Eating Cake and Having Your Health Too

The phrase "You can't have your cake and eat it too" has always been a bit of a brain-twister to me. I like comedian George Carlin's take on it: "When people say, 'Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too.' What good is a cake you can't eat? What should I eat, someone else's cake instead?"

For me, as one who is very nutrition-conscious, the phrase brings up the health aspect: you can't eat your cake (which is almost always made with refined sugar and flour) and have your health too, certainly not if you make this a regular habit. See:

http://nancyappleton.com/141-reasons-sugar-ruins-your-health/

These days, my refined sugar intake is close to zero, although I grew up sugar-addicted and still have a major sweet tooth, which I satisfy with healthful alternatives.

"Hidden sugars" are omnipresent in many processed foods, so it's important to read
labels. Aside from sucrose (white sugar), there's glucose, fructose, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, corn sweetener, high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose or maltodextrin, barley malt, and rice syrup. Artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose (Splenda) aren't the answer--many studies have confirmed their toxicity.
Agave syrup, which has been sold as a healthy, natural low-glycemic sweetener, is in actuality a highly refined product, no better than high fructose corn syrup.

But take heart, there are indeed healthful sweeteners available: organic, unheated honey, the herb stevia, blackstrap molasses, dried unrefined cane juice, organic maple syrup, fresh fruit juices, and xylitol. Any of these are fine when used in moderation as part of a balanced whole foods diet and a health style that includes exercise and stress management, but the two that in my opinion offer the most health benefits are blackstrap molasses and xylitol.

The high iron, mineral and vitamin B content of blackstrap molasses puts it up there in the category of superfoods. Take a look at all the testimonials here:
http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/blackstrap-molasses.html
From the beauty angle, blackstrap is one of the best foods for hair health, and some have even found that when taken regularly, gray hair returns to its natural color.


Blackstrap complements coffee rather nicely. It can be taken on its own by the spoonful, or mixed in water, milk or yogurt. In Adelle Davis' classic book Let's Cook It Right, there are a number of recipes calling for "dark molasses," such as the one for butterscotch brownies (a winner!) where blackstrap could be used.

But in general, I suspect that most would find blackstrap difficult to use
as a sweetener because of its strong taste.  Xylitol, on the other hand,  is something else--it looks and tastes so much like the white stuff we are so in the habit of using, it's been called refined sugar's "mirror image":

http://mizar5.com/xylitolsalvation.html

Although xylitol tastes and looks exactly like sugar, that is where the similarities end. Xylitol is really sugar's mirror image. While sugar wreaks havoc on the body, xylitol heals and repairs. It also builds immunity, protects against chronic degenerative disease, and has anti-aging benefits. Xylitol is considered a five-carbon sugar, which means it is an antimicrobial, preventing the growth of bacteria. While sugar is acid-forming, xylitol is alkaline enhancing. All other forms of sugar, including sorbitol, another popular alternative sweetener, are six-carbon sugars, which feed dangerous bacteria and fungi. 

And here's a summary of benefits from another article on xylitol:

http://www.iprogressivemed.com/misc/xylitol_a_sweet_alternative.pdf

Summary of Benefits

Xylitol is a sweet-tasting sugar substitute that has been approved for use in more than 35 countries. Consumption of xylitol is associated with a significant reduction in tooth decay, resulting in fewer cavities and resolution of periodontal disease. Xylitol has been shown to contribute to increased bone density, weight loss, stabilization of blood sugar and lowering of insulin levels. Additional benefits include:


• Increases energy by enhancing ATP production

• Increases utilization of fat

• Replenishes glycogen

• Anabolic — keeps biosynthetic pathways open

• Anticatabolic —helps maintain lean muscle mass

• Antioxidant —generates NADPH, keeping glutathione in an active state

• Increases endurance

• Reduces free radical and oxidative damage

The dental benefits are certainly one of the main reasons to consume xylitol rather than refined sugar. We can even brush with it! An in-depth exploration of this can be read at this site dedicated to healing teeth naturally:

http://www.healingteethnaturally.com/rinsing-mouth-brushing-teeth-with-xylitol-sugar.html

Research has also indicated it helps prevent aging of the skin--another example of xylitol as the "mirror image" of refined sugar, which has been shown to promote aging of the skin, through the process known as glycosylation.

