Category: Reflections

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8 ways to misuse Facebook and hurt your psyche

http://stuckbetweentwoworlds.com/2013/10/14/facebook-absentia-or-why-i-really-hated-it/
http://stuckbetweentwoworlds.com/2013/10/14/facebook-absentia-or-why-i-really-hated-it/
Image copyright – http://stuckbetweentwoworlds.com

I started using Facebook back in 2007 after a lot of peer pressure and after many friends and relatives started using it.

The reason why I delayed and pondered whether to join or not, was about my privacy concerns and about the fact that posting personal photos of myself, friends and family was not something that made me feel at ease.

During the years, I have been using Facebook, I was becoming truly aware of its negative effect on my psyche and the psyche of many of those who were on my friends list.

In late 2012, I took the decision to quit using Facebook. It was an easy choice. I did lose many of my “friends”, but I won real ones that make effort to write me an email and see me in person.

In late 2014, I re-activated my account in order to promote this blog. I also changed the way I use it: Just as an advertisement platform and a little bit like a social network. Continue reading “8 ways to misuse Facebook and hurt your psyche”

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The Pledge of Allegiance

american-flagHi,

I am not a U.S citizen yet but I live here. I did not learn the Pledge of Allegiance at school, but the first time I heard it, it was during a fraternal meeting. I really loved it. Actually I appreciate to learn something on my own than having to be forced to learn in an institution such as school, church or university.

This pledge, in my opinion, holds so many virtues that are worth discussing.

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Continue reading “The Pledge of Allegiance”

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Just once, I wish to wake up and see…a united world!

united-world

I would like to wake up one day, look at the world and see:

  • A Christian quoting the Quran
  • A Muslim quoting the Bhagavad Gita or the Bible
  • A Buddhist quoting the Torah
  • Jews and Muslims in peace
  • The media writing about news as they are
  • The rich and the poor walking together
  • The knowledgeable educating the ignorant
  • The positive person teaching and inspiring the negative person
  • The arrogant becoming humble
  • Terrorists changing their ways and finding the light
  • Powerful countries helping developing countries
  • Science and religion merging
  • All the nation praying for one God, one truth
  • The world in harmony
  • No more wars, killing and violence

And that’s not my Christmas wish.

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Seeing with equal heart

I don’t remember when exactly I came to learn about the Bhagavad Gita, probably during my second trip to India back in 2007. The Bhagavad Gita spoke to me directly, along with the hidden gems in the Mahabharata epic.

When I was still living in Belgium, I visited Radhadesh and befriended a Brahmachari. We both enjoyed each other’s company. He offered to help me while I study the Bhagavad Gita.

While I have not read the Bhagavad Gita from cover to cover, I usually open it at random and learn from it.

It has nice illustrations to explain some of the verses in the book. The picture you see in this article talks about the humble sage that sees everyone with equal vision.

I decided to call this article “Seeing with equal heart” and not “Seeing with equal vision” because I believe that vision, spiritual vision, takes place in the heart where we can choose to look at things as they are or with a mask of judgement.

Continue reading “Seeing with equal heart”

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The 10 commandments in the 21st century

ten commandmentsSpiritual or religious teaching have roots in the human psyche and can not go out of date. I have been meaning to write about the ten commandments and how they apply in real life. In this blog post, I will list the commandments and then talk a bit, from my point of view, how I see they still apply in the 21st century.

The 10 Commandments list can be found here Exodus 20:2-17

Let’s get started!

Continue reading “The 10 commandments in the 21st century”

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Today I saw a Porsche

Today, in the morning, while driving to work, I stopped at many red lights. In front of me, there was a Porsche. I began thinking.
“If I had all the money I need, would I buy a Porsche?”
I stopped and started thinking, then thought:
“I personally would not spend the money on expensive cars. I like my car, it drives well and got enough technology to my taste”

Besides, I don’t like to buy something fancy I don’t need, especially when I have a lot of money and know that there are people that cannot even afford to take the bus. When I have more money than I can spend, I believe I have responsibility to share with others.

I am always reminded of this Cabalistic teaching: “Receiving for the sake of sharing”.

What would you do?

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Dissecting the “Jupiter Ascending” movie

This past weekend I got to watch Jupiter Ascending movie. I was amused by the visuals and the universe constructed by this movie. In this blog post, I will share with you some of the interesting things I observed.

Spoiler alert: do not continue reading if you plan to watch the movie.

Here we go:

