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Forgiveness Mentor - Leonard Laskow, MD

BruceRawles.com — 2009-11-18T16:08:58-08:00

Lately I've been reflecting how profoundly the practice of transpersonal (a.k.a. quantum)
forgiveness has changed the course of my life (in a wonderful way) this past several years.
It occurs to me, that in addition to renewed study and application of A Course In Miracles
(both from the source books and other authors such as Gary Renard, Ken Wapnick and
Nouk Sanchez & Tomas Vieira), one of the most important (and pivotal!) influences over this period has been Dr. Leonard Laskow, author of Healing With Love. I can point to his evening talk
at the Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library in Ashland, Oregon a few years ago as a
turning point in my life that was the herald of a sequence of events that has completely
renovated my approach to living and outlook on life in the best of all possible ways.

I've had the pleasure of assisting and working closely with Dr. Laskow on a number of projects.
The more I experience his seminars and the freeing efficacy of the techniques he
shares, the more I want to continue to explore. The cumulative effects of my interactions
with Leonard both in seminar settings and informally has been overwhelmingly liberating
and have contributed to a deep and growing peace that's truly hard to put into words. The
three times I've been fortunate to travel with him (and his dear wife Sama) to week-long
seminars at Esalen Institute in California have been particularly transformative, although
all of the 8 or 9 (I've lost track) seminars have continued to provide additional insights and
true breakthroughs.

If you are interested in learning more about Leonard's work, I highly encourage you to
explore his website and blog (where you will also find additional contact information), and recommend his seminars and personal consultations with 108% enthusiasm.

It is indeed a blessing and a pleasure to be involved with someone who truly lives the principles
he shares, benevolently goes way beyond the Hippocratic Oath AND has the depth and breadth
of resources and insight to be an effective catalyst for true healing on the level of cause. I am
also deeply grateful to be able to call Len a friend and even a fellow punster! His mind and heart
are solidly in the 'genius' category in my book! :-)

Love Without Limits: Applying the Principles of ACIM Daily – workshop 13-15 Nov. with Nouk Sanchez & Tomas Vieira

BruceRawles.com — 2009-10-28T00:41:23-07:00

Wake up to a life-changing experience!
Tomas & Nouk reveal why… “you will never consistently experience what you really want until the one unconscious saboteur is revealed and released!”
Popular teachers of A Course In Miracles, Nouk Sanchez & Tomas Vieira
authors of Take Me To Truth: Undoing the Ego will present an experiential 3-day workshop
“Love Without Limits:
Applying the Principles of ACIM Daily”
Friday-Sunday November 13-15, 2009 – 10AM-4PM Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Ashland

For more information, visit ACIMblog,com or phone 541-973-3512. To register, please mail a check for $250* to Elysian Publishing, POB 1515, Eagle Point, Oregon 97524 and include your full name, email (very important since that’s how we’ll contact you primarily), phone number, address, and any other pertinent contact info or details.
* The cost will be $275 at the door, so save $25 by pre-registering today!
If you are traveling from out of the area and need lodging info please contact Ed Karlovich at 541-646-8332. A few rooms at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites – Ashland are reserved and available at discounted rates for attendees of the seminar.
Here is a printable flyer as 4 mini-posters and both pdf and MSWord versions of a Press Release about this event.
If you want to automatically receive ACIM-related event news, updates and other non-dualistic musings, you might also want to subscribe to our email bulletin.
Webmaster’s note:
Earlier this year (2009) I was fortunate to attend the Community Miracles Center conference on A Course In Miracles in San Francisco, where I had the pleasure of attending some wonderful presentations from Gary Renard, Tom & Linda Carpenter (both featured in our ACIM speaker series in Ashland earlier this year), as well as Earl Purdy, Lyn Corona, Martha Lucia Espinoza, and many others. They were all superb. The presentation that spoke to me with such depth and light-hearted humor (what a great combination!) that I felt drawn to attend their second presentation was … you guessed it! … Nouk Sanchez and Tomas Vieira. Having thoroughly enjoyed their brilliant book “Take Me To Truth: Undoing the Ego” I wanted to experience their insight first hand, and both sessions exceeded my already high expectations. It is with great joy and anticipation that I am enthused (with abundant help from colleague Ed Karlovich and a wonderful ACIM community here in the Rogue Valley – you know who you are!) to be able to present Nouk & Tomas’ first extended seminar/workshop for this part of our beloved hologram!
The authors/presenters share this about their workshop:
 (The purpose of the workshop is to) “reveal why you will never consistently experience what you really want until the one unconscious saboteur is revealed and released! … Through a mix of delivery, reflection, journaling, experiential exercises, much laughter, and discussions, you will learn to recognize the extent of the ego’s role in your conscious and unconscious mind and how to initiate your release from the only barrier to consistent peace, love and happiness. If you’re done with seeking, suffering and pain, then you will find Truth at this workshop. Spend three profound days deepening your awareness of Perfect Love through Radical Self Inquiry, Quantum Forgiveness & Now Moment Presence.”
Biographical Information about Nouk Sanchez and Tomas Vieira:
Australians, Nouk and Tomas are the authors of bestseller Take Me to Truth, Undoing the Ego. Initiated by A Course in Miracles (ACIM), their seventeen-year Spiritual Awakening journey led to the almost total deconstruction of their lives and belief systems before emerging from the process together. No amount of theory or substitute can hold a candle to experience. Nouk and Tomas joined in a divine commitment in 1984. The call they heard beckoned them to discover the indestructible nature of love. The precious insights gained from their life-transforming experience are shared in both Take Me to Truth and their workshops. The result is this profoundly practical guide that clearly defines the blocks and the stages involved in Spiritual Awakening. Respected for their practical expansion of ACIM’s section on The Development of Trust, Nouk and Tomas have been invited to deliver dynamic workshops around the world. They are keynote speakers at the prestigious Omega Institute NY, the International A Course in Miracles Conference, San Francisco and The Miracles Network, London.
Their website contains much additional reference material.
Feedback from readers and participants:
Nouk and Tomas describe the challenge we all face which is the uninvestigated “me” also known as the ego. It is a false self that is plagued by intermittent fears, relationship break-ups, financial difficulties and ill health, and its mantra is “Seek And Do Not Find”. Their uniquely dynamic family experience of learning A Course in Miracles (ACIM), as a couple, and then with their daughter, is quite unprecedented, and truly an inspiration to us all. This dynamic duo’s presentation is absolutely engaging as they bring out the experiential dimension of the Course making it easily accessible and applicable to our daily lives and relationships.
“Take Me to Truth is not just a book; it’s a revelation!”
— Gary R. Renard, author of The Disappearance of the Universe

“Amidst much lightness and laughter there is a profound dedication to learning and living the Course, without one iota of compromise to its principles.”
— Rogier van Vlissingen, author of Closing the Circle

Linda McNabb “Wisdom of True Forgiveness Workshop” seminar at Best Western Windsor Inn, Ashland, OR

BruceRawles.com — 2009-10-10T22:05:16-07:00

“I realized that as immortal spirit I no longer needed to define myself by what had happened to my body or by what I’d done with my body. That is how I ended my suffering. This is everyone’s story, it is a story of being lost and finding oneself. Sure, the events maybe different, but in awareness they are all the same. We are all in the same boat here. I count my abusers and attackers among my greatest spiritual teachers and all I want for them is to experience the peace of God as I am, and more. There is but one problem, that we imagine we are separate from our source. There is but one solution, to rest in the awareness that we are perfect love, wisdom, and compassion and to live from that place.” – Linda McNabb

ACIM author and presenter Linda McNabb will be giving an all day seminar in Ashland, Oregon on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009 from 10AM-4PM (book-signing from 4-5PM) at the Best Western Windsor Inn. Linda is the personal assistant to Gary Renard, and has written “One Again – A True Story of a Different Kind of Forgivenes.”

For more information, contact us via email, or phone 541-973-3512. To register, please mail a check for $45* to Elysian Publishing, POB 1515, Eagle Point, Oregon 97524 and include your full name, email (very important since that’s how we’ll contact you primarily), phone number, address, and any other pertinent contact info or details.

* The cost will be $50 at the door, so save $5 by pre-registering today!

If you are traveling from out of the area and need lodging info please contact Ed Karlovich at 541-646-8332. A few rooms at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites – Ashland (adjacent to the Best Western Windsor Inn) are reserved and available at discounted rates for attendees of Linda’s seminar.

For more details and a printable flyer as 4 mini-posters and both pdf and MSWord versions of a Press Release about this event, visit:
http://www.acimblog.com/?p=119

If you want to automatically receive ACIM-related event news, updates and other non-dualistic musings, you might also want to subscribe to our email bulletin here: http://www.acimblog.com/?page_id=73

=== === ===

Here’s a synopsis of the workshop:

The Wisdom of True Forgiveness Workshop Synopsis

“When Darkness Takes Flight, You’ll Live in the Light”

Linda McNabb, author of, One Again: A True Story of a Different Kind of Forgiveness,

presents a workshop designed to show you how to release the past

and open the door to a whole new life that you can love.

In this workshop you will be shown:

What is really happening here.

That life is eternal and what that means to you now.

The one real problem that all of humanity suffers from.

The one real solution to end all sufferings.

How to truly forgive anything that disturbs your peace, past or present.

How to walk in peace through a door into a whole new life that is beyond your wildest dreams.

You will realize that you have the ability to automatically act from a pure space of wisdom and strength resulting in a high level of skillfulness in all areas of life.

You will understand how to move from the intellectual understanding of the truth to a consistent and eventual automatic experience of the truth.

=== === ===

Here’s a quick bio about Linda, with a link to her website and appearances page (she recently gave a presentation at Agape in southern Calif.) for more info:

Linda Jean McNabb spent nearly twenty years in the corporate business world, first as a claims adjuster and then as a sales representative for several large companies offering various products and services. Linda, who came out of her mother’s womb folding her own diapers, then formed and operated her own organizing business. For the past several years, she has moved, organized, and simplified many people’s lives in North Carolina and more recently in southern California, where she currently lives. After living in California and being drawn to a healthier lifestyle, she received training as a Raw Food Chef. Through that network, she became employed by a world-renown hospital in Rosarito, Mexico, where she taught several nutrition and food preparation classes each week. Currently, Linda is a personal assistant for Gary R. Renard and conducts workshops on the Wisdom of True Forgiveness. www.lindamcnabb.com

Here are more details from Linda about her life and work:

“After reading Gary’s books DU and YIR and then becoming ACIM student I was inspired to write my life story, something I never dreamed I’d do in a million years. Then as I wrote, I began forgiving all the traumatic events of my childhood using Gary’s and ACIM forgiveness teachings. I never planned this, it just happened through using the forgiveness teachings I was led to telling this story. I realized that I was not a body that could be damaged or destroyed. I realized that as immortal spirit I no longer needed to define myself by what had happened to my body or by what I’d done with my body. That is how I ended my suffering. This is everyone’s story, it is a story of being lost and finding oneself. Sure, the events maybe different, but in awareness they are all the same. We are all in the same boat here. I count my abusers and attackers among my greatest spiritual teachers and all I want for them is to experience the peace of God as I am, and more.

There is but one problem, that we imagine we are separate from our source. There is but one solution, to rest in the awareness that we are perfect love, wisdom, and compassion and to live from that place.
The only thing that will ever satisfy us is the magnificence of God! And by that I mean to go beyond the intellectual understanding and to actually experience it. That is what I am doing.

I began substance abusing at age 12 and did so for a good part of my adult life, while suffering from suicidal depression.
It has been nearly a decade since I’ve abused any substance other than chocolate.

Writing this book led to me meeting Gary and becoming his personal assistant. I’m honored to call Gary my dear, good friend. He endorses me in all my work. My book and workshop is complimentary to his. My work stands on it’s own merits as I have taken the teachings and applied them to my real life and am now more whole than broken. More sane than insane. That is how I can help others. As you gain stable well-being you are able to live a wholly beneficial life.”

Tom and Linda Carpenter – Ashland, Oregon seminar – Aug. 29, 2009

BruceRawles.com — 2009-07-27T10:05:58-07:00

“Mind makes forms the symbol of its thoughts so the world can become evidence of their reality. The function of these symbols will bear witness to their purpose. To not be misled by the appearance of the symbol is the function of forgiveness.” – Tom Carpenter

I’m extremely happy to share the news that Tom and Linda Carpenter will be giving an all day seminar in Ashland, Oregon on Saturday, August 29, 2009 from 10AM-4PM (book-signing from 4-5PM) at the Best Western Windsor Inn. The Carpenters will give an interactive talk about “Forgiveness: Innocence and Guilt.”

For more information, contact us via email, or phone 541-826-3583. To register, please mail a check for $45* to Elysian Publishing, POB 1515, Eagle Point, Oregon 97524 and include your full name, email (very important since that’s how we’ll contact you primarily), phone number, address, and any other pertinent contact info or details.

Dialogue On Awakening - Communion with a Loving Brother (and the Carpenter’s work in general) get my highest recommendation! I read Dialogue On Awakening years ago and it is one of my all time favorite books complementing A Course In Miracles. I had the pleasure of finally meeting Tom & Linda in San Francisco at the ACIM conference there earlier this year. Our local (Rogue Valley, Oregon) ACIM study groups have been watching and sharing inspirations from a wonderful DVD interview with Tom, Linda and Robert Holden, PhD entitled “A Dialogue On Forgiveness” which I also highly recommend.

* The cost will be $50 at the door, so save $5 by pre-registering today!

If you are traveling from out of the area and need lodging info please contact Ed Karlovich at 541-646-8332. A few rooms at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites – Ashland (adjacent to the Windsor Inn) are reserved and available at discounted rates for attendees of the Carpenter’s seminar.

If you want to automatically receive ACIM-related event news, updates and other non-dualistic musings, you might also want to subscribe to our email bulletin.

Gary Renard workshop in Ashland, Oregon - Saturday April 25, 2009

BruceRawles.com — 2009-03-10T21:45:17-07:00

I'm enthused to report that Gary Renard will be giving an all day workshop in Ashland, Oregon on Saturday, April 25, 2009 from 10AM-4PM (book-signing from 4-5PM) at the Best Western Windsor Inn. To register, please mail a check for $75 to Elysian Publishing, POB 1515, Eagle Point, Oregon 97524 and include your full name, email (very important since that's how we'll contact you primarily), phone number, address, and any other pertinent contact info or details.

Here's a Press Release and a printable jpg flyer about the seminar and a pdf flyer about the seminar. Please spread the word to anyone you know who enjoys Gary's work and/or A Course In Miracles; thanks! :-)

If you are traveling from out of the area and need lodging info (some rooms at the Windsor Inn are being reserved at a discount rate for attendees of Gary's seminar), please contact Ed Karlovich at 541-646-8332.

If you want to automatically receive ACIM-related event news, updates and other non-dualistic musings, you might also want to subscribe to the ACIMblog.com email bulletin.

sacred geometry for healing

BruceRawles.com — 2009-02-01T20:18:11-08:00

Sometimes I get questions via email that seem appropriate for generalizing and sharing... Here's one in that category. Thanks to all of you for over a decade for sharing your insights and musings! :-)

>Bruce,
>Do you or anyone you know, have books on sacred geometry to heal physical >and emotional issues.... any sacred geometrical patterns for detoxification????
>I'd love to know!

Great question, thanks! (I'm taking the liberty of making this an anonymous blog post...)

I'm leaning more and more toward the idea that (here comes the 'heresy' for
geometry fans! :-) the particular form isn't nearly as important as the feeling and intention of the person...

Having said that, I'd recommend using patterns and forms that have the greatest
resonance/meaning/kind & benevolent associations as possible... Aside from that,
I'll keep my ears and eyes open... My interest lies mostly in the area of Universal
principles rather than emphasizing physical effects... It seems to me that if we
restore our awareness to wholeness (no separation), then whatever healing
can occur in the material world will be optimized.

I hope that's helpful! :-)

Cheers and blessings!

PR Guide for Authors Scheduling Events in Southern Oregon

BruceRawles.com — 2009-01-31T19:50:34-08:00

Authors, workshop leaders and organizations planning events in the Southern Oregon region will benefit by utilizing the information and links contained in this newly released, 24-page PDF document: SOUTHERN OREGON EVENT PR RESOURCE GUIDE - 2009 Edition. This resource guide is written and compiled by author and workshop instruction Claire Krulikowski - She's been providing editing and PR services in the region for 5 years (including PR for the annual Southern Oregon Book & Author Fair). For more information and contact details, visit Claire Krulikowski's website.

Intention and Symbols

BruceRawles.com — 2009-01-27T06:54:06-08:00

Today's post is an edited response to an email I just received, asking about the pentagram (or pentacle) and it's cultural associations. There is more on about this on my other site,
GeometryCode.com and this blog site BruceRawles.com.

====

Hello again. It's been a few years since I last emailed you and this time I have to ask you for some advice. ... I have been interested in sacred geometry since I visited your previous site. I think it was called 'Intent'. ... I felt a strong correlation between the traditions of ..., sacred geometry, alchemy and mystic symbolism.

I am currently designing a range of posters around the four seasons which is loosely based on I think it's the 'Ryder' tarot deck. I am drawn to using some of the symbolism but the one that I am having a bit of difficulty deciding on, is the use of the Pentacle or Pentagram. I think it is also referred to the 'morning star'.

The rub for me is not so much the symbols themselves but their association with Illuminati or satanic symbolism that is used as subliminals in some advertising. I might be barking up the wrong tree but I feel the miss use of these elements might be clouding the higher message that these symbolic elements and resultant graphic language hold for humanity. This is the message that I understand in your work. I really want to help people realise a higher potential and level of conciousness in themselves but the last thing I wish to do is propagate any luciferic conciousness.

I guess my confusion stems from not knowing enough, and maybe I shouldn't be meddling in things I don't understand. Could you please steer me in the right direction with regard to this issue.
Sincerely (name omitted)

===

To respond to your question about pentagrams, or pentacles, I always like to "back up" to a more fundamental question. What is the thought system, intention, perspective or attitude of the question? If it is an inclusive, all-encompassing, transpersonal one, then the issues around any malevolence dissapear, since the symbol, regardless of the form, because the content will be one of kindness and integrity. If the thought system is divisive, petty, personal, based on the fantasy of separation that inevitably occurs when we take sensory data as evidence of isolation or differences, then we will see whatever symbol appears to us from an egoic orientation.

In the specific case of pentagrams, or pentacles, synchronistically I've been reviewing the movie "The DaVinci Code" this week and the "Langdon" character played by Tom Hanks in the movie describes (I'm paraphrasing here) how the pentagram has been used by pagan cultures as a symbol for the divine feminine principle. I would suggest that any shape with 5-sided (pentagonal) symmetry intrinsically has metaphoric connections to the principle of interconnectedness, since the pentagram has the golden ratio (approximately 1.618) encoded in every proportion. There are numerous references on my GeometryCode.com website (particularly the tutorial page) about how this ratio represents the idea that there is no separation, with examples from the cross section of every DNA molecule (and also the shape of several of the molecular chains that are attached to each turn of its helical design, to spiral galaxies, Chambered Nautilus shells and countless other examples in nature, art and architecture, including the Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt.

Like anything else, the motivation is the key. We can use a hammer to build or destroy a house, and our thoughts and the intentions they serve are no different in this regard. Historically, there have been associations with the pentagram and both benevolent and malevolent intentions. But the same can be said about any other shape, symbol or design. The swastika has been used by Nazi Germany for an emblem of world conquest, yet also by native Americans to represent healing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika#Native_American_traditions

The vesica piscis has been used by a major financial institution as their commercial (credit card) logo, on the cover of the Chalice Well in Glastonbury, Somerset, England and countless examples of medieval religious art to represent Christ.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesica_piscis

(I also found this interesting geometric connection with the torus, while exploring this idea this morning):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villarceau_circles

One might suggest that the PRINCIPLE of Christ (that there IS no separation) is what is being depicted in this symbol. Returning to the original premise of this writing, perhaps one can (and I make every effort to do so! :-) recall that ANY symbol can be used in the service of truth (beyond our finite perceptions limited by space, time, matter and duality) or enslaved by the realm of apparent separation and its attendant motivations.

I hope this is helpful!

A few of my favorite Pandora stations (music faves)

BruceRawles.com — 2008-12-15T14:30:32-08:00

Here's a list of some of my favorite Pandora.com stations;
I discovered that they have a current limit of 100 stations, so now I swap out seldom used ones... A sampling of my music faves... can you tell I like a lot of world music? :-)

1 Giant Leap
Afro Celt Sound System
Alex De Grassi
Ancient Future
Andreas Vollenweider
Angelique Kidjo
Annie Lennox
Astor Piazzolla
Baka Beyond
Beach Boys
Beatles
Beaver & Krause
Benjy Wertheimer
Bette Midler
Booker T and the MGs
Brian Eno
Bruce Cockburn
Buddha Bar
The Byrds
Cat Stevens
Christine Bonner
Clannad
Coldplay
Colin Hay
Craig Chaquico
Crowded House
Darol Anger & Mike Marshall
Dave Grusin
David Arkenstone
David Byrne
David Friesen
David Lanz
Deep Forest
Dire Straights
Debussy, Claude
Donovan
Douglas Spotted Eagle
Duncan Sheik
Eliades Ochoa
Eliza Gilkyson
Elton John
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Enigma
Enya
Equation
Eric Clapton
Eva Cassidy
Fleetwood Mac
Flight of the Conchords
Fruit
Geoffrey Oreyema
George Benson
George Harrison
George Winston
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
Greg Brown
Gustavo Santaolalla
Hapa
Hayley Westenra
Huey Lewis and the News
Iguanas
Indigo Girls
Inna and the Farlanders
Ivan Najera
Jack Johnson
Jennifer Berezan
John Denver (only in a particularly nostalgic mood! :-)
John Gorka
John Mayer listening to now
Johnny Clegg and Savuka
Joni Mitchell
k.d. lang
Kaki King
Keali'i Reichel
Keiko Matsui
Keola Beamer
Kevin Braheny
Kitaro
The LAs
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Leo Kottke
Liz Story
Los Lobos
Los Lonely Boys
Lucinda Williams
Marc Antoine
Mark Isham
Mamas and the Papas
Manhattan Transfer
Mannheim Steamroller
Maniko
Mark Knopfler
Maroon Five
Men At Work
Michael Hedges
Michael Hoppe & Tim Wheater
Michael Manring
Michelle Shocked
Modern Mandolin Quintet
Mickey Hart
Moody Blues
Mozart
Narada artists
Nat King Cole
Natalie MacMaster
New Age Electronic
Nickel Creek
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Norah Jones
Ofra Haza
Oliver Mtukudzi
Ottmar Liebert
Outback
Pat Metheny
Patrick O'Hearn
Patty Larkin
Paul Horn
Paul Kamm & Eleanore MacDonald
Paul McCartney
Paul Simon
Peter Gabriel
Peter Frampton
Philip Aaberg
Philip Glass
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
R. Carlos Nakai
Rachid Taha
Ray Lynch
Richard Burmer
Richard Stoltzman
Richard Warner
Rickie Lee Jones
Ry Cooder
Santana
Sarah McLachlan
Scott Cossu
Scott Huckabay
Seals and Croft
Shadowfax
Shawn Colvin
Sheila Chandra
Sheryl Crow
Simon and Garfunkel
Steely Dan
Steve Roach
Steve Winwood
Steven Halpern
Stevie Wonder
Sting
Supertramp
Suvarna
Suzanne Ciani
Suzanne Vega
Taj Mahal
Timbuk 3
Tina Turner
Tish Hinojosa
Tomita
Tony Lauria
Trance Mission
Traveling Wilburys
Tingstad and Rumbel
Tulku
Tribalistas a GREAT Brazilian band
Van Morrison
Vangelis
Ventures
Vonda Shepard
The Waifs
Weird Al Yankovic
Wes
Wim Mertens in the right mood
Windham Hill artists
Yes
Youssou N'Dour
Yungchen Lhamo
Zakir Hussein

LightSOURCE Thanksgiving Sacred Geometry Sale

BruceRawles.com — 2008-11-24T05:51:26-08:00

I just got this announcement from my colleagues at LightSOURCE who make brilliant, lovely DVDs, screensavers (including our collaboration on GeometryCode), etc., so I'm passing this along:
-----

Announcing our Annual Thanksgiving Sacred Geometry Sale, our way of expressing our gratitude to cherished friends and fellow appreciators of Sacred Geometry:

Come see our new Sacred Geometry website with new product additions including:
-          "Hanta Yo" - Native American Power Shields, DVD, with "The Shaman's Heart" Hemi-Sync 5.1 Surround Sound soundtrack
-          LightSOURCE videos for iPod and iPhone
-          Sacred Geometry Stickers and Note Cards, and more.   Every product is on sale. Order now through Thanksgiving and save 20-25% on all products plus receive a free Sacred Geometry Gift.   Save 20% on all 3-D Sacred Geometry Forms and Pendants.   Buy one Sacred Geometry Poster and receive another of your choice FREE.   For an additional 5% savings (25% total) on all CD-ROMs, DVDs, digital downloads, fine art prints, T-shirts, Note Cards & Stickers, enter coupon code: 11272008   Every physical (non-digital) order will receive a complimentary CD-ROM of Sacred Gaiametry, The Magic of Crop Circles.   Each digital order (downloadable) order will receive a complimentary download of Hot Ice, featuring animated crystalline snowflakes.   Click the link below to visit the Internet's Premiere Sacred Geometry website:  SACRED-GEOMETRY.COM  Orders must be placed before 12:00 AM Sunday, 11/30/2008, discounts will be subtracted from each product at checkout. Sacred-Gaiametry CD-ROMs may be shipped separately from main order but shipment will not be delayed, download link for Hot Ice will be provided upon completion of the checkout process.
CodeName: MANA LLC
18624 Downing Rd
Kearney, MO
64060
US

Dolphin Toroidal Bubble Rings

BruceRawles.com — 2008-09-14T14:41:39-07:00

Here's an amazing video clip of dolphins making bubble rings...
along with an explanation from colleague András (not sure where he got it or who to attribute this text to):

This is extraordinary. Enjoy!

