REFLECT = to turn or bend something back; to divert, deflect; to make manifest – to mirror, realize, consider
QUESTION: What do you reflect upon?
STORY: I have attended weekly figure drawing workshops every Friday for probably thirty years. Picture it: a small group of about 6 or 7 artists sit on “donkey chairs” with their sketchbook and pencil or pen or whatever they use to draw. The model is a person who is paid a small amount to sit or stand or lay down quietly while we draw. Beginning poses are quick, one to 5 minutes. Then we have an hour of 2 or 3 twenty minute poses. And maybe we end with a 50 minute pose. I don’t remember where I was when I did this drawing. To me it reflects a human being who has suffered greatly. He may be reflecting on help from above. I feel the story, the Spirit, the energy, the emotions – of the man in this drawing. How does creativity help us to reflect on what really matters? Whether you write a poem or sing a song or do a drawing – creativity connects us. We all are creative beings and it is essential for us to reflect upon and to draw out our own unique creativity. Learn more in my drawing classes: https://www.drawingtogether.com/drawing-classes
QUOTES
“Your soul needs time for solitude and self reflection. In order to love, lead, heal and create – you must nourish yourself first.” ~ Louise Hay
“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” ~ Erich Fromm
“A healthy social life is found only when, in the mirror of each soul, the whole community finds its reflection, and when, in the whole community, the virtue of each one is living.” ~ Rudolf Steiner
EXERCISE
STOP.
Sit quietly. Assume an erect posture.
Sense the breath.
Sit calmly and reflect upon your own unique creative expression.
Relax. Breathe.
Get your pen and paper and write words or draw lines expressing your Spirit, energy and emotions that are flowing now through you and all life (people, animals, trees, flowers, air, water, earth).
Move forward into your day reflecting upon your unique creative life purpose.
The Virgo Full Moon prompts attention to the importance of order, rigour, and detail. Virgo is life’s natural librarian, keen to get those books, full of so much knowledge and entertainment, catalogued in a logical order, so we can find the info we need. If only life could always run this neatly — we might feel less at sea! But with Saturn and Neptune continuing through Pisces, we proceed against a potentially chaotic background and can feel a little lost and confused more often.
The order and chaos ends of the spectrum are strongly highlighted under the zodiacal opposition of Sun and Moon, a polarity given extra weight on the Pisces side as Mercury bands together with Sun and Saturn. With several planets involved, we may experience strains in various areas, including communicating with others and attempting to set plans in place. Saturn in Pisces links to messed-up schedules and timetables; little goes according to the exact systems we are used to. Transportation may run at unexpected times, or we may have to handle delays. The Moon in Virgo must ride the emotional wave and attempt to keep a semblance of calm throughout this bumpy journey!
It is often the emotional impact we must work through, and we are blessed if we have some awareness and experience to apply. If not, then we can observe ourselves and learn as we go, doing the best we can. Some people may also experience physical impacts, as earth sign Virgo connects us with our body; sea-or altitude-sickness, or food and digestive issues may challenge us, even if they would not otherwise do so. Virgo tends to worry, but must ultimately access the ability to keep calm and carry on! Since the opposition involves mutable signs, our watchword is flexibility, and we must recognize we’re in a process and go with the Piscean flow.
If there is an upside to oppositional aspects, it might be that they remind us of where and how we need to find more balance. Once we flag the problem, it is up to us to decide whether something can be done, and how we might take action to find more equilibrium. Some would argue that life is always in a state of flux and imbalance, but under the Full Moon, we notice this all the more. We may feel increasingly lost or on the outside, a stronger sense of “us vs. them,” or that the true path has been temporarily obscured.
The Moon is disposited by Mercury, also located in Pisces. It seems we are not only shipwrecked, but have also lost our map along the way, or listened to instructions from someone ill-informed or intent on sending us adrift. However, as countless stories tell us, we can only stay in this desolate state for a while. We will reach a low point, perhaps a Saturnian moment, when we think we are doomed, with nothing left and no sensible way out — when some blessing drops out of the heavens, thanks to a Moon–Jupiter trine in Taurus, a combination that could be described as the “Midas touch.”
