Soul, Spirit And Shamanism

One of the more difficult words to define is soul. It is one of those words that entered the main stream of thought and as it did so, it lost much of it original intent as the breath of life.

Today we have Soul-mate, Soul-sister, Soul-music, Soul-train, and Soul-food. The word describes the sound post of a violin as well as the bore of a cannon. There are soul and body lashings, soul-candles, and soul-catchers. And let's not forget soul-ale. And then there are the expressions such as ' he's a lost soul', or 'poor soul'.

Spirit has just as many disparate uses. We talk of school spirit, team spirit, national spirit, company spirit, unclean spirit, the Holy Spirit, spirit of cooperation, and the human spirit. Expressions like 'his spirit is broken', 'that is a mean-spirited thing to do', winning spirit, or getting into the spirit of things, continue to show the mixed usage.

For the shaman there is a decided distinction between soul and spirit. In the shamanic world, spirit differs from Spirits also. Spirit is the élan; whereas, Spirits are entities unto themselves. Briefly, the soul is that part of the human that is alive and manifests in the consciousness of the individual. It is that aspect of the human that defines individuality. And like the individual, it grows, learns, and changes. It is present upon the conception of the human being and upon the death of the physical body, it seeks to return to whence it came, the Akasha.

The shaman understands this mobility of the soul and when it becomes ill, stolen, or corrupted by an evil entity, the human spirit withers and dissolves. Thus, the shaman is bound to mind-travel through an altered state of consciousness to non-ordinary reality, to locate the suffering soul, seek out a solution for its suffering, performs the necessary tasks of bringing health to the soul and returning it so the physical body may become well.

The Popularity of America

Emerging from the 1980's census is the picture of a nation developing more and more regional competition. This development and its strong implications for US politics and economy in years ahead has enthroned the South as America's most densely populated region for the first time in the history of the nation's head counting.

Altogether, the U.S. population rose in the 1970s by 23.2 million people- numerically the third largest growth ever recorded in a single decade. Even so, that gain adds up to only 11.4 percent, lowest in American annual records except for the Depression years. Americans have been migrating south and west in large numbers since World Warâ…¡and the pattern still prevails. Three sun-belt states: Florida, Texas and California, together had nearly 10 million more people in 1980 than a decade earlier. Among large cities, San Diego moved from 14th to 8th and Washington DC dropping out of the top 10. A report from Tom Mesenbourg, deputy director of the U.S. Census Bureau says:" The understanding we gain from these statistics about what impact franchise businesses have on the U.S. economy is a good example of how government and business can partner to provide relevant, quality data to the business community"

Not all that shift can be attributed to the movement out of the snow-belt, census officials say. Non-stop waves of immigrants played a role too, and so did bigger crops of babies as yesterday's "Baby Boom" generation reached its child-bearing years. There is a fact that many illegal immigrants have no living certificate. Even though, American Census Bureau reported the situations to other government organizations, including American Immigration Bureau, American Army and so on. They said they will settle this problem together.

Moreover, the demographers find that more and more Americas apparently are looking not just for places with more jobs but with fewer people too. This may bring some benefits to America's economy in a whole.

The Evolution Revolution on the Holiday Season

Once again the holiday season is approaching. And humankind's 'State of the Union' leaves a great deal to be desired.

But the insanity rampant on our precious planet today is actually the death throes of the old self-centered paradigm. Like a cancer victim riddled with disease in every organ (making survival impossible) yet requesting resuscitation attempts upon heart failure, the powers-that-be are desperately attempting to hold on to life.

It is an exercise in futility.

Like a dying patient in an expensive negligee, with fresh manicure and pedicure, hair done and make-up applied, it is all cosmetic, strictly superficial. Beneath the surface is rot and decay. Yet once the gross body is shed life still continues, albeit in a finer way.

Beneath the surface, behind the scenes, Consciousness has been expanding Itself upon the planet in the minds and hearts of the multitudes. The seeds of Love are sprouting everywhere. As it is after a forest fire, the rotting debris nourishes the new growth. This finer existence awaits us. The preparation has been long and arduous.