Commercially produced xylitol is derived from either birch bark or corncobs. From its name, many assume it must be an artificial chemical concoction, but it occurs naturally in the fibers of many fruits and vegetables. It is produced by our own bodies in the gut, about 5 to 15 grams daily during normal metabolism, with the enzymes to break it down.  Some may experience gastric distress when starting with xylitol, but this tends to pass when the body has adapted.  The health educator Chris Kresser writes:

http://chriskresser.com/are-xylitol-sorbitol-and-other-sugar-alcohols-safe-replacements-for-sugar 

While sugar alcohols appear to be safe and potentially therapeutic, they are also notorious for causing
digestive distress. Because sugar alcohols are FODMAPs and are largely indigestible, they can cause
diarrhea by pulling excess water into the large intestine. The fermentation of sugar alcohols by gut bacteria can also cause gas and bloating, and sugar alcohols may decrease fat absorption by other foods. However, most evidence indicates that people can adapt to regular sugar alcohol consumption, and the adverse GI effects reported in studies tend to fade after the first month or so.

I look forward to the day when xylitol, stevia and blackstrap molasses, like white sugar and other processed foods, can easily be obtained at regular grocery stores. For now, they are mostly found in the natural foods and supplement stores, and can be ordered online. They are safe for diabetics, who ought to use other sweeteners with caution, or not at all.   

It is important to note that xylitol is toxic to dogs, and possibly cats, so pet owners need to be aware:
http://www.petful.com/pet-health/xylitol-poisoning-pets-facts/

Xylitol can be used in recipes 1 to 1 as a sugar replacement. It can't be used in making yeast breads because it won't feed the yeast to make it rise. There are xylitol mints, chocolates, and chewing gum available. I don't care for gum; I mostly use xylitol in a concoction of milk and blackstrap molasses (with just a bit of cold-brewed coffee), and take small amounts from a bottle I carry with me when I'm out, enjoying the feeling that I'm benefiting my teeth (and general health) with the sweet stuff. But cheesecake is my cake of choice; I look forward to making it with xylitol and enjoying it on occasion, knowing I can indeed eat cake and have my health too!

Two New Haiku

sliver of crescent moon
glowing white on indigo--
grin without a cat


ghosts in night fog,
fires burning in the distance--
magic in the air

We Are The Saviors We've Been Waiting For

When President Obama was still on the campaign trail in October 2008, he said at the Al E. Smith dinner hosting both candidates: “Contrary to the rumors you’ve heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton, sent here by my father Jor-El, to save the planet Earth.”

Of course his remark was a joke, in keeping with the Al E. Smith political roast tradition. It seems, though, that many who previously supported him and helped vote him into office, did indeed see him as a 'saviour'--this in spite of his statement, repeated throughout his campaign: "We are the people we've been waiting for. We are the change we seek." In a similar vein, he said: "I ask you to believe in your own capacity to effect change as well as my own," and: "Together we will heal this nation and transform the world."

Shortly after he was elected, an online acquaintance observed: "I can see people getting pissed and fed up if Obama fails to make the miracles people expect of him.
People nowadays have the patience of a 50-minute sitcom. If they don't get instant results, they give up. I see it every day in my divorce law practice." His words were prophetic. Reading the invective in some of the articles attacking him, I can't avoid the feeling that their authors' expectations of Obama are unrealistic. Of course, there is the mess Obama inherited when he took office, and the fact that Presidents are constrained in their power to implement agendas, even those they themselves would prefer. But over and above these concerns, the expectation of a perfect president or 'savior' of any kind is rooted in a denial of one's own power and responsibility. Then those denied characteristics are projected onto others, who inevitably disappoint. Most of us are still stuck in the concept that someone other than ourselves is responsible for our current state of being. So when elected officials such as Obama don't "make the grade" in our view, we feel angry and let down.


