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Sri Ramana Maharshi – JNANI 2018
by wsmystic in Consciousness, Enlightenment Tags: Sri Ramana Maharshi
Documentary on the great Indian sage Sri Ramana Maharshi. Released publicly on 25th May 2018.
Let's Wake Up: Deepak Chopra
by wsmystic in Awakening, Consciousness Tags: Deepak Chopra, Science and Nonduality
Published on Dec 21
Deepak Chopra talks about his journey from medical school in India and the United States to the experiences and research that have brought him to his present understanding – that the universe, the body, the mind, and everything that we have a name for, is a human construct. "No system of thought can give you access to reality," he says. For that, you have to go to the source of thought, which is consciousness.
Our Natural Potential: Beyond Personal Development, The Stages of Enlightenment – by David "Davidya" Buckland (Author)
by wsmystic in Awakening, Consciousness, Spirituality Tags: David Buckland
In the last decade, we've seen an unprecedented growth in spiritual awakening. Why is this happening? How are we to understand the nature of enlightenment? Is it a normal part of human development we had forgotten how to culture? What is the underlying causal mechanism? What are the common differences in experiencing the unfolding? How can we support people making progress without a decent road map? Can we understand this profound natural potential?
Our Natural Potential will show you the underlying process and the main stages of enlightenment based on an 8,000-year-old Vedic text. Each stage has its own distinct reality, sense of self and the world. We'll explore the two aspects required to support a full unfolding and detail the reality of each stage.
Enlightenment is not a goal but rather a platform for living a fuller, richer life well beyond any description. This book will discuss how to culture further development and recognize common symptoms and issues. It will allow you to put spiritual teachings into a broader context.
Be prepared to have some of your concepts about the spiritual journey broken. It's a far greater potential than most people recognize.
David Buckland is a former IT consultant who lives on Vancouver Island in the temperate rain forest of SW Canada. He began his spiritual journey in the mid-70's. On a long retreat soon after, he began witnessing full time and refined perception clicked on with a bang. He has now been meditating and exploring consciousness for more than 40 years.
Soon after awakening in 2007, he began writing on-line under the nickname "Davidya." The name and related blog (Davidya.ca) soon took on a life of it's own.
In 2011, he earned an MA in Vedic Science, studying Vedic literature, Sanskrit, and world religions. He has observed and spoken with many people having shifts in consciousness and has been working to synthesize historical understanding with modern experience.
Our Natural Potential talk by David Buckland at SAND2015
Using the Alexander model from psychology, David will illustrate that normal human development takes us progressively within. However, without suitable understanding and support, most people stall development part way along. Correct that and the inward development progresses. Once we reach consciousness beyond ego, we shift into the Transpersonal stages of development that psychology has begun to explore.
Using the approach from the Yog Vasishtha of the Ramayana and from Ayurveda, David will outline the two main processes of Transpersonal development that unfold our natural potential. On the one side, we have the 3 primary stages of consciousness unfolding to itself through an apparent individual. This includes a more complete context for Nonduality. On the other side is the unfolding heart and refinement. These two process are often referred to as the masculine and the feminine. It is together that there is a complete unfolding and embodiment.
This approach offers a framework for understanding the vast variety in how an unfolding shows up and a way to put descriptions from throughout the ages into a larger context.
David Buckland – 2nd Buddha at the Gas Pump Interview
by wsmystic in Awakening, Consciousness, Divinity, Enlightenment, Intelligence, Natural Law, Pure Awareness, Self-Realization, Shakti, spirituality Q & A, Video/Audio Interview, Witnessing / Witnessing Self Tags: BuddhaAtTheGasPump
David grew up on the SW coast of Canada. He began witnessing full time during a 6-month retreat in the mid-'70s then the lights came on and celestial perception began. It soon became clear that Self was awake within but had not woken up to Itself through this form yet. Self co-existed with an identified ego. Subtle perception continued to unfold in a myriad of ways.
With a more outward stroke into career, marriage, and family, inner development continued but took a back seat to life's responsibilities.
Then in 2005, much of the old life fell away and spirituality moved back to the foreground. After some feedback and darshan with Lorne Hoff, Self at last woke up to Itself here. Probably because of the long witnessing, this was quickly followed by a series of profound shifts in Being. (see my first BatGap interview) And then transcending Being into Brahman. In 2011, David was awarded a graduate degree in Vedic Science.
In this interview, we had an extended preamble to touch on the earlier shifts, then we discussed the ParaBrahman shift, pure Divinity, and how embodied Divinity is waking up laws of nature. This process will help raise the presence of Divinity in consciousness.
In the second part of the interview, we touched on the book Our Natural Potential describing the 7 stages of enlightenment, then explored some related topics.
For over a decade, David has been blogging on a wide range of subjects related to unfolding enlightenment. Under the nickname Davidya, he has posted close to 2,000 articles. During the Science and Nonduality Conference in 2017, David gave a talk on the stages described in this interview.
Website: http://davidya.ca
Book: Our Natural Potential: Beyond Personal Development, The Stages of Enlightenment (Rick Archer wrote the Foreword.)
Stages of Witnessing
The Three Parts of Awakening
Experience vs Being
Stages of Development in Consciousness
3-way Dynamics of Consciousness
Understanding Unity
The Appearance of the Doers (Devata)
The Koshas or sheathes
The Levels talk @ SAND18
Free Will and Determinism
Unity into Brahman or Beyond Consciousness
Subtle Perception
The 16 Kalas
ParaBrahman
Pure Divinity
Laws of Nature Waking Up (from dormancy)
Being Cosmic (body)
Awakening the Body (laws becoming enlightened)
Inherent Intelligence
Devata and Geometry
Part 2: (about 53 minutes in)
Our Natural Potential book that explores the stages in more detail.
What is Nonduality?
The Gunas in Awakening
Gradations of Awakening and 5 subjective styles
Kaivalya, the Enlightenment of Yoga
Cognition, forms of
Understanding Your Energy System, Part 1
Mahamarmas
The Awakening Intellect (Resolute )
Styles of Teachers
Styles of Enlightenment
Atman and Sattva (Bhavas)
Karma and the Awake
Adyashanti – The Instinct toward Greater Consciousness
by wsmystic in Consciousness Tags: Adyashanti
We each have an instinct toward greater consciousness, and our spiritual practice is a way of responding to that. Adyashanti explores how the spiritual impulse originates and the importance of bringing our consciousness into the depths of our unconscious.
"When the mind is dreaming, it is endlessly talking to itself, and sometimes the way it is talking to itself seems to be completely disconnected from anything that's happening right now."
"We're not only dreaming at night. That's one of the things that contemplative introspection shows you, and at the beginning it's unsettling."
"So much of our narrative is just like your dream in the middle of the night. It's trying to work things out—things you felt, things you experienced, things you heard—and you don't know how it's doing it, because it often just sounds like unconnected self-talk."
"Contemplative practice is a way of taking your consciousness down deep into y
Entheogens and the Transformation of Consciousness
by wsmystic in Consciousness Tags: Igor Kufayev
In response to a question on macrodosing, Igor Kufayev speaks on the effect hallucinogenic substances have on our body.
Science and Spiritual Practices with Rupert Sheldrake
by wsmystic in Consciousness, Science and Nonduality, Spirituality Tags: Deepak Chopra, Rupert Sheldrake
Deepak in discussion with Rupert Sheldrake.
Leanne Whitney – Buddha at the Gas Pump Interview
by wsmystic in Consciousness, Psychology /Psychotherapy/Psychiatry
Leanne Whitney Ph.D. is an independent scholar in the fields of depth psychology and consciousness studies. She specializes in the intersection of Western psychology and the Eastern liberatory traditions.
For over twenty-five years Leanne has researched the mind body connection and, over the last fifteen plus years, their interrelation with pure consciousness. Trained in depth psychology, yoga, and craniosacral therapy, in her private practice, Leanne works with clients one-on-one to resolve mental, emotional, and physical blocks which obscure the ever-present alignment of the authentic Self. Working with clients online as well as in person, her practice is international, spanning four continents. Her clientele is diverse; racially, socio-economically, and in sexual orientation.
Leanne is the author of Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali (Routledge, 2018) as well as several academic papers. Her published papers include Innate and Emergent: Jung, Yoga and the Archetype of the Self Meet the Objective Measures of Affective Neuroscience, and Jung in Dialogue with Freud and Patañjali: Instinct, Affective Neuroscience, and the Reconciliation of Science and Religious Experience, both for the open access journal Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy.
The Miracle of Consciousness, By Christian Wertenbaker
by wsmystic in Consciousness
Photograph by Vidar Nordli-Mathison
The science and spirit of awareness
Consciousness can be regarded as a miracle from many different points of view. Introspection alone suggests that it belongs to a different realm of reality from ordinary material things. But materiality can be finer or coarser, resulting in differing relationships of materials to space and time and the forces of nature. A gas is not constrained in space as is a solid, and it has a different relationship to gravity. Is consciousness then made of a very fine material? Does it have any materiality at all? Is it subject to mechanical laws, that do seem to operate in our brains? Or can it be dismissed as an epiphenomenon—something with no objective reality at all, merely the subjective accompaniment of neural impulses and synaptic interactions—the subjective inner world also being devoid of any objective reality? For many proponents of artificial intelligence, this latter view is correct. They believe that eventually a sufficiently complex computer will be conscious, the only valid criterion being that it behaves in every way as if it were, subjective experience being inferable in another entity only by observation of its behavioral manifestations.
Elementary particles—electrons, quarks, and such—and the photons of light seem to have such a fine materiality that it can hardly be called that. The laws of relativistic quantum mechanics that govern them are inherently paradoxical, and paradox, as will be elaborated below, points to another level of reality. So perhaps consciousness belongs to the quantum world. This is a subject of much current speculation. But here I would like to simply argue for the miraculous—in the true sense of the word—nature of consciousness.
What is a miracle? While one conventional view is that it represents a direct intervention by God into human affairs, superseding the physical laws of cause and effect, a subtler definition was put forth by G.I. Gurdjieff, who argued that if God intervened in the laws of His creation, He would invalidate their status as laws. Rather, Gurdjieff regarded a miracle as the "manifestation of the laws of one cosmos in another cosmos."1 He regarded the universe as a living conscious being, made up of a hierarchy of cosmoses, nested within each other, each also a living being with a certain level of awareness. These cosmoses are somewhat variably described in his lectures and writings, but an acceptable list might be as follows:
The multicellular organism—plants
and animals
Human beings and similar beings
elsewhere—so-called three-brained
beings, which he regarded as
fundamentally distinct from other
The cell or microbe
This is a radically different view from that of conventional modern science, according to which the above entities, aside from the first, are simply organizations of different sizes, but all on the same level, ruled by the same laws of physics. Gurdjieff also regarded the cosmoses as related to each other as zero to infinity, in other words, as representing different dimensions. A miracle then would be due to the intrusion of the laws of a higher cosmos into a lower one. This again relates to different levels of materiality and of the relationships of things to space, time, and forces: a normal man cannot walk on water, but the wind can; loaves and fishes do not multiply instantaneously, but shadows and echoes can. Human consciousness, which can join together all separate things, travel effortlessly into the past and future, and contemplate all the possibilities therein, thus belongs to a different cosmos and has a different dimensionality than ordinary material things.
