Thursday 31 July 2008
Tuesday 29 July 2008
What is consciousness? by Andrew Schneider
What is consciousness?
One of the most difficult issues of life to define and understand is consciousness. Yet it is a word that is used everyday and people don’t think much about it. Self-help books and personal growth courses often use the terminology of consciousness but frequently don’t really understand what it is all about. Most confuse consciousness with awareness. They are similar ideas but in some ways opposite each other.
Clarity about consciousness is all important. If we cannot properly name something we do not know it. And not knowing it, we have no influence over it. I wish to share with you a few basic insights about consciousness.
We are entering a period of human growth and development where consciousness needs to be a priority focus for each of us if we are to live a meaningful and purposeful life. Meaning and purpose are the primary fruits of consciousness development.
Consciousness is what makes something what it is. It is what defines a person as to who they are. It is the essence of a thing which reveals both its universal truth and its unique individual characteristics. Consciousness is the soul of any reality, it is its essence.
Everyone and everything has an essence or a soul and everyone and everything has consciousness. Each person or thing is unique as individuals. But we are all part of something greater as well. It is consciousness or soul which links us to our greater, universal nature, sometimes called the Divine.
When you have consciousness you are using your heart, your intuition, or your faculties of knowing that transcend the mind. Heart, intuition and these other faculties exist in the realm of soul. So when you know with consciousness you are not separate from what you know. You merge with it. You identify with it as you experience it. It moves you in a way that you experience it as a part of your greater self.
When you have awareness you are using your mind to know something in an objective way. You know something about something. You possess or have knowledge, but as the one who knows you are separate from the thing you know. Awareness happens as a mental reflex whenever the mind is exposed to something, The only choice involved is what we want to pay attention to, or the extent to which we want to learn more about something.
You could call consciousness ‘soul knowing’. The beauty of soul knowing is that soul is not separate from what it knows or contacts. It sees itself in the other. In knowing it fully we touch its essence, and in doing so we love what we know. As soul beings we are essentially love. And through this knowing with soul we grow and expand our sense of who we are as soul beings. We find peace and harmony in our relationships with those people and situations that we approach with this consciousness.
Can we change our consciousness?
We cannot change who we are, but we can shift our identity from being the personality to being the soul. This is a shift from identifying oneself as one’s self-image to identifying with one’s essence. In truth, we really ARE the essence, the soul. And we HAVE the self-image or personality.
To say that we ARE the personality is tantamount to saying that we are our sensations, our emotions, and our thoughts – which we are not. We do not HAVE a soul. We ARE soul and HAVE a personality.
In ages past, people did not speak of changing consciousness. It was not relevant. Consciousness is identity. In the past, people were their personality. And still today, the majority of people identify with their personality as who they are. However, there are more and more people able to disidentify from their personality and identify with their essence, the soul.
In many ways, these two levels of self, of ‘I,’ are opposites. It requires an extremely radical shift in perspectives to make the change from identifying with the personality to identify with the soul. One must re-evaluate all previous ways of understanding, of thinking, of acting, and of being motivated.
The change in consciousness from personality identity to soul consciousness can only occur when a person is ready. Readiness is determined by:
Having sufficient experience from which one has learned a great deal about oneself.
Being willing and able to face the subconscious realities that one has previously repressed.
Having built up a strong ego, so one is able to withstand the vicissitudes of life.
Being independent and responsible for one’s own well-being. Taking responsibility for the consequences of one’s choices.
Can you help someone else change consciousness?
Changing consciousness is not a matter of a desire that can be fulfilled. Instead, it’s a growth process that occurs from within. You cannot make a flower bloom – it will bloom when it gets to that particular stage of unfoldment. But just as the flower needs nourishing and support to get to that stage, so too every person needs nurturing and support to move through the stages of unfoldment.
We can assist people to fulfill their needs. If a person is dependent, we can help them to become more independent by supporting them to recognize and meet their own needs. We cannot help people take responsibility for their choices, which is part of the process of becoming independent, but we can encourage them to take responsibility.
If a person is independent, and is ready to move on to soul growth, we can assist them to understand what those stages of growth involve. We can also invite them to participate in group activities that are soul-based. This might involve group meditation or service of some kind. We can also exemplify through our living the qualities of soul consciousness, which then creates a resonance within others.
Every step of the soul journey necessitates a free and conscious choice for GREATER INCLUSIVENESS. And therefore, there is a letting go or sacrificing of something personal that might inhibit one from being more inclusive. This would be some thoughts, ideas, attitudes, or behaviors that are exclusive, separative, self-centered or judgmental.
No one can help another to make such shifts of perspective. We cannot force such shifts in ourselves, either. One arrives at that stage when the choice is a natural step based on the loving, intelligent unfoldment of heart and mind.
The step toward inclusiveness is inspired and supported by the soul within rather than based solely on personality efforts. When the personality releases its blocks to soul expression, the choice is simply a consciousness assent to the life and impulse of the soul within.
How long does it take to shift in consciousness?
This is a personality-based question that really has no answer in terms of length of time. It takes as long as one lives. Change is a fundamental reality of life in time and space. Change is occurring constantly, but often we don’t recognize it as it may be quite subtle.
The personality is also always trying to keep things the same. Often changes are occurring but we are unconsciously living as if they were not. When this happens, we tend to be out of step with what is happening in our life and in our psyche. As a result something does not work, things go awry and we are not content.
Sometimes the changes that are going on within us and around us are not the changes we want or like. This is because we do not understand them. And this is why they exist.
There are basically two causes for the changes we experience.
1. One cause is the necessity of subconscious, repressed content to surface into consciousness. These are frequently what we would consider to be negative things – something that exists within us that we are not aware of. It is something that we reject and do not own as ours, something for which we have not taken responsibility.
Because we are not aware of some aspect of ourselves and it wants to come into our consciousness, it is therefore causing many things to occur. We usually become aware of it by projecting it onto people or situations outside of ourselves so that we have the opportunity to see it.
It is a fact of psychological life that whatever is unconscious must in time become conscious. So there is always something from the psyche’s shadows seeking the light of awareness. If we do not pay attention to it, it will then get our attention through negative expression of symptoms.
In the Soul Journey, we explore hidden content deliberately so that it no longer controls us, and so that new pathways for soul development and expression can be created.
2. The other cause of the changes we experience is the soul’s activity within us. The soul is constantly emanating its presence in the endless forms of love, intelligence and power. It is the soul’s power or pressure that triggers the subconscious content to surface, because if there is something blocking the soul’s expression within the subconscious then a pathway for expression in conscious life must be cleared. The principle involved is that the soul can only express itself through the path of least resistance. Removing the subconscious blocks that are selfish, ignorant and fearful eliminates specific resistance to the soul’s expression.
When there is no or little resistance within us, the soul will express itself based on our awareness of need within ourselves or around us. The changes we experience through soul expression at those times are greater integration between personality and soul. We inevitably then experience aspects of Beauty, Truth or Goodness. We become more the true Self that we are.
