Take for example a conversation between our self and a foreigner whose
first language is not the same as ours. We are conducting the conversation
in our natural language. This automatically puts the other person at a
disadvantage. He will need more time to think of the significant words
when speaking, and will miss much of the innuendo when listening.
If we make even the slightest criticism of the others nation or people
then the foreigner is immediately in a defensive position. Recognising
the defensive position is a trigger to either attack or to avoid confrontation.
We, of course, will take the non-confrontation route. So let's assume that
the foreigner does also.
Now the foreigner wants to do anything to end the conversation, but
without appearing rude. If his defensive feeling is attached to any sort
of anger, he will end the conversation with the first idea which comes
in to his mind. This idea will not be considered as a possibility, it will
simply be actioned. We all know that any idea which we have in an angry
situation is a negative one, the negativity being generated by a fear of
the unknown.
Our first reaction is to retreat to something known, so we immediately try to change the subject.
If we find the critical subject arising again, we will think of a way
to stop the conversation, and find an excuse to leave the room.
So we have successfully avoided confrontation. Or have we?
What if the subject matter of the conversation had actually been important for the long term benefit of both parties. Is it possible that we misunderstood the motives of the other person, because we missed a subtle comment. Would we not have been better to try to get to the bottom of the problem. Would this not give us a much better relationship with the other person. In case you have not got the point yet, we recommend that you read from the start of this example, but this time through look at the words from the point of view of the foreigner. This will reveal many thoughts to you.
This is how the Buddhist principle of non-confrontation has been corrupted. We often forget one of the primary precepts of Buddhism. "You must be completely honest" is a reasonable 20th century translation of "Let one not speak falsely".
Buddha was known as a speaker of words that make for peace, and he would
rarely have said the first words which came to his mind. He was also a
far sighted man, and could see that once a problem has arisen, it is far
better to solve it, than to avoid it and have it arise time and time again.
We must choose our words very carefully, in case they are misheard or misunderstood.
We feel that the best approach to life is to take a longer term view
to solving problems, so that they do not arise again and do not create
other problems. In other words, to avoid jumping from the frying pan into
the fire.
If we never end a conversation in anger, and are always clear about
important things we will have a more peaceful life. And, after all, isn't
peace what we are all searching for.
We can help ourselves to be in control of ourselves by beginning to
be mindful of our breathing. The best way to breath is by inhaling through
the nose slowly, while we count eight. We do not fill our lungs completely,
but stop just before the top of the breath, and hold while we count four.
Then exhale slowly through the mouth, while we count to eight until
almost reaching the bottom of the breath, and then hold for a count of
four. Very soon we establish a rhythm which suits us, and helps us to remain
relaxed. Then, while we are walking, we can adjust our paces to match the
eight-four counting. By using this method, we can take control of our body
at any time. We can maintain the same pace of step up and down hill, simply
by shortening and lengthening our stride. Of course the easiest way to
practice is seated in a comfortable position, or even a full lotus if you
can manage one.
Rhythmic breathing is a start to learning how to cure ourself and others.
Now that we have got the basic idea, and done a little practice, we
can proceed to the next phase, which is to make sure that we inhale and
exhale in the proper manner. Most people never use the full breathing capacity,
and it is a good idea to take maximum breaths a few times per day. If we
take our mind inside our body, and sense exactly what happens when we breath,
we will discover that there are three distinct sets of muscles which are
used during breathing. Firstly, the diaphragm is used to stretch the lungs
downwards, causing air to be drawn into the space created. Secondly, we
will notice that the chest muscles cause the rib cage to expand, creating
more space. And lastly, unused by many people, are the muscles attached
to the collar bones which stretch the lungs upwards. If we use all three
sets of muscles when breathing, we will be benefitting more from our breath.
We should consider filling our lungs like we fill a bottle, starting at
the bottom first, and letting our shoulders rise a little at the end of
the inhalation. Similarly, the shoulders will drop at the end of the exhalation.
We will be able to notice our diaphragm rising and falling. This is a good
key to learning how to meditate. In order to clear our mind of all extraneous
thought, we concentrate on the rising and falling of the abdomen in the
diaphragm area, while we count eight-four-eight-four.
There is one further step to breathing which we will cover next month.
But for now, whenever we have a spare moment, we just keep practicing,
and concentrate on moving the diaphragm effectively. The rest then
follows naturally.
We all have one.
We've all heard him
We sometimes listen to him
But often we disagree.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if the little man in our head knew what
was really right for us to do next.
Then whenever we needed to make a decision all we have to do is to
listen to the little person in our head.