Penrose triangle. Image by Tobias R.
Roger Penrose, in his book The Emperor's New Mind2, made a compelling argument that human consciousness and understanding are, at least in part, non-algorithmic, and therefore not reproducible in a computer, no matter how complex. His argument is based on various versions of Kurt Gödel's incompleteness theorem, one statement of which is that "no formal system of mathematical rules of proof can ever suffice, even in principle, to establish all the true propositions of ordinary arithmetic." In other words, there are mathematical truths that are obvious to a mathematically savvy human being, and also incontrovertible, that cannot be derived algorithmically, using a set of axioms and logical rules, by a machine such as a computer.
Gödel's proof is complex, but it is based on a paradox that is essentially the same as the more easily understood logical paradoxes that arise in relation to self-referential statements. For instance, the statement "this sentence is false," if true, is false, and if false, is true. In a mathematically rigorous way, Gödel showed that a self-contained system of rules of sufficient power to encompass ordinary arithmetic must be similarly self-referential, leading to a similar paradox, and as a result such a system will be unable to prove all the undeniable truths of arithmetic, "whose truth is accessible…to human intuition and insight."3
The resolution of a paradox always involves a change in perspective. The statement "less is more" is paradoxical if "less" and "more" refer to the same thing. But it is so no longer if they refer to different things: "less formality can lead to more enjoyment," or "less spice can result in a tastier dish." On the other hand, in Zeno's famous paradoxes, two parameters are measured differently when they should not be. One of Zeno's paradoxes is that motion is impossible, because to get from here to there one must first go halfway, but to get to halfway one must first get to half of halfway, and so on ad infinitum, so one can never get started. Here, space is regarded as infinitely divisible, while time is not. In either of these instances, a change in perspective is involved. A change in perspective is also a change in dimensionality, in a sometimes very abstract sense. This is obvious in a more concrete way in some visual paradoxes, in which a two-dimensional rendering of a three-dimensional scene or object can result in striking paradoxical behavior.
So, it is logically permissible for a sentence to say "that sentence is false," referring to another sentence, but not for it to say "this sentence is false," referring to itself. Similarly, a non-Cretan could say "all Cretans are liars," but if a Cretan were to say it, it would be paradoxical. There are any number of such self-referential paradoxes.
Many who discuss these issues do not make it clear that human consciousness, experience, and understanding are inherently self-referential, and therefore paradoxical. Penrose, in his talks (available on the internet), says that to understand something, one must be aware of it, and this must include self-awareness, or "awareness of awareness." A thermostat can be said in some sense to be aware of the temperature, in that it responds to it, but it is not self-aware, and one cannot conceive that it has either consciousness or understanding. This is a very important distinction, which often gets glossed over in discussions of consciousness. We ourselves commonly function without much self-awareness, like a complex machine, with complicated reflex reactions provoked by sensory stimuli, as when we drive for miles while daydreaming and have little recollection of the trip. It is very different when I am aware of myself in my environment, vividly conscious of both, and of the qualities of all my perceptions. What has been called the "hard problem of consciousness" is the question of how we can experience "qualia," the internal and subjective components of sensory inputs that cannot be reduced to formulas or measurements. It is not possible to explain what it is like to see red to a person blind from birth, even though one can describe the electromagnetic frequency spectrum and the color red's place in it. It is not entirely obvious at first glance, but experiencing sensory stimuli requires awareness of oneself experiencing, and the same is true of any real understanding of anything at all. A machine can react to inputs, and can list a series of numbers or facts, but it cannot be said to have either experience, understanding, or consciousness. These are on another level, or in another dimension, which is why attempts to put them on the same level, as algorithmic computations, lead to self-referential paradoxes.
The opposing argument, made by those who believe in the possibility of consciousness in computers, is simply to dismiss the "hard problem," saying that, from a strictly scientific point of view, if a computer could completely mimic human behavior there would be no objective reason to deny that it can have subjective experiences. In a way, only the feeling of actual subjective experience can go against this argument; the non-algorithmic nature of consciousness, is itself a truth that is obvious only to "human intuition and insight." Nevertheless, Gödel's proof supports the idea that experience, consciousness, and understanding, being inherently self-referential, require another dimensionality compared to strictly mechanical or algorithmic processes.
Where, then, does our consciousness come from? One of Gurdjieff's main ideas is that we humans are three-brained, having a moving-instinctive brain, an emotional brain, and an intellectual brain. Other mammals he regarded as having only the first two, and lower animals such as worms only the first. Each brain is tuned to a different aspect of reality:
…we must understand that every normal psychic function is a means or an instrument of knowledge. With the help of the mind we see one aspect of things and events, with the help of emotions another aspect, with the help of sensations a third aspect. The most complete knowledge of a given subject possible for us can only be obtained if we examine it simultaneously with our mind, feelings, and sensations.… In ordinary conditions man sees the world through a crooked, uneven window.4
Furthermore, he regarded some degree of communication between these brains (also called "centers") to be essential for any degree of consciousness, deep dreamless sleep being the result of a total disconnection of the three brains from each other:
What then is our consciousness, our memory, our critical faculty? It's very simple. It is when one center specially watches another, when it sees and feels what is going on there and, seeing it, records it all within itself.5
Geological time scale. United States Geological Survey
Would it be sufficient then for one machine to monitor another for consciousness to arise? Transfers of information from one memory store to another also occur in computers. Perhaps the word "specially" in the above quote needs elaboration. For one thing, the three brains are not the same; as described in the first quote, each has a different view on reality. Gurdjieff indicates that ideally the three brains work with different patterns and frequencies of vibrations, that they are related to different cosmoses. Correspondingly, each has a different "food": the food of the moving-instinctive brain is ordinary food, the food of the emotional brain is air, and the food of the intellectual brain is sense impressions.6 Each of these foods comes from a different level of the universe. Ordinary food comes from the earth. The food of the emotional brain "is obtained from the transformation of elements of other planets and of the sun itself of that system, where this three-brained being has the place of his arising and existence."7 Here, Gurdjieff is likely referring not to oxygen or nitrogen but to rarefied charged particles in the air that derive from the earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere, which in turn are shaped and fed by the solar wind. How this relates to the emotional life—including the higher emotions of wonder and awe, the direct emotional perception of life and awareness in others, as well as a sense of the divine nature of the world—is beyond known physiology. All that is known scientifically in this respect is that the ionic composition of the air does have an effect on mood. Gurdjieff also believed that a soul that could outlive the body was an entity that needed to be formed within the body during life, and that it was the product of the development of the emotional life. It can be argued that this soul's materiality is likely to be that of a plasma—a structurally diverse and coherent gas-like entity composed of charged particles—of the same materiality as that of the ionosphere.8
In the case of "impressions," we are not simply referring only to the sensory impressions that permit us to navigate the world without falling or bumping into things, but to the perception of abstract "form," the shape of things and their relationships. This perceptive capacity seems to be uniquely developed in humans as compared to other animals, as evidenced by language, mathematics, and other vehicles of abstract thought. This "food" Gurdjieff regards as derived from the highest, from the "direct emanations of our Most Holy Sun Absolute."9 This is reminiscent of Plato's realm of ideal forms.
Does our capacity for consciousness then depend on three brains, tuned to three different levels or cosmoses of the universe, coming together in a special relationship? This would seem to be what Gurdjieff suggests. In fact, the simplest description he gives of the effort toward consciousness—consciousness of oneself experiencing, not simply automatic functioning—is to bring the attention of the mind together with the sensation of the body, which joining can then attract an emotional element, a feeling of presence.10
Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva within an OM. Mahabharata manuscript,1795
Erwin Schrödinger, the Austrian physicist who discovered the well-known eponymous equation that is at the heart of quantum mechanics, devoted a lot of thought to the question of consciousness and to the paradoxes involved. One of these paradoxes is that in a very real sense the outer world is a part of the inner world of each individual, being a component in each separate mind, while at the same time, from a different point of view, the inner world, regarded as the brain of each individual, is only a part of the outer world. How can two things each be only a part of the other? Again, we are dealing with a difference in perspective, and in level of materiality. For the inner world, although it appears in each person to depend on the functioning of his or her brain, is not to be found there: no amount of dissection, electrical recording, or other outer investigation will find the inner world in the tissues and cells of the brain. And the converse is true: the real, wet, substantial brain is not present in the inner world.
Schrödinger came to the conclusion, although he freely admitted that he could not defend it on logical grounds, that consciousness, or "mind," was unitary, universal, and supreme:
There is obviously only one alternative, namely the unification of minds or consciousnesses. Their multiplicity is only apparent, in truth, there is only one mind. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads. And not only of the Upanishads. The mystically experienced union with God regularly entails this attitude unless it is opposed by strong existing prejudices.11
In the Upanishads, consciousness, called "Self" in the following quote, is likened to a universal light that shines through each being as through a window:
Knowing that the individual Self, eater of the fruit of action, is the universal Self, maker of past and future, [the wise man] knows he has nothing to fear.
Born in the beginning from meditation, born from the waters, having entered the secret place of the heart, He looks forth through beings. That is Self. 12
"Self," consciousness, and God are therefore synonymous, and intimately self-referential, as told by God to Moses: "I AM THAT I AM." (Exodus 3: 14)
How this relates to the tripartite nature of consciousness postulated above remains somewhat mysterious, but it is perhaps not irrelevant that in many religions the Supreme Being is a trinity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost; Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
It is said in a number of religious teachings that God created man so that He could know Himself. Is it then necessary for consciousness to be embodied—incarnated—in three-brained beings for its full potentiality to become manifest? And there is a third element in this relationship: other conscious beings, as reflected in the first two New Testament commandments.
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22: 37–40)
Mysteriously, the recognition of consciousness in others seems to be a necessary component of full consciousness. If there were only a single conscious being in the world, how would it know what was inside itself and what outside? The recognition of the presence of consciousness in another being, which we do not sense or feel as part of our automatic manifestations, but becomes perceptible to us only when we are conscious of ourselves, seems to be a necessary part of the equation. God made man so that He might know Himself, but He had to make more than one, so that man could know himself. In consciousness, three become one. The greatest paradox and miracle of all is that of unity in multiplicity. ♦