Developing Soul Consciousness and Overcoming Challenges
In his book, Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore says that the greatest illness of modern times is ‘loss of soul.’ I do not think that we have lost soul, but simply have not yet discovered it, and therefore live in a soulless way.
The new consciousness on the planet today demands that we no longer neglect this vital aspect of who we are. Ignoring this reality has dire consequences, as Moore points out: “When soul is neglected, it doesn’t just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning. Our temptation is to isolate these symptoms or to try to eradicate them one by one; but the root problem is that we have lost our wisdom about the soul, even our interest in it.”
Becoming soul-conscious or expanding consciousness is not a choice. It is a deep and natural urge within all of us that is being emphasized by the needs in the world today. The only choice is whether or not we will cooperate or resist the expansion of consciousness once it begins happening. And consciousness expands in all aspects of life where we have gained sufficient awareness and learning.
When we resist this movement of soul within we become ill, we have accidents, we are unhappy, we have money problems, emotional pain is experienced, relationships don’t work well. In general, our life sends us signals to which we must pay attention. Through developing soul consciousness, we learn what these signals are, how to interpret them, and then what to do about them. The Soul Journey will assist you with this.
The evidence of the drive for expanded consciousness, or soul, is found in everyone’s deep yearning to be free. The liberation we want is the release from duality – the very stuff that the challenges of life are made of. But we cannot find this freedom unless we deal effectively with the challenges.
All challenges that we experience are initiated by the soul, even though it can appear that the challenges come from other people, the world around us, society, circumstances and situations. What is the nature of these challenges? What is their purpose? How can we master them?
(Andrew’s e-book ‘Water into Wine’ identifies the basic 9 challenges of life, shows us their purpose, and gives us the understanding we need to master them.)
As we master our challenges, we gain in wisdom and develop the power, love and intelligence that is characteristic of soul consciousness. When we incorporate the mastery into our identity, we transform and experience greater liberation.
To find out more about the Soul Journey and other consciousness related materials of Andrew Schneider, please visit http://www.thesouljourney.com
One of the most difficult issues of life to define and understand is consciousness. Yet it is a word that is used everyday and people don’t think much about it. Self-help books and personal growth courses often use the terminology of consciousness but frequently don’t really understand what it is all about. Most confuse consciousness with awareness. They are similar ideas but in some ways opposite each other.
Clarity about consciousness is all important. If we cannot properly name something we do not know it. And not knowing it, we have no influence over it. I wish to share with you a few basic insights about consciousness.
We are entering a period of human growth and development where consciousness needs to be a priority focus for each of us if we are to live a meaningful and purposeful life. Meaning and purpose are the primary fruits of consciousness development.
Consciousness is what makes something what it is. It is what defines a person as to who they are. It is the essence of a thing which reveals both its universal truth and its unique individual characteristics. Consciousness is the soul of any reality, it is its essence.
Everyone and everything has an essence or a soul and everyone and everything has consciousness. Each person or thing is unique as individuals. But we are all part of something greater as well. It is consciousness or soul which links us to our greater, universal nature, sometimes called the Divine.
When you have consciousness you are using your heart, your intuition, or your faculties of knowing that transcend the mind. Heart, intuition and these other faculties exist in the realm of soul. So when you know with consciousness you are not separate from what you know. You merge with it. You identify with it as you experience it. It moves you in a way that you experience it as a part of your greater self.
When you have awareness you are using your mind to know something in an objective way. You know something about something. You possess or have knowledge, but as the one who knows you are separate from the thing you know. Awareness happens as a mental reflex whenever the mind is exposed to something, The only choice involved is what we want to pay attention to, or the extent to which we want to learn more about something.
You could call consciousness ‘soul knowing’. The beauty of soul knowing is that soul is not separate from what it knows or contacts. It sees itself in the other. In knowing it fully we touch its essence, and in doing so we love what we know. As soul beings we are essentially love. And through this knowing with soul we grow and expand our sense of who we are as soul beings. We find peace and harmony in our relationships with those people and situations that we approach with this consciousness.
Can we change our consciousness?
We cannot change who we are, but we can shift our identity from being the personality to being the soul. This is a shift from identifying oneself as one’s self-image to identifying with one’s essence. In truth, we really ARE the essence, the soul. And we HAVE the self-image or personality.
To say that we ARE the personality is tantamount to saying that we are our sensations, our emotions, and our thoughts – which we are not. We do not HAVE a soul. We ARE soul and HAVE a personality.
In ages past, people did not speak of changing consciousness. It was not relevant. Consciousness is identity. In the past, people were their personality. And still today, the majority of people identify with their personality as who they are. However, there are more and more people able to disidentify from their personality and identify with their essence, the soul.
In many ways, these two levels of self, of ‘I,’ are opposites. It requires an extremely radical shift in perspectives to make the change from identifying with the personality to identify with the soul. One must re-evaluate all previous ways of understanding, of thinking, of acting, and of being motivated.
The change in consciousness from personality identity to soul consciousness can only occur when a person is ready. Readiness is determined by:
Having sufficient experience from which one has learned a great deal about oneself.
Being willing and able to face the subconscious realities that one has previously repressed.
Having built up a strong ego, so one is able to withstand the vicissitudes of life.
Being independent and responsible for one’s own well-being. Taking responsibility for the consequences of one’s choices.
Can you help someone else change consciousness?
Changing consciousness is not a matter of a desire that can be fulfilled. Instead, it’s a growth process that occurs from within. You cannot make a flower bloom – it will bloom when it gets to that particular stage of unfoldment. But just as the flower needs nourishing and support to get to that stage, so too every person needs nurturing and support to move through the stages of unfoldment.
We can assist people to fulfill their needs. If a person is dependent, we can help them to become more independent by supporting them to recognize and meet their own needs. We cannot help people take responsibility for their choices, which is part of the process of becoming independent, but we can encourage them to take responsibility.
If a person is independent, and is ready to move on to soul growth, we can assist them to understand what those stages of growth involve. We can also invite them to participate in group activities that are soul-based. This might involve group meditation or service of some kind. We can also exemplify through our living the qualities of soul consciousness, which then creates a resonance within others.
Every step of the soul journey necessitates a free and conscious choice for GREATER INCLUSIVENESS. And therefore, there is a letting go or sacrificing of something personal that might inhibit one from being more inclusive. This would be some thoughts, ideas, attitudes, or behaviors that are exclusive, separative, self-centered or judgmental.
No one can help another to make such shifts of perspective. We cannot force such shifts in ourselves, either. One arrives at that stage when the choice is a natural step based on the loving, intelligent unfoldment of heart and mind.
The step toward inclusiveness is inspired and supported by the soul within rather than based solely on personality efforts. When the personality releases its blocks to soul expression, the choice is simply a consciousness assent to the life and impulse of the soul within.
How long does it take to shift in consciousness?
This is a personality-based question that really has no answer in terms of length of time. It takes as long as one lives. Change is a fundamental reality of life in time and space. Change is occurring constantly, but often we don’t recognize it as it may be quite subtle.
