Cougar WebWorks 
Celebrating Nature, Culture, and Spirit
latest features and hot links
The Hunter's Daughter - new novel for Kindle
Geopolitics 101
Creating an "Arc of Crisis": The Destabilization of the Middle East and Central Asia - The Mumbai Attacks and the “Strategy of Tension” - by Andrew G. Marshall, GlobalResearch.caUniversal Festival Calendar: Dec. 08 - Mythic Prelude: The Quandary (Dan Furst)
"you are not your spacesuit" - Out of the Matrix
New blog entries:
Bass Nectar Review
Tabla and Sarod
Relationship, Emotion, and Spiritual Practice
Second Person Singular
Personal and Transpersonal EmotionsThe illusion of freedom [in America] will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater."
-- Frank Zappa, musician and cultural iconoclastPost-Election Commentary: From Savior to Same-Old... | metapolitical | Empire and Democracy
Quote of the Year
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." - Thomas Jefferson, 1802
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Bank ...Current Astrological Transits ...
This opposition of Saturn and Uranus describes a period when the old order is threatened. It is to be expected that the old forces will resist and will try to maintain the status quo. This old order is powerful, but so is the emerging new reality. The new energy is rising with great intensity and suddeness. A battle is being waged, between the intransigent old order and the firery and intense new energy. This battle can feel destructive, particularly if we resist. If we are fearful of change, if we want things to stay the same, we can expect to have difficulty during this transit. If, however, we open to the life giving forces that are emerging we can ride this new energy into a new and magical future.
...
The old order is dying and a new one is manifesting. All indicators are that we are at the beginning of a time of incredible transformation and change. The movement of Pluto firmly into the sign of Capricorn (on November 26), the opposition of Saturn and Uranus and the trine of Saturn and Jupiter all suggest a new societal era. We have the opportunity to create a new vision for ourselves and for our world. The next few years will provide us with the means to manifest that vision.
Every moment is a choice to be made ...
The Dreamtime is Now
video - Think Man - by Neptune Music
Ayahuasca, plant teachers and entheogenic education
Surviving
Democracy: Reviewing Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine
- by Stephen Lendman
Zeitgeist: Addendum - released October 2, 2008
book and film reviews:
Bamako
Religulous is Less
What is America? A Short History of the New
World Order - Ronald Wright
The Shell Game - Steve Alten
God is an Athiest - N. Nosirrah
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
ConsciousMediaNetwork.com: interviews | films | articles | video
"Religion is a corrupt business. Spirituality is like water and sun. When it rains, the prostitute and the pope get wet just the same. Spirituality is not memorizing the Koran or the Bible while hurting people in the name of Allah or Jesus or Buddha or oil. We are all chosen. Surely we have the capacity to transmute anger and fear into a masterpiece of joy!"
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.
Learn djembe and dundun rhythms the easy way