In Robert Fritz's book, The Path of Least Resistance, he proposes "fundamental choice" as the basis of our experience. He gives the example of making the choice to be a smoker or a nonsmoker. Without making the fundamental choice to quit smoking, we won't succeed in doing so. Fritz calls this the "reactive/responsive" orientation, wherein we abdicate responsibility and create by default, instead of moving confidently in the direction of our dreams, living the life we have imagined (to paraphrase Thoreau). In this state, we are not in touch with our own creative power, and so we default on that power, putting trust in others or in circumstances rather than in the self.

In the orientation of the creative, it's the other way around--trust is put in the creative powers of the self primarily. We become self-directed, consciously choosing what we want in life.

Now is the time, more than ever, to exercise our choice-making and visionary capacities. Each one who holds the vision of positive change--even, or especially, in difficult times--empowers that vision and possibility.

Carlos Barrios, a Mayan elder, has spoken of his vision in the context of discussing the years leading up to 2012--a year which many, including his ancestors, have pinpointed as a crucial turning point in our evolution. In the October 2002 issue of the Chiron Communique, he called for us to "put our entire heart into unity and fusion now." This makes possible the transcendence of our differences: "No more darkness and light in the people, but an uplifted fusion." He concludes that the greatest wisdom is in simplicity: "Love, respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It’s not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free...all you need is within you. Great teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will find your way."

Each of us can make the heart-centered choice for this world-vision of peace, unity and fusion--a new era of cooperation rather than conflict, equally serving both the self and others--and we all can make a real difference and help to manifest that vision, simply by going within, experiencing our wholeness, and expressing that in our here-and-now, day-to-day lives.

As Krishnamurti taught: "You are the world...You are the observer and the observed, the analyzer and the thing analyzed." And, physicist John Wheeler: "There's no 'out there' out there." Thus, we are our governments, which ultimately are only a reflection of our perception. This is in line with the whole concept of "you create your own reality," which can also be understood as "what you put out is what you get back." It comes down to our beliefs, thoughts and feelings primarily, which we see reflected in the world around us. When we understand this at a gut level, not just intellectually, it is a whole new paradigm shift for many--from being other-directed to inner-directed.

I would perhaps rephrase Krishnamurti: "You are your world." Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len, teacher of Ho'oponopono, the Hawaiian system of problem-solving and "making right,"  cured a ward of criminally insane patients by, as he said, "healing the part of me that created them." So is he a savior? I see him more as an example to inspire us and show us what is possible when we make such a shift.

In short, our leaders, the state of the union, and of the world, can only reflect
our inner state, individually and collectively. As an example, we may rail against war, but have we ended our own inner and outer wars, our blaming, our desire to quash an opponent? Are we willing to listen, cooperate, and take responsibility? Is our focus on loving peace or on hating war? We need to be conscious of the energies we are putting out into the world--for they will surely come back to us. As a small but wise being said: "We have seen the enemy and he is us."

Obama's Inaugural Address may be up for class review.
Here are a few relevant selections:

"...as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies."

"That we are in the midst of crisis is well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age." (Emphasis mine.)

"We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things."

Faith--determination--making fundamental choices (I think that's what is meant by "hard" choices). Accepting our spiritual maturity--understanding that, as the science of the quantum has shown, we are the creative source of our lives and our world. Taking responsibility, rather than pointing the finger of blame. That's what I'm talking about!

I can't help wondering how Obama feels about the sometimes vituperative criticism directed at him. I suspect he can relate to the words of his chosen Presidential role model, Lincoln:

"If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference."

Obama has found inspiration in Lincoln's 1862 message to Congress:

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country."

Similarly, Obama said, when he introduced the members of his economic team: "This isn't about big government or small government. It's about building a smarter government that focuses on what works. That's why I will ask my team to think anew and act anew to meet our new challenges."

Lincoln's words are also echoed in this from Obama's Inaugural Address:

"On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics."

