I Will Not Be Silenced About Hartshead Meats

 

Last night I got told off for speaking about the barbaric animal torture going on at Hartshead Meat abattoir in Mossley. It was a private conversation overheard by a couple sitting nearby. The husband came over and chastised me because his wife was upset by what I had described. He asked me not to speak of it again. Of course, I apologised to his wife for upsetting her – I would never have done that on purpose. But I didn’t know she was listening, it was a private conversation, and I was only speaking the truth.

Sadly, there are too many people who are only thinking of themselves and want to silence those who try to educate and inform others about things that they choose to deny. It left me feeling upset and yes, also angry. Those who shut out the world and live in their own little rose-coloured bubble are complicit in the terrible things that our politicians and law makers are allowing to happen right under our noses.

I cannot keep quiet about the barbaric practices going on in my locality and why should I? We are talking about animal cruelty but this also involves religious exemptions from UK law – laws that non-religious folk have to abide by. In the case of animal slaughter – religious exemption means the animals are not stunned before being killed (kosher) and only partially stunned for halal. The animals are conscious and terrified. Hartshead Meat were denying they did kosher and halal slaughter yet undercover investigator, Joey Carbstrong, got evidence that they do. More importantly, their practices went way beyond anything Jews or Muslims would condone. Joey was arrested by the way for breaking in to the abattoir and taking video footage of the torture. His video was taken down but is now available on YouTube for those who have the stomach to watch it.

And take note; the beef and lamb from animals mass-slaughtered in this barbaric way, fill the shelves of all the supermarkets and is being fed to school children. Surely, every sane-thinking person would agree that religiously slaughtered meat should be labelled as such. At least then people will have a choice whether to eat it or not. Currently, all meat eaters are eating it and they don’t even know. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to eat an animal that has died screaming in terror.

So, to all those people who now know what’s going on and yet are turning a blind eye, why not read some of the dystopian literature – find out what you and your children will end up with if you don’t stop complying with, and condoning, practices like those mentioned here. This is nothing but the tip of a very deep environmental and biological iceberg.

The Horror that is Hartshead Meats

 

Tears were streaming down my face as I walked over the hill to join the peaceful protesters outside Hartshead Meats yesterday (8th May 2026).

The place is a kosher and halal meat slaughter house; the actual abattoir being hidden inside the confines of a scrap metal company – P. Mullaney and Sons Ltd. I, along with all the other locals, had no idea this was an abattoir. Been here since 2011 it seems. A river of blood and gore flowing down the road towards the village of Mossley, was what alerted us. An investigator managed to get inside the killing shed and filmed what was going on. His video is too graphic for most people. Cows being kicked in the head, screaming, hung upside down and dismembered while still conscious. This is animal torture and is a criminal offence under the Law. This goes way beyond kosher slaughter. Once seen, this video footage cannot ever be unseen. The company is now employing numerous security guards on the gate. The place is a hell-hole, hidden in plain sight.

As I join the other protesters, I am aware of a deathly hush hanging over the entire hillside, reminding me of the time I walked through the concentration camp at Dachau. There, Jews and political prisoners were inhumanely treated and killed. This place is exuding the same atmosphere; cold and subliminally threatening. Wouldn’t you think that a race of people who had suffered so much trauma in their past, would have more empathy for the un-necessary suffering of other sentient beings? Maybe Netanyahu has founded a new religion.

A police car is cruising by every half an hour or so, policing the peaceful, chatting to the security guards, disregarding the reports of criminal breaches of animal welfare inside.

There’s a constant stream of articulated lorries looking like they are trying to purposely knock protesters down. One nearly got me as I stumbled trying to get off the public road and scramble up onto the uneven, narrow grass verge bordered by barbed wire. A fellow protester grabbed me, pulling me up and holding me tight until the lorry had passed, its huge cab turning only an inch away from my face. It was terrifying.

The guy who brought the unbelievable animal cruelty to light, Joey Carbstrong, had been arrested the night before and all his computer, mobile etc . . . seized. Who the hell is the criminal here ????. People have written to their MPs and all got the same standard letter in response, no matter where in the country they live. Basically saying, UK slaughter regulations do not apply to religious slaughter. For kosher - animals are not required to be stunned at all. For halal – they are required to be partially stunned. The replies state that there are no plans to change these religious exemptions in the future. I wonder how many people are aware that full stunning ramps up production costs and so most of the meat now being supplied to schools, hospitals and supermarkets, is unmarked halal slaughtered meat. This needs to be properly labelled so consumers can choose whether to eat animals that have died screaming in terror and pain. 

