An American executive was taking a much-needed vacation in a small village along the coast of Mexico. Early one afternoon, while standing on the pier looking out at the water, a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish, asking how long it him to catch them.

“Only a little while,” the Mexican replied.

The executive checked his watch. “It’s still early. Why don’t you stay out longer? You could catch a lot more.”

“This is enough,” the Mexican said, tying up the boat and beginning to get his gear together. “The fish aren’t going anywhere. There’ll be more there tomorrow.”

Mehmet Sabeheddin, New Dawn
Waking Times

Thanks to the latest Hollywood martial arts blockbuster along with a steady stream of Hong Kong action films, audiences around the world have been entertained by wild and colourful portrayals of Chinese secret societies.

These extravagant fictional tales often obscure the plain truth that for at least two thousand years secret societies did play a vital part in the dynamics of China’s political, social and religious life. Right up to the birth of the People’s Republic in 1949, secret societies were a special characteristic of old China.

Arjun Walia, Collective-Evolution
Waking Times

“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.” – Max Planck, theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918

It’s great to see that in today’s day and age, multiple prominent scientists from all over the world have started to study and examine several different areas that deal with non-physical phenomenon and human consciousness. Truth is they’ve been doing it for decades, but it’s just now starting to receive the recognition it deserves.

Gandhi was a paragon of virtue, an icon of iconoclasm. He was the type of person who took the world for what it was, took inventory of his own personal power, and then did his absolute best to be the change he wished to see in the world. He was a shining example of living by example, and he was not afraid of challenging the powers-that-be.

In this article we will break down seven juicy nuggets of Gandhian wisdom through a philosophical lens. Maybe by standing on the shoulder of this giant we can see even further than he did. And maybe we too can become the change we wish to see in the world.

1. “Be the change you wish to see in the world”
“The inner world is the world of your requirements and your energies and your structure and your possibilities that meets the outer world...

Government inaction has pushed local children and families to attempt to clean up the oil spill with little more than household items and no protective gear. Photo by: Kallol Mustafa.

Jeremy Hance, Mongabay
Waking Times

Bangladesh struggles to deal with devastating oil spill in world’s largest mangrove forest, home to dolphins and tigers.

On December 9th, a tanker slammed into another vessel along the Shela River in the world’s largest mangrove forest: the Sundarbans in Bangladesh...

Douglas Main, Live Science
Waking Times

Santa and his bag of… magic mushrooms?

The story of Santa and his flying reindeer can be traced to an unlikely source: hallucinogenic or “magic” mushrooms, according to one theory.

“Santa is a modern counterpart of a shaman, who consumed mind-altering plants and fungi to commune with the spirit world,” said John Rush, an anthropologist and instructor at Sierra College in Rocklin, Calif.

Here are eight ways that hallucinogenic mushrooms explain the story of Santa and his reindeer.

1. Arctic shamans gave out mushrooms on the winter solstice.

According to the theory, the legend of Santa derives from shamans in the Siberian and Arctic regions who dropped into locals’ teepeelike homes with a bag full of hallucinogenic mushrooms as presents in late December, Rush said.

Rise above the daily inconveniences. Inconveniences are only inconveniences. Annoyances are only annoyances. Frustration is only frustration. Who says that everything has to be smooth for you at every moment? You are not to give a high rating to the little matters that you let become big. Save yourself from daily frustration. Annoyances happen. You are the one who rates them as frustration. You are the one who says how momentous they are.

Most inconveniences will resolve themselves one way or another, or you resolve them. There are remedies. You have an important deadline, and your computer doesn’t cooperate. It is not the end of the world, although it may too often seem like that to you.

Tell Me, dear ones, when your computer connection starts to work just fine again, is your happiness quotient as big as your unhappiness quotient was? Probably not. Your jumping for joy doesn’t begin to jump to the height your frustration did. Is this not so?

Have you convinced yourself that the negative aspects of life are more noteworthy than the positive aspects of life? What would you do that for? It would appear that frustration makes the grade while smooth-running is just so-so and taken for granted. A thorn in your side seems to merit far more attention. It is as if you are under the spell of thorns.