A Call for Humanity: A Poem to Change the World

In the video below, Jamie Dunmore recites a poem that calls for humanity to reconsider our destructive ways. In our quest for economic prosperity, we have forgotten our interdependence and connectedness to all things. As a result, the natural environment is suffering, affecting all life on the planet. Our superficial values have us chasing material wealth while covering our eyes to the costs of this unsustainable paradigm. We call ourselves free as we continue running towards an illusory hologram that will always be just outside of our reach.

We now face a stark choice as a society: evolve or die. By refusing to acknowledge the consequences of our actions, we will continue to destroy the delicate environment that sustains our existence on this precious planet. Change starts from within, and it is our responsibility to step outside of our cultural conditioning to transcend the ideas of separation that result in our greed and apathy for other living beings. Watch the video below and be sure to share his message with your social network. Margaret Mead once asserted that we should "never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

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Manifestation of Dreams is the Transformation of Self

Often times in life we are hit with overwhelming inspiration to pursue a dream, and during that moment of inspiration it seems as though the stars are aligned and nothing can hold us back. Riding on a passion-driven high, we know in our heart that we have found our purpose and set out to manifest our dream into reality. It seems as though synchronicity is in full effect, as little coincidences and serendipity confirm every epiphany that aligns with our vision. Days go by... weeks and then months. We pour our heart and soul into our vision but the optimism and passion begins to fade away. Why did it seem so right in the beginning if it was not meant to be? Were we just being naive, or is there something missing?



There are many who have experienced this time and time again leading to the perception of failure after failure which eventually drains them of their passion for life as they begin to see their dreams as the fairy tales of an imaginative child. It's called getting burnt out. Our once kaleidoscopic imagination is replaced by what we call 'reality' and we think of it as 'growing up.' We stop dreaming and we try to convince others that it is a pointless and heartbreaking endeavor. We stop living and merely survive.

Why is it that some people are living their dreams today, while others are just struggling to get by? Is it a matter of luck? Some would say so, but I'm here to tell a different story. There's more to the manifestation of dreams than just hard work and determination. Positive thinking is only going to get you so far. Inevitably, there will be times that it seems that the odds are against you. There will be struggle and a great deal of doubt, but all of this is part of the process. 

The reason that hardship is necessary is that the manifestation of your dream is more about your personal transformation than the alignment of external circumstances. Through the struggle, we are being transformed into the person that we need to be. When we give up at the sight of hardship, we confirm that we are not ready to live up to our dream. When our internal world comes into alignment with our dream, only then can we project our vision into the external world.

This is where faith comes in. You must trust the process, even when all seems lost and you've forgotten what you were even working for. You will fall countless times, but each time you rise you will be stronger and wiser than before. When you've lost all hope and there is no longer any light to be seen, you are now closer than you've ever been. You are now in your cocoon, and you will soon emerge completely transformed. Only then will you have the wings that you need to fly. Never give up, because when you do you deny yourself this transformation and the opportunity to actualize the greatest expression of your spirit. Everything that you need is already inside of you. Hold on to your dreams and trust in the process. 

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Follow Your Heart: Become the Person You Were Meant to Be

"Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” -Howard Thurman

When asked what they want to do with their life, most people cannot offer a straight answer. The reason is that what they truly enjoy doing and what they feel they should do to make money are two entirely different things. We feel that it's more important to get into a career that offers good pay and benefits rather than following where are hearts are trying to guide us. As a result, most people spend their lives chasing money and never fulfilling their heart's greatest desires. We pay the bills and accumulate possessions only to find ourselves on our death bed swimming in regret.



I challenge you to ask yourself the following question: What makes me feel alive? Go deep within yourself and find that burning passion that's been buried by society's definition of a successful life. Once you find it I want you to hold on to it and imagine yourself living that dream every day. Let go of all of the reasons that you've convinced yourself of why it could never work. Just allow your passion to consume you because the truth is, the things you're passionate about are not coincidence. When we deny our passions, we deny ourselves the chance to grow into the person that we were meant to be.

Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear. Fear has you convinced that your heart should not be trusted because it's not realistic. We buy into the idea that reality is cruel and we must spend our days being miserable in order to survive. Well, I don't know about you but I fail to see much of a point in surviving if it's just to be miserable. Look at what we're becoming due to this idea of surviving rather than living. It drains the color from our world and turns us into mindless zombies with the sole purpose of consuming goods and chasing a currency of imaginary value. 