1 P.D. Ouspensky, In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching. (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1949), 84, 94-95, 207-08.
2 Roger Penrose, The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and The Laws of Physics. (Oxford University Press, 1989).
3 Roger Penrose, Shadows of the Mind (Oxford University Press, 1994), 64-65.
4 Ouspensky, op. cit., 107-108.
5 G.I. Gurdjieff, Views from the Real World (E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1973), 271.
6 P.D. Ouspensky, op. cit., 181.
7 G.I. Gurdjieff, All and Everything. First Series. Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson. (New York: Jeremy Tarcher/Penguin, 1992), 520.
8 Christian Wertenbaker, "The Materiality of the Soul," Parabola, vol. 37, No. 4, 2012.
9 Gurdjieff op. cit., 520.
10 Ouspensky, op. cit., 188.
11 Erwin Schrödinger, The Oneness of Mind. In: Wilber K, ed., Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World's Great Physicists. (Boston and London: Shambala New Science Library, 1985).
12 Katha Upanishad, edited by the author based on multiple translations.
From Parabola Volume 43, No. 2, "The Miraculous," Summer 2018. This issue is available to purchase here. If you have enjoyed this piece, consider subscribing.
Christian Wertenbaker, M.D., was a practicing physician for forty years. He is a musician and a senior editor to Parabola and an author (The Enneagram of G.I. Gurdjieff, etc.)
Source: Parabola
Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali (Research in Analytical Psychology and Jungian Studies) by Leanne Whitney
by wsmystic in Consciousness, Psychology /Psychotherapy/Psychiatry, spirituality Q & A, Video/Audio Interview
The East-West dialogue increasingly seeks to compare and clarify contrasting views on the nature of consciousness. For the Eastern liberatory models, where a nondual view of consciousness is primary, the challenge lies in articulating how consciousness and the manifold contents of consciousness are singular. Western empirical science, on the other hand, must provide a convincing account of how consciousness arises from matter. By placing the theories of Jung and Patañjali in dialogue with one another, Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali illuminates significant differences between dual and nondual psychological theory and teases apart the essential discernments that theoreticians must make between epistemic states and ontic beliefs.
Patañjali's Classical Yoga, one of the six orthodox Hindu philosophies, is a classic of Eastern and world thought. Patañjali teaches that notions of a separate egoic "I" are little more than forms of mistaken identity that we experience in our attempts to take ownership of consciousness. Carl Jung's depth psychology, which remains deeply influential to psychologists, religious scholars, and artists alike, argues that ego-consciousness developed out of the unconscious over the course of evolution. By exploring the work of key theoreticians from both schools of thought, particularly those whose ideas are derived from an integration of theory and practice, Whitney explores the extent to which the seemingly irremediable split between Jung and Patañjali's ontological beliefs can in fact be reconciled.
This thorough and insightful work will be essential reading for academics, theoreticians, and postgraduate students in the fields of psychology, philosophy of science, and consciousness studies. It will also appeal to those interested in the East–West psychological and philosophical dialogue.
Dr. Leanne Whitney is an independent scholar in the fields of depth psychology and consciousness studies. She specializes in the intersection of Western psychology and the Eastern liberatory traditions. In addition to Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali she has published several academic papers. Dr. Whitney works as a transformational coach both online and in person, with her private practice located in Los Angeles, California. She earned her MA in statistics from the University of St. Andrews and her PhD in depth psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. For more information, visit leannewhitney.com.
Consciousness in Jung and Patanjali with Leanne Whitney
Leanne Whitney, PhD, is author of Consciousness in Jung and Patanjali. She is a transformational coach and also teaches yoga philosophy to yoga teachers.
Here she compares the western, depth psychology of Carl G. Jung with the yoga tradition of India, as outlined in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. She notes that Jung never accepted the eastern ideal that spiritual enlightenment could free one from mental suffering. Nor did Jungian theory address the concept of pure consciousness that is central to yoga philosophy. While Jung was fascinated with eastern wisdom, he ultimately felt that the western alchemical tradition offered greater insights into the human psyche.
New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is author of The Roots of Consciousness. He is also a past vice-president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology; and is the recipient of the Pathfinder Award from that Association for his contributions to the field of human consciousness exploration.
Sadhguru – The feminine aspect of existence
by wsmystic in Consciousness, ENERGY Tags: Sadhguru
-the feminine aspect of existence.
-everything YOU know is only by comparison.
-the moment you perceive through sense organs,
you already divided the existence.
-Without two there is no logic, so you need two.
-If you're not looking at life as dominance,
if you're looking at life as integration, cooperation, oneness,
then without these two dimensions, there is no existence.
-shiva consciousness- shakti energy
When Spirit Leaps: Navigating the Process of Spiritual Awakening 1st Edition by Bonnie L. Greenwell PhD (Author), Adyashanti (Foreword)
by wsmystic in Awakening, Book Reviews/Interview, Consciousness, ENERGY, Kundalini, Spirituality Tags: Dr. Bonnie Greenwell
Whether it happens all at once or gradually over time, spiritual awakening is an experience that may be accompanied by great insight, ecstatic bliss, or a mystical infusion of light, love, and vision. But it can be an overwhelming experience, too, leaving those to whom it's occurred searching for answers and understanding. Written by a transpersonal psychologist and non-dual teacher, this book will help you understand the phenomenon of spiritual awakening, and provide guidance and support for you on your spiritual journey.
At the heart of most spiritual traditions is the understanding that we are one with all of existence. This realization, also known as spiritual awakening or spiritual emergence, can occur spontaneously, after years of spiritual practice, or through many other portals. Although awakening is often considered a purely positive experience, many people are not prepared for the ramifications of such a life-altering event. When your perception of yourself and reality has been altered, you may find yourself with more questions than answers. Where can you turn?
Based on over thirty years of case studies, as well as the author's own experiences, When Spirit Leaps explores the why and what of spiritual awakening, revealing how this phenomenon occurs across all traditions, and exploring the various ways it can happen. Including discussions on kundalini energy, meditation, yoga and qigong, breathwork, near-death experiences, and much more, this inspirational book offers companionship and practical solutions to common challenges along the spiritual path of awakening.
With this book as your guide, you'll gain a deep understanding of the process and different portals of awakening, and find comfort and support in the real-life stories of those who have experienced this shift in consciousness and faced its challenges. Most importantly, you'll learn how you can embody this awakening and live joyfully and effectively without attachment to a personal sense of self, but as the oneness with all that is your true nature. No matter where you are on your spiritual journey, this book will help you along the way.
Bonnie L. Greenwell, PhD, is a transpersonal psychotherapist, author, and non-dual spiritual teacher in Adyashanti's lineage. She has specialized for more than thirty years in mentoring people going through transformative experiences related to spiritual awakening and the kundalini process, which was the subject of her doctoral research at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP). Greenwell has an eclectic background, including work in psychiatric units, at a rehabilitation center, as director of the Transpersonal Counseling Center at ITP, and years of private practice. Before finding her ground in non-dual teachings, she studied Jungian psychology; Jin Shin Do® acupressure; Psychotropic and Radiance Breathwork; kundalini, kriya, and Ashtanga yogas; and many Buddhist meditation practices. The founder and former director of the Kundalini Research Network, she has lectured and trained therapists in Europe, Australia, and the United States. Greenwell also established the Shanti River Center for non-dual education and counseling in Ashland, OR.
Foreword writer Adyashanti is an American-born spiritual teacher devoted to serving the awakening of all beings. His teachings are an open invitation to stop, inquire, and recognize what is true and liberating at the core of all existence. Adyashanti is author of The Way of Liberation, Falling into Grace, Emptiness Dancing, True Meditation, and The End of Your World. Based in California, he lives with his wife, Mukti, and teaches throughout North America and Europe, offering satsangs, weekend intensives, silent retreats, and a live Internet radio broadcast.
Navigating Spiritual Awakening & Its Challenges with Dr Bonnie Greenwell
For more than 30 years, Dr. Bonnie Greenwell has specialized in mentoring people going through transformative experiences relating to spiritual awakening and the kundalini process. Among many hats, Bonnie founded and directed the Kundalini Research Network, established the Shanti River Center and has authored several key books on awakening.
We discuss her latest book When Spirit Leaps: Navigating The Process Of Spiritual Awakening.
We cover:
* What is kundalini?
* What is non-dualism?
* How do we awaken?
* Major common obstacles to transformation
* What does liberation look like?
You can find out more at http://www.awakeningguide.com/
The ten thousand things…..Rupert Spira
by wsmystic in Consciousness Tags: Rupert Spira
Ayurveda for Perfect Heath, Yoga for Enlightenment, Consciousness & Fundament…
by wsmystic in Ayurveda, Consciousness, Enlightenment, Yoga Tags: Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra in conversation with Eddie Stern
Susanne Marie "Living Beyond Unity" Interview by Renate McNay
by wsmystic in Consciousness, I AM, Spirituality, spirituality Q & A, Video/Audio Interview Tags: Conscious TV
Susanne Marie is a Mystic, spiritual Mentor and Guide and currently writing her first book about her journey to Awakening.
In this interview she talks about the 3 different major awakening she had.
1. Emptiness of Mind…Mind waking up to itself
2. Unity Consciousness…the Heart understood the truth of form, the form itself is divine and I AM THAT not just I AM
9 years of integration and embodiment followed when a realisation happened she wasn't anticipating…
3. Her Body released itself of identity, she was left with NO SELF
The Body contains identity within its own structure, the sense of ME which is needed to help it function. When the ME fell away within the body nothing was ever the same. There is no landing place anymore. Self reflection came to a permanent End. There is only pure experience only NOW. She says: "Go directly to the experience and feeling of what is arising, drop deeper into the vastness of your Being, rest there, no need to interpret, let go without knowing."
Consciousness & Technology ~ Eckhart Tolle
by wsmystic in Consciousness, Technology Tags: Eckhart Tolle
How can we use technology as a tool to advance humanity and consciousness?
Technology is neutral and can be used to clutter the mind or to encourage spaciousness. Eckhart suggests being very conscious about your use of technology and maintaining periods of time that are technology-free.
Does the Brain Produce the Mind? ~ Rupert Spira
A metaphor is used to illustrate the Consciousness-only model to a man who thinks the brain causes thoughts.
How to be Consciously Aware | Deepak Chopra
by wsmystic in Awareness, Consciousness, Mind/Body medicine, New Age, wisdom Tags: Deepak Chopra
Author and physician Deepak Chopra delivers a powerful existential speech that will leave you amazed.
THE SPELL OF THE MOMENT – Frank Wanderer
by wsmystic in Consciousness, Spirituality Tags: Frank M Wanderer
It has happened to all of us that we came under the spell of a moment some time during our life. The common feature of these moments is the mind stops working, the reckless stream of thoughts is suspended. Ego disappears, telling personal history stops, and the line of our accustomed identity is broken. We are awake, only the present moment exists for us. Our soul is permeated by the quiet of the Consciousness and the Joy of the Existence…..


