With his recent unprecedented seventh victory in the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong is perhaps the greatest cyclist ever.

Born Lance Edward Gunderson on September 18, 1971, in Plano Texas, to Linda Gayle Mooneyham and Eddie Charles Gunderson. Eddie disappeared when Lance was two, and Linda remarried Terry Keith Armstrong, whose last name Lance took. Lance did not get along well with his stepfather, having not seem him in several years, and has also expressed no desire to meet his biological father.

Lance was highly athletic from a very early age, as he began seriously running and swimming at age ten. By thirteen, he had begun competing in adult amateur triathlons. He became a professional thriathlete at sixteen, winning the national sprint-course triathlon championship the next yearB68, and becoming the number one ranked triathlete in the nineteen and under age group.

Cycling Career

Lance soon chose to focus on his favorite, and best, event, cycling, and in 1990 he became the U.S. national amateur champion. The next year, he qualified for the U.S. Olympic cycling team, and finished fourteenth overall at the 1992 Summer Olympiad in Barcelona.

The next year, Lance turned professional, joining team Motorola and finishing the year ranked first in the world. His accomplishments that year included winning the eighth stage of his first Tour de France, becoming the youngest man to win the World Road Race Championship, and the first man to win the “Triple Crown;” the Thrift Drug Classic, the Kmart West Virginia Classic, and the CoreStates USPRO National Championship. His first Tour de France was disappointing, however; despite his eighth leg, victory, he soon fell behind, and eventually pulled out of the race.

Cancer and Recovery

In 1995, Lance won his first Tour de Pont victory, a race he had previously competed in twice. 1996 started as another successful year for him, in which he repeated his victory at the Tour de Pont, this time setting several race records, and once again qualified for the U.S. Olympic team, despite recovering from bronchitis.

On October 2, 1996, however, Armstrong was diagnosed with stage three nonseminomatous testicular cancer, which, due to its’ late diagnosis had already spread to his abdomen, lungs, lymph nodes, and later, even his brain. In hopes of saving his career, Lance opted for a more dangerous chemotherapy treatment, and underwent surgery to remove one of his testicles and the tumors on his brain. He was given about a %50 chance to survive. His doctor later told him, however, that the actual odds were closer to %3, and that Lance had been given the higher odds to help him keep his spirits up. In February 1997, he was declared cancer free, and established the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer patients. in 1998 he returned to take fourth place at the World Road Race Championship. The same year, he married Kristin Richard, whom he had met through his foundation.

Tour de France Victories and Divorce

Competing in the Tour de France for the first time in several years, Armstrong claimed his first victory in the race, winning four of the twenty-one stages. He repeated in 2000, this time defeating two of his major rivals who had been absent from the last race, Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani, with Ullrich taking second place. In this year he also suffered system shock from a car accident, but recovered in time for the 2000 Olympics, in Sydney in which he earned a bronze medal.

In 2001 and 2002, Ullrich again took second place to Armstrong in the Tour de France. He won again in 2003, but in that year filled for divorce with K54Cristin Armstrong, with her citing the difficulties of caring for his cancer and the extensive traveling. Lance continued his winning streak, however, claiming victories in 2004 and 2005, bringing his total to seven before finally retiring. He currently hold the record for most victories by any individual.

Current

Armstrong is currently devoting his time to his charity foundation, while still competing in various cycling and running events. From 2003 to 2006 he dated singer and songwriter Sheryl Crow. Lance currently resides in a home in Austin, Texas, where he also owns a ranch.

Born: September 18, 1971

Died: –

Famous For: Renowned cyclist and athlete, founder of the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Key Accomplishments: Record-holding seven-time Tour de France winner, cancer survivor.

Significant Quote: “Being a champion is redefining what’s humanly possible.”

Fun Quote: “You know when I need to die? When I’m done living. When I can’t walk, can’t eat, can’t see, when I’m a crotchety old bastard, mad at the world. Then I can die.”

Mitch Mueller writes on a variety of web topics. He recommends 431The Tour de France, Free Printable Calendars, and Calendar Download.

Buddhist Texts

More families are choosing to homeschool their children these days. There are two different routes that you can base your homeschooling curriculum on - faith-based and secular homeschooling. o

Deciding which route to go is an important decision for your child, but it will also affect you, as the parent leading a double role as a teacher inside the home. Part of it depends on the reason that you’re homeschooling in the first place.

