Peter E. Pflaum - Golden Globe - The Synergy Network http://www.wiredbrain.net/ RE: Arrogant and foolish: I have false pride and am immensely stupid. I believe that my pathetic ideas are a authentic representation of reality. How could my shallow thoughts reflect the order of nature itself. How could my thoughts comprehend the true nature of life, physics, the cosmos, time, and even my own being. To think my ideas are reality, is indeed most arrogant and foolish. It is said that the beginning of wisdom is awareness of ones ignorance. I am worse than rocks, than beasts and savages because I try to impose my foolishness on the world. I come to believe that what I think is - it is indeed a "grand Illusion" of false power and fake glory. I even believe that - that is all there is - nothing more! I could try to allow my being, mind, body and spirit rest in its own existence. I could come to terms with myself but I am too busy with needs and desires. I could come into some kind of meaningful relationship with creation if... I could feel the proper respect for the other but I am too afraid of letting go of my false faces, defenses, passions, and hidden doubts. Sophist are those who adjust, subconsciously perhaps, their ideas to their interests. They reflect the popular beliefs and glow in reflected self-admiration. They think they are smart because of the praise of fools. I am a sophist, and bask in the false light of praise. I think the thoughts that will be rewarded and reject hard truths that will get me into trouble. I am devious, untrue to my self or others, can not be trusted, I forget the little wisdom, I once knew, I flounder in new and fashionable theories. I could be more than a beast and less than an angel but am afraid of what others might think. I am caught up in angers, prejudices, tricks, and overwhelming greed. I want things my way are refuse to listen to advice. I will do anything to get what I want, first my self deception then by fooling others. I subdue or seduce the unwary and fool myself. I am indeed arrogant and foolish - I am humanity. WELLNESS SEMINARS INSTITUTE OF HUMAN RESOURCES 225 Robinson Road New Smyrna Beach (P.O. Box 2176) FL 32069 (904) 428-9609 DR. PETER E. PFLAUM Human Potential Training and Education: This is a unique and highly successful program of human development. Participants learn how to integrate their personalities, solves personal problems and develop more powerful interrelations with others. There are thirty-three steps in four levels. Each level is four weeks, three nights a week, (M.W.F.) for three hours a session. (12 SESSIONS x 3 HR = 36 hours). Who should attend? Anyone who wants to live a better life and gain control over their lives will benefit from these programs. Counselors, teachers, supervisors, parents, religious people, couples, students, just interested people. The Teacher (Guide) is Peter E. PFLAUM, Ph.D. who has twenty years of experience and practice with his unique system. Others will enrich the Yoga, and other special methods (Zen). WELLNESS SEMINAR: THE BODY - Summary: Stage one: The practice is to work directly on the stoppages - the blocks - then rational thought can begin to solve problems - not before. People didn't talk their way into blocks and can't talk them selves out of their problems. The words such as; centered, balance, grounded, mean some thing in practice. You do it, not talk about it. The Way to Vibrant Health by Alex and Leslie Lowen is based on the process of increasing the life force. New energy is released by proper respiration and metabolism. The new energy is great for lasting weight control. The mind and body are identical, one is a reflection of the other. How you feel effects how you think and how you think effects how you feel. ( Norman Cousins interesting book on Health - Bill Moyers series on public T.V. Benison on Stress are good examples.) Level One (Steps 1 to 9) Each session contains a warm up, a lesson from a 350-page work book, individual and group exercises. 1.) Getting in touch - breath 2.) Getting in Touch - metabolism - (great for weigh control) 3.) Bioenergetics - (Alexander Lowen) grounding - charging 4.) Self-possession and self- expression - being in touch 5.) The Exercises - getting loose - getting the energy flows unblocked. 6.) The expressive Exercises and Gestalt - Feelings (mind - the body) 7.) Sexual exercises (optional) massage and setting up a regular schedule. 8.) Autogenic - relaxation techniques 9.) Meditation and Imagination * Alexander Lowen, Bioenergetics - (Harper & Row) a form of Gestalt - Autogenic and other names (Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer by Pelletier, Kenneth) and Wilhelm Reich - Every "Shaman" I know has a simple and direct approach. Emotions are feeling - feelings are NOT thoughts - they are physical. (Thoughts exist in the brain but I am talking about the fight/flight syndrome, a series of body reaction to emotions, This has been called the Stress syndrome - ) THE MIND - Stage two: IN TOUCH WITH FEELINGS - INDEPENDENT TO INTERDEPENDENT Out of touch means not only with our feeling but with reality. We are not conscious of how uptight we are, how afraid, how uncertain. As in a popular ad with the kid inside who wants the frosted side, we are out of touch with the "child within ," we fail to communicate with our spouses, our kids, our students, or communities. Our behavior is established in the "dream world" - the sub or un-awareness - most of the forces that controls our lives are out of sight and out of mind. The "real" world is an illusion created by social norms, language, advertising, political interests, etc. The real world is in our dreams. For those who don't know, this is hard to believe but when known is obvious. Did you ever have a tightness that you only identified when it let go? You say, I didn't know it was so tight. You get used to being in knots, off balance, out of tune. Stress and THOUGHT control: Level two - getting control of your thoughts - 10.) Thought stopping - assertiveness training 11.) More effective - listening - parent - teacher - person 12.) Dealing with Irrational ideas and passions 13.) Coping skills - proactive 14.) The seven habits of Effective People (Stephen Covey) 15.) Biofeedback - nutrition - advanced exercises (Yoga) 16.) Getting unstuck - independence - freedom