text:
Q: Diff between exporting function as const and class method Whats the diff between these two approaches of exporting and in which situations we go for exporting class and exporting function as const ? Which is ES6+ compatible?

// approach1.js
class Sample1 {
  hello(visitorName) {
    return `hello ${visitorName}`;
  }
}

module.exports = Sample1;

And

// approach2.js
const hello = (visitorName) => {
  return `hello ${visitorName}`;
};
module.exports = hello;

Test Class

// test.js
const Sample1 = require('./approach1');
const sample2 = require('./approach2');

async function start() {
  const returnValueForApproach1 = (new Sample1()).hello('Name');
  console.log(returnValueForApproach1);

  const returnValueForApproach2 = sample2('Name');
  console.log(returnValueForApproach2);
}
start();

Output:
hello Name
hello Name

A: You generally want to use a class when data gets stored on the instance - that is, when you need to refer to this in at least one of the methods. For example:

class Sample1 {
  constructor(name) {
    this.visitorName = name;
  }
  hello() {
    return `hello ${this.visitorName}`;
  }
}

const s = new Sample1('foobar');
// ... followed by some code, then
console.log(s.hello());

If you don't ever store data on the instance, using a class doesn't make a whole lot of sense, since it adds a bit of extra and somewhat confusing overhead without much reason. JavaScript isn't Java - don't feel like you have to tie everything to a class.
If you just have a single function, like in your example, then your second example of
const hello = (visitorName) => {
  `hello ${visitorName}`;
};
module.exports = hello;

makes the most sense by far; just declare and export the function.
If you had a collection of functions not related to instance data, you could export an object with those functions, eg:
module.exports = {
  fn1() {
    // code
  },
  fn2() {
  }
};

All of the code in the question and this answer uses ES6 syntax, so I suppose it's "ES6 compatible".

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Q: I grew a loofah plant in my garden this year. Before the first frost I picked them, all are a good size and they are still green. Should I let them turn brown before I attempt to peel them?
A: Loofa /luffa is a member of the gourd family, most often Luffa aegyptiaca, but others, such as L. cylindric, are also grown.
Although the young gourds, flowers and leaves are edible, most gardeners grow loofa for the sturdy interior structure that is cleaned, dried and used for scrubbing —for both household cleaning and bathing.
The gourds are best harvested when dark yellow or brown but definitely no later than immediately after the first frost.
Mature gourds are lightweight. If they are not dry, allow them to dry out before attempting to process. If the gourds are dry, strike them against a hard surface to crack the skin and loosen the seeds. You can also slightly crush the gourds to loosen the skin, useful on immature green gourds.
Cut off the bottom of the gourd and remove as many seeds as possible by shaking them out. If the skin is still on the gourd, find loose spots and peel upward to remove as much skin as possible. Then use a sprayer attached to a hose to remove the sap and loosen remaining seeds.
Alternatively, the gourds can be washed in soapy water and rinsed, again using a hose sprayer. If the remaining interior of the gourds is dark, they can be soaked for a short time in a bleach/water mixture, at a ratio of one cup bleach to three- to five-gallons water. Again, spray rinse the gourds after soaking.
Allow the now clean gourds to dry completely, preferably in the sun, rotating to dry all sides, before storing. Any remaining moisture can allow the gourds to develop molds, particularly mildew.
Growing loofa is relatively easy. The vines need full sun and a 5- to 6-foot trellis. The gourds grow from 4 inches to about 2 ½ and are about 4 to 7 inches around. The dark green gourds ripen in summer and can be left on the vine until the skins wrinkle.
Young gourds, picked at a length of 4 to 6 inches long, can be used in a stir fry, saute or cooked with meat or tofu. Use like a zucchini in cooking or cut and use in a salad.
Now that you have moved your plants indoors, they need a bit of special care. As I mentioned in previous columns, indoor air is usually very dry in the winter, mostly because of our indoor heating. Plants are used to humidity and will often drop most or all of their leaves as they adjust to the indoors. So, consider finding a way to increase the humidity around your plants. Spray bottles, water and gravel filled trays under plants, even a humidifier—use something to raise the humidity.
Your plants will also most likely be getting less light unless you are fortunate to have a sun room, plenty of south facing windows or a greenhouse. If not, you can cut back on watering, trim plants back and move them to a cooler, darker area to encourage dormancy.
Then there are the leaves. Rake them, blow them, mulch them but don't throw them out in the trash—leaf collection is okay but not plastic bags in the landfill. When most of the leaves have fallen, then clean out the house gutters and downspouts. Clogged gutters can cause plenty of damage as they dam up water that overflows or worse, freezes in the gutters.
Move your snow and ice tools and materials close to where you need them. While we hope to avoid snow for a few more weeks, freezing rain, sleet or even just leftover rain puddles can make walkways, steps, driveways and more icy.
Now is a good time to amend your soil, preferably after taking a soil test to see what you need. Add a layer of compost or manure on your beds. It will age and decompose over the winter and be ready to till in when you work the ground next spring. Remember that fresh manure is much too strong to add to beds in the spring; it will burn your plants.
While you may still need your hoses to water newly planted plants, shrubs, trees, lawns and sod, when the ground freezes remember to detach your hoses, drain them and store them. If you don't have freeze proof faucets outside, shut off the water inside and drain the pipes.
Clean and store your hummingbird feeders—the hummers should be long gone by now. Clean your other feeders, stock up on seeds and suet, consider installing a birdbath heater to keep fresh water available—especially when the weather is cold and there is no snow cover. Roosting boxes can provide nighttime protection. Several sources suggest cleaning out birdhouses and adding fresh dried grass or other nest materials to keep the birds warm. One even suggested temporarily blocking the air vents until spring as it will block breezes and it is unlikely that the houses will overheat during the winter months.
Add pumpkins, gourds, straw or corn to seasonal displays.
Protect plants from frost for longer color.
Clean, check, repair decorations before installing, discarding damaged ones.
Clear off mushy foliage after frosts. Remove spent annual and vegetable plants from planters and beds.
Keep paths clear of dead plants and leaves.
Dig and store tender summer bulbs as the foliage is killed off by cold weather or frosts.
Cut back peony greens to about three to four inches tall.
If you are purchasing a live potted or burlapped Christmas tree, find an appropriate planting spot, dig it out and store the soil, covered or in a container in the garage.
Rake, blow or mulch fallen leaves on the lawn. Matted leaves encourage mold problems and can keep water from reaching the soil.
Bring in easily moveable pots and lawn decorations or wrap large statuary to avoid winter damage.
Stop pruning. Mark off beds, new plantings, plants that are late to break dormancy in the spring and delicate plants.
Stay off them when decorating or dealing with snow removal.
Store amaryllis bulb in a cool dry area until they resprout in about 8 to 10 weeks.
Remove spent plants from vegetable gardens and compost healthy ones. Destroy or trash diseased or infested plants.
Water new plantings and containers regularly, anytime we experience a week with less than an inch of rain.
Clean up spilled seed and empty hulls. Dump, scrub and refill birdbaths at least once a week.
Maintain summer/fall equipment and store as you finish with it. Sharpen blades, get fresh gas, check and/or replace oil.
Check winter equipment and replace or repair as needed.
Check wiring before installing seasonal light displays.
Keep everyone, especially small children and pets, away from any area that is being mowed.
Avoid tick and mosquito bites: Use an insect repellent containing Deet on the skin.