Now I know, even animals killed in a properly UK regulated abattoir, suffer, especially when the people doing the killing (men usually) are attracted to the job because of their own psychopathic, violent tendencies. But the suffering is nowhere near as prolonged nor as intense as religiously slaughtered animals. 

We will never stop humans eating meat, there will always be abattoirs, but we need to stop the barbaric practices and have proper, enforced regulation. Currently, there is virtually no monitoring being done and companies like P. Mullaney & Sons, who by the way turned over £75million pounds last year, can cut corners and do exactly as they please.

By the time I got back home, I was totally traumatised and feeling terribly helpless.

It is now the following day and I seem to be in a weird sort of nether world. Outside my window, the world is unusually quiet underneath a bruised, grey sky. It’s as if time has stopped so that I can reassemble all the pieces of me that were broken and scattered yesterday. I feel hopeless and depressed. Respect for humans and animals is mostly gone and we are governed by a threatening bureaucracy that cares only for money. Corruption, complacency and incompetence hold sway at every level of our society. The more money you have, the more power you have and the more protection you get. Perhaps it’s always been like that, it’s just more visible now.

I would add that my conscience has kicked me in my hypocritical head and I stopped eating meat the moment I saw the river of blood and gore. I have always loved farm animals – I greet cows by mutual blowing up noses, and I sing to sheep while apologising for eating them! Not anymore. I have no intention of ever eating meat again. So, I urge everyone to look at Joey Carbstrong’s video – just search for his name on YouTube or Facebook. Hopefully, if enough people give up buying meat, these poor, cursed creatures will not be born in the first place.

Note: so they can retain their star rating, the company has blocked anyone posting negative reviews on Google. I did try giving one star but was blocked. I have also written to my MP, Debbie Abrahams. You never know, something may come of it!

Has Netanyahu changed the world's perception?

 

I’ve been wanting to comment on the situation in Gaza for a long time but have refrained because I was never sure whether I knew all the facts. But video footage verified by respected journalists, cannot be disbelieved no matter what Netanyahu says. 

But this post isn’t about the horror that has been largely ignored by the western world, it’s about how my subconscious perception of Jews has changed. And if mine has changed, then the chances are that the world view is changing too. And please note, this is NOT an antisemitic post. It is merely a discourse on my changing conscious perception.

I work with dreams and have written many books on how to explore and interpret one’s own dreams. In ‘Working the Night Shift’ I included one of my own dreams from the 1990s; a dream that featured a Jewish woman. The association to the concept of a Jewish person I made at the time was someone who is brave and respectful but someone who has suffered greatly. Another dream about a Jewish man cropped up in 2010 and was included in my book ‘Dreaming Yourself Aware’. Here the associations were subjugation, disempowerment and victimisation – all aspects believed by me to be embodied within the concept of a Jewish person. This belief was reflected in my consciousness – I have always had enduring empathy for Jews because of what they, and their ancestors, suffered during WW2. I now feel really sad to report that all that has changed. What they suffered at the hands of Hamas was terrible and inhumane but, an eye for an eye ends up with both the aggressor and the victim blinded. 

In one of my other books about my visit to Dachau (2021), I wrote in the epilogue;

‘We may feel helpless and ineffectual when we are fed the daily news of slaughter, but there is something we can do.

We can teach our children to be empathetic and compassionate. We can nurture them so that when they grow to adulthood, they don’t need religion or political ideology to make sense of their life, nor to feel secure in the world.

We can show them what happens when intolerance and injustice prevail or when religious or national fanaticism tramples humanity under foot. We can teach them that violence breeds hatred and intolerance and only leads to more violence.’

All I can do now is hope that the younger generations all over the world, grow up heeding those words. Yet, I don't see how a child that manages to survive this current horror, will ever be able to forgive.

I just cannot understand how a people, whose ancestors suffered genocide in Hitler’s concentration camps, can commit the same crime in an even more inhumane way by reducing a country to rubble and slowly and systematically starving children to death. It’s horrific and I hope the world never forgets. And I should add, that my heart goes out to all those Jews who disagree with what Netanyahu has done because they too will suffer the consequences of a changing world view.

 ‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.’  Martin Luther King

Charles in Red

 

This new portrait of King Charles has prompted many discussions (and arguments) on Facebook. I find that fascinating. I talk about the interpretation of colour in dreams, in my book Working the Night Shift and what I say in there is just as true in real life as it is in dreams.

It's interesting how the colour red suggests different things to different people. Is red angry, passionate, energetic? Or is it violent as in blood that's been shed? Or it may be the possibility of new life as in menstruation. There are so many interpretations and all are dependent on our own projections and our view of the world. What about you? How do you feel about the colour of this portrait?

 To Exercise or not to Exercise? That is the Question.

After enduring two months of gym twice a week, yoga twice a week and Pilates twice a week, I’m just about done with it all. To be honest, it was torture. Forcing my body into all those unnatural positions has taken its toll. Downward dog has knackered my wrists, sit ups from lying position has knackered my back, my knees are groaning under the weight of the cat and the gym has reduced my inner thighs to quivering wrecks.

The only upside of my short membership was a visit to the steam room once a week. It gave me a chance to ease my aching limbs and do mindful, silent meditation as if I was back in the womb. What a treat that was! Sadly though, there was usually a pack of men partaking of the pleasure of the steam. What is it about men in a steam room? It's like being at a buffalo watering hole with all the grunting and snorting, puffing and panting. Why do men do that? 

So, anyway, I’m thinking of ditching the gym and the classes and going back to my regular, brisk walks over the Saddleworth hills. I was a lot fitter, and a lot happier, when I was doing that. Working up a sweat with a roomful of other sweaty, panting people is probably not for me.

 

Knowing; I Wish We Did.

The past twelve hours have brought it home to me how the human race is fast approaching the bottomless pit, if not already there. Are we all asleep? Blindfolded? Or do we secretly want it all to end? I watched the movie ‘Knowing’ last night. That’s the one starring Nicolas Cage. A prophecy about the end of the world comes true because of a solar flare blowing away all the ozone that protects us from the searing heat of the sun. Not sure if it was that, but I had a very bad night’s sleep.

This morning, I switched on the TV BBC News channel 231 only to be met with more of the same. It’s Holocaust Memorial Day. Mention was made of all the other countries that have been subjected to the same genocidal horrors over the years, with one man aggressively bemoaning the current rise in anti-semetism in the UK.  Why didn’t the interviewer ask him the reason for that. Sadly, she didn’t and absolutely no mention was made of Gaza.

That news item was followed by the scandalous spread of AI-generated sexually explicit photos of Taylor Swift. It’s so easy to produce and upload such damaging images, that it’s only going to get worse because there is no way to control or stop it.

Next came an eight-year-old girl, with her mother, asking for more regulation on skincare products for children. What!!!!!!!! Her daughter and all her friends have skincare parties where they experiment with all the wonderful beauty products they buy – and her mother goes shopping for them with her!!! Many of which are anti-aging products! What madness is that? They’re blaming the ‘influencers’ on TikTok. From what I can see, most ‘influencers’ (what a ridiculous term!) are attention–seekers, so wrapped up in their own egos that they don’t care what they’re promoting, providing people look at them.

That was followed by news of the seizure of 4.5million illegal disposable vapes – up from 4,000 in 2021. Why people feel the need to suck on a tube, I have no idea. Maybe they are substitutes for babies’ dummies? I guess that would make sense as so few of us are self-responsible and able to find comfort within ourselves. If those skills were taught in schools, there would be no need of ‘influencers’.

Finally came a report from Bejing where unmanned AI police cars with video cameras (and face recognition capability, obviously) are patrolling the city streets looking for trouble makers. Another small step and they’ll be armed, indiscriminately tasering suspicious looking pedestrians.

Honestly, if this is how human beings are living and evolving, we do not deserve to survive. Roll on Armageddon.

Forerunner to the Smart Meter

While browsing through an old writing jotter the other day, I came across this little ditty written in 2012 about a device British Gas gave me. It sat on my kitchen counter for three years and was clearly a fore runner to the present day smart meters. It did the job very well and I want to know why the government felt it necessary to burden the consumer with the cost of something far more expensive.

There's a little face that looks at me everyday

Monitoring the cost of work and play.