We wouldn't have to worry about money, because the little person would
take care of it.
We wouldn't have to worry why someone had not arrived yet, because
the little person would take care of it
We wouldn't have to worry if we had upset someone, because the little
man would not let us.
The truth is, for those who know, that if we listen to the little person
every minute of the day, we have a wonderful day.
He never tells us untruths, he knows what is best for us, and the more
we listen to him, the more he will protect us.
All we have to do is to give our little man a chance to be heard above
the voice of everybody else's little man.
Many of us spend much of our time concentrating on somebody else's
little man. Fine, if our little man says "watch the television" then we
can watch the tv. But if our little man suggests that there is something
better to do with our life, then we do not sit and watch the tv.
Sounds easy, and you may think it needs will power.
What it actually needs is no will power. (or even wont power)
If we are able to switch off our will power completely, and just train
it to listen to the little man, then the problem is solved. This sounds
easy too, but what is going to happen when we want a new car and the little
man suggests a better way of using our money.
We have another simple answer.
If we really desire something from the bottom of our hearts, then the
little man will arrange our lives so that we get it when we are ready for
it.
The real truth about our little man, is that he is in permanent direct
contact with a superior power. He is being guided by a central control
mechanism, which has its objectives, which are far more outreaching than
anything we could ever conceive.
We are a part of this great master plan.
And if we co-operate, and follow the plan, we find out why we were
born. Once we know that, our lives become much simpler, because we no longer
have to spend most of our thoughts trying to satisfy our demands for knowledge
of ourselves.
This gives us time to be truly observant of more things. We do not
have to keep stopping and questioning why, and failing to observe something
else as a result of thinking the same thing over and over again.
We free our minds from extraneous thinking, and clear a path for us
to concentrate on. This means we get things done.
"I think the Robin Hood Cooperation is a very informative group.
I myself have just
applied to a Native organization to be a member of a outreach group.
This group
goes around the city from 9pm until 5am. They talk to the people
on the street,
give coffee and food, assist in finding shelter, give blankets and
clothes. The
only thing I worry about in becoming a member of the team, is the people
who die.
I mean, you become close to the people...friends. A friend
of my mothers does it
and her first night out she was looking for a guy on the list and found
him....he
had frozen to death. But I do want to try it. What do you
think?
Reply
Hello again,
I think this is a fantastic idea. Especially during the cold weather.
Try not to become too attached to the people you are helping. They need
your help more than they need you. Also, if you can, try to find a way
of helping these people to help themselves
" No amount of help can do for us what we need to do for ourselves"
........Gautama Siddhartha, the Buddha, 561 B.C.
For Greenpeace information via Internet use World Wide Web to:
http://www.greenpeace.org/
, February 3
(Itar- Tass)Russia may be exposed to radioactive contamination even
if the West only uses tactical nuclear weapons against Iraq, environmentalists
said on Tuesday. "The use of local tactical nuclear weapons on the territory
of Iraq
MID: ALBRIGHT SAYS KEY ARABS HOLD IRAQ RESPONSIBLE By Miral Fahmy
CAIRO,
Feb 3 Reuters - US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said after
talks in Cairo today that key Arab leaders agreed that Iraq would be responsible
for the "grave consequences" if it continued to defy the United Nations.
US has France on board for Iraq attack, turns to Russia By Andre
Viollaz
WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (AFP) - The United States turned its attention Tuesday
to persuading Russia to support a military attack on Iraq, if needed, after
concluding that France was on board. President Bill Clinton personally
Dolphin death toll tops 70 on Cape Cod WELLFLEET, Mass., Feb 2 (Reuters)
Biologists were gathering tissue and blood samples on Monday from the
bodies of 71 dolphins that ran aground and died on Cape Cod beaches over
the weekend. "We still don't know why they beached themselves," said Sue
Knapp
<<< ATMOSPHERE & ENERGY >>>
14 AFP Global warming could increase malaria: environmentalist
DAVOS,
Switzerland, Feb 3 Global warming could cause a sharp rise in malaria
in tropical countries, a World Bank environmental specialist said here
Tuesday.
"In a warmer world one would expect the mosquito to breed faster and
bite
FP El Nino to slow economic growth, cost billions of dollars BY
Dan
Eaton BANGKOK, Feb 3 The El Nino weather phenomenon battering Asia
and the rest of the world will likely be the biggest climatic event
this century and cause billions of dollars of damage, experts gathered
in Bangkok said Tuesday.
