Seeing is Not Thinking

An extract from THE GREAT LEAP OF MIND - Rubén Feldman González

Perhaps you'll agree with me that we have learnt to be incoherent and to insult intelligence moment by moment.

You are insulting intelligence right now smoking your tobacco cigarette. But it's not enough if I tell you. If you don't see right now what you are doing (in Unitary Perception) you'll never stop smoking.

QUESTION: I have to see that smoking is incoherent and unintelligent. But I see it and I don't stop smoking.

R.F.G.: You don't see that smoking is unintelligent, you think it is. When you see what smoking is you'll stop smoking immediately. To see is not to think.

Let's have another example of incoherence: "To procreate more children and earn more money is good for mankind."

In reality intelligence shouts to me that overpopulation and greed are destroying the livable surface of the planet and are endangering the life of all mammals, including my little dog and mankind.

For the first time in the written history of man we face the possibility of the end of mankind.
There is interpersonal incoherence, incoherence between ideas and belief, incoherence between man and nature, between the use of technology and the survival of man, incoherence between belief and action, etc.

QUESTION: I believe I understand that part of the problem is to have overvalued thought, the self and even our gross fantasies as if they were something "spiritual."

R.F.G.: Yes. But we don't see (in Unitary Perception) that the ecological and economic collapse of the industrial civilization (both capitalist and communist) have their root in overvaluing thought.

We are all going to die. You know.

The understanding that we are mortal, that nobody avoids that fate of man, brings great sorrow. That's why we spend our life avoiding to think of death and denying (unconsciously) the sorrow of thinking about our own death "when everything goes o.k."

We dont's talk about the man who wants to die because his cancer hurts.
When everything goes okay we deny the sorrow of knowing we are going to die.
Then we escape from that fundamental sorrow (which is also anger and fear).
The escapes are the search for profit, prestige, fame, power, pleasure, entertainment, etc.
Those escapes are easier when we believe the moment of the death is far away.

I say we have to understand paradox, because it is a necessary paradox to talk about silence. To talk about silence is not incoherent, it is a paradox.
There is something specific to do in silence. I call it Unitary Perception.

Another paradox is to understand that we live fully only when we accept that we are going to die and when we stop avoiding the sorrow of knowing we are going to die.
To live with death is to renounce the habit of verbalizing. Right here starts Unitary Perception.

Overpopulation and Climate Change

Dedicated to Blog Action Day 2009. This year's theme is Climate Change.

Climate change and global pollution cannot be adequately tackled without addressing the neglected issue of the world's booming population.

Overpopulation had fallen off the agenda of the many organisations dedicated to saving the planet.

By the middle of the century, the United Nations estimates that the world population is likely to increase to more than nine billion, which is equivalent to an extra 200,000 people each day.

"...per-capita emissions of carbon dioxide will likely rise in poor countries for some time yet, even in optimistic scenarios. But that is an issue of consumption, not population."

To contradict this "consumption" argument...

Human consumption of natural resources and emission of CO2 requires humans. More humans equals more of what humans do.

Per-capita CO2 emissions will rise greatly in poor countries as they begin to afford the technologies we take for granted. No matter how efficient cars, appliances, machinery and so on become, increased production and use of them will increase CO2 emissions. It's cornucopian fantasy to think a population increasing by 50% can have a "First World" standard of living without causing serious ecological damage. It's fantasy to think it can be done in the first place.

Even if humans discover means to produce enough energy to support ourselves, even with ZERO damage to the environment, our use of energy will increase and we will cause damages, due simply to our increased numbers if nothing else.

The solution is easy...To have enough courage, compassion and love to not breed any more person to the earth. One less person born means a lifetime of resources saved, a lifetime of pollution halted, a lifetime of carbon emission ceased and a lifetime of forest and habitat destruction prevented.

Sources: The Independent and VHEMT

This song is sooo funny, *Laughs Out Loud*

Watch it, actually LISTEN to it and laugh with me, *LAUGHS Very Loud* (In the mood of hating the word "LOL", LOL!

