The Bell of Peace

Every place has its own bad and good stories. Bali is likewise. In this regard, there is a book written by a friend from the West called The Dark Sides of Paradise, which telling about the dark sides of the island. Like two sides of a coin, since the beginless beginning, bad and good, dark and light, are inseparable pairs that always stay side by side to each other. While the restless souls are being shaken by the waves of dark and light, the luminous souls surf above all waves. On the path of meditation, the surfboard is called the perseverance to keep observing. And out of the perseverance to keep witnessing, lucidity is then born. From this pool of lucidity, it can be brightly seen that every era has its own challenges, as well as its own resolutions.

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Whenever the conscious mind along with its logic and senses is not being helpful, ask for a help from the subconsciousness. When both are not much helping, meet your own higher and sacred self. That is what the old saying says. Sadly, only very few humans who have the ability to communicate with the subconsciousness. The number of people who are able to meet their Greater Self is even more less. In this regard, the book of Dr. Wayne W. Dyer titled "Your Sacred Self" can be used as a reference. The book is being written in a very popular way, thus makes it easy for an average person to understood. There are three pathways that being recommended. First, change the feeling of inadequacy in life with the feeling of abundance. Secondly, transform a sinful life into representing the face of a luminous soul. Third, evolve the strong desire to achieve more in life into a life free from desire. It might seems simple in words, yet living it, is far from easy. Moreover in the era where people in their everyday life are being tempted by advertisements and neighborhoods that sound this way: "You will be happier by having more". The results are clearly seen around us, the presence of anxious and restless souls that are really heart-touching are found everywhere. In the West, there is a finding of a researcher: "While in many developing countries people cannot eat because of being entangled in poverty, in the developed countries that economically wealthy the number of people who cannot eat is also significantly increased. Definitely not because of poverty, they cannot eat as of living in fear.”

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Words have the potential to become both the source of danger and also the source of Light. It is what the deep souls discover. Therefore, most of those with a deep soul choose to remain silent in smiles, rather than drowning in words. As a reflection, one of the important reasons that made the world become dark and dreary is because there are way too many people whose unaware of the potential  danger of words. In the moment when a person is upset and being rude, furthermore if the harsh words are then being broadcasted by a world-class media, it will not only make the garden within the soul arid, yet will also drought the earth. On top of that, the world that has been made small into the size of a global village by the social media is also affecting and prolong the effects of harsh words. Like causing a small motion in one part of the spider web, it is only a matter of time until those inappropriate words return to the respective person in the form of a wounded soul. Some friends whose deeply exploring hypnotherapy share a secret, even the mistakes that being made hundreds of years ago, in a few cycle of previous births, might cause a major depression in the present life.

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Dark and dreary, that is the aura of the earth these days. The US with the drama of Donald Trump is just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath the surface, things are even more scary. However, just as darkness makes Light radiates even brighter, it is the aura of the earth nowadays that invites plenty of luminous souls to share more balancing energy. A dry garden needs water. Thin trees need fertilizer. So does the dark and stressful situation of the world today, which needs a sparkle of beautiful Light. It is in this regard that the book “The Road Less Traveled: The New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values ​​and Spiritual Growth” could be used as a reference. The book is written by M. Scott Peck, an experienced psychiatrist from Harvard that has enlightened the souls of many.

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There are only very few soul healers whose soul has been fully healed, whom then feel moved to help others heal. One of that very few is Kari Joys. Being her friend on Twitter for years, being hand-in-hand in helping many people on the Twitterverse, I could deeply feel the spirit of compassion that sparks behind all the services Kari Joys provides. The same spirit of compassion is also present in the beautiful book wrote by this grandmother of 7 grandchildren, which titled: “Choosing Light Heartedness: A 33 day journey to overcome anxiety, depression and dysfunctional family issues”. Notice on how this experienced psychologist begins her book: “Regardless of the painful feeling you earned from others, nor the painful feeling you have caused to others, it is never too late to change. There is always a chance to transform yourself into becoming a beautiful soul”. A spirit of embracement that desperately needed by so many anxious and restless souls. As clearly seen here and there, the feeling of being rejected is the main cause behind the great number of anxious and restless souls. Not only the community and the family that reject their existence, even that relevant person is also denying himself. Consequently, the list of anxious and restless souls is keep expanding.

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Fritjof Capra, who earned a doctorate in particle physics once wrote, physics can lead humanity to the two extremes of B, which is bomb or Buddha (read: enlightenment). To be honest, similar situation also happens with human knowledge and religions. Just like a long sword that might hurt the public, but in the same time is also protecting the community. It depends on the person behind that sword. The “sword” of knowledge and religion is similar. In the hands of narrow-minded people, knowledge and religion are used as a means of horrifying violence. But in the hands of those with wide and open minds, knowledge and religion became a liberating vehicle. In another way of saying, the reason behind a fearful act of violence is definitely not religions, but a narrow mind.