Report: U.S. is willing to nuke Iraq NEW YORK, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The
Clinton administration has reportedly changed its weapons policy to
permit the targeting of tactical nuclear bombs against Iraq if Saddam Hussein
launches a biological weapons attack against Israel or neighboring nations.
Americans back military strike against Saddam: poll LOS ANGELES, Feb
2
(AFP) Most Americans support the use of force against Iraq in the conflict
over weapons inspections, according to a Los Angeles Times nationwide
poll published Monday. Those surveyed also overwhelmingly dismissed the
US would use "devastating" force to answer chemical, germ attack
WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (AFP) - Any country using chemical or biological
weapons against the United States or its allies would face "a swift and
devastating" counter-attack, White House officials said Monday.
Mounting seal pup death toll concerns New Zealand WELLINGTON,
Feb 2
(Reuters) - The toll of mysterious deaths among a threatened colony
of alion pups mounted to over 1,200 on Monday, and a leading environmental
organisation said the cause may be a serious issue for human health.
BLAIR WARNS "EVIL' SADDAM: WE'RE READY TO USE FORCE By John Deane
LONDON, Jan 31 PA - British Prime Minister Tony Blair today branded
Saddam Hussein an "evil dictator" who posed a fundamental challenge to
world peace. Mr Blair said that the international community was prepared
to take military
South China Morning Post January 31, 1998 Pg. 8 A host of shellfish
fossils and 15 previously unknown species of algae have been
found under the seabed off Antarctica. The discovery indicated the Ross
Sea off Antarctica was between three and four degrees Celsius warmer about
1.2 to
01/29 Pesticides-Food CURT ANDERSON WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fruit, vegetables
and even baby food pose a possible health threat to 1.1 million children
age 5 and under every day because of unacceptable levels of residue from
widely used pesticides, an environmental group asserted Thursday.
The government's
Iraq says won't use weapons of mass destruction Dominic Evans BAGHDAD,
Jan 30 (Reuters) - Iraq dismissed on Friday concerns it might use weapons
of mass destruction in any conflict with the United States, saying it no
longer possessed such arms. Culture and Information Minister Humam Abdul-Khaleq
U.S. envoy starts tour to rally support over Iraq Belinda Goldsmith
STOCKHOLM, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations,
Bill Richardson, met Sweden's prime minister on Friday at the start
of a week-long tour to rally support for possible U.S. military action
against
01/30 UN-Iraq-China NICOLE WINFIELD UNITED NATIONS (AP)
-- China firmly opposes the use of force to end the stalemate with Iraq
over arms inspections, China's U.N. ambassador said today. China's tough
stand was a setback to a U.S. campaign for support for a military strike.
The Scotsman January 30, 1998, Pg. 26 Chilling warning on
global
warming Stephen Breen BRITAIN could get colder if a massive ice
sheet in Antarctica breaks up because of global warming.
Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey say the Larsen B ice sheet,
is "critically
One killed, four injured in accident on Russian nuclear sub By Laurence
Peter MOSCOW, Jan 29 (AFP) - One sailor died and four other crew were
injured in an accident on board a Russian nuclear submarine docked in the
Kola peninsula in the Arctic north, Russian navy officials said Thursday
Saddam warns against attack on Iraq BAGHDAD, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein warned the United States against attacking his
country and said Iraqis would resist any "aggression," the Iraqi News Agency
(INA) said on Thursday. "If the devil pushes these enemies into evil and
The Scotsman Jan 29, 1998 Pg. 11 Sea to rise 20in by end of next century
BY Michael Paterson GLOBAL warming will make the sea rise by an average
of globally by 2100, according to the most detailed forecast yet.
Climate experts made the finding with a computer programme which roughly
Bass tainted in Lake Michigan CHICAGO, Jan. 26 (UPI) State officials say a sample of smallmouth bass caught in Lake Michigan off Chicago's lakefront contains unhealthy levels of cancer-causing PCBs. There is already an advisory in effect for Lake Michigan salmon and health officials have warned
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts January 26, 1998 Research suggests spate
of cyclones may become regular Source: 'Papua New Guinea Post-Courier',
Port
Moresby 23 Jan 98 New scientific research strongly suggests the recent
spate of cyclones in the Pacific may become a more regular event, South
Pacific
Chinese marine mammal experts say sudden weather change and abnormal
ocean
currents are responsible for the stranding of grey whales and
white
dolphins on the shore of southern China's Hainan Province.