Unfair by Pavement lyric
down in Santa Rosa over the bay
across the grapevine to L.A.
we've got desert, we've got trees
we've got the hills of Beverly
let's burn the hills of Beverly!!

walk with your credit card in the air!!
swing your nachos just like you just don't care!!
this is the slow sick sucking part of me
this is the slow sick sucking part of me
and when i suck in kisses, it's ours...

up to the top of the shasta gulch
and to the bottom of the tahoe lakes
manmade deltas and concrete rivers
the south takes what the north delivers
you film hack, i don't use your...fade...

lost in the foothills of my pride
Trocadero, say good night
to the LAST PSYCHEDELIC BAND
FROM sac' to, northern cal.
FROM sac' to northern cal.

take it; neighbor; cuz you're my neighbor;
and i need favors; you're my neighbor;
you've done me favors; cuz i'm your neighbor;
i'm not your neighbor, you bakersfield trash.
traaaaaash! traaaaaash!!!

Real Revolution

So what will make you change? Please ask yourself, burn with that question, because we have fallen into habit. Your house is burning, and apparently you do not pay attention. So, if you don't change, society remains as it is. And clever people are coming along saying that society must change, we need a new structure and the structure then becomes more important than man, as all revolutions have shown.

After considering all this, is there a learning, is there an awakening of intelligence, is there a sense of order in our lives? Or are we going back to the same routine? If you have that intelligence, that goodness, that sense of great love, then you will create a marvellous new society where we can all live happily. It's our earth not Indian earth, or English earth, Russian earth; it's our earth where we can live happily, intelligently, not at each others' throats. So, please give your heart and mind to find out why you don't change - even in little things. Please pay attention to your own life. You have extraordinary capacities. It is all waiting for you to open the door.

Krishnamurti
Chennai 3rd Public Talk, December 29, 1979

The Atrocious Killer: The Reason why we should reject plastic bags

From http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/17318/garbage-blights-dive-sites

Garbage blights dive sites

By: APINYA WIPATAYOTIN

Marine officials found more than 22 tonnes of garbage dumped into the sea last year, most of it at famous dive spots. Koh Samaesarn in Chon Buri province was the site of the biggest undersea garbage dump, Department of Marine and Coastal Resources chief Samran Rakchart said yesterday.

The Samaesarn area of Sattahip district is where the mysterious containers that have been in the news lately are located. An investigation team is trying to find out what is inside the containers.

Half of the garbage found at Samaesan is plastic and beer bottles.

Koh Kra in Nakhon Si Thammarat province contains another large mound of garbage. Most of it is fishing equipment.

Mr Samran said his department had been collecting records of sunken garbage in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand.

The trash causes the death of many marine animals every year, he said. Autopsies conducted on dead dolphins and sea turtles had found all manner of junk in their stomachs.

It is estimated that 6.4 million tonnes of garbage a year, or 1,800 tonnes a day, is being dumped into the sea globally. Almost 90% of the garbage is plastic waste.

Overpopulation NOT Consumption

We're seeing more often And I have just heard from a mouth of an "environmentalist" a debate that Consumption is a bigger problem than Overpopulation. The logic goes, since consumption is a bigger driver of environmental degradation than population, we should ignore population and focus on consumption. Someone reasons that rich people consume a lot while poor people consume little. We have to push for reduction of consumption of the rich.

"...per-capita emissions of carbon dioxide will likely rise in poor countries for some time yet, even in optimistic scenarios. But that is an issue of consumption, not population."

Human consumption of natural resources and emission of CO2 requires humans. More humans equals more of what humans do.

Per-capita CO2 emissions will rise greatly in poor countries as they begin to afford the technologies we take for granted. No matter how efficient cars, appliances, machinery and so on become, increased production and use of them will increase CO2 emissions. It's cornucopian fantasy to think a population increasing by 50% can have a "First World" standard of living without causing serious ecological damage. It's fantasy to think it can be done in the first place.