To be fair, the plot of our lives might not unfold in this precise order; if we follow the logic of the applications of the Moon to other planets, then the Jupiter trine happens before the Saturn conjunction; perhaps there will be a cycle of ups and downs on this choppy sea. But something Mercury in Pisces can manage is to plumb the depths of memory, playing tricks with time. If we know about NLP (neuro linguistic programming) techniques, or other mental and meditative strategies that help us dip in and out of different time frames and cognitive states, we can make fantastic use of positive Jupiterian memories to boost our faith, hope, and confidence — whenever we need them.
This article is from the Mountain Astrologer by Diana McMahon Collis
Queer Frame Archive • Aug 3, 2023 Two male musicians fall in love, but blackmail and scandal makes the affair take a tragic turn. Read more about this film and others at queerframearchive.org.
PROJECT SHIFT • Dec 19, 2022 Portrait of a Radical focuses on the revolutionary nature of what has been described as the Jesus Movement. It was a truly radical movement that threatened the power structure of his time – from the temple establishment to the Roman occupiers themselves. Many do not know of the revolutionary nature of His mission and ministry. Likely because it threatens very similar power structures to this day. This film aims to expose a side of an historical figure who forever changed the world. For many the better, while for others, his radical message continues to be a threat. Portrait of a Radical is one in a four-part series that was released in 2000 entitled A Crisis of Faith. The award winning series aired on PBS, Hallmark and Discover Canada as well as being featured at over 60 film festivals around the world. The subjects addressed are the inherent dangers of capitalism in A Crisis of Faith, the revolutionary and radical nature of Jesus in Portrait of a Radical, Racism in State of the Union, and the western spiritual journey in Quest for the Holy Grail. Some of the country’s top philosophers, academics, activists, poets, religious scholars and story tellers were brought in to challenge, provoke and inspire the viewer. Names such as Huston Smith, Richard Rohr, Calvin Butts, Sam Keen, Allen Dwight Callahan, Jean Houston and Kathleen Cleaver. And music by some of the greats – The Doors, Miles Davis, Gabrielle Roth & the Mirrors, Gil Scott Heron, Jean Luc Ponti and more. The style of filmmaking was highly innovative for a documentary film in 2000, and has held up over time. The subject matter and the views of our great thinkers have more than held up and, in fact, proven truly prescient. Project Shift will be releasing the additional three films over the course of 2023 as well as some of the raw, uncut interviews that form the basis of this powerful series. So subscribe and stay tuned. To learn more about our other works, please visit our website at www.Project-Shift.com. This film was produced by Four Seasons Productions
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (L) shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) during an October 17, 2023 press conference in Tel Aviv.
(Photo: Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images)
“This lawsuit sends a clear message to German officials: You cannot continue to remain accomplices of such crime without consequences.”
Lawyers in Germany representing Palestinian families announced Friday that they are suing senior German officials, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for “aiding and abetting” Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The criminal complaint, filed Thursday with federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, accuses Scholz, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, and Economy Minister Robert Habeck of “complicity in the genocide in Gaza” by approving the export of approximately $350 million worth of military aid to Israel.
The suit also lists the German government’s diplomatic support for Israel and its suspension of payments to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East—even as Israeli forces have killed and maimed over 100,000 Palestinians, forcibly displaced around 90% of the besieged strip’s 2.3 million people, obliterated the territory’s infrastructure, and pushed hundreds of thousands of Gazans to the brink of starvation.
“We Palestinians in the diaspora will not stand by and watch a genocide being committed against our families and our people.”
“Our governments in Europe have a legal obligation not to provide Israel any support in perpetrating the current genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This has to stop and this is what we hope to achieve by going to court,” Nadija Samour, a Palestinian German lawyer who co-filed the suit, said Friday at a Berlin press conference.
“This lawsuit sends a clear message to German officials: You cannot continue to remain accomplices of such crime without consequences,” she added. “We want accountability.”
Last month, a provisional International Court of Justice ruling that found Israel is “plausibly” perpetrating genocide in Gaza and ordering the country’s government and military to “take all measures within its power” to prevent genocidal acts.