text:
Home / FOOTBALL / AFCON 2019: Leon Balogun Replies Critics, "I'm only human"
AFCON 2019: Leon Balogun Replies Critics, "I'm only human"
SD Reporter July 5, 2019	FOOTBALL, Slides, TOP STORY Leave a comment 157 Views
The Nigeria international and Brighton & Hove Albion defender has asked critics and haters alike to shove their criticisms of him down any nearby trash-bin as no human is 'perfect'.
The former Hamburg defender was at the centre of some harsh words and cruel insults from the Super Eagles fans, after their darling team lost unexpectedly on Sunday to Madagascar, a team ranked some 80 places below the former African champions
The 2-0 loss means Nigeria surrenders top spot in the group to the AFCON debutants.
Fans held Leon Balogun as the scape-goat after he misjudged a John Ogu pass, allowing an opposing attacker to steal the ball from his feet and grab the game's opening goal. That costly error saw the Gernot Rohr-led side trailing inside the opening 13 minutes against a team ranked 108 by FIFA.
Unsurprisingly, disappointed fans went for the jugular of the ex-Werder Bremen strongman, blaming him for committing "school boy errors" and labeling him the "worst defender in the world".
But the 31 year old has shaken of the effects of the humiliating loss, asking his critics to do the same. "You can love me or leave me, but I'm only human and I make mistakes. Try not to hold that against me, tho", the defender tweeted from his official twitter page.
"I accept full responsibility for my actions, so if y'all expect me to be perfect, I apologize for being human. No mistakes too great to recover", Balogun said.
Balogun has been one of Nigeria's most reliable defenders since stepping into the large-size shoes left behind by former Super Eagles captain, Joseph Yobo. He has notably formed a seemingly impenetrable "Oyibo Wall" with teammate Troost Ekong and only recently starred alongside Omeruo, at the heart of the defence in a crucial 1-0 win over Guinea, thereby helping Nigeria to be the first team to book her place in the knock-out stage of the AFCON.
However, it appears like his past performances for the country have not been so easily forgotten with a fan replying Balogun that "your sin has been forgotten, go and sin no more."
The Super Eagles are expecting the return of centre-half Troost Ekong from injury to shore up Gernot Rohr's defensive options for the crucial game against Cameroon in the next round of the championships.
Previous Igali Reflects On 'Better' 3rd Gov. Dickson Wrestling Classics
Next WINNING THE AFCON WILL BE AN HIGHLIGHT IN MY CAREER — TROOST EKONG

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Cranberry & pistachio Pavlova. – The Regal Shortbread Co.
Beautiful cranberries & pistachio Pavlova, topped with whipped cream and as many raspberries, strawberries and blueberries as could fit! And all of this, just in time for Christmas! We sell by the slice at markets, and you can order an entire naked pav (no toppings) for you and your family for Christmas day!


In 2011 David received his BA (Honours) in archaeology for his research into the modification and reuse of Angkor Wat, and was awarded the Maureen A Byrne memorial prize for the best Honours thesis. He is currently completing his Ph.D. on an Australian government scholarship and is investigating the decline of Angkor (14th-18th C) through material culture, modelling its transformation from an imperial capital into a handful of scattered villages. David lives in Siem Reap, Cambodia, is fully immersed in the local culture, and is the interface for intrepid travellers who want to venture into the enigma that is Angkor.


text:
CNN Site Map for Section Living (Galleries) for April - 2012
2012-04-30In February, more than 35,000 people attended the 2nd Annual Comic Con India in New Delhi. Comic book enthusiasts, families and visitors were treated to new comic books (from mythology to horror) workshops, panels, cosplay (or costume play), speakers and
2012-04-26Once you make your own soft pretzels for the first time, you'll be wanting to make them all the time. After you master the steps, it won't ever seem complicated again.
2012-04-19Janie Lambert met her husband-to-be in 1966. They went to his senior prom together, left, in 1968 and married in 1970. "Here is to 40 more years!" she said. "Sometimes puppy love is the real thing."
2012-04-18Hotel Costa Verde. La puerta de emergencia de este 727 dirige hacia un relajante almuerzo en una terraza construida sobre el ala derecha del avión.
2012-04-17Inez Boissevain is one of the women detailed within "Secret Heroes" as the "American Joan of Arc." Boissevain was a suffragist, labor lawyer, WWI correspondent and public speaker.
2012-04-17I'm Your Present Etsy store owner Kelly Eident creates her sheer-top outfits with oversized shirts from thrift stores. She says she loves incorporating cats, especially tigers, into her clothing. "Animal prints like leopard print are always in s
2012-04-17Rusty Bowers, the owner of Pine Street Market in Avondale Estates, Georgia, gets weekly deliveries of Berkshire pork from rancher Tommy Searcy at Gum Creek Farms. Bowers buys whole pigs which are delivered as primal cuts.
2012-04-09Topps' "Garbage Pail Kids" sticker trading cards sought to parody the "saccharine cuddliness" of the Cabbage Patch dolls with something grotesque yet endearing, says cartoonist Art Spiegelman, who worked on the series. Click throu
2012-04-08Pope Benedict XVI delivers his "Urbi et Orbi" message and blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the end of the Easter Mass on Sunday in Vatican City.
2012-04-07A 20th century layout of the ideally beautiful face, 1933: "The young looking face ... that's the face with the larger eyes relative to the frame, that's the babyish look -- people like to see that," said Sybil Geldart, associate profe
2012-04-06Harada Mariru, on the cover of the book "Otaku Spaces," is a "manga sommelier," who won more than 13,000 manga, 1000 limited-edition anime DVDs and 7000 video games.
2012-04-03Being a major league athlete -- even a superstar major league athlete -- is no guarantee of success at major league team ownership. As one of the new owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers, though, basketball great Magic Johnson is going to give it a shot. Her
2012-04-03Designer Nanette Lepore lit up the runway with her vivid collection for spring and summer 2012. Perennial spring pastels were paired well with bright 'hyper-Popsicle' tones.


Sujaya has been bristling that they planned his marathon run in Bangalore. She even sent a letter of protest to The Times of India.
She is away shopping with Yashas and I am sitting here learning GoLive with the television on before me. She would be happy with what they announced just now: The kid won't run here. The police commissioner said in halting broken Kannada that there is a potential danger to the boy's health and much controversy, so they'll not permit it.
So the coach had the boy run some distance in a park full of spectators. Little Budhdhia runs bobbing his head, swaying it sideways with each step. He has a quick step and the appealing bounce of a small boy. The spectators and the many photographers crouching by the bushes looked silly. I felt the pleasure that comes when one sees a kid surpassing his age and, noticing the pleasure, felt confused.
I don't know whether it is right that he should run and probably become a great star; or whether he should not run and hence avoid potential risk to his health. This I know: we shouldn't make him run for our pleasure.


text:
/**
 * @file
 * @brief IronBee++ --- Memory Pool
 *
 * This file defines MemoryPool, a wrapper for ib_mpool_t.
 *
 * @author Christopher Alfeld <calfeld@qualys.com>
 */

#ifndef __IBPP__MEMORY_POOL__
#define __IBPP__MEMORY_POOL__

#include <ironbeepp/abi_compatibility.hpp>
#include <ironbeepp/common_semantics.hpp>

#include <boost/function.hpp>
#ifdef __clang__
#pragma clang diagnostic push
#pragma clang diagnostic ignored "-Wdelete-non-virtual-dtor"
#endif
#include <boost/utility.hpp>
#ifdef __clang__
#pragma clang diagnostic pop
#endif

#include <ostream>

// IronBee C
typedef struct ib_mpool_t ib_mpool_t;

namespace IronBee {

/**
 * Const Memory Pool; equivalent to a const pointer to ib_mpool_t.
 *
 * Provides operators ==, !=, <, >, <=, >= and evaluation as a boolean for
 * singularity via CommonSemantics.
 *
 * See MemoryPool for discussion of memory pools.
 *
 * @sa MemoryPool
 * @sa ironbeepp
 * @sa ib_bytestr_t
 * @nosubgrouping
 **/
class ConstMemoryPool :
    public CommonSemantics<ConstMemoryPool>
{
public:
    //! C Type.
    typedef const ib_mpool_t* ib_type;

    /**
     * Construct singular ConstMemoryPool.
     *
     * All behavior of a singular ConstMemoryPool is undefined except for
     * assignment, copying, comparison, and evaluate-as-bool.
     **/
    ConstMemoryPool();

    /**
     * The name of the memory pool.
     *
     * @returns Name or NULL if no name is set.
     **/
    const char* name() const;

    /**
     * @name C Interoperability
     * Methods to access underlying C types.
     **/
    ///@{

    //! Non-const ib_mpool_t accessor.
    // Intentionally inlined.
    const ib_mpool_t* ib() const
    {
        return m_ib;
    }

    //! Construct MemoryPools from ib_mpool_t.
    explicit
    ConstMemoryPool(const ib_mpool_t* ib_mpool);

    ///@}

private:
    const ib_mpool_t* m_ib;
};

/**
 * Memory pool; equivalent to ib_mpool_t.
 *
 * Memory Pools can be treated as ConstMemoryPools.  See @ref ironbeepp for
 * details on IronBee++ object semantics.
 *
 * IronBee makes frequent use of memory pools to manage memory and object
 * lifetime.  The engine, each transaction, context, etc. all have associated
 * memory pools that are used to allocate memory for objects whose lifetime
 * is a subset of the memory pool holder.  This class represents such a
 * memory pool and provides low level routines.
 *
 * As per the IronBee++ reference semantics, an object of this class is best
 * viewed as a reference to a MemoryPool, i.e., as equivalent to
 * @c ib_mpool_t* rather than ib_mpool_t.  As such, they can not be directly
 * created.  Similarly, destroying one does not destroy the underlying
 * memory pool.  There are static create() methods available to create new
 * memory pools and a destroy() method to destroy them.
 *
 * There is no requirement that you use MemoryPool to allocate memory for
 * your own C++ objects.  And doing so has risks as the (C) memory pool
 * implementation is not aware of destructors and will not call them on
 * pool destruction.
 *
 * If your goal is to do cleanup tasks when a memory pool is destroyed, use
 * register_cleanup().
 *
 * Unfortunately, the semantics of IronBee memory pools and the stringent
 * requirements on standard allocators makes it impossible to write a
 * conforming standard allocator based on MemoryPool.
 *
 * If you want RAII semantics for creating memory pools, see ScopedMemoryPool.
 *
 * @sa ironbeepp
 * @sa ib_mpool_t
 * @sa ConstMemoryPool
 * @nosubgrouping
 **/
class MemoryPool :
    public ConstMemoryPool // Slicing is intentional; see apidoc.hpp
{
public:
    //! C Type.
    typedef ib_mpool_t* ib_type;