Every day we turn the page bringing us another step closer to the end of our story. Will your story be worth reading? Within you there is all of the potential that you'll ever need and by following your heart and intuition you will leave behind a legacy that will inspire others to listen to their own inner voice to seek the greatness that lives within us all. I'll close with a thought from Alan Watts, that "it is better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way." 

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Motivation to Pursue Your Dreams and Create the Life You've Always Wanted

Look around you. Are you happy with the life that you're living? If the answer to that question is no then what are you doing to change it? Yeah, life is challenging; but imagine if it wasn't. Imagine that everything you always wanted was always given to you and you never had to struggle for anything. Do you really think that you would appreciate it? Do you think that you would grow as a person? Be honest... what would any of it really be worth? What would life be worth if we never got to dream?



Now imagine what it's like to struggle through hardship and disappointment and to finally see your greatest dream manifest before your eyes. Imagine stepping into the life that you've always wanted through your own effort and persistence. This is a feeling that's worth it all. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. It's all inside of you. Everything that you need is already there. The only thing holding you back is fear.

Here's the truth... Fear is a liar. Fear would have you believe that you're not good enough. Fear reminds you of how far you have to go and of all of your inadequacies. It's all a lie. It was never meant to be easy. No one starts at the top of the mountain, but the important thing to remember is that the view from the top is only as incredible as the struggle that got you there.

Each day you write another page of your story. The life that you experience today and the legacy that you leave behind is determined by you and you alone. Yeah, we could all play the victim. We've all got reasons to feel sorry for ourselves; but is this going to get you anywhere? The truth is, when we continue to play the victim day after day we are only perpetuating the life that we don't want into the future. The only answer is to assume complete responsibility for ourselves and focus on what we want rather than what we don't want. Only you can change your life. 

You might be saying, "I don't even know where to begin." Where you begin is not as important as making the commitment to begin. As expressed by Lao Tzu, "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Begin to visualize what you want in your life and get to work. Prepare yourself for disappointment, hopelessness, rejection, and hardship. Nothing worth having is going to come easy; but every day that you persist you will get another step closer. Bruce Lee once asserted that we should never fear failure, explaining that "in great attempts it is glorious even to fail."

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Two Voices in One Man: This Street Performer Will Blow Your Mind

Humans never cease to amaze me. Luc Arbogast, a street performer in Strasbourg, France has the ability to sing in two entirely different voices, and you're not going to believe that one of them is coming from him. It's like hearing a story told by two people but coming from one man. His unique vocal talent is truly beautiful and inspiring; capturing the incredible diversity of our human potential.

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10 Things to Remind Yourself Daily

Here's a list of 10 things that you should remind yourself of daily. Feel free to bookmark this page to come back to when you're feeling lost. If you have anything you'd like to add, I'd love to hear it in the comments below. Enjoy! 

1. "The point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment." -Alan Watts

It seems that life has become nothing but a race to reach an imaginary point where we believe that our happiness waits for us. When I get a new job... When I meet the love of my life... When I'm making more money... Then I'll be happy.

Here's the truth: That "point" is an illusion. It's a hologram that you are projecting in front of you. It's like a carrot with a string attached being dangled in front your face that you're never going to catch. As you move forward in life, so does the projection and so your happiness will always be just outside of your reach.

“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope." -Thomas Merton

2. You don't have to know all of the answers.

Think about the excitement that children have while discovering the world around them. Not knowing is what makes life an adventure. Don't get too bogged down trying to figure everything out now. The answers will come when it's time. It's your job to trust that they are waiting for you in each moment when they are needed. With that in mind, bring your attention back to the present moment where the lesson is being taught. "To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float." -Alan Watts

3. You are always enough.

Realize that your self-image is a very inaccurate reflection of your potential. When you step outside of your comfort zone to try something that you've never done before, you find capabilities within yourself that you never knew you had. "You are not born as a fixed entity, but only as an infinite potentiality.” -Osho

4. "The things you are passionate about are not random; they are your calling." -Fabienne Fredrickson

