~The Factual Dragnet~©

 Dear Brothers & Sisters    Written By: Puck Arks of TFD M y dear brothers and sisters—yes, we are all brothers and sisters, I have love in my heart for all people, while we may disagree, but even more so may we agree that some people cross the line, more often than not, or even rarely because in truth we all do it. M y friends, Collectively speaking, conflict is not necessarily bad or destructive.  E ven when conflict causes a great deal of stress or fr frustration we must remember why we are here. S ometimes we disturb the peace by trying to defend ourselves or prove a point. I t helps to remember that someone else's perception has no real power over who we are, so there is no actual threat. W hen others hold strong opinions, you still can hold your own without disturbing the balance. W e need to seek common ground rather than notice our differences. See things from another perspective so that you can understand that person within...

Photo Credit: Daily Good Practicing Mindfulness Daily 1. Waking Up Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at beings with eyes of compassion. 2. Taking the First Steps of the Day Walking on the Earth is a miracle! Each mindful step reveals the wondrous Dharmakaya. 3. Stepping out of Bed If today I inadvertently step on a small insect, may it not suffer too much. May it be liberated. Homage to the Bodhisattva of the Land of Great Happiness. 4. Opening the Window Opening the window, I look out onto the Dharmakaya. How wondrous is life! Attentive to each moment, my mind is clear like a calm river. 5. Turning on the Water Water comes from high mountain sources. Water runs deep in the Earth. Miraculously, water comes to us and sustains all life. My gratitude is filled to the brim. 6. Washing Your Hands Water flows over these hands. May I use them skillfully to preserve ou...

Written By: Puck Arks of TFD Why We Are Here   Too often the trend in our society is for people to be separated from each other, to be cut off from the great mass of humanity, and in doing so to be dehumanized a little bit more with each step. So I ask all of you to take just a few minutes today, and do a kindness for another person. It can be something small, or the start of something big. Put a smile on someone’s face. 1. Smile and be friendly.  Sometimes a simple little thing like this can put a smile and warm feeling in someone else’s heart, and make their day a little better. They might then do the same for others. 2. Call a charity to volunteer.  You don’t have to go to a soup kitchen today. Just look up the number, make the call, and make an appointment to volunteer sometime in the next month. It can be whatever charity you like. Volunteering is one of the most amazing things you can do. 3. Donate something you don’t use...

Photo Credit : Hines Sight Written By: Puck Arks ACTivism : Facts Matter F acts matter, perhaps more than ever. Once you’ve identified an issue and you’ve decided you want to fight, it’s imperative that you have every bit of information you can get your hands on. You need the facts not just assumptions, nor just passion. As they say know your enemy. Not only that, you can easily make a fool out of yourself if you start activism with only passion and don’t know what you’re talking about when confronted by those who oppose your point o f view.  A good activists, doesn’t take no for an answer. The truth is out there, and we must stop at nothing to uncover it. This takes courage, patience and dogged persistence. It often means asking the same question over and over. Or repeating the same facts over and over. This repetition is, actually, an important part of having an impact — i.e., continuously repeating accurate information so that the issue under ...

Written By: Puck Arks of TFD    ACTivism: Ego   T oday vast amounts of information are easy to obtain. Choice is endemic. If we are interested in meditation we can access the teachings of thousands of years in a few short seconds and soon be reading hundreds of pages of the sayings of ancient masters. It’s a wonderful thing to have such ready access to virtually all the wisdom traditions in the world. H owever, the ego self often uses information gathered from outside sources to reinforce its own beliefs. In our practice we must let go of this type of accumulated knowledge. We acknowledge its value, but realize that it limits our life experience in the same way blinders limit the view of a horse pulling a carriage. We don’t want to turn our spirituality into a basic reinforcement of our own delusions. T he problem, of course, is that it is comfortable and easy to search for knowledge on our computer, but difficult to sit for many hours dealing...

Written By: Puck Arks of TFD  Anonymous is NOT a fad   A nonymous is not an idea that can be locked up in a single word or concept because it is ever changing. That is not because it can mean anything, but rather because it is a way of life, and life is subjective. Those who are Anonymous are the ones who chooses to live on their own terms. In particular, it is one who chooses to carry on the struggle for truth and justice on their own terms, without a ny room for compromise or negotiation with the ruling institutions.  T his refusal does not stem from a desire for one being better than another. It comes from the recognition that any compromise would be a further relinquishment of the lives and injustice that exists which have already been ripped away from societies and the people time and time again. It is the struggle that we will not be silent, we will not comply and we will not compromise on injustice and truth. Freedom can only be realiz...