from reactions 17.) Yoga (Shalom) Love - cloud - visualizations and breath 18.) No Fatigue, no sore muscles, perfect posture, the sounds 19.) Introduction to Zen and the art of paying attention Stage Three: BEYOND SELF - four - DREAMS and UNION Magic is real - real is magic. THE SOUL - Magic is the perception of forces AND REALITIES that we may not be aware of today. Life is full of tricks - things are different from what they appear to be. For example physical matter - the stars - other people often give false impressions - The President - social conventions - et al. How do I know? I don't. You have to practice - gain body knowledge - and feel what you feel. How do we treat the problems and the world - by practice - by example - by doing - not talking? We will work directly on the emotional base of behavior and the nature of being. STUDIES ON THE WAY - the path of knowing Level three - The path to knowledge 20.) The world of illusions and images 21.) The Aesop fables and Sufi tales - the three levels of knowledge. Reading and meditations 22.) Morals, character, independence - beyond self - loves 23.) Total experience - peak experiences Discovering Values: To learn new values you will experiences new feelings or remember feeling you have forgotten. 24.) See twice - Peter Weir's "The Last Wave" - Rhino-Home 25.) Wallace's "The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca," (In paper reprint from Random House about $10) read it, twice? This will be our introduction to the dream world. 26.) Steven Halpern - Music Halpern Sounds, Visualization of the perfect self - 27.) Relaxation tape - to take home 28.) Yogi Shalom - Charles Schoelen, a set of tapes. The first one is on LOVE, then the rock, the cloud and other meditations. 29.) Herrigel, Eugen ZEN (Zen in the Art of Archery). The Method of ZEN (McGraw-Hill)- and/or OM Creative Meditations - by Alan Watts - (Celestial Arts, MillBrae, CA) Electronic Education Program P.O. Box, Mill Valley, CA 94941 A couple of Sufi books - THE ANSWER IS MAGIC: Level four: THE DREAM TIME - 30.) Out of touch - The dream world - reality - illusions When people have profound psychological problems - the general belief is that you need to deal with the emotional basis as the cause. While there are many theories of Psychological practice, we focus on direct experience - by exercises and psychodrama, rather than analysis, talking or running away. To help someone with a stutter you practice the stutter until it is under control. We are going to learn mind control. Certainty for our Time: 31.) LAWS OF PHYSICS: Imagine the atom; the core of particles held together by great force, the fields of electrons vibrating in their courses. The electrons can only operate in certain fixed Quantum, they can be in only certain ways in relationship to each other and the nucleus. These fixed ways allow for chemistry. The elements can combine with Certainty depending on the fixed nature of physics. God cannot do things against his nature. The laws of nature are not imposed from outside but re side within the nature of things. 32.) SCIENCE: The ways the elements combine, the very order of the Cosmos itself defines the possible. Science and technology are doing the possible. The difference between alchemy and chemistry, astronomy and astrology, is the knowledge of the possible. Knowing, some thing of the ways of nature is knowledge. 33.) IDEOLOGY: The evil and false pride that people have when they think their ideas are equal to the ways of nature. The ways of the universes exist in a grain of sand. The natural processes in a drop of water are infinitely more powerful than any human belief. Science endeavors to put our beliefs in tune with reality. The electrons change their quanta in fixed patterns. They do not move through the intermediate space. We cannot go from here to there without passing through the intermediate space. Particles do not conform to our concepts but we try to understand the reality as best we can. 34.) FALSE PRIDE: It is a source of evil and false pride to foolishly believe our ideas of nature are just relative. The " anything goes approach" and "do you own thing," encourages the belief that anything is possible. We must live with the really possible not in illusions and fancy. The covenant is the fixed law of nature where possible becomes real. Reality is the wisdom of Gods' creation, his own presence. Human wisdom shrinks before the infinite. The unity of all things appears in the billions of stars and atoms, the Eternal essence. I am God, you are Gods also is a rather special way. We are perfect in harmony with the universe and nothing, a small spark outside the rules of nature. Is there a contradiction here - our ideas are not reality - so how can we know God? 35.) REMEMBER - The particles of corporal existence do not have a personality. Reality is not confined to man. If we are transformed into vanquished space and are no longer self but a new being, we can come close to looking into the face of God. If this is not clear it is because it is very difficult to express. The truth is said often and many different ways but while many hear only a few, listen. 36.) It is difficult to explain to the Bat who lives only at night and avoids the bright sun what shadows are like. Maybe some time in your life you knew you were in tune - had certain know ledge of being - Being just what you are, MASLOW in the Further Reaches of Human Behavior explored this aptitude. He called it transcendence, beyond self to being or B values. He said it gave life meaning and purpose. Effective people knew the meaning of B-values and therefore had focus and energy that created a successful life. Beyond self. So simple and so hard. Can you explain to the blind about the colors of the world? The drunken, desire their drunkenness and do not desire the truth. If is not this or that: then what is it? 37.) The Perfect Truth: To go from the possible (the ways of nature ) to the essential is the spring of reason. First we gain true perception and then a sense of being and passing through and beyond personality to real character. We can be worse than beasts, fiends, stones or storms - we have the avarice, envy, pride opposes knowledge. We do not overcome these by an act of will but by rites of passage. In Joseph Campbell's hero with 1000 Faces, these "all too human" passions and monsters are passed in the mythical journeys in the underworld (clearly a representation of our reptile unconscious minds). The Hero emerges from thinking and feeling to being and knowing. 