Rev. Kathy Hearn urges us to "Make Some Changes"
2012-4-22 “Make Some Changes” Rev. Kathy Hearn from Center for Spiritual Living SR on Vimeo.
Note: Rev. Kathy Hearn is introduced at 2:03
Enjoy a half hour of wisdom from the Reverend Dr. Kathy Hearn, speaking at the Center for Spiritual Living in Santa Rosa, California.
Rev. Kathy is the Community Spiritual Leader of United Centers for Spiritual Living, an instructor for the Holmes Institute School of Consciousness Studies and a monthly contributor to Science of Mind magazine.
Did Monsanto Trick California Voters?
By Ocean Robbins
Reprinted from the Huffington Post, Posted: 11/08/2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ocean-robbins/monsanto-prop-37_b_2088934.html
California could have been the first state in the nation to mandate the labeling of genetically engineered foods. We would have joined more than 60 countries where consumers have the right to know if their food has been genetically modified. But the prospect of Proposition 37 terrified the junk food and pesticide companies that want to keep us in the dark about what we eat.
The "No on 37" campaign spent $46 million burying the state's voters in an avalanche of misleading ads and outright falsehoods. Their efforts defeated the proposition, 53 percent to 47 percent.
But Monsanto and their peeps didn't just spend $46 million promoting their opinion. They also lied and got away with it.
Check out these examples:
1) They illegally included the FDA logo in a "No on 37" mailing to state residents, and made up a quote from the FDA, which the FDA refuted. The FDA did not and cannot express an opinion on ballot initiatives.
2) They used the Stanford logo in TV ads and mailers, when the University also did not take a stand on the issue. And they said that Henry I. Miller, their hired gun, is a professor at Stanford when in reality, he works for the Hoover Institution -- which rents office space on the campus.
3) They paid a PR firm with expertise in fighting recycling legislation (on behalf of the soda pop industry) to generate a misleading "study" that was designed to show the proposition raising food prices by hundreds of dollars per state resident per year. This despite independent economic analysis concluding that it would not raise prices in any meaningful way, and that in Europe, mandated labeling was not linked to an increase in food prices. (Do you really believe the pesticide and junk food companies would spend $46 million trying to save you money?)
4) They said there have never been any documented ill-effects from GMO consumption. But many allege that 37 direct human deaths and 1,500 disabilities linked to a toxic batch of the supplement Tryptophan were caused by a genetically engineered strain of bacteria used in production. And there are numerous reports of livestock that have died as a result of grazing on GMO cotton. There could be far more widespread ill-effects, but without labeling, it's nearly impossible to find out conclusively.
5) They said Prop 37 was full of exemptions for special interests. But in reality, the exemptions were modeled after those adopted throughout the European Union and every other country that calls for labeling. For instance, livestock that are fed GMO grains don't have to be labeled genetically engineered unless the animal, itself, is genetically engineered. That's not a special interest exemption -- it's basic science.
What's Next For The Food Movement?
In the last decade, the movement for healthy, sustainable food has been growing exponentially, with consumption of organic foods growing from $8 billion in 2000 to $31 billion in 2011. We've seen an equally dramatic rise in the number of farmer's markets and CSAs. Still, it's a big jump to move from 4 percent market share, to changing national food policy. Tobacco was found to be harmful to health in 1950, and it took nearly half a century to meaningfully change laws.
The food movement is growing fast, but as a political force, it's still in its infancy. Big agribusiness still controls the purse strings in Congress, and runs the show at the FDA. At least for now.
An ABC News poll found that 93 percent of Americans want to know if their food is genetically engineered. Even after a narrow loss against a heavily financed and deeply entrenched food industry, the rapidly growing food movement may be just getting started.
"The arc of history is long," Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told us, "but it bends towards justice." As we've seen time and time again, when enough people demand it, eventually, change does come.
Ocean Robbins is founder and co-host (with best-selling author John Robbins) of the 60,000 member Food Revolution Network, an initiative to help you heal your body, and your world... with food. Find out more and sign up here.
