Troubled Relationship

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It looks, sadly, as if your relationship is going downhill, losing passion and the intensity necessary to maintain a good, normal, functional sexual relationship. I think that you need to have a very serious talk with Martha [pseudonym] about the dissolution of the relationship. You do not want to stay trapped in an unproductive,
unsatisfying relationship until you are too old to explore other options. Both of you need to decide together whether this relationship is worth preserving and repairing, or whether you both want to go your own ways.

One thing is certain: You cannot "keep a relationship going" by yourself; it must be a cooperative and shared effort. If she is unwilling to share the work of maintenance of the relationship (hugging, touching, sex), or if she simply does not want to do so, you must move on in the construction of a life that you find personally satisfying. You owe that not only to yourself, but to your child.

For the baby cannot possibly thrive in an emotionless or cold environment; that would be to do violence to her mind, or to her Soul, and she deserves better than that. If you wish to discuss the situation any further, you can call me, at (513-)737-LOVE (5683).
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Yellow Springs, Ohio: Some History

Thanks to Mick Gallagher.
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Yellow Springs, Ohio: You would love that ol' hippie hangout. Really laid back.... Rod Serling taught there, hung out at 'Ye Olde Tavern'--an old stagecoach stop between Columbus & Cinci. I was around ten then. Jonathan Winters,... his family owned a funeral home in Springfield, and he was an only child brat who also sulked around the olde Tavern [in]...say, the early 1960's. Neat place.... Dino's coffee shop [is] a lil dinky joint there.

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The Proposal

Thanks to Teresa Ramsey.

The Proposal
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When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that happens is that it reduces its staff and workers. The remaining workers need to find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their jobs would be eliminated as well. Wall street, and the media, normally congratulate the CEO for making this type of "tough decision"; and his board of directors gives him a big bonus.

Our government should not be immune from similar risks.

Therefore: Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218members; and [reduce also] Senate members from one hundred to fifty (one per state). Also reduce remaining staff by 25%.

Accomplish this over the next 8 years. [This would require] two steps/two elections) and, of course, this would require some redistricting.

Some Yearly Monetary Gains Include:

$44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for congress. (267 members X $165,200 pay/member/year.)

$97,175,000 for elimination of the above people's staff. (estimate $1.3 Million in staff per each member of the House, and $3 Million in staff per each member of the Senate every year)

$240,294 for the reduction in remaining staff by 25%.

$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel ear-marks each year (those members whose jobs are gone; current estimates for total government pork earmarks are at $15 Billion/year)

The remaining representatives would need to work smarter and would need to improve efficiencies. It might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country?

We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient resolution of issues as well. It might be even easier to keep track of what your representative is doing.

Congress has more tools available to do its jobs than it had back in 1911, when the current number of representatives was established. [This includes] telephone, computers, cellphones, to name a few.

Note: Congress did not hesitate to head home when it was a holiday, when the nation needed a real fix to the economic problems. Also, we have 3 senators that have not been doing their jobs for the past 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still they all have been accepting full pay. These facts alone support a reduction in senators & congress.

Summary of opportunity:

$ 44,108,400 reduction of congress members.

$282,100, 000 for elimination of the reduced house member staff.

$150,000,000 for elimination of reduced senate member staff.

$59,675,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining house members.

$37,500,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining senate members.

$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.
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[These changes would result in a total of] $8,073,383,400 per year. This eight billion is just a start!

Big business does these types of cuts all the time.

If Congresspersons were required to serve 20, 25 or 30 years (like everyone else) in order to collect retirement benefits, there is no telling how much we would save. Now, they get full retirement after serving only ONE term.

If you are happy with how the Congress currently spends and wastes our taxes, then just delete this message. IF you are NOT at all happy, then I assume you know what to do!

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Lovexpression

As the people of Love, our hearts motivate us to, and we vow to, love everyone-- without exception, including friends, enemies, and strangers.