38.) BEING READY: There are few shortcuts. If you love God, God will love you. You are beloved, the union with all exists in you and all around you. In pure obedience, there is true freedom. When you are master then you are slave. You are the sweet fruit in the shell, ready to ripen, the suns warm beams has put us into the right stage of life. Our estate is prepared and we are ready. 39.) If this is obscure to you, it is meant to be clear. The vail of metempsychosis passes and you sees clearly the obvious - AH HA! The circle is complete, I am what I am, and feel good about it. (Union) The seal is broken and the secret reveled - it was here all the time but you weren't looking, you did not listen, I guess you were too busy with more important business. Faith and peace, and eternal wisdom are not so important? They require truth and justice and cannot be used for personal gain. They have no market value. 40.) The dream that becomes reality is in the union of mystic lore and the way. The doors are open, are you ready for no-existence. If you give up existence you will find it. If you cling to the things of life, you cannot pass this way. That is the myth of the "grateful dead." To win you must surrender, to triumph, give up. You all know that. The phantoms pass away, nothing but the truth remains. THE UNION Comes when the possible have passed its ordered limits and become the essential - science has become knowledge and certainty. (This is beyond 40 and me at the moment). Who firmly grasps the mystic meaning of the union of possible and the promise of the essential has a higher wisdom than plain mortals. More is less, far is near, we are no longer afraid of our own shadows, the fire has no terror and the book of changes. (To be continued - Mahmud Shabistri "The Secret Gar den," only 57 pages - A Dutton Paperback) "Mankind's moral sense is not a strong beacon light, radiating outward to illuminate in sharp outline all that it touches. It is, rather, a small candle flame, casting vague and multiple shadows, flickering and sputtering in the strong winds of power and passion, greed and ideology. But brought close to the heart and cupped it one's hands, it dispels the darkness and warms the soul." James Q. Wilson Be Careful - Notes from The Secret Garden: Mahmud Shabistari, (E.P. Dutton & Co, 1974) Sufism is not a religion. The Sufi practice is a the science of man, or the "Science of Certainty." In most societies, most of the time, the Sufi could not find acceptance or a fair hearing. Any ideas that were not devoted to the service of the state and the prevailing ideology were regarded as not only odd but dangerous treason, and was feared as subversive. The Moslem cults, the brotherhood, and many others are mixtures. Will the real Sufi please stand up. Sufi cloaked their teaching and activities in the outward garb of religion. The ability to pretend and remember what is image and what is real, is a critical Sufi art - but many cults came to believe the outside as inside. Sufis focused on cultural pursuits which in authoritian societies allows certain freedoms and contacts with different people. The Persian-speaking Sufi's dominated the classics, which became convert Sufi text books. The public forms of Sufism are imitations. The desire for fantasies led to groups and activities that are popular and acceptable to the dogmatic climate. Imitation Sufis abounded. Scholars and the public are naturally confused on what is true Sufism and what is mystic popular imitations. The Christians have the same problem - the unreal imitations of Christ and popular but weaken practices. People want to believe that their "cult" has a special and secret way. Spain became a Sufi center in the Middle Ages, and still in the south reverberates in songs and stories. The spread of Culture from Spain and the Renascence brought Sufi practice to Europe. The Freemasons were partly based on these traditions. The Sufi have a special science in psychology and the study of man. All Sufi activity in the West until after WWI was private. Sir Richard Burton (1001 Nights) only saw imitation cults and did not know of the small private non-cultist Sufis. The Russo-Armenian philosopher Gurdjief published the first western text about a origin in Central Asia with links to the distant past, early forms of Christianity and the monasteries in the Hindu Kirsh. Ouspensky, a disciple, transmitted these ideas in lectures, demonstrations, and books. This became popular with the Kennedy crowd and actors. Dr. Maurice Nicholl and Dr. Kenneth Walker used the psychologically-oriented to attempt a system of practice. The authors of the Blooms bury group brought Sufi ideas to literature which continues today by many writers - Borges, Lesing, Kipling and many more. The true Sufi potential was largely untouched. Sufi does not have authority figures, a or a set of customs or habits. It is more open than Zen and even more difficult to fix in place. Hadrat Sayed Idries Shah in the major book "The Sifis" brought light to the confused situation. His work has brought the Sufi tradition back into focus for the West. The all too human desire to have a talisman, a messianic figure who would transform the world is not true Sufi but many cults still seek such a ideal. Idries Shah would not confine himself to closed groups who thought they had key to wisdom. The desire to feel special, to have secrets, ceremonies and special knowledge is not unique to these Sufi cults. It is tribal. Poets, scientist, professors of literature and physics, anthropologist claimed something of value in Idries Shah's work. Serious sociological journal found the ideas of prime importance in solving current human problems in advanced societies. It's vital importance to education and learning became more widely known. God, does he/she believe in me; HERE IS THE VISION: or a story about it - The Covenant: For Friends who may have knowledge of spirits or leading let me be as straight as possible. I will try not to get carried way but keep my feet on the ground. 