The attached video is of dolphins playing with silver colored rings which they have the ability to make under water to play with. It isn't known how they learn this, or if it's an inbred ability.

As if by magic the dolphin does a quick flip of its head and a silver ring appears in front of its pointed beak. The ring is a solid, donut shaped bubble about 2-ft across, yet it doesn't rise to the surface of the water! It stands upright in the water like a magic doorway to an unseen dimension. The dolphin then pulls a small silver donut from the larger one. Looking at the twisting ring for one last time a bite is taken from it, causing the small ring to collapse into thousands of tiny bubbles which head upward towards the water's surface. After a few moments the dolphin creates another ring to play with. There also seems to be a separate mechanism for producing small rings, which a dolphin can accomplish by a quick flip of its head.

An explanation of how dolphins make these silver rings is that they are "air-core vortex rings". Invisible, spinning vortices in the water are generated from the tip of a dolphin's dorsal fin when it is moving rapidly and turning. When dolphins break the line, the ends are drawn together into a closed ring. The higher velocity fluid around the core of the vortex is at a lower pressure than the fluid circulating farther away. Air is injected into the rings via bubbles released from the dolphin's blowhole. The energy of the water vortex is enough to keep the bubbles from rising for a reasonably few seconds of play time.

Google Cell Number For Finding Places

BruceRawles.com — 2008-08-22T09:05:00-07:00

Thanks to Anita T. for passing along this handy and fun suggestion (I just programmed it into my cell):

Here's a number worth putting in your cell phone.
1-800-GOOG411 (1-800-466-4411)

This is an awesome service from Google and it's free...
great when you are on the road. Listen to the clip, below!

www.google.com/goog411

8-8-8 Crop Circle

BruceRawles.com — 2008-08-08T10:06:00-07:00

Thanks to Asha and several other friends (including my Mom who usually sends me these links) for alerting me to this lovely 8-8-8 Crop Formation.

In addition to the overall "figure 8" shape, I particularly like the rhythmic expansion and contraction of the "bead circles" which corresponds to the inward and outward pointing arrowheads. Neat! As with any symbol, it can either distract us with emphasis on the form (and its implied dualistic nature), or serve to bring our mind toward wholeness, peace and pure non-dualistic awareness... I recommend the latter thought system!

Digitally Modulated Fountain in a Japanese mall

BruceRawles.com — 2008-08-06T10:19:00-07:00

Thanks to Shelly S. for sending this link to a digitally modulated fountain in a Japanese mall.

Communicating With Lions

BruceRawles.com — 2008-07-30T10:23:00-07:00

Thanks to Angélique D. for sending this YouTube clip with, as she says, "a truly beautiful depiction of the miracles of love in communicating ....even with lions in the jungle.

Best Selling Author Gary Renard coming to the Rogue Valley

BruceRawles.com — 2008-06-30T06:28:00-07:00

Here's a WONDERFUL article by fellow ACIM student Mike L. about Gary and his work; straight scoop, and straight from the heart.

Gary Renard seminar in Medford Oregon 16-17 August 2008

BruceRawles.com — 2008-06-08T13:58:37-07:00

For those of you familiar with Gary Renard , author of the books: The Disappearance of the Universe and Your Immortal Reality (both of which I can't recommend too highly!) I can now joyously announce the details of his upcoming seminar in southern Oregon; thanks to Dain for sending these particulars! I'll be there, and I hope to see you there! Here's a printable flyer (feel free to share and pass around! :-)

Thank you for your interest in the upcoming Gary Renard seminar. It will be a great weekend and a great chance to meet with other Course students in the area.

Dates
Saturday, August 16
10:00 – 4:00 with a book signing afterward
Sunday, August 17
1:00 – 5:00

We may have an event Sunday morning, i.e. breakfast or church event. We will keep you posted.

Venue (prior venue idea; note change below!)
Christ Unity Church of Medford
540 N.Holly Street - Medford, OR 97501

There is a new venue (hope everyone sees this in time! :-) for Gary Renard's seminar in Medford, Oregon:

Rogue Regency Inn
2300 Biddle Rd.
Medford, OR 97504
(541) 770-1234

Cost
$150

Make check payable to: Dain Pape

Send to:
Dain Pape
2135 Eddy Drive
Mount Shasta, CA 96067

Inner Den - Moving Sale

BruceRawles.com — 2008-06-07T14:41:00-07:00

Inner Den is having a moving sale!
Paula and John Mageras are moving to Eugene, Oregon in July. We will miss them
and wish them great success in their new location there! Paula has been such a gracious
hostess for our Wed. ACIM study group since last September! (We will meet in individual
homes starting July.) Please support them by visiting their Eagle Point, Oregon location
(117 W. Main Street) between now and June 16 (or shortly thereafter). Here's some info from Paula:

Hello Everyone,
The word you’ve been hearing is true; we are relocating the shop and ourselves to Eugene. I will be packing things up and doing inventory as I go the week of the 16th; close the doors the following week to move things out and be completely out of the building by June 30th.

Yes I am doing a sale on items throughout the shop. Soaps & lotions 20% off. Figurines, coffee & tea cups, candles, nic/nac type items all at 20% off. I carry some face/body spritzers and sea salt scrubs that are organic from a couple of ladies from the Green Springs they are 40% off. All of Ginger’s Ravencroft products are 50% off. She has created some nice essential oil teas, body/room spritzers and sugar scrubs.

James Barrett interview by William Henry on YouTube

BruceRawles.com — 2008-05-17T22:42:20-07:00

Here's a " rel="external">great interview with my long time friend and colleague, James Barrett, author of the Silent Gospel, by William Henry, regarding the Shroud of Turin and related info, and " rel="external">parts 2, part 3, and " rel="external">part 4. Here's " rel="external">another brief clip of James talking about his work at RVML in Ashland, Oregon.

Reflexology and Interconnectedness

BruceRawles.com — 2008-04-30T07:56:22-07:00

I attended a great introductory talk on Reflexology last night by Joy Hosey at the Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library. She directed the attendees to this neat interactive map of the hand showing related parts of the human body, and other online charts like this one with a map of the feet showing yet another example of how, in a somatic way, our bodies exemplifiy the principle of interconnectedness – we're living fractals!

Kirlian Photo of Chia Seeds

BruceRawles.com — 2008-04-26T15:24:02-07:00

Here's a Kirlian photograph of some Chia seeds (and obviously a finger tip :-) Thanks to Lani R. for giving me an excuse to dig out my old homebrew electronics (more like Rube Goldberg actually but it works) plus a kit from Edmund Scientific that comprises my funky, unique Kirlian photo setup.

Appreciating the Earth and Each Other : to-from the h-eart-h

BruceRawles.com — 2008-04-22T10:36:00-07:00

Here's a neat little slide show Connecting a Million Hearts from HeartMath. Their technology evolved from similar work by James Barrett and Dan Winter.

Finger Mnemonics

BruceRawles.com — 2008-04-18T07:36:40-07:00

Hooray for fun! ... Here's my mnemonic for truth du jour for today's ACIM workshop lesson :-)

Pangea Day

BruceRawles.com — 2008-04-17T11:05:00-07:00

WOW! Thanks to Jan C. for alerting me to this moving presentation ... With TED talks like this one and Jill Bolte Taylor's recent one, they are sure sharing some inspiring content!!!

Here's a link to watch a trailer and learn more about Pangea Day.
...the day is the result of the combined efforts of countless TED supporters around the world, inspired by the TED Prize wish of film-maker Jehane Noujaim. She dreamed of a day when people around the world could share the the same film experience at the same time. The idea has grown into a giant global project... thanks to you.

Goddess Morph Animation

BruceRawles.com — 2008-04-12T05:02:41-07:00

Thanks to Asha for sending me this link to a lovely animation which smoothly glides between monochrome photos of a few lovely ladies from the silver screen. If you're an avid movie-goer like me, you'll no doubt recognize quite a few familiar faces. This is similar to another effort (Women In Art), equally lovely that I reported in my blog last year. Over the years, I've learned that "pretty" is a characteristic rooted in temporal perception, subject to interpretation of finite and illusory perspectives, whereas true beauty transcends any limitation of time or space (or duality for that matter!) ... Since our real nature eternally has that transcendence, our real nature is truly beautiful. As you watch this short clip, notice how the beauty of the ONE being we ALL SHARE is beyond any particular expression or lifetime (or gender for that matter - if someone knows of similar clip depicting mens faces, please send me a link.) These two clips both remind me of the experience Gary Renard describes in his book, Your Immortal Reality, where his "visiting friends" share with him the entire sequence of their incarnational appearances, so that he might fathom the underlying quality of their eternal nature, independent of time, whim or circumstance. - a perfect example of the principles I'll be sharing later this morning in a workshop on sacred geometry.

Sustainable Lumber and Fair Trade products

BruceRawles.com — 2008-04-10T08:31:44-07:00

I just watched an inspiring "win-win" (recognizing ecology = economy, since everything is interconnected) video on Free Speech TV about sustainable FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) lumber featured by companies like Ikea (furniture made from Hedlunda lumber) and Home Depot. Kudos to those companies that realize that sustainability is in EVERYONE'S best interests. You can search for certified companies here. The video also talked about Fair Trade products (see my March 10, 2008 post which also involves shade grown coffee). The program showed sustainable logging in Oaxaca, Mexico, and British Columbia and even had a vignette of the wind farm on Altamont Pass near my home town of Livermore, Calif. where a local company is now exploring solar energy balloons.

Elephant Painting a Self Portrait

BruceRawles.com — 2008-04-02T11:33:56-07:00

If you haven't seen this amazing video of an elephant self-portrait, check it out! This should convince anyone hung up on "our species" that all beings have much more awareness than our provincial biases would acknowledge!

Alpaca Lips Now - the movie poster

BruceRawles.com — 2008-04-01T11:24:00-07:00

I you were impressed with Apocalypse Now, wait 'til you see the sequel!

(I just resurrected this double pun from my archives :-)

GoodSearch Charity website

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-31T10:01:00-07:00

My loving partner just sent this neat link to a site that makes charitable donations based on visitors interests; how cool is that! :-) I just searched on "Solar Electric Light Fund" and "Save The Rain" to give them some support. Now it's your turn! :-)

ACIM podcast... and more connections with Oprah/Eckhart and ACIM

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-30T08:47:26-07:00

Here's an excellent podcast by Beverly Hutchinson I've listened to that has some great reminders, and there's always Gary Renard's podcasts, too! (Highly recommended.)

Here is some commentary by fellow ACIM student Jim M. I also found helpful; thanks, Jim!

I am beginning to believe Eckhart Tolle when he says that we egos are "unconscious" -- not conscious that we are just figures in a dream. ACIM seems to want to lift our "consciousness" above the battlefield, above the dream, to see that "we" are the "dreamer" and not a figure in the dream. I found the following discussion by a student of Ken Wapnick on the internet and again it was a knock on the head with a 2-by-4, reminding me that I am not who I think I am. The following concepts may or may not be helpful to others and I could be wrong on my interpretation. It seems that "the Observer" is right-mindedness and "the Dreamer/the Decision-maker" is the other part of the split mind. Who needs make divided decisions but a mind that believes in duality. Eckhart Tolle says the ego, the illusory self-identity, comes from the unobserved mind. The Course does not use the terms "Observer" or "Decision-maker" but does says this:
"Even the relinquishment of your false decision-making prerogative, which the ego guards so jealously, is not accomplished by your wish. It was accomplished for you by the Will of God, Who has not left you comfortless." (T-7.X.7:1-2) "The power of decision, which you made in place of the power of creation, He [the Holy Spirit] would teach you how to use on your behalf." (T-14.VI.5:6) "the existence of the world as you perceive it depends on [your belief of] the body being the decision maker" (M-5.II.1:7) "Forgiveness is still and quietly does nothing. It offends no aspect of reality, or seeks to twist it to appearances it likes. It merely looks [observes/the Observer] and waits, and judges not." Neal suggested that I send this out to the group.
So if it goes over like a lead balloon I can blame him! :-) --jim

ACIM and the Observer and the Decision-maker

These are responses to questions about "the observer" from someone named "Jane". My [internet ACIM student] responses come from my own experience; I'm sure it is different for everyone.
---

Q: How do I become more identified with the observer?

A: Simply forgive, and it will happen of itself. It's nothing more than that. It is deserving of all your trust.

The dreamer (decision maker) having chosen the ego, dreams it is a dream figure named Jane. The way home - and home for Jane is the right mind - is for Jane to forgive her Jane-ness. She gets angry, she gets afraid, she worries and gets confused. She is thrilled when her needs are met, or when she receives praise or special attention. Forgive all of that. In the beginning your experience will be that it's Jane doing the forgiving, even though it's the dreamer (decision maker) doing it, because everything is the dreamer. It's just the dreamer dreaming it is "a Jane" doing the forgiving because, for now, that's what is most comfortable for a decision maker who is slowly beginning to turn the boat around (imagine a supertanker in a wide arc). The decision maker is too afraid to be fully in touch with its power of choice, and so still needs to defer this onto a dream figure for its own sense of safety. But that deferment won't last.

As you (a dreamer dreaming you are a dream figure forgiving a dream experience) move more deeply into forgiveness as a practice and process, you will begin to have experiences as something other than a helpless body and dream figure. You will experience yourself as a mind, as a dreamer, a decision maker.

These experiences will likely be brief at first, but will begin to show up more often and last longer and become more profound and attractive. In that experience you won't question what an oberserver is, the experience will answer all questions. The experience is the answer; you'll have no questions... until you return to your experience as a dream figure.

When you do have questions, then that means you're splitting off from the dreamer again, back to the safety of the dream figure. This is normal. Just watch it all, as best and as gently as you can.

What are the things to look out for that tell me I'm in observer mode?

When you are in observer mode you won't need signs, you'll just know. If you're looking for signs or evaluating an experience, you're not in observer mode, which would just be something else to forgive as it's the choice for the ego which results in the desire for litmus tests and specifics and naming etc. And in this forgiving will the experience/observer show up, for it is the process of forgiveness that provides the safety the decision maker needs to awake unto itself as itself.

Can the observer feel emotion? i.e. Love? ...because if it can feel love then that's an emotion and transient and to be forgiven...

The observer doesn't feel emotion as a dream figure knows it. Love as a dream figure is a physical/psychological bodily feeling of love, whereas love as an observer is a mind experience of love that has nothing to do with the body or brain or feelings, and you're it (love). It's what you are... so "you" don't feel it, you are it. You wouldn't say I am feeling love, you would be it... but there are gradations of this experience as the process evolves.

Pacific Domes

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-29T07:03:34-07:00

A long overdue thanks to local friend and colleauge Asha who has been graciously hosting our local Geometers group (we whimsically call ourselves the "Hedronists" as well) for many months. (Also thanks to local friend and colleauge Libby who offered similar gracious hosting for many months prior!) Asha also heads up Pacific Domes which is doing wonderful things around the (oblate spheroidal) globe with Buckminster Fuller's geodesic invention.

I had the pleasure of building and living in a dome (a Cathedralite Dome kit from Aptos, California) in Georgetown, California in the late 1970's. In addition to just being a great space to be in, since we left quite a bit of our floor plan open, the acoustics were quite interesting, too! A neighbor (and long time mentor, Floyd Edwards who started the Creative Dynamics program (Leadership and Human Relations) my ex-wife and I enjoyed teaching in nearby adult schools for several years) had made a custom battery-operated clock with his airbrushed art, which hung on the wall downstairs next to the woodstove. At the time, we had a slant-board in the upstairs loft (looking up at the top 5 triangles of the dome) for meditation. One day, I realized the loud "tick-tick" I kept hearing was the minuscule sound of this little clock bouncing around the interior surface of the 39' diameter dome... and converging back at a point where my head was... amazingly, one could barely hear the clock standing next to it!

Another fond memory of the dome was the day our generous friends and neighbors spent most of a day helping us raise the 60 plywood-over-beveled-2x4-triangles into place. After hoisting 5 pentagons (all made of triangles) atop a 5' riser wall, then linking them together with 5 hexagons (also made of similar trianges) so we could now remove the supports and (after raising the scaffolding to get to the 21' peak), we finally put the last top 5 triangles of the dome into place. The second to the last triangle was fitted with a sturdy eye bolt, through which a long rope was tied. I got to hop up onto the now-sturdy roof with a sledge hammer and sequentially tap the 3 corners until the last triangle fit perfectly snug and the whole structure (just like Bucky professed) went from a loose wobbly thing to rock 'solid' (not accounting for the vast emptiness of quantum space, of course! :-) To help visualize this 3/8 sphere dome, check out Poly from Pedagoguery Software. and animate the 3-Frequency Icosahedral Geodesic Sphere (and imagine 5 pentagons (defaulting to red color) resting on a 'cylinder'. Here's a "bird's eye view" of the dome we built and lived in, using a screen snap from Poly with appropriate triangles grayed out and more dome resources.

Sacred Geometry Workshop for Artists in Medford Oregon - 12April2008 9AM-1PM

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-24T11:55:11-07:00

Fascinated by the mystical aesthetic appeal of Renaissance artists like DaVinci? Numerous artists since antiquity intentionally used techniques now referred to as sacred geometry in their masterpieces. You can too! Discover the secret behind the appeal their art holds to this day.

This Hands-on Artist's Workshop will show classic sacred geometry constructions and theory for visual artists - The class will supply all the background needed to incorporate the principles of "interconnectedness" and proportions that represent our cosmic relatedness for any artist with no math background required. Bring a compass and straight-edge to replicate the universal patterns and ratios with the "classic" constructions used by Plato, Pythagoras, Da Vinci, and numerous other ancient, Renaissance and contemporary artists from a variety of media and disciplines.

Projects will include: 2D constructions (Vesica Piscis, Seed of Life, Flower of Life, Golden Rectangles, Golden Triangles, Squaring the Circle, inscribed pentagrams, mandalas, tilings, etc.) as well as 3D polyhedra foldups and working in various 2D and 3D media.

Contact Central Art Supply at 541-773-1444 or Bruce Rawles for details and enrollment. Cost is $20 and includes handout material needed to replicate the workshops projects and references. Autographed, personalized copies of Sacred Geometry Design Sourcebook will be available for puchase as well.

Here is a printable poster about the workshop.

Massage therapist recommendations

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-18T12:39:00-07:00

Today (thanks to a gift certificate from my stepson) I enjoyed (like millions of others) the benefits of therapeutic massage from a licensed massage therapist, as I have been doing for decades. Based on this one experience, I would recommend Tanya Reasor of Bodyworks/Body-n-Balance in Medford, Oregon as well as our usual LMT (Holly Smith at Superior Athletic Club in Eagle Point, Oregon). Also long overdue are thanks to former massage therapists such as Melissa Silva and many others in Nevada County, Calif. I also find hot springs soaks quite soothing, as a complement to regular exercise, stretching/yoga and good nutrition.

Loremo LS 157MPG car

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-17T10:01:00-07:00

Thanks to Jerem E. for alerting me to this 157MPG car (Loremo LS) ... a nice jump in fuel economy (an appropriate "green" alternative for St. Patrick's Day! :-) on our way to teleportation - the ultimate sustainable solution!

Dilbert ESP cartoons

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-16T10:27:00-07:00

Thanks to E. Kellogg for sending this amusing set of Dilbert cartoons about ESP; kinda reminds me of the ESP trials I participated in with Dr. Charles Tart at UC Davis in the mid 1980's... Interestingly, the folks that EXPECTED they would guess better than the "1 in 5" (20% "random chance" statistical probability DID so (often in the high 20, 30 or more % range) for repeated trials. Even more interesting to me was the statistically significant LOWER than 20% results that admitted ESP skeptics garnered, almost proving their ESP in "reverse expectation gear" :-)

Jill Bolte Taylor -TED talk

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-15T09:26:00-07:00

Thanks to Joline S., Daniel H. and Dianna R. for all independently encouraging me to watch this VERY inspiring TED talk by Harvard-trained brain scientist, Jill Bolte Taylor. When I get 2 or 3 "messages from the universe", I've learned to REALLY pay attention! :-) Now it's my turn to encourage you to watch it (if you haven't already.) Her insights go way beyond our tiny little brains in our tiny little bodies in this tiny little galaxy... to the spiritual 'energy' that encompasses us all, and is ever present within us, linking us as one.

This powerful talk is a perfect complement to the wisdom in A Course In Miracles and Gary Renard's fun introductions to that wisdom, reminding us that We (with a capital "W") are not bodies, even though "we" have them, and a timely reinforcement to our awareness that exists beyond the ego (which tends to manifest in left-brain bias as Jill demonstrated) that Eckhart Tolle is sharing so eloquently in his class (just watched class #2 as of this writing) with Oprah Winfrey, who is also hosting a radio show and pre-recorded audio with Marianne Williamson.

Pi Day

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-14T10:13:07-07:00

Happy Pi (approx. 3.14) Day! Of course, both Pi and Phi are encoded in the Great Pyramid.

Sara Frucht Art Opening at the Coffee Mill in Oakland Calif. 22Mar2008

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-13T10:58:47-07:00

Anyone who has attended my multimedia presentations during the past 4 years has probably seen some of the exquisite "virtual polyhedra" art of Sara Frucht - Kaliedoscapes as she aptly calls them. Here is a slightly truncated tetrahedron of mirrors that creates a virtual icosahedron in the corner...

... and the same amazing model with a little rubber ball rolled in, creating a "virtual dodecahedron" by connecting the midpoints of the reflected spheres:

... and digital fly-through animation she created for a proposed Berkeley Community Garden project.

Her artistic abilities are evidently also at home in "conventional media" as well. Here's the announcement she just sent about her art opening in Oakland, California on March 22, 2008:

===========

Hi Everyone -

Please come to my art opening and reception. Here is the info:

Time: Saturday, March 22, 2-4pm

Place: Coffee Mill & Bakery
3363 Grand Avenue
Oakland, CA
(510) 465-4224
(about one block from the Grand lake Theatre)

Featuring the music of fabulous rock and jazz guitarist Toku Woo

I currently have twelve of my acrylic paintings on display. They were all done this past fall and winter. Also showing - paintings by Peter, artist of the Lake. (He also painted all the murals on the walls inside the cafe.)