Many moms and dads simply don’t like the fact that the word of God is no longer allowed in the public school system. They want the Bible taught right alongside reading, writin5B4g, and arithmetic.

Others choose to homeschool because they feel the public school system is failing their child by not providing a safe environment, or one where learning is the focus instead of socialization.

Secular homeschooling is for parents who want to their children in the role of a traditional education, with a focus on the fundamentals that keeps education and religion separate.

Most homeschool curriculums you’ll find for sale are not for secular use. But it is possible to find a lesson plan from an accredited school that maintains a secular approach. One such example is the Texas Tech University Distance Education program, that’s suitable for a child in grades K-12.

Faith-based homeschooling teaches the fundamentals of education, but weaves religious principles into each lesson plan. Christian based teaching is the more popular type of homeschooling approach, but there are families with different religions that add their own values to their child’s education.

Some of the other faith-based teachings come from the Jewish community, Buddhism and the Muslim religion. Families who teach using faith-based homeschooling do so to instill their religious values into their children.

They believe that secular teachings take out the most important part of a child’s existence, which is spiritual. By teaching faith-based education at home, they believe the child will receive a higher education based o6EDn a combination of intellectual and spiritual beliefs.

Christianity offers more options for faith-based curriculums, while other religions have little or no curriculum to work with based on their religions, requiring the parents to develop one of their own.

In these cases, the families can choose to homeschool their children using secular lesson plans and supplement them with their specific religious beliefs or develop a single class reserved for the teaching of their religious values.

Tiffany Washko is the editor of Nature Moms, http://www.naturemoms.com where she maintains a homeschooling guide. After working several years in corporate healthcare marketing and public relations, she took time away to be a mother. This new pursuit lead her to a new passion, natural family living and writing about environmental and political issues. She currently works as a freelance writer and newspaper journalist.

Hindu Idealism

Will Smith invokes the name of Hitler in a sentence to make a point about people being basically good and of course, a reporter then goes on to show how wrong he is. It’s not that we wouldn’t like the world to be fully loaded with benevolence and kindness, but it just isn’t so. On Christmas Eve, that pillar of objective thought, Newt Gingrich narrates a Fox series on God and the history of this country, that equated to a skewed version of shoving Christianity down the Constitution of the United States. He tries to project it as the “only” religion this country was based on by quoting Presidents and men of Congress through the years, while avoiding the words of the founders of this country. Imagine that, quoting politicians as if there were prophets. “Profits” perhaps.

Later, there was a debate between a very loud Starr Jones and a quiet atheist that missed the entire meaning of what the debate was about as her shouting of rhetoric overwhelmed the other guy’s point of view for allowing people to practice or not practice “a religion” in this country. No one should tell or insinuate anyone is less intelligent, more intelligent, or more worthy of a hereafter because they practice a certain faith, be it one that has bishops and claims higher legitimacy than any other, or practices Buddhism as a lifestyle. All of this bitterness of the supposed “politically correct” shows that kindness is very much lacking in all of us, especially those who preach and protest the most.

Are the gifts at Christmas the best we can offer to show that we care about each other? Is that the common denominator for the shards of what we have left, of the kind of morality your great-grandmother used to teach? Why is there so much greed and hysteria in the world today? Much of it comes from “me, my, mine” and that includes religion’s mantra of conversion or death. My God is the only God and the war begins. If you read only conservative orthodox religious books you don’t have much of a background of actual history do you? If you watch or listen only to right or left wing television or radio shows, you don’t have much of a point of view from any other reference do you?

Exclusionary beliefs are what brings humanity to bloodshed and always has with millions of deaths in the name of God and/or State, but we learn little as the ages go by. Our extinction is entirely possible and probable if we don’t wake up and begin practicing random acts of kindness throughout our lives, regardless of one’s faith. We all have those dark forces within us, but the goodness is there, it just has to be nurtured and brought into the light of day, and practiced over and over to be effective. If we do not heed the warnings 4DEof those who allow what seems harmless to become harmful, then we become the evil that is within us and are no better.