It seems, however, that Obama's team-mates--and that includes "we the people" as well as his consultants--haven't been up to the challenge of true change. Paradoxically, perhaps we've been trying too hard. It's not the American way in general, but there are times when the best action is inward and reflective, providing the space for new insights, rather than straining and striving to effect outer change. In any case, our vision of change has to come from within us. No one else can hand it to us. It is "time to put away childish things"--and time for us to become our own leaders.

My interest was caught by the word "disenthrall" in the line, "We must disenthrall ourselves," from Lincoln's message to Congress. I had never heard nor read it previously. In fact, I had to look it up. Merriam-Webster's definition:"to free from bondage, liberate." And, the Answers.com dictionary defines it as, "to free from a controlling force or influence." Lincoln was saying we must free ourselves, and then we would save our country.

What is that controlling force or influence? I would say it's the tendency for our thinking to stay firmly in the box of mainstream consciousness, wherein dreams and imagination are at the bottom of our priorities.

We need to get back in touch with the natural world, and with our own nature. We need to regain what Wordsworth called our "visionary gleam"--our dreams for ourselves and the world, our Godhood, our intuition. Therein lies our salvation and our freedom.

Our founding fathers designed the template of freedom and equality as the direction
for our country. They proposed that this was our right. As President, Lincoln ended the practice of slavery and made freedom a law, with the objective of unifying the country. But he understood that we could not be truly free, nor experience true change, until we individually choose that freedom and make it a reality for ourselves--thinking and acting in new ways.

And perhaps this is what Obama meant also in the concluding words of his Inaugural Address: "Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

As I hope is clear by now, this essay is less about Obama (or any other person upon whom we project our own authority) than it is about our willingness to disenthrall ourselves--breaking the bonds of our fears and self-imposed limitations. In so doing, we plant the seeds of ever-expanding freedom and positive change for future generations. We become visionary creators, rather than waiting for someone else to create for us. We are indeed the pioneers, if we accept that role. We are the saviors we've been waiting for.

Song of Divinity

Dear one, I am here for you,
I'm in your heart.
Dear one, while I wait for you,
you're with me now.
My love for you
is my strength, my life,
my love for you
will never die, my
love, love, love, love,
love, love, love.

Love is a Song...

Wrote this for a contest put on by an online magazine on the topic
of long-distance relationships. Later I found the contest was to draw publicity for the magazine, which had not actually been launched. Not sorry I wrote it, though...


SONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS

Love is a song, just as implied in the cliche about lovers "making beautiful music together."
When we first fall in love, that song is strong and indeed beautiful, echoing
through our hearts. It's a transforming experience, and as we perceive
the essence of the beloved, we feel far more in touch with our own essence, or soul.

But what often happens is that we think we need the other to be and act
a certain way to "hear" this music and feel the feelings. And most of us take
it for granted that we need to be physically with the other for the song's
continuance. What we need to realize is that the song is in us, the love is in our
hearts, and separation is an illusion. To our five-sensory selves, this seems
ridiculous, but not to the quantum physicists such as John A. Wheeler, who said: "There's
no out there out there."

Excerpted from The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot:

In 1982 a remarkable event took place. At the University of Paris a research team led by physicist Alain Aspect performed what may turn out to be one of the most important experiments of the 20th century.
You did not hear about it on the evening news. In fact, unless you are in the habit of reading scientific journals you probably have never even heard Aspect's name, though there are some who believe his discovery may change the face of science.

Aspect and his team discovered that under certain circumstances subatomic particles such as electrons are able to instantaneously communicate with each other regardless of the distance separating them. It doesn't matter whether they are 10 feet or 10 billion miles apart.

