Tuesday, 19 August 2008

Morning Meditation
20 minutes of Relaxation Response meditation (IAO)
Bible Reading: Matthew 16-18
Here Yeshua starts to prepare his followers for His impeding crucifixion. Moses and Elijah appear and spend the day with the apostles–although Yeshua also says that Yokhannon (John) the Essene was the return of Elijah referred to in the Old Testament (I learned “Yokhannon” today; I’ll try to be consistent in using it). Although some people take issue with a passage in Mt 16 where Yeshua states that “There are men who stand here who will not taste death, until they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom,” the real problem should be with Elijah.
After all, Yeshua appeared to his followers in a blinding light after His crucifixion; “appearing in his kingdom,” as it were. However, the re-appearance of Elijah is supposed to herald the end of the world.

Self-Hypnosis
Autogenic Arm Relaxation
My right arm is very heavy. (x5)
My left arm is very heavy. (x5)
Both my arms are heavy as lead. (x5)
Everything is normal. (x3)

These autogenic exercises I’m doing are from a book called Power Hypnosis by Pierre Clement. Good luck finding a copy–it’s been out of print for years. Autogenic induction seems to have gone out of vogue.
I found this book when my parents moved and cleaned out some of their storage; I had previously used it to good effect when I was in high school and college. I wish I had continued my practice–but I fell out of a lot of good habits in Boot Camp, I’m afraid. The skill of self-hypnosis is not coming back to me as quickly as I first acquired it, but it is returning.

Afternoon Meditation
20 minutes of Relaxation Response meditation (IAO)
QC-LBRP-QC
Although I’m not currently affiliated with any Rosicrucian bodies, I’m going to try to start working Rosicrucian exercises back into my daily routine. I don’t think it will be much of a problem… at least until I register for classes in September! For right now, I’m limiting myself to one session daily.

Freemasonry
Blue Lodge
We did a first-degree initiation tonight. I didn’t participate this time, but I did get the recommendations I needed to enter the Scottish Rite in December.

The Military Supporting Obama?

Luke Rosiak reported today on Open Secrets that Barack Obama is recieving donations from troops abroad at a six-to-one ratio to John McCain (and approximately 1.5 to one from all military personnel). Total donations to the Obama campaign from troops abroad were just over $60,000.00.

Wondering why my fellow servicemen were selling out my country, I got in and did some research myself. I came up with the following totals:
all personnel listing “army” as employer: $5,942.00
all personnel listing “navy” as employer: $1,000.00
all personnel listing “air force” as employer: $1,300.00
all personnel listing “marine corps” as employer: $0.00 (OOH-RAH!)

Now, I’m no great shakes at math, but that seems to fall a bit short $60,000.00.

Can anyone clarify where those other numbers came from?

100,000 Rally in Tbilisi

And call on Ukraine and others to permanently withdraw from the CIS.

This occurs as Georgian forces and civilians continue to evacuate before the gigantic Russian onslaught. The conflict in Georgia is a conflict for the future of democracy and the future of Eurasia. Georgia, like Ukraine and neighboring countries, have had more than enough repression under Russian regimes (putting a red star up in public will get you thrown in prison in Hungary, for example). Several have petitioned for membership in NATO. We certainly owe Georgia that–we should accept them in immediately, and turn the G-8 into the G-7 by kicking Russia out. I would argue that we owe them more than that–the tiny country had the third largest military presence in Iraq, after the U. S. and Great Britain.

I’ve read a recommendation that we also boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics… but that’s six years in the future. I hold out hope that diplomacy can repair our relations in the area by then.

UPDATE: The Georgian rally is posting U. S. flags and chanting “Unity with the West.” President Bush, to my knowledge, is still at the Olympics.

Ummm…

So, let’s recap the last year…

I invested in the stock market, and the stock market crashed.

I bought a house, and the housing market collapsed.

I got interested in Russian women, and Russia went to war with one of our best allies.

*sigh*

I’m starting to get a real “bad vibe” here… Maybe I’ll make posts here before I embark on any big decisions, so people will have a warning!