Alternative Culture MagazineCougar WebWorks Celebrating Nature, Culture, and Spirit
Alternative Culture Magazine

Celebrating Nature, Culture, and Spirit

latest features

Contemplative Photography:
Miksang Gallery | Blog

Two new videos:
Zen Dawn Meditation
Enchantrance Techno-Surf

Nepal 2008: Annapurna Circuit Trek, Himalayas | blog

Black Moon Culture: Children of the Machine

The Sphere: by Ross Bishop

Vipassana:
Notes from a 10-day silent meditation retreat
Achievement and Practice

Getting to 2012: Notes Toward the End of Time
Part 2: Vertical Time


Here in this body are the sacred rivers: here are the sun and moon as well as all the pilgrimage places. . . . I have not encountered another temple as blissful as my own body.
--Saraha

Patriots Question 9/11: 25 US Military Officers, 8 US State Dept. Vets, 7 Senior Federal Engineers and Scientists, 8 Senior Republican Appointees, 7 CIA Vets, 100s more Senior Military Intelligence Service, Law Enforcement and Government Officials, Engineers and Architects, Pilots and Aviation Professionals, and more...

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video trailer #2


Tri Hita Karana Doctrine

In accordance with Balinese Hindu philosophy, peace and tranquility are obtainable in our lives only when we respect and observe the three harmonious relationships known as the Tri Hita Karana Doctrine:

1. The Gods blessed life and created nature and all of its contents.

2. Nature offers sustenance to support the needs and activities of human beings.

3. Human beings have an obligation to establish a traditional village structure, to build temples in which to worship, to hold various ceremonies, to make daily offering, to preserve nature and to solve problems together.


Message from the Hopi People - People of Peace

We have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour. Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour and there are things to be considered.

Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in a good relation?
Where is your water?
Have you prepared your family?
Can you live from the Earth?

Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
This could be a good time!

There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold onto the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and they will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination.

The elders say we must let go of the shore, and push off into the river, keep our eyes open, and our head above the water. See who is in there with you and Celebrate.

At this time in history, take nothing personally. Least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over, Gather yourselves!

Banish the word ''struggle" from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that you do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. "We are the ones we've been waiting for..."

--The Elders, Hopi Nation, Oraibi, Arizona

Update (spring 2006) from Hopi


How to "Corrupt" the World

"The Creator wants us to drum. He wants us to corrupt the world with drum, dance and chants. After all, we have already corrupted the world with power and greed....which hasn't gotten us anywhere - now's the time to corrupt the world with drum, dance and chants."

--Babatunde Olatunji


A New Story

--from Niles Eldredge, Dominion

The People came from the earth and were linked through the recesses of time with all other creatures. They were kin of the bacteria, the microscopic ones, the fungi, the plants, and the other animals. And they were nearest to the Apes: the orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees.

The People, though, became self-aware and through time came to devise artifacts and customs to help them live. In time, they left their ancestral home and spread throughout the world. Everywhere they went they lived in and were dependent upon their natural surroundings, which they acknowledged openly.

Then the People came to control their own food supply. Everything changed. No longer at home in the local natural world, the People now lived in inner-directed settlements. They invented gods and declared dominion over all the natural world: the rivers and seas, the forests, the plains, the deserts, and the swamps.

The People prospered and their knowledge grew. But soon their numbers grew so great that they saw they had not, after all, truly left the natural world. They saw a limit to the natural resources, and to the production of their own food. They came to see that poisons of the waters, soils, and air threatened them. And they understood that the other creatures--their kin--were vital to their own survival.

The People acknowledged their true past and their newfound problems. They decided to use the very same tool that had brought them along so far: their cleverness. They saw that all creatures--including the People--face limitations and depend on the natural world.

The People decided to curb their population numbers. They determined to curtail environmental damage and the loss of other species. They decided to conserve the world's remaining ecosystems. And they embraced sustainable development, matching economic growth to the carrying capacities of their surroundings.

The People lived. And it was very good.

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