1.) There is a connection between life and the environment. This is the Covenant: The purpose of life is to exist within a niche and expand as possible. If life doesn't keep in balance there is a collapse. Too much algae, not enough oxygen, life itself is balance of resources and the demands on resources. There is a little misunderstanding about dominion and be fruitful and multiply. We are different from other life in that we are aware. The forbidden fruit is self consciousness. The covenant is sub-conscious - it's in the dream time. We are beasts and as living creature have in our very existence a sense of where we belong. 2.) When the Covenant (Life and its environment) is broken all hell breaks loose (Isaiah 34 ) Rwanda - it is a moral or value problem because we have lost touch with the earth that sustains us. (Earth Summit Agenda 21) The problem is emotional, passions, needs, desires, greed, self-centered - et al. Surely we all know that man must have a purpose beyond himself. Maybe some don't know that - Those that know will have no trouble in understanding - those that don't know or don't care will wonder what they lived for, and get into trouble, in the long run. (In the long run we are all dead - Lord MK) (I have been seeing the "Last Wave" by Peter Weir) 3.) The answer (maybe) in the Sufi way - believe it or not the Sufi's created civilization about 6,000 years ago. The "teacher of the Age" taught people to be human. It was a trick - an illusion. Human passion were too strong, the animal character too important, so there had to be leaders - a responsible elite. The leaders would have training (step by step practice) and education (discussion and meditation) in the way of wisdom. Leaders could be "in this world but not of this world" while the masses were just in the world and believed in illusions. Leaders could see and feel beyond themselves, their passions, and needs and desires. It happens slowly but each one could teach one and Civilization could continue. It was a secret, in that the leaders knew the illusion they created for the masses were just that an illusion. They were the Wizard of OZ (another Sufi tale) The little boy in the Emperors New Cloths who shouts out - but it's just a illusion - get into a lot of trouble - as does Socrates, Jesus, and other who challenge the old or create a new illusion. (I still feel funny saying this - nothing new or has not been said in the last 6000 years but not on INTERNET anyway - If I am wrong forgive me - it is just the sounds of birds - no one will listen - it has not been done without forty years of thought - I am ready for - I have had the dream of death of white nothing, beyond self, it's the children - and their children, God give them a chance - some chance - any chance - I don't have to justify myself ) Now we are in the age of mass publics - of TV - and of many leaders - many voices - and the elite is in disarray. The obligations of leadership, George Bush learned at Phillips, or I learned at the University of Chicago, a British Public Schools, have been overwhelmed by commercial, entertainment values of no substance or worth. Does William Jefferson Clinton know who he is? What is behind the image - more images? Surely you need character as described in the James O. Wilson article. (Aristotle's virtue) The world is in deep trouble. The secrets needs to be advertised, let go. Our only hope is a larger group of people that have access to the wisdom. ( I hear the distance voices - shame - shame - you will destroy what you need to protect - no - but its not likely to do much good, my friends, either way - I think it's time to experiment, even the F&A M.) In tradition such knowledge would be dangerous. People would misunderstand and create another dogma. Yes, that true and they may or will. But, think of the alternatives. The overwhelming power of the western values (commercial, temporal, materialist, short-tern, selfish, vulgar, have overwhelm the society of taste - manners - style - quality - class - yes class - the tradition is that the poor don't have time or interests in the "higher things" let them have their desires and their unquestioned faith - The Grand inquisitor was right) In the face of this ecological crisis we have to expand the base of people with wisdom and judgement beyond the 1% or 2%, that have maintained civilization for six milium Now maybe 2% even know the vaguest idea of what I am talking about. In most peoples experience, their paradigm doesn't include the concept that civilization is not a natural process but created and maintained by a tiny group. They can see it can fall apart. They may understand it is a process not just there! (Survival is not a given) A spirit has suggested to me that a broader education while not likely is possible. If not now, sometime in the next generation. We need to prepare Western Teachers. Sufi's sort of gave up on the West but that as you see it was a mistake. The environmental movement has hope. There are economist who are thinking about value, there are new religious feelings, a few leaders are thinking about sustainable - earth values - the dream time. It is so sad - so little so late - too late for me - but the grandchildren of my children - The grand cycle is coming to a close. I would like the new one to begin peacefully. Most uncommon - but if there is only one chance - what else can I do? Can we just watch as Isaiah 34 takes place. Am I Jacob of Isaiah 44 - no I think not - don't get me wrong - but we sure need one - If not me - WHO? If not now when? (45) The Bible - it is the text for the Christians and Jews - and has tribal wisdom it. (also almost everyone has one - so they can go look it up) God knows- I have prayed - I have visions - little of it good, should I pretend it is - we all need hope. Yes, why not, another illusion? Ye call me master, and obey me not. You seek the light, but follow me not. This is the way, you do not walk with me. I am the life, you do not desire me, since I am wise, you do not obey me. Be gracious and trust not in me or yourselves, be noble and serve not the blind spirits - be mighty and honor not my name. and do not serve your master, be noble and give not honor where honor is due, be just and without fear, for if I condemn you, do not blame me or yourselves, the times are out of joint. The covenant is broken. God, does he/she believe in me; The Sufi way is tricky, you appear