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Every era has its own uniqueness. While most statisticians considered uniqueness as an anomaly that is suggested to be abandoned, in the path of deep spirituality, it is believed that the biggest secret is often hidden behind that specific uniqueness. Similar case happened with the following book, “Buddha’s Brain: The practical neuroscience of happiness, love & wisdom”. This book is unique because it is written by a PhD in the field of neuroscience (the science of the human brain) who understands meditation through a very deep achievement. Formerly, meditation is a spiritual practice that being practiced by spiritual seekers in the caves and mountains. Now, the healing and peace benefits of meditation can even be proven in clinical laboratories. Deeper than that, in terms of meditation, not just few scientists of the West whose reaching a deeper level of achievement than the hermits in the caves and mountains. Rick Hanson PhD and Richard Mendius MD (author of the aforementioned book) are a couple of examples in this regard. The way they both tell the effects of meditation on the human brain, not only convincing academically, but also profoundly practical.

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Every human being is a unique combination. So is Dr. Thomas Bien, the author of “Mindful Therapy”. He is a PhD in psychiatry whom also happened to be the one who found the “spirit” of meditation. It is rare that anyone could find such a unique combination. Successfully achieved the highest level of Western education, yet deeply understand the spirit of Eastern wisdom. The result is predictable, Thomas Bien not only becomes a healer, but also growing into a whole soul. It is brilliantly shown in each of his work. Notice the way this mindful therapist defines meditation: “Meditation is the art of finding a beautiful home within”. So simple yet profound. As seen here and there, the anxious and restless souls – moreover the sick ones – show the same characteristic of a person failing in finding the beautiful home within. As a result, they start to seek for it all around. All that efforts of searching, apparently, should end up in the finish line named disappointment.

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One of the homework of mankind that shows no sign of completion is healing anger. Although the various religious norms that forbid anger has now been thousand of years old, the existence of jail as the institution that punish anger has also been thousand of years old, yet there is no declining sign of human anger. In some parts of the world, the human anger is getting even worse. Though it is getting way more difficult and complicated, there is nothing wrong to try and try again. In the field of clinical psychology in particular, it has been ages since human being tried to expel anger and other mental illness using pharmaceutical drugs. Without any intentions of saying that pharmaceutical drugs are futile, as well as being aware of the complicated complexity behind any kind of mental illness, the residents of mental hospital is clearly showing a great significance number of increase here and there. Thus explains why in spirituality, the number of Teacher (Guru) who want to help the students to heal from anger is more than just a few.

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Among many energies in the nature, the one that has the greatest destructive power is anger. For thousand of years, many has tried to wipe out the energy of anger thru the stories of hell and the existence of jail, as well as thru various religious norms, however, all that efforts are just making the energy of anger burn even more from day to day. Let alone a human being, for even a super powerful country is also beaten by the anger of terrorist. It then left a big question for mankind, how exactly to cure anger?. When someone got headache, there is no doctors who would suggest to throw the head off. Sadly, when anger comes, almost everyone want to throw it away. Though in the world of psychology there is a well-known old message that says: “What you resist persist”, which literally means that whatever you reject will resist back with a greater force.

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From where shall the steps of soul healing begin?, that is the question of many people. In the world of physical healing (biologically), there is an old prescription, which states that food is a very powerful medicine. Similar thing also happens in the world of soul healing, the food of thought has a great impact in the process of soul healing. The environment that poisoning the mind is the main reason behind the increased number of anxious and restless souls here and there. The content of social media, TV, radio, printed media, mostly contains news that incite anger and hatred. Too few souls in this era that can be like a Lotus flower. Growing in the mud, yet stay uncontaminated by its dirt. Hence, it is very crucial to keep the clarity of the mind from a toxic environment that is full of hatred nowadays.

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In ancient times, most people were sick as of having eat a wrong food. But in this era, most people get sick as of having a misthought.

In the old days, doctors / psychiatrists / psychologists acted as a healer whom considered as of knowing everything. While patient is considered as a passive object only. Yet, nowadays, without an active involvement of the patient, imagining a healing is such an obscure possibility. Particularly since not only the metabolism of the human body and the environment that changed, but the energy balance of the earth is also rapidly changing. In the current trending language, someone became sick (either physically or mentally) because of experiencing an energy deficiency. The inability to get connected to the energy source is causing someone to snatch the energy of others. Therefore, in the public forums (TV, social media, radio, printed media), nearly everyone wants to dominate one another. Similar situation also happens in the scope of personal conversation. Everyone wants to be heard and cared for. Almost nobody is willing to listen.