Nick Oliva (O-lee-va’) has been a musician, composer, photographer, an audio engineer, an Entertainment Director and Technical Director for over twenty-five years and is a successful self-made money manager. Website: View my blog and buy my latest book at http://www.onlymomentsbook.com

Thomas Jefferson

The key to understanding Zen Buddhism is to understand the phrase “I don’t know.” In this phrase is hidden the secrets of Zen and Zen Meditation. At first glance this may seem counter intuitive or just a play on words, but I assure you that is not the case. This is really the essence of Zen and once you grasp what is being implied here, all the Zen teachings will start to make sense.

The problem, according to Zen is not “not-knowing”, it is in fact knowing too much. What needs to be qualified here is the type of knowledge that is being referred to. There is knowledge that is factual, such as the distance to the moon or the elemental makeup of water, but the knowledge that is being indicated here, is the knowledge having to do with our security and happiness. In other words, all that we know about what we ought to be doing to get out of life maximum happiness, is the knowledge that we need to purge ourselves of.

For ease of communication I will call this knowledge “Emotional Knowledge”, as it relates to how we need to go about increasing pleasure/happiness and decreasing pain/sorrow. This Emotional Knowledge, Zen is saying, is what drives us to endlessly seek and endlessly be restless. In other words, having accepted innumerable theories on how we need our life to be in order to be happy, we are caught in a cycle of endless desire chasing these goals. Zen says, drop Emotional Knowledge or at least don’t emphasize it and instead just be open to the moment and meet the challenge of life which is right under your nose.

It is very hard to really say “I Don’t Know.” All kinds of theories, beliefs, ideologies, philosophies have been forced into us since we were impressionable children, which now dominate our mind and lives. We feel we need to do this or that in order to get this or that, which at the end will make us happy. Unfortunately, this approach has failed. Human beings always get used to what they have and then inevitably start to demand more. It just does not matter what it is or how much you have. You will eventually get used to having it and then will want more. The only way out of this endless cycle of desire is to surrender to the sate of “I Don’t Know.”

When you can really say “I Don’t Know”, then there is littl5B2e for the mind to chase and pursue. Then you just look at life and do what is necessary and as you continue on in this way of living in the moment, desire starts to lose its grip on you. In Zen this is called mindful living. Real freedom then makes its welcome appearance as awareness, free now from outward seeking, moves inward and reveals the secrets hidden deep within us.

To work towards this state of “I Don’t Know”, you need to question all your desires. Too often, in this atmosphere of commercialism, we have been seduced by clever advertisement and social propaganda. Corporations and those in power need you to buy into the happy, pleasurable future they are promising, else they will either lose their sale or your vote. So you need to see if you can remain untouched by this atmosphere of endless consumption. Once you buy in, then you are in the rat race, because now you think you know what you need to get to be happy and so you are off and running, if you don’t buy in you stand apart and are free. So next time someone asks you, What is it that you want in life? Look at them and just smile. Welcome to the wonderful world of Zen.

Anmol Mehta is a Yoga Teacher & Zen Expert. His extensive site, Free Guided Chakra Meditation Practice & Kundalini Yoga Exercises408, offers Free Online Guided Meditation Techniques. You will also find articles & lively discussions on the Free Guided Meditation Practice, Kundalini Yoga Poses & Zen Meditation Blog.

We become what we think about most of the time

On a deeper and mostly unconscious level, we are all aware of our spirit. Even though we are all aware of this spiritual nature, the challenge in living a truly spiritual life is that we so easily get seduced by appearances. Life is so rich in sensory beauty and we all tend to have a bias for what we can see, touch, hear, taste and smell. Even though this world of sensory perception is rich, it is the invisible world that’s the real wonder of life. There are so many things that we know is there, yet we can’t see it. It is this fascination that’s been the driving force behind some of the greatest discoveries and it’s also the driving force behind most of our spiritual pursuits.

It’s a peculiar thing, living life without really knowing why we are here or where we came from. We know that there is something bigger than us and that we had to come from somewhere. In the New Testament Saint Paul reminded us that although we are ‘in this world’ we are not ‘from this world’. We often get caught up in this life and all the problems and frustrations that we all have to deal with on a daily basis. But, underneath it all is that part of you, your higher self, that is not concerned with any of it.