The personality is also always trying to keep things the same. Often changes are occurring but we are unconsciously living as if they were not. When this happens, we tend to be out of step with what is happening in our life and in our psyche. As a result something does not work, things go awry and we are not content.
Sometimes the changes that are going on within us and around us are not the changes we want or like. This is because we do not understand them. And this is why they exist.
There are basically two causes for the changes we experience.
1. One cause is the necessity of subconscious, repressed content to surface into consciousness. These are frequently what we would consider to be negative things – something that exists within us that we are not aware of. It is something that we reject and do not own as ours, something for which we have not taken responsibility.
Because we are not aware of some aspect of ourselves and it wants to come into our consciousness, it is therefore causing many things to occur. We usually become aware of it by projecting it onto people or situations outside of ourselves so that we have the opportunity to see it.
It is a fact of psychological life that whatever is unconscious must in time become conscious. So there is always something from the psyche’s shadows seeking the light of awareness. If we do not pay attention to it, it will then get our attention through negative expression of symptoms.
In the Soul Journey, we explore hidden content deliberately so that it no longer controls us, and so that new pathways for soul development and expression can be created.
2. The other cause of the changes we experience is the soul’s activity within us. The soul is constantly emanating its presence in the endless forms of love, intelligence and power. It is the soul’s power or pressure that triggers the subconscious content to surface, because if there is something blocking the soul’s expression within the subconscious then a pathway for expression in conscious life must be cleared. The principle involved is that the soul can only express itself through the path of least resistance. Removing the subconscious blocks that are selfish, ignorant and fearful eliminates specific resistance to the soul’s expression.
When there is no or little resistance within us, the soul will express itself based on our awareness of need within ourselves or around us. The changes we experience through soul expression at those times are greater integration between personality and soul. We inevitably then experience aspects of Beauty, Truth or Goodness. We become more the true Self that we are.
Developing Soul Consciousness and Overcoming Challenges
In his book, Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore says that the greatest illness of modern times is ‘loss of soul.’ I do not think that we have lost soul, but simply have not yet discovered it, and therefore live in a soulless way.
The new consciousness on the planet today demands that we no longer neglect this vital aspect of who we are. Ignoring this reality has dire consequences, as Moore points out: “When soul is neglected, it doesn’t just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning. Our temptation is to isolate these symptoms or to try to eradicate them one by one; but the root problem is that we have lost our wisdom about the soul, even our interest in it.”
Becoming soul-conscious or expanding consciousness is not a choice. It is a deep and natural urge within all of us that is being emphasized by the needs in the world today. The only choice is whether or not we will cooperate or resist the expansion of consciousness once it begins happening. And consciousness expands in all aspects of life where we have gained sufficient awareness and learning.
When we resist this movement of soul within we become ill, we have accidents, we are unhappy, we have money problems, emotional pain is experienced, relationships don’t work well. In general, our life sends us signals to which we must pay attention. Through developing soul consciousness, we learn what these signals are, how to interpret them, and then what to do about them. The Soul Journey will assist you with this.
The evidence of the drive for expanded consciousness, or soul, is found in everyone’s deep yearning to be free. The liberation we want is the release from duality – the very stuff that the challenges of life are made of. But we cannot find this freedom unless we deal effectively with the challenges.
All challenges that we experience are initiated by the soul, even though it can appear that the challenges come from other people, the world around us, society, circumstances and situations. What is the nature of these challenges? What is their purpose? How can we master them?
(Andrew’s e-book ‘Water into Wine’ identifies the basic 9 challenges of life, shows us their purpose, and gives us the understanding we need to master them.)
As we master our challenges, we gain in wisdom and develop the power, love and intelligence that is characteristic of soul consciousness. When we incorporate the mastery into our identity, we transform and experience greater liberation.
To find out more about the Soul Journey and other consciousness related materials of Andrew Schneider, please visit http://www.thesouljourney.com
Saturday 26 July 2008
What's Right or left
What's Right or left!
Filled with joy from the moments
days of dance, song.
Remembering the joy that's been had
if I can
when I can.
knowing it's not me
but off course ME
Again I smile
a hopeful smile
through the tears and pain
that remain
Sitting up once more, slowly
silently
Willing myself to go on
to create, to nurture
the heart of my family
all that family.
Grieving
the ones we have lost
Where is their heart?
I'm not sure at all.
Maybe I shouldn't compare
as they are not I or us.
Three soldiers left to fight the rest.
Many guards, unique their dress
Do we have to fight?
To struggle long and hard
so far into the night
every night.
How many crossings
rivers, seas
mountains to climb?
A friend who asks what do you want?
My friend it's what I need
a want I will not demand.
He's deaf and blind
so what does he see?
The luxury of what I want was many seeds
Preparing the soil
tending the weeds
Still aspiring to the same, but my
how all has changed
Knowing we are all connected
Enjoying new family
ones who care
for more than themselves, like I.
Not afraid to feel
to touch
to say
or to bask
in the sun with I love you
And how much I miss you
The you that was
each and every day
Every beautiful sight and feeling
shared with you silently
every step of the way.
Although you may not of heard
or felt
but know, I knew
although comprehension few.
The times when prayer
is all we have left
and Love and Hope
the treasures we share
invisible
to the naked eye
but naked
to you and I.
by Lorna Cameron
Saturday 19 July 2008
We shall not ceace from exploration
We shall not ceace from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
shall be to arrive where we have started
and to know the place for the first time
Play It Again Sam
Play It Again Sam
An expression commonly used when asking for a repeat performance or recap of something THAT HAS BEEN SAID. The Sam in question is the pianist in the 1942 film classic Casablanca....Starring Humfrey Bogart and Ingrid Berman, with Dooley Wilson taking the part of Sam. It refers to a scene in the film where the Bogart character Rick Blaine supposedly asks the pianist to play 'As Time Goes BY' once more. However the line does not appear in the film. What Rick Blaine does say is 'If she can stand it, I can!'...Play it. There is also dialogue between the Ingrid Bergman character and the pianist on the same subject....'Play it once more Sam'...Play as time goes by. It is though that the popular misquotation of the line comes from its use as the title of a Woody Allen film of 1972.
Pandora's Box
PANDORA'S BOX
According to Greek Mythology Pandora was the first human woman "All Gifts". The father of the Gods Zeus ordered her creation as a punishment for man have been given the gift of fire. Pandora brought with her from Olympus a box which contained all the evils of the world, and when she finally opened the casket all the ills escaped! Leaving HOPE alone at the bottom. 'Pandora's Box' as a colloquial expression is used to describe either serious of disasters or something that appears to be beneficial but turns out to be the complete opposite.