    /**
     * Remove the constness of a ConstMemoryPool.
     *
     * @warning This is as dangerous as a @c const_cast, use carefully.
     *
     * @param[in] const_pool ConstMemoryPool to remove const from.
     * @returns MemoryPool pointing to same underlying memory pool as
     *          @a const_pool.
     **/
    static MemoryPool remove_const(const ConstMemoryPool& const_pool);

    /**
     * Construct singular MemoryPool.
     *
     * All behavior of a singular MemoryPool is undefined except for
     * assignment, copying, comparison, and evaluate-as-bool.
     **/
    MemoryPool();

    /**
     * @name Creation
     * Routines for creating new memory pools.
     *
     * These routines create a new memory pool.  The pool must be explicitly
     * destroyed via destroy().
     *
     * For RAII semantics, see ScopedMemoryPool.
     **/
    //@{

    /**
     * Create MemoryPool with default settings.
     *
     * Creates a memory pool with name "MemoryPool", no parent, and the
     * default page size.
     *
     * @returns Memory pool.
     * @throw Appropriate IronBee++ exception on failure.
     **/
    static MemoryPool create();

    /**
     * Create MemoryPool.
     *
     * @param[in] name Name of pool; used for debugging.
     * @returns Memory pool.
     * @throw Appropriate IronBee++ exception on failure.
     **/
    static MemoryPool create(
        const char* name
    );

    /**
     * Create MemoryPool with parent.
     *
     * The MemoryPool will be destroyed when the parent is destroyed.
     *
     * @sa create_subpool()
     *
     * @param[in] name Name of pool; used for debugging.
     * @param[in] parent Parent memory pool.
     * @returns Memory pool.
     * @throw Appropriate IronBee++ exception on failure.
     **/
    static MemoryPool create(
        const char* name,
        MemoryPool  parent
    );

    /**
     * Create a subpool that will be destroyed when this is destroyed.
     *
     * Name is "SubPool" and page size is default.
     *
     * @returns Memory pool.
     * @throw Appropriate IronBee++ exception on failure.
     **/
    MemoryPool create_subpool() const;

    /**
     * Create a subpool that will be destroyed when this is destroyed.
     *
     * @param[in] subpool_name Name of pool; used for debugging.
     * @returns Memory pool.
     * @throw Appropriate IronBee++ exception on failure.
     **/
    MemoryPool create_subpool(
        const char* subpool_name
    ) const;
    //@}

    /**
     * @name Allocation
     * Routines to allocate memory.
     **/
    //@{

    /**
     * Allocate sufficient memory for a @a number @a Ts
     *
     * Note: This does not construct any Ts, simply allocates memory.  You
     * will need to use placement new to construct the T.
     *
     * @tparam T Type to allocate memory for.
     * @param[in] number Number of Ts.
     * @returns Pointer to allocated memory.
     * @throw ealloc on failure to allocate.
     **/
    template <typename T>
    T* allocate(size_t number = 1) const;

    /**
     * Allocate @a size bytes of memory.
     *
     * @param[in] size Number of bytes to allocate.
     * @returns Pointer to allocated memory.
     * @throw ealloc on failure to allocate.
     **/
    void* alloc(size_t size) const;

    //@}

    /**
     * Deallocate all memory associated with this pool and all child pools.
     **/
    void clear() const;

    /**
     * Destroy this pool and all child pools.
     **/
    void destroy() const;

    //! Type of a cleanup handler.
    typedef boost::function<void()> cleanup_t;

    /**
     * Register @a f to be called when the pool is destroyed.
     *
     * @param[in] f Function to call on destruction.
     **/
    void register_cleanup(cleanup_t f) const;

    /**
     * @name C Interoperability
     * Methods to access underlying C types.
     **/
    ///@{

    //! Non-const ib_mpool_t accessor.
    // Intentionally inlined.
    ib_mpool_t* ib() const
    {
        return m_ib;
    }

    //! Construct MemoryPools from ib_mpool_t.
    explicit
    MemoryPool(ib_mpool_t* ib_mpool);

    ///@}

private:
    ib_mpool_t* m_ib;
};

/**
 * Enables RAII semantics for MemoryPool.
 *
 * This non-copyable class creates a new MemoryPool on construction and
 * destroys it on destruction.
 *
 * ScopedMemoryPools can not have parents as their destruction is exactly
 * bound to the object destruction.
 *
 * A ScopedMemoryPool can be used anywhere a MemoryPool can be.
 **/
class ScopedMemoryPool :
    boost::noncopyable
{
public:
    /**
     * Constructs memory pool with name "ScopedMemoryPool" and default page
     * size.
     *
     * @throw ealloc on failure.
     **/
    ScopedMemoryPool();

    /**
     * Construct memory pool.
     *
     * @param[in] name Name of pool; used for debugging.
     * @throw Appropriate IronBee++ exception on failure.
     **/
    explicit
    ScopedMemoryPool(const char* name);

    /**
     * Destroy associated pool.
     **/
    ~ScopedMemoryPool();

    //! Implicit conversion to MemoryPool.
    // Intentionally inlined.
    operator MemoryPool() const
    {
        return m_pool;
    }

private:
    MemoryPool m_pool;
};

//! Ostream output for MemoryPool.
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& o, const ConstMemoryPool& pool);

// Template Definition
template <typename T>
T* MemoryPool::allocate(size_t number) const
{
    return static_cast<T*>(alloc(number * sizeof(T)));
}

};

#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Minorities In The Trucking Industry
The trucking industry has always been associated with white middle-aged man for a reason. And minorities being underrepresented in the trucking business is a reality. Nonetheless, in the last few years, the industry has taken steps toward a more diverse crew.
The American Trucking Associations (ATA) said that there are approximately 3.5 million truck drivers in the country. And, about 38% belong to a minority group. However, women only represent 8% of all truckers in the US.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the biggest portion of truck drivers is white people between the ages of 45 and 64. They are followed (but not closely) by Hispanic drivers. Then come black drivers and, the least represented ethnic group, Asian truckers.
It is good to know that diversity is looking up and that trucking companies are looking to get more women and minorities hired. But there is still a long way to way.
Trucking is a good industry to look into if you want an assured way to get pretty-constant work and settle on middle-class. The pay is good and there is no shortness of jobs available out there. Trucking helps the country move and function, after all.
Besides, as a trucker, you have plenty of room to grow. You can even become your own boss or start your own trucking company. This is an advantage that not many careers have.
Most of these minority groups have felt discrimination at one point or another in their trucking careers. Luckily, they have support from many platforms like National Minority Trucking Association. And, some of them have even specific focus on each individual group needs.
LGBT Truckers, for instance, is trying to bring awareness about their community in the trucking business. They have also released a pride movement by wrapping or decorating trucks with the rainbow flag or any LBGT motive.
It might not be an always-easy road, but some companies like Uber Freight are trying to make unheard voices be heard. Last summer, the company brought to their San Francisco Headquarters, six LGBTQ truckers. There, they got the chance to speak on a panel about their experiences on the road.
Uber Freight also hosted this summer the Houston Pride Panel, where many other truckers from the LGBTQ community got to share their own stories too.
Ellie O'Daire, who drives for Jim Palmer Trucking, is a transgender woman in the trucking industry. She said that she got into driving trucks thanks to a video game that simulated the trucker experience. She also noted that things have changed so much in the industry since she began working.
Another big issue for women is safety. Angela Thornton, an African-American woman who is currently training with Wilson Logistics, admitted that she feels the industry is starting to become more flexible and welcoming.
But Thornton also mentioned that there are many concerns related to safety issues. "Especially if you're a solo female driver," she said.
Since truckers usually find themselves working and living in their truck while working long-haul, there aren't many places where they can park or stop to rest, go to the bathroom or buy food. This means that semi drivers are forced to stay at resting areas every night.
So, as part of the movement for women's safety in trucking, several organizations are working on improving the conditions of the truck stops. They fight to get them well-light, with proper fencing and as safe as possible. They also ask for everyone who feels a stop is unsafe to report it immediately.
The main association out there to represent and fight for the rights of female truck drivers is Women in Trucking. President and CEO Ellen Voie knows her mission very well. She has been advocating for the inclusion of women in the business for nearly a decade.
Among the many projects Voie has in her hands, she is particularly proud of the annual Accelarate! Conference and Expo. These events are very useful to network and meet fellow women drivers. And they also allow companies to receive special merit awards for their inclusion of women in their crews and their fight for diversity in all areas.
Sandra Alzate, another woman in that 8% that drives trucks for a living, has also noticed the discrimination. She confessed that, more often than not, when she makes a bid for a job, she usually sees it going to a man.
"I just feel they think it's more of a male thing, and they don't really take my bidding seriously," Alzate said. "It's tough, but you go on to the next job."
At the same time, African-American truckers have also created their own platform through social media. Michael Ware is the founder of the Facebook Group Black Trucker United.
He says the group has broken the "lone wolf" mentality that many black men had on the road. He has made friends through it and they all help each other in times of need.
For him, everything started when he got in touch with a trucking company in Arkansas. The owner needed someone to go from there to California and Ware thought he would be a good fit for the route. He agreed to meet with the owner and drove all the way there for the meeting.
When Ware arrived at the business headquarters, he walked into the offices and gave his name. Then, a man told him the owner wasn't there and he didn't know anything about the meeting.
After driving back home, Ware looked up the company online and found out the man was actually the owner, with whom he had talked previously on the phone.
Ware didn't do anything about it and just moved on to the next job. However, the event inspired him to start the Facebook group, which he believes was necessary and is having a huge success.
That was not the only time Ware run into racism. He said there had been times when he spent hours talking to other white drivers over the radio and then when he saw them at a truck stop, they pretended not to know him.
Meanwhile, Anthony Johnson, who recently joined Black Truckers United, also feels that white drivers usually have more connections and, therefore, more job opportunities.
"They get to keep moving in the winter," he said. "If you're not in that clique, you're really going to have to hustle just to get a load."
Asian truckers still represent the smallest minority in the trucking industry. Bill Aboudi, who is from Palestinian origins, has been in the business for several decades. He is the president of AB Trucking in Oakland, and he has also experienced racism for his ethnicity and beliefs.
"You're going to run into roadblocks from customers who don't want to deal with you because you're a certain ethnicity or a certain religion," Aboudi says. "Most of the customers don't really care. They want you to be professional. But there are a few. It's a personal relationship, and if you don't have that—if you're not white—you're not going to get the account. I'm afraid some of that's still out there."
He revendicates the role of the truck driver, which has been long underestimated.
"Most people think of the trucking industry as the dumbest people out there," he said. "The hick that comes from the farm."
But being a trucker requires way more than driving. And that is an important part to understand for all truckers out there.
The learning process can also be tougher for minorities. Like for many Hispanic drivers, for example, who are not fluent in English. They might not have trouble in some areas, like California, and just get by with Spanish. But English knowledge might come in handy if they wish to work in other parts of the country.
Kevin Reid, who created the NMTA, did it in part to provide learning help to drivers of color. At the organization, they can be taught how to manage finances, develop proper business plans or create future plans.
The organization also takes on the mission to show people the other sides of trucking: it is not all driving! You can find career opportunities in management or dispatching loads.
While the trucking industry is slowly moving forward with the help of many companies to get diversification, there is still a long road ahead. But everybody agrees that one of the most important things is to bring awareness.
What do you think about minorities in the trucking industry? Have you ever experienced any kind of discrimination while on the road? Let your fellow truckers know in the comments!
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Negative pressure pulmonary edema (NPPE) following the use of the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) is an uncommon and under-reported event. We present a case of a 58-year-old male, who developed NPPE following LMA use. After biting vigorously on his LMA, the patient developed stridor upon emergence, with concurrent appearance of blood-tinged, frothy sputum and pulmonary edema. He subsequently required three days of mechanical ventilation. After discontinuation of mechanical ventilation the patient continued to require additional pulmonary support using continuous positive airway pressure, with a full facemask, to correct the persistent hypoxemia. His roentgenographic findings demonstrated an accelerated improvement with judicious administration of intravenous furosemide.
Background: Dexmedetomidine is an α2-receptor agonist used for sedation in the intensive care unit (ICU). It is currently FDA indicated for short-term use (i.e., less than 24 h). Objectives: To compare the safety and efficacy of dexmedetomidine if given long- term (>24 h) to short-term infusion (up to 24 h) for mechanically ventilated critically ill patients. Materials and Methods: The medical records of 73 patients were evaluated. Primary outcomes were significant changes in blood pressure or heart rate. Secondary outcomes included hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS), ventilator time, rate of reintubation, and rate of death. Statistical Analysis: Pair wise comparisons were based on independent student t-test for continuous data and Chi-square test for categorical data. Statistical difference was defined as P value < 0.05. Results: Of the patients evaluated, 50 received dexmedetomidine for more than 24 h and 23 patients received this agent for 24 h. Patients were similar at baseline except for age. Patients who received dexmedetomidine for more than 24 h were similar to the short-infusion arm in terms of the rate of bradycardia (8.6% vs10%; P = 0.22), hypotension episodes (30.4% vs 28%; P= 0.2), requirement of treatment for those episodes (37% vs 42%; P= 0.43), hospital LOS (30 days vs 38 days; P = 0.45), ICU LOS (14 days vs 19 days; P = 0.44), ventilation days (8 days vs 14 days; P =0.58), rate of reintubation (4% vs 10%; P = 0.79) and mortality (P = 0.2). Conclusion: Long-term dexmedetomidine infusion (> 24 h) had similar safety and clinical outcomes in patients receiving this agent for short-term. Due to the retrospective nature of our investigation, more well-designed studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Fournier's gangrene (FG) is a life-threatening, rapidly progressive necrotizing infection. If not recognized and treated early, it is associated with high morbidity and mortality. The classic physical exam findings of crepitus are seen in approximately two-thirds of patients during the early stages of FG. Focused bedside sonography performed in cases of suspected gangrene represents an excellent adjunct in confirming the presence of subcutaneous gas and other signs of necrotizing infection. We present an illustrative case of a patient with FG who was evaluated with focused bedside ultrasonography.