It requires another degree of let-go on the part of those with a higher vision.
It requires a deeper commitment.
It requires walking the talk at yet another level.

So this holiday season let your energy do the talking. Those who support a Higher Vision, put your money where your mouth is: Give to those in need.

Have no fear of self-deprivation, think of this: energetically giving is like priming a pump -- once the flow is initiated it continues. So as you give without thought of self you will certainly receive from the bountiful Universe that is a continual font of benevolence.

Your loved ones receive from you continually. Let them receive this time by giving -- giving up the need for more on top of more, an excess of possession.

Teach your children to give.

Gather your family and friends and devote your time, energy and resources to a greater cause than self-service. Find the need, whether locally, nationally or internationally.

Aborigine Boomerangs

One of the more unique and interesting tools found in the outback of Australia, boomerangs served a very useful purpose.
There are many different sizes, types and shapes, depending on the culture, geographic location and need of the hunter. The type of prey would also determine what kind of weapon would be needed.
Boomerangs were used to kill everything from birds to large animals such as kangaroos. The more popular design of boomerang, the one most often seen in movies was the most aerodynamic and looks like the wing of an aircraft. It was designed to primarily kill birds while in flight. It was fashioned so it would return to the person who threw it, thus eliminating the need to chase after it. Also many times the birds would be flying over water, so if the target was missed and the boomerang didn't return,it eliminated the need for the hunter to swim in crocodile infested waters in order to retrieve his favorite weapon.
True, if the bird was killed or wounded,(and since they didn't have a bird dog), the hunter would have to brave the elements to retrieve his prey, but at least there was a reward for risking his life.
The larger boomerangs were designed to kill larger land animals, thus they resembled a club, They didn't come back, as they traveled along the ground and stopped only when coming in contact with the animal in question, or struck some other object, such as a rock or tree.
The aborigines were quite professional in this respect, not only in designing, but using the boomerang. The target in question was more often struck and killed than not. Many boomerangs had markings indicating the tribe or even the person to whom the boomerang belonged, thus making it easier to recover if there was a question of ownership.
Although the boomerang is thought to be a product of the natives of Australia, they have actually been found in such places as Poland, Egypt, and among artifacts of Native American Navajo Indians. Dating back over 10,000 years, the boomerang has been a needed and useful tool for the Australian Aborigine during much of their existence.
Today, the Aborigines are losing many of the talents they once had, due to modernization these talents aren't in as much demand. Corroborees, or songfests are often held where many of the old ways and dances are practiced, but many of the customs of the aborigines are being lost forever, at the songfests, many times white Europeans win the boomerang throwing and other once native competitions.

Gary has been a photographer for over 20 years, specializing in nature,landscapes and event photography.Besides visiting most of the United States, he has traveled to such places as Egypt,the Canary Islands,much of the Caribbean, and having studied Mayan Cultures in Central America, and the Australian Aboriginal way of life, photography has given him the opportunity to observe life in many different cultures!

Aboriginal Dream Time

The Australian Aboriginal Dream-Time can be confusing to some. It is actually a compilation of not only all their beliefs and history, but also of what is to come.

The Dream Time has different meanings, sometimes if you are looking into the past, you are using memory, and when looking into the future you are using imagination. They believe that we are spiritual scientists and are only "dreaming" this life.

We are all born with a bank of energy. All energy, including money doesn't disappear, it just changes form. All travel and activity uses up energy, time and money, when we run out of time and energy, the body dies.

As in Christian belief, as well as many other religions, they believe that in the beginning, the earth was flat and void,The aborigines believe all of being was created by the Rainbow Serpent,thus the Rainbow Serpent, along with other spiritual beings created everything.

Instead of settling the earth, the spiritual beings dreamed it up, thus we aren't residents of earth, we are dreaming our reality and we create everything in our reality by dreaming it first. When you go on a journey, you first dream it up. Then the dream becomes reality by actually doing the task.