Stop thinking about money for a second and think about what it is that makes you feel alive. Passion is your indication that you are aligned with your purpose. "If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion; for your passion will lead you right into your purpose." -T.D. Jakes

5. You always have things to be grateful for.

The key to finding happiness is gratefulness. No matter how bad things are or how little you have, things could always be worse and you could always have less. If you can't find happiness in what you have now, what makes you think that you'd be happy with more? Count your blessings daily and then watch them multiple. "No matter what the situation is...close your eyes and think of all the things you could be grateful for in your life right now. Once your heart opens, you'll see the abundance around you." -Deepak Chopra

6. You don't need a reason to help people.

One of the most rewarding things that we can do in this life is to help others in need. Compassion is the force that connects us, and we need unity now more than ever. "We rise by lifting others." -Robert Ingersoll


7. The past is meant to guide you, not define you.

Mistakes are the best teacher. Learn from your mistakes but never attach them to your self-identity. By living in guilt and regret you are not allowing yourself to grow to express your full potential. We grow by rising above our mistakes rather than dwelling on them. You can't rewrite your story, but you can write a better chapter now if you stop reliving the past.

8. Suffering has a purpose, but nothing is permanent. 

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could spare them from all suffering? No, it wouldn't. They would not evolve as human beings and would remain shallow, identified with the external form of things. Suffering drives you deeper. The paradox is that suffering is caused by identification with form and erodes identification with form. A lot of it is caused by the ego, although eventually suffering destroys the ego--but not until you suffer consciously." -Eckhart Tolle

9. What others think of you is their reality, not yours. 

It doesn't matter what others think of you. If you dwell on the perceptions of others then it will become a part of your self-identity and thus your reality. Let go of the need to gain approval from others. Embrace who you are right now, knowing that you are perfect just the way you are. Only one person needs to see this, and that is you. 

10. "The world is changed by your example, not your opinion." -Paulo Coelho

“If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.” -Lao Tzu

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We Are Collaboratively Creating the World Around Us Through Consciousness

"All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force... We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter." -Max Planck

If there were no observer to perceive, could matter exist? Imagine that the universe around us is a massive hologram. An interesting characteristic of a hologram is that if you were to look at one small part of the hologram, you would see the entire hologram. Consider "Tat Twam Asi" by the Upanishads:

Each small portion of the whole is a reflection of the whole repeating itself. This idea suggests that we live in a fractal universe where a change in any single aspect of one of the holograms is reflected throughout the entire super hologram.

So matter is not real, and the external world is a hologram.. so what is real? The answer is consciousness. The substance of the universe is pure consciousness, and the same consciousness that looks through your eyes also looks through mine.

The important thing to understand about this is that consciousness is creating the hologram around us. The hologram is nothing more than a matrix of information. Everywhere we look we will find because of the act of conscious observation. When we attach to a belief we are creating that belief in the hologram which is reflected throughout the super hologram. Consider the following quote from the video below:

"Consciousness is the programming language of the universe. We are consciousness conductors; that’s what we do, that’s who we are. Consciousness comes through us, it emanates from us. We are the creators; we are the ones who are targeted on this planet because we are the ones who transmit reality just like everyone else does. If you switch your brain off and you are sucked into the mainstream media illusion, we must understand that we are being used because we create reality. So if we are manipulated in a certain way and if we are modulated in a certain way, then our creation becomes not ours, but somebody else’s." 

Check out this short video to better understand this concept. Leave your comments below and be sure to share!

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Imagination is Reality: See With Your Third Eye

We experience the universe through a subjective lens; perceiving a small fraction of the phenomena existing around us, confined within a single moment called the present. The progressive continuation of this small window of perception creates our memories from which our attitudes, values, and beliefs are formed. Through our subjective experience of reality, we define ourselves and the world around us in terms that make sense based on our limited experiences. 

This is the foundation of the self-identity, or ego; an illusion that exists within each of us that places limitations on our once unlimited imagination. Through the formation of the ego, we progressively place limitations on a universe of infinite possibilities. As the ego becomes more solidified, we begin to see the world outside of ourselves as reality, and our imagination as being fictitious. What makes the physical more real than the metaphysical? 