This phenomenon is called "non-locality." As it relates to affairs of the heart, it also means
that we are always in communication, always inwardly connected. In fact, my all-time
favorite book about love relationships, by Carol K. Anthony, is titled Love, an Inner
Connection. She makes the point that in a true love relationship, the two are able to
feel the connection even when they are thousands of miles apart. When we no longer
feel this, it is because we have allowed doubts, fears, and other manifestations of the ego
to get in the way. Love and ego dominance just don't mix. Unfortunately, love is
particularly subject to control by the ego, or as it is sometimes called, false personality.
"The love relationship, of all relationships, is the most threatening to the ego pride
system," writes Anthony. "It is, therefore, vulnerable to the ego's attempts to control it. For that reason, and despite the fact that love is the one experience which most exposes us
to growth and fulfillment, it is also the most avoided of relationships. No other relationship is as capable of destabilizing the neat, orderly world of the ego." The perfection of love and transcendence of ego comes with the deep knowing of oneness with the beloved. As
the great poet Hafiz wrote in one of his "ghazals":

O wind, if you're passing through
the resplendent rose garden,
be sure to blow this message
to our beloved:

"Why have you coldly thrown us out
of your heart?
In time, even our name
will escape you."

O Hafiz, the beloved's heart
is one with thine,
thus, you can never be apart.
Let your tears flow,
gentle as the dove, radiant as wine,
scattering the seeds of what you know
for the bird of reunion to feed on.

The message of rejection and indifference is from the ego, while the assurance
of oneness is the song and the poetry of love.

So the pitfalls of long-distance relationships are really not so different
from the pitfalls of love relationships in general. Currently, the old paradigms in our
world, our old ways of doing things, are crumbling, making way for the new. We can see
this with the economy and many other aspects of our lives, including relationships.
The Internet is certainly a big part of this--it is now usual for us to connect with people
living on the other side of the world, and we often find we feel more in sync with them than with the next-door neighbor. I also see that rather than being defined by our relationships, we are moving toward becoming more centered in ourselves.
For example, it is far more acceptable these days to remain single, and it
is understood that being alone doesn't have to mean being lonely.

The "song-distant relationship" is one where we believe we can only hear the song
of our heart and feel the joy of love when in the presence of the beloved. But when we listen with our inward ear, see with our inward eye, and open our hearts to the love that is always there for us, we can soar with that song and that joy. Then, we realize (real eyes) we are always connected, always one, and at the same time, complete and whole in ourselves.

CLEAN LIVING

In the Tarot deck, the Fool card is key zero in the Major Arcana, and he perfectly exemplifies what it means to live from zero point. He is utterly trusting and fearless, his eyes turned to the sky (inspiration, higher guidance) as he is seemingly about to step off a cliff. If he ever had any worries or was run by any tapes or programs arising from memories replaying, he has let go of them, and is living as a
truly free spirit, going his own way, following the call of his heart and soul rather than the dictates of society or cultural conditioning.

I recently cleaned my son's place while he was away for a week. It got me thinking about how much time I spend cleaning house, and of how it reflects inner cleaning or letting go, as in the  practice of Ho'oponopono,  which has its ancient roots in Hawaii, and has been updated for modern use by the Kahuna and healer, Morrnah Simeona.

I was dealing with the dirt and disorder that had accumulated over about nine months, and felt a little sad to be there amid all the chaos, without Ben around to talk and joke with.  The sides of the aquarium were covered with green/brown algae, obscuring the koi and goldfish, all of whom nevertheless seemed fine, and happy about being fed.  His studio apartment is really very nice, recently remodeled, and I was inspired by the vision of restoring it to its pristine, gleaming state.

And that's how the Ho'oponopono practice works, too--it clears the clutter and cleans the grime within, that prevents us from manifesting our true perfection. All of our "problems" are simply opportunities to rid ourselves of old tapes and programs that are running our consciousness and keeping us from being our true natural selves.

In hypnosis, the hypnotist inserts a program, which is then acted out by the person. Ho'oponopono is about cleaning and erasing our programs, which are memories replaying, so we can instead act from inspiration. Memories never stop their incessant replaying, thus most of us are run by our programs, but we have the choice and the capacity to eliminate them.

A friend shared with me her favorite story about hypnosis, from Michael Talbot's The Holographic Universe: a man was told by a hypnotist that his daughter had left the room, though she was standing in between them.  The hypnotist took off his wristwatch, pressed it into the small of the girl's back, and asked the subject if he could read the inscription on the watch. The man filtered out the hologram of his daughter, and he read the tiny engraving on the watch right through her body, because he believed she was not there.