Written By: Puck Arks of TFD ACTivism: The Revolution is Love W e must start to walk according to the highest power of all love; and all those we encounter lovingly those who are out of harmony, and inspire them toward a better way.  W henever you bring kindness, love and understanding into any anti-peaceful situation, you contribute to the cause of peace. When you do something for world peace, peace among the collective, peace among individuals, or your own inner peace, you improve the total picture of peace and what is possible.  P eople of the world, the time for action is dwindling. The choice is ours as to whether or not we will pay the price of peace. If we are not willing to work towards peace for all, everything we hold dear will be consumed into an abyss of organized chaos run by those in power. The darkness in our world today is due to the disintegration of things which are contrary to love. L et us never say hopelessly this is the darkn...

Written By: Puck Arks of TFD The Revolution of Consciousness Pt1 I t is time for a revolution of consciousness in the universe where all creatures are intrinsically in a state of complete wisdom, love and compassion; acting in natural response and mutual interdependence. This however is not possible unless we realize that from the beginning state of being it is not about one-“ self ”. We are not fully awakened unless we have given up the self.  A s civilization declines not one of us today can afford to stay silent, or indulge ourselves in ign orance especially in the age of knowledge at our fingertips. The national polities of the modern world maintain their existence by deliberately fostering mass consumption and fear.  We the people of “ free world ” have become economically dependent on a fantastic system of stimulation of greed which cannot be fulfilled, material desires which cannot be satiated and hatred which has become the norm. The people ...

Written By: Puck Arks of TFD Ponder This: War is NOT the Answer I n order to change the system violence whether it comes in the form of war, terrorism, freedom fighters or the anti-globalization protesters in not the answer. Trying to achieve justice through violence is a contradiction. Violence polarizes positions, entrenches ideologies, maims and kills innocent people, hardens hearts and leaves a select population to have their voices heard. H istory has shown us that violent acts get the most innocent of people killed. It has also shown us that some of the greatest nonviolent acts send the biggest message and ultimately are what end up getting the most justice. When we as individuals stand up for what we believe in and let our peaceful actions speak for us. We are able to gain support because peaceful protests bring in a wide variety of people from all walks of life and all genders bring greater numbers for the greatest good.  T he more we continue...

Written By: Puck Arks  The Light   We are humans.   All of us. Each of us, but both sides are so blinded by their fear and hate of each other that they can’t see they are all fighting for the same thing. This world can and should be a welcoming place, a safe place, a place where people can be who they are, a place where they can say what they think. Where they have the freedom to travel, to move, to see and experience new things. The world can and should be a place where people mix and share their experiences.  O nly through prosperity and respect, humanity can move forward and achieve unimaginable things.  H owever, when people spread hate, when people put down, attack and discriminate people because they are different and have different ideologies we put everything at risk. We have stopped truly listening to each other. We have stopped exchanging experiences, cultures and ideas. We have stopped learning from each other and we ca...

Written By: Puck Arks Op-Ed: We Must...     Photo Credit: The Peace Collection by Nadine W e must start to walk according to the highest power of all love; and all those we encounter lovingly those who are out of harmony, and inspire them toward a better way. Whenever you bring kindness, love and understanding into any anti-peaceful situation, you contribute to the cause of peace.  W hen you do something for world peace, peace among the collective, peace among individuals, or your own inner peace, you improve the total picture of peace and what is possible.  P eople of the world, the time for action is dwindling. The choice is ours as to whether or not we will pay the price of peace. If we are not willing to work towards peace for all, everything we hold dear will be consumed into an abyss of organized chaos run by those in power. T he darkness in our world today is due to the disintegration of things which are contrary to love. ...

Written By: Puck Arks Understanding Anarchy: Empathy   C ompassion is what keeps anarchy from degenerating into violent chaos and individual autonomy from resulting in disrespect and disregard for others.  A narchy is what keeps our compassion from becoming a hollow shell of the real thing - it's what keeps our love for others from becoming a commodity that is sold back to us or a ploy to make us acquiescent to the dictates of authority. Anarchy is about finding and appreciating the genuine soul in human beings and keeping it free f rom all authority, submission, moral ism, and static roles. T his approach holds that there exist real-life processes and actions that can be taken to create more compassion and anarchy in our lives in the here-and-now. Compassion and anarchy are not just vague feel-good poetic phrases or proscriptions/descriptions of a future society - they are interactive relationships that human beings everywhere can and do take par...