Noting that German law requires initial suspicion for such lawsuits to proceed, Samour said that the ICJ’s interim ruling “clearly showed that there is such ground for initial suspicion when it comes to the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
German lawyers representing Palestinian families from the Gaza Strip have filed a criminal complaint against German officials – including Chancellor Olaf Scholz – for supplying Israel with weapons that they say aid and abet Israel's ongoing genocide in their homeland ⤵
Germany staunchly opposes the South Africa-led ICJ case. Berlin’s stance has infuriated much of the Global South, including Namibia, which was colonized by Germans who perpetrated the 20th century’s first genocide in the African nation.
Namibian President Hage Geingob, who died earlier this month, said in January that “Germany cannot morally express commitment to the United Nations convention against genocide, including atonement for the genocide in Namibia, whilst supporting the equivalent of a holocaust and genocide in Gaza.”
Legal experts, genocide scholars, human rights campaigners, world leaders, and others have accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. Raz Segal, one of Israel’s leading Holocaust scholars, has repeatedly said his country is perpetrating a “textbook case of genocide” against the people of Gaza.
Nora Ragab, a Palestinian German migration scholar and plaintiff in the lawsuit whose uncle was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza, said in a statement that “we Palestinians in the diaspora will not stand by and watch a genocide being committed against our families and our people.”
“We will use all means at our disposal… to hold the German government accountable for its complicity in the genocide in Gaza,” she added.
Advocacy groups supporting the German lawsuit include the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, and Law for Palestine.
Germany “is one of the countries that has shown some of the strongest political and material support to Israel in its assault on the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians, with many German officials also inciting to genocide in their statements,” ELSC said in a statement.
In the wake of the ICJ ruling on Gaza genocide risk, Germany faces legal scrutiny for its arms exports to Israel. With the criminal complaint filed today, the call for accountability echoes loud. #EndGenocide#StopWarCrimes#AccountabilityNow ⚖️/2
— European Legal Support Center (ELSC) (@elsclegal) February 23, 2024
German arms export approvals to Israel soared last year, especially after the October 7 Hamas-led attacks. Reutersreported in November that 2023 military export authorizations through the first week of that month rose tenfold from 2022 levels, with the majority of export permits issued after October 7. German weapons and support sales to Israel totaled over $320 million last year.
Although that amount pales in comparison to the billions of dollars in annual armed aid and sales the United States provides to Israel, it does not affect the legality of such transfers. On Friday, a group of United Nations experts asserted that “any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately.”
Earlier this month, a Dutch court blocked the proposed export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, finding a “clear risk” that those parts would be used to commit war crimes.
Many observers contend that Germany’s actions are driven by historical guilt over the Holocaust. Numerous critics claim the German government is weaponizing that guilt in order to demonize Palestinians and their defenders.
“Since October 7, 2023, the Palestinian community in Germany, especially in Berlin, has been subjected to intense suppression of their protests, cultural symbols, voices, and narratives,” Ragab wrote last week. “This crackdown has significantly hindered their ability to publicly express grief and outrage against the state of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.”
A must read by Nora Ragab on the suppression of Palestine, and Palestinians, in Germany. And its defiance. For @UntoldMaghttps://t.co/ddu91y0990
Ragab called bans or restrictions on pro-Palestine demonstrations—sometimes enforced through police violence—”notably severe.”
“By banning protests, the German state not only negates Palestinians their right to free expression and peaceful assembly, but also seeks to control the public narrative and visibility of Palestine and Palestinian life in Germany,” she wrote. “Although the intensity of this suppression escalated on October 7, it is part of a historical politics of erasure, diminishing, and eradicating the collective existence and identity of Palestinians in Germany, through repression, censorship, and discrimination.”
Dave Braneck, a freelance journalist in Berlin, called Germany’s stance on the Gaza genocide “truly repugnant.”
“You don’t need a Ph.D in Middle East studies to acknowledge that children in Gaza are human,” Braneck asserted. “Yet Germans fail to see the sickening irony of sanctioning the mass death of innocents and leveling of entire communities as a necessary act of atonement for the Holocaust.”
He added that “if Germany had real interest in learning lessons from its appalling history, it would recognize that categorizing entire nations of people as inhuman and unworthy of sympathy or safety must be made untenable—regardless of who it’s happening to.”