In case you can't make it to the opening, these paintings will be on display at the Coffee Mill until Saturday, May 3.

I hope to see you there!

Sara Frucht

Birdsong & Coffee

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-10T22:02:27-07:00

Birdsong and Coffee - A Wake Up Call is a great little documentary (with links to Community Agroecology Network and other organizations working to make a positive difference) about how shade-grown, fair-trade coffee helps not only protect the biodiversity in lovely countries like Costa Rica (which we had the pleasure of visiting a few years ago), Mexico (likewise on the fond memories of visiting), El Salvador, and Nicaragua, but also maintains the vital economy of coffee farmers in those regions. An important aspect of the film for me is how students from UC Santa Cruz were "adopted" by their Central American families, and they realized how kind and caring the farmers were both to their families and the land, and also to the northern researchers. I didn't realize that coffee, as a world commodity, is second only to oil! (I'm not even a coffee drinker, but I love the smell...) Another local company doing their utmost to make a positive difference (we love their chocolate!) is Dagoba. I checked out Birdsong and Coffee - A Wake Up Call from RVML.

Bob's Guatemala Photos

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-09T22:31:19-07:00

Thanks to Bob Burridge for posting a some photos from our very fun Guatemala trip last November. There's a photo of us at the bottom of the page (2nd to last) .

Sustainable Development using a fractal model

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-08T12:12:00-08:00

Thanks to Terry Mock for suggesting this article on sustainable development (honoring the fractal interconnectedness between people, ecology and econony) by William McDonough (featured on bioneers) & Michael Braungart, as well as this article he wrote on Restoration of Sacred Mythology (with generous cultural references including the Celtic "World Tree" (of Life) which is a living metaphor of toroidal form.

Hyperdimensional Geometry of Music

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-07T10:45:00-08:00

Thanks to Ed K. for this neat article (with animation) on the Hyperdimensional Geometry of Music

Optical Delusions of Consciousness

BruceRawles.com — 2008-03-06T12:47:00-08:00

Thanks to Anita T. for sending this link to a lavish assortment of optical illusions; reminders to not take our minuscule 3D sense perceptions (and particularly our INTERPRETATIONS of them) too seriously! Here's a related quote by Albert Einstein:

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us, "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security." : Albert Einstein - (1879-1955) Physicist and Professor, Nobel Prize 1921

Jay Goldner's Crop Formation exhibit in Seoul, Korea

BruceRawles.com — 2008-02-24T09:27:15-08:00

Jay Goldner, who did a superb job of translating my Sacred Geometry Design Sourcebook into its German Edition (Mandalas der Heiligen Geometrie, published by Silbershnur Verlag) and also author of Messages from Space: Crop Circles Bring the First Indisputable Extra-Terrestrial Signs from Space, just sent me an email letting me know that his superb crop formation exhibit (which was open to the public in Switzerland and Austria) has recently been shown in Seoul, South Korea. Here's another update from Jay with some lovely patterns – not to worry if your German fluency is minimal (like mine) since the patterns communicate directly; a perfect example of how symbols which approach ideal mirrors of the principle and awareness of oneness tend to transcend language barriers... Music is another example, particularly music that exemplifies heartfelt compassion, kindness and quantum forgiveness!

Interview with David Gibson on BBSRadio.com

BruceRawles.com — 2008-02-20T10:44:00-08:00

On Saturday, February 23, 2008 at 5PM Pacific Time, I will be the guest on David Gibson's show on BBSRadio... I hope you can listen in!

David was the host and organizer of a wonderful conference last month that I was honored to give a presentation at ... The Globe Sound Healing Conference (There will be another in San Francisco in May 2008)... It was a marvelous experience where I got to meet lots of interesting friends and connect with many kindred souls such as: Randy Masters (a brilliant synthesizer of ancient and contemporary insights about sound - his workshop was great fun; his vesica delta bipyramid fold-up is featured on page 221 of my Sacred Geometry Design Sourcebook), Elizabeth Upton (a bright and enthusiastic videographer working on a documentary on sacred geometry), Judy Cole of Healing Partnerships (who won my 2007 contest - see the Feb 1 2008 post), Gary Schwartz, PhD (doing fascinating energy healing research), Mandara Cromwell (working with friend Jeff Volk bringing Hans Jenny's Cymatics work forward,) Rick Henderson (who created some superb 3D polyhedra visuals in real time for the evening concerts using Zuma software and his own MIDI setup), a pioneer in neuro-acoustic research Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, Barbara Hero (creator of the Lambdoma keyboard), Dr. Fred Bell (amazing inventor), John Gil (an architect incorporating sacred geometry) and Don Estes to name just a few.

Galaxy Song from Monty Python's Meaning of Life

BruceRawles.com — 2008-02-17T14:05:04-08:00

Thanks to Nancy (and Eric Idle) for reminding me of this amusing tune ( The Galaxy Song from Monty Python's Meaning of Life) that puts our little human dramas (and obsession with identification with space, time and duality) into perspective! :-)

Blueberry Stars

BruceRawles.com — 2008-02-15T08:14:39-08:00

This was such a great question, I thought it would make a perfect blog post du jour!
=====

Hi Bruce ...What does the star mean in sacred geometry?

This might depend somewhat on the specific geometry involved... In particular, are we talking about 5 or 6 (or some other number) of points on the star? Hexagonal (6-fold) stars (a.k.a. hexagrams) relate to the Flower of Life, Seed of Life, Fruit of Life, 2D matrix which occurs in a myriad of forms in the various kingdoms of the natural world (basalt column cross-sections in the mineral kingdom, cloverleaf and cellular structures in the plant kingdom, honeycomb in the animal kingdom, etc. just to name a few.

I am wondering if you have any idea what the star on the bottom of each blueberry would mean?

A little gem I learned from Michael Schneider is that the blossom of every edible fruit has 5-sided (pentagonal) geometry. The five-pointed star (pentagram) was the symbol allegedly drawn on the hands of the Pythagorean initiates (perhaps because the notion of interconnectedness leading to the awareness of all-encompassing oneness is just as "threatening" now as it was to the predominant culture then :-) There is also a wealth of other examples in my book:
as well as quite a few on the tutorial on my website (I imagine you've already read that?)
and the links on the resources page:

I am doing food research and it seems like the star would mean something. Doesn’t it look like a star at the bottom of a blueberry?

You got it! It is indeed the guiding archetype for this form, as well as so many others in nature! :-)

Hayley Westenra Songs

BruceRawles.com — 2008-02-14T10:54:53-08:00

WOW! Each time I listen to Hayley Westenra (who grew up in Christschurch, New Zealand - a lovely place) sing "Prayer" and "May It Be" I'm moved to tears of joy; not much music does that for me! ... and that's listening online via Pandora.com ... I can only imagine what hearing these songs in concert would be like! What a gift her music is! This is what I would call "spiritual calling us all home" music.

Shemah - The Calling by Ani Williams

BruceRawles.com — 2008-02-13T09:56:00-08:00

Shemah - The Calling by Ani Williams is quite lovely harp music from a great performer; I've enjoyed her live performances immensely at two conferences I've attended (the Global Sacred Geometry Conference in Sedona in 2004) and one of Chet Snow's "Signs of Destiny" (crop formations) conferences a year or two before that.

"Falling Slowly" song from the movie "Once"

BruceRawles.com — 2008-02-12T10:02:00-08:00

"Once" is a sweet (and funny) movie, and the song "Falling Slowly" (featuring the stars of the film - Czech Republic-born Markéta Irglová and Frames frontman Glen Hansard) is a gem! My wife & I are both humming the catchy tune quite a bit this week after enjoying the movie last weekend via Netflix. Other good tunes on the film, too.

GeometryCode 2007 Contest Winner!

BruceRawles.com — 2008-02-01T09:31:00-08:00

Congratulations to Judy Cole of Healing Partnerships (http://www.healingpartnerships.com/) for winning our GeometryCode.com 2007 contest! Judy submitted a copy of her exquisite Lissajous oscilloscope patterns "Healix - The Music of the Spheres: Mirror One version 2) DVD and says she was inspired by Sacred Geometry Design Sourcebook. Judy wins a copy of the GeometryCode screensaver and eBooklet. Thanks, Judy! :-)

Here's a static image of some of her engaging animation:

I have fond memories of staying after hours in my high school electronics lab in Livermore, California, hooking up every oscillator in the lab to the horizontal and vertical inputs of a 'scope and creating endless variations of patterns like these. Judy uses interesting (close to Phi-based) harmonic ratios and elegant transitions to show how many of the complex patterns we're familiar with are simply the communion of number within the mirage of space time.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

BruceRawles.com — 2008-01-25T09:39:00-08:00

Thanks to my sister Gayle (and family) for their hospitality and her delicious soup!
Also thanks to her brother-in-law Gary for the fresh oranges and grapefruit!

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup:
from DSYLVAN (the name printed on the page my sister gave me )
via my sister Gayle, with a few of her additions & mine)

12 servings
preparation time: 15 minutes
cooking time: 40 minutes
ready in: 55 minutes

Ingredients: (fresh, organic preferred wherever possible)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 (1 Pound) package frozen pepper and onion stir fry mix
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 Tablespoons ground cumin
2-3 Tablespoons fresh or dried cilantro
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
3 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained
4 (14 ounce) cans vegetable broth (or 2 cartons)
1 (11 ounce) can whole kernel corn (or 1/2 bag frozen corn)
1 can black beans or pinto beans
12 ounces tortilla chips
1 avocado diced
optional: salt and pepper to taste
optional: 1 cup shredded cheese (jack or cheddar)
optional: sour cream as garnish

Directions:
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the pepper and onion,
garlic, cumin, and cook 5 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
Mix in the tomatoes and chile peppers. Pour in the broth, and season with
salt and pepper (optional). Bring to a boil, reduce to low heat, and simmer
30 minutes.
Mix corn & cilantro into the soup and continue cooking 5 minutes. Serve in bowls
over equal amounts of tortilla chips. Top with avocado. Optional: Top with
cheese and/or sour cream.

Granola Recipe

BruceRawles.com — 2008-01-24T09:50:00-08:00

I've been making this granola off and on since my college days; I think it might have originally been an Adele Davis recipe that my Mom modified, and I've created my variation here:

Ingredients: (fresh, organic preferred wherever possible)
Liquid Ingredients:
1 cup of honey (local if possible)
1 cup of non-hydrogenated coconut oil (or other veg. oil)
Solid Ingredients:
5 cups of rolled oats
1 cup sunflower seeds (hulled)
1 cup sesame seeds
Optional Ingredients:
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans and/or your favorite)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, pitted dates, and/or your favorite)

Directions:
In a large oblong pan, thoroughly mix all the dry and optional ingredients.
Then mix in the oil thoroughly. Bake at 300 degrees F. for 20 minutes.
Carefully remove (with hot pads :-) and thoroughly mix in the honey.
Bake at 300 degrees F. for another 20 minutes. Check again; if needed,
bake at 300 degrees F. or an additional 10-20 minutes. Allow to cool
and store in a covered container.

Fruit Slaw Recipe

BruceRawles.com — 2008-01-23T10:25:00-08:00

Here's a coleslaw variation that I make frequently:

Fruit Slaw Recipe

Mix these ingredients (fresh, organic preferred wherever possible) in a large covered container (store in the fridge) and enjoy! :-)
1 cabbage chopped fine
1 carrot chopped fine
1-2 celery stalks chopped fine
1 can of pineapple chunks (I usually pour the juice into a can and drink while preparing :-)
1 sectioned and chopped orange
1-3 chopped pears and/or apples
1-2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
Optional Ingredients:
1-2 sectioned mandarin oranges
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans and/or your favorite)
1 cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, pitted dates, and/or your favorite)
1 cup sunflower an/or sesame seeds (hulled)
1 cup shredded coconut

Presentation at Globe Sound Healing Conference

BruceRawles.com — 2008-01-21T10:38:00-08:00

At the Globe Sound Healing Conference, Woodland Hills Marriott (Los Angleles) 26-28 Jan. 2008 next Sunday, I will be giving a Workshop: Sacred Geometry and Sound Healing : How Ancient Hermetic Laws, Quantum Physics and Universal Symbolic Archetypes all converge in Your Optimum Wellness... I hope to see you there!

Story of Stuff

BruceRawles.com — 2008-01-01T07:02:39-08:00

Story of Stuff (with Annie Leonard) - Thanks to Tony L. & Daniel H. for directing me to this one!
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Here's a very down-to-earth, humorous, sobering yet up-beat look at how we're all interconnected
in the most pragmatic of ways; insights shared brilliantly show how simple the solutions must be.
In keeping with the goal of sustainability, I am shifting my emphasis on new products to digital
(i.e. less tree-ware and dinosaur-ware a.k.a petroleum derivatives), and the four new sets of
Geometric Video Patterns (just finished!) are in keeping with that ideal. :-)

Take Me To Truth by Nouk Sanchez and Tomas Vieira

BruceRawles.com — 2007-11-24T16:11:20-08:00

Here's a recap of what I wrote on October 28:
On the basis of Gary Renard's recommendation alone (and my new friend Mike who told me about it, thanks!) I will recommend Take Me To Truth by Nouk Sanchez and Tomas Vieira. I'm sure you'll see my (glowing) review here soon when I get a chance to read it! :-)
... As predicted there's a marvelous abundance of glowing truth on each and every page of this "must read" book! The authors have succeeded brilliantly in conveying practical wisdom for serenely navigating past the pitfalls of finite thinking to return to the home we never left! Highly recommended!

Tingstad and Rumbel

BruceRawles.com — 2007-11-04T07:15:58-08:00

Last night we attended a superb concert in Ashland with Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel. I've enjoyed their music for many years, so it was a real treat to finally hear them in person. The duo has been performing together almost a quarter century, and I've been savoring their mellow virtuosity on guitar and woodwinds for almost that long. Last night's favorite selection among a fun, varied and inspiring set was "Chaco" which we learned was on their "A Moment's Peace" CD. Another long time favorite selection is "Sequoia" on their Woodlands release.