Thursday 17 July 2008
Human kind
For tens of thousands of years cultures developed in close attunement with the elemental energies of the cosmos. The chinese recognized five primal elements Fire, earth, metal, water and wood....Native Americans included sacred sound while the Greeks identified the four energies of Earth, air water and fire. These weren't simply ideas or metaphors. Their power was experienced as real. Rivers, mountains, fire, lightning and hurricanes all spoke of the grandeur of the universe and the importance of living in right relation with these elemental forces. To stay in touch with this power, it was common to celebrate or pray to these basic elements of life.
My Words are tied in one
with the great mountains
with the great rocks
with the great trees
I am one with my body
And My heart
And now for this exquisite poem see if it moves your heart and touches you as deeply as it did I. I don't even have to look at the words now and my eyes glisten in response to my hearts call.
Hear, O humankind, the prayer of my heart
For are we not one, have we not one desire
to heal our mother earth and bind her wounds
to hear again from dark forests and flashing rivers
the varied ever changing song of creation?
Oh humankind are we not all brothers and sisters
are we not the grandchildren of the great mystery?
Do we not all want to love and be loved, to work
and to play, to sing and dance together?
But we live with fear. Fear that is hate
Fear that is mistrust, envy, greed, vanity,
Fear that is ambition, competition, aggression
Fear that is lonliness, anger, biterness, cruelty....
..and Yet fear is only twisted LOVE...love turned back on itself
love that was denied, love that was rejected..and LOVE
Love is life....creation, seed and leaf and blossom
and fruit and seed, love is growth
and search and reach and touch and dance.
Love is nurture and succor and feed and pleasure
Love is pleasuring ourselves, pleasuring each other
Love is life believing in itself...
...And LIFE...
Life is the sacred mystery singing to itself, dancing
to its drum, telling tales, improvising, playing
and WE are all that spirit, our stories all
but one cosmic story that we are love indeed
that perfect love in me seeks the love in you
and if our eyes could ever meet without fear
we would recongnise each other and rejoice,
for love is life believing in itself!
WOW!!!
MANITONGQUAT
My Words are tied in one
with the great mountains
with the great rocks
with the great trees
I am one with my body
And My heart
And now for this exquisite poem see if it moves your heart and touches you as deeply as it did I. I don't even have to look at the words now and my eyes glisten in response to my hearts call.
Hear, O humankind, the prayer of my heart
For are we not one, have we not one desire
to heal our mother earth and bind her wounds
to hear again from dark forests and flashing rivers
the varied ever changing song of creation?
Oh humankind are we not all brothers and sisters
are we not the grandchildren of the great mystery?
Do we not all want to love and be loved, to work
and to play, to sing and dance together?
But we live with fear. Fear that is hate
Fear that is mistrust, envy, greed, vanity,
Fear that is ambition, competition, aggression
Fear that is lonliness, anger, biterness, cruelty....
..and Yet fear is only twisted LOVE...love turned back on itself
love that was denied, love that was rejected..and LOVE
Love is life....creation, seed and leaf and blossom
and fruit and seed, love is growth
and search and reach and touch and dance.
Love is nurture and succor and feed and pleasure
Love is pleasuring ourselves, pleasuring each other
Love is life believing in itself...
...And LIFE...
Life is the sacred mystery singing to itself, dancing
to its drum, telling tales, improvising, playing
and WE are all that spirit, our stories all
but one cosmic story that we are love indeed
that perfect love in me seeks the love in you
and if our eyes could ever meet without fear
we would recongnise each other and rejoice,
for love is life believing in itself!
WOW!!!
MANITONGQUAT
Tuesday 15 July 2008
Research on ME/CFS
Research update on ME/CFS
What is ME/CFS?
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/encephalopathy (ME) is characterised by a range of neurological symptoms and signs, muscle pain with intense physical and mental exhaustion, relapses and specific cognitive disabilities.
During the 1990s the term chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) came into vogue. Since there was no specific diagnostic test for ME, and since post exercise 'fatigue' was one of it's prominent symptoms, people with ME began to be diagnosed with 'CFS'. At present, efforts are being made to elucidate the diagnostic confusion, and meanwhile the term ME/CFS is used.
ME/CFS affects 120,000 to 240,000 people in the UK and is classified by the world health organisation as a neurological illness (ICD 10:G93.3). Most people with ME/CFS are unable to work to full capacity, some house or bed bound. Little support is available to their families and carers. The cause of the illness is unknown, and no cure or universally effective treatment has yet been found.
A report to the chief medical officer of England in 2002 states..."ME/CFS is a genuine illness and imposes a substantial burden on the health of the UK population, Improvement of health and social care for people affected by the condition is AN URGENT CHALLENGE!
PATIENTS WITH CFS HAVE ALTERATIONS IN GENE EXPRESSION
Dr Johnathan Kerr and others have analysed gene expression in blood cells using microarray. Genes showing differential expression were further analysed using Tagman real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
15 Genes were upregulated in patients with CFS compared to normal blood donors and 1 was downregulated. The genes affected suggest T cell activation and peturbation of neuronal and mitochondrial function. Some of the genes affected suggest links to organophosphate exposure and viral infection.
-- Journal of Clinical Pathology, 2005.
according to Dr Shepherd of the MEA, "This is an important new UK study. It drives another nail into the flawed theory that graded exercise works for everybody with ME because their muscle weakness is solely due to inactivity".
BLOOD CIRCULATION IS ABNORMAL IN PEOPLE WITH ME
Dr Vance Spence and colleagues at Dundee University have been carrying out a series of experiments on blood vessels.They have been measuring skin blood flow in the forearm through laser Doppler imaging and have now published four papers with their results. The first paper showed that the blood flow in people with CFS is sensitive to a chemical transmitter called acetylcholine (Ach)which makes blood vessels dilate. This is unusual because all other diseases studied so far show a blunted response to ACh. The second study showed people with primary fibromyalgia didn't show this sensitivity. The third study looked at why the blood vessels in people with CFS were sensitive to ACh. It found that when ACh was applied it took longer for the blood flow to return to normal in people with CFS. This suggests that there may be a problem with the mechanisms in the body that break down ACh. The fourth study showed that peole with Gulf War syndrome and agricultural workers exposed to pesticides did not have this sensitivity. This shows that although there are many clinical similarities between these illnesses, they are different.
If there are problems with blood circulation as Dr Spence suggests this could account for the symptoms of faintness and low blood pressure many people with ME experience.
This research has been funded by MERGE, a very worthwhile national charity that funds ME research. See our links for more information or to give donations.
EXERCISE LOWERS PAIN THRESHOLD IN ME
Research by Dr Chaudhuri and neurological and physics colleagues at the University of Glasgow has shown that patients with ME are more sensitive to pain after exercise. This contrasted with healthy people in the study who were less sensitive to pain following exercise. Their pain threshold had become higher but the pain threshold of people with ME had become lower. Pain was measured in the skin web between thumb and index finger.
INCREASED CELL DEATH IN M.E.
