NHNE Update 57
Tuesday, June 22, 1999
"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"
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NHNE Update 57
Tuesday, June 22, 1999
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Hello Everyone!
Please take a few minutes to read this update. It's long, but packed
with important information...
With Love & Best Wishes,
David Sunfellow
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CONTENTS:
OVERVIEW:
Quaker Meetings & Apple Carts
Gautama, Who Became The Buddha
Follow The Yellow Brick Road
Changing Course
Where People Fly & Water Runs Uphill
NUTS & BOLTS:
Smorgasbord & Dreams
The NHNE Y2K Report
Wild2k's Daily News
NHNE's Forum For A Common Understanding
Our New & Improved Website
BUCKEROO UPDATE:
One Of Life's Great Mysteries
Doting IRS Agents & Unexpectedly Generous Foundations
A World-Class Blood Hound
Muchas Gracias!
YOUR TURN
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"We're in the middle of the most serious cultural change since
the capture of fire."
John Perry Barlow,
Co-Founder, The Electronic Frontier Foundation
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OVERVIEW:
QUAKER MEETINGS & APPLE CARTS
NHNE is a genuinely odd organization. Worldwide, we number a little
over 2,200 people, a mere speck of humanity compared to the five billion
human beings that presently call planet Earth home. We have members
in 33 countries around the world, but most are based in the United
States, Australia, England, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand,
in that order. While other organizations have relatively clear-cut
missions, with relatively clear-cut objectives -- to stamp out hunger,
create world peace, protect the environment, save the Earth's plants
and animals -- NHNE's mission is somewhat fuzzy and ethereal. We are
in search of something that has eluded our race since the beginning
of time: we want to know, once and for all, who we are, why we are
here, and where we came from. For us, these are not pie-in-the-sky
questions. Rather, they have a direct bearing on the day-to-day happenings
of our everyday lives.
Many years ago, I lived in a small intentional community in North
Carolina that had a very active Quaker community. On Sundays, I attended
their Sunday "Meeting", which consisted of people sitting
in silence together waiting for Spirit to inspire someone to speak,
or for nothing to be said at all. At the end of the quiet time, there
was a time for announcements. Since Quakers are often very active
in a wide variety of social causes, there was always a long list of
gatherings, events, and projects for people to get involved with.
Many of these, like feeding the poor in some drought-stricken nation
or helping mediate peace in a war torn part of the globe, were quite
stirring.
After each meeting, I listened to these announcements and paid close
attention to how passionately each person felt about the project that
had captured their heart. I found myself being interested in all of
them. I also felt something fishy was going on: the projects never
ended. There was always a new war, a new famine, a new social, political,
environmental, religious injustice to tackle. It donned on me then,
as it has donned on me a thousand times since, that we needed to understand
ourselves, and the deeper mysteries of life, before we will be able
to master the forces that continuously upset our individual and collective
apple carts.
GAUTAMA, WHO BECAME THE BUDDHA
Everyone on this mailing list is probably familiar with the story
of Gautama, who became the Buddha. The son of a king, when Gautama
was born, a seer predicted that he would either become a great king
or a great religious reformer. Since Gautama's father wanted him to
follow in his footsteps, he ordered that his son not be allowed to
witness any of traumas that afflict humanity. But one day, after the
king's guards had cleared Gautama's path of all the things that would
make him suspect that something was wrong with the world, three angels
intervened. The first appeared as an old man. The second as a sick
man. And the third as a dead man. Gautama, sheltered all his life
from such things, was astonished. A fourth vision then came of a wandering
holy man, which inspired Gautama to leave his wife and newborn child
so he could find a way to end all human suffering.
That was 2,500 years ago.
I don't know how accurate the legends are about Buddha. I also don't
know how solid the spiritual path is he taught. What I do know is
that another all-out search for the truth is long overdue. I also
know that such a search has never been attempted by humanity as a
whole. What would happen if it was? What would happen if even a small
percentage of the human beings now living on planet Earth joined together
to unravel the great mysteries?
Until recently (within the last decade), such a search was not possible.
But with the advent of the Internet, which gives human beings, from
all over the world, the ability to pool our collective wisdom and
resources, we now have the capacity to solve mysteries that have eluded
us since the beginning of time.
FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD
When Buddha began his search, he didn't know where it would lead.
Perhaps it would support the beliefs and practices of his day, and
perhaps it wouldn't; perhaps his search would lead him where others
had already been, or perhaps it would lead him to places no human
being had ever gone before.