text:
Laver's sage advice to mercurial, near impossible-to-coach Kyrgios
By Darren Walton
September 4, 2019 — 7.26am
Rod Laver says Nick Kyrgios needs to stop trying to be an entertainer and take a discipline pill in order to maximise his undoubted potential.
Kyrgios admitted before departing the US Open this week that he had "no idea" how to make good on his extraordinary promise after now going five years since reaching a grand slam quarter-final.
But Laver, in New York to mark the 50th anniversary of his second calendar-year grand slam sweep, believes the answer is "obvious" – knuckle down and ditch the on-court theatrics.
"I don't know if he's deliberately aiming for publicity or whether he's aiming at individual things that he wants to accomplish, but that's the one thing he lacks, is discipline," Laver said after being feted at a luncheon to commemorate the Australian winning of all four majors in 1969.
"And if he got some discipline, then most things come pretty simple.
"You don't interfere with your talent and that's what he's doing, is interfering with his own ability."
Flamboyant: Nick Kyrgios has the game, but not the temperament – at least not without discipline, says Rod Laver. Credit:Getty Images
Arguably tennis's greatest ever player, Laver said "you'd have to be superhuman" to take on the role of coaching Kyrgios.
But the 11-times major champion does see plenty of upside to Kyrgios's game – if only the mercurial star could earn to control his emotions.
"He's got probably the best serve in the game and so he knows how to win, but he has to apply himself and that's the one thing that's been a problem for him," Laver said.
"Tennis is a mental game in many ways and he's letting too many things get into the game of tennis."
Laver pointed to how Kyrgios lost the plot in Cincinnati last month after receiving a code violation for exceeding the shot-clock time limit between points.
Once something sets him off, he struggles to regain focus, Laver said.
"That is his downfall," he said.
"Then that clicks into something else.
"I've seen him play great matches. His last loss here, he behaved perfectly fine, but I listened to someone – I think it was McEnroe, who was saying 'you better watch out now because he's had a mis-hit, or he thinks he was challenging a call and that could stir him up.
"That's what John was saying. That's what does it.
"A lot of times that's bad news for someone like Nick, because he may replay the mess in that match somewhere and it will say what McEnroe has said and now he's angry at that and so he'll remember that until he goes on to court to another match."
Laver, though, doesn't believe Kyrgios needs a suspension to get his act together and expects the 24-year-old to again thrive at this month's Laver Cup in Geneva.
"He likes team competition and I think that that brings out the best in him," Laver said.
"A lot of times you could say: 'Well, how could you pick him when he gets angry?'
"But we know him as a different person. He gets into a team competition and you could see when he's sitting on the sideline as they do, Europe and the Rest of the World are there, and he's the one cheering all the team.
"So he's a huge asset to the person on the court and so it works both ways."


VideoBeaches along WA's southwest region remain closed after two surfers were attacked in separate incidents.
More details have emerged about a terrifying shark attack in WA's South West this morning.
Margaret River local Alejandro Travaglini was attacked about 8.20am at Cobblestones surf break near Gracetown.
Witness says the 37-year-old father-of-two fought off the shark before it returned and dragged him underwater.
Mr Travaglini punched the shark before body surfing his way back to shore.
Camera IconAlejandro Travaglini arrives at Royal Perth Hospital.Picture: Seven News.
Fellow surfer Adam Kennedy was in the water when the attack happened.
"This thing was a big shark and it wanted to eat him," he said.
"He was literally fighting for his life. He was yelling and punching and he was on the back of this thing. It went for him, three or four times."
Friends used the rope from the victim's board as a tourniquet and gave him first aid until emergency crews arrived from Margaret River within six minutes, according to a St John Ambulance spokesman.
Camera IconSurfer Adam Kennedy says the shark which attack Mr Travaglini was "a big one and it wanted to eat him".Picture: Seven News.
Mr Travaglini, originally from Argentina, thanked "all the legends who helped" him up the beach.
He was flown to Royal Perth Hospital where he remains in a stable condition this afternoon after undergoing surgery.
A second surfer was attacked this afternoon at Lefthanders surf break, about 2km south of where Mr Travaglini was bitten.
Large teeth marks in the second surfer's board show how lucky he was to escape with only minor injuries.
Earlier in the day, Surf photographer Peter Jovic told the ABC there were about five people in the water at the time of the first attack, which he said echoed pro surfer Mick Fanning's lucky escape at South Africa's Jeffreys Bay.
Camera IconMr Travaglini was airlifted to Perth his morning.
"If anyone is familiar with the Mick Fanning moment at Jeffreys Bay it was quite similar to that, where a shark pretty much popped up and knocked a surfer off his board.
"There was a lot more thrashing around after that, it was pretty hard to see what was going on.
A witness to the Gracetown shark attack spoke to ABC Breakfast about the incident. Credit: ABC Breakfast radio.
VideoA witness to the Gracetown shark attack spoke to ABC Breakfast about the incident. Credit: ABC Breakfast radio.
"Everyone's walking round like stunned mullets," Mr Jovic told the ABC.
It is understood the man has lived in Gracetown for some time, with one friend describing him as "an awesome guy".
Surf Life Saving WA had noted several sightings of sharks in the area, including a four-metre shark off Lefthanders, near where the attack happened, this morning.
The Westpac helicopter also spotted a whale carcass on the beach, south of Lefthanders surf break about 9.30am.
The Shark Smart website says the carcass could make nearby waters dangerous until it's removed.
"It is possible the decomposing carcass will continue to act as an attractant that could lead to sharks coming close in to shore along this stretch of coast," a statement said.
The Margaret River Pro was initially put on hold by the World Surf League but organisers decided to allow the competition to resume at 10.40am.
Surfing WA Event Director Justin Majeks this afternoon released a statement about this morning's attack.
"We are all devastated to hear the news this morning of the attack and even more so when we heard that the surfer is one of our valued work crew members here at the Margaret River Pro," he said.
Gracetown beaches, including North Point, Big Rock and Lefthanders, have been closed.
Opposition Leader Mike Nahan said the attack would make international news because of the Pro event.
He said the incident emphasised the need to do more, including using SMART drumlines, rather than the Labor government's subsidised shark deterrent devices.
"Sharks are still a threat to surfers and people in the ocean here," he told reporters.
Hawaiian surfing pro John John Florence had a close encounter with two sharks while surfing off Margaret River in the lead-up to the Margaret River pro this month.
Drone footage captured by the 25-year-old shows he and his brother Nathan had been surfing within two metres of the sharks.