Dr Gwen Kennedy and colleagues at Ninewells Medical School, Dundee, have shown evidence of increased programmed cell death in ME/CFS patients. Neutrophils are 50-60% of the circulating white blood cells. Damaged neutrophils are removed by a process called apoptosis. Dr Kennedy showed increased neutrophil apoptosis in patients with ME. This suggests a persisting or reactivating viral infection or toxic state. In its August 2004 edition, the British Medical Journal referred to this research and concluded, "Evidence is emerging that people with CFS have a detectable immunological abnormality." ME expert, Ellen Goudsmit says, "This is such an important paper. Show this report to any disbelieving doctor and watch their face!" Dr Kennedy is a MERGE research fellow. See our link for more information on MERGE.
BREAKTHROUGH IN GENE RESEARCH
The CFS Foundation has carried out a very important study on gene expresiion in the blood of patients with ME. Gene expression describes the behaviour of genes when attacked by infection or other disturbance. Some genes become very active while others shut down. The overactive genes produce chemicals which cause the symptoms of the illness.
The study analysed 9,522 genes. The genes of patients with ME showed problems in the immune system, in neurological function and in mitochondrial metabolism. Mitochondria are like batteries in cells.
The team will go on to examine all the genes in the human genome and to compare the genes of people with ME to people with other diseases in order to identify changes that are found only in ME. They will then aim to develop diagnostic tests and drug therapies. The blood of some patients will be sampled at monthly intervals over nine months to see the possible relationship between gene activity and the coming and going of symptoms.
New hope for chronic fatigue syndrome patients
9 May 2008
This research gives people hope that they have not had before
Sue Waddle, ME Research UK
Key facts
* Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
* Seven subtypes of CFS were identified in the study. Type three (the mildest of all the types), type five (linked to stomach complaints and the most severe muscle weakness) and seven (the type with the most severe symptoms including pain, swollen glands, sore throat and headaches) were found only in women and subtype two - characterised by extreme tiredness after exercise as well as joint and muscle pains - was found predominantly in men.
* The 'New Horizons 2008: International Conference on ME/CFS Biomedical Research' has been organised by ME Research UK (www.meresearch.org.uk) and the Irish ME Trust (www.imet.ie) to highlight the latest advances in identifying the biological origins of the disease.
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) might be split into a number of distinct genetic types in the future, according to new research presented at a conference in Cambridge. It's hoped the research will eventually pave the way for new diagnostic tests and treatments for the illness, which affects about one in 200 people in the UK.
The new research involved a genetic analysis of 55 patients with CFS and 75 healthy blood donors. There were 88 genetic differences in CFS patients - and this enabled the condition to be divided into seven subtypes (each separated by a specific genetic pattern). Each subtype has a different severity and combination of symptoms.
Lead researcher, Dr Jonathan Kerr of St George's University of London believes viruses can trigger chronic fatigue syndrome. He told the health information team: "Our research holds the potential to allow us to narrow down the subtype of CFS - and the type of infection that has caused it - so you can then treat it with the appropriate medicine."
He said a blood test to distinguish between the subtypes is "in the pipeline". Dr Kerr also stressed that further research is needed to develop these findings.
Sue Waddle, representative of ME Research UK, told the health information team that CFS has traditionally been viewed as a psychological illness in the medical profession, which has led to frustration in patients.
"Doctors get quite frightened by illnesses that they don't understand," said Sue Waddle. "If this research increases understanding of the condition then doctors will be more confident in dealing with patients, so hopefully we can move away from the psychological aspects and concentrate on the biological."
Sue Waddle explained that to date there hasn't been a proper diagnosis and therefore no treatments for the condition. "There is now real hope for treatments in the not too distant future - this research gives people hope that they have not had before."
Funding is urgently needed for this important research. Please send donations to the CFS Foundation, 2 The Briiars, Sarratt, Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 6AU.
What is ME/CFS?
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/encephalopathy (ME) is characterised by a range of neurological symptoms and signs, muscle pain with intense physical and mental exhaustion, relapses and specific cognitive disabilities.
During the 1990s the term chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) came into vogue. Since there was no specific diagnostic test for ME, and since post exercise 'fatigue' was one of it's prominent symptoms, people with ME began to be diagnosed with 'CFS'. At present, efforts are being made to elucidate the diagnostic confusion, and meanwhile the term ME/CFS is used.
ME/CFS affects 120,000 to 240,000 people in the UK and is classified by the world health organisation as a neurological illness (ICD 10:G93.3). Most people with ME/CFS are unable to work to full capacity, some house or bed bound. Little support is available to their families and carers. The cause of the illness is unknown, and no cure or universally effective treatment has yet been found.
A report to the chief medical officer of England in 2002 states..."ME/CFS is a genuine illness and imposes a substantial burden on the health of the UK population, Improvement of health and social care for people affected by the condition is AN URGENT CHALLENGE!
PATIENTS WITH CFS HAVE ALTERATIONS IN GENE EXPRESSION
Dr Johnathan Kerr and others have analysed gene expression in blood cells using microarray. Genes showing differential expression were further analysed using Tagman real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
15 Genes were upregulated in patients with CFS compared to normal blood donors and 1 was downregulated. The genes affected suggest T cell activation and peturbation of neuronal and mitochondrial function. Some of the genes affected suggest links to organophosphate exposure and viral infection.
-- Journal of Clinical Pathology, 2005.
according to Dr Shepherd of the MEA, "This is an important new UK study. It drives another nail into the flawed theory that graded exercise works for everybody with ME because their muscle weakness is solely due to inactivity".
BLOOD CIRCULATION IS ABNORMAL IN PEOPLE WITH ME
Dr Vance Spence and colleagues at Dundee University have been carrying out a series of experiments on blood vessels.They have been measuring skin blood flow in the forearm through laser Doppler imaging and have now published four papers with their results. The first paper showed that the blood flow in people with CFS is sensitive to a chemical transmitter called acetylcholine (Ach)which makes blood vessels dilate. This is unusual because all other diseases studied so far show a blunted response to ACh. The second study showed people with primary fibromyalgia didn't show this sensitivity. The third study looked at why the blood vessels in people with CFS were sensitive to ACh. It found that when ACh was applied it took longer for the blood flow to return to normal in people with CFS. This suggests that there may be a problem with the mechanisms in the body that break down ACh. The fourth study showed that peole with Gulf War syndrome and agricultural workers exposed to pesticides did not have this sensitivity. This shows that although there are many clinical similarities between these illnesses, they are different.
If there are problems with blood circulation as Dr Spence suggests this could account for the symptoms of faintness and low blood pressure many people with ME experience.
This research has been funded by MERGE, a very worthwhile national charity that funds ME research. See our links for more information or to give donations.
EXERCISE LOWERS PAIN THRESHOLD IN ME
Research by Dr Chaudhuri and neurological and physics colleagues at the University of Glasgow has shown that patients with ME are more sensitive to pain after exercise. This contrasted with healthy people in the study who were less sensitive to pain following exercise. Their pain threshold had become higher but the pain threshold of people with ME had become lower. Pain was measured in the skin web between thumb and index finger.
INCREASED CELL DEATH IN M.E.
