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Tibet House

Native Wisdom

History of the New Age Movement What is NEW AGE? Where does it come from? Read Jack Schafer's view at New Age Web Works

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One World

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“The Parallels of Peace”
By Beth Ann Hilton

Every September, various world events focus our thoughts on peace, specifically, the making of it, the wishing for it, the keeping of it, or, sadly, the lacking of it.

Depending upon personal perspective, your idea of peace may be similar to one of the five useages of the word “peace ”listed in most dictionaries in order of popularity. It is noteworthy that the first, hence most popular, definition listed is “the absence of war or other hostilities while the useage that ranks last is “inner contentment; serenity: peace of mind. ”Could it be that if we elevate through consciousness raising -- the most popular understanding of peace to being “inner contentment, then we would be much closer to achieving the actual “absence of war or other hostilities that now dominates the useage of the word peace? ”

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Defying the Darkness
with Holiday Light
By Tom and Linda Peters

We live in a cottage on Christmas Tree Lane. Most of the year, we live a quiet life, ensconced in a grove of 100-foot-tall deodar trees. But come mid-December, the trees are lit with thousands of multi-colored bulbs and over 50,000 visitors come to Altadena, California to drive through the magical canopy on Santa Rosa Avenue.

We watch the line of cars, slowly converging on our home. The passengers press their faces against the windows and stare at the festive trees. And we wonder, what keeps them coming back, year after year? What are they seeing?

The deodar cedar trees are native to the Western Himalayas. Their botanical name is derived from the Sanskrit word, devadaru, which means Tree of the Gods. In the part of the world where these trees are from, they are worshipped as divine. In the ancient Hindu epics, a forest of deodars is considered to be a sacred place.

We moved to this cottage to heal. Like many people, our last few years have been full of change and uncertainty, and we needed a place to retreat, to gather our energy and redesign our future. We found our new home through Craigslist – a website that warrants some caution and seems an unlikely purveyor of healing cottages in sacred groves of divine trees, but sometimes the exact thing you need comes from the most unlikely of sources.

We are tucked into the back of a property, where the light from the street doesn’t normally reach. As the end of the first year approached, the darkness became all encompassing. Tom’s Dad was dying from a long disease and we were struggling with the whirlwind of emotions that accompanies imminent loss.

The Winter Solstice marks the longest night of the year. It is the midpoint between the fall harvest and the abundance of spring. Nearly every culture in the northern hemisphere celebrates the solstice in one form or another, and almost all of them use light as a central element. Whether it’s a bonfire, a menorah or a southern California street full of gigantic Christmas trees, people around the world have long used light to defy the darkness.

When we sat outside last year and watched the twinkling lights on those sacred trees, we began to feel hopeful. The endless strings of colorful bulbs lifted our spirits and made us feel less afraid. They cheered us on and dared us to show our own light to others.

As the holidays approach again this year, we’re feeling a little more healed and the dark nights are not quite as threatening. We’re looking forward to the Tree Lighting ceremony, to the warmth and beauty that the lights create, to the way that they encourage us to slow down, to pause and appreciate the moment.

In a world that is changing at an ever-increasing speed, it’s natural to look for comfort in traditions. People need simple moments of light-filled beauty, reliable experiences of wonder and awe. We need each others’ company, we need each others’ love. And maybe holiday lights are there to serve as reminders. Maybe these festive, twinkling displays are just external manifestations of the divine internal light that we all simply want to share.

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WATCH THE VENUS PROJECT - THE VISION OF A NEW CIVILIZATION

New Civilizations Network

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LEARN ABOUT WORLD CITIZENSHIP

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OCCUPY WALLSTREET

Watch This video on Youtube:

A taste of the upcoming feature documentary, Occupy Love. This is a community funded film. http://www.occupylove.org

"Love is the felt experience of connection to another being. An economist says 'more for you is less for me.' But the lover knows that more of you is more for me too. If you love somebody their happiness is your happiness. Their pain is your pain. Your sense of self expands to include other beings. This shift of consciousness is universal in everybody, 99% and 1%."

~ Charles Eisenstein *NAMED ONE OF TOP 10 MUST-WATCH OCCUPY WALL ST VIDEOS*

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UNITED NATIONS

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