Even if humans discover means to produce enough energy to support ourselves, even with ZERO damage to the environment, our use of energy will increase and we will cause damages, due simply to our increased numbers if nothing else.

Thank you for the answer to this debate from the VHEMTers (www.vhemt.org)

Extraordinary 2-Sentence Conversation

Miss I, after watching "Baby Boomers" TV show advertisement on TV : "Baby Boomers are killing the planet."

Mr. D : "We have been killing the planet since we started our civilization, Miss I."

................... ......... ...................................... .... ........ .................................. .... .................... ... ....

What a nail in the head ^0^

Likes and Don't Likes about Melbourne & Victoria

Likes

1. Clean and neat. Completely opposite to Bangkok in every aspect of cleanliness. For example, no merchant pouring dirty water from cooking on the streetsides. And that's the only example.

2. Not much pollution, fume, black smoke, horrible smell from cars, dust.

3. Big parks all over with big trees where humans and non-humans are so happy. But, no, they are not only happy in parks, they are happy almost everywhere, almost all over the state.

4. Vegan food - Yes, vegan food everywhere. Yes, and many vegan, organic and fair trade shops. Every town in the countrysides I went to, there are vegan, organic and natural product shops. Many restaurants have vegan menus. And.... vegan bakery - You don't know how good it is. There's this shop I found that ALL bakeries are Organic Vegan and has organic vegan soymilk coffee. What's so bad about spoiling myself once in a while?

5. No traffic jam (there may be some in peak periods, but Bangkok is terrible, TERRIBLE! - you can get stuck in traffic for an hour, hours, hourss....)

5. Sea Shepherd is here. I love what they do and their ethics.

6. Animal welfare here is so much respected.

7. There're many social causes that I like.

8. Whereever I go it's clean and beautiful. Whether in the CITY, suburbs and the countrysides. Pretty houses, thick trees line up everywhere, forests next to streets like Ferntree Gully National Park I went to. It's right next to the street and it was so so so beautiful forest. I was hiking up steep hills..so much pleasure, fun and exercise.

8. The train system is excellent comparing to the State Railway train system in Thailand - you know what I mean. There are even clean toilets in the train stations and on the trains.

Don't Likes

1. No train from the airport.

2. You have to wait for the trains according to the schedules, unlike the Sky Train and Subway systems in Bangkok - you wait only for no longer than 5 minutes for each train.

Getting a job and living here would be great, hey? Not so high cost of living here too, comparing to other western countries, and with the great quality of living and with most things I love there...it's undenialably the place to spend my life.

The only thing

Life is my only possession, the only thing I live for, the only thing I can give.

3 Reasons to Stop Smoking

1. The environmental toll of tobacco farming is high.
Tobacco cultivation leads to deforestation and requires extremely poisonous pesticides.

2. It is a silent killer.
Tobacco makes you more prone to pneumonia, Tuberculosis - virtually any respiratory
infection. It makes you more likely to get cancer. Not just cancers you'd expect, like lung
and throat, but all kinds of cancer. It makes you more likely to get heart disease, the
primary killer of the developed world, and more susceptible to the often-deadly respiratory
infections of the developing world.

3. It tortures non-human beings.
Although health officials have known for decades that cigarette smoking leads to lung
cancer, emphysema, and other diseases, the tobacco industry, in a desperate bid to find
evidence to the contrary, still conducts painful experiments on dogs, cats, monkeys,
rabbits, chickens, rats, mice, and other non-humans animals.

At this very moment, pregnant monkeys's fetuses are exposed to nicotine, beagles' throats
are cut into holes and they are forced to breathe concentrated cigarette smoke for a year,
Dogs' penises are inserted with electrodes to measure the effect of cigarette smoke on
sexual performance, masks are trapped to the faces of rats and monkeys and permanently
restrain them to force them to breathe cigarette smoke constantly, dogs are forced to be
on mechanical ventilators and chronically exposed to cigarette smoke, rhesus monkeys are
restrained in chairs with head devices and exposing them to nicotine and caffeine to
determine how caffeine and nicotine affect breathing.