A Lesson About Prayer
>> Wednesday, December 23, 2009
It was a cold Monday evening, I was on my way to my wife's work place to do the same task. The Queen needs to accompany by her knight with shinning forehead (almost).
Inside the clinic where I used to watch a television show that keeps on repeating every week instead I opened the book which I bought from Arabian Centre while delivering the garments for Gini & Jony (it's a brand name). I am scanning some of the pages at the same time glancing on the telivision hanged on the wall for some good news when suddenly my attention brought me to something that concentrate on it. In the book it say "Does that mean I cannot ask for anything I want? Are you saying that praying for something actualy pushes it away from us?
This is a question which has been asked through the ages and has been answered whenever it has been asked. The question is answered again, in today's terms, and today's language, thusly:
You will not have that for which you ask, nor can you have anything you want. This is because your very request is a statement of lack, and your saying you want a thing only works to produce that precise experience wnating in your reality.
The correct prayer is therefore never a prayer of supplication, but a prayer of gratitude
When you thank GOD in advance for that which you choose to experience in your reality, you, in effect, acknowledge that it is there in effect. Thankfulness is thus the most powerful statement to GOD. An affirmation that even before you ask, I have answered. Therefore never supplicate. Appreciate.
To GOD be the glory!!
Celebrating Christmas In U.A.E.
The clock is ticking and Christmas is arriving within couple of days.
All Dubai's shopping malls are impressively decorated to celebrate the festive season and the kids are enjoying Santa.
Gulf News asked Christian shoppers about their views of and preparations for the occasion.
Canadian Gabriela Gosse said Christmas revolves around two fundamental aspects, spiritual and social.
"The core factor of Christmas is celebrating the birth of the Christ and this day acts as a reminder to make us recall and practice the noble principles that Jesus taught us, while the social aspect is obviously seen in the extensive visits among families and friends.
"It's an interesting series of plans — perhaps the Christmas tree takes the lion's share, and we make sure to decorate it beautifully. Also the turkey and many various yummy types of cookies must be presented on the table.
Snowy weather
"The feeling of being surrounded by loved ones is one of Christmas' essential features." On whether there's any difference between spending the Christmas in Dubai or Canada, she said: "Back home the snowy weather makes you feel the eve perfectly well.
"However, speaking of Dubai, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the ruler of the emirate for allowing us to freely enjoy celebrating." Jonathan Caddick, a 15-year-old British student at Dubai College who has spent nine years with his family in Dubai, said the festive season means a lot to them.
"Christmas is a synonym of togetherness; I love to see my whole family around one table and enjoying such precious annual ceremony."
Caddick also likes getting gifts. "Last Christmas I got an iPod and this year I impatiently wait to see what I'm going to get."
On differences in spending Christmas in England and Dubai, he said, "The only two main angles missing in Dubai is that not all my family is here and the other is the snow — I pretty much miss playing with the snow at Christmas."
Yuliya Ivanishchava, 25, from the Republic of Belarus, said, "Christmas means many happy things to me, like going to church and being surrounded by family and friends.
Indigenous Igorots of Cordillera remain squatters in their own land
>> Monday, December 21, 2009
By Artemio Dumlao, Correspondent
Published: 00:00 August 18, 2003
A copy paste but worth a lot to me
They would gaily pose with tourists for souvenir pictures. They are known for wearing g-strings and walking barefoot even on sun-scorched pavements of Baguio City, but what the public doesn't seem to know is that the country's estimated 1.5 million Igorots (Cordillera mountain people) are suffering from "inappropriate" development.
"Our ancestral lands are threatened by so-called development aggression that we consider as inappropriate for our growth a national minorities," Wyndle Bolinget, secretary-general of the Cordillera People's Alliance based in Baguio City said.
Bolinget led an Igorot ritual on Thursday as a tribute to struggling minorities in the Philippines. The UN declared August 9 as World Day of Indigenous People in 1994 as part of the Indigenous People Decade.
A ceremonial animal was slain as "curses" were chanted against "aggressors" of Igorot homeland which include large mines, dam projects, tourism, logging, even official development aid from abroad and government-established special economic zones.
According to Bolinget, multi-national firms are eyeing at least 433,377 hectares of Igorot ancestral lands for largescale mining operations in the Cordillera while at least 13,000 hectares were already approved for mining.
"Igorots will not tire from making endless beating of their gongs until President Gloria Arroyo heeds their demands for protection of their ancestral lands and rights as indigenous peoples," Bolinget vows.
Even UN Special Rapporteur Rodolfo Staavenhagen during his probe on the impacts of largescale development projects on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Cordillera indigenous communities last year led to his conclusion that these projects had been devastating with loss of indigenous territories and land, forced evictions, large-scale migration and resettlement.
He also found out that indigenous peoples in the Cordillera suffer from depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation and harassment and violence against those in the communities opposing such projects.
Staavenhagen pointed out in his report that lack of consultation to the affected indigenous communities and not involving them in the decision making process oftentimes bred conflicts.
"Government's prevailing deceptive laws and policies on land and resources under the context of the colonial Regalian Doctrine treat indigenous peoples as "squatters‚ in their own land", Bolinget claims.
Fernando Mangili, secretary-general of the peasant group APIT-TAKO or Alliance of Peasants in the Cordillera Homeland said that the situation of the indigenous peoples of the Cordillera has become more and more severe as development on agriculture driven by the GATT-WTO worsened the already woeful living of the peasants. Read more...
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