When you travel to Cairns for example, the time, travel and money is just a dream. We are all born with a bank of energy, when all your energy is spent converting it to time, money, etc. your physical body dies, it's like a car that runs out of gas. The physical body can no longer support a soul.This lifetime, or "Dreaming" thus ends and the soul energy or spirit that is you changes form.

Aborigines are Caucasians and their existence have been traced to Iraq,Iran, Malaysia,etc. The term Aborigine has nothing to do with color or physical features, it relates to a belief, it's the same as being Christian,.If you follow their way of life, you are an Aborigine, regardless of skin color. In modern times many aborigines who wear shirts, will have a completely white skin under the shirt. When asked why they were black and we were white, one replied,"Mate, if you had stood out in the sun for 40,000 years, you would be black too."

To them there only two types of people, aborigines and the rest. Anyone can study their ways and become an aborigine, declare such to the Australian government and all the entitlements afforded to them can be received by anyone.

The Australian Aboriginal Negroid had been in Australia for at least three civilizations, possibly for as long as 200,000 years, however there is no scientific evidence the present day aborigines have been here longer than 12,000 years. Which could possibly indicate that they came after the "Great Flood", or that science is wrong. Science has been wrong before.

Much of their history and beliefs are displayed in rock art. Just like modern day art, only the author knows the true meaning. It tells the story of some happening or event,and everyone assumes that every painting is 20,000 years old, this just isn't true, some could only be a few days old, and this being the case, it has been compared to modern day graffiti.

Under Population and Over Population

Under populations
Under population is the type of population that is less than the available resources of a country. It then means that the size of the population is so small that when combined with the available resources of a country and given the level of existing technology, it will secure minimum returns per head. In summary, under population is a situation where the population is too small relative to the available resources. The standard of living of the area can be increased if the population is increased.

Causes
1. Abundant resources: There will be abundance of resources in areas where there are resources endowment.
2. availability of employment: Due to the small size of the population and abundance of resources, employment opportunities will readily be available.
3. Low pressure on social amenities: Owing to low population, there is also low pressure on social amenities in the area.
4. Low congestion: Also, due to low population, there will be low or no congestion in housing, traffic etc.
5. Adequate planning: Owing to low population, these areas are properly planned for decent living.
6. Low crime rate is greatly reduced.

In as much as there are advantages, there are also disadvantages to, such are: the available labor force is grossly inadequate to mange the abundant resources available in the state; low level of production as a result of low level of manpower available production is generally very low. Workers generally earn low as a result of low level of production income and this leads to low savings and investments. Low standard of living due to inadequate labor force that would have promoted output, the standard of living will eventually fall; pipe borne water electricity etc, are grossly under utilized; disincentive to the government because it does not always feel like investing in places of under-population. As a result of low level of income per capital and fewer number of people, the size of the market is usually very small due to low demand. Finally, as a result of low output of goods and services, there is always a ow level of export for these goods and services.

Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a situation where a country has more people than its physical and human resources can support with adequate living standards. In other words, over population refers to a situation where the population exceeds the available resources of a country. As a result of overpopulation, people will compete for the available resources and there will be a general fall in standard of living of the people. Over population can be controlled by family planning, discouragement of early marriage, increase in food supply, encouragement of monogamy, limiting the size of towns, provision of gainful employment for women, stiffening of immigration laws, sex and mass education from childhood ages of children and encouragement of emigration from thickly or densely populated areas to lowly populated areas.

The Future of Intelligence

Recently, I've become aware that various authors and researchers are predicting an event in human history that will change everything we label "human."

Crossing this threshold will allow us to do two things-build machines that are billions of times smarter than we are, and radically increase the lifespan of the individual.

The first objective will be achieved by plunging ahead in the development of computers and artificial intelligence, so that these machines will, in turn, invent greater machines in a quickening arc.

The second objective will arrive as we utilize genetic manipulation, nanotechnology, and "human parts" replacement.

Let me focus on the first objective in this article. And I'll start here: Smartness, intelligence, brilliance, mental capacity, etc. are all based on what?