Dr Gwen Kennedy and colleagues at Ninewells Medical School, Dundee, have shown evidence of increased programmed cell death in ME/CFS patients. Neutrophils are 50-60% of the circulating white blood cells. Damaged neutrophils are removed by a process called apoptosis. Dr Kennedy showed increased neutrophil apoptosis in patients with ME. This suggests a persisting or reactivating viral infection or toxic state. In its August 2004 edition, the British Medical Journal referred to this research and concluded, "Evidence is emerging that people with CFS have a detectable immunological abnormality." ME expert, Ellen Goudsmit says, "This is such an important paper. Show this report to any disbelieving doctor and watch their face!" Dr Kennedy is a MERGE research fellow. See our link for more information on MERGE.
BREAKTHROUGH IN GENE RESEARCH
The CFS Foundation has carried out a very important study on gene expresiion in the blood of patients with ME. Gene expression describes the behaviour of genes when attacked by infection or other disturbance. Some genes become very active while others shut down. The overactive genes produce chemicals which cause the symptoms of the illness.
The study analysed 9,522 genes. The genes of patients with ME showed problems in the immune system, in neurological function and in mitochondrial metabolism. Mitochondria are like batteries in cells.
The team will go on to examine all the genes in the human genome and to compare the genes of people with ME to people with other diseases in order to identify changes that are found only in ME. They will then aim to develop diagnostic tests and drug therapies. The blood of some patients will be sampled at monthly intervals over nine months to see the possible relationship between gene activity and the coming and going of symptoms.
New hope for chronic fatigue syndrome patients
9 May 2008
This research gives people hope that they have not had before
Sue Waddle, ME Research UK
Key facts
* Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
* Seven subtypes of CFS were identified in the study. Type three (the mildest of all the types), type five (linked to stomach complaints and the most severe muscle weakness) and seven (the type with the most severe symptoms including pain, swollen glands, sore throat and headaches) were found only in women and subtype two - characterised by extreme tiredness after exercise as well as joint and muscle pains - was found predominantly in men.
* The 'New Horizons 2008: International Conference on ME/CFS Biomedical Research' has been organised by ME Research UK (www.meresearch.org.uk) and the Irish ME Trust (www.imet.ie) to highlight the latest advances in identifying the biological origins of the disease.
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) might be split into a number of distinct genetic types in the future, according to new research presented at a conference in Cambridge. It's hoped the research will eventually pave the way for new diagnostic tests and treatments for the illness, which affects about one in 200 people in the UK.
The new research involved a genetic analysis of 55 patients with CFS and 75 healthy blood donors. There were 88 genetic differences in CFS patients - and this enabled the condition to be divided into seven subtypes (each separated by a specific genetic pattern). Each subtype has a different severity and combination of symptoms.
Lead researcher, Dr Jonathan Kerr of St George's University of London believes viruses can trigger chronic fatigue syndrome. He told the health information team: "Our research holds the potential to allow us to narrow down the subtype of CFS - and the type of infection that has caused it - so you can then treat it with the appropriate medicine."
He said a blood test to distinguish between the subtypes is "in the pipeline". Dr Kerr also stressed that further research is needed to develop these findings.
Sue Waddle, representative of ME Research UK, told the health information team that CFS has traditionally been viewed as a psychological illness in the medical profession, which has led to frustration in patients.
"Doctors get quite frightened by illnesses that they don't understand," said Sue Waddle. "If this research increases understanding of the condition then doctors will be more confident in dealing with patients, so hopefully we can move away from the psychological aspects and concentrate on the biological."
Sue Waddle explained that to date there hasn't been a proper diagnosis and therefore no treatments for the condition. "There is now real hope for treatments in the not too distant future - this research gives people hope that they have not had before."
Funding is urgently needed for this important research. Please send donations to the CFS Foundation, 2 The Briiars, Sarratt, Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 6AU.
Healing the whole
When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego,
and when we escape like squirrels turning in the
cages of our personality
and get into the forests again
we shall shiver with cold and fright
but things will happen to us
so that we don't know ourselves
Cool, unlying life will rush in,
and passion will make our bodies taut with power
we shall stamp our feet with new power
and old things will fall down
we shall laugh
and institutions will curl up like burnt paper.
D.H Lawrence
You do not have to be good
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves
Tell me about dispair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whowever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Mary Oliver
and when we escape like squirrels turning in the
cages of our personality
and get into the forests again
we shall shiver with cold and fright
but things will happen to us
so that we don't know ourselves
Cool, unlying life will rush in,
and passion will make our bodies taut with power
we shall stamp our feet with new power
and old things will fall down
we shall laugh
and institutions will curl up like burnt paper.
D.H Lawrence
You do not have to be good
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves
Tell me about dispair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whowever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Mary Oliver
Sunday 6 July 2008
Seaside by Lorna Cameron
Lunch, seaweed art, shell shopping, reflecting and of course embracing our July elements....Surprisingly!! Windy, cold, rainy day at Tentsmuir which is my favourite Scottish beach so far as it has great forest with cycle paths, picnic area and the icing on the cake... sand and sea...Tingly skin and rosy cheeks, always good too! Toby's first time at the beach....I love this dog, he is a treasure.
Too old to make sand castles? Lads C'mon! You what? Huh!! Okay Jelly fish hunting it is then. So there were six jellyfish to be found all different colours...I've just posted the purple one below.
Unfortunately the rain marked my camera lens in these, and I've just sussed out today that I have to change the date on my camera each time I take photos otherwise it keeps imprinting all different dates from 2003....wierd! A rather sombre poem, very unusual for me after a day at sea.
No maybe
Maybe in anticipation
I found joy, at one time
A thought of what, maybe
No more does the moon change the tide
Or the sea air aid the senses
Flowers have no scent
Bees have no direction.
The trees void of leaves
and sky of armageddon
There is no maybe!
Lorna Cameron
Too old to make sand castles? Lads C'mon! You what? Huh!! Okay Jelly fish hunting it is then. So there were six jellyfish to be found all different colours...I've just posted the purple one below.
Unfortunately the rain marked my camera lens in these, and I've just sussed out today that I have to change the date on my camera each time I take photos otherwise it keeps imprinting all different dates from 2003....wierd! A rather sombre poem, very unusual for me after a day at sea.
No maybe
Maybe in anticipation
I found joy, at one time
A thought of what, maybe
No more does the moon change the tide
Or the sea air aid the senses
Flowers have no scent
Bees have no direction.
The trees void of leaves
and sky of armageddon
There is no maybe!
Lorna Cameron
Saturday 5 July 2008
Shakespeare
From Shakespeare's Macbeth, 1605:
LADY MACBETH
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail.
Meaning
Be steadfast and of good courage.
This quotation from Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare's best-known lines. Mark Antony delivers a eulogy in honour of the recently murdered Julius Caesar:
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar.
Caesar had been assassinated by a group of conspirators led by Brutus. Brutus had previously delivered a speech in which he claimed that the murder had been done in the name of freedom. In a clever speech, Antony turned the mob against Brutus and the other assassins.