different to different people and in different situations. This is the way of a guide or teacher. I am safe and comfortable being who I am, but you (the others) have expectations and needs. To need is to expect, to expect is to demand. How am I to live up to your needs, your demands, your expectations? God is the same. He is mysterious. He/She is very comfortable being what he is. He/She has no way of meeting all my needs, satisfying all my demands, or coming up to all my expectations. I have to take care of myself. God loves me but like a good parent or teacher, encourages me to do the best I can, be on my own. So I do with students. I can't do the work for them. God can't live my life for me. We have tasted the forbidden fruit and have gained judgement. To judge is to be in error, and to live with mistakes. I'm only human. God was here before me. I put myself in relationship to God. All existence is the face of God. I care to understand and be understood. I am complex, I live in many roles and have more than one face. Teacher, father, husband, citizen. gardener, sailor, writer, thinker, materialist, greedy, faker, fraud, pretender, dreamer, lover, I run away, I hide, I do a little dance, I sin against my better self. I fail to that which I know I "should". I live in the Dream Time, I live in the "real world", I live in my scull. Who am I, you want to know. How can I tell you. I am no one and everyman. God does all these same things. I am in God and God in me. First understand, then be understood. Holy Mary mother of God the father, the Son and Holy Spirit, be with us now and in the hour of our death. Something we are not meant to understand but are mysteries. They are beyond words. I have a deep appreciation for the mystery of existence. I have been here for fifteen billion years. The Adam of my atoms, the sound of the harmony of the universe has been with me from creation. I did not come from nothing and when the voice is quiet, I return to where I came from. I do not expect or demand from my God and He/she gives freely to me. All the sense of time itself, the awareness of great glory. These are free gifts of our creator, manna from heaven. God does not judge me, for who am I to be judged. He lets me be and hopes for the best. If I pay very close attention, clear my brain and soul of distraction, I can come into the great love of God. It surround me with light and love. The glory of the heavens surround me. The wonder of the world, the rain and wind, the spirits of the living planet whisper in my ear. Does it matter what I believe? I know the love of God and the spirit of heaven. My ideas are only sound and furies, signify nothing. Quiet my restless soul and tinkered voice - quiet - and listen - open your ears, - open you eyes and see- really see - clearly - Plant your feet into the soil - be there quiet restless soul and you will know God and God will know you. I was with my father the day he died. It was in a small hotel in Alicante. We were alone. His last words were "I don't want to die." Oh might Ceasar! dost thou lie so low? Are are thy conquest, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure? ..die many time before their death, the valiant never taste of death but once. ..Seeing that death is a necessaey end, Will come when it will come. The Sufi way is tricky, you appear different to different people and in different situations. This is the way of a guide or teacher. I am safe and comfortable being who I am, but you (the others) have expectations and needs. To need is to expect, to expect is to demand. How am I to live up to your needs, your demands, your expectations? God is the same. He is mysterious. He/She is very comfortable being what he is. He/She has no way of meeting all my needs, satisfying all my demands, or coming up to all my expectations. I have to take care of myself. God loves me but like a good parent or teacher, encourages me to do the best I can, be on my own. So I do with students. I can't do the work for them. God can't live my life for me. We have tasted the forbidden fruit and have gained judgement. To judge is to be in error, and to live with mistakes. I'm only human. God was here before me. I put myself in relationship to God. All existence is the face of God. I care to understand and be understood. I am complex, I live in many roles and have more than one face. Teacher, father, husband, citizen. gardener, sailor, writer, thinker, materialist, greedy, faker, fraud, pretender, dreamer, lover, I run away, I hide, I do a little dance, I sin against my better self. I fail to that which I know I "should". I live in the Dream Time, I live in the "real world", I live in my scull. Who am I, you want to know. How can I tell you. I am no one and everyman. God does all these same things. I am in God and God in me. First understand, then be understood. Holy Mary mother of God the father, the Son and Holy Spirit, be with us now and in the hour of our death. Something we are not meant to understand but are mysteries. They are beyond words. I have a deep appreciation for the mystery of existence. I have been here for fifteen billion years. The Adam of my atoms, the sound of the harmony of the universe has been with me from creation. I did not come from nothing and when the voice is quiet, I return to where I came from. I do not expect or demand from my God and He/she gives freely to me. All the sense of time itself, the awareness of great glory. These are free gifts of our creator, manna from heaven. God does not judge me, for who am I to be judged. He lets me be and hopes for the best. If I pay very close attention, clear my brain and soul of distraction, I can come into the great love of God. It surround me with light and love. The glory of the heavens surround me. The wonder of the world, the rain and wind, the spirits of the living planet whisper in my ear. Does it matter what I believe? I know the love of God and the spirit of heaven. My ideas are only sound and furies, signify nothing. Quiet my restless soul and tinkered voice - quiet - and listen - open your ears, - open you eyes and see- really see - clearly - Plant your feet into the soil - be there quiet restless soul and you will know God and God will know you. I was with my father the day he died. It was in a small hotel in Alicante. We were alone. His last words