It frowns at the kettle and hates the TV

I wish so much it would just let me be.

Usually in the morning it smiles like a lark

It makes me feel happy when it makes no remark.

Round about lunchtime the mouth starts to droop

So dinner tonight will be a bowl of cold soup.

Sometimes it throbs and its face turns red

That's when I know I must go to bed.

 I refuse to have a smart meter installed in my house. For one thing, the electricity meter needs moving. Currently it is below ground level, in a damp, dark pantry. I did try to bargain with my supplier, saying I would have a smart meter if they put it somewhere else. "Yes," they said, "we can do that. It'll only cost you £200." I didn't reply so they kept ringing me up, hassling me, threatening me. "Everyone must have a smart meter. Don't you understand, this will help you save on your energy bills." No it won't! It just means I'll be stressed every time I switch on the kettle.

Does the Covid virus target mitochondria?

 

Well - here we are. Over four weeks post-covid diagnosis and still debilitated because of post-viral fatigue. I know people who have ME and I know what they’ve suffered because of the lack of acknowledgement from the medical profession. And now I’m experiencing the same. “Make sure you get plenty of sleep, eat a good diet, do gentle exercise, change your mindset - it could all be in your mind after all.” No, it really isn’t. I have never experienced anything like this before. My body feels leaden. It takes enormous effort to get out of bed and great effort even to shift the position of a leg while sitting down. It’s an effort of will and intention. Even my mind is exhausted. I feel drunk most of the time - dizzy and disoriented. Yet I am sleeping for England and have put on half a stone because my appetite has been undiminished throughout the illness. It’s all very odd. I noticed a couple of days ago that I have started to acquire a little energy around 3pm in the afternoon. Capitalising on this, I have been doing short two to four mile walks while chanting ‘onward and upward’. Usually tough twelve milers are more to my liking. However, it has felt glorious and hopefully signals that things will improve - eventually. In the meantime, I’ve been raking through my rusty knowledge of Biomedical Science to think about what the hell can be going on. My buck is resting with mitochondria. There’s plenty of circulating oxygen for them in my bloodstream so I suspect the little blighters have been annihilated by the covid virus, or may be have lost their reproductive capacity. Unless, of course, the virus has affected membrane permeability and the O₂ is not getting into the cell to feed the little critters. Whatever has happened to them, they need to sort themselves out and up their game. If I was thirty years younger I would apply for research funding. As it is, the only funding on offer to me now is for funeral costs.

 Beware Covid

On the 23^rd December 2021 I tested positive for covid after feeling unwell for three days. Everyone had been saying ‘Oh it’s just like a bad cold. Nothing to worry about.’ Then there were the conspiratorial theorists on Facebook saying it was all a con - politicians wanting to take away our freedom and our livelihoods. World domination of the masses. And Boris is in on it - he must be in cahoots with Russia and China. Oh and let’s not forget Trump. These people obviously have not contracted one of the more powerful variants of this virus, and presumably don’t know anyone who has. Yes, I have an underlying condition - only 67% lung function because of copd. Yet my oxygen levels have remained between 96 and 99% because I am basically more healthy than someone half my age. Want to know what’s most debilitating about this virus? It’s how it leaves you. I’m on Day 16 and I can do nothing. Even making a cup of tea is a major challenge. Not because I can’t breathe but because I have zero energy. They’re calling it ‘Long Covid’ but it looks very much like Myalgic encephalomyelitis, also called chronic fatigue syndrome. Imagine a world where half the population is suffering with this long-term condition. So, to those of you who are still spouting off that it’s just a bad cold - please STOP! 

You are putting yourself and others at risk.

A Lesson from the Universe.

 

A friend on Facebook posted this today. I ‘loved’ it of course - it is one of those wise truisms that we should all remember and actively put into practice.

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day so in the afternoon I went out for a walk up onto the moors, which I’m fortunate to have right on my doorstep. As I was returning home down a very steep hillside, I remembered an ex-boyfriend who had struggled to come down this way and had slipped. The relationship ended when he started treating me very badly. As I made my way down I was thinking bad thoughts about him, referring to him as The Fat Controller, and puzzled as to why I had ever found him attractive. Suddenly I felt something on my left arm. It was a huge bumble bee! I screamed and brushed it off but for a few seconds it seemed intent on landing again. As I was flailing my arms and running down the hill to escape it, I remembered this Facebook post.