ReGeneration Dialogues

BruceRawles.com — 2007-11-01T07:58:50-07:00

An announcement from my friend Dominic in Ashland, Oregon about an event tonight!

~~~You Are Invited to Shine~~~
The ReGeneration Dialogues
week 3
Discovering Who We Are Becoming Together

Come join your friends and peers in circle for an evening of presence, dance, play, circle and heart-centered dialogue, as we explore our individual and community relationship to coming of age at this time.

How can we successfully engage the highly polarized energies of this age, awakening into a multi-dimensional universe of exquisite beauty and possibility, while still being highly dependence upon an unsustainably designed civilization for survival and self identity?

Let us meet each other as we are now, draw forth each other's passion and vision, and dream into who we want to become together.

"There is a river flowing now very fast . . . Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate.
For we are the Ones we've been waiting for."
~The Hopi Elders~

Thursday November 1st, 7:00pm
@ The Chi Center
258 A Street #7, Ashland
Upstairs from the Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library.

The ReGeneration Dialogues
is a new weekly experiential event
exploring emerging culture, embodied consciousness and regenerative action
from the perspective of the awakening ReGeneration.

co-crafted by
The ReGeneration Project
and the
Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library www.rvml.org

Take Me To Truth

BruceRawles.com — 2007-10-28T07:54:39-07:00

On the basis of Gary Renard's recommendation alone (and my new friend Mike who told me about it, thanks!) I will recommend Take Me To Truth by Nouk Sanchez. I'm sure you'll see my (glowing) review here soon when I get a chance to read it! :-)

Silent Gospel YouTube Clip with James Barrett by Dan Shaw

BruceRawles.com — 2007-10-27T16:43:43-07:00

One dear friend (James Barrett) interviewed on his research linking heart intelligence with the Shroud of Turin (The Silent Gospel) by another dear friend (Dan Shaw); enjoy! Moments after this quick interview, James gave a superb detailed presentation for the Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library (RVML).

Quantum Forgiveness Ain't Phony

BruceRawles.com — 2007-10-26T13:31:25-07:00

Here's an excerpt from an email conversation with a life-long friend (he starts the conversation) about Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard and ACIM ( A Course In Miracles ), which I'm re-reading like a desert wanderer re-united with his favorite oasis:

Yep, DoU is very good. IMHO It should be required reading for anyone doing the Course.

Perty fine writin', ain't it! :-) Our study group decided (after listening to one of Gary's audio CDs last Wed.) that we would meet every Wed. night instead of just every other... Great stuff!

The thing I have a question about, and ACIM only gave a few guidelines about this, is: Is there a specific technique for forgiving?

YES! That's exactly what inspires me about Gary's work... the idea of quantum forgiveness, or realizing that

A) There's no "out there" if space time is a bogus projection of the egoic mind, therefore there's no "body" "OUT" there to forgive, and

B) also follows from the fraud of the hologram we're projecting we call 3D "reality", that if time is illusory, then all the EVENTS in space time are made up, too, so there's no person (including our limited idea of self) or thing, events or otherwise to forgive.

I'm finding that re-reading the Course after over 2 decades of relative dormancy in that regard, it is amazingly alive with new meaning when the idea that "God had nothing to do with making up the physical Universe"(my paraphrasing of a major 'gem' from Gary) is factored in... suddenly the Course is infinitely more potent than when I was trying to make God the scapegoat for a bogus reality he/she had nuthin' to do with! (and the beauty of it is that neither have we! We're all off the hook, and letting the holy spirit ... (transpersonal, yeah-I-think-I'm-overdue-for-abandoning-my-pathetic-little-sob-story-soap-opera, non-finite, non-local or whatever you wanna-call-it that pertains to our infinite unlimited nature) take hold of the wheel... do the heavy lifting makes all the difference !

(The study group is a big help in REMINDING me this in the zombified tranced-out Truman Show reality I've managed to conjure; your mileage may vary :-)

Remembering that the person you are frustrated with is a Son of God seems (I'm sorry to say) just a bit phoney sometimes.

I'm reminded of the quote in Richard Bach's Illusions (now I gotta run and find it so I don't misquote :-)... back in a sec....
There... found it (and found another quote I wanna use in my book anyway... I STILL think Illusions would make a great movie, BTW) The quote (one of my faves!) I was looking for is this one (early in Chap. 12):

(The context: Richard is talking with Don Shimoda about walking through walls...)

R: "OK. You can make it appear that you can walk through walls, if you want. Is that a better question?"

D: "Yes. Better. But if you want to be precise..."

R: "Don't tell me. I know how to say what I mean. Here is my question. How is it that you can move the illusion of a limited sense of identity, expressed in this belief of a space-time continuum as your 'body', through the illusion of material restriction that is called a 'wall'?"

D: "Well done!" he said. "When you ask the question properly it answers itself, doesn't it?"

R: "No, the question hasn't answered itself. How do you walk through walls?"

D: "RICHARD! You had it nearly right and then blew it all to pieces! I cannot walk through walls... when you say that, you're assuming things I don't assume at all..."

Maybe we're here to challenge our assumptions about "others" along these lines :-) It seems like trying to force forgiveness through a fragmented thought system is just another "seek and do not find" exercise... since the egoic thought system IS totally phony baloney!

It doesn't get you to that place of fully releasing them.

I find when it feels phony, that I'm still dredging up beliefs about "others" based on the dualistic thought system of "we-they"; the heart and transpersonal awareness seem to be key vehicles for that understanding...

It helps to remember that it is actually imperative to forgive because that's the only way you can remember your immortal soul but even that doesn't always seem to be enough to get me to DO it.

It is TOTALLY up to us (only the ego applies pressure, extortion or fear/manipulation tactics; the Holy Spirit has nothing to lose, since it already has reality 'in the bag' :-) ... I like the quote toward the beginning of ACIM of "... only the time you take it is voluntary"... Kind of a sweet, smiling gentle cajoling like an old friend calling you out to play...

To not make my brother's errors REAL requires looking beyond them from the beginning not to make them real then forgive them.

That's it!!! (kinda like Richard's eloquent and lucid question above :-) If we still have 3D consciousness, I guess it means we have more practicing to do :-)

So it really requires keeping our minds in Reality in the first place doesn't it? But then if we WERE in Reality we wouldn't need to forgive in the first place. Forgiving is for those who have forgotten Reality.

Yep; using the metaphor of the Course, we're still like toddlers having a bad dream (or hopefully moving toward more happy dreams), but still we're rather snoozy ... Ahhh, we're just remembering that we're already awake in TRUTH, but still just dreaming ...

I've read to page 150 at this point and the explanation of the separation is much more understandable than it was when I read it in ACIM (nothing against ACIM). That the Big Bang actually came from us creating a physical universe to hide in makes a lot of sense and is mind boggling to say the least.

Yes!!! That's something I some how missed reading and studying ACIM in the early 80's and until this past summer... SUPER MAJOR INSIGHT, it would seem! Now that I'm back into ACIM (about page 211 in the text today) it is like DU/YIR (Gary Renard's writing) is shining a huge grand opening spotlight on the text... How did I miss the exquisite coherence of this profound thought system before! I mean, I knew it was great (and even then figured it was probably the most profound spiritual document ever written, just that now it seems orders of magnitude more relevant... yeah, I know, no orders of difficulty :-)

Anyway, if you have time, please respond to my email - particularly the forgiveness technique if one is given. I'll read it eventually but I'm curious to know what your thoughts are on this subject.

I think I mostly addressed it above, but the key seems to be to realize that it's not about "others thoughts about me" (since there are no "others") but MY thoughts (and feelings, since thoughts in this context includes the whole spectrum) about others that either liberates me or imprisons me to more nonsense...

Thanks man! (:o)

Likewise, big time! ... and thanks for asking these questions, since I'm at a crucial point in my practice where I need all the reinforcement I can get for this unlimited thought system :-)

Carbeque

BruceRawles.com — 2007-10-17T11:48:51-07:00

Thanks to Charley S. for the intro to "carbeque"; multi-thermal-tasking for self-sufficiency! ... Grins! :-)

Bill Maher's Anti-Pharma Rant

BruceRawles.com — 2007-10-01T08:50:00-07:00

I put this amusing clip under the "sustainability" category, since I consider extolling the virtues of exercise and nutrition in that category; Bill Maher makes some good points; time for me to get out of MY chair for a while :-)

Last Mimzy on DVD

BruceRawles.com — 2007-09-30T08:01:15-07:00

At my friend Ed's suggestion, I watched the DVD version of "The Last Mimzy" last night... Some interesting "special features" and interviews. I'm glad I gave it a second viewing outside of my local theater viewing some months ago, and the interviews did add some signifcant context, although the depth of information could have been more for my liking.

Three suggestions:

1) Their DNA interviews would have benefitted by integrating Bruce Lipton's recent work.

2) They danced all around the "Sri Yantra" without specifically mentioning the commonly accepted name of this visual thematic anchor to the film, and

3) I still think (as I wrote in my blog some months ago) that it would have been more interesting if the "generator" in the movie actually "generated" (e.g. created an enormous surplus like a huge photovoltaic array suddently going online, dumping power into the grid like all of us with ReNU (CitizenRe PV systems) will be doing in a year or so) ... rather than "sucked" an enormous amount of power FROM the grid.

Overall, a film worth seeing, especially now on DVD.

great quote by William Tiller

BruceRawles.com — 2007-09-15T11:23:52-07:00

"Everything seems to interact with everything else at many subtle levels of the universe beyond the purely physical level, and the deeper we penetrate into these levels, the more do we realize that we are One." - William Tiller, from the Preface to Stalking the Wild Pendulum by Itzhak Bentov.

The Shift video clip

BruceRawles.com — 2007-08-01T13:26:00-07:00

Thanks to Jan C. for suggesting this great little clip (with some familiar friends and faces :-) ... We just keep coming back to interconnectedness!

Metta - The practice of Universal Loving-Kindness

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-28T13:31:56-07:00

Thanks to Robert D. for this inspiring music, imagery and text about
Metta - The practice of Universal Loving-Kindness

Apollo Alliance

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-27T13:34:00-07:00

Thanks to Warren for alerting me to the Apollo Alliance

Just finished Your Immortal Reality by Gary Renard

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-22T14:24:15-07:00

Today I finished reading the wonderful book, Your Immortal Reality by Gary Renard. I can't recommend it highly enough! The whole book) (just like his first book, The Disappearance of the Universe) is loaded with undiluted spiritual wisdom of the most practical sort! I'll have much more to say about these books with future re-readings. One of the highlights for me was the updated Gospel of Thomas, presented by Pursah... I recommend that you read both books to get the meta-personal connection between the authors which is both boggling and inspiring!

One technique is to just forgive yourself for creating whatever you've created in the world that upsets you with the "JAFO" (Just Another Forgiveness Opportunity) acronym... I'm test driving the technique and getting a superb ride! :-)

Illusion Movie with Kirk Douglas

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-21T22:28:00-07:00

Tonight we had some friends over to watch a DVD I checked out from Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library (RVML) titled "Illusion". It starred Kirk Douglas among other unfamiliar actors and actresses. We all enjoyed it! The metaphor of the projector playing out the choices we make as "editors" which result in the illusory world we see on the "screen" of the material world was well done, as were the lessons of compassion.

Tempest At Oregon Shakespeare Festival

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-20T16:22:00-07:00

Last night, my sister, her family (sans niece finishing up a summer physics internship in Australia researching gravity waves), and I attended a stellar performance of The Tempest at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival... (thanks, Gayle!) I was not only inspired by the excellent performances, great costumes and staging, I particularly appreciated the deeper meaning of the play, which revolved around forgiveness... so synchronistic, as I'm completing the first reading of Gary Renard's book, Your Immortal Reality, which is completely about the same crucial element in our awakening – realizing there is ultimately nothing in our eternal nature to forgive.

Here's a quote from the Tempest from Renard's book (page 140)I had just read a few days (synchronistically):

"Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep."

Kinda puts our fleeting and ephemeral issues into perspective :-)

My sister has a lovely collection of antique and reproduction prints of Shakespeare, such as this one:

Here's how to contact her if you want prints or cards for your store or home:

Crater Lake

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-19T18:00:00-07:00

I had the pleasure of taking my brother-in-law John and two nephews (Johnny and David) to Crater Lake National Park today. Here are a few photos du jour :-) The French Onion soup and the exquisite colors of blue on the water were a couple of the highlights we enjoyed. As you can see, John is still recovering from a wild kangaroo ride (or something like that) from a recent trip down under.

Butte Creek Mill, Eagle Point

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-18T23:18:00-07:00

Tomorrow I'm taking my visiting family to see the Butte Creek Mill here in Eagle Point. The new owners, Bob and Debby Russell, have a passion for this wonderful old (135 years old) water powered grain mill, preserving it's history (Bob has a great antique store next door and a superb video on the mill running continuously inside) and also keeping the salmon running with the steady flow of water the mill requires. Check it out if you're in the area!

Ed Kellogg article on Trans-Personal Dreaming Beyond Time and Space

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-17T23:36:00-07:00

Thanks to Ed Kellogg for this superb article; here are his notes about source and reference material...

Glad you enjoyed my abstract - feel free to post it - or selections thereof - on your blog.

You can find my abstract online here:

http://www.asdreams.org/2007/abstracts/abstracts_a-h.htm

Scroll down about halfway below Rita Dwyer, who chaired the "Cosmic Dreaming" session.

You can also find the abstract for my dream healing workshop here:

http://www.asdreams.org/2007/abstracts/abstracts_i-r.htm

Scroll down to Kellogg.

They recorded two of my sessions, "Cosmic Dream Connections" (#306) and "Exploring Inner Space "(#321.)

http://www.conferencerecording.com/aaaListTapes.asp?CID=ASD27

"Trans-Personal Dreaming Beyond Time and Space."

Short Abstract: Mystics through the ages have taught that although humans have separate personalities, that at a deeper level we share the same greater Self. The validation of psi-dreaming supports this idea, and has demonstrated that through dreams we can connect with people, places, and times unrelated to our waking lives.

Summary: Some models of consciousness posit that although humans have separate personalities, that at the deepest level we all share the same greater Self. As a metaphor think of our waking selves as leaves upon a tree - although the leaves differ from one another, they all belong to the same Tree and share the same trunk and roots. In this model, telepathy would not involve transfer of information over a distance between separate minds, but of simply accessing information by going within to find what the ‘Greater You’ already knows. This "Tree of Life" model of creation has found support in the writings and experiences of mystics through the ages. In recent years, scientific research under controlled conditions has demonstrated that through psi-dreaming we can connect with people, places, and times unrelated to our waking lives.

How might this manifest in our dreams? I've noticed over the years that while many people often dream of themselves in ways that closely match their waking physical reality experiences, that these people report also dreams in which they become someone else, or even something else, and experience the world from a very different perspective than in their waking lives. In my own case, I've experienced myself in dreams as many different beings - age, sex, race, etc. Often not only does my dreambody differ from its waking physical reality counterpart, but so does my dream personality and memories. However, through all this, my essential sense of self somehow remains the same - "I" remain "me", my dreambody, personality and memories seem no more "me" than does the clothing I wear or the car that I drive. I’d estimate that in 80% of dreams my dream self differs significantly in some way from my waking physical reality self.

Although I believe that although some dreams of this type may have to do with personality "aspects", that for most of them this explanation proves inadequate. Instead I favor different interpretations, in that I experience while dreaming parallel selves, past lives, future lives, and even other dimensional lives, and that tuning into different locations and different beings throughout the Multiverse just seems a routine and normal activity for my dreaming Self. And after many years of such experiences, I've finally come up with an answer to the perennial "Why do we dream?" question that rings true for me. Dreams provide "food for the soul", reconnecting us to our greater Selves and allowing a therapeutic release from the constraints of a time-space bound existence that reminds us, if only unconsciously, of the illusion of separateness.

Solar Power to the People -free lecture tonight!

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-12T15:59:34-07:00

TONIGHT! Thursday, July 12, 2007
Solar Power for the People! Tonight in Ashland, Oregon! (RVML.org for details)
If you could have locked in gas prices 5 years ago, would you have done it?
You now have the opportunity to lock in your electricity rates for the next 25 years!
Not only that, you can also upgrade your home to solar in the process.
On Thursday, July 12, 2007, Abigail Lewis will give a free presentation on a new
program that removes the traditional barriers to going solar: cost, investment risk
and technical expertise. Come to a free presentation on how to obtain affordable
solar power by leasing a solar system for your home instead of purchasing one.
Now anyone can afford to go solar. Attendees will have the opportunity to sign up
for a system. Installations are beginning in 2008. The presentation will take place
July 12 at the Nuwandart Gallery at 258 A St (across from Ace Hardware) in Ashland,
Oregon from 7:30 pm - 9pm. I will be there, both learning more and videotaping.
Here's a link to learn more about the program.

Richard Feather Anderson slide shows and workshop in Ashland, Oregon

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-11T16:03:00-07:00

(Alas; all RFA events in this post are CANCELLED; as of 23 July 2007; the workshop might be rescheduled around Nov. 3-4, 2007)

Richard Feather Anderson will be giving a slideshow "The Eight Patterns of Nature" on July 25, another slideshow "Geometry That Matters: Power of Creation, Laws of Harmony" on July 27, and a weekend workshop "Exploring the Symbolic Language of Geometry" July 28-29, 2007 (Friday evening through Sunday) in Ashland, Oregon. I had the pleasure of meeting Richard while attending a recent (MARVELOUS!) evening talk on labyrinths in Medford, following on the heels of the local regional labyrinth gathering here a few weeks ago featuring Jean Houston. Based on the enthusiastic response, this will be a more intensive follow-on workshop exploring labyrinths, sacred geometry, regional geomancy and much more. Since Richard and I complement each other's work, I will be assisting at this weekend workshop giving short multimedia presentations on topics that emphasize 3D and higher dimensional geometries. If you are interested, or would like to reserve a place in upcoming slideshow or workshops, contact Bonnie Bayard at 541-773-4286. The short presentations I give this weekend will be "samplers" of expanded workshops I'll be conducting in the southern Oregon area (or your vicinity!); contact me for details.

Here's more details from Richard:

What is Sacred Geometry all about and why should we care?

The Eight Patterns of Nature

Is it really true that Nature needs only eight patterns to create and sustain all life? Learn how spirals, meanders, and other dynamic patterns work for plants, animals, and the human body, and how free-flowing water purifies itself. The world will never look the same after viewing these astounding images and acquiring the ability to recognize cosmic patterns in ordinary things!

“Richard is the first person to explain the golden mean in a way I could understand.” – Jillian Brorby, feng shui consultant

The Geometry That Matters:
Power of Creation, Laws of Harmony

A visual introduction to the themes of the weekend workshop.

View a multitude of awe-inspiring images and awaken to the staggering recognition of the order and harmony of the universe. Learn about the essential role geometry plays in the continual creation of our universe. It is one of the greatest reservoirs of Nature’s laws of harmony. Sacred Geometry has the unique ability to depict the essence of a thing (by revealing its true underlying vibrational quality), rather than merely represent it metaphorically. Understand why knowledge of sacred geometry is crucial to be able to create beauty and ecologically sustainable culture, and design environments in harmony with Nature so they feed the human soul.

“You gave the best presentation of the whole conference! I learned more about sacred geometry from you in one hour than from any other talk.” — Ursula Rabe, feng shui consultant/astrologer and fine artist, Grass Valley, CA

Exploring the Symbolic Language of Geometry

Geometry is the universe’s secret way to turn energy into matter, and guide the growth of all forms of life. It holds the real key to the identity of DNA, a molecule, or an organism, and enables Nature to implant intention and form harmonious, life-enhancing relationships.

Learn about the benefits of tapping into this body of knowledge, including the ability:
* To recognize spatial patterns more quickly and accurately
* To read the geometry of a building as a language that may reveal the symbolic message the original builders wanted the edifice to embody and convey.

This seminar will be a rare opportunity to re-discover geometry as a rich, universal, symbolic language, which illuminates the core teachings of the world’s spiritual traditions in a pure, non-dogmatic way. (This obviously bears little resemblance to high school geometry or math!) Richard's use of a hands-on, visual, kinesthetic, Mystery School approach restores geometry to its ancient sacred function as a portal into meditation, soul-work, and timeless wisdom.

• Understand proportions, like the golden ratio, that guide the growth of organisms.
• Relive the initiation into the laws of manifestation that our cells received during embryonic development.
• Discover the intriguing geometrical symbols hidden within cosmological mandalas.
• Glimpse how to apply the laws of harmony to create art and architecture in which all the parts relate harmoniously to each other and the whole like a well-tuned orchestra.
• Join us for a visual tour of Chartres, the most glorious French Gothic Cathedral, and witness how to decode the hidden messages in its geometry, to gain clues about its potential mystical uses and cosmological story.

“You helped me get all the connections, including the surprise of how geometry applies to group process. When I’m with a teacher who loves what he’s doing, I understand it in my body.” – Gail Gardener, massage therapist

Evening Talks start promptly @ 7:00 pm; Q & A from 9-9:30 pm
Suggested Donation: $10-20 in advance or at door

Sat-Sun. Workshop Fee: $225 - $325 sliding scale. If paid by July 20, Friday night slide show is included in seminar fee. Please register by July 20 to help make workshop happen.

Locations and materials list will be sent when payment is received.

For Questions on Content: Contact Richard at 707.544.8203

For Registration Information: Call Bonnie at 541-773-4286 between 9 am - 8 pm.
Space is limited to maximize personal attention.

To Register: Call first to reserve space, then confirm by mailing your non-refundable check, made payable to Richard Anderson, to Bonnie Bayard, POB 1691, Medford, OR 97501. Please write on your check which programs you have registered for.

...
Update (11Mar2008) from Richard Feather Anderson:

RECORDINGS AND BOOKLETS BY RICHARD FEATHER ANDERSON

___ Booklet — The Patterns of Life — Description of the eight patterns that Nature uses to create and sustain all life on planet Earth. Each pattern allows Nature to function efficiently, using the least amount of energy and matter, thus conserving its resources. Examples are given of how the patterns manifest in the forms and dynamic forces of Nature. Knowing these patterns enables you to see the world more fully, understand the basis of feng shui, and recognize the archetypal power of single-path labyrinths. 5 pp.
$5.00+ .80

To place an order, Please print out and use order form below to calculate sales tax and shipping charges.

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Richard Feather Anderson
American School of Geomancy
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707.544.8203

Moore's "Sicko" asks some important questions about compassion

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-08T22:35:00-07:00

We just saw the movie "Sicko" in Ashland yesterday; I think it is Michael Moore's finest film so far ...
Of course, there's more to the health equation in the realm of cause, but this film asks LOTS of
important questions about basic compassion and common sense (or the lack of it) in this country ...

Did you Know? Exponential times and interesting statistics

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-03T09:01:00-07:00

Thanks to Hearne, Libby (and perhaps a few others) for suggesting this eye-opening video that puts the exponentially expanding times we're living in into perspective!

Vitruvian Man in Star Tetrahedron

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-02T08:01:00-07:00

Here's another Vitruvian Man image I created in POV-Ray; this one inside a star tetrahedron with a tiled background of galaxy NGC300.

Interview With Gary Renard about The Disappearance of the Universe

BruceRawles.com — 2007-07-01T23:17:07-07:00

Here's a great overview (video interview) of the book I'm savoring and will re-read many times by its author:
The Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard

Yahoo Group for The Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-30T23:22:00-07:00

Here's a Yahoo (dialogue) Group about of the book I'm savoring and will re-read many times by its author:
The Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard

Inner Den in Eagle Point, Oregon now exhibiting my art and books

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-29T13:01:00-07:00

Last Saturday, some friends of ours, John & Paula Mageras, had a grand opening celebration of their new store, Inner Den, in Eagle Point (117 West Main Street, next to Antonio's Italian Restaurant and WAMU. They are featuring a beautiful selection of unique gifts, crystals,
books (including my Sacred Geometry Design SourceBook), candles, incense, CDs, Dagoba chocolate and much more... (including 7 framed giclée prints from my Martineau Solar System series) Check 'em out! Here are some photos from their new store.

Solar (Photovoltaic) Power for the People

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-28T10:16:09-07:00

Here's a blurb about a presentation that my friend Abby is giving soon in Ashland, Oregon
(an innovative, cost-effective leasing program):

Solar Power for the People!

If you could have locked in gas prices 5 years ago,
would you have done it? You now have the opportunity
to lock in your electricity rates for the next 25
years! Not only that, you can also upgrade your home
to solar in the process.

On Thursday, July 12, 2007, Abigail Lewis will give a free
presentation on a new program that removes the
traditional barriers to going solar: cost, investment
risk and technical expertise. Come to a free
presentation on how to obtain affordable solar power
by leasing a solar system for your home instead of
purchasing one. Now anyone can afford to go solar.

Attendees will have the opportunity to sign up for a
system. Installations are beginning in 2008.

The presentation will take place Thursday, July 12 at
the Nuwandart Gallery at 258 A St (across from Ace
Hardware) in Ashland from 7:30 pm - 9pm. To learn more
about the program, please visit
www.SolarSolutionsNow.net or call Abigail at
541-621-2680

3D Labyrinth near Talent, Oregon

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-27T22:23:00-07:00

Recently I had the pleasure of traversing a unique spiral labyrinth near Talent, Oregon, created by Brian Tortora. Interestingly, the kinesthetic experience of this labyrinth (unlike all the others I've walked), reminded me of a mystical dream where my range of motion became more and more constrained to the verge of claustrophobia, yet I trusted the process and kept going forward to experience a wonderful epiphany as the outcome. Here's a photo of Brian's colorful 3D spiral which converges in the center of it all. Brian is a sculptor of some amazing geometrical musical work, including one he showed me called "Music of the Spheres" (in a process of restoration in his yard) which plays music with Pythagorean tunings; I wanna hear it! :-) Brian and his partner attended our Hedronists meeting yesterday; our group is happily expanding!

Vitruvian Sphere

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-26T06:21:00-07:00

Here's a little sample of an image I'm working on for a favor for my friend Diane :-) A little step toward my resolution of actually posting some of the visuals on this blog to save a few thousand words!

Adyashanti Quote

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-25T21:52:00-07:00

Thanks to Haines for playing more of his Adyashanti tape collection on his Earth Mysteries radio show today on KVMR-FR, Nevada City, California. Here's a quote from today I particularly liked:

"Egos don't have the choice you think you have."

A good reminder to let go of our attachments to personal stories and identifications! :-)

Meeting with Gangaji

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-24T06:07:00-07:00

