Scarlet Dragon

Some good points against moral relativism but I don't see how anyone can claim Jesus was an anarchist unless they completely ignore his words & deeds. "give to Ceasar what is ceasar's and God what is God's" & "if someone forces you to walk a mile with them, walk 2 miles with them". Etc. Certainly not antigovernmt

Lots of great tips, thanks! How do I find the SAB nursery? That sounds particularly worth the effort. I will be staying at large venue halls and trailer parks (including sleeping in a classroom at a Sydney High School) so I'm not sure how to get a deliverable mailing address but I'll work on that one. Of course getting anything back to the US is a big challenge so maybe I'll just enjoy what I can while there and leave it at that.

Any suggestions for activities for this enthneo-shaman in Australia? I will be in Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast in the middle of April and would love to see some special plants and maybe acquire seed. I will be busy with a fundraising group from India that I work for but would love to sneak away for some visits to sacred plants. I live in US & India but I treasure my chances to visit Australia.

One of the highlights of my visits to Australia is watching, listening and even interacting with the Magpies there. They are something special. Nowhere else in the world have I seen or heard of birds like these. They have an otherwordliness to them that reminds me of experiences with Ayahu. . . . On one visit a certain Magpie would come right up to me and take food from me. I saw other Magpies watch it from a distance. It was kinda awkward walking and flying like it was a little dumb or a little "special." I got a sense that the other Magpie's were watching over it but it had no fear. I love these birds! What great wealth to have them around! I could listen to them talk to each other for hours. I can hear the special sounds they make, in my head right now. lol. Looking forward to seeing them again. Long and the short of this is that any visitation by them is certainly a spiritual calling in my book. Take the next step, you know what it is that they're calling you to do.

Wow! Thanks for sharing. I am imagining many different possible reactions to this. I like it as a support for the existence of God or a super consciousness but I would guess I'm not in the majority here.

I visit Aus from time to time from the US and one of the most special treats I look forward to is the birds. AUS has bird life like the US must have had 200 yrs ago. I mean that the birds there are not YET completely shell shocked by the cruelty of modern humans (&their pets). Birds there still have a sense of thriving, of living a sustainable life. I'm a bird watcher and DO see special birds occasionally in the US and in India but it's nothing like the bird interactions that I've had down under. I know can be contentious but I will say it anyway: I think that cats are one of the main reasons why bird life gets decimated by humans. I have seen plenty kittens who spent every waking moment stalking and killing birds just cause, not because they're hungry. ALL pet cats should be fitted with bells IMO. They will still catch rodents wearing a bell.

I, too, have heard these other worldly sounds a magpie can make. Sounds like I hear in ceremony. Sounds from another world. Sounds that say to me, Wake Up! There is more to this world than meets the eye! "

That the good things that I've done DO matter is my definition of positivity. Being positive makes my life a better one whether I'm right about it in the end or not. And so, positivity is a logical choice to make. Thanks for the thread.

I am in the US so am not asking for you to send seeds, however I am about to start my own batch of a.confusa and would love some special advice for sowing & growing. Or a thread referral if there's one you like.

I agree with you, Northener, about the plastics. Reducing our use of plastics (esp. nonrecyclable types) is a laudable gift to future generations. In my mind, however, going vegetarian is an equally beneficial gift to oneself and others mainly because it represents "living the good life" to billions of third world citizens. And is being sold to them in that way. Where I live in India I witness meat-eating spreading like wild-fire amongst people that are not currently undernourished. They don't need the meat as food or as nutrient, they want it for the status that 1st world countries have given it. The newly affluent indians are eating meat to copy us, to put it crudely. (I suspect the same is true in China). This is my opinion, of course, I haven't read any studies confirming it. The history of India as a largely vegetarian country proves that meat is overrated as a nutrient. They are a billion people that untill recently farmed very little meat food. If any are undernourished it is due to poverty and not a lack of meat.

I'm not sure if I'm following you here, Ethnoob. You didn't mention two huge veg sources of protein that is easily locally grown in many areas: potatoes and grain- like oats. I lived for about 2 years on a diet of only (organic and locally grown) potato & oat protein and I felt like superman in terms of strength and energy. Even breathing and walking has a destructive impact on the earth from a certain way of looking at it. However, I am not gonna give up my efforts to reduce my own unnecessarily destructive and over-consumptive habits because of the fact that I will never be perfect.

Thanks for sharing, Ethnoob! I wish I knew how to convey my gratitude. In my opinion those experiences are as real as anything. Priceless. I have had similar experiences in Aya ceremonies. One experience in particular was so real and intense I couldn't speak AT ALL for 24 hrs. I would try to speak and no words would come. My brain couldn't bridge the two sides of reality by trying to talk about it.

I look at eating meat TODAY as a different situation to eating meat during past eras and especially within Hunter gatherer societies. This is because the way that an animal lives and dies affects its physical, emotional and psychological nutritional value, in my opinion. If someone lives in a house where people have been murdered in cold blood, even if they don't know of these incidents, they will feel their thoughts and emotions turn darker. I don't know of any study on this but I think one could be done. Likewise, if someone eats an animal that has been tortured and cruelly killed by an insentient machine their thoughts and emotions are going to turn darker, or stay darker if they already are dark. I'm no scientist but this seems really logical to me. I think a vegetarian diet is likely to help someone feel better about themselves and their lives in general. BECAUSE OF THE WAY animals (and fish, increasingly so) are farmed today. And for the same reason I try to stay away from cow's milk.

Thanks Thelema for these quotes: truly the treasure of some intense and extensive searching: "O! What manner of strange fruit is this That comes into being by the act of eating it!” (referring to the ouroborostic nature of consciousness that only appears as an object upon reflection) AND “A structure of false permanence is consciousness” The mind is a pair of eyes looking into a house of mirrors that is otherwise completely empty except for its own perception of distortions of infinite complexity. Who is there to unravel the story of the images perceived when sight itself is a product of the mirroring? I am aware of an impossibly complex wasteful web of energy, based upon the breath, seeking release.