Oh dear! Another test failed :(

Review of 'Witch' by Finbar Hawkins

I liked this book - it was fast moving and held my interest right to the last page. I loved that the chapters were interspersed with line drawings that added to the mystery and intrigue. I thought that Evie's character, with all her anger and inner conflict, was portrayed beautifully. And for someone who isn't overly keen on very long novels, this was just the right length. The author cuts straight to the chase, without un-necessary surplus or milking of events.
View all my Goodread reviews here:
"https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/54499536-joan-harthan"

My Other Half

I was having a conversation with a lady the other day and she used the phrase 'my other half'. I'd never given much thought to that term before - it's such an accepted part of our vocabulary - but that day it made me question my very existence.

Being alone, does that mean that I'm only half a person? Or is it her that's not whole?

I don't feel like half a person. I feel like a whole person and I live my life as a whole person - travelling the world on my own, going into bars alone etc. . .  So if I'm whole, that must mean she's not.

And as I look around - it does seem that single people are much stronger emotionally than those who always need 'another half' to accompany them through life.

So if you're single - rejoice. You are strong. You are complete within yourself. And if you're looking for love, don't look for your 'other half', look for someone who is as whole as you. #

Are you a writer? Do you struggle to find character names that aptly reflect the characters in your story? Check out this brilliant, completely free, random name generator for authors: http://random-name-generator.info/random/

Ministry of Justice guilty of making unsolicited telephone calls

BBC News today has announced that prisoners at Oakwood Prison in Wolverhampton are being paid to make unsolicited telephone calls, on behalf of insurance companies, to members of the public.

"They do not have access to private information such as addresses," the Ministry says, "and public security is not being compromised."

What about my right not to receive nuisance calls? That's being compromised but clearly the Ministry doesn't care about that!

I'm registered with the TPS yet I've had calls like this. Surely this means the Government is acting illegally?

Starbucks and the Iraq War

I've just received an email asking me to shun Starbucks because they've refused to supply free coffee to soldiers in Iraq. Starbucks says it doesn't support the war. Actually I don't go to Starbucks anyway, I much prefer Costa, but I reckon their decision will rocket them up the popularity stakes - goodness knows they're seriously out of favour at the moment with their tax avoidance schemes and all. The sender of the email seems to think that everyone should know about this dastardly Starbuck decision. Well I'm sorry but I don't support the war either, nor any war that was initiated by a capitalist manoeuvre to protect investments. Atrocities go on in other countries where the west has no financial interest - we don't try and bomb them out of existence. How can anyone condone going half way across the world to slaughter other human beings? Tell me, I need to know. I'm not against the soldiers, they only act under orders,  but we must remember that they signed up for the army lured by the possibility of combat and the acclaimed macho, heroic image. I know this isn't a politically correct view but come on, let's be truthful! Sgt Howard Wright probably initiated this circulating email because he's just pissed off that he can't get an endless supply of free coffee.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

Bless You My SUN

Is this for real? I’ve just had a glimpse into another world; a world I never knew existed. It’s a place where young girls are having conical implants because they think pointed breasts look more natural. A place where a twenty two year old man tells the world that he’s in love with the thirteen year old sister of his best friend, and a famous celebrity declares that her pot bellied pig is her soulmate. It’s a place where women proudly reveal their half naked bodies, pumped up and sucked out in all the right places. It probably makes them feel sexy to think a million British men are panting over their tits under the duvet. Well I guess it would! This is the world of The Sun.  Don’t go thinking I usually read this sort of stuff. Oh goodness me, no!  The Sun editorial team bought my patronage. I’m not proud of it but hey ho, a tenners worth of free groceries is . . . well, a tenners worth of free groceries! My total shop came to £67.67 and I was just about to pay when the cashier cancelled my card payment.

“Hang on a mo, ” she said as she fished under her till and with a flurry produced a copy of the infamous newspaper,

“If you buy this,” she says, “You’ll get £10 off your grocery bill.” Her smile is triumphant. I like the word ‘grocery’, she uses it as a euphemism for alcohol but I decline her offer. Nothing’s for free, there’s always a catch. She assures me there’s no catch and insists that I really want to buy this paper. She proceeds to open it at page 16 and rips out a voucher which she then waves under my nose.