Regardless of your personal spiritual beliefs, we know that there is a divine and universal intelligence behind all of life. It is from this infinite intelligence that we all come and it is to this that we all go back to when we leave this life. This ‘invisibleness’ is something - a force or an energy that we are always connected to because it constitutes the very essence of your life. When you are connected to this dimension of yourself you are united with the very intelligence that creates and sustains all of creation.

Discovering and connecting to your higher self does not require and special mountain retreats or far eastern meditations. It simply requires that you look deep within yourself. Discovering your higher self and finding God in your life is not something that you have to go and find somewhere outside yourself. Think of it this way: electricity has always been available to us - even to prehistoric cavemen. Only when we discovered it, were we able to use it. Your higher self and divine guidance is, and has always been available to you. You simply have to discover it to be able to use it.

Here are 3 insights that will help you to rediscover your higher self:

1. Self Awareness

When you become aware of your Self and realize that you are a spiritual being on a spiritual path you can start to live your life more consciously. Most people are numb to life and they just float through it unaware of themselves and the bigger picture. Epictetus said that what’s necessary to change yourself is self awareness. Only when you are ‘awake’ can you pay attention to and notice the higher dimension of life.

2. Perception

Realize that everything within your field of experience is based on perception. Life simply ‘is’, but through our perception we create meaning out of everything. When you are connected to your higher self and live with a more spiritual awareness you are able to live from your centre. This will help you to stay centered and to see past the limitations of the appearances and trivialities of life and live and live a more peaceful and fulfilled life.

3. Divine Guidance

Your higher self, your soul (or your spirit) is your connection to God and to the infinite intelligence that keeps this entire universe in complete harmony. God is to be found inside yourself. God is not some being up in the clouds that dictates our lives for us. God is within each and every one of us. In the ancient scriptures, it was said “be still and know that I am God.” Be still and discover God for yourself and ask for divine guidance in your life.

The very thought of connecting with your higher self is enough to connect you to God. When you seek you shall find and when you ask you will receive. When you seek to live closer to God, you will for the 56Every act of seeking will connect you to God. When your thoughts are on love, peace, joy and abundance you are in harmony with God and you will know God. When you remove yourself from it through thoughts of hate, guilt, harm, anger ec. you prevent the Divine guidance to from flowing through you. Stay connected. Look Within and consciously live your life with love, peace and harmony.

http://www.illumen8.com

Learn how to connect with with your higher self by using these 3 ancient spiritual secrets. Download “The Timeless Lessons In Spiritual Transformation” and discover these eternal spiritual truths about yourself, your life and what it takes to live a truly fulfilled life. Click here to download this free guide.

Caroline Myss

All religions accept that God is One who has created the Earth, Heaven and everything that is seen and unseen in the universe. Even the polytheistic religions like Hinduism, believe that all Gods are the manifestation of the same Ultimate Reality of Bhagawan. Yet it is also a fact that people have always fought in the name of religion. Even in the modern world, religion continues to be the cause of conflict in many parts of the world.

Even though, God has been perceived and represented differently in different religions, yet all religions agree that God is omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, the origin and cause of all things, just, compassionate and the source of all goodness in the world. However, on the ground level, most people are extremely suspicious of the gods of other religions. They believe that only their god is the True God while the God of other religion is either False or inferior.

Why such a misconception in understanding God? Is it deliberate or natural? The answer to this question is necessary for the mankind, as God is still the most important reality in the life of most people in the world. Religion still gives meaning to most of the people in the world and most people are tied to their religion and spend their life in the religion they are born.

God: The Essence of Religion

It is difficult to define religion as no unanimity exists on the concept of religion. As per one definition provided in Wikipedia,

“A religion is a set of beliefs and practices often organized around supernatural and moral claims, and often codified as prayer, ritual, and religi5B4ous law.”

Thus the concept of God is not necessary in religion but the external codes of the religion like prayer, ritual and a sacred book or scripture are necessary in all religions. Yet the faith and believes of all religions revolves around the central theme of God but the concept of God is different in all religions. Hence all religions are same to the extent that they all deals with God (the supernatural power), but different to the extend that they represent the different concept of God. God may be a single word, but its meaning is different in all religions and indeed for every one.