Thorwald Dethlefsen, in his book The Challenge of Fate, calls hypnosis a "caricature of reality" because as he said, it is merely an exaggeration of our "normal" state. He uses the analogy of Plato's cave, which illustrates the illusory nature of our perceptions.

Dethlefsen, a skilled hypnotist, gives some pretty out-there examples, including a
post-hypnotic suggestion that Santa Claus and an angel would knock on the subject's door, converse with him, and give him a present--predicting that this would happen as scripted.

Our areas of repeated difficulty simply reflect the repeated playing of these programs. An example is the woman with an alcoholic dad, who finds herself involved with one alcoholic man after another. Until she can "clean" that program and let go of the emotional "charge" around it, the tape will continue playing and she will continue acting it out in one form or another.

In short, we are effectively hypnotized in our day-to-day reality, while believing we
are acting of our own volition. As Dethlefsen says:

"Not only is man a product of programs, but there is also a special program which ensures that he says of all the workings of the program: 'I am doing that only because I want to'...The only reason we are particularly struck by the programming of hypnotized people is because they are unusual...Hypnotized man is a slave, a puppet dangling from invisible threads; he shows us the poverty of our own reality; he is a mirror-image of the as yet unconscious man. In this mirror function lies the only true significance of hypnosis."

He concludes that the answer is to "wake up and learn to see, for reality is everywhere."  In his view, the path of esotericism, or metaphysical insight, is the key to this awakening. It's all about evolving to the next stage of consciousness, wherein we transcend our limitations and experience greater fulfillment on all levels, including greater union with the Divine, however we understand that term.

Ho'oponopono is the simplest and most effective practice I've found, for attaining this state--but it takes persistence and the awareness that we are not separate from any of our creations.   "As above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul.” – Hermes Trismegistus
 
It is important to understand that many of our tapes/programs are not just ours, but shared with the collective. There is a mass "tape" of scarcity, for example--or as Swami Beyondanada dubbed it, "scare city." Scare City: "What's going to happen to us? What are we going to do?" And usually when we are "catastrophizing" like that, everything is fine, here and now.

Ho'oponopono (such a fun word to say!) is about taking total responsibility for whatever shows up in our lives. We may still indulge in the blame game at times, of course, including blaming ourselves.  But since divinity is our essential nature, we can choose to align with that nature and thus transmute, transform and transcend whatever it is that we are experiencing as a problem.

With "I'm sorry, please forgive me," we are taking ownership of the difficulty, acknowledging that it is reflecting something within us. Then, we express love and gratitude: "Thank you, I love you." The cool thing is that we don't have to be feeling the words as we say them--for example, if we are angry with someone and don't at all feel like expressing gratitude or love, the silent repetition still does the trick. Mabel Katz, a well-known teacher and writer on Ho'oponopono, calls the words of the petition "pass codes." They clear away blockages to our Divine aspect, which is us, but more than us. I believe this is what Jesus meant when he said, "I and my Father are one but my Father is greater than I." In Ho'oponopono, this aspect is referred to as the superconscious, or our Divinity.

We only need to open ourselves to the infinite capacity of our superconscious/Father, by expressing responsibility and the desire to be 'forgiven' (freed). In doing so, we are returned to "zero point" where we can receive inspiration and act as our true selves, rather than as hypnotized robots. Dr. Hew Len, the great teacher and practitioner of Ho'oponopono, once used the terminology of tennis to illustrate this in his article, A House Divided:

"In the game of tennis, the scoring system is Love, 15, 30, 40, game. The game begins with Love. In the etymology of the word, Love is no score, no stakes, nothing, to take the individual back to Love, to nothing, to wholeness."

Zero Point has also been described as a state of awareness wherein we are in the stillness and silence at the center of consciousness, and yet are still alert to other levels of the mind.