In fact, Love is the most healing and joyful activity in the world! It is utterly fulfilling, for It is the reason that we were first created by ("emanated" from) the One, the only Mind in existence. Love moves us towards primal Union, or reunion, with the Mind of Love, or Godmind. So, Love is the key to fulfillment, satisfaction, and utter contentment.

Love is indescribably beautiful. It is what all human beings most deeply want to express, and to share, with other human beings, and with other creatures-- even with the Goddess (God) and the "angels. The world is starving for Love! (Someday, we will be challenged to share this same Love with extraterrestrials as well.)

So, Love is the most fun a human being can possibly have! It is as satisfying biologically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually as finding a glass of cold water when we are thirsty. Love alone fills the needs of the human Soul; nothing in the universe can replace It.

Although we know that all this is true, nevertheless, we must exercise caution in everyday Lovexpression. We can feel the infinite Love of God shining and glowing in our hearts. But we cannot always safely express It.

Why not? Why cannot the lover of all humanity express Love freely, hugging everyone, and telling her, "I love you"?

It is because of the dull and primitive, backwards and arrested, programming of society. For society, from poprock music to commercials, popularly programs people to believe that the word "Love" is, or should be, limited to sexual and/or romantic Love.

We who study agapology-- the art and science of Love-- know that Love can mean a wide spectrum of a million more things. But people are so mercilessly and incessantly, relentlessly programmed to see "Love" as romance or sex, you are very likely to be misunderstood if you express "Love" to a stranger. This is tragic, unfortunate, and very, very sad.

What it implies is that we all must exercise caution.

If we are not to end up being labeled, or taken to a mental hospital or police station, we must temper all our Lovexpressions with strangers. (Joyfully, we need not do this among the people of Love, who understand the many types and powerlevels of Love.)

In Greek, there are several words for "Love." One of them, the Greek eros, originally referred to Love as a cosmic force that held the cosmos together. It was eros that held hydrogen and oxygen together in water-molecules. But, in time, this word came to mean or to imply sexual or romantic Love.

And "erotophobia"-- the fear of sexual or romantic Love or involvement-- is quite common. So, in all Lovexpression, we show Love by respecting the boundaries and limitations of people. We are never controlled by their fears, but, out of kindness, must respect their sensitivities. This means that, although we withold no Love, we must, at times, withold Lovexpression: It is not always good or appropriate fully to express Love to a stranger; we must take a few steps back, and approach the matter with caution, so as never to be intrusive or invasive of the other's privacy.
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The Poorest People in the World

Dearest Friends of the Heart,

As most of you know, Love Ministries has recently started the Love Ministries Federation. This is a Lovebased, cooperative communion of small, independent ministries which care for orphans in the poorest countries on earth.

Many of these orphans have had homes, brothers, sisters, and parents torn away from them through military violence. Some have had their homes, all possessions, pets, and even family-members burned before their little innocent eyes. This is in turn supported by greed, commercialism, and religious bigotry.

These do represent the poorest people on our little planet. The Way of Love is often marked by how we deal with strangers.

What is the very greatest, the most fundamental, gift that you can give to another?

It is the gift of continued life. We now have a great and wonderful opportunity to give to God's children this very special gift. For only the amount that you would pay for one cd, or one hamburger, you can make the ultimate difference between life and death, survival and perishing. We are accepting donations as small as three dollars.

So, we sincerely invite you to share the generosity that the universe has so kindly shared with you. Please join our friends this month (March 2009). So far, here is what we have received:

New Anonymous Donor: $50
Anonymous: $20
Anonymous: $20
Anonymous: $20
Anonymous: $20
Anonymous: $20
Anonymous: $20
Anonymous: $20
Anonymous: $20
Anonymous: $20
Anonymous: $20
Friend from New Hampshire: $5
lmiusa: $100
Barb and Dale Siler: $100
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Total 022709: $455.
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Since we have six ministries in the Federation, i.e., Love Ministries of India, Love Ministries of Kenya, Love Ministries of Pakistan, Love Ministries of Rwanda, Love Ministries of Sierra Leone, and Love Ministries of Uganda, our goal for this month is $600. This will allow us to send only $100 to each. So, we still need $145, to give to each of our orphanages. So, please consult your heart and your checkbook, and give whatever you can. NOTE: Unlike the case with larger charities, in which 80% of funds might go to maintenance (offices, payment of workers and solicitors, phone-bills, electric bills, etc.), one hundred percent of all donations to Love Ministries Federation are guaranteed to go straight to the children in need. Thank you in advance for your Love and kindness.