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Did you consciously click on it, or was this choice driven by something deeper beyond your control?
Why is it so challenging to break free from bad habits?
What draws us towards certain things, while simultaneously repelling us from others?
The answer to these questions can be found in one of Carl Jung’s most brilliant and, simultaneously terrifying theories — the notion of the future self.
For Jung, our future self already exists; it is not just a potentiality. What’s more, this future self attempts to manifest itself in our present reality all the time. How?
Through our attention.
The mechanism that directs your attention in the present is your future self attempting to manifest itself in your present reality.
Now, attention is different from willpower and concentration. Let’s make a distinction here.
All of us know what is good for us: eating healthily, sleeping well, working out, and eliminating harmful addictions like smoking, alcohol, and drugs. Yet, how many of us do all these things? We all aspire to feel and look good, but it’s so damn hard for us to stick to these basic beneficial practices. Isn’t that so weird? Why is that the case? Why can’t we simply tell ourselves what we need to do and then just do it?
One might say this is a matter of discipline. But again, discipline is something entirely different. Discipline is merely a measure of the strength of one’s willpower. It implies an inner conflict between what should be done for a greater future reward and what we want to do right now. What we want to do right now is driven by our attention — our future self.
I am sure you forced yourself to study for exams you did not want to in school, and finish a presentation at work that bored you to tears. That is all willpower and discipline in action.
Yet, some things naturally grip you. Instantly. They feel effortless.
What is driving our attention to those things?
I was watching an interview with LeBron James the other day. At the age of 17, he decided to cover his back with a tattoo that said — ‘The Chosen 1.’ Twenty years later, very few can dispute that he is indeed the best basketball player to ever play the game.
That is a perfect example of Jung’s idea of the future self.
Some people are born with a talent that soon becomes so obvious where things are going. They lose themselves in something — there is no effort, it’s intuitive and natural. While willpower certainly plays a role, there are deeper, unconscious forces guiding these actions that form our destiny in life.
Some may say the things that grab our attention are completely random. But are they? Maybe if you are schizophrenic, but again, that is debatable.
It seems to me that we are not in control. There are predetermined forces that are at play.
This can be liberating for some people. It suggests that you do not need to fight, struggle, and force yourself to do things you do not want to do. The pressure of constantly overthinking about choices is somehow alleviated. Instead, we should relax and stay open, following whatever interests us; it is our future self trying to tell us something after all. Our interests and spontaneous attention are not random but may be meaningful pointers toward our potential and destiny in life.
By allowing our attention to be consumed by our passions, we are slowly becoming more and more competent in whatever we do. This can lead to a more authentic and fulfilling life.
In education, Jung’s theory of the future self calls for a more individualized approach to learning. This approach would focus on a child’s natural inclinations as indicators of their future potential, rather than adhering strictly to external standards and expectations. Particularly with the rise of AI and the anticipated elimination of many existing jobs, ‘making a living’ should not be the primary factor dictating what a child should pursue in school.
This theory might also explain the often inexplicable drive and inspiration guiding artistic and creative pursuits. Consider some of the world’s great artists — writers, poets, musicians, painters — who often struggle to articulate the origin of their creative impulses. Their work appears to be guided by an unexplainable force that consumes their entire being.
But then, most of us are not very talented, our attention is not drawn to something creative or meaningful. Instead, for many, attention is captured by pornography, smoking, junk food, and mindless scrolling on our phones. And that is precisely what is so frightening about this idea.
On one hand, this theory can lead to greater self-acceptance and self-love, by recognizing our natural inclinations as part of a larger, predetermined journey and something we have not consciously chosen. Yet, there’s a significant danger involved — the passive acceptance of life, and letting ourselves be completely consumed by catastrophic habits under the guise of ‘destiny’.
What about those who are plagued by intrusive thoughts of harming themselves or others? What happens to personal responsibility if the script of our life has already been written?
I will not pretend to have answers to those questions. No one does. What I am certain of, however, is that resistance is not a long-term solution. The more one observes oneself and the human condition, the more apparent it becomes that we are not the masters of our own house.