A Zero Point was predicted for the year 2012. Terence McKenna's Timewave Zero theory was based on his work with the I Ching; he discovered that far from being simply a fortune-telling tool, it was a 384-day, thirteen lunar cycle calendar that could be used both for prediction and retrodiction. With this he worked out a formal mathematical theory that portrayed a time wave showing the ebb and flow of habit and novelty throughout history--times of relative stasis and times of decisive change. Using this method, which he incorporated into computer programs, he
found that there was a point at which the level of habit, or stasis, dropped to zero, and the level of novelty reached its zenith: December 21, 2012.

Speaking on Timewave Zero at a multimedia event called Alien Dreamtime in February 1993, McKenna referred to this as "the denouement of human history", wherein "the universal process of compressing and expressing novelty is now going to become so intensified that it is going to flow over into another dimension." Interviewed by OMNI magazine in May 1993, he said:

"All evolution has pushed for this moment, and there is no going back. What lies ahead is a dimension of such freedom and transcendence, that once in place, the idea of returning to the womb will be preposterous. We will live in the imagination. We will quickly become unrecognizable to our former selves because we're now defined by our limitations: the laws of gravity; the need to eat, excrete, and make money. We have the will to expand infinitely into pleasure, caring, attention, and connectedness. If nothing more -- and it's a lot more -- it's permission to hope."

I propose that we can choose decisive change, activate our own personal denouement and access a new dimension of being at any time. We can cleanse ourselves of the repeating loop of memories that play out as the same old problems coming up again and again, and open ourselves to the unlimited potential that is just waiting to be lived by us.

In the Tarot deck, the Fool card is key zero in the Major Arcana, and he perfectly exemplifies what it means to live from zero point. He is utterly trusting and fearless, his eyes turned to the sky (inspiration, higher guidance) as he is seemingly about to step off a cliff. If he ever had any worries or was run by any tapes or programs arising from memories replaying, he has let go of them, and is living as a truly free spirit, going his own way, following the call of his heart and soul rather than the dictates of society or cultural conditioning.

So does the Fool recite the Ho'oponopono mantra: "I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you"? Saying "I'm sorry, please forgive me" rubs many the wrong way . I know I objected to that part of it in the beginning. I now understand it's not about beating oneself up, not about seeing the self as wrong or bad, but simply acknowledging that we've been asleep or unconscious, and that like everyone else, we've been hypnotically acting out the tapes and programs of our repeating memories. But in recent years, Dr. Hew Len has clarified that just saying "I love you" covers all the bases. The Fool travels light, both materially and emotionally, and I suspect that his mantra (if he ever uses one) would consist of one word: LOVE. In looking up to the sky, he is looking up to Love, trusting that Divine essence to guide and protect him as he steps boldly into the unknown. Perhaps, like a cartoon character, he'll literally find himself walking on air, as long as he doesn't look down and freak out! Which brings us to a very important point: the present moment, the point of power. We lose our balance and "fall down" when we take ourselves out of the present moment by dwelling on the past or trying to second-guess the future. Cleaning with whatever word or phrase that "does it" for us is one way of staying mindful and centered at zero point, the point of power.

I live the life that I allow
and in each choice there is a voice
that speaks to me, that tells me how
to be, to be, to be, to be
in the point of power, here and now,
my spirit flying free.

Eventually, we will even transcend the need for mantras or other re-minders. As we live from zero point, we won't need to make lists, for example, of where to go, what to do. We will simply listen and follow the guidance we receive from within. We will become wise Fools.

If there is a Biblical quote that most closely matches the meaning and intent of Ho'oponopono, I think it is, "Not my will, but Thine be done." In other words, "I'm clueless, you know better. You handle it." The realization of our cluelessness (on the level of the ego, the conscious thinking mind) and the letting-go to our Divinity, our greater selves, is the essence of Ho'oponopono. Then we can hear the "still, small voice" of inspiration that will transform our lives, our relationships, and our experience.