From Shakespeare's Hamlet, 1603. Horatio describes to Hamlet the appearance of his father's ghost:
Hamlet: What, look'd he frowningly?
Horatio: A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1594:
JULIET:
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
Meaning
What matters is what something is, not what it is called.
From Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, 1601:
DUKE ORSINO:
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soe'er,
But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.
From Shakespeare's Hamlet, 1603:
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you seem to say so.
This line derives from Shakespeare's Hamlet, 1600:
LORD POLONIUS
'Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?'
To be, or not to be, that is the question
To be or not to be is probably the best-known line from all drama or literature. Certainly, if anyone is asked to quote a line of Shakespeare this is the one that first comes to mind for most people. It is, of course, from Shakespeare's play Hamlet, 1603 (Shakespeare's actual title is - The tragedie of Hamlet, prince of Denmarke):
HAMLET:
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.
I love the extent of exploration shakespeare's mind and heart go to, the granduer of dialouge and the passion that drives his work.
Lorna Cameron
LADY MACBETH
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail.
Meaning
Be steadfast and of good courage.
This quotation from Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare's best-known lines. Mark Antony delivers a eulogy in honour of the recently murdered Julius Caesar:
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar.
Caesar had been assassinated by a group of conspirators led by Brutus. Brutus had previously delivered a speech in which he claimed that the murder had been done in the name of freedom. In a clever speech, Antony turned the mob against Brutus and the other assassins.
From Shakespeare's Hamlet, 1603. Horatio describes to Hamlet the appearance of his father's ghost:
Hamlet: What, look'd he frowningly?
Horatio: A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1594:
JULIET:
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
Meaning
What matters is what something is, not what it is called.
From Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, 1601:
DUKE ORSINO:
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soe'er,
But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.
From Shakespeare's Hamlet, 1603:
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you seem to say so.
This line derives from Shakespeare's Hamlet, 1600:
LORD POLONIUS
'Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?'
To be, or not to be, that is the question
To be or not to be is probably the best-known line from all drama or literature. Certainly, if anyone is asked to quote a line of Shakespeare this is the one that first comes to mind for most people. It is, of course, from Shakespeare's play Hamlet, 1603 (Shakespeare's actual title is - The tragedie of Hamlet, prince of Denmarke):
HAMLET:
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.
I love the extent of exploration shakespeare's mind and heart go to, the granduer of dialouge and the passion that drives his work.
Lorna Cameron
Friday 4 July 2008
Olive branch
“To laugh often and much
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived
This is to have succeeded.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Alfred Vogel and Jan De Vries
Alfred Vogel grew up in Aesch in Basel (Switzerland) and even in early childhood became familiar with medicinal plants and their mode of action through his father and his grandparents. Phytotherapy and the desire to help his fellow men became his life’s work, which he pursued passionately into old age.
Phytotherapist, Nutritional Adviser and Commentator
* Alfred Vogel managed a herb and health store in Basel at the age of 21.
* Almost immediately he began to advise his customers on the power of Nature as well as on healthy nutrition and lifestyle through lectures and his own publications.
* He began to prepare remedies himself and to sell them to his customers.
* Even then Alfred Vogel was convinced that a life in harmony with Nature means eating as naturally and as healthily as possible.
* In the 1930s he relocated from Basel to Teufen in Appenzell.
* Here he further developed his skills as a herb gatherer and improved the remedies he made for himself.
* In Teufen he made the crucial discovery that the mode of action of fresh plants was fundamentally better than that of dried ones.
* From then on Alfred Vogel manufactured his herbal remedies from freshly harvested plants whenever possible.
* In 1963, at an age when others think of retirement, he founded Bioforce AG in Switzerland.
* Today Bioforce AG is one of the most prominent manufacturers of herbal remedies in many European countries, Canada, USA and Australia.
Researcher and World Traveller
Throughout his life Alfred Vogel was a passionate traveller. Being a Phytotherapist and naturopath, he was full of curiosity: all plants and herbs of the Earth were of interest to him. He took every opportunity to visit foreign countries and cultures:
* From the 1950s, Alfred Vogel travelled in numerous countries on all continents.
* His special interest lay in primitive peoples with a close relationship with Nature.
* His experiences with the people of the prairie and the primeval forest showed him that the skilful management and support of Nature can often do more than the alleged skill of man.
* For example, when he was with the Native American Sioux in the USA he discovered the immune active plant Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower), which became the symbol for the A.Vogel brand.
In 1923, Alfred Vogel established a health store in Basel, Switzerland to share the healing power of herbs, about which he had learned from his parents and grandparents, with all those who crossed his threshold. His greatest desire was to help people stay healthy and so he asked them to examine their lifestyles and diet, rather than simply seek a remedy when something ailed.
For those who could not get better by these changes alone, he worked patiently to create suitable herbal medicines which would bring the benefit of the whole fresh plant to those who sought his aid, painstakingly developing his own unique range of fresh herb tinctures. Having moved in the early 1930s to Teufen in the Appenzell region of Switzerland, where he was able to practice as a naturopath, he cultivated his extensive gardens there, always following his precept of working in harmony with nature. His plants were grown and cared for without the use of any artificial fertilisers or insecticides, hand sown, hand weeded and hand harvested to ensure the gentlest of environments for his herbs.
His reputation grew during the 1940s and his tireless work continued, learning about and working with many native European plants.
Realising that native peoples throughout the world had accumulated knowledge about plants native to their homelands, in the 1950s he began to travel extensively seeking further answers to his patients’ problems – answers which still work for us today.
One country Vogel visited was the USA from where he returned with Echinacea purpurea seeds which he painstakingly cultivated at his home in Teufen and in the Alpine region of the Engadine.
In November 1962 he wrote about his work with these plants.
“I have now raised Echinacea in the Engadine and have acclimatised it slowly, because it has gradually to become accustomed to the long, hard winter. In Teufen too, I have an Echinacea plantation which I have raised from seed. Five years ago, I tried my luck in Engadine with about one hundred plants. About fifty withstood the first winter and developed in a mediocre way because they did not come into bloom before the cold weather once again set in. For three years the plants fought against the cold weather until finally, in the fourth year, the strongest amongst them managed to produce a few flowers. At the time I increased the plants by dividing them so as to raise the annual production. At the beginning of September, in the fifth year, almost 90% of the plantation came into flower so assuring me that they had become accustomed to the climate as well as to the cultivation period.”
A.Vogel and Black Elk“Echinacea purpurea has been treasured by the Native Americans for centuries, not simply for its beauty but because of its exceptional healing powers. When we consult a medicine man about an inflamed, slow healing wound or a malignant boil, he gathers the Echinacea leaves, crushes them and applies them to the affected area. We are also invited to eat it to obtain quick healing both internally and externally.”