were "I don't want to die." Oh might Ceasar! dost thou lie so low? Are are thy conquest, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure? ..die many time before their death, the valiant never taste of death but once. ..Seeing that death is a necessaey end, Will come when it will come. Kipling, Rudyard (1865-1936) - The English Freemason Lodges in India had contact with Sufi tales. Kipling as a very active Mason was taken with the Legend of Alexander and other tales. The is the basis of that wonderful story and movie - The man who would be King, The Light that Failed, The Absent-Minded Beggar, The Soldiers Three, The Jungle book, and Just-so-stories, could be look at as lessons. The Sufi contribution the literature is vast. INSTITUTE OF HUMAN RESOURCES 225 Robinson Road New Smyrna Beach (P.O. Box 2176) FL 32069 (904) 428-9609 August 18, 1994 DR. PETER E. PFLAUM Human Potential Training and Education: This is a unique and highly successful program of human development. Participants learn how to integrate their personalities, solves personal problems and develop more powerful interrelations with others. There are thirty-three steps in four levels. Each level is four weeks, three nights a week, (M.W.F.) for three hours a session. (12 SESSIONS x 3 HR = 36 hours). Upon the completion of each stage a certificate is earned in human potential training. Upon completion of all four levels people will be certified as trainers. (Fees are $100 per week for 12 hours or $300 for the complete 36 hour process, in groups of 10 or so) Materials other than the workbooks are extra. (The Workbook is included with the fee) Advanced workshops will start on Tues. and Thurs. evenings. Who should attend? | Anyone who wants to live a better life and gain control over their lives will benefit from these programs. Counselors, teachers, supervisors, parents, religious people, couples, students, just interested people. The Teacher (Guide) is Peter E. Pflaum, Ph.D. who has twenty years of experience and practice with his unique system. Others will enrich the Yoga, and other special methods (Zen). WELLNESS SEMINAR: THE BODY - Summary: Stage one: The practice is to work directly on the stoppages - the blocks - then rational thought can begin to solve problems - not before. People didn't talk their way into blocks and can't talk themselves out of their problems. The words such as; centered, balance, grounded, mean something in practice. You do it, not talk about it. The Way to Vibrant Health by Alex and Leslie Lowen is based on the process of increasing the life force. New energy is released by proper respiration and metabolism. The new energy is great for lasting weight control. The mind and body are identical, one is a reflection of the other. How you feel effects how you think and how you think effects how you feel. ( Norman Cousins interesting book on Health - Bill Moyers series on public T.V. Benison on Stress are good examples.) Level One (Steps 1 to 9) Each session contains a warm up, a lesson from a 350-page workbook, individual and group exercises. 1.) Getting in touch - breath 2.) Getting in Touch - metabolism - (great for weigh control) 3.) Bioenergetics - (Alexander Lowen) grounding - charging 4.) Self-possession and self-expression - being in touch 5.) The Exercises - getting loose - getting the energy flows unblocked. 6.) The expressive Exercises and Gestalt - Feelings (mind - the body) 7.) Sexual exercises (optional) massage and setting up a regular schedule. 8.) Autogenic - relaxation techniques 9.) Meditation and Imagination * Alexander Lowen, Bioenergetics - (Harper & Row) a form of Gestalt - Autogenic and other names (Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer by Pelletier, Kenneth) and Wilhelm Reich - Every "Shaman" I know has a simple and direct approach. Emotions are feeling - feelings are NOT thoughts - they are physical. (Thoughts exist in the brain but I am talking about the fight/flight syndrome, a series of body reaction to emotions, This has been called the Stress syndrome - ) THE MIND - Stage two: IN TOUCH WITH FEELINGS - INDEPENDENT TO INTERDEPENDENT Out of touch means not only with our feeling but with reality. We are not conscious of how uptight we are, how afraid, how uncertain. In a popular ad with the kid inside who wants the frosted side, we are out of touch with the "child within," we fail to communicate with our spouses, our kids, our students, or communities. Our behavior is established in the "dream world" - the sub or un-awareness - most of the forces that controls our lives are out of sight and out of mind. The "real" world is an illusion created by social norms, language, advertising, political interests, etc. The real world is in our dreams. For those who don't know, this is hard to believe but when known is obvious. Did you ever have a tightness that you only identified when it let go? You say, I didn't know it was so tight. You get used to being in knots, off balance, out of tune. Stress and THOUGHT control: Level two - getting control of your thoughts - 10.) Thought stopping - assertiveness training 11.) More effective - listening - parent - teacher - person 12.) Dealing with Irrational ideas and passions 13.) Coping skills - proactive 14.) The seven habits of Effective People (Stephen Covey) 15.) Biofeedback - nutrition - advanced exercises (Yoga) 16.) Getting unstuck - independence - freedom from reactions 17.) Yoga (Shalom) Love - cloud - visualizations and breath 18.) No Fatigue, no sore muscles, perfect posture, the sounds 19.) Introduction to Zen and the art of paying attention Stage Three: BEYOND SELF - four - DREAMS and UNION Magic is real - real is magic. THE SOUL - Magic is the perception of forces AND REALITIES that we may not be aware of today. Life is full of tricks - things are different from what they appear to be. For example physical matter - the stars - other people often give false impressions - The President - social conventions - et al. How do I know? I don't. You have to practice - gain body knowledge - and feel what you feel. How do we treat the problems and the world - by practice - by example - by doing - not talking? We will work directly on the emotional base of behavior and the nature of being. STUDIES ON THE WAY - the path of knowing Level three - The path to knowledge 20.) The world of illusions and images 21.) The Aesop fables and Sufi tales - the three levels of knowledge. Reading and meditations 22.) Morals, character, independence - beyond self - loves 23.) Total experience - peak experiences Discovering Values: To learn new values you will experiences new feelings or remember feeling you have forgotten. 