Tonight in Ashland I attended my first "satsang" (public meeting) with Gangaji ... more profound wisdom about who we really are... beyond space, time, personalities ... all offered in a grateful spirit of support without the slightest hint of attachment to outcome. :-) Even when the power to the public address and video system went out a couple of times, it was obvious that her identity was anchored in the reality we all share which doesn't require "external" power; great reminders! Wake up time as we find peace in the center of the hurricane! :-)

Global Oneness Project and the Forgiveness Project

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-23T10:13:34-07:00

I'm about half-way through my first read of The Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard and this morning came across an amusing radical notion that the new "f word" (truly radical!) is FORGIVENESS! This reminds me of Colin Tipping's work and book, Radical Forgiveness. I also discovered the same amusing phrase in The Forgiveness Project website (while perusing the Global Oneness Project website, my colleague in forgiveness research and practice, Leonard Laskow showed me.

Renard's book continues to astound me with the depth and profundity of the power of true forgiveness, which, as his book and A Course In Miracles reminds, is not about anything outside ourselves, including the "people" and "Universe" that appear to be external. It is about letting go of the mental model that believes in the illusion of separateness and forgiving ourselves for ever believing that our unlimited, immortal selves could ever suffer (or punish).

Illumination by Ken Jenkins

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-22T10:27:08-07:00

I just borrowed yet another inspiring video from RVML; Illumination by Ken Jenkins. I had a copy of this exquisitely lovely abstract imagery which I loaned far and wide years ago (if you have my copy, feel free to return it :-) ... Any way, a beautiful work of meditative art if you have a chance to see it.

Gary Renard - The Disappearance of the Universe

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-21T23:52:00-07:00

I just started reading The Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard ... Wow; what a profound book!!! I'm not even a quarter of the way through and already I know this will be on my list of all time favorite books; it is tying together so many great spiritual insights, including motivating me to revisit A Course In Miracles. An infinite thank you to Gary, his mentors, their mentor and the source of it all!

1 Giant Leap, The Quantum Hologram and Liquid Buddha DVDs

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-20T23:20:00-07:00

A few DVDs I recommend (the first two I found on the shelves at RVML)

The Quantum Hologram and ESP by Dr. Egdar Mitchell (founder of IONS - the Institute of Noetic Sciences) This DVD offers lots of straight talk about what current science does and does not say about many popular theories; quite interesting!

1 Giant Leap: This beautiful, soulful work of art also belongs in the world music category, yet the commentary seamlessly woven into this flowing art makes it a powerful documentary (really in its own genre) as well!

Liquid Buddha: Lovely animations using some classic sacred geometry models and elegant lighting...

Symbol the represents "The One"

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-19T15:20:00-07:00

Here is a reply to a recent email that touches on the profoundly ineffable unity within us all, and how challenging it is to not become attached to reflections (or outcomes or effects)...

I am looking for a universal symbol that represents 'The-One', can you please point me to one?

Wow; that's quite a question! On a superficial level, I would suggest that the point might be a good candidate, since every point in space-time (and probably all other dimensions we can imagine with our finite human apparatus :-) represents the profound unity we all share; another good representative might be a circle (in 2D) or sphere (in 3D) which can be arbitrarily large to embrace the oneness within in an egalitarian manner.

On a deeper level (and vastly more important one), it might be more appropriate to suggest that Oneness transcends all form, even the most eloquent examples of ineffable principles that we share intrinsically. My current work with "The Geometry Code" is intended to convey some of that universal connectedness that the cosmic mystery unfolds for us as we allow our consciousness to embrace more of the ALL. I'm currently reading The Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard which reminds me that The One does not recognize form, and our purpose is to recall our identity with The One. Geometric metaphors can only be guideposts, seen in the proper light for recalling our intrinsic Oneness, but any expression is but a reflection of the ineffable One.

Also, I have a friend who can program pics to emit orgone and tachyon energy. I am looking for a pic that is perfect for that. Preferably black and white. Can you please point me to one.

There are countless examples; I would also suggest that the most important element is your intention; the particular imagery is (despite my fascination with universal patterns) not quite as important, although still relevant.

Jaw-dropping PhotoSynth" demo

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-18T09:17:00-07:00

Thanks to Libby for showing our Hedronists group this amazing "Jaw-dropping PhotoSynth" demo... Click on one of the links under "Download this talk" to view the video. I particularly was impressed with the Notre Dame sequence, compiled dynamically as a 3D model from thousands of existing online photographs of varying resolution, analyzed for how they all stitch together as a panorama as well as a 3D model... impressive! ... I also hope the hydrogen-powered BMW in the ad at the end is both real and affordable (no vaporware, please! :-) Meanwhile, let's plan our communities and lives so that we don't need to travel so much! Our planet needs our support!!!

CitizenRe REnU - Solar Photovoltaic Leasing program

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-17T14:41:00-07:00

Living Luminaries Film screens tonight in Ashland

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-16T08:42:38-07:00

Tonight (June 16, 2007) I will be attending a screening of a film (Living Luminaries - The Serious Business of Happiness) that other friends have spoken highly of. On the basis of the connection with Spiritual Cinema Circle, their recommendations (and the fact that I know and admire many of those featured on the film (particularly Eckhart Tolle and Marianne WIlliamson); I even interviewed one of them on the radio, Don Miguel Ruiz, a few years ago), I'm posting a blurb here about the local screening tonight in Ashland, Oregon even before I've seen it :-) Here's the blurb:

'Living Luminaries' on
            "The Secret Business of Happiness"
Back by popular demand - Described by viewers as "the yin to The Secret's yang!"* This acclaimed new Gotham Metro film looks at what it means to become truly happy with life.

Featuring some of the most inspirational individuals of our day:

* Living Luminaries: Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now), Marianne Williamson, Rev. Michael Beckwith (featured on       Oprah with 'The Secret'), Don Miguel Ruiz (The Four Agreements), Gary Renard (Disappearance of the Universe),       Matthew Kelly (Seven Levels of Intimacy).
Spiritual Leaders: Nachum Shiffren (The Surfing Rabbi), Rev. Robert A. Schuller (of the Crystal Cathedral), the Venerable Tibetan Lama Chodak Gyatso Nupka, Rev. Mary Manin Morrissey, Dr. Harry Morgan Moses.

Civil Rights Advocates: Geronimo Ji Jaga (Black Panther – aka. Geronimo Pratt), contemporary thinkers and enlightened teachers such as Obadiah S. Harris, Ph.D. (University of Philosophical Research), Dr. Robert Frager, Rabbi Yitchok Adlerstein (Loyola University) and Rev.Dr. William S. Epps; and many more with unique insights on how to attain happiness in our complicated times...

"Truly an eye-opening, inspiring and uplifting film for everyone!"
To view movie trailer, Click here.   www.sbofh.com
Special guests: Noted Chi-Gong Master Mingtong of The Chi Healing Center of Ashland will lead some transfor-mational healing movements before the film for all, with a 'Q & A' afterword by "Healing Mind" author Jon Bono.
Unitarian Center - 87 4th St., Ashland
Saturday, June 16th at 7:30pm
Tickets $10 @ the door
*Come early for general seating*
Come join us to discover the true meaning of "happiness"...
Contact: Jon Bono   (541) 482-5210
Webpage link: http://excaliburtrust.com/sboh

SGDS as an eBook?

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-15T07:29:00-07:00

I just received an email inquiry asking if Sacred Geometry Design Sourcebook could be purchased as an eBook download. If you, too, are interested, please contact me with "SGDS eBook" in the subject heading, so I'll know there is more interest, and will move that project up in priority! Here's my reply:

Many thanks for your inquiry.

Sacred Geometry Design Sourcebook is not CURRENTLY available as a downloadable eBook... However, that is a great idea, and one I'm considering... Synchronistically, I'm exploring a way to convert the majority of the files in the book (over 200 multilayer images) from the obsolete ClarisCAD into a format I can use with my current computer software. This would make an eBook much easier and provide even better resolution than the current 300 d.p.i. (which is what I'd prefer to do), as well as make other editions (in addition to the current English and German offerings) much easier to create. I'll keep you posted on this project if you're not in a big hurry, since it may take a while.

At present, I have a number of options for purchasing the book, including various online and physical bookstores, a printable order form (for autographed copies) and shipping it directly from the printer to you (the quickest and most economical/ecological method). I've lost count of the number of happy customers in numerous countries around the world I've shipped books to over the past 10 years or so! :-)

If you want to begin exploring some of the content, I have a Star Tetrahedron (with 2 variations) plus all of the Platonic Solid and Archimedean Solid fold-up pages, as well as a Great Pyramid model fold-up and several other pages from the book on my website, (including a few bonus pages not in the book like Kepler's Solid) to give you a sampling of the contents (over 1300 images, counting all the variations on the 220+ primary images.)

Cheers and blessings!

Neat wind-powered beach-walking kinetic sculptures

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-14T23:06:00-07:00

Thanks to Emmett for sending me this link to a clip showing some neat wind-powered kinetic beach walking sculptures, and this related dynamic animation analysis of the concept.

Toroidal animations

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-13T15:07:00-07:00

Thanks to Luke for alerting me to this lovely toroidal animation... see also Nassim's animation (by Bob Gray) for comparison.

Some great quotes about music, Pythagoras, etc.

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-12T13:47:00-07:00

Thanks to Ed Kellogg for sending me this link to some great quotes about music, Pythagoras, etc.

Gorgeous Day at Touvelle State Park

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-11T21:50:00-07:00

Nancy & I had a fine stroll along the Rogue River yesterday at Touvelle State Park, hobnobbing with the ducks, osprey, and lots of fluffy cottonwood seeds adrift in the air. Here's a photo she took of me on an oak limb.

Rube Goldberg would have loved this one!

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-10T01:22:00-07:00

Thanks to Daniel H. for this great Goldberg contraption clip :-)

Composite-animation

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-09T01:26:00-07:00

Composite (all seven Hermetic Laws) animation example from The Geometry Code Screensaver/Meditation tool/eBooklet.

Composite-Thumbnail

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-08T09:55:00-07:00

Composite (all seven Hermetic Laws) example still image from the animations in The Geometry Code Screensaver/Meditation tool/eBooklet

Generation-Thumbnail

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-07T09:53:00-07:00

Generation (example still image from the animations in The Geometry Code Screensaver/Meditation tool/eBooklet

Cause And Effect-Thumbnail

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-06T09:47:00-07:00

Cause And Effect (example still image from the animations in The Geometry Code Screensaver/Meditation tool/eBooklet

Rhythm-Thumbnail

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-05T09:45:00-07:00

Rhythm (example still image from the animations in The Geometry Code Screensaver/Meditation tool/eBooklet

Polarity-Thumbnail

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-04T09:44:02-07:00

Polarity (example still image from the animations in The Geometry Code Screensaver/Meditation tool/eBooklet

Vibration-Thumbnail

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-03T09:41:00-07:00

Vibration (example still image from the animations in The Geometry Code Screensaver/Meditation tool/eBooklet

Correspondence-Thumbnail

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-02T09:32:00-07:00

Correspondence (example still image from the animations in The Geometry Code Screensaver/Meditation tool/eBooklet

New Macintosh version of The Geometry Code Screensaver/Meditation tool/eBooklet

BruceRawles.com — 2007-06-01T21:45:07-07:00

Mentalism (example still image from the animations in The Geometry Code Screensaver/Meditation tool/eBooklet

Hooray! We (Mika Feinberg and myself) just finished the Macintosh version of The Geometry Code Screensaver/Meditation tool/eBooklet! It is now available for download along with the Windows version which has been available for a few months. Since I'm catching up with other projects, I'll post the gorgeous thumbnail snaps from Mika's site to give you a "frozen in time taste" of his dazzling animations based on the line art I created in collaboration. The full book is still underway; stay tuned!

Here is the Mentalism thumbnail ... these 8 thumbnails comprise my first 8 days of blog entries for June... More info on Geometrycode.com and larger images (scroll to the bottom) at Sacred-Geometry.com

Great Interview with James Barrett, author of Silent Gospel

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-31T08:05:00-07:00

My dear friend and colleague, James Barrett, author of The Silent Gospel, has a new interview by some other friends (Regina and Scott Meredith) whose work I admire at Conscious Media Network. In this interview, he covers lots of interesting material about heart wisdom and intelligence. One point that seems very profound, both literally and metaphorically, is that the human heart is autogenic, meaning that it drives all the other rhythms in the body, not the other way around - the heart doesn't get it's biochemical beating orders from the brain or anywhere else - IT is the source!

Women In Art animation

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-30T08:04:00-07:00

Thanks to Charley and Dan for this amazing sequence of world class "Women In Art". Now I want to visit all the galleries to see all the originals; lovely artistry morphing individual masterpieces to create another integrated masterpiece with a vivid sense of the divine feminine archetype ... a perfect example of the eternal hologram being greater than the sum of its (temporally sliced) parts!

Dan Shaw - Silkscreens from SGDS

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-29T08:04:00-07:00

Thanks to long time friend and colleague Dan Shaw for posting a photo of some of his silkscreen artistry, inspired in part from images from my Sacred Geometry Design Sourcebook. In addition to making a nice rendition from the "Pentagram Dodecahedron Fractal" on page 154, he also created a lovely Escher-esque vertical banner from the "Fishscale Grid" sequence on pages 53, 54, and 62. Can't wait to see the t-shirts! :-)

Great restaurant in Florence, Oregon

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-28T17:24:00-07:00

If you happen to visit Florence, Oregon, check out the Waterfront Depot Restaurant. 541-902-9100. We had a great seafood meal there last weekend.

Adrian Rossiter's Excellent Geometry Gallery

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-27T08:04:00-07:00

If you haven't already explored it, Adrian Rossiter has an excellent gallery of geometric models and animations, including polyhedra, tensegrity models, polyhedron clusters, 17 types of polyhedron symmetry, jitterbug, gear (very cool!) and torus animations, zonohedra, geodesics, string art, octet trusses, and more.

Natural pest control company

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-26T20:43:00-07:00

For over a year, we've been using a natural pest control company, Alpha Ecological, which uses (to the best of my knowledge) some benign (to plants, animals and people) concoction based on crushed crysanthemums. My understanding is that this organic mixture is like a microscopic "barbed wire" fence for ants, earwigs, etc. sprayed right around the house. My preference is to "live and let live", but when we had simultaneous invasions of ants, earwigs and black widow spiders both inside and outside (and resorted to spraying), it was a relief to know of this healthier alternative.

Toroidal Energy Source

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-25T04:19:02-07:00

Thanks to Luke for sending me this interesting link (SingTech) to what appears to be yet another promising energy technology (where geometry again plays an integral role). The toroidal animation on the home page is a big clue to where this might be going.

Delicious Balsamic Vinegar

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-24T19:53:00-07:00

Thanks to Leonard (and his wife Sama) for not only the link, but also allowing me to taste (a few days ago), some totally delicious imported Balsamic vinegar on a variety of tasty lunch fare.

Psi Wars: Fun Noetics Cartoon

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-23T18:43:20-07:00

Here's a fun cartoon Psi Wars: Is the Force Real? which highlights how consciousness impacts matter) from the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS)

Flatland - the film

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-22T07:56:27-07:00

Flatland - the film ... looks interesting!

Website That Links e, Pi and Phi

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-21T21:46:08-07:00

Here's a website that links together e, pi and phi. Lots to explore here.

Euler's Beautiful Equation

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-20T16:23:00-07:00

Here's an article about Euler's Beautiful Equation (linking e, pi and i).

Running The Numbers-Activist Art

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-19T10:13:00-07:00

Here's an interesting online exhibit of how we're squandering our resources ... depicted artistically!

Labyrinth Gathering - This Weekend

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-18T08:24:25-07:00

The Labyrinth Society (Northwest Region) is having their annual gathering this weekend in Medford, Oregon. Jean Houston will gave a keynote address tonight.

Expanding Earth?

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-17T12:05:00-07:00

Thanks to Luke G. for this thought provoking animation showing how the continental drift/tectonic plate theory might be due to expansion!

Amoraea's Visionary Art

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-16T11:36:22-07:00

Our Hedronist group had the pleasure of meeting visionary artist Amoraea Dreamseed yesterday afternoon at our impromptu open air meeting in front of the Ashland Food Coop. He showed us a large canvas giclée print (among others) of his recent creation: The Sacred Covenant, which has some lovely geometry (including a Sri Yantra tiled column) and imagery.

Biological Encyclopedia

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-15T15:21:00-07:00

Thanks to Shaun L. for pointing out this neat wiki-esque Encyclopedia of Life whose tag line reads: "Imagine an electronic page for each species of organism on Earth available everywhere by single access on command." E.O. Wilson"

More from Crater Rock Museum

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-14T10:04:30-07:00

Here's another few images from Crater Rock Museum with examples of spiral and other interesting shapes caused by the underlying mineral/crystal geometries (I believe the third one was artificially grown bismuth crystals with a rectangular maze-like pattern.

Crater Rock Museum

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-13T10:35:11-07:00

Yesterday we savored the superb gem and mineral collection at the Crater Rock Museum in Central Point, Oregon. Even if you're not a rock hound, this is a detour worth stopping off I5 for, if you're traveling through southern Oregon. Here are a few photos from the amazing collection there:

Apollo 11 hoax video

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-12T10:21:20-07:00

Thanks to Luke for this amusing "alternative theory" video about Neil Armstrong's first lunar steps...

Ron Quinn's Vastu website

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-11T11:12:00-07:00

Here is Ron Quinn's website on Vastu (which I'm just learning about) that evidently is an ancient Hindu sacred geometry tradition that incorporates architecture and much more. He is giving presentations in southern Oregon in summer 2007.

Website Site Map XML resource

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-10T10:47:00-07:00

Here's an interesting resource for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) using an XML protocol for Site Maps.

Magnetic motor production in Europe

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-09T09:21:00-07:00

Thanks to a friend (now buried in email archives and I'm too lazy/busy at the moment to hunt for it!) for this interesting article about magnetic motor production in Europe.

new website for Nassim Haramein

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-08T09:09:00-07:00

Colleague Nassim has a new website and DVD, Crossing The Event Horizon. I attended Nassim's presenation for IONS in Petaluma, Calif. in 2004, and was quite impressed. He is giving another there on 22May2007 and a similar one in Santa Barbara on 20May2007.

Presentation tonight for IONS in Talent, Oregon

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-07T00:03:12-07:00

If anyone is in southern Oregon and would like to see a very abbreviated presentation of my recent work, I'll be sharing some fun info with the ORIONS (Oregon Institute of Noetic Sciences) group tonight. Check out my Events page for details.

Kepler's Inner Planets Crystal by Bathsheba

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-06T06:37:00-07:00

Bathsheba Grossman has created another lovely crystal in her array of exquisite art... this one is a 3D model of Johannes Kepler's diagram of the inner planets, first published in his 1596 book Mysterium Cosmographicum. I'd love to see this first hand....

I created a POV-Ray model a while ago entitled "Homage to Kepler" which incorporates both the inner and outer solar system models.

Even at smaller print sizes you can see both the inner and outer models fairly easily. If you want a really close view, the print is available all the way up to 36" x 27". This early POV-Ray model was a precursor to my Martineau Solar System Series now being exhibited in at least 3 different venues on this planet.

David Wilcock

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-05T11:36:00-07:00

I just watched yet another a superb video presentation (checked out of the RVML library: The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce with Wynn Free & David Wilcock. I was expecting it to be mostly about Edgar Cayce, then (re)discovered that Wilcock (like me) is passionate about sacred geometry. In this video, I even saw a familiar image

I wasn't expecting to see; glad he found my POV-Ray model of the Platonic Solid dual relationships useful :-)

Wilcock has compiled some wonderful and amazing material on his website. I've barely scratched the surface.

Earth Changes-The Ripple Effect

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-04T11:35:00-07:00

I just watched another superb video presentation (checked out of the RVML library): Earth Changes-The Ripple Effect: Alaska Sounds the Alarm by Dr. Nick Begich I find Nick's presentations always lucid even-handed accounts of not only what represents issues of greatest concern, but where the greatest promise lies and how we can contribute to that promise. I've had the pleasure of seeing two presentations by Dr. Begich hosted by RVML.

Great RVML video: Fred Burks

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-03T11:13:48-07:00

I just watched a superb video presentation (checked out of the RVML library) by Fred Burks (former White House interpreter): Talks of Transformation. Check out his websites: Web of Love and For Those Who Want To Know I really like his emphasis on how we're ALL responsible for our contributions to global and political situations, and how holding the best intention for all is key to our optimal future!

23June2007 Open House time update

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-02T11:17:13-07:00

Our Hedronists (a.k.a. Ashland Geometers) Open House time has been shifted to 5:30-8:30 PM (same date Sat. June 23, 2007) to allow folks to attend Ron's Vaastu workshop earlier that day; details forthcoming. See my Events page for details.

New website updates!

BruceRawles.com — 2007-05-01T10:58:00-07:00

MAJOR website changes today! Intent.com has moved to geometrycode.com and brucerawles.com...

Intent.com has a new steward/owner! We've had a number of offers over the years to buy our domain,
and recently 3 at one time! However, until now, none had the intent we wanted to go forward with that idea.
The new owner plans to create a website with new content for intent.com soon:
"a community site based on the ideas of exchanging information on wellness, helping the planet,
personal development, and other topics related to health, the environment, and personal expression."

Please explore our new websites! We'd love feedback. (See section 2 about our new email addresses for this.)

Also, PLEASE fix any links you might have on YOUR websites to intent.com. I have redirect pages in place
which should be around for a year, but now's the time to fix the links... THANKS! Thanks particularly to those
of you who have linked to our websites over the years. I'll be adding even more links to our new sites soon,
so please continue to send suggestions for sites that complement the work we're doing.

Here's the result of the "cattle drive" (still in progress) of moving about 12 years of web content to 2 newer sites:

I've moved all of the geometric (and related) content (from intent.com) to:
http://www.geometrycode.com/
Hopefully this new website will be much more accessible and navigable; you might even discover content
that has been there for a dozen years you just never realized was there! :-) This new format (featuring
CSS and SSI) will make it MUCH easier for me to maintain and enhance, so look forward to much more frequent
updates and additions going forward...

I'm moving everything else, such as my favorite books, movies, music, webcasts/radio, etc. and all the
New Frontiers of the Gold Country event archives (from intent.com) to:
http://www.brucerawles.com/
This latter effort is still in progress (just barely started, but I'll finish it ASAP, and I wanted to let everyone know early.

Formation of Fibonacci Spirals In Nature

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-30T10:47:00-07:00

Thanks to Rich in Penn Valley, California for this article:
Scientists find clues to the formation of Fibonacci spirals in nature.

Mission, Vision, Values

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-29T00:46:00-07:00

I found this bit of musing on a page from my old website, while moving files over to the new one:

I see a world

where the intent of all creation is:
• to deeply feel the love of the Great Spirit, the Creator, and express that love in every thought, word and action, by unfettered choice, with commitment and integrity
• to know, with every atom of one's being, that what appears to be "we" is really "I"; to realize, more profoundly than the mere notion that we are all interconnected, that we ARE indeed cells of an infinite organism and each cell is boundless and precious beyond measure
• to become aware of the glorious unlimited spectrum of life in its inexhaustible beauty, wisdom and diversity, treating all creatures with compassion and respect
• to live in a sustainable way where we cherish the freedom and responsibility to share the truth and care for all aspects of the seamless fabric of life
• to recognize that all appearances of polarity and duality are but illusory reflections of a more profound underlying unity, and grasping the gift of this omni-present mirroring, savor the full range of life's blessings while not taking any thing too seriously
• to find joy and meaning in each moment, purpose in each atom, divine order in every pattern from the most minute to the most unimaginably vast
• to see the Universe through the eyes of gratitude, appreciation and humor.

Unsuggester and SGDS

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-28T19:54:00-07:00

I guess I need to encourage more folks (73 more, evidently) on the Unsuggester website to fess up to owning (or just order :^) a copy of my book, before it will tell me what I (we mystical geometers) probably won't like... Here's what it spit back to me when I tried it (just out of curiosity and a sense of whimsy)... to see what might be interesting to read as the "opposite library" to get a complete perspective! :-)

Unsuggester takes "people who like this also like that" and turns it on its head. It analyzes the thirteen million books LibraryThing members have recorded as owned or read, and comes back with books least likely to share a library with the book you suggest. The unsuggestions come from LibraryThing data, not from Amazon. LibraryThing also produces great suggestions. (Update 2/24. I just regenerated the recommendations. Some of the examples on the right are no longer the first result. I'll update them soon.)
UnSuggestions for Sacred Geometry Design Sourcebook: Universal Dimensional Patterns by Bruce Rawles
2 members (690,229 more popular). Members with the book have have a total of 1,879 books in their libraries (see good suggestions).

Sorry. A book must be owned by at least 75 members to have unrecommendations.

Cosmic Rays and Great Pyramid

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-27T21:50:00-07:00

Here's a recent email from my friend Tim in China who was interested in energy photographs of pyramids, and my response.

I spent a good part of the day looking at several sites, including your blog, hoping to get closer to an understanding of exactly how Sacred Geometry affects us mentally/emotionally/physically. I found an energy photograph taken of a pyramid. The pyramid, based on the Great Pyramid, has energy streaming in a double vortex (like DNA) out the apex. It is clear that something is going on.

