PATHS TO ENLIGHTMENT!!!

Are you lost, wandering in a psychic wilderness, searching for your true "inner self?" Try some of these things listed below. Many of these terms have crept into our lexicon, integrating with our Collective Unconscious, within the current generation, resulting in a psychic metaframe of the shape of things today:

Acupuncture, Age of Aquarius, alchemy, alien abduction, altered states, ankh, aromatherapy, astral projection, astrology, atheism, Atlantis, aura, Ayervedic, Bagavad Gita, Bermuda Triangle, biorhythms, black magick, black mass, Brahman, chakras, channeling, chi, clairvoyance, coven, The Craft, crop circles, crystals, cult, curses, demonology, divination, druids, ESP, evolution, Existentialism, The Exorcist, fairies, Feng Shui, Gaia, Gnosticism, Goth, gris-gris, guru, Hale-Bopp comet, Humanism, horoscope, Harmonic Convergence, I-Ching, idolatry, Irisology, karma, Krishna Consciousness, LaVey, Lestat, levitation, magnets, Maharishi, mantra, Maya, medium, meridians, Mesmerism, metaphysical, Modernism, mojo, Monoism, mysticism, mythology, Necromancy, Neopaganism, New World Order, Nirvana, Numerology, OM, Oneness, One Unified Religion, out-of-body experience, paganism, palmistry, Pantheism, paranormal, past-life regression, pentagram, Phrenology, poltergeists, Post-Modernism, prana, primordial soup, prophecy, psychic hot-line, pyramids, occult, Quija, Reflexology, reincarnation, ritual sacrifice, Rosemary’s Baby, Roswell, runes, Satori, Shamanism, Sheiva, sorcery, spells, Stonhenge, Sufi, Tai Chi, talisman, Tantra, Tarot, TCM, the Third Eye, Transcendental Meditation, UFOlogy, Urantia, vampirism, Vishnu, voodoo, white magick, Wicca, The X-Files, yantra, Yin & Yang, Yoga, ZEN…

And of course, "May the Farce be with you!”

THEY DID NOT SEE

What is it within us that draws us to violence, compels us to look, unable to turn away, captivates us and holds us in its sway? Why do we crane our necks at the scene of a car accident? Why must we see? Why can we not avert our eyes?

There is something in human nature that craves horror. Like moths drawn to a flame that will burn us if we get too close, or Icarus lured to the Sun on wings of wax, we will brave fire and ice so that we might see, bear witness with our own eyes.

And so they surrounded the wooden cross as His blood trickled to the Earth.
They had revered Him, even followed Him, but now they demanded His life. In silence they watched as the Lamb they'd chosen hung before them.
With utter satisfaction, they all looked on, they had to see, as He endured their stripes and took their sins upon Himself...with a love that they would never see.

 

U.N. APPOINTS AMBASSADOR TO 'E.T. RELATIONS'

(File this story under "News of the Weird," but it's absolutely true!)

Malaysian astrophysicist Mazlan Othman may add a new job title to her resume. She is currently Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), which deals with space-related issues ranging from international cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space, to managing the growing problem of space debris.

According to numerous reports, Othman is to be named the U.N.'s ambassador to extraterrestrials, if and when they ever contact humanity. The post will require approval from UN scientific advisory committees and the General Assembly. (How would you like to "pad" your resume with that job description? Or would you?)

Othman, who led Malaysia's national space agency before heading to the U.N., and helped train that country's first astronaut, is scheduled to speak next week at a Royal Society event devoted to the implications of alien contact and the need for necessary political processes to be in place should that contact occur. (I didn't even know Malaysia has a space agency...or astronauts!)

"The continued search for extraterrestrial communication...sustains the hope that someday humankind will receive signals from extraterrestrials," the publication The Australian quoted Othman as saying. "When we do, we should have in place a coordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject. The U.N. is a ready-made mechanism for such coordination." (Now if only they could coordinate some of those bothersome little Earth-bound problems like the global war on terrorism.)

The publication also quoted Professor Richard Crowther, a specialist in space law and governance (space law? governance? uh?) at the U.K. Space Agency, on Othman's suitability for the job: She "is absolutely the nearest thing we have to a 'take me to your leader' person." (Does he mean that as a compliment?)

Though contact with space aliens may not happen tomorrow, the recent discovery of potentially Earth-like planets, and of the existence of life forms in the harshest environments on Earth itself, have led to an increased focus on the possibility of extraterrestrial creatures. The late physicist Stephen Hawking helped to legitimize exopolitics, which looks at the public policy implications of alien life.

"To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational," The Times of London quoted Hawking as saying in April (2010). "The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like."

Othman seems to be sympathetic toward such life forms. As The Australian points out, under the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, overseen by the Office for Outer Space Affairs (No doubt down the hall from the "Office for Atlantis Affairs"), members of the U.N. agree to protect Earth against contamination by taking the precaution of "sterilizing" extraterrestrials (say WHAT?!). But, The Australian says, Othman "...wants a more tolerant approach." (Well, if I landed on an alien world and they tried to "sterilize" me, I'd be in favor of a more "tolerant approach," too! And this "treaty" has been around since 1967? Who did we make it with, the aliens?)

If Hawking's thinking is correct, Othman may be in for some challenging diplomacy. Though he suspects most aliens will prove to be microbes and small animals, Hawking warns against trying to make contact with intelligent ETs. He thinks they'd likely be cruising the galaxy in search of resources or potential colonies. (No cause for concern there over planetary pillaging.)

"We only have to look at ourselves," The Times quoted Hawking as saying, "to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet." But then, perhaps Othman's time at the U.N., and that agency's long history of dealing with the fallout from humanity's foibles, make her the perfect candidate for the job.