24.) See twice - Peter Weir's "The Last Wave" - Rhino-Home 25.) Wallace's "The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca," (In paper reprint from Random House about $10) read it, twice? This will be our introduction to the dream world. 26.) Steven Halpern - Music Halpern Sounds, Visualization of the perfect self - 27.) Relaxation tape - to take home 28.) Yogi Shalom - Charles Schoelen, a set of tapes. The first one is on LOVE, then the rock, the cloud and other meditations. 29.) Herrigel, Eugen ZEN (Zen in the Art of Archery). The Method of ZEN (McGraw-Hill)- and/or OM Creative Meditations - by Alan Watts - (Celestial Arts, MillBrae, CA) Electronic Education Program P.O. Box, Mill Valley, CA 94941 A couple of Sufi books - THE ANSWER IS MAGIC: Level four: THE DREAM TIME - 30.) Out of touch - The dream world - reality - illusions When people have profound psychological problems - the general belief is that you need to deal with the emotional basis as the cause. While there are many theories of Psychological practice, we focus on direct experience - by exercises and psychodrama, rather than analysis, talking or running away. To help someone with a stutter you practice the stutter until it is under control. We are going to learn mind control. Certainty for our Time: 31.) LAWS OF PHYSICS: Imagine the atom; the core of particles held together by great force, the fields of electrons vibrating in their courses. The electrons can only operate in certain fixed Quantum, they can be in only certain ways in relationship to each other and the nucleus. These fixed ways allow for chemistry. The elements can combine with Certainty depending on the fixed nature of physics. God cannot do things against his nature. The laws of nature are not imposed from outside but reside within the nature of things. 32.) SCIENCE: The ways the elements combine, the very order of the Cosmos itself defines the possible. Science and technology are doing the possible. The difference between alchemy and chemistry, astronomy and astrology, is the knowledge of the possible. Knowing, something of the ways of nature is knowledge. 33.) IDEOLOGY: The evil and false pride that people have when they think their ideas are equal to the ways of nature. The ways of the universes exist in a grain of sand. The natural processes in a drop of water are infinitely more powerful than any human belief. Science endeavors to put our beliefs in tune with reality. The electrons change their quanta in fixed patterns. They do not move through the intermediate space. We cannot go from here to there without passing through the intermediate space. Particles do not conform to our concepts but we try to understand the reality as best we can. 34.) FALSE PRIDE: It is a source of evil and false pride to foolishly believe our ideas of nature are just relative. The " anything goes approach" and "do you own thing," encourages the belief that anything is possible. We must live with the really possible not in illusions and fancy. The covenant is the fixed law of nature where possible becomes real. Reality is the wisdom of Gods' creation, his own presence. Human wisdom shrinks before the infinite. The unity of all things appears in the billions of stars and atoms, the Eternal essence. I am God, you are Gods also is a rather special way. We are perfect in harmony with the universe and nothing, a small spark outside the rules of nature. Is there a contradiction here - our ideas are not reality - so how can we know God? 35.) REMEMBER - The particles of corporal existence do not have a personality. Reality is not confined to man. If we are transformed into vanquished space and are no longer self but a new being, we can come close to looking into the face of God. If this is not clear it is because it is very difficult to express. The truth is said often and many different ways but while many hear only a few, listen. 36.) It is difficult to explain to the Bat who lives only at night and avoids the bright sun what shadows are like. Maybe sometime in your life you knew you were in tune - had certain knowledge of being - Being just what you are, MASLOW in the Further Reaches of Human Behavior explored this aptitude. He called it transcendence, beyond self to being or B values. He said it gave life meaning and purpose. Effective people knew the meaning of B-values and therefore had focus and energy that created a successful life. Beyond self. So simple and so hard. Can you explain to the blind about the colors of the world? The drunken, desire their drunkenness and do not desire the truth. If is not this or that: then what is it? 37.) The Perfect Truth: To go from the possible (the ways of nature ) to the essential is the spring of reason. First we gain true perception and then a sense of being and passing through and beyond personality to real character. We can be worse than beasts, fiends, stones or storms - we have the avarice, envy, pride opposes knowledge. We do not overcome these by an act of will but by rites of passage. In Joseph Campbell's hero with 1000 Faces, these "all too human" passions and monsters are passed in the mythical journeys in the underworld (clearly a representation of our reptile unconscious minds). The Hero emerges from thinking and feeling to being and knowing. 38.) BEING READY: There are few shortcuts. If you love God, God will love you. You are beloved, the union with all exists in you and all around you. In pure obedience, there is true freedom. When you are master then you are slave. You are the sweet fruit in the shell, ready to ripen, the suns warm beams has put us into the right stage of life. Our estate is prepared and we are ready. 39.) If this is obscure to you, it is meant to be clear. The vail of metempsychosis passes and you sees clearly the obvious - AH HA! The circle is complete, I am what I am, and feel good about it. (Union) The seal is broken and the secret reveled - it was here all the time but you weren't looking, you did not listen, I guess you were too busy with more important business. Faith and peace, and eternal wisdom are not so important? They require truth and justice and cannot be used for personal gain. They have no market value. 