The legends indicate that Buddha followed his dreams, visions, and
intuitions. These, in turn, led him to befriend the wisest sages of
his day, and rigorously practice the harsh spiritual path they advocated.
In the end, while Buddha ended up rejecting the spiritual path of
his contemporaries, he was ultimately successful in his quest: he
achieved enlightenment and then returned to help others (including
the sages who had once been his teachers) break the chains of earthly
suffering by teaching them what he had learned.
The point here is that Buddha did not know where he was going when
he began his journey, nor did he know how he was going to get there.
He set his sites on solving life's fundamental mysteries and then
went where he was led.
And that's what we've been doing. On a global scale.
CHANGING COURSE
For almost five years now, NHNE has been using the power of the Internet
to investigate all kinds of mysteries -- earth changes, psychic predictions,
near-death experiences, dreams, Jesus, human relationships, crop circles,
various claims of spiritual mastership, you name it. A year ago, we
began tackling Y2K. We did this because it looked like Y2K was going
to trigger massive changes in our world and we wanted to be sure our
network of spiritual seekers had everything they needed to safely
sail through whatever changes Y2K might cause.
As our efforts progressed from creating websites and publishing reports
to organizing communities and getting involved in national politics,
we also thought we might be able to prepare the world at large for
potential upheavals.
While we were successful at encouraging many spiritual seekers to
prepare for potential disturbances, we were largely dismissed, as
other grassroots organizations were, by the general public. This,
it seems, is the way of things. Most people live their lives as they
always have until change comes and carries them, often traumatically,
into new ways of being.
Regardless of how successful our Y2K efforts have been, it feels
like the time has come to alter our course. We still believe Y2K is
very serious and we hope everyone in our network will prepare, on
all levels, accordingly. And we are also still planning to report
on it. But we want to start spending more time exploring deeper issues:
What is Y2K (and other global upheavals) really about? What is happening
behind-the-scenes, on the level of dreams, visions, and intuitions?
Where are all these changes taking us? And how can we get there in
one piece?
WHERE PEOPLE FLY & WATER RUNS UPHILL
The best dream book I ever read is a book written by Jeremy Taylor.
Called, "Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill, " the book
is a treasure trove of profound insights. Two insights, in particular,
have repeatedly passed through my mind as I've pondered Y2K and NHNE's
response to it.
Taylor sets the stage for the first observation by pointing out that
dreaming must be profoundly important from an evolutionary standpoint
because we place ourselves in great danger everytime we sleep. Writes
Taylor:
"If you take the idea of evolution of the species at all seriously
-- if you think there is anything at all to the idea that species
alter both behavior and physical structure to enhance their ability
to survive in particular ecological/environmental circumstances --
then there must also be something about dreaming itself that is of
primary and fundamental importance from a collective evolutionary
survival point of view, because in spite of the multiple, serious,
and dangerous drawbacks associated with dreaming, there is not a single
relatively evolved species that has found it of increased survival
value to abandon this seemingly... dangerous behavior."
Why is dreaming so important? Taylor sites numerous reasons but one,
in particular, struck with me. Referring to the work of Sandor Ferenczi,
who was a colleague of Sigmond Freud's, Taylor writes:
"Sandor Ferenczi suggests that the human species may have evolved
into the condition we recognize as human today because our prehuman,
hominid ancestors dreamed about articulate speech, making the first
neurological/synaptic connections and first laying down the neural
pathways necessary for speech in the dream state."
In other words, says Taylor, "New forms of individual and collective
life may emerge first as images and experiences in dreams."
How have your dreams been lately? My dreams, and the dreams and inner
experiences of many of the folks we've been in touch with are often
unusually charged these days. Shouldn't we be paying closer attention
to this?
Taylor also talks about the role dreams can play in dealing with
social and cultural ills. He cites, for example, a time during the
civil rights movement of the 60s when socially-conscious blacks and
whites were attempting, unsuccessfully, to work together. In spite
of their best efforts, various "unconscious, condescending racist
attitudes and behaviors" emerged which ended with "injured
feelings on all sides." A seminar carefully designed to root
out and heal these destructive forces was a dismal failure. What finally
worked? A dream group in which participants simply shared their dreams.
Writes Taylor:
"The change of focus to dreams suddenly had the effect of awakening
in us a much greater interest in one another as unique human beings.
The exotic new symbolic material we were sharing caused us all to
slow down and make few unquestioned assumptions about each other.
By sharing our dreams, we began to inquire much more carefully into
the deeper reasons why we each thought and felt and behaved as we
did."