The photograph of energy around pyramids I wish I had a copy of was created by a composite of computer data compiled by a former neighbor of mine, Nick Chakakis, who was working for Lawrence Livermore Lab in the early 1970s and had set up an elaborate set of parallel detectors underneath the 2nd pyramid at Giza, Egypt (usually ascribed to Kephren, in much the same way the White House might some day be called the Pelosi House by future archaeologists, I imagine :-) Any way, what Nick showed me before I went to Egypt in the fall of 1973, was a photograph (computer simulation, really) showing the accumulated totals of cosmic ray particles that had passed through the massive thickness of limestone blocks composing the 2nd pyramid. My understanding is that when a high energy cosmic ray particle (mu meson if I recall my college physics correctly?) passed through an X-Y matrix of wires in an evacuated, (inert gas filled?) chamber, it was registered and within a nanosecond, give or take, it would also register with a similar X-Y matrix a meter or so away. Depending on the angle, the number of particles registered varies widely. Measurements were taken over many days to give a "portrait" of the thickness of the stone. They took these measurements from several places far enough apart that they could create a 3D model of the thickness of the stone in order to pinpoint where any hidden chambers might be. Most of their "photos" looked upward, but they "took" one photo looking (through hundreds of feet of solid limestone) toward the Great Pyramid. What was evident in the image was an unmistakable outline of the Great Pyramid on the horizon, which was black (since below the horizon there are vastly fewer cosmic particles that make it through thousands of miles of earth compared with a few hundred feet of stone). However... and this is what impressed me most... there was a distinct "halo" or "corona" around the Great Pyramid with a bright emphasized area around the capstone area. If the pyramid shape was "neutral" there should have just been an abrupt edge with roughly the same intensity for the "sky" area" and fairly uniform intensity for the "Great Pyramid" area. However, this corona seemed to match what I'd just learned from attending a lecture by Patrick Flanagan around that same time, that the shape acts as a lens to focus cosmic energy, and everything in my direct and indirect experience seems to support this. I also heard somewhere (perhaps Peter Tompkins book?) anecdotally that pilots don't fly directly over the Great Pyramid, because their instrumentation goes wacky... I was able to contact Nick a few years ago, but he wasn't able to find that photo...alas.

Updated page on Martineau Solar System Series & article in journal Symmetry

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-26T20:42:00-07:00

Another update on the "cattle drive" I'm doing this week : here's an update on my Martineau Solar System Series. I also just received a complimentary copy of Symmetry: Culture and Science, Vol 16, No. 2, 2005, (Journal of the Symmetrion, editor: György Darvas, Polyhedra, Part 3; postal address: Budapest, P. O. Box 994, H-1245 Hungary) which has an article I submitted a few years ago on this subject on pages 193-196. You can also get a calendar with all 12 of these images here, and another with my Homage to Kepler art as a bonus cover image here. Here's an image from one of the first exhibits of this work at South Yuba Club in Nevada City, California.

New Community page and SSI

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-25T06:56:00-07:00

I'm doing a "cattle drive" this week : moving about 12 years worth of web content from our intent domain (which is going to a new steward on May 1 who plans to do some inspiring things with it!)... so here's a new community page on my newest website (still VERY much a work in progress this week), but you can see some of the little dogies in the new pasture before the rest arrive :-)

BTW, kudos for whoever invented Server Side Includes (SSI)... this little method of building pages on the fly from the server (and not duplicating a gazillion identical block of HTML!) is already saving me a ton of time! This is why most of the pages on my new site have a .shtml suffix instead of a .html one.

Sonic Wind Sculptures by Ross Barrable

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-24T06:28:00-07:00

Thanks to Tim A. in China (and North Carolina) for this link with a great quote from Galileo, inspiring text and very interesting (and lovely) sculptures; I'd enjoy hearing the wind through them... I 'resonate' to the text, so I'll post a link to my blog about them... :-)

A couple of minor corrections on that page:

Geometry literally means “the measure of the earth" ... adding 'sacred' just adds the meaning and significance of that word :-)

Also, on that same page, the author/artist refers to the square root of 3 as transcendental. In mathematical terms (to be technically correct), I believe that number is just irrational. However, Pi, (the circumference/diameter proportion of any circle) which is almost always "nearby" or present whenever the square root of three is involved geometrically (either with the vesica piscis made from two circles, or the diagonal of a cube which can be perfectly inscribed or circumscribed by a sphere containing an infinity of circles) IS a transcendental number. In my presentations, I often share the metaphor that an irrational number (like the square roots of 2, 3, or 5) is not resolvable by our conscious 'rational' minds; however a transcendental number (like Pi) is not only irrational, it also transcends this 'dimension', since it can't be expressed even as a polynomial fraction (a fraction made of whole number polynomials, or numbers raised to higher powers or 'dimensions' metaphorically.)

Here's a link to the MathWorld reference on transcendental numbers. Along with Pi, Euler's number, e (the base of natural logarithms) is perhaps also commonly known to many.

Big Wisdom, Great Music, Short Film

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-23T22:36:00-07:00

Check out this touching, funny, inspiring and very wise little film online (you can watch it in about a half hour - time well spent!)...

Wombat: We're All One... Interconnected

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-22T22:01:00-07:00

How perfect for Earth Day ... Thanks to Charley for sending the link to this fun and astute little animation!

Truchet Tiling

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-21T19:58:00-07:00

For tesselation and tiling fans, here's a page from MathWorld about a tiling that uses diagonals of a square to make some decorative patterns: Truchet Tiling. Here are a few other pages I've contributed to on MathWorld, courtesy of Eric Weisstein.

Foster Gamble & The Fundamental Patterning of the Universe and Us

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-20T08:09:23-07:00

I checked out an excellent video from RVML: Foster Gamble who spoke on The Fundamental Patterning of the Universe and Us. His fascinating talk links together work of other esteemed colleagues such as Arthur Young, Nassim Haramein, and Walter Russell. The sections describing the unified field implications of the Isotropic Vector Matrix and how the Periodic Table of the Elements relate to geometric models were of particular interest, with many more worthy topics explored. I met Foster briefly in Ashland a few years ago.

Dana Thibault - Fractals: The Language Of Nature

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-19T21:29:55-07:00

I checked out an excellent video (VHS) from RVML: Dana Thibault - Fractals: The Language Of Nature. This may be the best video I've ever seen on fractals, with some of the simplest explanations for both novice and veteran explorers alike. He also does an excellent job of explaining the fractal nature of some key crop circle formations.

Platonic Solids Info

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-18T01:26:00-07:00

Thanks to Dan Radin for sending me a link to his website on Platonic Solids which has animations, Origami and more.

Multinacci

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-17T21:27:00-07:00

For those of you interested in a generalized Fibonacci sequence (summing the prior n terms) here's a reference; thanks to Michael in Arizona.

Yi-Jing Algebra

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-16T08:28:37-07:00

Thanks to Ed Kellogg for finding this interesting cube / I Ching relationship.

Water-powered Cars

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-15T23:19:35-07:00

Here's some info about cars that run on water... I'd like to learn more!

Species Alliance

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-14T23:17:00-07:00

Thanks to Charley for this link to a video about the Species Alliance... our planet needs our support!

Sri Yantra meets Sound of Music meets Lewis Carroll

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-13T06:00:44-07:00

Thanks to Nancy, Robin & Ed (and probably a few others) for suggesting this film. Last night a couple of friends, my wife & I went to see the movie, The Last Mimzy. I was immediately reminded of the classic Julie Andrews in the Alps panorama (from the Sound of Music) in the breathtaking opening (and closing) scenes. Overall, I'm glad I saw the film, since it did offer the public some interesting glimpses and questions about the importance of following intuition, the relationship of geometry to consciousness, dreams, and energy technology (although I'm waiting for a Hollywood film to show an entire region of a country suddenly and mysteriously powered perfectly by a benign energy source, eliminating the need for non-renewables, rather than the cliché blackout scenario - I guess that will require some clever script-wiring to make that seem dramatic! It almost seems like the mass thinking imposed by a trillion dollar energy industry requires commercial films to portray innovative technologies as disruptive.

The story was fun (although why not lose the 'scary factor'? Perhaps the script writer indulged in our cultural bias toward trembling when the subject of math is raised? :-) I also enjoyed a handful of other geometric references, the Sri Yantra (page 195 of my book) got the most exposure, although never mentioned by name, not that words are needed for geometric symbols to convey their wisdom! I also enjoyed a cameo appearance of a ZomeTool model... a REAL fun toy I recommend highly! Other animations and graphics showed geodesic, helices, spirals and a handful of other geometric archetypes, mostly for artistic effect, but I guess turning the story into a documentary would have "broken the spell". Some lovely scenery, fun visuals and relatively minimal abuse of important topics that Hollywood rarely touches. I liked the levitation scenes, although I'd like a time travel/futuristic movie to show teleportation (without external technology) as being our natural state as described as one of our natural abilities in the Baird Spalding books. Aside from the minuses already mentioned, some valid concerns on other movie reviews, and some blatant semiconductor and soft drink product placements, I liked the film.

Constance Demby - Luminescent Sonic Immersion

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-12T10:07:08-07:00

Thanks to friend and author Jodine Turner for providing a link to a lovely 5-minute, visually and musically rich excerpt from Space Music pioneer Constance Demby's Luminescent Sonic Immersion ... The metal rod/sheet (?) instrument evidently called a "Space Bass" looks like it would be great fun to play...

Tesseract Turning Inside Out

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-11T09:39:56-07:00

Thanks to Alan and folks in the Polytopia Yahoo group (some neat geometric posts!), here's a neat little animation of a Tesseract (Hypercube or 4D Polytope equivalent of a cube) Turning Inside Out

Another example of how our limited 3D body-minds get kinda warped trying to grok our infinite nature (and the various manifestations thereof... :-)

Excerpt from Dan's Interview at Mobius

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-10T09:27:00-07:00

As part of the First Friday art series, last Friday (see my blog post for 6 April 2007) I was in Ashland, Oregon at the Mobius Gallery showing and answering questions about giclée (and larger) prints of my "Martineau Solar System Geometry" Series which will be on exhibit there through the end of this month.

Many thanks to Dan Shaw of Vortex Maps who sent me this clip of the video he took of me talking about the art! Greatly appreciated, Dan!!! :-)

Useful Resources for Ecology & Economy

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-09T08:45:22-07:00

Nancy found this handy reference for local resources (Jackson County, Oregon) for ecology and economy; anything but the landfill, please! You probably have a similar resource online where you live. Favorites you probably already know about are FreeCycle and Craigslist ... there are MANY others that help finding appropriate homes for items no longer needed.

Upper Table Rock - Flowers du jour

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-08T07:57:00-07:00

A sample of the profusion of little wildflowers blanketing Upper Table Rock (just north of Medford, Oregon) on this morning's hike.

flyer I made for last night's Artists Reception

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-07T08:00:00-07:00

Here's a flyer I made for last night's Artists Reception at the Mobius Gallery/Venue in Ashland, Oregon, showing: representative samples of my work (from left to right):

Calendars of the Martineau Solar System Series
The Geometry Code Screen Saver & Meditation Tool
Sacred Geometry Design Sourcebook

Mobius Art Exhibit & First Friday Event

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-06T09:01:00-07:00

Tonight (Friday, 6 April 2007) I will be in Ashland, Oregon at the Mobius Gallery from 4:30-9PM showing and answering questions about giclée (and larger) prints of my "Martineau Solar System Geometry" Series which I just finished hanging; thanks to Marla from the Mobius for her assistance! Here's a press release I'm sending out last minute:

===

Press Release – For Immediate Release
Accurate Geometric Models of Solar System - Art at Mobius Gallery in April & First Friday

Where: The Mobius, 281 4th Street, Ashland, Oregon 97520

When: Exhibit open now through April 30; First Friday artist reception 5-9PM 6 April 2007

What: 12 giclée prints of "The Martineau Series", digital art inspired by breakthrough discoveries about our solar system and how the orbits of the planets relate to simple geometric models.

Who: artist and geometer Bruce Rawles

As part of the First Friday art series, the Mobius is currently exhibiting (through the end of April) the artwork of local digital artist and author, Bruce Rawles. Inspired by line art in a book by fellow UK author & geometer, John Martineau, Rawles' 3D computer rendered images incorporate NASA imagery as well as nature photography as backdrops to stunningly accurate (most 99.9% or better) models of our solar system that pick up where Johannes Kepler's explorations left off. Framed archival giclée prints as well as larger posters, card and books will also be available at the First Friday event at the Mobius.

More information about Rawles' "Martineau Series" is available here.

This award-winning exhibit was recently shown at ScienceWorks in Ashland, as well as the Rogue Gallery, and has also appeared at galleries in California, Switzerland and Austria. More information about Rawles' "Martineau Series" exhibits and other presentations, etc. is available here.

Rawles is also the author of Sacred Geometry Design SourceBook, published in English and German as well as co-author of a geometric screensaver and meditation tool based on ancient laws of nature
He maintains a blog about a variety of related interests.

Green For Free ECOnomic=ECOlogic checklist

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-05T06:16:10-07:00

Thanks to Marge & Janaia of Sierra Nevada Deep Ecology Institute for emailing a great ECOnomic=ECOlogic checklist, courtesy of Solar Cascade. Although most of us are already doing many of these, a refresher is always good, and some neat new ideas here too... Rather than print out this liks, try email first, and print only if necessary... (I keep a supply of 8.5" x 11" scratch paper I get from rough drafts and mistakes as well as 'tree spam' a.k.a. junk mail on top of my printer for things that really must be printed (maps with complex driving directions, etc.)

Another Step 3 addition might be to suggest long range lifestyle, community & career planning that allows walking/biking to work/telecommuting as the norm rather than the exception: web & internet-based livelihood (with generous walks & outdoor time to balance out the glued-to-the-monitor hours) seem to be contributing to that idea becoming more widespread. If best practices are integrated into everyday, it's no big deal! :-)

G4FflyerSnap

G4Fflyer

Worthwhile Yoga Videos & Breathing

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-04T08:59:58-07:00

Thanks to many teachers (most of whom I either have lost contact with or don't recall their names) who have given me introductory instruction in basic stretching and yoga postures... and breathing! :-)

Speaking of Breathing, I've found these breathing techniques quite simple and practical to use when wants to emphasize a particular element (e.g. focus on water when one needs to cool down, focus on fire when one wants to warm up, focus on earth when one needs grounding, or air when one could use some uplift and inspiration. Thanks to James who gifted me a copy of this Puran Bair's book, Living from the Heart, which suggested these element-breath associations... try them! :-)

Fire (In: mouth; Out: nose)
Earth (In: nose; Out: nose)
Air (In: mouth; Out: mouth)
Water (In: nose; Out: mouth)

Here are a couple of videos we checked out of our soon-to-close library
that are great for perennial novices like me... Basic Yoga Workout for Dummies, and Yoga For the Young At Heart - Accessible Yoga for Every Body.

Flower of Life grid at different sizes

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-03T14:58:00-07:00

Thanks to Andrew M. for alerting me to this lovely illustration that appears to be a hand-drawn Flower-Of-Life variation with overlapping scalings... neat!

Beautiful Symmetry-E8 computation

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-02T10:24:51-07:00

Although the math is a bit beyond my conscious fathoming, I find the idea that there is a collaboration exploring beauty and symmetry in higher (would you believe 248?) dimensions ... and finding it! ... to be a satisfying notion :-) Here is a link to "E8" research and a "string art" visualization.

Great Start to Earth Month - Wangari Maathai

BruceRawles.com — 2007-04-01T10:31:00-07:00

I watched an inspiring interview on Link TV featuring Wangari Maathai, who started by planting 7 trees in Kenya. That number grew to over 30 million, by paying women 4 cents per tree to plant and keep them alive. Her Nobel Peace Prize was justly deserved; she demonstrates the principle of interconnections between ecology, economy and community in wonderfully pragmatic ways.

Hedronists meeting video - now online

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-31T10:01:00-07:00

For those of you interested in creating community around things geometrical, here's a link to an hour (in 6 installments) of video of a recent meeting of fellow "Hedronists" (a whimsical name a handful of us kindred geometers who have been meeting quasi-regularly in Ashland, Oregon call ourselves). Our hour potluck meetings discuss common geometric interests as well as a variety of ideas for mutual support and creating a local and global community to not only promote our work, but to make a positive difference on a global scale.

Torus-sphere and Spider/insectogram crop circle connection

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-30T05:35:34-07:00

Thanks to Micheal S. for alerting me to this link which shows a Sun - Earth - Plasma - Blast image with our beloved "torus-sphere" geometry, plus (due to the asymmetry of the solar wind around our planet) a rather remarkable resemblance
to some of the "insectogram" (or spider) crop circles of a few years ago, such as these few quick finds:

Scroll down on this page to find "Fish/Eye Formation at Silbury Hill, near Avebury, Wiltshire, 9 July 2005"
with a similar link (and overlapping content) here: note the 2nd and 3rd images past this line of text:
"This one appears in 13th July last year at West Kenet Long Barrow". Scroll down on this page to find
"The Star Nation peoples have sent similar messages in other formations"

Bethe Hagens UVG grid for Google Earth

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-29T07:47:00-07:00

Thanks to colleague Dan Shaw, of Vortex Maps, I discovered this lovely UVG-grid add-on (which superimposes the great circle outlines of the icosa- and dodeca- grid for Google Earth. Here is a map of our county (Jackson) in southern Oregon showing where the lines cross west of Crater Lake ...

and a more zoomed out view showing the nexus above the Giza longitude crowning the Nile Delta ...

When you zoom out, you'll see lovely images of the Earth surrounded by the grid.

video of hexagon at Saturn's pole

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-28T08:03:05-07:00

Thanks to Larry G. for notifying me about this video of mysterious hexagon at Saturn's pole (which Richard Hoagland commented on some years ago...) Here's a closely related article from Jim R. and another from Shaun L, thanks!

Interesting article on Sacred Geometry & Feng Shui

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-27T10:45:00-07:00

Thanks to Larry G. for sending the link to this Interesting article on Sacred Geometry & Feng Shui.

The Way Home - music by Kevin Braheny

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-26T09:54:00-07:00

The Way Home is my favorite music by Kevin Braheny; deeply soothing, relaxing, meditative, soulful - perfect unwind music...

Amazing Grace - Worthwhile Film ... & Youssou N'Dour music

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-25T21:54:01-07:00

Tonight we went to one of our local cinemas to see the "Amazing Grace" movie which features excellent performances by cast that includes one of my favorite world music artists, Youssou N'Dour. Before I realized that the film was about the abolition of the slave trade in England (the famous song is really only incidental to the plot), I thought maybe Youssou would sing, but that would not have fit the well-told and moving story. If you want to here his music, I recommend, a couple of his CDs, Joko From Village To Town and The Guide (Wonmat).

Response To mention of "The Secret" and "What The Bleep"

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-24T15:47:58-07:00

Here's a thoughtful, heartfelt response from one of the 500+ subscribers to my email bulletin (who asked to remain anonymous) which mentions the public interest in videos such as "The Secret" and "What The Bleep" as indicative of a deeper longing for remembering our connection to natural law. While I don't have any first-hand knowledge of the information presented in the comments below to either validate or invalidate the claims about the some of the presenters mentioned; I DO know from my own experience that it is vitally important to hold the intent to make all choices of thought, feeling and action in accord with the optimum welfare of all life everywhere (rather than "manipulate" outcomes for limited personal "benefit"), and to ask for permission whenever our actions and choices involve others. Here is the response:

"Cheers Blessings and WoW back at you!! And Thank you for responding so immediately – and for so graciously hearing me. It seems our deepest intentions are ‘on the same page’.
I didn’t feel you were endorsing either movie – and that is part of what is so painful for me – the innocence with which “What the Bleep” is pointed to. I can’t really speak much about “The Secret”, yet. I know that some of the other scientists have also voiced complaint of misrepresentation regarding their presentation in “Bleep” --- but hard to find. Needless to say JZK Inc. doesn’t provide that info on their web page.!
I so agree with you regarding the hunger people have for ‘something’ unnamable. And I can recognize why “Bleep” has achieved such cult-like notoriety. Nevertheless – the kicker for me, and many of us ‘ex-Ramsters’ living in the Yelm area, is that when the movie premiered here in Yelm, it was a joke. We know the scam Ramtha is, and Dr. Joe etc., and assumed everyone would see through it. Many did. Too many haven’t.
It has always been a hunger in me to be able to articulate the ‘greatest gifts’ within me – so you inspire me now to attempt to articulate how the science and spiritual truth are one.
First, it seems to me it’s not so much the information/science as it is the manner and environment in which it is presented. What I know is that, for instance, with JZK Inc.’s Ramtha, the information for the most part is valid, presented in an abusive environment, and from a perspective of “power over” our world(s). I believe it’s the same in “The Secret”. The message seems to commonly be, ‘you have the capacity, the power to create your life and your world; as proven by quantum physics and the ‘fact’ that the observer impacts the observed.
In the New Testament, King James Version, Paul describes faith as: “the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things unseen.” This is quantum physics. Buddhism has had the same understanding long before humankind could spell quantum. Some form of the story of the 3 Wishes is in every culture throughout time. Humanity today has proven it’s ability to ‘create/manipulate reality – to the nano level!!! – We’ve manipulated the environment and every living creature on it and our world is going to hell around us. So it seems. When will we understand that manipulation doesn’t work.?
To me it’s as simple as, we don’t have the capacity to see all parameters simultaneously. For instance, imagine being able to see the entirety of the planet earth, or to be inside the Platonic solids seeing all sides simultaneously. And, if chaos theory has any validity, and if the flap of a butterfly’s wings changes the weather on the other side of the world – how are we as individuals capable of knowing everything simultaneously to make the ‘right’ decision/create reality that isn’t ultimately destructive?
Without question our attitudes, our perspectives, our socio/cultural/ethnic/etc status impact/create how we experience what happens. It’s the old glass half full or half empty thing…. And, as your website so clearly is – our Intent is the key.
Most importantly, to me, is what Sacred Geometry shows us. There is an inherent harmony in our universe(s). When we are in tune/in alignment/allowing of that inherent harmony, ‘magic’ happens. Christians would call it, as I do, Grace. You can manipulate/impose your will/create your reality of angles and shapes – but nothing will make your heart and Soul sing like the work/play you do of flowing with the inherent Harmony. All that we call beautiful – whether of “Nature” or human made is that which reflects/articulates this Sacred Geometry/inherent Harmony.
There is a beyond duality that is accessible to us. The ability to impose our will upon the ‘substance’ of reality has always been known. The ‘evidence’ of the ‘unseen’ has always been recognized – simply called by different names. The point, therefore, to me, is recognize that there is a Harmony and to allow It. Isn’t that what the ‘great Teachers’ were saying?
Sooooooooo – yes, the science is correct. And we have a choice – to manipulate ‘reality’, or to flow with the inherent Harmony. Simple. Which is not to say it’s easy."

Very cool spiral animated "music box" - gotta see/hear it!

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-23T14:50:00-07:00

Thanks to Jordan P. for alerting me to this very cool spiral animated "music box" - Check out all the variations! There are a whole series of animations you can select with different musical intervals and corresponding geometries that trigger the notes; pretty fun!

Islamic Art, Golden Rhombus, Eric Weisstein's Treasure Troves of Math, Dodeca/Tetra...

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-22T10:17:24-07:00

Thanks to Jim H. for pointing out a permanent link to the article on advanced math in art/architecture and Islamic Art that I mentioned in my March email bulletin (the one I listed had expired after a week.)

Thanks also to lucid dream researcher and forum host Ed Kellogg for showing me an interesting book by Shafica Karragula (author of Breakthrough to Creativity: Your Higher Sense Perception which I read a bit of decades ago) and Viola Petitt Neal entitled "Through the Curtain" which contains references to the diamond and other geometric shapes as appropriate for meditation and spiritual resonance. This reminded me of the significance of the diamond (rhombus) shape and the appearance of the Golden Rhombus (the diamond shape you get when you connect the midpoints of the sides of a golden rectangle) in the Rhombic Triacontahedron, also known as Kepler's Solid; I have a fold-up pattern for it on my website here. The conversation Ed & I had about the diamond/rhombus shape also lead to talking about Eric Weisstein's fabulous magnum opus, Eric's Treasure Troves of Math (and Physics and ...) which evolved into his Encyclopedia of Mathematics and the online version, a collaboration with Wolfram which I seem to refer to constantly. Kudos to Eric and all the other contributors which make this such an exemplary gift to humankind's understanding!

Thanks to Luke G. and Michael H. for this neat visual progression from R.W. Gray about dodecahedron/tetrahedron nesting relationships.

248 Dimensions?

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-21T11:44:00-07:00

Thanks to Iona for this interesting article about 248 Dimensions! Looks like string art and string theory combined :-)

Ivan Najera - great latin guitar!

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-20T11:07:18-07:00

For anyone who enjoys superb latin guitar, check out the live performance calendar of virtuoso latin guitarist, Ivan Najera. His Devotion CD is one of my faves. He also happens to be a former co-worker when I lived in Nevada County.

Sacred Geometry - Polyhedra Models

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-19T09:30:28-07:00

I had an inquiry over the weekend from some friends wanting to know where to get models of polyhedra. In addition to some awesome screensavers, here are some lovely polyhedra & geometric models (in gold an bronze) you might want to explore! More on the way... stay tuned! :-)

Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-18T07:56:00-07:00

Today we celebrated a friend's birthday with an outing to the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge, where we made a loop from Eagle Point to Klamath Falls via Hwy 140, then down Hwy 97 to Miller Island, Worden, The Bear Valley Refuge, Dorris, and the Lower Klamath Refuge. Not only did we see a bald eagle in flight, but tens of thousands of Canadian Geese, Snow Geese, and an assortment of ducks, egrets, herons, and many more species. A perfect day for bird-watching even for novices like me! Watching a flock fly low overhead in drove after drove, hearing only the sound of wings was a magical experience! Here's a photo of a tiny portion of the population we saw with Mount McLaughlin (which I had the pleasure of climbing last summer) in the background.

Conversations With God - DVD

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-17T07:52:00-07:00

Having read Neale Donald Walsch's series of 3 "CWG" books a few years ago, last night we watched the "Conversations With God" DVD at our friends home and we all enjoyed it. The story line was good, with a few good philosophical/metaphysical insights, and the production values were excellent! (I saw the name of my friend, Ed Keller, in the credits and he does great videography/editing work! :-)

Support Human Caring for Earth's Climate

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-16T21:52:00-07:00

My aunt and uncle just sent me this worthy, quick and simple way to show support for what appears to me to be VERY appropriate legislation:

Subject: Co-sponsor Barbara Boxer's global warming bill

Dear Friend,

Senator Barbara Boxer has just introduced legislation with Sen. Bernie Sanders to comprehensively reduce global warming, and she's asking for citizens like you and me to join with her in co-sponsoring the bill.

One week before Earth Day, which comes on April 22nd, Sen. Boxer will announce the number of citizen co-sponsors that have been gathered, giving her a huge push forward as she approaches her colleagues and enlists their support for Sanders/Boxer.