The Trinity of God

In order to understand the different representations of God, it would be useful to understand the concept of Trinity in Christianity. The concept of Trinity of God means that God has three manifestations i.e. the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The Father God refers to the concept of God that is beyond the perception of human mind and senses as the Father God is infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscience while human mind has limited capability to learn and understand. Father God is known by different names in different religions like Yahwah (Judaism), Allah (Islam) , Brahman (Hinduism) or Absolute. However the Absolute God is incomprehensible to the common people as it is beyond the grasp of the senses and the mind. This God is better understood by the philosophers who spend their liB68fe in understanding the God intellectually and rationally.

Therefore, the God we know is the God who takes the form of man and communicates to us in the language and symbols of the man. The Son God is thus the human representation of God in the world. Christianity refers this form of God as “Son” or Jesus Christ, or the Son of God. In other religions, the human representation of God has been referred as Avatars (Incarnation) or Prophets. The Prophets or Avatars are the human beings who have acquired the highest state of “spiritual” awakening which has made them closest to the divinity. Thus man acquires divinity by the power of the Spirit.

The third manifestation of God is therefore, the Holy Spirit or simply called the Spirit. Spirit of God is believed to be present in all the living beings. Every person has the presence of God in him or her due to the omnipresence of spirit in this world. It is due to the presence of spirit that we are capable of knowing God through self-realization or meditation. Thus some religions like Buddhism or Sikhism are essentiality spiritual religions, who do not believe in the God as Absolute or God as human being but treats God as Spirit that is present in all living beings. Upanishads and Gita also call this representation of God as Paramatma (Universal Soul) whose spark i.e. Atman (Soul) is present in every being.

The Mystery of Revealed Truth of Religion

Even though all human beings are the son (or daughter) of God, yet we fail to understand God due to our engagement in the external world or the world of the senses. The human mind is capable of seeing outside world from the eyes of the senses or seeing inside Self through the eyes of intuition and achieve self-realization. Yet few people realize the need for self-realization as they prefer to understand the Truth from the people who have achieved self-realization.

Since every person is both a body and a soul, he is not only a part of the material world but also a part of the spiritual world. He has to integrate himself with this world for the survival of the body and also required to integrate with the spirit or the unknown world to receive happiness and peace in life that emanates from the soul. He needs to earn his livelihood to keep the body in living condition. Thus the knowledge of the world is absolutely necessary without which no person can play any useful role in the society and fulfill his material necessities of the body.

However, every person is also a Soul hence part of the Universal Soul or the Spirit. Since his soul is deeply connected with the Universal Soul, hence by self-realization alone a person can hope to achieve the true knowledge of the religion or the world or get answer of the deeper quest of life. However, self-realization is a difficult task which can be achieved only when a person focuses all his attention away fr4ACom the material world and search the truth within. In some ways man has to himself become Spirit (devoid of physical passion and material desire) to reach extremely close to the divinity in order to understand the thoughts of God. It is only when the man attains the nature of spirit; the Truth is revealed to him by God.

Yet, even after realization of the Ultimate Truth, it is difficult to explain this Truth to the common man who are still attached to the material world. If the Truth is explained to them as revealed, it would be incompressible to the common man. A common man can not understand the spiritual truths as they can only see from the eyes of the senses rather then seeing from the eyes of the spirit. The prophets, thus face unique dilemma. They can either limit the Ultimate Truth to a selected few that can be understood by few people who are in the higher stage of spiritual evolution, or covert the Ultimate Truth in the language of the senses and mind for the understanding of the common man.

Rituals: The Body of the Religion

Religion, therefore, like any other creation of the world has both the body and the soul. While the soul of all religions5A8 emanates from the same God, the bodies of the religions are different for each culture and society.

In some ways, we can perhaps compare the differences in the religions with the differences in the physical appearance of the people of different race and ethnicity. If it is true that all human beings are offspring of God, then why they all look different from each other? While some differences between individuals are unpredictable, yet other differences surely have explanations. For example when a soul takes the form of a body, the physical characteristics of the body does bear a close resemblance to the body of the parents. Therefore, if the soul takes human form in black parents, the body of the son shall also be black and if the parents are white so shall be the offspring.