Equally striking, Taylor also mentioned how sharing dreams effectively
counteracted the all-pervasive human tendency for people to project
their unhealed inner issues onto others. Writes Taylor:
"As the repressed, seemingly 'negative' emotional energies that
wore the masks of nasty people of other races in our dreams were admitted
more into consciousness in the simple act of sharing and talking about
them, the tendency to suppress and project those same energies out
onto others in waking life began to diminish."
These, and other topics like them, are the kind of spaces we want
to explore with renewed fervor. Here's a quick overview of what we
are planning to do.
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NUTS & BOLTS:
SMORGASBORD & DREAMS
I plan to resurrect SMORGASBORD (http://www.nhne.com/database/dbsmorgasbord.html)
and use it to tackle the kind of issues I mentioned above. I've been
quietly gathering many thought-provoking items to share with you and
can't wait to pass them on.
I have also been thinking about starting a dream group online that
can explore the world of dreams more deeply. In the meantime, I urge
all of you to get a copy of Taylor's book and if you are not already
working with your dreams, to begin to do so. Dreams have been a central
part of my life for over 25 years and I can tell you from first-hand
experience that dreams, if used correctly, are an amazing tool for
guidance, inspiration and personal development. If more people knew
this, and used them, our world might look very different than it does
today.
Here's where you can find Taylor's book online:
Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0446394629/newheavenneweartA/
THE NHNE Y2K REPORT
While I begin cranking out Smorgasbord, James Gregory will continue
to produce the NHNE Y2K Report. He has, however, returned to Canada
and now has a full time job, so the report will be published less
frequently -- perhaps once every two weeks. We had originally decided
to incorporate Y2K material into a resurrected version of the NHNE
News Brief (http://www.nhne.com/database/dbnewsbriefs.html), but after
talking it through more carefully, it seemed wiser to continue to
publish our current report, at a slower pace.
WILD2K'S DAILY NEWS
While James and I are busy with Smorgasbord and the Y2K Report, Linda
Becker is planning to resurrect the daily news section on our wild2k
Website. Every day, for as long as Linda can keep up with it, she
plans to post the day's most important Y2K news stories. Many of these
stories will eventually make it into the report James puts together,
but for those of you who don't want to wait, you can bookmark wild2k
and check it every day. When Linda is ready, I will let all of you
know and send you the URL to wild2k's daily news section.
NHNE'S FORUM FOR A COMMON UNDERSTANDING
While Y2K has dominated our day-to-day time and attention for the
past 12 months, we have also been monitoring other world events, like
the crisis in Yugoslavia. We received several heart-rending posts,
in the middle of the bombings, from people who were living in Yugoslavia
that described their ordeal. Needless to say, what was happening behind
the scenes was not the same thing that was being reported by the mass
media or trumpeted by U.S. and NATO representatives.
Sherry Stultz, with the help of Scott Hess, will be launching a new
mailing list to track events like this. The purpose of this mailing
list will be to help human beings in troubled places connect with
other human beings in other parts of the world -- person to person,
one human being to another, with the goal being to understand one
another more fully, deeply, and accurately. We want to bypass the
media, bypass governments, and bypass all the other filtering devices
that tend to separate one human being for another.
As soon as this list is ready to go, I will let all of you know.
The list will allow members to actively participate in whatever discussion
might be taking place. It will also have its own website to house
links, news stories, and other resources.
OUR NEW & IMPROVED WEBSITE
Speaking of websites, the NHNE Website just underwent a major overhaul.
It now sports new graphics and a more user-friendly navigation system.
Swing by and take it for a spin:
http://www.nhne.com/
Also, be sure and check out our special report on crop circles. The
letters section of the website is now complete. If you sent a letter
about the report, and don't see it posted, or have additional thoughts
you would like to share, please send them to Sherry and we'll get
them posted as soon as possible.
Crop Circles Special Report:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/srcropcircles/index.html
Sherry Stultz eMail:
sher@digiscape.com
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BUCKEROO UPDATE:
ONE OF LIFE'S GREAT MYSTERIES
Right up there with what happened to the dinosaurs and who shot JFK
is the mystery of how NHNE has managed to accomplish so much with
so little for so long.
How, for instance, have we survived, flourished even, with no salaried
staff members and often not even enough money to pay our day-to-day
expenses?
And why are so many people -- myself, James Gregory, Diane (Di) Tracy,
Linda Becker, Sherry Stultz, and others -- willing to work so hard
for NHNE, with about as much chance of getting paid for their efforts
as the man in the moon?