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A mother was crying and shivering while reading the story of Pema Chodron whom using her soul wound as a key to open the home of Light.
A cheating husband whose ruining the marriage is not the one that threatens the soul. Instead, it makes the soul glow. It can only happen as the soul wound is being used as a turning point in the journey of the soul. The wound of the soul is being used as a sign to begin a deep yet long spiritual journey.
To be honest, we all have soul wounds at a various different level. Unlike the malicious soul that being dragged by the wound of the soul, particularly to drugs and other similar dangerous things, a luminous soul treats soul wound as a holy bell (Genta) that summons. Suffering, according to the interpretation of the holy bell, is a sign that the soul has been growing too far away from home. As the holy bell clangs, it only brings the following message: “Go back home, beautiful souls… go home”.

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In this age, the number of beautiful souls who have the ability to transform the garbage of problems into the beautiful flower of blessings are very few. One of those very few is named Pema Chodron. After dedicating her life wholeheartedly to serve her husband for decades, all of a sudden this man confessed that he fell in love with another woman and planned to marry her. Instead of dumping her life into a trash bin after being hit by the biggest tornado in life, this so-called beautiful soul, Pema Chodron, used this tragedy as a spiritual turning point. This greatest blow of life was eventually leading her to become acquainted with meditation, and meet a Tibetan Mahasiddha named Chogyum Trungpa. Many years later, upon being appointed as one of the first generation of American women to teach meditation, this luminous soul was thanking her ex-husband who left her with a deep soul wound. Since this particular soul wound is the one that then encourage this bearer of light to start seeking for light.

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In the southern of France and the northern of Spain, the archaeologists discovered old caves that have been thousands of years old. The old carvings exposed there is showcasing the bravery of the heroes in conquering wild animals as their prey. This legacy is clearly shown the fact that human beings have been identifying the character of a figure (hero) as a person who grew up in the midst of violence. Lately, it has even been aggravated by the history of religious radical practices and powerful countries that making huge profit by selling weapons. Eventually, history then grew from one violence to another.

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What is the reality behind an anarchist human behavior?, that is the question of many people since a long time ago. Some relate it to religion, some relate it to trauma, while some other is associating it with the souls that poor in light. You might also include another kind of list there.
However, after having encountered thousands of friends suffering from various different diseases, thousands of teenagers whom having the potential to be an anarchist, there comes the flash of light of understanding, which explains that apparently the feeling of inadequate is the decisive force behind an anarchist behaviour. This feeling of inadequacy is the one that urges teenagers to find a lover, adults to find a life partner, and even a married person to have an affair.
Let alone the poor, even the very wealthy ones still far from feeling adequate.

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In a private conversation with the book author of History of God, Karen Armstrong, a friend asked about the background story of this legendary book. Frankly, this English lady answered: “The concept of God and religion has become the main cause of violence for thousands of years”. An honest answer from someone who has been exploring the journey of religions for years. Observing the world situation in the last few years, it is worth pondering again and again on the concept of God and religion that have caused many acts of violence. As being noted in the history, all religions have somehow been very old. And during its very long journey, the messages have not only been translated into different languages, but also being interpreted by different authorities.

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In the golden age, a few holy souls are having the privilege to have a direct conversation with God. However, in the current dark age, the one who claim to have the ability to talk to God, must be prepared to be suspected as having a mental disorder. Thus, it is very understandable when a philosopher once wrote: “The truth is similar to a broken mirror. The most important task of human is to re-assemble those broken pieces”. In this context, a PhD in physics from the University of Vienna named Fritjof Capra deserved an appreciation.
Most importantly because he spent most of his time reconstructing the “fragments” of that broken mirror. In his masterpiece named The Tao of Physics, the experienced researcher who had been researching on the high-level of energy in many universities both in the Europe and US, is exploring the parallels between modern physics and Eastern mysticism.

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Many years ago when George W. Bush was still the president of the US, he was once visiting Bali and met with a Balinese spiritual leader at the time. In a private conversation, the president of this super powerful country asked with astonishment, “At a night when the NASA satellite orbiting the archipelago, all islands in the area were dark, except for one. The only island that emits Light was the Bali island. Fascinated with that fact, he asked: what kind of Light is that?”.

Similar to the electric light that appears as a result of the synthesis of the negatives and the positives, so does The Light. It will appears in the places where human beings “synthesize” the energy of negativity and positivity.

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Since the era of Newton in particular, the meaning of reality in human life is being limited only to the things that visible and tangible. However, since Albert Einstein came up with his quantum mechanics theory, the meaning of reality evolves and involves the invisible and the untouchable, in which energy is named as one of those. Ever since, the journey of human discovery became more intense, far beyond any human sights. Mythology is one of the options that available in serving this purpose. The ancient myths that aged much older than any religions.