I Think I'm Turning Purple
By Lynne McTaggart
Reprinted from http://www.lynnemctaggart.com/blog
What has amazed me most during Superstorm Sandy, while whizzing over Europe and the Middle East recently and watching the aftermath of the US presidential election is how many people the world over understand that during this vital crossroads in our human history we will only survive by moving away from individualism to interdependence.
We need, essentially, to move beyond red states and blue states, to one BONDED purple state.
To do that requires learning how to do something besides polarizing against some other or ‘them’ who doesn’t agree with you or, no matter what his otherness happens to be. It involves, in essence, turning ‘purple’: learning to have aerial vision of the whole.
Built on sameness
Currently most relationships are forged from the erroneous idea that we have to be the same to get along and that differences between us are to be avoided at all costs. In fact, conflict is considered so antithetical to the human experience that when others disagree with us, we conclude that they must be stupid or ill informed. To justify this position, we find it necessary to debate them, demonize them and announce their ignorance to the world. In our minds, conflict can be resolved only with I win, you lose.
In my view, the key to a more holistic relationship with anyone is to conceive of the relationship as a “thing in itself” and to focus on the “space in between”—the glue that holds it together—especially when you do not agree with each other.
Once you view yourself as part of a bigger whole, you begin to act differently toward others. By making this one simple change of perspective and offering yourself as a vehicle of service to the connection, you will easily find the Bond that is always present and embrace difference within that larger experience of connection.
When you relate to others in this way, you do the opposite of what you’ve learned in critical thinking or debating classes. You focus on what is positive, truthful, and wise about what others are saying, not the flaws in their arguments, and look for areas of common ground.
You also learn how to promote closeness through the power of deep truth and candid disclosure rather than the strength of your arguments. During this type of deep sharing, the pull of wholeness builds trust and loosens attachment to fixed positions.
Here’s the 10 ways, in my view, we can overcome polarization and division of any sort:
10 Steps to Going Purple:
1. Keep alert for “Us versus Them” thinking, language, and actions. As soon as you start generalizing about one race or ethnic group of people—whether Republicans, Muslims, or even bankers—you have defined a group as “them.” Expunge this kind of language from your vocabulary.
2. Practice maintaining respect for a view that is different from your own. There is no right or wrong perception of the world.
3. Question anything you regard as a division between yourself and others. This includes your automatic assumptions about neighbors you don’t know, acquaintances of a different ethnicity or religion, the countries and people beyond your borders.
4. Separate out gradations of belief. The idea that all the people who hold a certain view have the same exact position is a stereotype. Fine gradations of belief exist among people who appear to agree, and most of us outside of a belief system don’t appreciate the wide spectrum of beliefs held within any given position. Pro-choice advocates, for instance, have widely divergent views from each other, from those who believe that abortion is justified in all circumstances to those who believe abortion is justified only in cases of rape. Seek to identify these fine distinctions in beliefs or practices so that you do not miss a chance to find common ground.
5. Look upon everyone involved as a potential partner and honor the need to connect with them.
6. Seek out kernels of truth in any opposing position rather than the differences in views between the other person and yourself. Don’t try to win the debate, convince others of your “rightness,” or convert them to another point of view.
7. Mentally swap roles with someone else. Imagine the issue from the polar opposite of your own position and offer as many solid arguments in favor of that position as you can. This helps you to take a larger perspective on the issue. By the same token, try to imagine someone else looking at your ideas. What do you think they see?
8. Don’t be afraid if you disagree. Explore the values you have in common and seek a creative solution. Identify and explore both your core values and interests: underlying hopes, needs, values, concerns, motivations, fears, and ideals, and identify which interests are mutual.
9. Experiment with a positive description of your differences. Instead of complaining, “Those atheist heathens don’t go to church,” think and say, “How interesting—atheists believe in a natural intelligence.” When disagreements occur, listen harder. You’ll often find that the problem is a gap in your knowledge of the events in the person’s life that have led him to that position.
10. Name your feelings. Then reflect back what you believe to be someone else’s feelings. Reveal the backstory of why you believe what you believe. Sharing deeply invites deep understanding and connection.
Okay, Democrats, go try this on some Republicans this week, and vice versa. And all of you, now it’s your turn to tell me your 10 tips for going ‘purple’.
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