Love, from the Heart,

shi and the staff of the Love Ministries Federation

Goddess, Illumination, and "Feng Shui"

Once in a while, the Goddess of Love gives us great gifts. One example is the return of the Goddess of flowers in springtime. But a better example is a moment of "illumination."

Enlightenment usually occurs gradually, by the accumulation of moments of illumination. [In Zen, these are called ken-sho, while final enlightenment is called satori. (This is an equivalent of the state of samadhi mentioned in Hindu mystical literature.)]

An example of the Power of illumination is what occurred with you. From deep within, the Spirit directly taught you important lessons about not controlling-- a nucleus of Taoism; it also taught you about faith, trust, and the interior world-dreamer (Goddess) who, in the final analysis, controls everything, making it necessary for us to control nothing personally.

In Jesus' famous words, "live as little children," in the original language, the word did not mean "little children"; it meant "nursing infants."

So, enlightened people do not live like five-year-olds; instead, they live with the full trust and faith of an infant clinging to its mother. The infant relaxes, knowing that the mother knows where she is going, and trusting that she will carry the infant to a good place, not a harmful or dangerous one. This is very similar to the attitude towards the caring universe developed in enlightenment: It is a friendly and supportive universe, ruled by Love.

That is why, in the most "Taoist" of his many sermons, the famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his followers to live as the flowers or the birds-- without fear, worry or control. God (Goddess) will take care of everything, and we need to trust, not to wrest control from God and try, like most people, to control the whole universe! (We are not up to the task, and are incapable of it.)

When we learn this important fact, that we do not and cannot control anything or anyone, for it is our responsibility to control only our responses, then a huge burden is lifted from our backs. Life becomes easy and pleasant, as we are no longer carrying this heavy weight.

We find that we can live with, and even enjoy, stillness. We do not always have to be "superbusy," which is a way of running from life. This arises from fear, and makes fear our master. Since fear is of the lower nature, alien to the higher, we become servants of the lower nature, eclipsing and hiding the higher nature of pure Love. Before long, negative habits take root, and we become spiritually unproductive, paralyzed and petrified. Our growth and development stop, "on hold," and no progress is made.

It is great that your own heartmind is actively growing, proved by your illumination.:)

When we see these truths, and feel them in the heart, we then revise our personal desire-structure. For, although desire promises heaven, it leads straight to various hellstates of dissatisfaction and unfulfillment. Tranquility disappears in the rush of hyperbusiness and leaves us clueless.

Spirituality takes time, energy, and attention. It happens only when and if we permit or allow it. But, like fine flowers, it requires active cultivation, and active attention. Also, like the flowers, it is natural and will grow if we give it a little time.

One way of improvement is that we begin to improve our environments, as mentioned in your correspondence. In an art called feng shui, pronounced "fung shway," we rid our lives of all clutter and excess.

For every item in your home either gives you energy or takes it away (draining you). So, it is necessary, and fun, always to surround ourselves with only items that we like or love. If we do this, every item will be energy-giving and energy-supporting, and will help us to combat fatigue, boredom, illness, and other unproductive or depressive states. So, try to decorate with sculptures, statues, paintings, fountains, chimes, music, and other items that you truly love, that speak
to your deeper Mind, that bring joy and satisfaction, tranquility and fun! This path, now respected worldwide, begins with the elimination of clutter. It means getting rid of anything that contributes to our sadness, and keeping only items that contribute to happiness. What could be more fun?:):)

Again, congratulations on your being open to interior revelations given by the Goddess of Love, for She always has much to say, but we have forgotten how to listen. Blessed is she who remembers how to listen.

