New Photos

2007-04-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

Brian captured some amazing wolf photos on his most recent trip to Jasper Alberta. Visit Albertawild to view photos

The Tradition Of Suffering

2007-03-21T19:45:00.001-07:00

If you’re like me, and I think a lot of you are, you may find tears in your eyes when you turn on the evening news. You might also be asking yourself why is there so much suffering in the world? I have been asking this question myself for a long time and would like to share my observations on the topic. If one were to look at things from a logical perspective, suffering should have an origin, and if it has an origin, then it should also have a cure. We have all heard many reasons for the woes in our world, most however do not address the root cause. Because we don’t understand the root cause, we often shrug events off as being coincidence ( wrong place at the wrong time ) or this guy is bad and the other is good or sometimes even --it’s Gods punishment. This simplified view is actually quite common, I guess because we think it frees us from personal ( and collective ) accountability. Actually, The reason for suffering ( and pleasure ), is also simple and can be found in two camps of common thought -- the scientist and the religionist. The scientist says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The Buddha also said 2500 years ago that for every cause there is an effect (often called karma). If you happen to be allergic to the so--called eastern religions, then you might believe Jesus when he said, as you sow you reap. It’s inescapable -- we simply live in a dimension of cause and affect! The masters all understood this law and that’s why they taught their followers things like -- treat your neighbours as you would like them to treat you. This also included the animal kingdom. Because God knew the difficulty of living in such a dimension, he sent us ( through the masters ) guidelines like the five precepts of Buddhism and the ten commandments to help us live a more harmonious life here. Try to imagine how different the world would be if everyone followed, for example the five precepts of Buddhism: refrain from taking the life of sentient beings, refrain from taking that which was not offered, refrain from speaking that which is not true, refrain from sexual misconduct and refrain from the use of intoxicants. Sound familiar to the ten commandments? God also gave us more clarity at the beginning of the bible where we were instructed to rule over and take care of the animal kingdom. No mention of eating them! Actually, he said our food was to be plants from the seed and fruits of the tree.God's way of compasion is being heard today by many scientists and doctors who are now saying both the world and our health would be better off if we ate vegetarian. What makes people sceptics of this law however, is that the result of an action does not always follow immediately in time and with the expected equal consequence. In other words, because trees produce oxygen, you may not find yourself out of breath when you cut down a forest! It was, in part this kind of innocence that allowed us to treat the planet the way we did for the last hundred years. We’ve raised such havoc on the earths natural habitats that our now scarred world has left little room for the animal kingdom to live anywhere undisturbed. Many species are now extinct or on the edge. Incidentally, because of climate change, some scientists are beginning to consider even human extinction as a possibility in the next hundred years. Coincidence? Fortunately, more people today are tuning into a higher spiritual and compassionate understanding. By looking a little closer at our religions, we’re seeing commonality in all the faiths instead of only differences. It just may be that the same God is in all the religions! Now might be a good time for all of us to take a serious look at human tradition to see how not so well it has served us since time immemorial.

Unlimited Power

2007-03-21T19:24:00.000-07:00

Corporate profits and willing governments have altered our earth's surface, seas and air more in the last 50 years than all of human history combined!. If something good can be learned from this incredible display of power, it is that the human mind has unlimited potential. If so, then there is nothing stopping us from using this same power in a positive way to recreate our world. Alberta Wild is a website dedicated to sharing and conserving our natural world and bringing attention to it's unique beauty. Because there are two sides to our being, the physical and spiritual, I hope that you will also take time to look at the last category on my list-- spiritual interlude. The spiritual is important because all our human made troubles stem from the forgetfulness of our inner God nature.

Natural Thoughts

New Photos

The Tradition Of Suffering

Unlimited Power