What we understand as the physical world is merely a limited perception of a culmination of phenomena. Our senses are an electrochemical nerve impulse reacting to some sort of energy that is processed by the nervous system. Our perception is not outside of us, but created within our mind. The physical is just as much inside of us as the metaphysical.

David Lynch once asserted that "we think we understand the rules when we become adults but what we really experience is a narrowing of the imagination." These limitations are in the form of opinions, or that which we think we know based on our experiences of limited sensual perceptions. Socrates once boldly proclaimed: "I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing." 

Could it be that reality is the opposite of what we believe? Could imagination, or the metaphysical, be true reality and the physical world merely an illusion of the mind? Ramana Maharshi explained that "mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind."

If imagination is in fact reality, then perhaps our one true sense is the one that is not traditionally recognized as a sense: the third eye. The pineal gland is the most mysterious and fascinating part of the human body. It is thought to be responsible for intuition and has been called the "seat of the soul." It is a window into the metaphysical world and the source of imagination. Below is a painting by Alex Grey portraying the third eye through which he receives the visions for his incredible sacred art. 

The third eye has been recognized for eons, celebrated as the gateway to higher consciousness and symbolic of enlightenment. East Asian and Indian iconography represent the third eye as a dot, eye, or mark on the forehead of deities. Hindus place a 'tilak' between the eyebrows representing the third eye.

In the chakra system, the third eye is the sixth chakra, associated with the color indigo. Its orientation is self-reflection and its function is seeing, intuition, imagining, and accurate interpretation. Opening the sixth chakra is about breaking open our internal wisdom and seeing at a more perceptive level. 

Much of this information is becoming common knowledge today, but many are interested in ways to activate the third eye. The pineal gland becomes calcified, which is a build up of calcium phosphate crystals caused primarily from nanobacteria. Interestingly, researchers are finding that this could be the cause of various diseases, as calcium shells build up in various parts of the body.

Here are a list of techniques that can be used to decalcify the pineal gland:

1. Meditation: Activating the third eye is traditionally accomplished through meditation. For a list of general mindfulness techniques, click on the link here. To activate the third eye during meditation, focus your attention on the point between your eyes. Imagine the third eye opening and see the energy around you through this new sense. Remember that the goal is to bring your attention to the third eye, not cross your eyes. This should be practiced regularly to achieve noticeable results. With enough practice, meditation can become a very surreal, out-of-body experience leading to greater connectivity to the collective consciousness and the ability to perceive higher dimensional realities that are missed by the five senses. 

2. Psychedelics such as DMT (ayahuasca), psilocybin mushrooms, cannabis, peyote, etc. have been used to activate the third eye throughout time. The use of such substances is a personal choice that is not advocated by Aesthetic Conscience, but noted for complete information.

3. Sungazing: It has been long thought that the sun holds incredible power for those that wish to obtain it. Sungazing should be done with great care to avoid eye damage. It should be done within the first 15 minutes of sunrise, and the last 15 minutes of sunset for only a few seconds to begin with. With time one can gradually increase the amount of time but must always exercise caution to avoid damaging eyesight. For more information about sungazing please check out this great article by Fractal Enlightenment. 

4. Proper diet: Eat less meat and processed food and more whole fruits and vegetables. A few items to consider adding to your diet include: Raw apple cider vinegar, garlic, MSM, raw chocolate, citric acid, oregano oil, and tamarind. Avoid mercury, pesticides, halides (flouride, chlorine, and bromide), calcium supplements, caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco. Diet is something that should be balanced with other factors, but this is a short list of things to consider if trying to aid the decalcification process with diet.  

5. Binaural beats and theta waves: “Theta waves have been identified as the gateway to learning and memory. Theta meditation increases creativity, enhances learning, reduces stress and awakens intuition as well as other extrasensory perception skills. Theta consciousness allows us to connect with our creative inspirations, spiritual guidance and peak experiences. Through theta wave meditation, we can open our Third Eye and access the delta waves that unite us with Universal Energy and Cosmic Consciousness." (multidimensions.com)  A quick search on YouTube can get you started with this. Meditation with binaural beats and theta waves can have an astounding effect on the third eye.

6. Watch less television.

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This list is obviously noninclusive, but should serve as a great starting point. Check out the video below for more information about the pineal gland and activating your third eye. 

Explore the Visionary Art of Alex Grey

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