The Cosmos of Light

It is hoped that, in time, she will come to love her own body enough to stop smoking; otherwise, she sabotages any real healing process.:( And that is never a good idea.

Still, we are happy, every day, to join our prayers/energysending with yours, for, as the ancient Christian mystic wrote, "The prayer of a good person has much Power."

Now, we are looking forward to Sunday, and the sharing of our celebration of having come to this itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, tiny whiney little nanospeck called "earth.":)

Again, thanks, as always, for bringing such a sweet heart to our sad little world. Every light, including that of your own heart, makes this world, and this universe, brighter, with the promise that, someday, the entire cosmos will be all Light and no darkness.:) (See 1 Jn. 1:5)
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Project K: Update

Believe it or not, we do have something like a date for the surgery of Project K. Not really a date, but rather a large time-period, actually. The surgery will occur sometime (we have no idea when) after March 2, Monday. [That is when the donor, Sandi, has her surgery to remove ovarian cysts... But, as operations go, we understand that this is not a major, critical, or extremely serious (lifethreatening) one.:)

Brother Donkey, the body, is showing some peripheral tiredness and lack of energy. We continue regular bloodtests, and regular conferencing with the nephrologist (kidney-specialist) whom we have known now for nearly twenty years.

The last transplant, the donor was a taurus. This time, she is also a taurus, and the doc is also a taurus. Although I am a pisces, I do have a taurusmoon. So, maybe there is a cosmic pattern behind all that is happening; we like to think so, at any rate.:):)

Thank you for your continued interest in this important lifevent, and thanks for asking, dear friend. Thanks also for any silver energy that you can send. (We are requesting this from all our friends.:)

May you have a most beautiful and temperate day as we together prepare for the return of the Goddess of flowers with springtime.:)

Forgiveness

To be unforgiving hurts only the one who does not forgive; it is she who must experience the sleepless nights, the upset stomach and other digestive problems, and all the "bad vibes" that accompany unforgiveness.

So, when we refuse to forgive, we harm only ourselves, supporting a selfcreated hellstate in our own heartminds; we do nothing to "punish" the unforgiven-- very often, the motive behind unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is a failed lifestrategy; it simply never works to our (or anyone else's) advantage.

Perhaps, the way that we are "built," we must begin the forgiveness-process with a selfinvolved motive rather than a loving or othercentered one. This will clearly work better, at any rate, for many, many people.:( That is just the way that this world, and human psychology, are structured.

Let us all pray and work, every day, that we might all be selfblessed by discovering the profound tranquility and humility that arise from forgiveness. Let us try to "get ourselves out of the way," so that the Light of wisdom can shine through, into our dark world.:) We all must move along this path, one microstep at a time.:) We can always support each other in the effort, and our own interior transformation and
selfless forgiveness can serve as a model for others.:)

Prayers Continue, and Funds on the Way

This is a note to our friend in Kenya:

022509wed

Dear Tom,

Life on this earth brings us some major challenges. If possible, the lower nature of fear would destroy our faith; but we must never give up our belief in our Lord of Love. We continue to pray for you and for the dear and precious orphans in your tender care. You can be sure that Love will richly bless you, no matter what happens, and no matter how great your need might appear.

We are very sorry to hear that tragedy has struck your country (Kenya), and your ministries to the poor. We truly do want to send another donation to Love Ministries of Kenya, to aid the extremely poor orphans, and also to support your fine house-church. But our readers and friends have not yet responded to our latest call for funds, and we are still awaiting the response of Love in their hearts. We have started another fund-collection campaign, and hope that it is successful during the month of March, as it was not in February. So, as soon as we can gather the funds, we will send along a money-order, as soon as possible. I truly wish that we had more funds, but they will come as Love (God) provides.
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