In the
15 PAC: SHELLFISH FARMS CLOSE AFTER BIO-TOXIN FOUND IN WATER WELLINGTON,
Feb 5 AP - Six marine shellfish farms had been closed and 34 tonnes
of
harvested mussels could be destroyed after a marine bio-toxin was detected
by routine seawater tests, New Zealand officials said today. The farms
off
the coast of
1998 Death toll tops 400 in Uganda cholera epidemic DATELINE:
Kampala The death toll in a cholera epidemic that broke out late last
year
has reached 460, Ugandan Health Minister Crispus Kiyonga said in a
statement
released Thursday. Some 10,000 persons have been hospitalised with
the
19SAM:EL NINO HITS ANDES WITH DROUGHT, DISEASE, DEATH By Tim Johnson
BOGOTA, KRT - The calamities have piled up one after the other: severe
drought, pestilence, raging forest fires, overflowing rivers.
The brunt of the El Nino weather phenomenon has slammed into the Andean
nations, withering.....
. Electromagnetic warfare technologies have been in development by several countries for last few decades. These technologies have been developed to a highly sophisticated level by the US and the former Soviet Union. These countries both developed broadcast technologies that are capable of inducing symptoms of both acute and chronic disease in large segments of targeted populations. It is our experience that most people are simply unaware of these technologies
TASS February 11, 1998 US sub collides with SKorean
fishing boat,
rescues crew By Vladimir Kutakhov DATELINE: SEOUL, February 11
A US
nuclear -powered submarine collided with a fishing boat in the South
Korean
territorial waters on Wednesday morning. The boat engaged in
squid catching
The today man goes by the world "living" (so to speak) at a dizzy rate.
In this crazy race, we come across many confused situations and blurred
ideas about ourselves and the repercussion of our presence in the world.
We do not always get the right solution to these confusing matters,
and in most cases, we get an incomplete solution; from the effect of adopting
attitudes and pre-conceived ideas which we encountered unconsciously or
as our heritage.
(It's tragic but we live jumping from error to error and that is
transferred from parents to children just because of ignorance.).
The responsibility of education is bigger and more compromising than
we could ever imagine, because if we have not found out yet how to live
life with dignity, how could we ever expect to teach what we don't know?
The fact is that man lives in a sea of ignorance, which is the mother
of any kind of evil.
Nevertheless, the lucky ones who have questions with no suitable answer
or solution, begin to climb from the base of the common man, mediocre in
spirit, and conformist. Since the right answer lights up the mind and soul,
the question raises his consciousness; both the question and the solution
are necessary to raise consciousness.
This man already has some kind of disquietude, with no apparent answer.
O.K., but he is not like the rest anymore, he has impulses.
I think it's important for man to value his questions, because they
are like a call, an offering, a wish for unity and an act of Love.
This inquiring man looks for answers in reality. He takes illusions
no longer.
He is looking for the Truth.
If man is the most blessed creature in the whole Universe, why does
he behave himself like the wildest?.
Why does he steal, kill, lie, hurt, destroy, hate, envy, fail, stain,
etc,
etc, etc.?.
Because he is ignorant. Because he doesn't know.
Do not act like savage people. Do not be uncouth.
We don't need all the answers to live with dignity, honour and justice,
NO!
What we do need is to have questions.
Ernesto.
<ernestoc@cvtci.com.ar>
Welcome to The Robin Hood Bugle Archives.
Each month's issue is shown, with a comment regarding each of the seven
standard sections
Click on any section, and you will be taken to that article, and from
there will be able to browse, or flip to other articles in that issue.
The archive map is re-shown at the end of each issue, space permitting.
| Co-operation | Help | Discoveries | Quotes | Overcome | Environment | Spirit | |
| Dec '97 | Conversation | Ancient | Reiki | Mind Power | No article | Thailand | Mentation |
| Jan '98 | Lahus | Kindness | New Year | Light | Hangover | Greenpeace /Yadana | Money |
| Feb '98 | Honesty | Breathing | Little man | Hemp | Agony | Greenpeace | Dignity |
| Mar '98 | Database | Breathing | Normal | None | Medical | Greenpeace /Mutation | Instructions for life |
| April '98 | New Age | Meditation | News & Views | Law of One - RA | RA/ medical | Project Earth | Meditation |
| May '98 | Two Views | Meditation | Psychic | Christianity | Meditate | Reductions | Karma |
| July '98 | Results | Request | Computers | The Other Side | My Brother | Drunvalo | Merging with Shiva |
| Aug '98 | |||||||
| Sept '98 | |||||||
| Oct '98 | |||||||
| Dec '98 | |||||||
| Jan '99 |