I’ve watched numerous documentaries and interviews featuring some of the most violent individuals in human history. The latest was about Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed and dismembered seventeen males. In an interview, Dahmer described the driving force behind his actions as an ‘addictive, surging energy’ beyond his control. He admitted that ‘the compulsive obsession with what I was doing overpowered any sense of revulsion.’
‘That’s what I am. Why am I trying to pretend to be something I’m not? I do think I was born this way. Like, I don’t think there was something that happened that made me like this. Because this was always just how I was,’ Jeffrey Dahmer stated.
Most of us have experienced compulsions before. Obsessive-compulsive disorder affects around 3% of the population. The compulsion to clean and the compulsion to kill someone may have completely different consequences, but the source seems the same — an underlying force directing our attention, compelling us to fulfill our perceived destinies.
Is life worth living if it’s a constant struggle against one’s nature? And if one decides to end everything because it becomes too much — could this be yet another manifestation of their future self, asserting influence in our present reality?
I really cannot seem to find a better explanation than what Carl Jung had to offer. Can you?
In my future articles, I will attempt to link these observations to the concepts of karma, free will, and responsibility. I will do my best to provide an explanation for the ‘problem’ of evil and subsequently connect this with the existence of God and the nature of love. Why would someone be born a serial killer? Why would someone have to be killed by one? Is there a deeper meaning to all that? I think there is, and I will do my best to explain.
If you have any ideas about topics or questions that I could address in my future articles, please feel free to post them in the comments.
IGNORANT = lacking wisdom or knowledge; unaware; not paying attention
QUESTION: Are you aware of your “Blind Spot”?
STORY: This little imaginative drawing expresses the humorous way our egos relate. I am ignorant of my “Chief Feature” or “Blind Spot”. Apparently most people are unaware of their own “Chief Feature” or “Blind Spot”. In 4th Way terminology – Chief Feature is the core feature around which the psycho-emotional, personal ego is constructed. It really takes WORK and sincere attention to become aware of this wizard part of ourselves. Now, I have lived with Cindy, my partner for over 30 years and I am just beginning to realize how important she is to me, as I do the WORK of discovering my “Chief Feature” or “Blind Spot” and remembering who I AM. Relationship is truly the source from which everything flows. Learn more in my WORK CHAMBER where we read the book: Self Remembering, by Red Hawk and discuss the valuable WORK of waking up to our True Identity as Consciousness: https://www.drawingtogether.com/workchamber
QUOTES
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.” ~ Confucius
“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.” ~ Winston Churchill
“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ~ Thomas Sowell
“Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.” ~ Dalai Lama
EXERCISE
STOP.
Sit quietly.
Assume an erect posture. Sense the breath.
Sit calmly and contemplate your most significant relationships.
Observe yourself relating to another person. Get your pen and paper and write words or draw lines expressing yourself in a relationship.
Pay attention to how you relate to others.
Move forward into your day being more aware and willing to learn more in your relations with others.
New Thinking • Feb 22, 2024 James Tunney, LLM, is an Irish barrister who has lectured on legal matters throughout the world. He is a poet, artist, scholar, novelist, and author of The Mystery of the Trapped Light: Mystical Thoughts in the Dark Age of Scientism plus The Mystical Accord: Sutras to Suit Our Times, Lines for Spiritual Evolution; also Empire of Scientism: The Dispiriting Conspiracy and Inevitable Tyranny of Scientocracy, TechBondAge: Slavery of the Human Spirit, Human Entrance to Transhumanism: Machine Merger and the End of Humanity, and Plantation of the Automatons, and Mystic Murmuration. His most recent book is The Mythic Aim of AI: Maiming the Mind. His website is https://www.jamestunney.com/ Here he presents the detailed and complex history of angelic and Marian communications in the small Spanish village of Garabandal. He discusses prophecies associated with the visitations and their significance for both the general population and the Catholic Church. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:04:59 History of the region 00:10:18 Witnesses 00:22:46 Paranormal phenomena 00:32:12 Catholic Church response 00:41:08 A prophetic message 00:53:37 Mass awakening of consciousness 01:08:09 The crises facing humanity 01:17:02 A warning before a miracle 01:32:06 Conclusion New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. (Recorded on February 5, 2023)
Consciousness, sexuality, androgyny, futurism, space, the arts, science, astrology, democracy, humor, books, movies and more