They are based on the notion that solving problems can be vastly speeded up and made more effective-and the problems being referred to are those which "the whole human community" shares. War, hunger, pollution, tribal and national conflicts, diminishing supplies of natural resources, and so on.

Here is the central point, however. Regardless of the level of IQ and the speed of reasoning, a problem is a problem is a problem. In other words, any solution depends upon assumptions about what your (our) goals are. "Greatest good for the greatest number," for example, means nothing unless the machine solving a problem operates according to specified priorities that depict and define "greatest good." Without that, a machine is lost. It just sits there and does nothing.

We have to realize there is nothing inherently magical about a machine when it comes to solving problems. A machine isn't suddenly going to "breathe life into itself" so it becomes more capable of setting the most basic goals.

You might recall an old science-fiction movie, "Colossus: The Forbin Project." Two super-computers, one for the USSR and one for the US, are built to assure victory in a nuclear war. Each machine protects itself (by design), so it can't be unplugged. Suddenly, on the brink of war, the machines begin talking to each other and decide the human race is stupid and irretrievably self-destructive. The machines make a pact to protect planet Earth-and essentially recreate it as a world devoted to right-thinking machines, with humans operating as slaves

What's left out of the movie is this: Those computers would never have taken their radical actions "on behalf of the planet," unless humans had inserted relevant goals into their programmed guts.

We are not dealing with some mystical capacity that machines can suddenly attain because of their calculating power.

We are, in fact, dealing with a more sophisticated version of Central Planning. We have seen many societies try this, and we have seen them fail. To turn over all allocation of natural resources and survival decisions to machines could bring on a radically different Era for humans-but not because the machines are better INVENTORS of proper goals for the human race.

From the point of view of a machine, there are no better or worse goals. There are only those goals which have been programmed into the machines by humans.

As a crass illustration, suppose a machine is given the mandate to solve the climate crisis for the planet. The crisis is defined by scientists through the assumption that global warming is a real and advancing problem that threatens our very existence. Well, machines will then take many actions to solve warming-whether or not it actually exists. And if global warming does not exist at a significant threat level, the machines will perform the most stupid actions imaginable.

Some people object to this "simplistic" analysis. They say, "You have no idea what innovations machines with IQs of 5000 will produce." Actually, I believe I do. They will generate ideas and rules and other machines in line with whatever overall goals and first assumptions are programmed into them. And wherever such assumptions are missing, the machines will fall silent and sit on idle.

Let's try what some might call a best-case scenario. A gaggle of exceedingly capable computers devises a genetically engineered food crop that has astonishing nutritional value and no negative-health downside. The food crop imparts all nutritional needs to humans. It can be grown in a surprisingly small area, because just a few bites from the leaves or fruit are sufficient daily intake for every bodily need.

Next question: Do the machines calculate and put into effect, with the help of other machines, this agri-program for the whole human race or just a limited number of people? The answer to that depends on the basic assumptions about survival of the species that have been inserted into the machines' thinking apparatus. It could go either way. Some method for such a choice must already exist in the machine-not because the machine is "so smart" it can come to a conclusion on its own, but because it has been given prior direction.

Let us imagine the machine decides to feed half the world's population and force the other half to die, because the planet should only support three billion people. Where did that judgment come from? On what basis was it rendered?

I believe the answer is obvious. The machine contains certain prejudices that have been put there by human programmers.

There is nothing amazing about it. What is amazing is the willingness of technical people to assume that some version of machine IQ, rising to artificial heights, will thereafter produce VALUE-based choices intrinsically more brilliant than anything we poor humans can come up with.

The operative word here is "brilliant," and the fallacy comes about by asserting that the word has something to do with the choice of fundamental values that determine how we run our affairs. That's patently false.

The "rise of the machines" as an ultimate solution for the human race is much like the proposition that a ruling priesthood is much smarter than the "lower" population. For Europe, you could translate "priesthood" into "divine right of kings."

Put in gross terms, this great New Age allows a ruling elite and its machine surrogates to announce to the human race: "We know what you need and we're going to give it you, so shut up and keep walking down the road and obey the signs and focus your eyes straight ahead."