I hope you will join me in signing on as a citizen co-sponsor of this critically important legislation -- just click the link to do it!

An Inconvenient Truth - Digital Download version!

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-15T08:20:00-07:00

Here's a new medium (digital download) that can eliminate buying a physical product, and actually help with the issues this video describes! If we attend to the suggested fixes toward the end of the film, we can turn around the craziness and create a sustainable habitat for humans and all the other species on Mother Earth. You can now watch An Inconvenient Truth without driving to a theater or video rental store (direct fossil fuel use) or filling your storage places with modified fossil fuels (plastics)! :-)

Stella4D

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-14T09:20:00-07:00

Here's a press release for geometry enthusiasts from Robert Webb:
(looks like a great update for this interesting looking software; another enticement to get an Intel-based Mac, I suppose :-)
===============================================

I just released version 4.0 of Stella, plus a new product called Stella4D. It includes everything from Great Stella, but also includes
support for 4D polytopes! Watch a tesseract (4D cube) undergoing 4D rotation. Watch 3D cross-sections of 4D polytopes animating as the slicing hyperplane cuts deeper and deeper. All 1849 known uniform 4D polychora are included, plus more! :-)

I attach a photo of a paper model I made of a 4D polytope using nets created and printed from Stella4D (the cantellated tesseract).

Home page: http://web.aanet.com.au/robertw/Stella.html

Get the demo of Stella4D here: http://web.aanet.com.au/robertw/Downloads.html

See a bunch of screenshots, including animated ones, here: http://web.aanet.com.au/robertw/ScreenShots.html

A little cosmic perspective for humility ... and not taking things too seriously! :-)

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-13T00:57:23-07:00

Thanks to a number of people who sent me this visual exercise in cosmic perspective... quite humbling!

Kudos for the Holoenergetic Healing work of Dr. Leonard Laskow

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-12T21:12:00-07:00

I am in a state of heartfelt acknowledgment for the work of our my new friend, Dr. Leonard Laskow ... He is the author of a marvelous book entitled, Healing with Love. His 3-day workshop which I attended this last weekend was truly life-transforming for me... can't say enough good things about the wisdom, genius and astonishingly simple and profound truths he shared... and the catalytic effect his presentations and exercises had for me... LOTS more to say, although most of the impact was on an intuitive & emotional level that is rather ineffable.

Visionary Activist: Caroline Casey

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-11T07:45:00-07:00

I've been a fan of Caroline Casey's brilliant show on KPFA-FM for a decade or two... a great blend of astrological alchemy, insightful dialogue with interesting guests and transpersonal poltical vision grounded in egalitarian wisdom. She authored a book entitled Making the Gods Work For You, and her radio show is on the web Thursdays from 2-3PM Pacific Time. Both highly recommended!

U.S. vs. John Lennon

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-10T06:58:42-08:00

The U.S. vs. John Lennon is an excellent documentary about a visionary we all know who asked us to imagine; great music, some unique footage and a very compassionate tribute to the life of a superstar who touched so many lives for the better.

Neat videos

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-09T09:10:00-08:00

Here are some neat videos:

This one addresses global perspectives and the exponential growth of information and interconnectedness (Thanks to Libby M.)

This one shows some neat footage of a dolphin interacting with scuba divers (Thanks to Daniel B.)

This one asks questions about how much of our happiness depends on transpersonal altruism (Thanks to Daniel H.)

This one and this one both involve pythons (Thanks to Larry G. YouTube, and the principle of serendipity)

Enjoy!

Response to Pendulum Query - Harmonograph

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-08T07:32:07-08:00

Here's my response to a post in the Polytopia forum on yahoo from someone interested in the mathematics of pendulums:

In addition to entries like this one, I would also recommend (from both a physics and artistic perspective), this book:
Harmonograph - A Visual Guide to the Mathematics of Music which is John Martineau's beautifully illustrated book by his grandfather, Anthony Ashton, on the pendulum-based invention that creates such lovely patterns.

Years ago in my high school electronics class I used every oscillator in the classroom to an oscilloscope to observe
Lissajous patterns (and then built my own music synthesizer to go further). The illustrations in the book add the factor of damping due to exponential decay (the "e" term) and the results are exquisite... Highly recommended!

Alex Grey's Visionary Artwork

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-07T07:30:00-08:00

Another gem of a DVD I viewed from RVML's library this week: Artmind - The Healing Power of Sacred Art with Alex Grey which complements his book of classic visionary art: Sacred Mirrors. A favorite quote from the DVD: "You are one with everything; you couldn't be here if you weren't!"- Alex Grey

Interesting RVML presentations - Catherine J. Larkin & Carl Marsak

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-06T13:06:26-08:00

I just finished watching two very interesting RVML presentations; one by Catherine J. Larkin that talks about the Mayan Calendar and the work of Carl J. Calleman. I particularly resonate to the idea that the days of dualistic thinking are drawing to a close. The other was by Carl Marsak talking about the Enneagram and how we can understand ourselves and each other more fully by exploring our own archetypal energies and tendencies. The videos have much more important information than I've alluded to here; these two are just a tiny sample of the great videos at RVML!

Hedgehog Concept Trinity re-framed

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-05T20:50:00-08:00

An email dialogue with lifelong friend Dave in Colorado reminded me of a thought that occurs to me when I ponder the "Hedgehog Concept of Jim Collins (author of Good To Great); namely that the 3 overlapping circles of his model for excellence (personal or collective) can be also thought of a more classical trinity:

Spiritual (our optimum gift to the world)
Mental (Passion)
Physical (Resource Affirmation)

Ashland Chocolate Festival & Dagoba of Ashland

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-04T16:05:51-08:00

Today we attended the Ashland Chocolate Festival which was rather tasty; some remarkably delicious (for a non-chocaholic) gourmet chocolate fare of all sorts, from a number of high quality vendors, mostly locals. The highlight for me (and all the fare was outstanding!) was the talk (and ware samplings) from local producer, Dagoba, which presented a very inspiring and compelling hour of details about not only the importance of "fair trade", but some of the ramifications of what is really going on behind the public relations, and who is really walking their talk. Dagoba is! (We get their chocolate locally from the Ashland Food Coop.) Highly recommended from both culinary and activist perspectives... When you visit their website, wait until the photo of the adorable sloth comes around; we saw some in the trees in Costa Rica when we were there a few years ago and were inspired by them. Our interconnected, vote-with-your-wallet choices DO make a difference!

2nd Annual Northwest Labyrinth Gathering - May 18-20, 2007

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-03T15:59:00-08:00

Thanks to Lani for letting me know about the 2nd Annual Northwest Labyrinth Gathering - May 18-20, 2007 in Medford, Oregon! Looks like a great event coming up featuring an interesting slate of speakers, including Dr. Jean Houston.

Healing with Love by Dr. Leonard Laskow

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-02T16:08:00-08:00

I had the pleasure today to meet over lunch (at a great restaurant called Alex's in Ashland, Oregon) with a new friend, Dr. Leonard Laskow. He is the author of a marvelous book entitled, Healing with Love. My first encounter with his important work was a few weeks ago when he gave a superb talk as part of the RVML's Tuesday evening lecture series. I discovered that in addition to his profound insights into techniques for reconnecting with a feeling and consciousness of oneness (firmly grounded in medical research) and its implications for healing (which I'll elaborate about more while attending his workshop this weekend... stay tuned!), we also share an appreciation for a number of colleagues such as Dr. Beverly Rubik, Marcel Vogel, Dr. Carl Simonton and many others...

The Silent Gospel by James Andrew Barrett

BruceRawles.com — 2007-03-01T08:15:00-08:00

I am delighted to announce the availability of a new book by a dear friend, James Andrew Barrett. James' book is entitled "The Silent Gospel: The Science of Divinity - Creation of the Shroud of Turin". The Silent Gospel skillfully reveals connections within current biomedical breakthroughs such as Heart Rate Variability research, Eastern mystical breathing practices and traditions concerning physical and spiritual enlightenment, quantum zero point physics, sacred geometric proportions and so much more, encoded in the tapestry of the Shroud of Turin, and most importantly, offers profound implications for our own lives. Highly recommended!

Where I'll be tonight (videotaping a world-renowned speaker & author)

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-28T07:37:35-08:00

Presenting Frances Moore Lappe
Event Date(s):
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Location:
Britt Ballroom
Southern Oregon University
Ashland, OR 97520
Category:
Non-profit Event - PSA Eligible
Event Type:
Author speaking event
Details:
Come listen to and meet the woman who changed the way America thinks about food and polticis. From DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET (1971) to the recent DEMOCRACY'S EDGE, Frances Moore Lappe has drawn a bold picture of a stronger, healthier, more community-centered America. She is extraordinarily inspirational Tickets $12-20 (sliding scale) at Ashland Food Coop and Bad Ass Coffee in Medford. Your ticket also admits you to a wonderful post-party celebrating local food, drink and energy. Sponsored by JPR, The Ashland Food Coop and Peoples Bank of Commerce
Starts:
7:00 AM
Ends:
9:00 AM
Sponsor:
THRIVE
Contact:
Wendy Siporen by phone at 541/488-7272.

Wooden Crop Circle and Sacred Geometry designs

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-27T17:38:00-08:00

Here's a site with some lovely looking wooden realizations/fine art/carvings by Fred Rusher of a variety of crop circles and sacred geometry forms.

Refreshing Perspectives - Sera Beak

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-26T11:38:00-08:00

Over the weekend, I listened to an interview on New Dimensions with Sera Beak, author of The Red Book (A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark). I like her perspective on spirituality, as well as her comment (paraphrased a bit) about "smooching your demons to death"; we gotta get creative when integrating elusive aspects of our shadow... :-)

Kudos to Academy Awards

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-26T10:55:46-08:00

Kudos to the Academy Awards last night; two awards for An Inconvenient Truth! There IS hope when the importance of our environmental awareness and activism gets this much attention! ... particularly when we take to heart that we're interconnected (and several speeches last night emphasized this in different ways, with lots of gratitude).

We watched the awards with a couple of friends last night, and we were joking that next year, in addition to the comments about celebrities arriving in their luxury hybrid cars (almost seems like an oxymoron :-), perhaps they will comment on the sustainable, environmentally friendly fashions and jewelry... In the media glitter of superficial celebrity, there is plenty of evidence of real people who happen to work in that industry who genuinely care about their craft, as well as making positive contributions with it!

Interesting Online Media

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-25T09:19:00-08:00

I've been compiling a list of interesting online media (video and audio streaming) for a project I'm working on, so here are a few of my favorites and recent finds:

www.consciousmedianetwork.com/home
http://www.newdimensions.org
www.soundstrue.com
www.emerald-energies.com
www.newrealitiestv.com
www.enigmatv.com
allaboutashland.com
www.visionofwellness.tv
www.HeavenToEarth.com
www.ufosandmore.com
www.eomega.org
www.lostartsmedia.com
www.insideedge.org
http://www.lime.com
http://www.hayhouseradio.com
http://bbsradio.com
http://www.modavox.com/7thwavenetwork (e.g. Daniel Giamario's Shamanic Astrology show on Fridays)
http://www.kpfa.org (e.g. Caroline Casey's Visionary Activist show on Thursdays)
http://www.kvmr.org (e.g. Haines Ely's Earth Mysteries show on Mondays)

Non-attachment and the Heart

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-24T09:17:00-08:00

I woke up with this phrase reverberating through my consciousness:
"I'm not attached to any of this ... where can our hearts meet?"

Shake and Bake ... Automated Reports!

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-23T14:12:00-08:00

Here are a couple of links (thanks to brother Jim for the latter), in case you want automated bulletins to track earthquakes and solar flares. While we're at it, here's a couple other favorite sites to track wildfires, weather, map things and then see things from a lofty perspective at a variety of angles.

Support for the Troops - Beyond Polarity

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-22T06:08:07-08:00

Thanks to Joline for this idea; a massive greeting card (with a huge number of signatures) to send to our troops supporting THEM, regardless of whether we support the administration's policies or timetables. This is the brainchild of peace troubador, James Twyman.

A few good quotes for today

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-21T22:50:00-08:00

"A life without change is not a life; it is a stagnant pool. To change your mind frivolously is a cop-out. To change your mind under the direction of the wisdom of the heart is a brush stroke on the masterpiece you are delivering to the world." - Alan Cohen

Mankind must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures, peace is our gift to each other. -- Elie Wiesel

... and thanks to Helene for this one:

"Humor is one of the most serious tools we have for dealing with impossible situations." - Erica Jong

Here's a preview of a coming attraction :-)

Artsy Slideshow with Pentagonal Symmetries and Architecture

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-20T08:18:20-08:00

Thanks to Michael in Arizona for recommending this Artsy Slideshow with Pentagonal Symmetries and Architecture, along with some triangular, vesical and other interesting geometries.

Library Support - Southern Oregon (Jackson County)

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-19T09:42:28-08:00

Over the weekend, we attended a letter writing meeting in Ashland to let our elected representatives in Washington know that we want them to support HR 17 to fund our 15 soon-to-be-closed libraries throughout Jackson County. We also wrote letters to friends across the country, since this involves federal funding for many other related programs being cut.

Pardon the "soapbox" moment:

What are they thinking?
How can our government fund so many insane programs. while axing libraries, forcing their closure?
Talk about short-sighted!!!

We don't have kids at home, but we both use our local library frequently, always finding interesting books there, as do so many people of ALL ages. The idea of not having a public library seems like a completely neanderthal idea (no offense intended to neanderthals!)

I'm now directing this "steam" to support those who ARE supporting the libraries, and encouraging others to do the same - focusing on the outcome as thought it has already happened! :-)

Here is a page talking about the issue, another about how you can help locally, and a link to the Jackson County library system and our beautiful local Eagle Point library, the cultural hub of our community. I also posted a prior entry on the blog about the rally we attended in Medford a couple weeks ago here.

If you want to support keeping libraries open and MANY other worthy government programs, here is a link to an article about H.R. 17, and links to your Washington representatives and senators to contact them for support. Also please thank Representatives Peter DeFazio and Greg Walden for introducing this bill, and others who are supporting it!

Here is a file with some example text to send to your representatives:

SaveOurLibraries

Celestine Prophecy - Movie true to Book

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-18T09:11:00-08:00

Last night we were at our friends house and had the opportunity to watch the Celestine Prophecy a second time, and I enjoyed it even more than the first time. The film is true to James Redfield's popular novel about 9 important insights that are key to our personal and planetary unfoldment. As one example, how we relate to each other energetically (either as generators/contributors or needy consumers) makes a huge difference in our lives on every level. Finding our inner resources is key. We are all designed to be contributors, the "secret" to feeling gratitude and abundance.

Neat Clock (done in Flash)

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-17T23:07:00-08:00

Here's a neat clock (done in Flash); thanks to Art in Medford for this one...

Horses Rescued

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-16T11:19:20-08:00

Here is a neat video about over a hundred horses rescued in the Netherlands last fall by a few courageous pioneers. Kinda reminds us to be pioneers wherever and whenever we can! Thanks to Sherry A. for this link.

Vedic Math, Fibonacci, Pi and synchronicities

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-15T14:14:40-08:00

While looking for references for the existing ISBN number (after discovering that the new system has 13 digits) for my Sacred Geometry Design Sourcebook, I found some interesting gems like this page with interesting references to Vedic Math, 1/89, Fibonacci, Pi and synchronicities.

Planting Kindness and Trees

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-14T12:06:31-08:00

A friend sent me a story today about a woman who planted daffodils over many years (photo below) which reminded me of "The Man Who Planted Trees", (an animated documentary about the life of shepherd Elzéard Bouffier) who planted oak trees in Europe over many years. The "take home lesson" on this day when we celebrate the heart is that our kindnesses may accumulate over many years of persistent effort, patience, and consistency into something truly beautiful.

"Conscious Acts of Creation: The Emergence of a New Physics" - William A. Tiller, Ph. D.

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-13T07:35:19-08:00

I'm watching and listening to a marvelous DVD I borrowed from the Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library (RVML), one of thousands of superb titles available to its patrons. Here's a quote from this fascinating DVD that gives a flavor of the direction:

"We humans are highly malleable to our expectations, belief systems and intentions." - William A. Tiller, Ph. D.

This particular title covers (among other things) ... Slater's experiment with inversion glasses and how, after a few weeks adjustment, the subjects saw things "right side up" (even though the images presented to their retinas were "inverted" by normal standards – then within a similar time frame, after removing the glasses, subjects were gradually re-trained to see things "right side up" again. I had heard of this experiment before, and I also have a similar personal anecdote (though not as dramatic!) of learning and then unlearning (quite comically at times to folks in this country watching me, I'm sure) how to use turn signals and windshield wipers on the "other" side of the steering column in New Zealand (the side of the road was actually much easier for me than the silly controls :-)

Tiller also talks about IIEDs - Intention Imprinted Electrical (oscillator) Device, his consulting work with the HeartMath Institute, astonishing scientifically verified modified pH of water in controlled experiments (demonstrating the principle of quantum entanglement), and LOTS of other amazing things!

Sacred Number by Miranda Lundy

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-12T10:09:54-08:00

I've been savoring the first read (of what I'm sure will be many reads) of Sacred Number by Miranda Lundy, published in John Martineau's wonderful series, Wooden Books. If you want an overview of the heart of why number is SO much more than a means toward mundane ends (not that I have anything against counting beans! :-), check out this lovely book. Like all the gems in the Wooden Books series, this one is also exquisitely illustrated with Universal geometric archetypes. Its prose that weaves together a remarkably diverse cultural and historical collection of numerical principles and examples from nature, both macroscopic and close to our dimensional home turf. It is a splendid excursion into the cultural precendents for holding numbers in mystical esteem, with a wealth of imaginative directions to explore. Highly recommended!

A fun collection of computer animations of automated musical instruments

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-11T17:31:00-08:00

A fun collection of computer animations of automated musical instruments

Creative Dynamics Center and peripheral issues

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-10T07:38:24-08:00

Last night I had a dream that appears to be a synthesis of yesterday's (and last week's for that matter) experience, including the blog post from yesterday about Joyeux Noël & The Secret on Oprah. I dreamt that I was spiralling around (ah, just realized the geometric symbolism :-) a hillside in Georgetown, California where I built a geodesic dome in 1978. In the dream, I walked through the wooded area (where there are also pines in "real life") past a number of individual, separate buildings and dwellings. Then I arrived at the top of the hill (where in "real life" our Creative Dynamics metaphysical study group, headed by the late Floyd Edwards, author of Symbolism of the Great Seal of the United States, had intended to build a common building for study, healing, spiritual exploration, etc. but never materialized). In the dream, I saw a large building, apparently made by interconnecting previously separate smaller buildings – I like that symbolism! I walked to the edge of a small cliff (we called the 40 acres in Georgetown the "Far Cliffs" after a reference in the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull) and looked down to where my dome home was in "real life", but now (in the "dream") there was a building devoted to spiritual history or something like that, near a small river flowing past. The feeling of the dream was that there was to be a new wave of involvement as this facility (double meaning) was re-discovered (like "The Secret") and integrated (like Joyeux Noël). The other powerful metaphor for me was that the center (literally and figuratively in the center or heart of the acreage) was what was overgrown with weeds by decades of neglect, but now (I moved a small section of already down barbed wire fence out of the way so no one would be harmed by it) was poised to enjoy a renaissance.

Joyeux Noël & The Secret on Oprah

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-09T05:52:00-08:00

Tonight we watched two seemingly unrelated programs on our tell-a-vision (as our Swami friend) likes to call it. – The first was a superb film we watched via NetFlix, Joyeux Noël (released in 2005) and the second was Oprah's program from earlier this week about "The Secret" DVD (currently enjoying a wave of popularity) and a panel of some of the folks featured on the DVD.

I already posted a blog entry last Christmas about the music of John McCutcheon which originally introduced me to the story of Joyeux Noël about a decade or so ago. Tonight we finally got to see the film, and it was worth waiting for! Joyeux Noël is a powerful film. On the surface, it documents (with minor artistic license, which is why I classify it as a documentary in the spirit of the film) the cease fire of 1914 among the Scottish, French and German soldiers, initiated by the healing power of music. I'm impressed with this film on many levels, starting with a great story about how soldiers are brainwashed from an early age to hate. As the song goes, when will we ever learn? The film quickly moves to the drama of World War 1, and even though the violence isn't excessive, I wouldn't recommend the film for children for that reason; besides, children already KNOW that war is insane! The film gives a very sensitive portrayal of the stark contrast between the desire to dutifully obey the militant dictates of a culture gone mad and the spirit of interconnectedness that is our natural state – one where we intuitively want to share photos of loved ones, food, wine and support with ALL. Here is where the film goes beyond being merely a great historical monument to a lapse in the insanity that great art (in this case the romantically engaged couple singing beautifully on the battlefield) can initiate. The metaphor applies right here, right now. It applies to the current world geopolitical situation very eloquently. It also, most importantly, reminds us to declare an inner cease fire, a truce between the personal ambitions and internal struggles we face every day and recall the inner serenity, joy and kindness, where the distinction and polarization between "self" and "other", between "we" and "they" disappears. If this film touches you emotionally and spiritually as it did me, we can smile together knowing that the world is waking up from the nightmare of separation, the illusion of lack and "not good enough". ... BTW, don't miss the director's comments which are also quite inspiring!

"The Secret" is an introduction to the Law of Attraction, a sublaw of the Seven Hermetic Laws of Truth detailed in the Kybalion. I enjoy hearing dialogue about these ancient laws or principles, which have been around before the pyramids in Egypt, before there was a planet to build on... My primary caution for viewers is that the emphasis of this video (and the interviews on Oprah and Larry King) still seems to be on how to achieve external results such as material wealth, radiant health, harmonious relationships. There is, of course, ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with any of these worthy ambitions. Ironically, the video and TV interviews persistently shift from the Neville's "Feeling Is the Secret" first principle (particularly the innate love of self as co-creator, inseparable from all creation and the allowing of gratitude with abandon) to the results that accrue from these feelings. I AM grateful that this information is getting out to the masses. At the same time, I appreciate Oprah's reminder (paraphrased) that we've "known it all along".

New Energy Movement - Brian O'Leary

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-08T14:16:59-08:00

I just finished watching a re-inspiring video featuring former astronaut, Brian O'Leary speaking at a conference in Portland, Oregon on the New Energy Movement. He was the third speaker (I had fun writing about his work here in 1995) for our New Frontiers group. O'Leary commented how changing our energy picture is pivotal to creating a sustainable world, and at the core of this issue is the nature of consciousness, intention, and our collective passion for making the planet a better, safer, saner, more lovely place.

Here is a pertinent quote from the video that resonate with me:

"Quantum physics tells us, beyond any reasonable doubt, that there is a cosmic dance of interaction going on, that is instantaneous – that we're all interconnected – we are One in this Universe."
– Brian O'Leary, PhD

Away from my desk at a favorite hangout - Ashland

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-07T16:58:39-08:00

I'm sitting in the deli section of the Ashland Food Co-op, where I frequently make a weekly pilgrimage for groceries. Only tonight, rather than moseying through the beets and bananas, I'm sitting on a wooden slatted chair with my trusty PowerBook here perched on a little round table with a brushed metallic finish (adorned with hundreds of little "scientific jewelry" disks as they used to be called). I'm making good use of my time to finish an outline for a proposal I will deliver with a new friend this weekend (it's quite exciting, details to follow!) to a local board of directors about an idea whose time has come. Meanwhile, I'm savoring the ambience of congenial folks pushing grocery carts around the aisles of mostly organic bounty, a handful of deli patrons, and the rather sporadic intercom voice requesting "grocery, line one". Meanwhile, just outside the window, a few folks browse around the always-full 4-sided kiosk with an assortment of flyers about events primarily about raising consciousness about one facet of life or another. Another young woman, probably a student at Southern Oregon University, eats something from a white cardboard deli container while perusing the funny page, and two other guys at different tables exhibit similar activity; the headline of one paper reading "Pushing on without mom brought healing"... a little vignette of the cafe vibe of our local co-op, which just announced plans to expand into Medford soon. I think I come here to shop as much for the kindred spirit community of the place as I do for the quality of the nourishment I take with me.

Synchronicity of Inspired Leadership - Teach for America

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-06T16:50:00-08:00

Today Nancy & I watched the Colbert Report on Comedy Central (our usual comic relief du jour, along with the Daily Show which precedes it). Stephen interviewed Wendy Kopp of Teach for America, and I was inspired by her vision of luring bright, enthusiastic recent college graduates to give 2 years of service in the educational arena to those who might not otherwise have that advantage. Then I read in "Good To Great and the Social Sectors" by Jim Collins (just mentioned this in yesterday's post) ... you guessed it ... Wendy Kopp of Teach for America. Collins touted her efforts as someone who held to the "Hedgehog Concept" of finding 1) What you're passionate about, 2) What you can become the best in the world at, and 3) What drives your resource (energy) engine. I suppose this isn't TOO astonishing a synchronicity, given my interests and the media I'm attracted to, yet it's still fun to have a few minor "Aha" moments now and then. :-)

Discipline revisited ... & Dean Shrock's "Doctor's Orders..." - (do what you love!)

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-05T00:33:53-08:00

In response to learning about the Oregon Mentors (see my post from 24 January 2007), I discovered a sequel to Jim Collins' Good to Great, a monograph about the Social Sectors, and it reminded me not only of the importance of expanding one's criteria for personal (and organizational) excellence from just $ to ALL resources being in balance (hooray for that notion!) and also a renewed discipline for doing what you love (here's a link to our dear and insightful friend Dean Shrock, who wrote a great book entitled, "Doctor's Orders: Go Fishing" about the medical ... and just plain happiness ... imperative of doing what you love!

Here's a quote from the monograph that I'm posting to remind myself to keep the focus, that perhaps you, my reader, might find useful, too! (I just love to explore too many interesting avenues and adventures!)
