to lead by the same means to the same Ultimate Reality. They don't. The 171 beliefs in this study may lead to the realization that one is a Buddhist-Christian-Existentialist or a Taoist-New Age-Materialist... More>>

Retreats: Religious Replenishing

Buddhism is compatible with practicing other faiths (dreamstime.com).

• Animism: the original "faith," a life dependent on the Spirits (ABC News visits a tribe deep in the Amazon, 9/23/08) VIDEO (2:28)

Replenishing the soul with religious retreats
Michael Virtanen (AP)

Hojin Kimmel is seen during breakfast at Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, N.Y., Thursday, March 20, 2008. Dozens of religious retreats are nestled in the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley of upstate New York, many open to visitors seeking quiet getaways and personal enlightenment (AP Photo/Mike Groll).

NEW LEBANON, N.Y. (7/24/08) -- At the former Shaker village, where the Taconic Mountains roll into the Berkshires and New York touches Massachusetts, Yaqin Aubert read aloud Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Zoroastrian, Judaic, Christian and Islamic texts during the Sunday service at the Sufi religious retreat.

With two dozen worshippers, who mainly resembled any mostly white upstate congregation, Aubert invoked "the Omnipresent God" and repeated scriptures of peace from seven religious traditions. He told a story about Jesus, whose disciples were angry at their rude treatment by several villagers in ancient Palestine, while Jesus was unbothered.

"I can only spend what is in my purse," was his reply. "All he had inside was peace," explained Aubert, a Sufi Muslim retreat guide. Peace outside comes from peace inside.

Dozens of religious retreats are nestled in the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley of upstate New York, many open to visitors seeking quiet getaways and personal enlightenment. Stay for meals or overnight, you'll likely be asked for a donation or pay a small fee. Come for organized retreats for weekends, weeks or longer, with guided learning, solitary prayer or meditation, and pay program fees.

At Abode of the Message in New Lebanon, 25 miles southeast of Albany, the bulletin board by the communal kitchen had a Sufi story about how an individual's inner light can illuminate an entire city. The woman washing dishes described herself as a Sufi Christian. That afternoon, there would be a discussion of the mystical, reverent 13th-century poetry of Rumi, a key figure in Sufism.

Whatever your tradition, this mystical Sufi brand of Islam invites you to deepen your faith here without converting.

The Buddhists in Mount Tremper, 50 miles southwest of Albany in the Catskills, likewise welcome visitors at certain times, recommending the weekly Sunday morning program with beginning instruction in meditation at Zen Mountain Monastery. Senior monastics said they see no conflict between Buddhist practice and someone's search for God. The quest for greater mindfulness and compassion welcomes the question. More>>