Thus when the spirit is converted into body, its physical outlook develops a close resemblance with the parent. In the same way, when God take incarnation in this world, his revelation in the language of the world are different for each religion.

When Symbols are Confused with Reality

The body of the religion is created when the “Revealed Truth” is expressed in the form of words or symbol by the prophets. While people can listen to the words and see the symbols, they can’t know the spirit of the religion except by self-realization. However, most of the people do not have the time and inclination for self-realization. The r5A8esult is that they confuse the body of the religion as the religion itself. Thus instead of using the words and the symbols as a means to realize the Self or God of the religion, the words and symbols become the end in itself.

All the conflicts within a religion or between different religions arise only because the followers of the religion confuse the symbols of divinity with the divinity. Instead of using the symbols as the means to understand the divinity, they believe the symbol itself as divine. Since symbols are external, they are different in reach religion. The methods of prayers and the words that are uttered in the prayers are always different in each religion since the language is the creation of the man. In the same way even the name and description of God in every religion is different as every society has different languages and symbols to express the thoughts and ideas.

Stop Fighting in The Name of God

Religion, in the modern society is considered to be a matter of person choice. Therefore, governments all over the world are doing little to create a harmony between religions which are essentially the reflections of the same God. The scientific knowledge of the Truth is based on the body i.e. the material reality. Hence, scientific thinking can only reveal the differences in religions, rather then the common truth of the religion, which can come only from the intuition and self-realizat5A5ion. However, in the world of materialism, it is extremely difficult for the people to focus their mind inwards when all the material realities lie outside. The result is that people understand religion only from the symbols and fight with each other. As soon as the complete Truth of God and Religion is realized by self-realization, the conflicts in the name of religion has to come to an end.

Mr. Awdhesh K Singh is an Engineer by education and philosopher by passion. He has published several papers in International Journals and Conferences on the subject of E-governance, Artificial Intelligence , Fuzzy Logic and Expert Systems .

He is the founding member of The Aatmic Science Foundation, (The Science of Soul Foundation). His interest is in creating synthesis between all religions and sciences for the benefit of the mankind.

He can be contacted at his email address aksinghirs [a] yahoo.com

Index

During the third week of August 2005 the Trafalgar Way was officially inaugurated in Devon to commemorate the bi-centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

The Lorna Doone, an original North Devon stagecoach visited inns and hostels along the full length of what is now know as the Trafalgar Way in Devon.

During this time an actor playing the part of Lieutenant John Richard Lapenotiere delivered a New Trafalgar Dispatch. Each town in Devon that he passed through has unveiled a commemorative plaque to mark the occasion.

Lapenotiere, captain of HMS Pickle, travelled by post chaise, the equivalent of a taxi 200 years ago and the fastest means of public transport available at the time.

It took about six weeks from 21st October 1805 for the full news of the victory and the death of Admiral Horatio Nelson to filter through to London and the people of England.

Nelson and his fleet defeated the combined armies of France and Spain off the Spanish coast near Cape Trafalgar. Amongst the men in the English fleet were 1,115 men from Devon, more than from any other county.

Lapenotiere was the first messenger to reach Falmouth with the news. He passed quickly through Cornwall and entered Devon at Lifton. Pausing only to change horses at Okehampton, Crockernwell, Exeter, Honiton and Axminster he travelled on to London.

Each messenger who followed had more details of the Battle of Trafalgar in the dispatches they carried. Following in the steps of Lieutenant Lapenotiere hundreds of horses were used to carry the news.

Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post, the local newspaper, contains full details of the contents of the dispatches as they became available. Microfilm copies are available at the Devon Record Office or online at their website.

This article may be freely reproduced with the following resource box and must include a live link:

Lesley Pinkett lives and works in East Devon and is the owner of http://www.east-devon-guide.com/ which is packed with information about this beautiful corner of England.

Ludwig Beethoven

Tibet has rightly been referred to as ‘The Roof of the World’ in all general knowledge books published and read worldwide. The topography of Tibet comprises of a high plateau referred to as the Pamirs spread across Central Asia It is perched at an average altitude of 4,900 meters above the sea level. The social, political and cultural set up of Tibet from the 17th century till 1959 has primarily been spiritual and deeply religious. It finds its roots in the doctrines of Buddhism springing support from the guidelines of the bodhisattva of compassion.