  Written By: Puck Arks ACTivism: The Peaceful Revolution: Is it Possible?     " Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable. ”   - John F. Kennedy R evolution becomes necessary when the ruling classes fail in their duty to lead. Most of the major modern political revolutions occurred at moments when the world was changing rapidly — and the country’s leaders dealt with it by dropping back into denial and clinging defiantly to the old, profitable, and familiar status quo.  N ew technologies, new ideas, and new economic opportunities were emerging; and there came a time when ignoring them was no longer an option. When the leaders failed to step forward boldly to lead their people through the looming and necessary transformations, the people rebelled. W e’re hard up against some huge transformative changes now. Global warming and overwhelming pollution are forcing us to reconsider the way we occu...

Written By: Puck Arks  Anonymous is not an idea that can be locked up in a single word or concept because it is ever changing.  T hat is not because it can mean anything, but rather because it is a way of life, and life is subjective. Those who are Anonymous are the ones who chooses to live on their own terms. In particular, it is one who choose to carry on the struggle for truth and justice on their own terms, without any room for compromise or negotiation with the ruling institutions.  T his refusal does not stem from a desire for one being better than another. It comes from the recognition that any compromise would be a further relinquishment of the lives and injustice that exists which have already been ripped away from societies and the people time and time again.  I t is the struggle that we will not be silent, we will not comply and we will not compromise on injustice and truth. Freedom can only be realized by freedom and for that t...

 Photo Credit: Molly Larkin   Air: The Fourth Element  Written By: Puck Arks   The fourth element of our body is air The best way to experience the air element is the practice of mindful breathing.  " Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out. "  After saying these sentences we can abbreviate them by saying " In " as we breathe in and " Out " as we breathe out. We don't try to control our breathing. Whether our in-breath is long or short, deep or shallow, we just breathe naturally and shine the light of mindfulness on it.  When we do this we notice that, in fact, our breathing does become slower and deeper naturally.  " Breathing in, my in-breath has become deep. Breathing out, my out- breath has become slow. " Now we can practice , " Deep/slow ." We don't have to make an extra effort. It just becomes deeper and slower by itself, and we recognize ...

 Photo Credit: Thank Your Body Simple Meditation for Anyone Written By: Puck Arks First Mindfulness Exercise...   Mindful Breathing The first exercise is very simple, but the power, the result, can be very great. The exercise is simply to identify the in-breath as in-breath and the out-breath as the out-breath. When you breathe in, you know that this is your in-breath. When you breathe out, you are mindful that this is your out-breath. Just recognize: this is an in-breath, this is an out-breath. Very simple, very easy. In order to recognize your in-breath as in-breath, you have to bring your mind home to yourself. What is recognizing your in-breath is your mind, and the object of your mind—the object of your mindfulness—is the in-breath.  Mindfulness is always mindful of something. When you drink your tea mindfully, it’s called mindfulness of drinking. When you walk mindfully, it’s called mindfulness of walking. And when you breath...

  Written By: Puck Arks   Winter Series Continued   C old-weather care   is serious stuff. In military medicine, cold-weather injuries routinely account for more casualties and lost man-hours than all other injuries combined. In street medicine and wilderness medicine, similar trends have been observed. When taken seriously, cold-weather casualty and lost time can be almost eliminated. R ecognize cold-weather injuries and assess their severity Hypothermia H ypothermia occurs when the body is unable to maintain an adequate temperature because of excessive heat loss. This can happen when it is not freezing cold outside; hypothermia most often happens in wet conditions or when people have burns. Mild Hypothermia I f shivering can be stopped voluntarily, it is mild hypothermia. The person can’t do complex motor functions with her hands but can still walk and talk. Skin is cool due to vasoconstriction. Hands are numb. ...

Written By: Puck Arks You will not... On the surface of the world right now there is war and violence and things seem dark But calmly and quietly, at the same time, something else is happening underground. An inner revolution is taking place and certain individuals are being called to a higher light It is a silent revolution From the inside out From the ground up It is time for me to reveal myself I am an embedded agent of a secret, undercover   Clandestine Global operation A spiritual conspiracy We have sleeper cells in every nation on the planet You won’t see us on the T.V. You won’t read about us in the newspaper You won’t hear about us on the radio We don’t seek any glory We don’t wear any uniform We come in all shapes and sizes   Colors and styles Most of us work anonymously We are quietly working behind the scenes in every country and culture of the world. Cities big and small, mountains and valleys, in farms and v...