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Vacuum State 3

Visitors today...
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%age Country

30% UNITED STATES

29% SINGAPORE

15% BELGIUM

03% SAUDI ARABIA

02% CANADA

02% UNITED KINGDOM

02% PORTUGAL

02% ITALY

02% HONG KONG

02% MALAYSIA

02% VIET NAM

02% SLOVAKIA

01% GERMANY

01% CZECH REPUBLIC

01% HUNGARY

01% -

01% INDONESIA

01% AUSTRALIA

01% INDIA

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Thank you for visiting. Come back again!

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Daily Contemplation

Deep down we must have real affection for each other, a clear realization or recognition of our shared human status. At the same time, we must openly accept all ideologies and systems as a means of solving humanity's problems. One country, one nation, one ideology, one system is not sufficient.

-- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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Reiki 4 - Usui Pilgrimage

Mr Parag Pattani is my Reiki master. He has written the following account of his recent trip to Dr Mikao Usui's shrine in Japan. I have posted this here because Master Parag is one who follows his heart, and it often lead to interesting and enlightening results. I would be following up on his story in the months ahead, so watch this space...

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For the last few months the calling had been very strong, to pay a visit to Dr.Usui’s (he re-discovered Reiki) grave in Tokyo and Mt.Kurama near Kyoto where he received his enlightenment. Since it entailed a special trip to Japan from Singapore, the cost was high but with involvement in Reiki at an all time high, both in passion and profession, I had to do it. Finally on 13th October,2008 I flew to Japan.
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Grave & Memorial in Tokyo

My first stop was Tokyo. Part of Dr.Usui’s remains are buried at a graveyard in Saiho-ji temple ( He is originally said to have been buried at another private site in Tokyo). There is also a memorial stone erected by some of his disciples in 1927. The inscription in Kanji on the stone speaks about Dr.Usui’s life in brief, especially about his achievements in the field of Reiki. Various Master have travelled to this place before me and some translations of the inscription on the stone are available on the internet. In a nutshell, the following emerges from various translations provided -... read more

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For more about Reiki, read here

Environment 7 - Global Warming?

By now, many of you are probably convinced that the global climate is warming up. The famous Al-Gore documentary, "The Inconvenient Truth" (which I did a private screening last year to a small group), sold the idea that the world is warming and that there are disasters looming.

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Is that really true?

Some prominent scientists believe otherwise. This video shows how they substantiate their claims against the rise in global temperature due to the build-up of carbon-dioxide in the Earth's stratosphere.
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So what do you think?

Do you think you have been sold FEAR?

If it is so, what do you think is the motivation for selling this FEAR?

Is it to support a set of expensive policies that will benefit some people peddling solutions to the perceived problems?

If carbon-dioxide is not the culprit for temperature rise, what will happen to the proposed carbon-credit exchange? Will it work?

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I think, we should clean up the air and water ways against pollution, that are detrimental to our health. At the same time, we should remain open to other scientific evidence against the (now) mainstream perception that climate change is largely due to the amount of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere.

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For posts related to the environment, click here

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Social Enterprise 3a - Appropriate Technologies

I have found more Youtube videos on implementing appropriate technologies in developing countries and empowering the poor...
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Appropriate Technologies.

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Appropriate Technologies Gaining Ground in Developing Countries

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Renewable Energy Opportunities for Women

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Myths about the Global Poor

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Finally,... Is it 'Simple'?

Social Enterprise 3 - Simplicity

Problem: Lack of clean water for a remote village without electricity or affordable energy source. River water is some distance away and has to be laboriously carried manually in buckets.

My immediate idea to a solution is to install pumps and pipes to bring water from the river, through a water treatment unit, to the villagers for consumption. I think most engineers would think of doing just that. However, it is a solution the village cannot afford. They do not even have the resources to buy diesel to operate the pump.

I am therefore very impressed with what an organisation called PlayPump International does. See the video below...

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What's more the solution is fun, self-sustainable and serves the villagers' needs.

Bucky Group 33 - Play

Here is a letter from a member from the Bucky Group...

Hi Bucky Fellows

Yesterday, I meet up with 2 kids ( above 50 years old ). Kid JH was telling Kid R, "I like to show off my toys to you." Then, he booted up his notebook and showed Kid R his blog and the web sites he goes to...

What I observed:

We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing - George Bernard Shaw
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Toys that are build for sharing gets shared.

What is the connection to me as a Bucky Group member?
Bucky Group members should play to stop being old. Instead of Jim Collin's build to last, think build to share.We should think of how to build toys that can allow playing to be shared. Bucky Group is a toy build to share.

Regards :-)

WhatIDiscover

ps. Someone else subsequently commented that "share to build" would be a full-cycle complement to "build to share".

Autumn Colours 2

My first autumn was spent in Australia. Then, a group of us city-slickers who are born in the tropics, drove all the way from Sydney to Canberra to see the beautiful autumn colours, which it is known for. There, we were fascinated by the breathtaking scenaries of varied shades of autumn, of carefully selected types of trees planted next to each other to show their colour contrasts and accentuate the beauty of autumn.

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One of my housemates was so amazed he brought back a selected leaf, which he carefully held between his thumb and index finger throughout the 1,000 km trip back to Sydney.