"Social sector leaders pride themselves on "doing good" for the world, but to be of maximum service requires a ferocious focus on doing good only if it fits with your Hedgehog Concept. To do the most good requires saying "no" to pressures to stray, and the discipline to stop doing what does not fit."

Sunday midwinter drive in the Rogue Valley - Cattail photo

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-04T00:28:00-08:00

Today we decided to go for a Sunday midwinter drive in the Rogue Valley to one of our favorite breakfast spots, the Breadboard in Ashland, followed by a leisurely meander through the back roads around Phoenix & Talent, taking pictures of orchard signs and enjoying the unseasonably pleasant day. Here's a snap of some cattails, spreading their wispy genetics across the terrain... a lovely morning!

Some great videos about free energy technology

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-03T00:05:00-08:00

Over the weekend, I borrowed a couple of great videos from RVML about free energy technology. As Tom Bearden explains on one of them, the premise is that we are in an open system, not a closed one, so the absurd notion of a "perpetual motion machine" isn't considered... Both videos talk about modern physics with folks like John Hutchison (levitation), Moray King, Dennis Lee (low temp. phase change systems), Dr. Eugene Mallove, Thomas Valone, Viktor Schauberger (vortices), Walter Russell, Bruce DiPalma, Dr. Brian O'Leary, Paul Pantone (GEET processor), Thomas Bearden (I didn't realize that Maxwell's 4 equations are just excerpts by Heaviside from his original 20 quaternions that hold the keys to many discoveries, according to Bearden), Troy Reed (magnetic motors), Paramahamsa Tewari (more free energy technology) and of course, Nikola Tesla...Here are the videos; definitely worth looking into if you use energy or live on a planet that does: Free Energy: The Race to Zero Point DVD
New Energy Series Vol 1:Tom Bearden

Fun Tradition at our place - Watching the Groundhog Day movie

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-02T23:59:00-08:00

We have a fun tradition (nearly unbroken) of watching the "Groundhog Day" movie (highly recommended) every year; it seems to improve with each viewing; or maybe we're just getting the message with repetition :-)

Kindness as a Medium of Interchange

BruceRawles.com — 2007-02-01T08:28:00-08:00

I've been pondering how much time and energy is expended on the pursuit of money, and it occurs to me that (not that it isn't important to have an effective medium of exchange – I've worked on developing a local currency in Nevada County, Calif. a few years ago, for example) ... perhaps we might do well to focus on the optimum medium of interchange – kindness, unconditional acceptance, tolerance, or whatever we might want to call it... not that the label is particularly important... Imagine what our world would be like if kindness was practiced with as much passion as material ambition seems to be at present! :-)

Save Our Libraries! ... film at 11

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-31T14:57:30-08:00

Nancy & I were among several hundred peaceful library supporters that showed up in Medford, Oregon's Alba Park today to voice our emphatic support of keeping all the libraries in Jackson County open. In the photo, Nancy is in the lower right, holding up the colorful sign with the yellow "O" in "Save Our Libraries!", and you can see my "Martineau Solar System - Mars/Venus" print on the white sweatshirt next to her left arm holding her picket sign. We'll be taping the evening news tonight from Medford, since at least two TV stations had videographers present. Both the primary county commisioner's chambers and the overflow viewing room on the third floor of a nearby county building were packed to capacity (it was a great place to warm up for a few minutes, though!). So we went to the Medford Library, where we joined the Standing Room Only folks and watched most of the 3-minute (very eloquent and diverse) citizen speeches in support of keeping our libraries open. All 15 county libraries are scheduled to close on April 6 unless other imaginative solutions are mustered. (Maybe we need to catch up?)http://www.mailtribune.com/Here is the email I sent yesterday to a few dozen folks (local to Jackson County, here is the land of Jefferson)====Hi all:If any of you live in Jackson County, use the public library system or know people who benefit from our libraries, have children or know people who have children, or just plain want to let our county government officials know that we want to KEEP THE LIBRARIES OPEN, read on!This peaceful rally isn't about HOW this is to be achieved – a different issue – it is about the people of Jackson County speaking out in SUPPORT of our libraries...Nancy & I will be there in Medford tomorrow morning; we hope to see some of you there! Carpool if you can. :-)Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2007Time: 8:30-9:30 AMPlace: Alba Park, Medford, Oregon ( Main Street, corner Ivy and 8th Street)More details

Details about the contents of Sacred Geometry Design Sourcebook, instructions for creating the graphics therein, etc.

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-30T09:17:52-08:00

Today's post is an email conversation I had with a visitor to the intent.com website that I probably could have written a decade ago, so this might be useful to those of you who already have purchased a copy of the book (and thanks to all of you who have supported me in this way over the years!) There are a few other goodies on my site map that might also be of interest.
=================================

Hi Julian:

Many thanks for your inquiry. I got so involved with the reply, that I've decided to post it on my blog for today, as well as in this email; I'm grateful that you asked the question, so now I can answer it for the world :-)

On 30 Jan 2007, at 6:54 AM, Julian wrote:

Dear Bruce

I was reading your web pages about your book SACRED GEOMETRY DESIGN SOURCEBOOK and I wondered if you could tell me whether the book provides the reader with details of how to draw the 2-D patterns for themselves or whether they are just templates without such instruction.

The simplest answer is "yes and no", depending on which of the 1300+ images you're referring to.

------------------------------------

The detailed answer is (here goes!) that I cover some of the philosophy and underlying
math, concepts and archetypal ideas in the beginning of the book, and provide a
generous assortment of references in the back of the book. For the remainder
(majority of the 256 pages), I give the images as much room as possible so that
not only can the patterns be photocopies easily (I went with spiral binding just
for that reason), the image quality would be as high as possible for an 8.5" by 11" format.

Some of the illustrations give step-by-step procedures (in graphical form,
assuming some basic familiarity with how to use a compass and straightedge), such as:

page 44 (showing how "unit cells" for the tiling patterns can be used to create an enormously
expanded variety of additional patterns by recognizing how the space-filling shapes can be
varied; this applies to the "unit cell" examples on pages 16-43,

page 45 (showing how each of the patterns on pages 16-43 can embellished with fractal or
other inscribed detail for each of the polygons for an infinite (literally!) variety of possible
variations, (which actually also applies to the majority of the remaining images in the book;
page 237 gives a 3D example of this),

pages 46-84 have either explicit (most of these pages) or simple to observe implicit "unit cells"
which show how these can be created in a great variety of ways,

page 84 (Pentagon Rotation Grid) gives the 73.2% proportion crucial to the exact construction of this pattern,

page 85 (Genesis of the Seed of Life) shows the step-by-step "compass only" construction of this important
and universal pattern,

page 86-95 (variations on Seed of Life and Flower of Life) show how once the Seed of Life is constructed,
so many other patterns can be easily derived – Flower of Life, Hexagonal Grid, 2nd Harmonic Overlay
(which is used in Mika Feinberg's beautiful LightSOURCE screensaver animation; see my links page
at http://www.intent.com/bruce/links.html), Tree of Life, Fruit of Life, Heart and Ankh matrices, recursions,
Metatron's Cube, etc.),

page 95: since the Dodecahedron is the most complicated shape to derive from Metatron's cube, the top center
illustration on this page shows which vertices are used to create the "dodecahedron 2D shadow" with small
circles highlighted in the larger image,

page 96: The general instructions for creating Nested Inscribed Polygons appear on this page,

page 100-102: other examples of the crucial proportions needed to create these image either by hand or with a computer graphics program; numerous pages provide these instructions in the text without detracting from the space given to the images,

pages 104-105, 110-113, 123-124, 128, 130, 138-139, 144-145, 155, 163, 166, 171, 176-180, 182-187: all have instructions and details on how to create the images,

page 146: very detailed step-by-step instructions for inscribing a pentagon within a circle,

page 147: very detailed step-by-step instructions for inscribing a pentagon starting from one side of a given length,

page 156: very detailed step-by-step instructions for creating a golden rectangle (including "whirling squares and more),

page 156: very detailed step-by-step instructions for dividing a line by the golden ratio,

page 157: very detailed mathematical information about golden ratio progressions and powers, illustrated graphically,

page 188: shows how the Parthenon at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece incorporates the golden ratio

page 189: an amazing amount of data on this page about the Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt showing phi (golden ratio) and pi proportions, and the proportions of the so-called "King's Chamber" although the so-called "sarcophagus" (granite box) within is too large to fit through the only passage leading into that chamber, which violates the generally accepted funerary rite theory,

page 190: the classic "Measure of Man" (Vitruvian Man) by Leonardo daVinci, copied around the world, showing the golden ratio proportions in the human body,

page 191: the only known CAD drawing adaptation (to my knowledge) of Leonardo's "Ideal Church" sketch,

page 192: detailed specifics about the Shoemaker's Knife of Archimedes, giving several variations all showing the mathematical principle,

page 194: details of the geometry of the classic 1991 Barbury Castle, England crop circle formation,

page 195 and page 52: the details of the geometry encoded in the Sri Yantra (a classic Hindu mandala) and the cross section of the Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt (also the "squaring the circle" conundrum), both with a 1-Phi-Square Root of Phi triangle which has a 51 degree, 51 minute slope,

page 196: numerous details common to the 5 Platonic and 13 Archimedean Solids,

pages 197-214; numerous details specific to the 5 Platonic and 13 Archimedean Solids, including how the insphere/intersphere/circumsphere/side length proportions are calculated,

pages 215-224: similar details specific to the 4 Kepler-Poinsot solids, the Star Tetrahedron (a.k.a. Stella Octangula) and related polyhedra,

pages 225-229: numerous graphics showing how the Platonic Solids relate to each other in a myriad of fascinating (awe-inspiring, really!) ways,

pages 230-235: numerous relationships between 3D polyhedra with 5-sided symmetry and the "shadow" they cast on a decagon (10-sided polygon), with construction details,

page 236: step-by-step instructions on creating an accurate drawing of the Icosahedron and Dodecahedron starting from a Golden Rectangle,

pages 237-255: generous appendices for hands-on explorers of all ages and levels of experience, including tables and charts of regular polygon angles, apothem, radius and side ratios and areas, radius ratios by coordination number for Ionic Chemical Bonding (which relates to properties of materials at the molecular and planetary levels), Fibonacci Numbers, Perfect Right Triangles (when I put the book together, I wasn't aware of the Phi-1/Phi-Square Root of 3 Right Triangle that Mike Green of British Columbia introduced me to), Prime Numbers, extensive tables with all sorts of data on the Platonic and Archimedean Solids (useful for a variety of purposes, including model construction and computer simulation and animation, a map of planet Earth showing superimposed Platonic Solid Vertex Latitudes and (example) Longitudes, a fun stereogram with 6 Small Stellated Dodecahedra (there, I gave the clue away :-), a short bio of myself, 3 pages of bibliography (more on my books and links pages and blog), and unique graphical index to all the illustrations in the book. Whew! I'd almost forgotten how much I packed into this labor of love over a decade ago!

Many of the 1300+ images are somewhat self-explanatory graphically (especially if you have created the basic shapes like the Seed of Life, Golden Rectangle and a few others by hand with compass and straight-edge, which I highly recommend for anyone as mentor Keith Critchlow so aptly reminded me when reviewing my original manuscript)...

... and of course, if you are finding re-creating one of the patterns challenging, I'd be happy to answer other questions via email that I can share with other enthusiasts on my blog (which I'll do with this reply; thanks for asking! :-)

I'm also working on a number of related projects that will complement the book with video "hands on" procedures, etc. Stay tuned!

Announcing My Myspace and the Hedronists (Ashland Geometer's Myspace)

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-29T17:20:00-08:00

I have my new Myspace set up here. Several colleagues – we've called our selves the "Ashland Geometers" and more some like the sillier name of the "Hedronists" – have a new collaborative Myspace... stay tuned for more fun under way!

A few interesting links about consciousness, modern physics and interconnections

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-28T16:00:48-08:00

Here are a few interesting links about consciousness, modern physics and interconnections I found while doing some research this morning on these subjects (most are courtesy of Wikipedia, where I've just started making a contribution here and there...)

Peter Russell (and his page on the New Frontiers website)
Perennial Philosophy
Philosopher's Stone
Copenhagen Interpretation
Many Worlds Interpretation
Common Dreams
TimeStar (thanks to Dan for this link)

Sometimes it's fun to see what synchronistically leads to the next web-woven thread in the tapestry... Perhaps one of these will lead you to some interesting ponderings or AHA moments :-) If nothing else, pages like this serve as a little time capsule of where my thoughts have ventured during a portion of a day on this lovely planet...

Vegetarian Impact on the Environment

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-27T23:55:00-08:00

Here's an article a friend sent that points in the "simpler is more sustainable" direction. Even without researching the statistics, this makes a (sustainable) worlds of sense to me! Thanks to Marge & Janaia for sending this my way:

What one action could you take to make the biggest difference to reduce global warming? Eliminate or reduce meat consumption (except locally-produced). More impact than swapping to a hybrid car.

The United Nations has sent tremors through the livestock industry with a new report that states,
"The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the
  most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." The report shows that
livestock production accounts for more greenhouse gases than automobiles. For every calorie of
meat consumed, at least ten calories of fossil fuels were required to produce that meat. Animal
  agriculture takes up 70% of all agricultural land, and 30% of the total land surface of the
  planet. Today, 70% of "slash-and-burned" Amazon rainforest is used for pastureland, and feed
crops cover much of the remainder. The ultimate ramifications of the report suggest that the
average American can do more to reduce global warming emissions by adjusting their meat eating
habits than by switching to driving the most fuel efficient car currently on the market. Negative
  environmental impacts can be greatly reduced by reducing (or eliminating) meat consumption and
  buying locally grown and sustainably produced meats, dairy and animal products.

Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_3853.cfm

Heart of Healing conference in Sacramento

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-26T23:32:14-08:00

Suzie Daggett (who did a superb job arranging speakers for our New Frontiers group a few years ago and has been making similar great contributions to the community since with her Insight directory) is involved in the Heart of Healing Conference, which will take place March 24-25, 2007. It looks like a great lineup of presenters for those of you in the Sacramento, California area. Check it out! Here's the flyer she sent:

Stereogram animation of 24-cell

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-25T22:02:00-08:00

Here's a neat stereogram animation (thanks, once again to Michael in Arizona!) by Tony Smith which is a 4-dimensional shape; see my links page for more on polytopes.

VERY worthy cause - MENTORING!

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-24T10:32:59-08:00

Although the vast majority of my mentoring has been informal, I've been an avid mentor as long as I can remember, and I just discovered not only a local opportunity here in Eagle Point (ASPIRE) to contribute to the community as a mentor, but also a statewide organization here in Oregon (Oregon Mentors), and a national organization (Mentoring.org) which links to resources and networks to mentoring groups and opportunities all over.

If you feel that you want to make a positive contribution with your enthusiasm, support, knowledge and just plain caring in the lives of young people, check out these opportunities! If you're reading this, you probably have a lot to share, and that sharing can make a BIG difference... See my thoughts about the film "Right Here, Right Now" in a recent post... I don't claim that my high school paper on the golden ratio was responsible for my uncle's Joe's younger nephew becoming a Math professor ... although HE acknowledges that as being an influence... We often see only the tip of the iceberg of the effects that our goodwill creates, which may propagate through many lives and around the planet!

When I reflect on the years I taught Adult School (Leadership and Human Relations), conducted classes at Deuel Vocational Institute in Tracy, California, workshops in Arizona, California, and now Oregon (including our local high school) those have been some of the most fun highlights of my life... Perhaps you have insights and knowledge you would like to share also; now is the time! :-)

Nested Platonic Solids - my new video now online!

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-23T22:04:11-08:00

I've finally uploaded a video animation loop I created a few weeks ago.
Here's the description I added for the YouTube file:

Infinite Recursive Zoom In of Nested Platonic Solids

This continuous loop rotates around a nest of the five Platonic Solids: Cube (red), Tetrahedron (yellow), Octahedron (green), Icosahedron (blue) and Dodecahedron (purple), returning to a cube oriented along the same x-y-z axes one third the size in each dimension as the outer cube. The transparency of the inner cube changes from 100% opaque to 100% transparent as the animation proceeds, which allows playing as an infinte recursive loop. High-resolution versions and more info at www.intent.com and www.brucerawles.com

The original video looks quite a bit better, BTW, the resolution reduction required for YouTube is rather severe... I just wanted to test the process, and you can still get a sense of what the original looks like.

Elements of Style - Brevity and Gusto

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-22T13:51:33-08:00

I just finished reading an updated illustrated version of the classic "Elements of Style" by Strunk and White. Many thanks to my cousin DeDe for the gift! Will reading these words of literary wisdom make me more self-conscious about my writing – I hope not! My intent is to hone my writing skills and convey what is important effectively and with gusto. I'll begin by practicing one of the rules of the book; brevity ... right now! :-)

Sound and matter interactions; Chladni & Jenny

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-21T10:24:41-08:00

Thanks to Michael in Arizona for alerting me to this very intuitive demonstration of how shapes resonate with different vibrational patterns and frequency interactions (quite reminiscent of Hans Jenny's Cymatics work):

Chladni Resonance Effect - sound makes form

You can feel with your ears when the sound interactions are more complex and more dissonant, and see it reflected in the patterns at the same moment.

Crop Circle Science and Orb Photos

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-20T23:37:42-08:00

Great synchronicity; I got an email from a new friend (here is Lisa's blog) about her experience with orbs, and I just got back from a superb lecture this evening sponsored by RVML on crop circles by world expert Nancy Talbott. In addition to her first rate scientific plant and soil science research, she has an impressive amount of what's becoming known as "orb photos". There is going to be a Prophet's Conference on the orbs soon; I imagine it will be fascinating!

What the world needs now is love, sweet love ... and imagination! :-)

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-19T23:32:00-08:00

I've always agreed with the Dalai Lama's prescription (or actually I think it was his response to the question of what his religion was, to which he replied; "simple, it's kindness" or something like that)... and I suppose to sustain that, we all need imagination to maintain the kindness we're all capable of. We went to go see "Night at the Museum" today, and there's some rather imaginative animation in that movie (as in so many fun films these days)... How about more collective imagination about a world based on kindness! Works for me...

Sri Yantra, Great Pyramid, Golden Ratio and Vesica Piscis

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-18T21:52:00-08:00

Here's an excerpted dialogue about the Sri Yantra and it's geometry from a recent email with colleague Sherri Silverman; one of those "might as well share with a wider audience" conversations... :-)

=====

Hi Sherri:

Your message is timely and appreciated!

I have an interesting "synchronicity" story to tell about the Sri Yantra. Over a decade ago, when I was researching the 1-Phi-Square Root of Phi triangle (cross section of the Great Pyramid and primary geometry in the Sri Yantra), I discovered a website that gave the exact proportions of the Sri Yantra and it's construction ( http://alumni.cse.ucsc.edu/~mikel/sriyantra/golden.html ), and I was replicating these on my computer using Claris CAD. That evening, I happened to be listening to a favorite radio program, New Dimensions, hosted by Michael & Justine Toms. Michael's guest just happened to be talking about - you guessed it! - The Sri Yantra! His guest, whose name I've forgotten, mentioned that all authentic replicas have a small gap between the inner and outer regions of the design, so I made sure there is a very tiny gap on my version of it on page 195 of my book.

I'm curious if the CD has music with frequency ratios of 1: Phi: Square Root of Phi...

BTW, another friend in British Columbia (Mike Green) recently alerted me to a right triangle I wasn't aware of that has Phi: 1/Phi: Square Root of 3 (hypotenuse) proportions; amazing that I'd never run across such an elegant triangle linking these mystical proportions! Seems curiously connected, somehow! (The square root of three is the proportion of the Vesica Piscis, the diagonal of a cube & circumsphere to intersphere ratio of the tetrahedron, and the surface area to edge ratio of the tetrahedron.)

=====
Dear Friends,

I will soon send out one of my illustrated newsletters with Vastu tips relating to the eastern sector of your home or business. In the meantime, I wanted to let you know about a FABULOUS NEW ITEM FOR YOUR CONSCIOUS LIFESTYLE:

I have found a wonderful Sri Yantra CD that converts the mathematical form of the auspicious Sri Yantra into sound. It creates a centered, harmonious, meditative experience. This is not Sanskrit chanting, nor is it on the website shopping cart yet. Call Transcendence Design at 505.984.0108 to order this special CD. Prices follow the explanation of the CD. If you do not remember the benfits of the Sri Yantra, look at http://www.transcendencedesign.com/cgi-bin/shop.pl/page=yantra_meru_chakra.html and http://www.transcendencedesign.com/cgi-bin/shop.pl/page=yantra_shri.html for info on the two- and three-dimensional forms of the Sri Yantra.

The SRI YANTRA consists of 9 triangles arranged with 4 pointing upward and 5 pointing downward, superimposed on top of one another. Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, DC, BFA, has translated this ancient mandala into a sonic mandala mathematically in two different ways, corresponding to part 1 and part 2 of the CD. The sound vibration patterns that are generated by the complexities of the Sri Yantra make this soundtrack a powerful tool for reaching deep states of consciousness.

In each part of this CD, Dr. Thompson has used the circle around the triangular patterns of the Sri Yantra as a central reference point to which all of the triangles relate in distinct proportionate ratios. On track 1 you will hear the Sri Yantra assemble itself sonically one triangle tone at a time, starting with the frequency for the circle and ending with all twenty-seven angles playing together. This produces the exact relationship patterns you see as you look at the Sri Yantra visually.

For Track 2 of the Sri Yantra CD, Dr. Thompson calculated the area of the circle and the area of each of the nine (9) triangles. He then related the area of each triangle as a percentage proportion to the circle that enclosed it, making a ratio. In both tracks, Dr. Thompson has played the complete Sri Yantra through a series of seven octaves. You will hear the Sri Yantra begin as a mix of complex low frequency vibrations, which continually double in frequency every four minutes and become higher and higher, leading one upward. Many people feel the Sri Yantra begin as a sound vibration in their body and eventually exit through the top of the head.

The sounds on this CD have been processed with special 3-D recording techniques, so headphones or good stereo separation give the best results. This CD is best used sitting with an erect spine, with eyes closed and lights dim. You may also wish to listen to it while gazing at a picture of the Sri Yantra.

The Sri Yantra CD is only one of many Transcendence Design conscious lifestyle products. You can get an advance peek at more of them at http://www.transcendencedesign.com/cgi-bin/shop.pl/page=vastu_products.html.

I have added a lot of new material to the website, including an article from the Santa Fean Magazine this past July. You can read "Do you vastu?" at http://www.transcendencedesign.com/press-santafean2006.html

All best wishes for a truly centered year of grace, love, and abundance,
Sherri Silverman

Prophet's Conference - interesting interview

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-18T06:57:35-08:00

http://www.greatmystery.org/

Spoken Word offering: Claims of the Normal: A Skeptic's View - In Memory of Robert Anton Wilson

Keepin' Warm in the Winter Snow & Harp Guitar

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-17T09:16:30-08:00

Yesterday we had probably the largest snowfall here in the Rogue Valley since we moved here a couple years ago. It was only 2-3 inches, but enough for the neighborhood kids to be out inner-tubing down the street past our house, and it took a couple of neighbors and me to push my wife's car into the garage when she (finally) made it back from the sloppy roads to a freshly shoveled driveway.

I've been enjoying the Echoes music program in the evenings from our local NPR affiliate Jefferson Public Radio. Yesterday was no exception; host John Diliberto interviewed harp-guitar player Stephen Bennett who has some lovely mp3 clips to keep you warm acoustically here. My all time favorite harp-guitar player, who I had the good fortune to see in concert in Grass Valley a couple of times, while he still walked this planet, was the legendary Michael Hedges.

Converging on a sustainable AND user friendly future?

BruceRawles.com — 2007-01-16T06:47:57-08:00

Yesterday evening, I watched (after the fact) Steve Jobs' MacWorld Expo 2007 Keynote Address, and was (as usual) wowed by the breakthrough technology demonstrated by the visionary engineers at Apple, Inc. – their new name, since they are venturing further and further from "just computers." They have lots of impressive features and technology in the new iPhone which should be available in a few months. It's always fun to see what new "how cool!" ideas they can pull off, and with the latest and greatest engineering innovation as well as usability (like "pinching" the touch screen with two fingers to expand or contract the zoom level on the web page or photo being viewed). The John Mayer mini-concert at the end of the presentation was fun, too!

Another feature of the new iPhone is low power consumption (allegedly, since they're not out yet), but I can imagine it must be rather low to run portions of OSX code and all the other new stuff, as well as being a phone, iPod, and who-knows-what-else is in there :-) I'd like to be the first person (on record) to suggest that they integrate (while they're at it!) a sensor on the back side from the display for HRV (Heart Rate Variability, interfaced in devices like the HeartTuner, HeartLink, and HeartMath's products such as their new emWave) so that the next-gen iPhone can also give you an energetic "reality check" for your biological/emotional health and allow you (via widgets, apps or whatever) to correlate who you're talking with, what you're saying (and hearing and seeing) and make statistical recommendations for your life. If our techno-crazed culture still needs training wheels for intuition until our spiritual evolvement catches up, why not have the best possible (and reduce the number of gadgets we carry around!

Meanwhile, the "low power consumption" issue (before I digressed with another vision), is another important topic in the spiritual-physical spectrum of important breakthroughs to help with the transition from being "on the edge of environmental/cultural collapse" to "on the edge of environmental/cultural serenity." I have been watching Dr. Mercola's videos on health lately, and today he digressed (from his usual nutritional emphasis) to talk about the "other" important electronics trade show last week, CES in Las Vegas, which I have yet to attend, so I appreciate his vicarious summary. In it, he mentions Organic LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology screens under development – they apparently have "extraordinarily low power requirements" and look even better than the current plasma displays, and can even be made flexible. Now, if we can just replace all those CRTs with pico-powered displays, perhaps develop practical ZPE sources (if what I've heard extrapolated about Maxwell's fifth, under-reported scalar equation are true) for transportation, redesign our communities so we (most of us, at least) can all usually walk or bike to work, put in low energy bullet trains between densely populated areas and implement all the other Ecotopia-like, sustainable ideas that Al Gore alludes to at the end of "Inconvenient Truth", we might REALLY have some technological evolution that reflects significant spiritual evolution!