A few years ago I was at a conference, the main speaker was Jan De Vries. Jan spoke of many constructive healing experiences through his work at his clinics, personally and also of bioforce. He then spent the rest of his time answering questions from the audience. I was quite near the front of the crowd and had been working up the courage to ask him something about dealing with a chronic condition which has now spanned more than nine years of my life. As always I was determined to beat this chronic condition which has been interspersed with very severe relapse and periods of remission and even more frightening at times been life threatening. As the evening progressed and more questions were answered the eagerness to ask Jan of what in his experience he had found helpful for people with my condition dissolved, as I really didn't know where to start.... remembering the last time I'd spoken to a doctor about the symptoms and healing avenues I'd explored it had taken two and a half hours, and at that it was only the tip of the iceberg. As I sat there taking in all the positive energy, I realised I could not possibly put my hand up and expect Jan de Vries to deliver a two minute prescription "the cure" I'd been seeking for the complex issues and symptoms that I was dealing with, especially as I was sitting there at that moment in time looking and feeling very healthy.
Afterwards as tea was provided I had a nice conversation with a few people I knew and a couple I didn't. I then searched through the many books and read the tincture remedies that were displayed on a side table. Equipped with my purchase (tincture and copy of "The Nature Doctor" by Alfred Vogel) I felt an air of excitement passing through me as I made my way out of the room.
One of the guys from my philosophy class that I'd had missed that evening in order to go to the talk had kindly offered me a lift home, telling me just to wait on him if the talk finished before they were. Parking my butt on a armchair in one of the corridors of the hotel outside our philosophy class boardroom, awaiting my lift home I was eagerly thumbing my way through this wonderful new book, when Jan walked by heading up to his hotel room. I nodded my head and he about turned and came over to where I was sat. "I'm impressed to see you already soaking up the contents of Dr. Vogels book." he said as he signed the cherished book. I continued to have an interesting conversation with him for a few minutes 'till my pal appeared.
The moral of the story...."Sometimes you just aren't supposed to put your hand up. So a big thumbs up for the bright sparks we see through the fog."
Dr. Vogels book (www.mainstreampublishing.com) has supported my family and I through many an illness.
Dear Dr. Vogel although you are no longer here in body your spirit and remarkable knowledge live on as your work continues to be invaluable to those of us who are considered "too complex" and therefore basically ignored by many mainstream professionals. I smile every time I look at your kind face and am eternally grateful for your advice and wise words. The encouragement, support, natural, homeopathic remedies, lifestyle and nutritional guidance offered in your book are exceptional and have lightened the load in what has been an extremely challenging, confusing and frightening decade for my family and I.
Lorna Cameron
"To live according to the principles of nature is much more than a technique. It requires respect and sympathy for creation." by Dr. Alfred Vogel.
The A.Vogel Helpline
Open Monday to Saturday
8.30 - 5pm
Call them on 0845 608 5858
For lots more information on Alfred Vogel or Jan de Vries click on links at top right side bar.
One Candle
'One candle can light many others' -
just don't burn yourself out too soon!
The sea has got power, but the tides are governed by the pull of the moon!
Life is a Like a Mirror - Essenes (Jewish ascetics)
What You don't like in others you aren't comfortable with in yourself! Herman Hesse
- As Above, So Below - As Within, so Without - Hermes
Every year I live I am more convinced that the waste of life lies in the love we have not given, the powers we have not used, the selfish prudence that will risk nothing, and which shirking pain, misses happiness as well. No one ever yet was the poorer in the long run for having once in a lifetime 'let out all the length of all the reins'.
Mary Cholmondeley
· Life is what you make it; you are a co-creator of your own reality: you are where you are now because you chose to learn these lessons
· you get what you need, not necessarily what your ego desires
· Your reality is based on your word, thought and deed
· your life experiences become what you focus on - you attract situations that symbolize internal relationships. Therefore be aware of and dissolve negative thoughts / subconscious blocks - Chi follows Yi eg. if you are violent & aggressive - then you will attract these situations and project your reality onto outside events
· What you resist will persist - resistance causes friction
· Life is about learning, without learning there is no progress or evolution; experience is a great way to learn - learn about SELF - mind, fears, beliefs, patterns etc. The body dies, the level of consciousness doesn't -it continues to the next life - until it ultimately merges with its maker.
· Do what you are inspired to do; strive for happiness in work and play but with respect to others (those who cross your path, our planet) - avoid being selfish or arrogant
· Love what you do or do what you love, preferably helping others, for the benefit of others
· Treat others how you want to be treated - we are all equal - we are all the same inside (we all have bones, organs, muscles etc,) - let's start acting that way and start sharing and harmonizing with our neighbors (including poor & developing world) -integrating and transcending our differences
· don't do unto others that you don't want done unto you - (in fact you can't - what goes around comes around - Law of Karma) (you are one with others)
· Be aware of and minimize fear, worry, doubt, anger, hate and all other negative thought and emotions. You're only harming yourself!
· Practice non- judgment and communing with nature - stop and smell the roses!! watch the sunset
· Become a silent observer / witness, detached from the outcome - surrender to the Flow of Life; 'JUST WATCH' - passive awareness
· Grow spiritually, leading to a grander version of yourself, however don't get into the spiritual ego trap
· Be spiritually discerning instead of judging
· Have preferences instead of desires
· There is no right and wrong only consequences
· Belief is restricting whereas knowing is empowering (Dr. W. Dyer)
· Be a love finder not a fault finder!
· Forgive and accept self and others!
· Love self, 'Love all, Serve all!' Sai Baba
· We are One, I Am That I Am
· Know that you are worthy of love, happiness, health, prosperity and abundance
· ' Two simple rules for life: Know thyself, take nothing in excess.' Socrates
· Be aware that on the journey you will uncover many parts of yourself that you didn't know existed and /or tried to hide from self and others.
· Be aware that you may change friends or your friends may change too!
· Be aware of the pace of your learning,
· Be balanced and integrated in your approach - mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual levels
· Be aware of negative ego, fears, desires, greed, jealousy - 'know it all' ego
· Be aware of ignorance, delusion, greed, changeability, gullibility, anger / hatred / ill-will, jealousy,
· Be aware that change is inevitable - so resistance is futile
· Be aware of timing - timing is everything
· Be aware your day to day responsibilities & necessities - but try to gradually cut these down
· Be aware that there are no guarantees, and this is a pathless path - teachings are only a map - not the territory - finger pointing to the moon, not the moon itself.
· Be aware of cults, giving away personal power, blind faith - faith without reason/ experience
· Be a student not a follower
· Don't believe anything - Experience it for yourself. Knowing is more powerful than belief
· And don't be attached to the trappings, psychic powers, increased power & charisma
· Be aware that you are probably reading this page for a reason - the time maybe right for another boost to your life!
· Be aware it is worth it! (but no guarantee)
· BE AWARE OF AWARENESS!!! Be aware when you lose your rag/ centre/ balance.
· JUST BE, BE RELAXED & ALERT- Rest in the 'clear & knowing state', rest in 'mere experience', abide in pure luminosity - true nature of mind.
www.Sortlifeout.co.uk
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