It may seem like a stretch to connect all of this with cleaning my son's apartment. Yet by putting his place in order, scrubbing away the grime, de-clogging the sink in the bathroom with several infusions of our old friend Drano, adding a couple of waste receptacles where they were clearly needed, and, close to the end of the job, fishing out a food-encrusted fork from under his futon/bed, I was also putting my own "house" in order. It was far more than just a chore, for me. Any kind of problem, whether it be a cluttered room or a messy personal relationship, is an opportunity to clean and let go.

When my son came back from his trip, he was struck by the transformation, and expressed his appreciation. At the same time, he was clear that he didn't want or expect this to be a regular service. Which was fine with me, although I did advise him that it wasn't a good idea to let nine months go by without a thorough cleaning.

The first few times I visited him after that, he alluded, a bit nervously, to the disorder that had naturally, organically returned to his surroundings. I assured him it didn't matter--and it didn't. In fact, I think it would make me a bit nervous if he became a neat freak. His world has its own unique kind of order, and as with the Fool stepping blithely off the cliff, there is method in his madness (or messiness).

He helps me clean, too, in his own way. Thank you, Ben, I love you!

A Great, Huge Game of Chess

Lewis Carroll saw life as a dream, and as pointed out by Martin Gardner in his notes to Through The Looking-Glass in The Annotated Alice, Carroll returns to the question of life as a dream in the closing lines of the book, the last line of the book's terminal poem, and the first paragraph of chapter 8:

"So I wasn't dreaming, after all," she said to herself, "unless--unless we're all part of the same dream. Only I do hope it's my dream, and not the Red King's! I don't like belonging in another person's dream," she went on in a rather complaining tone. "I've a great mind to go and wake him, and see what happens!" 

 Thus, both of the Alice books, as dream tales, are also veiled parables about the meaning of life.

Games "play" a prominent role in the books. In Alice In Wonderland, we have playing cards and croquet; in Through The Looking-Glass, chess; and in both books, there is plenty of the wordplay for which Carroll is justly famous. Carroll himself was very fond of games--one reason he enjoyed spending time with children. But just as nonsense contains a deeper level of meaning, so do games. It has been said that chess, for example, with its black and white pattern of squares, was created as a reminder of the vast expanse of the field of existence, and how to navigate it. In essence, the chessboard or checkerboard symbolizes the polarities, the positive and negative forces, the yin and yang that must be kept in balance if the game of life is to be played well. The theme of polarity shows up in many and various ways in TTLG, starting with the black and white kittens in the first chapter. As Alice puts it when she first beholds the chessboard playing field: "It's a great, huge game of chess that's being played--all over the world--if this is the world at all, you know."

From the scientific standpoint, polarity is electromagnetic energy vibrating between two poles, which comprise a unity. Thought is also energy, vibrating at frequencies that cannot be measured with our current technology, and between two polarities. This gives rise to duality: the tendency for human thought to polarize to one of two extremes, to separate and compartmentalize. Linearity is perhaps the primary way we do this, in our perception of past, present and future time, which too often takes us out of the present moment. The White Queen's rule of "Jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, but never jam today," is just one example. Other manifestations of duality that show up in both Alice books, often exaggerated and/or parodied, are: fearfulness, confusion about identity, hierarchy, loneliness, wanting what is distant or unattainable, self-deprecation, and black and white thinking. Martin Gardner writes in his notes in The Annotated Alice: "In a sense, nonsense itself is sanity-insanity inversion. The ordinary world is turned upside down and backward; it becomes a world in which things go every way except the way they are supposed to." I would say it's a polarity parody, containing as many layers of symbolic meaning as the chessboard itself.

I'll close this with a quote from The Seth Material by Jane Roberts that for me seems to sum up Lewis Carroll's take on "life as a dream":

Humanity dreams the same dream at once, and you have your mass world.

The whole construction is like an educational play in which you are the producers as well as the actors.

There is a play within a play within a play.

There is no end to the "within" of things.

The dreamer dreams, and the dreamers within the dreams dream.

But the dreams are not meaningless, and the actions within them are significant.

The whole self is the observer and also a participator in the roles.