“See,” she proclaims, “Your total is now £68.07 but I can take £10 off with this.”

OK, so I buy the paper and get my ‘groceries’ for £58.07. She offers to bin the newspaper but, as I’ve just paid 40p for it, I decide I should at least have a look. I can’t fault the reporters on their content; it’s all engrossing stuff. Why, I started reading it at 8am and didn’t finish until teatime. Will I be buying The Sun newspaper again? That’s a resounding ‘No’ but at least I’m now informed about what’s really going on in the world and I can return to my peaceful little bubble a whole lot wiser!

The Good Old Days - you can keep 'em

Another one of those irritating “Remember the Good Old Days” emails arrived in my inbox this morning. Why do older people send these round? If you’re one of them, please let me know.  Is it that they remind you of your idyllic, carefree childhood? Is there a lovely rosy glow round all your memories? Aren’t you the lucky one? All they do for me is poke sticks into old wounds. This latest one was particularly obtrusive, hence this post. One of the “good old things” about the “good old days” was (and I quote):

They threatened to keep children back a year if they failed the school year. . .  And they did!
I was one of those failures. I started school a year earlier than I should have done – was that because I was “bright” or was it because I was the youngest of five children and my parents needed some peace? When I was six I developed a stammer, this made it difficult to communicate effectively with the teachers. The older I got, the more they punished me by verbal abuse, smacking and hitting with rulers and board dusters. My stammer must have irritated the hell out of them. In what should have been my final year at junior school I was plagued with stomach problems and undiagnosed depression so “they” in their wisdom, kept me back a year. All my friends went off to pastures new and I was left with thirty kids who I didn’t know, who teased me unceasingly about my stammer. By the way, being a failure, I went on to a secondary modern school where I flourished but didn’t have the opportunity to excel academically – we didn’t even have chemistry or physics teachers.

So let me say this to all those “oldies” who send these emails round. The Present is called the Present for good reason.

IT’S A GIFT. TREASURE IT; APPRECIATE IT; EMBRACE IT.

Yes there is more stress in the workplace. Yes people have the opportunity to indulge their greed, and yes there are many things that we could improve, but at least we now have the choice and the freedom to improve our lives and the lives of others. In the “good old days” power hungry people (assigned the role of petty tyrants) were free to exercise their power however they chose, often without discretion and often too without compassion; certainly without the common sense to understand the negative consequences of their “good old” rules.

So please, please, please, strike me off your “living in the past” distribution list. I prefer the here and now.  Even with all its warts and its carbuncles, it’s a whole lot better than yesterday.

2012 - and the world is changing

We’re all familiar by now with the Mayan Prophesy that the world will end on the 21^st December 2012 – coincidentally, the Winter Solstice and  my birthday. I so hope that no one is fearing an asteroid impact, a global war or global earthquakes covering our beautiful planet in fire and brimstone. Then again, any of those may be easier to weather than the birthing pains that may be in store for us. Though the prophecies are not fully understood, people with more understanding than most interpret this as the start of a new way of being in the world. A change of attitude. A change of politics. A change of perspective. Of course these things are rarely won by peaceful means. Currently we live with the threat of economic implosion. Governments make war on their own people. Increasing intervention by the media and the State infringe our lives and assault our psyches. Profit is more important than people or the environment. We’re constantly bombarded by companies promising to make us happy if we hand over our hard earned cash. Our children live for hours in virtual worlds of internet gaming and social networking. The people at the top seem only to be concerned about themselves and this ethos trickles through society like a weeping sore, infecting the populace with the idea that it’s OK to riot and loot. The raping and pillaging of our Mother Earth, and all her inhabitants, has got to stop. If it doesn’t, we’ll continue to fall into the abyss of selfishness and greed until there is nothing left worth saving.

But there is hope and that hope lies in a growing body of people throughout the world who believe there is a better way. Who believe that peaceful protection of the earth and all her inhabitants is the medicine that will turn this around. This eclectic mix of people may have different beliefs, different gods, different ways of living, but fundamentally they all travel the same path. The difference between these paths and the paths being currently trodden by the masses, is that these new paths are paths that follow the heart. They’re paths that lead through rich spiritual landscapes, paths that demand an open mind and an open heart. These people have let go of the belief that only Science can solve our problems, that Science is the rock on which we can rely; the foundation on which our future will stand or fall. They embrace a new philosophy, and they embrace each other despite their differences.