The Tibetan Buddhism is the distinguished form of Vajrayan and finds similarity with the Shingon Buddhis5B4t tradition practiced in Japan with distinctive ceremonial rituals and sacred gestures and words. The capital city Lhasa is considered to be the most sacred city of Tibet. The Potala Palace in Lhasa has traditionally been the seat of secretarial and political power administered and executed by the His Holiness Dalai Lamas and his regents till its occupation by the People’s Republic of China in 1959. Currently Tibet has been accorded the status of an autonomous region within the fold of China mainland.

In 1624 Portuguese were the first among foreigners to have come to Tibet and built a church. They were most welcome until the mass influx of the Jesuits in the region causing the wrath of the otherwise peaceful lamas and were expelled by mid-18th century. Potato crop was introduced in Tibet by George Boggle, a Scottish man who came to the Shigatse region to explore possibilities of trade with the British owned East India Company. Shigatse is the second largest city and is situated west of Lhasa. Tibet from mid eighteenth century to mid nineteenth century was wrapped amid expansionist tendencies of the British in India and tsars in Russia. This made the government authorities of Tibet to shut its doors to all foreigners by 1855. Surveyor spies such as Nain Singh backed by the British Government in India clandestinely mapped the altitude, longitude and latitude of the Lhasa city and traced the route of the mighty river Tsangpo which e5B4nters the Indian mainland as River Brahmaputra.

Places of interest in Tibet include the historical monasteries such as the great Ramoche and Jokhang Temples. The Potala Palace has rightly been assigned a place of honor amongst the list of World Heritage Sites for its grandeur; splendor and magnificent architecture build on the lines of the traditional Buddhist art. Norbulingka is the summer abode of the much revered Dalai Lama is a delight to the eyes.

The colorful thangka paintings and mandalams, The Buddhist wheel with two dragons in fury mirror the meaningful Buddhist approach. It can vividly be seen infused in the architecture of the land. Chanting of the religious mantras in Tibetan or Sanskrit is well integrated into the spiritual way of living that religion inspires to the Tibetans. The air of Tibet has a tone of magic and mystique in it and is currently blending with the winds of modernization.

The Central government in China has done much to push the tourism sector in Tibet by way of infusing in much development. Qinghai-Tibet Railway which is the highest located rail line in the world connects Tibet with the eastern provinces of China and has become functional since July 2006. The serpentine passage of the train amidst the majestic mountains laden with awe-inspiring pictorial panorama and rejoicing of ones spirit in the reverberence of the cool, mystical air is a journey worth remembering for long times to co529me.

Traditional items of the Tibetan origin primarily the handicrafts such as the typical colorful Tibetan Buddhist murals, paintings, rugs, carpets, quilts, jewellary, fabrics, wooden items, precious stones, hats are very much in demand from the tourists generating returns in terms of the much desired foreign currency. Other items of tourists’ interest include the copper teapots, rosaries, turquoise, precious and semi-precious gems, Buddha figures, masks and costumes. The incoming of the tourism has brought about economic and social revaluation in the otherwise hard-up Tibet. However many view these progressive efforts as the killer of the religious culture distinctive of Tibetan culture. Tourists can avail the services of the experienced local tour operators to take them for the trek in the mesmerizing wilderness and lush greens in the deep interiors of the forest.

Rosy Vohra works for online books India

Yoga

When it comes to the expression of love, passion, and adoration - it is heart tattoos that have historically appeared for centuries upon centuries.

Over the years, the commonly used shade of red is no longer the standard, as tattoos now showcase a wide range of colors, shapes, sizes, styles, and accompaniments.

Bold, bright, and expressive dA6Eisplays of heart tattoos have never lost their popularity. Romantic love, lust, and a unity between two people are just some of the ways this tattoo is approached.

In the past, ancient civilizations viewed heart tattoos as a symbol that represented the center of intellect and other meanings.

Christians saw the heart as the base of emotions, while followers of Islam viewed the symbol as the center of spirituality. Over time, the heart would remain a popular symbol of expression and in regards to tattoos - it spanned the interests of both women and men.

A collection of well-known heart tattoo selections has evolved over time. Sailors were notorious for their heart and anchor tattoos with Mom scrawled in the middle. Celtic tattoos sometimes add a heart in knotwork.