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When we reached home, he realised that we had the same type of tree right in our own garden! The leaf looks like this one below... :)

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Maple Leaf

The moral of the story is that it pays for us to open our eyes and admire the moment wherever we are, otherwise there will be much that escape right before our very own eyes.

Kids Play 17 - Belief

Vic (12 years old) believes that he will be super rich. He believes that it is already happening and the path ahead of him is already laid. He shows enthusiasm for everything and therefore always get what he wants. As to why he thinks like this, it surely beats me. He is just a natural optimist. He told me he is going to make money and love people.

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The other day, he told me he is going to be rich selling oxygen to space going vessels, as fuel. He will make CO2-O2 converter machines, and they will have to buy from him because rockets need oxygen, as fuel. Though I know rockets run on hydrogen rather than oxygen and also that he will have to face the tedium of commercialising such technologies, among many other problems, I encouraged him with his dream.

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I know that with a strong belief, he will overcome all associated problems and also will sort out the technicalities and find out that he needs hydrogen instead, or may be he will discover a technology that uses oxygen. We don't know what may come in the house that the children of today will live in, in their future. We can't even see this house in our dreams now. So what we can do is only to encourage them to do their best and believe in what they want to do.

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Actually, if you look into it, it is not very far off from the way religious people place their absolute trust in God, in whatever they do. Replace the word 'God' with 'Self' and the concept is identical.

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This is very different from how I was brought up. For some reason, Chinese parents love to discourage their children and make them feel small. Subconsciously, they are transfering their fears to their children. May be to them, it is also a way of protecting their children - that just in case they do not make it, it won't be so hard on the kids, since they have been 'forewarned'. So, unless such parents have very strong minded kids, they would succeed in cowing the children's dreams into oblivion.

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That's probably one reason why I had such a bad temper. I had many ideas and things that I love to do as a kid, but was always discouraged. Even after I had my driver's licence, I was consistently spoken into fear about the dangers of driving. And eventually, they succeeded, and I almost got into a serious accident, which becomes a self-fulfiling prophecy that proved that driving a motor vehicle was dangerous.

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We must always be careful with what we burn into the minds of people, especially young minds. Once burned in, they will be conditioned to be fearful instead of feeling the omnipresent and mighty glory to succeed, which is our true nature. So nowadays, I choose my words carefully when I speak. I would always ask, "Does this encourage Love or Fear?"

Autumn Colours

Kid's Play 16 - Boarding School

Attended a talk by the principal of a boarding school recently, that welcomes its students for the new semester In it, he says that the school is not one that promotes elitism and would accept students from all backgrounds that are willing to learn. It is true as it has a means-tested fee structure, such that both the rich and poor can afford to attend the school.

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In true Catholic fashion, he said that the school is not a place that teaches students to earn a lot of money in the future, but rather to be educated and responsible human-beings. I differ with him a little on the part about money, in that, children should be taught about abundance and financial prudence early in their life, so that they can have a life comfortable enough to focus on spiritualism. Also, emphasising that the school is not a place to learn about making money, gives a negative impression about money to those young minds. They might grow up thinking that money is evil. I believe that we can be well-moneyed and spiritual. We don't have to be poor in order to be spiritual.

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Further, he enumerated two directions which the school takes, akin to the two recent Olympic Gold Medals Belgium has won in High Jump and 4x100m relay. That is, though the students may come from varying educational backgrounds, the school endeavours to bring the standards as high as possible, just like in High Jump. Then, as each student is stretched to their highest standard possible, there shall be no prima donna, but team players who will excel together, just like in 4x100m relays.

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The compounds and the buildings can do with some refurbishment, but then I think they would not have enough funds as they do not want to charge high fees such that only the rich can study there. They take students from all races and religions, like Muslims, Christians, Buddhists,...etc. As I departed, I could see families leave in big Mercedes and Porsche, but also Toyotas and other ordinary cars. There are also some who walked down the slopes from the school and departed by train. I think the school has set its priorities to love all and serve all. My blessings to them.

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Cat's Play 3

Go play with a cat when you have time. It is a great escape from the daily grind if you are a busy person forgetting about yourself.

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I know of someone who was very depressed until one day when she saw three kittens in a cardboard box outside the supermarket, with a sign, "Please take one". The three kittens were lovely and were shivering in the cold, or perhaps also out of fear in the strange surroundings waiting for someone to adopt them. She picked up one of the kittens, and since then, has gradually recovered from her depression. When we 'turn the other cheek' to face love, in this case, of loving the kitten, the darkness and depression disappears. We can't move darkness, but by shining light on it, the darkness disappears.

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The kitten was her saviour. Saviours do not have to come with supernatural powers, a bolt of lightning and a deep thunderous voice that echoes across the skies. They can be as simple as an abandoned and helpless kitten. Actually, if we look around in our daily life, there are many seemingly ordinary mundane entities that have much to offer us, waiting for us to respond and acknowledge,... that is, if we really listen hard enough.

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Daily Contemplation

Did you ever see the Law that causes a plant to grow? Of course, you did not, and yet you believed in the hidden Law of growth. Why did you believe? Simply because, every year, out of the seed time comes the harvest. To these souls who have dared to believe, has come a definite answer.
-- Ernest Holmes
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Daily Contemplation is a free email service from Bodhi Fellowship / Center For Inner Peace to inspire and empower you to live a spiritually-centered and loving life...
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Autumn is here again, and so is the chestnut season...
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yummy.... :)

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