40.) The dream that becomes reality is in the union of mystic lore and the way. The doors are open, are you ready for no-existence. If you give up existence you will find it. If you cling to the things of life, you cannot pass this way. That is the myth of the "grateful dead." To win you must surrender, to triumph, give up. You all know that. The phantoms pass away, nothing but the truth remains. THE UNION Comes when the possible have passed its ordered limits and become the essential - science has become knowledge and certainty. (This is beyond 40 and me at the moment). Who firmly grasps the mystic meaning of the union of possible and the promise of the essential has a higher wisdom than plain mortals. More is less, far is near, we are no longer afraid of our own shadows, the fire has no terror and the book of changes. (To be continued - Mahmud Shabistri "The Secret Garden," only 57 pages - A Dutton Paperback) "Mankind's moral sense is not a strong beacon light, radiating outward to illuminate in sharp outline all that it touches. It is, rather, a small candle flame, casting vague and multiple shadows, flickering and sputtering in the strong winds of power and passion, greed and ideology. But brought close to the heart and cupped it one's hands, it dispels the darkness and warms the soul." James Q. Wilson The point is we need a new vision - I have a suggestion. The most Ancient way is the way of the Sufi. They have a method of "learning" that could open people eyes to what is happening. The most likely case is that field in Central Africa - this is my bad dream - I worry - The dream was Atomic destruction - now its ecological - The sufi method in training is useful to get past peoples fear of the new. It helps focus on the task at hand. I have developed a 12 -15 step workbook that works for many students. I have three long files on the method - drafts (work in progress). You task is to rent the last wave movie and read one of the sufi books below. (By Friday sundown) The Friends have Visions: ( I got this off the net) I don't know of any really adequate academic studies on how we Friends (Quakers) handle such things -- we *do* sanction personal revelation-- but our methods are fairly standardized. A Friend who is "led by the Spirit" to a new vision or concern may act on it privately, or may ask her Quaker community to act, depending on the nature of her "leading". I BELIEVE I MAYBE LEAD BY THE SPIRIT - AND WANT YOUR HELP I DON'T KNOW WHERE ELSE TO TURN. If she asks the community to act, the local Meeting for Business will refer the issue, via the Committee on Ministry and Oversight (or its local equivalent), to a clearness committee. The clearness committee will meet with the individual for however long it takes, seeking to discern whether the leading is really "from God" or not. I DON'T KNOW IF THERE IS A MEETING IN MY PART OF FLORIDA - EAST CENTRAL - I'M NOT SURE WHAT "from God" means to you - I WAS a friend in Chicago (decades ago, and worked with the service committee) but now and for many years have been a happy Episcopalian, but don't trust them in this matter, its not their common way, their habit - they maybe out of practice. There are no hard-and-fast recipes for deciding whether a leading is genuine or not: such a recipe would not be a good substitute for active wisdom, and anyway, most cases turn out to be unique in some fashion. But as I have said, we have certain standards we nearly always start with. These standards generally include such things as the individual's description of how the revelation arrived (how does it sound? -- honest? truly inspired?), the individual's manner (clear vs. agitated, moved versus argumentative, that sort of thing), parallels with precedents in the history of our (Judaeo-Christian) faith, and whether the leading seems more like a standard political -social conviction or like a genuine non-rational breakthrough to something new and valid. THAT'S WHAT STUCK ME - A NON-RATIONAL (not- irrational - just beyond reason -) to something new, valid and very important. (Not really new - but a new twist on a very old theme - the COVENANT - ) We will pray over the issue and "hold it in the Light" -- i.e., hold our awareness of it in one consciousness with our own sense of what is divine. WHAT DOES IT MEAN - "hold it to the light" I think I know - but awareness of your own consciousness and a sense of the divine - is rare - in my experience anyway - really you do that - have that - GEE! We will not rush to conclusions, knowing how very easy it is to be wrong. The committee will report its findings to the Meeting for Business, and the Meeting for Business will wrestle with the matter in its turn. If the Meeting for Business agrees that the leading is genuine, it may -- depending again on the nature of the leading --pass on its findings, in the form of a minute or epistle, to other meetings elsewhere in the Quaker world. Or it may give the Friend who has experienced the leading a "travelling minute", which she may take with her to other Meetings, saying basically that "this Friend travels with our blessing, under a concern that appears valid to us".However, no Friend will be expected to sanction the validity of some other Friend's leading just because a clearness committee or a Meeting for Business has found that the leading appears genuine. THAT'S NOT MY CONCERN - ONLY TO SEEK PEOPLE OF THE SPIRIT WITH A LAMP TO LIGHT MY WAY The issue can always be re-opened. We have had cases where a single person's reservations about the character of a leading has turned a whole Meeting community around, just as we have had cases where a single person's leading has done so. This method has worked well for us for 300 years or so. If you need to verify my description of it, you could start by writing the clerks of major Quaker yearly meetings, such as London, Philadelphia, New England, Baltimore, etc., and asking them for information on this matter. They will probably refer you to someone whom they consider capable of giving an accurate answer for their community. Baltimore has an INTERNET address. Is this information helpful? Best wishes, Marshall Massey INTERNET: