I was on the road, possibly to Lands End – how appropriate. 

The sky was brooding and dark…

Suddenly the sky changed to a deep purple and the setting sun burst through. Around it were concentric rings of purple and red and gold…. an archway through which could be seen the heart of the cosmos.

I wanted to pull the car over and photograph what I was seeing – I knew this was some kind of apocalypse so wanted to film it!

I saw a lay-by and my car  screeched and skidded to a halt. Unfortunately the lay-by wasn’t as long as I thought it was  and my car collided with the bricked-up end of the turn off. A sign, dislodged by the collision fell across the bonnet of my car – it read NO STOPPING.

To my right, on the road, other cars were heading at an almost break-neck pace to the ‘end’… to Lands End…

OK, so it was a dream and whilst I was dreaming it I knew I was dreaming it.

Yeap it was one of those Lucid Dreams – I even managed to change the dream by suggesting a thought. I simply thought ‘I don’t remember the sea being this close to the A30′ and my dream changed to one in which I was driving along a road the edge of which blurred into sand and sea. I was travelling through one two dimensional villages of abstract art. Houses flattened against streets. Blue-white painted walls; impossibly blue skies and terracotta red roof tiles trying hard to clash with the summery scene….

I thought “This is the kind of over-simple, over coloured art I don’t really like’ – then woke up….

I guess I have two reasons for sharing this..

The first being the fun notion that ‘there’s no stopping on the way to the apocalypse’ and the second being about the incredible potential our minds have for creating different realities – and sometimes creating those ‘at will’. Ah, real magic!

It has been said that for evil to prosper all it takes is for good people to do nothing. Well that may be the case, but sometimes we need to be given the information upon which to base our actions.

It’s ironic that in this information rich world there should be no excuse, but of course we can be information rich and action-poor because we are distracted by the bright baubles and sparkly-bits embedded within all that we are presented with.

How many of us actually have the time and the skills to really dig deep into world issues – especially when the focus of the popular media is about voting for the next wannabe pop-star or This-Way-Is-Essex stereotype.

Perhaps the wrong people are famous?

What happens if we make those escaping justice famous?

Well this is what The Invisible Children organisation and the Kony 2012 initiative is all about.

How many of you know the name Kony?

Until an hour or so ago I didn’t…

If you can spare twenty minutes to view this video you may not only learn something about how we can use our communication networks for good but also about how there need not be any excuse for the individual to think that they can’t bring about change for good.

and if you want some more …

I don’t know about you but these videos sure made me think

My initial reaction:-

Let’s use the media that sometimes swamps us to bring about change for the sake of justice and for those who have no voice.

My second reaction:-

I need to know more …. it is very easy to swept away by emotions and the video’s are skilfully presented – a good example of propoganda (a word used without prejudice or judgement here).

I’d like to think we could all get past the outrage and take positive, creative steps to seek truth and justice – let not this campaign be one of hysteria. but one of humanitarian focus with the desire to balance justice with information, power with wisdom.

Find out more…

Think about the information you are presented with…

Consider…

Then …. ACT … for you cannot un-know something and inactivity is not an option once we know something to be in contradiction to human rights.

Alan

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• Reporter Who Tracked Kony in Africa Answers Questions on Reddit(mashable.com)

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I was interested in reading a post by a well known TV spiritual teacher who I have had the pleasure of sharing some professional and personal time with.

A recent ‘tweet’ of hers said : “I am always myself, who else am I going to be. If I wanted to be an actor then I would have gone to acting school’ @AndreaFoulkes

I’d like to thank Andrea for the comment and the chain of reflections which followed.

Firstly as some of you may know I have ‘several on-line identities’ – does this mean I am ‘acting’ or not being myself?

Secondly I seem to some to have contradictory opinions – I mean ‘Rational Mystic’ – what the hell is that?

Thirdly, part of my work is about illusion – I am a performing magician….

Andrea’s personal assertion, which I’m so pleased she shared, really provoked some questions about and for myself, which I guess is what all teachers in any discipline do..