When it comes to the meaning of heart tattoos, they are often seen to represent love and happiness, but can also showcase painful feelings and sad memories.

A broken heart often stands for the loss of a loved one, rejected love, or a failed relationship. Intense sadness and grief is infused into this kind of tattoo design.

A heart that bleeds also refers to a lost love. A heart pierced with an arrow is a popular image that can depict both unforgettable and saddened memories of love.

Typically, a heart with wings is used to represent a free spirit. A popular tattoo amongst soldiers has become a heart with a dagger, which is often used to symbolize bravery. It can also signify betrayal.

The placement of heart tattoos varies, as men typically place this design on their biceps and chest. A woman tends to become more expressive with this design and may choose the lower back, chest, back, and ankle for this tattoo selection.

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Siddhartha Great Enlightenment

The name Lucifer is connected with the planet Venus, the morning star which is the brightest light in the heavens (apart from the moon) and also means ‘bringer of the dawn’. The purpose of Lucifer is to bring enlightenment which often comes through suffering and heartache when we are unconscious about our real issues. As controversial as this may sound, Lucifer has a definite purpose on Earth and in our lives.

Why some Angels chose to fall

Lucifer was the first angel who chose to fall, although it was more a ‘conscious dive’ to Earth than a fall. The term Fallen Angel is sometimes thought to be a ‘fall from the grace of God’ but it actually means ‘descend to Earth’.

The job of fallen angels is to test the integrity of humans. Lucifer is the fallen angels’ main man and has free will to decide how humans should be tested and brought to consciousness. Lucifer is second only to God and is often present with other entities that are sometimes referred to as ‘demons’. Typically they’re growling, snarling, drooling, dark and ugly looking, although beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you compare Lucifer to a snake or spider you may find beauty in the ugliness in a similar way that some people find snakes or spiders beautiful. It’s also thought by some that Lucifer and Satan are one and the same however this is subject to conjecture.

It has been my experience that the unredeemed dark energy that resides with Lucifer has a huge amount of power. To the extent that people avoid the darkness in their lives, the more power it has over them. In other words, not dealing with dark forces is like saying ‘don’t think about pink elephants’ as soon as we think that, we start thinking about pink elephants.

Darkness and pain often go hand in hand. The more we avoid pain and suffering without looking at the real subconscious reasons for it, the more we are consumed by it. People avoid pain in many ways - overworking; drug, alcohol and other addictions; trying to ‘fit in’ with family and friends; and unhealthy relationships are just a few pain avoidance techniques.

Avoiding pain often causes people and others more pain in the long term. The darkness eventually overwhelms them with greater intensity than if they had dealt with the problem sooner.

So how can we Redeem the Lucifer Energy?

We must descend into the darkness. This is the only true way to salvation of spirit. This does not mean we are consumed by the darkness, but rather that we take our light of awareness and shine it into the dark recesses of our mind and body. We closely examine the illness, addiction, unsatisfactory relationship or whatever it is that is troubling us.

How do we do this?

Spend time alone and meditate. Dealing with darkness is like going for a bushwalk, yes there are deadly snakes and spiders, but we do not touch them. We put on appropriate footwear and make noise as we walk in the bush. The forces of darkness are completely normal and natural; they are only spiritual ‘wildlife’. We can deal with them by having appropriate protection and treating them with respect. We don’t muck around with them; they are treated seriously and compassionately, without f642ear or malice.

If you feel frightened do a ritual and call upon Christ, Buddha, Archangel Michael or other Light Being you believe in. Do not try to avoid painful feelings or darkness by distracting yourself with people or things. When you sit with the pain long enough and really look at it with loving concern for both it and yourself, it will be transformed and you will feel much lighter.

You will be redeemed along with the dark energy of Lucifer and his ‘wildlife’ friends. Only then will you feel more powerful, in control of your life and capable of focusing upon more positive thoughts.

Rose Smith, BA, DRM, ATMS is a psychic entrepreneur with a background in counseling, healing and teaching. She is also the founder of Absolute Soul Secrets Master Psychics, an Australian network of professional telephone psychics.

Visit http://www.absolutesoulsecrets.com for more information.

Gautama Buddha