Here’s a very relevant and interesting quote from the latest edition of The Arlington Institute e-magazine, The Future Vol 14 Number 24

“If this really is a punctuation in the evolutionary process, then, by definition, the new territory that we're entering is not described by the current maps and operates in quite different ways. In this case the proposals for dealing with all of these hard problems are intrinsically soft - all about stuff like love and gratitude - which requires embracing a radically different concept of reality. It says that there is another way to operate in this human space that accesses physics and forces that are not yet described by the conventional, authoritative sources - but nevertheless work. It also means that if you don't embrace these new concepts, the world that you experience will become increasingly dysfunctional and fearful.”
So, if you want to enter into the new age with optimism, courage and hope; can I suggest that you answer the call of spirit. Believe me, it’s knocking whether you hear it or not.

Here’s a quote from Walt Whitman. Give it some thought:

Re-examine all you have been told

Dismiss what insults your soul.

Post Script: Follow this link http://www.seri-worldwide.org/id435.html for an article written by someone who has the authority to inform us What the Mayan Elders are Saying About 2012 by Carlos Barrios

Police State?

I flew into Atlanta Georgia airport in the summer of 2009, looking forward to a conference in Asheville NC followed by a leisurely tour of the Smokey Mountains. I hadn’t been in the USA since 2006 but my memories of Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles airports during that visit were all good; polite officials welcoming me and hoping that my stay in the USA was a good one. Not so in 2009. My experiences at Atlanta airport were traumatic. Bullied for fifteen minutes by a Passport Control official, accused of breaking federal law and threatened with arrest, and then being separated from my luggage with no explanation. My cabin bag was examined out of my sight – it contained all my valuables, including money and credit cards. I tell you this because I’ve just learned that the Department of Homeland Security has asked Congress to give the green light on funding for a massive expansion of TSA (Transport Security Administration) checkpoints. The federal agency are already responsible for over 9,000 such checkpoints.  Americans now fear that their homeland is turning into a police state following the passage of an ‘indefinite detention’ bill. The increase in funding is to create 12 more VIPR (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) teams to add the federal agency’s 25 units that are already scattered across the country and responsible for manning checkpoints on highways, in bus and train terminals, at sports events and even high school prom nights.

I’m back in the States next June. This time I’ll go with trepidation. Whilst I've no objection at all to carefully monitored security checks, there is no reason to conduct those checks in a bullying, authoritarian manner. If people are treated with disrespect and made to feel like criminals, the people will rebel eventually. Being polite and respectful costs nothing and achieves much more. We may be told the current strategy is part of the War on Terror but from where I’m standing it’s a War against Peace and this doesn’t feel like a good road to be travelling down.

STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH

In mid-November I flew out to Dubai to meet up with an ex-lover in the last chance saloon. Yes he lied and cheated on me before, but sometimes people change. Yes they do – honest. Sadly though, not him. He put me in a dangerous situation and then abandoned me. On my return home some people said they hoped I’d learned my lesson. What lesson is that then?

“You can’t trust people, you can’t afford to be naive, you shouldn’t travel alone, you should have checked things out more thoroughly, you should have…. should have…… should have…….”

Hey, hold on just a second there, what are you saying? That I shouldn’t take any risks? Is that how you live? Let me ask you something, when you’re on your death bed will you be glad you always played it safe?

It reminded of what Steve Jobs (founder of APPLE) said in 2005 when he addressed a group of University students, “Stay hungry, stay foolish”. He took risks in business and love. He made mistakes but also tasted amazing success. Living sometimes in the bottom of dark valleys, but at other times soaring over the mountain tops. Here’s an extract from his speech that day:

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.”

Steve Jobs died of cancer at age 56 after living a full and rewarding life, despite all the obstacles he had to surmount. And we should remember that Death stalks all of us, all of the time. Every hour, every minute, every second. You can ignore this or accept it. If you accept it, you can make Death your ally – this will ensure you try and live each day as though it’s your last.

It’s your life, only you can decide what to do with it. No one has the right to pass judgement on you because you don’t live like they do. I choose to stay hungry; it keeps me enthusiastic about life. I choose to be foolish; my foolishness keeps me open to opportunity and adventure. Rock on!#