The I remembered my Shakespear and the “All the World’s a Stage” speech from As You Like It.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. As, first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

So being ME is about recognising my passage through the stages of my life. My entrances and exits in the plays of others and the co-writing of scripts with those I become intimate with….

It is all me – real, present and in the moment.

But why the apparent schizoid tendencies in terms of my digital footprint?

Ah, there’s the rub…

It is the writer in me, selecting those bits and pieces of my interest, my activities, which may be of interest to specific people and specific times.

I wish to share some ‘work related’ thought’s and inspirations, then surely I direct them to those of my acquaintances who are interested in such ramblings.

I wish to speak about the conjuring arts, then I direct my comments to my fellow magicians…

I wish to speak of esoteric, non-rational things and I present those thoughts accordingly…

In essence then, each on-line identity; on-line scribbling presents a single chapter in autobiography; a single facet of my interests and personality.

I am not an actor playing various roles, I am me bring my attention to various thoughts, philosophies and perspectives. In many ways I am pleased I am so diverse and yet those who really know me see that I’m quite a simple person.

Perhaps, returning to my Shakespear, I can suggest that ..

“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
that struts and frets his hour upon the stage
and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by
an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying
nothing.”

Whilst I am happy to be the idiot who tells the tale, I would like to think that if life is a shadow it is simply because we as individuals are missing out something really simple and really obvious.

Remember: The ‘I’ is ‘You’ as well as ‘Me’ and the ‘Me’ which reaches you is a reflection of the ‘You’ you see in ‘Me’.

Related articles

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If easily offended then perhaps you need to give it a miss – BUT – if you watch to the end and have a similar sense of humour or me then you’ll laught out loud – promise.

So it’s over to the superb ‘Fascinating Aida’…

I wrote this song some time ago.

It started as a love song – a verse and a chorus – written by Mark Ashby. It was a gentle piece with a super hook melody and a refrain about loves loss and the desire to ‘go round again’.

Some time after Mark played his verse and chorus to me I came up a different ‘take’ on ‘going round again’. Mark gave me permission to rework his original song and this is the result…

An aggressive, punchy song with a lyric calling for us to pay attention to the earth, the hypocrisy of dogmatised religion and our own complicity in terms of human rights violations – our ability to turn a blind eye.

Thought I’d share the stuff I’ve place on Reverbnation for your consideration and comment….

Let me know what you think …

Thanks

Anyone who has caught some of my posts will have noticed that they are often eclectic, generally rambling and often opinionated! I would also hope some are mildly entertaining too…

In the past my blogging attempts have been somewhat scattered and so I chose to create different blogs for different audiences. At the start of 2012 I decided to pull the various strands together in the following blogs. Hopefully this help help those of you who stumble across this blog to find something from my interests which match yours.

This blog  (AlanBJones.com)will largely be about the news, views and events that I want to make some kind of personal comment about.

The following blogs will serve a very specific purpose:-

The Rational Mystic (TheRationalMystic.com) will feature posts that are in he most part sceptical but also maintain a link to the subjective nature of personal experience.

The Real Twilight Zone (TheRealTwilightZone.com) will host the radio show of the same name which is presented through Penwith Radio. TRTZ is the podcast which is the voice of Rational Mysticism

Alan Jones Magic and Mentalism Blog (AlanJonesMagic.net) features comments, thoughts and reviews from the world of magic and conjuring – one of my main professional interests.

Alan Jones Transforming Minds (MindAlignment.com) this is the focus of my NLP and Transpersonal Psychology work.

Alan Jones Education (AlanJonesEducation.com) features posts about my work in Teaching, Learning and Behaviour Management

References to NLP and related topics can be found on my Inspire NLP blog (InspireNLP.co.uk)

Finding Your Business Edge (FindingYourBusinessEdge.com) is the blog that is linked to my business coaching programme on Penwith Radio.

Alan Jones Radio (AlanJonesRadio,com) and Al Jones Music (AlJonesMusic.com) will feature show notes and show from the radio and some of my excursions into songwriting and music respectively.

And that, for the moment, is that. It is my ambition that by the end of February 2012 all of these blogs will be up and running with regular content updates.

For the moment the key blogs will be The Real Twilight Zone, The Rational Mystic, my educational, transforming minds, magic and radio blogs as these link to my work directly.

Of course this blog will continue to feature thoughts, reflections, comments and ideas.

I hope you will be able to visit some of my other blogs and, if they are of interest subscribe to them, and if appropriate, the newsletters listed on them.

Until next time

Alan

websites of interest:

www.aljones.net

www.alanjonesmagic.com

www,inspireNLP.com

www.magic4learning.com

www.penwithradio.co.uk

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27th January…

On this day in 1945  The Red Army liberates the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.

Today we mark this by reminding people of racial hatred and injustice that have occurred in the past and are still occurring today.

The website Holocaust Memorial Day is a must visit and will help us all to remember that for evil to prosper all we need is for good to do nothing.

I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. – Elie Wiesel Holocaust Survivor

Related articles

• Holocaust Memorial Day (frstephensmuts.wordpress.com)
• Remembering the Holocaust (thejc.com)
• Auschwitz sees record number of visitors in 2011 (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Auschwitz Sees Record Number of Visitors in 2011 (abcnews.go.com)

Got a busy show with guests Chris Mundy and musician Lindsey James…

ON THIS DAY…

2009 – Barrack Obama inaugurated as President of United States

1999 – China News Service announces new restrictions of Internet use especially in internet cafes

1987 – Terry Waite (CofE Envoy) kidnapped in Lebanon

1986 – Martin Luther King Day is celebrated as a US holiday for the first time

1885 – L.A. Thompson patents the ‘Roller Coaster’

1649 – Charles I goes on trail for treason and other ‘high crimes’

250 – Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian is martyred.

If I get to it here are some of the news items which caught my eye today…

Russia Proposes manned Moon Base

Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) are apparently entering into discussions with NASA and ESA with the suggestion of an Lunar orbiting space station and two unmanned moon missions in 2020…

(Source:  Unexplained Mysteries  20th Jan 2012)

Gardner gives a boost to plants

The horticultural expert David Domoney says chemicals in the sex drug viagra make cut flowers stand on end for longer.

He claims plants fed with water and crushed tablets stay upright for a week longer than those simply kept in water.

The host of Garden ER on Channel 5, said: ‘You only need a tiny amount of Viagra to stiffen things up nicely.

(Source: Metro metro.co.uk)

Bakers bake a Star Wars Stormtrooper

The edible soldier weighs 136kg, stands at almost 2m tall and was created by Tiler and Amanda Oakleaf from Winthrop, near Boston.

The married bakers and their entourage worked their way through 208 eggs, 64kgs of sugar and 25kgs of marshmallows before their masterpiece was finished.

The body was supported by an iron frame and filled with layers of sponge and the legs were packed with Rice Krispies.

The figure was then covered in icing before being fed to more than 600 sci-fi fans at the Arisia Sci-Fi Convention in Boston, Massachusetts.

Tiler said he had always dreamed of baking a ‘humanoid’ character.

(source Metro : www.metro.co.uk)
The Real Alan Jones – THIS IS NOT ME, this is the Australian Alan Jones who’s been broadcasting a lot longer than myself..

WARNING – BAD LANGUAGE ALERT !!!!

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Thought I’d share some of the bits and pieces I’ll be commenting on today..

How about this news item…

Britain’s biggest police force has spent more than £35,000 ($54,000, 42,000 euros) on finding out the time from an automated clock service over the past two years, figures showed Wednesday.

London’s Metropolitan Police also spent more than £200,000 calling directory services for contact numbers, at a time when forces across Britain are sacking tens of thousands of staff under an austerity drive.

or this

Cinemagoers in the British city of Liverpool demanded refunds on tickets for Oscar favourite “The Artist” because they did not realise it is a silent movie, a cinema chain said.

And we’ll be asking what the tree ever did to deserve this Muay Thai fighter …