I was in church the other Sunday and a friend of mine was telling her wonderful story of God's love, support and healing in her life at this time. What a great encouragement. How great is our God. What an amazing answer to prayer. What an amazing God we serve.
And then I was hit, smack between the eyes, completely out of the blue, by an entirely different series of thoughts. What if all of this is totally make believe? What if there is no God? What if we are all kidding ourselves? This could all be an elaborate farce that we are all buying into. It could all be explained away by coincidences, the power of positive thinking and the reasoning of science.
Suddenly I felt empty. I was alone in the universe. Life seemed meaningless.
And I was ashamed. What if anyone here knew what I was thinking? Here I was, encouraging others to move on in their faith journey, whilst being flooded with doubts I didn't know what to do with. I told myself not to panic, but my knees were shaking. I told myself not to let anything show, but all I wanted to do was run out of the church. I told myself it would pass as quickly as it came, but I couldn't imagine ever being able to believe again.
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit..
Secondly, a friend sought me out after the service to tell me what an incredible encouragement my writing had been to her. It had lifted her up in a difficult time and helped her to see God through it all. Ironically, her words did the same for me. She helped me to see God at work. Seeing God in her assured me that He is at work in all of us. That's how we know God is real. We see the incarnation of God on earth in others. We show God's love, we demonstrate God at work, we reflect God to the world around us.
Faith is not a one off decision, a single act of conversion. It's not as easy and straightforward (or static and 'in the past') as that. Faith is an ongoing series of daily decisions to trust. More than daily, even…in every moment, whatever comes our way, we have the choice to trust God or be cynical, to accept God or to reject Him, to believe God or to doubt Him, to embrace God or to push Him away, to experience God or to ignore Him.
Choosing to trust God with every breath we take. Whatever the circumstances, whatever the challenge, whatever the "rational explanation", whatever the outcome, whatever the doubt.
Nothing can separate me from God.


For the start of 2017, I wanted to visit somewhere warm and not too expensive. There are limited sunny destinations in February when you don't want to fly long-haul from the UK. The Canary Islands off the coast of north-west Africa are popular for just that reason, and after some research I discovered that Tenerife's Carnaval is the biggest in the world after Brazil.
I've never been a fan of resorts nor the idea of spending a week lying on a beach, so I found an apartment in a small village on the north of the island. I also hired a car for the very first time to get around and off the beaten track, mostly in the north away from the southern resorts.
It was an easy 3 hour flight from Birmingham to Tenerife South with Thomas Cook. We were two millennials with backpacks on a plane full of, shall we say, the older generation reading their free copies of The Times or Daily Mail. I did have some initial concerns that Tenerife might not be the right place for me, but that faded soon enough once we left all our flight companions behind. After picking up the hire car – and almost crashing 5 minutes later while merging onto the motorway (turns out that in Tenerife, you have to wait on the sliproad for a gap in traffic) – it took about an hour with only a few wrong turns to reach the airbnb apartment in Mesa Del Mar, a village in the north of the island. There were no hotels or other tourists in sight, and it had views across to Mount Teide and along the rocky coastline.
After a short wander round Tacoronte's streets we drove 15 minutes to La Laguna, a 15th century colonial town, for churros, a museum on Tenerife history and several churches.
La Orotava is another old town known as the gateway to Teide. I was looking forward to it but unfortunately it is also very much a tourist trap – nothing demonstrates this better than the Casas de los Balcones, touted as a museum but which is in essence a large souvenir shop. The traditional Canarian lunch here also wasn't great; on recommendation from the waiter I had fish stewed in tomato sauce, but the fish was so chewy I could barely swallow it.
After La Orotava was a windy 1 hour drive through mountain roads covered in cloud – nothing like testing out driving on the wrong side of the road like not being able to see more than a metre in front of you! After that things improved; the volcanic views at the top of the Mount Teide cable car are phenomenal – it's so high up that nothing grows. I've never been in a place that made me feel so much like I could be on another planet. Most tourists just go up the cable car and down again, but for something different book a night at the Altavista Refuge on top of the mountain. It's about an hour's walk from the cable car upper station (or 6-8 hours for the more committed hikers if you want to skip the cable car altogether). It has very limited facilities – bunk beds and a shared kitchen, so bring your own dinner.
It had snowed a few days before, closing the cable car – the day we went up was the first day it reopened, much to my relief.
Mount Teide is one of the world's few protected night skies. There's a planetarium you can drive to near to the lower cable car station, but if you're staying in the Altavista Refuge head outside (with several warm layers) to watch the sunset then stare up at the stars. You can see the light pollution glowing up from the other Canary Islands, but above your head it's just space in all its vastness.
The reason for staying overnight on top of Mount Teide comes the next morning: a 5am alarm followed by a 1.5 hour hike up to the top of the volcano, in time for spectacular sunrise views with the shadow of the volcano stretching out across the clouds and Atlantic.
Back at the bottom of the cable car, we passed by the first tourists arriving and picked up the car to drive fifty minutes west to Los Gigantes. This is the closest we got to the resorts of the south coast, but the enormous cliffs and a wide array of paella restaurants and ice cream stands make it worth a visit.
Then it was up into the Teno National Park, an altogether different landscape to everywhere else in Tenerife. You need to follow narrow, windy lanes through the mountains, occasionally navigating around coaches of daytrippers from the south. There was no parking left at Masca, a small village with cafes overlooking the green vistas, so apart from a few brief stops at the side of the road we continued on to Buenavista del Norte for tapas and cake. I suspect it might be better to visit earlier in the day; it was the middle of the afternoon by the time we drove through.
15 minutes further east was Garachico, one of my favourite places in Tenerife. It has a tiny castle (Castillo de San Miguel), some nice squares and amazing rockpools with walkways built between them.
As mentioned earlier, one of the best things about Tenerife at the end of February is Carnaval! They have the biggest festival in the world after Rio and there are events all over the island but especially in the two northern cities of Santa Cruz (the capital) and Puerto de la Cruz. This Tuesday was the main parade – and they weren't joking about it being huge, it went on for HOURS! Hundreds of people were dressed up in lavish costumes, parading alongside floats down the route between the fairground and the city centre.
One of the stranger Carnaval traditions takes places in Puerto de la Cruz – a giant, papier-mâché sardine is paraded through the streets during the day, then blown to pieces alongside fireworks at night.
There's a few other things to see here too while waiting for the evening show – Castillo de San Felipe (it used to keep out pirates, now it holds art exhibitions), strangler fig trees in city squares and beaches. Note that Loro Parque is also near to Puerto de la Cruz, but I am explicitly not recommending it for the same reasons you shouldn't give your money to SeaWorld – do the captive animals a favour and skip it.
Despite many discussions with friends on the merits or lack of when it comes to beaches (and my inability to understand the word 'relax'), I do occasionally like to sit down among the sand and sunshine with a book. Just north of Santa Cruz is Playa de las Teresitas, a nice stretch of yellow sand imported from the Sahara (all of Tenerife's natural beaches are black sand due to its volcanic landscape). If, like me, you get bored of the beach after a while there is a small town San Andrés within walking distance. Don't miss the collapsed castle / tower in the middle of a roundabout and take a walk along the seafront with ice cream to find famous faces painted on the rocks. It's also worth driving up to Mirador Las Teresitas at the top of the cliffs, where there is a collection of abandoned, heavily graffitied buildings and views along the coastline.
Before flying back to the UK there was a final stop in the fishing village of Los Abrigos right next to the airport. The weather was gorgeous and although it doesn't have a proper beach, there's a nice rocky bay to explore and plenty of restaurants along the seafront.
I wasn't sure if it would really be possible to escape the sunburnt Brits & big beach resorts in a place like Tenerife, but my pre-trip research paid off – although there were other tourists in quite a few of the places I visited, there were also plenty of locals and I heard Spanish being spoken more than I did English. It's cloudier in the north (there's a reason the vast majority of resorts are on the south coast), but we still had nice weather at around 20C most days.
Because Tenerife is so small it's very easy to base yourself in one place and travel all over the island from that location – there is a bus route around most of the island but hiring a car will make your travels much more flexible. Staying on top of a volcano for a night was easily the highlight – if you do nothing else, make an effort to get up Mount Teide for those sunset and sunrise views over the ocean.


I'd seen this quote around, but someone asked me about it on Twitter yesterday, which prompted me to write it up. Although it's quoted all over the internet, and in at least one book, as being the words of the Buddha, it's not a scriptural quotation, and is intead from Jack Kornfield's lovely book from 1994, Buddha's Little Instruction Book (page 85). It's a great book, and I'd highly recommend it. Some of the quotes are based on material from the suttas, but usually re-written, and most of the material seems to be Jack's own thoughts.
Jack may have modelled this saying on a passage in Danielle Marie's 1992 Straight From the Heart: Authors, Celebrities & Others Share Their Philosophies on Making a Difference in the World.
The similarity may be a coincidence, however.
Giveways that this is not a genuine quote from the scriptures? The whole thing is too neat compared to the rather repetitive language used in most of the Pali canon, the Buddha isn't recorded talked in terms of how fully people lived their lives, or how well they loved — these are rather contemporary idioms — and although the language of "letting go" is used in the canon, it's rather rare. When added to the two other, more modern expressions of "loving well" and "living fully," the whole suggests a contemporary and western rather than an ancient and Indian source.
so if i were to paraphrase this quote for an essay, who should i give credit/ cite to?
I think it should be Jack Kornfield, Camille.
I just used the "often attributed to" rick in a piece of writing, although I did mention that the quote in question certainly wasn't by the author it was attributed to. I'd have hoped that Wisdom would have pushed for a better citation in this case.