  • The movie theme: the movie sets a very futuristic theme. In that theme, traveling between galaxies is not an issue. Earth is nothing in the bigger picture
  • Big and powerful dynasties own planets. Earth is portrayed as a farm to grow humans. There will be a harvest period where humans are harvested
    • Human harvesting is used to product a youth elixir, that is very profitable when sold. It is in high demand because it can regenerate cells and make you look young again
    • Earth was seeded by those superior rulers from other planets and galaxies
    • People live for millenniums. One character lived 91 millenium.
  • Crop circle: They show us a scene where a spaceship lands in a field on Earth and then when it takes off, we can see its shape burned on the ground, thus forming the “infamous” crop circles.
  • Aliens have cloaking and memory altering/erasing machines where they can come, anesthetize you, run some experiments then erase your memory of what just happened and then wake you up.
    • When an alien occurrence or mishap take place, the aliens may chose to erase the memory of a whole city if they have to. If a few escape, then no one will believe their story.
    • Aliens can morph into human shapes
    • There are “space cops” and they live among us
  • Reptile aliens
    • Reptiles are portrayed in the movie. Is this a reference to the infamous “Reptilians“
    • They are like humans in functioning but have the skin and looks of a lizard
    • Those reptiles have wings and tails. They can fly.
  • Ascension technology is portrayed with a cylindrical tube filled by a blue ray with small floating particles inside of it. When one steps in the light beam, he or she will be transported up towards the spaceship above.
  • Jump Drives: in the movie, they jump drive a lot to go from a galaxy to another
  • Attachable wings: the hero is shown with two round marks on his back then they drop a hint about attachable wings.
    • At the end of the movie, we see the hero with black wings and wanting to fly and play with his date.
    • And who said angels are magical? what if they were a technological advancement as portrayed in this movie?
  • Reincarnation: In the movie, reincarnation is referred to as re-occurence and they define it as:”the re-occurence of the same genetic make up”
  • Bureaucracy: even in such an advanced empire, bureaucracies still are an impediment. We see how the heroes get bounced from one place to another when they were trying to do some paperwork. At the end, they even bribe the clerk.
  • Marriage is portrayed in the movie as a contract. The ceremony remains but just for the shows. There is no love but just a business contract
  • Time the most important asset: it is stressed in the movie that the most important asset is time! That’s why the youth elixir is important

I hope you enjoyed this list. It is far from being complete. Please write me your comments below.

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“I went to heaven and came back”

Today, I was at the park walking. I ran into a guy trying to recruit people to save the planet from global warming. I stopped and chatted with him.

He was not paying attention to the discussion all the time, for example when chatting he would look behind me and shout to the people that are passing by. Anyway, he told me that once he had a spiritual experience. To make a long story short, he told me he went to heaven, other galaxies and came back here because he wanted to be back.

He started to describe one planet he found, where he said it resembles earth but only much more peaceful and technologically advanced. There are talking trees there, animals talk and everything is harmonious and peaceful. There is no killing on that planet.

Later he told me, that he also witnessed the end of our world here on earth. Everything will be burning, and only the good people will be saved.

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Dear readers, I shared this story with you because it tells us something about the human mind’s imagination and its recalling ability. Remember, not every person that goes to heavens and comes back, or gets to talk to God gets the attention of Oprah Winfrey or the main stream media. While many have profited from claims like that, many others have been labeled as crazy people.

It is ironic how we choose who we want to believe and who we don’t want to believe, right? In my previous post, “Jesus Sells“, I gave an example of how claims of supernatural nature can make you good profit.

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9 Important Facts to Remember as You Grow Older

Today I received these funny words of wisdom through a chain email. They are funny and insightful, enjoy!

wisdomNumber 9 – Death is the number 1 killer in the world.

Number 8 – Life is sexually transmitted.

Number 7 – Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Number 6 – Men have two emotions: hungry and horny, and they can’t tell them apart. If you see a gleam in his eyes, make him a sandwich.

Number 5 – Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks, months, maybe years.

Number 4 – Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital, dying of nothing.

Number 3 – All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

Number 2 – In the 60’s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it normal.

Number 1 – Life is like a jar of jalapeno peppers. What you do today might burn your ass tomorrow.

And, as someone recently said to me: Don’t worry about old age; it doesn’t last that long.

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I Think I Could Turn And Live With Animals… – By Walt Whitman

I think I could turn and live with animals,
they are so placid and self-contain’d,
I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.

So they show their relations to me and I accept them,
They bring me tokens of myself, they evince them plainly in their possession.

I wonder where they get those tokens,
Did I pass that way huge times ago and negligently drop them?

Myself moving forward then and now and forever,
Gathering and showing more always and with velocity,
Infinite and omnigenous, and the like of these among them,
Not too exclusive toward the reachers of my remembrancers,
Picking out here one that I love, and now go with him on brotherly terms.

A gigantic beauty of a stallion, fresh and responsive to my caresses,
Head high in the forehead, wide between the ears,
Limbs glossy and supple, tail dusting the ground,
Eyes full of sparkling wickedness, ears finely cut, flexibly moving.

His nostrils dilate as my heels embrace him,
His well-built limbs tremble with pleasure as we race around and return.

I but use you a minute, then I resign you, stallion,
Why do I need your paces when I myself out-gallop them?
Even as I stand or sit passing faster than you.

By Walt Whitman from Song of Myself

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Good bye 2014, Hello 2015

Image Source: www.alltechbuzz.net

Image Source: www.alltechbuzz.netHello Readers,

This year was riddled by lots of ups and downs. Year after year I am learning to accept what life has to offer and how to be more patient and optimistic.

It seems that everything, no matter how bad it looks, is there to teach me a lesson. Life seems to always remind of this nice story.

These are the worthwhile things I accomplished this year: Continue reading “Good bye 2014, Hello 2015”

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Juice Fasting Friday

I was raised in a Christian household. My parents taught me to abstain from meat each Friday. After I broke free from the religious institutions and starting looking for truth everywhere and in various ‘holy’ books, I stopped being rigid about any spiritual practice.

The Truth is not exclusive to any religion

Instead of fasting and abstaining from eating meat, I decided to juice fast on certain Fridays for health and spiritual reasons. I speak a lot about the fasting topic and its benefits in my “Introduction to Fasting” article.

image Continue reading “Juice Fasting Friday”