In the nutshell, we think we are doing something important. Many
of you apparently think so, too.
On average, I spend 60 to 70 hours a week working on NHNE-related
projects -- answering email, writing and editing our publications,
creating and maintaining our websites, hatching new projects and finishing
old ones. I've done this, full time, since NHNE first appeared online
in 1994. I've survived financially through working part time jobs,
racking up several thousand dollars of debt, and leaning heavily on
divine intervention when it looked like NHNE (or myself) wasn't going
to make it.
In the meantime, James, Di, Linda, Sherry and others have also been
caught in NHNE's tracker beam. They haven't been called to spend as
much working for NHNE as I have, but each of them have made significant
sacrifices. James, for instance, spent a whole year working with me
in Sedona publishing the NHNE News Brief and was paid next to nothing
for his full-time efforts. He got married, moved to Canada, acquired
a real job, and took a vacation from NHNE until Y2K showed up. Then
here he was again, back in Sedona, working full time for NHNE on the
Y2K Report. And now's he back in Canada, working another full time
job, planning to produce the Y2K Report on the side and return to
Sedona again in November.
Are we nuts? Yes. Enamored by a good cause? Definitely. Giving up
because we haven't got our financial act together? Hardly. After having
rowed this far mostly on our own, we'll keep rowing until more folks
jump in and help us or a good wind fills our collective sails.
DOTING IRS AGENTS & UNEXPECTEDLY GENEROUS FOUNDATIONS
Last year, we applied for non-profit status. We did this solely for
financial reasons -- so our readers could make tax-deductible contributions
and so we could apply to various foundations for grants. A couple
months ago, our non-profit status was finally approved by the IRS.
Two things worth mentioning came of this.
First, the IRS representative who reviewed our application told me,
repeatedly, that he appreciated the work we were doing. I was stunned.
An agent of the IRS -- one of the most vilified of all earthly organizations
-- kindly, sincerely, unabashedly expressed his admiration for our
efforts! I immediately wrote this episode down in my book of miracles
and began reworking my negative views of the IRS.
Last year, we also applied for a grant from the New Earth Foundation.
A few days after the IRS approved our non-profit status, we received
a letter from the foundation that indicated they wanted to give us
$200,000.00! The foundation's director also let me know that NHNE
was one of his personal favorites.
Too much, I thought: first our non-profit status is approved by an
IRS agent that is a fan of our work and then we receive word that
the New Earth Foundation wants to give us TWICE as much money as we
asked for (we had originally asked for $84,000).
I thanked the foundation profusely for their support and then asked,
as diplomatically as possible, how soon could we get our hands on
the money?
"Not anytime soon," was the answer. The foundation had
overspent their fund the previous year, and was waiting for it to
replenish itself. In the meantime, they were seeking grants from other
organizations on behalf of the few non-profits they felt deserved
their support.
If Y2K ends up seriously disrupting the banking industry or any of
the major infrastructures our global society presently depends on,
then we may never see and/or be able to use the money the foundation
wants to give us -- which puts us back in square one: depending on
ourselves, divine intervention and all of you to keep us going.
A WORLD-CLASS BLOOD HOUND
While I'm sure it is obvious to everyone on this mailing list, let
me emphasize how important it is for us to keep NHNE up and running.
Right now, we have one of the planet's oldest, largest, and most
well-connected global networks of spiritual seekers. Because of our
work with Y2K, we are also intimately connected to grassroot preparedness
efforts all over North America. By posting a simple query to the members
of our network, or the members of some of the other networks we are
plugged into, we can instantly tap the wisdom, knowledge, and resources
of thousands, perhaps millions of human beings all over the planet.
NHNE, in other words, has become a world-class blood hound. In the
best of times, we can use these connections (which are continuing
to expand and deepen every day) to explore whatever topics interest
us. And in the worst of times, we can use these connections to save/protect/strengthen
everyone connected to our network -- including all the folks who are
connected indirectly through family, friends, and acquaintances.
Our network could, in other words, end up being one of the most valuable
resources you and I have -- especially if Y2K, or some other global
crisis, really shakes things up.
So how can we keep what we've built up and running? There are three
areas we need help with right now:
1. FRIENDS OF NHNE (Goal = 100 buds)
We need more people to sign up as Friends of NHNE. These are people
who contribute every month to NHNE. The money from this fund helps
us pay our basic monthly expenses (phone bills, Internet access and
website fees, electric bills, subscription and software fees, and
personal needs -- like food and rent -- if any money is left over.)
Friends of NHNE contributions can be any size, large and small. We
prefer to use credit cards because they are easier to process and
more reliable. To become a Friend of NHNE, you can contact us via
email, regular mail, or by phone and let us know how much you would
like to contribute every month. If you sign up using a credit card,
you're done: the first of every month Di automatically deducts the
amount you have agreed to contribute from your credit card. If you
decide to mail in monthly contributions, then you can simply send
a check or money order in before the first of the month.
eMail: friendsofnhne@nhne.com
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Regular Mail: P.O. Box 2242, Sedona, AZ 86339
At present, we receive about 150.00 a month from the Friends of NHNE
program, with another $1,000.00 a year coming from yearly donations
of $120.00 or more. 42 people are presently signed up in this program
which is the financial foundation that keeps NHNE going.
2. URGENT BILLS & PRESSING NEEDS = $1,800.00
On top of our normal monthly expenses, we have several urgent bills
and pressing needs. Our largest bill is a phone bill that was acquired
when we had our Task Force office in Sedona. We still own $700.00
on this bill. Thanks to the auction Linda organized (and many of you
contributed to), we raised enough money to pay off two iMac computers,
but there are still some critical software programs and miscellaneous
pieces of hardware we need. Among other things, we need to purchase
an extra battery and solar charger for James' computer and begin moving
our network into Internet-based teleconferencing and broadcasting.
3. NHNE'S AIR FORCE ONE = $3,500.00
James and Di are both set up on laptop computers, so they have mobility
and can continue to operate if the power goes down. Sherry also has
access to a laptop, if the need arises. But I'm stuck on a desktop.
It's an iMac, so it's fast, flexible and beautiful (everyone on planet
Earth should have one). But if the power goes down for any extended
period (I have battery backup for 15 minutes), the main hub of our
network goes offline. If I need to get a message out to all of you,
I'll have to wait until the power comes back on. I need the ability
to stay up and running whether the lights are on or not. I also need
to be able to move from one location to another, or make trips to
other parts of the country, and stay in touch with all of you. For
3500.00 dollars we can buy an Apple PowerBook that will do everything
for us that Presdient Clinton's Air Force One does for him (well,
OK, it can't fly, or command the U.S. military yet, but Clinton can't
stuff his airplane into a briefcase like we can).
MUCHAS GRACIAS!
Before any of you respond to these needs, let me thank every single
one of you who has ever contributed to NHNE. We wouldn't exist if
it weren't for you. Period. And some of you have given way beyond
the call of duty, again and again.
I would also like all of you to know that your contributions do not
fall into some kind of impersonal corporate sinkhole. They directly
affect my life, the lives of our staff members, and every single person,
all over the planet, who benefits from our work. Having computer systems
that are powerful and flexible enough to keep up with our growing
needs, having money to pay our creditors, and knowing we have enough
money to pay our basic operating expenses is immensely helpful. It
REALLY helps, it is REALLY appreciated, and it REALLY makes a difference!
If you can help, credit card donations can be made through NHNE's
Website:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html
Credit cards can also be emailed, or called in:
eMail: friendsofnhne@nhne.com
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Checks or money orders can be sent to our regular mail address:
P.O. Box 2242, Sedona, AZ 86339
And all contributions, thanks to the support of our friendly IRS
agent, are tax-deductible.
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YOUR TURN
Now that I've wore you out with my thoughts about everything under
the NHNE sun, it's your turn. Specifically, I would like to know two
things:
1. What do you think about the change of focus I outlined above?
Do you feel good about us broadening and deepening our focus, or would
you like to see us continue to spend as much time as possible on Y2K?
Do you have other suggestions?
2. How has NHNE affected your life? Have we made your life better,
fuller, deeper, richer, safer, or just been a thorn in your side?
Now's your chance to let us -- and the rest of the world -- know.
We'll publish your responses in a future special report. If you would
rather not have your comments included in this report, please say
so when you write. I WILL ASSUME I HAVE PERMISSION TO SHARE YOUR COMMENTS
UNLESS YOU SPECIFICALLY ASK ME NOT TO.
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And that's it for me. Thanks, again, for being a part of this important
work. Together, we are making a real difference...
With Love & Best Wishes,
David Sunfellow
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David Sunfellow
Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
NHNE:
eMail: nhne@nhne.com
Web: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492
Subscribe:
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Current NHNE Posts:
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wild2k:
eMail: wild2k@wild2k.com
Web: http://www.wild2k.com/
Regular Mail:
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339
