YOU ARE ENLIGHTENED!

Iraq War veterans speak out about the truth of the war...

There are tons of testimonies from soldiers who've served in Iraq on Youtube. I ran into a few by accident.

There's a group called Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) that held a conference acouple of months ago with about a dozen soldiers giving their personal accounts, and their own videos and photos to illustrate the terrible things that are happening in Iraq: Killing and torturing Iraqi civilians, racism, the works.

I wonder why CNN didn't cover it?

here are some links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i5ZUfpxnV0&feature=related (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iTdxBECos8&feature=related (Part 2)

And here's the site for Iraq Veterans Against the War http://ivaw.org/

Love and light,
-Alex

Flood pics...

We're located in Fairfield, IA. We're about an hour and a half from Cedar Rapids and about an hour from Iowa City. Everything is ok here, we haven't experienced any flooding or tornadoes. A friend forwarded some incredible pictures of the flood from different parts of Iowa.

More pics like the one on the left are found in this link:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/06/mississippi_floodwaters_in_iow.html

Please do what you can to help.

Some 9.3 trillion gallons of rain water fell in the last few weeks in Iowa, enough to provide water to parts of drought-ridden Georgia for the next 53 years.

And If you're driving through the Midwest, check the roads because a few major highways are closed.

Love and light,
-Alex

Tornadoes, floodings and storms, oh my...

A tornado came within 8 miles of the Maharishi University Campus a couple of days ago, and we happened to be in the middle of meditation when the tornado sirens went off. Talk about an abrupt ending to meditation.

Luckily, since Id seen the movie "Twister," I knew that all you have to do is hold on to a pole and you'll be safe.

Everything was fine, but it WAS moving at 45 miles an hour, which is just about how fast I would have been able to drive away in a quick escape, considering the small roads and all.

Cedar Rapids, which is about 1 hour and a half from here, is flooding like crazy. Some are talking Katrina-like disaster. But thankfully the waters are calming down and the overflowed river is moving back to where it came from. 3000 people were evacuated, including one full hospital.
In Fairfield, everything is ok. Just a lot of rain every once in a while, but no major disasters here.

Maybe the meditation is working?

Love and light,
-Alex

My birthday and Waterballoon fights...

It's really hard to hit people with water balloons.. especially when they're moving. My birthday was last Sunday and I had a water-balloon fight to celebrate. Then we played dodge ball and threw a Frisbee around.

I've been wanting to have a water balloon fight since I was 12. That was the last time I had a proper one.

It's much easier to ambush people. I think that's the best way to do it. Also, for your own water balloon-fighting needs, make sure they are filled really well. Otherwise, they won't pop, and you'll just end up hurting people.

:-)

Love and light,
-Alex

So, turns out I'm a LOHAS consumer...

It stands for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. It's the term used to describe people who make purchasing decisions based on the environment, health, personal development, ecological lifestyles, and sustainability. It's a 200 billion dollar marketplace, and it's expected to grow to 600 billion over the next 3-10 years. Some estimate it to be at 400 billion by 2010, that's only a year and a half away. More at www.lohas.com

LOHAS consumers make purchasing decisions not just on a product's features and benefits, but also how socially responsible the company is when creating the product, whether the product is recyclable or not, and whether it is in alignment with the person's values and lifestyle. they hate TV, and cannot stand conventional marketing.

What does that mean for corporate culture and marketing paradigm? it means that they need to shape up. Fast. These socially conscious consumers are expected to become the majority within 3- 10 years, and anyone who isn't up to date with their businesses practices will naturally be shunned into bankruptcy.

Anyways, I'm one of those people. I haven't watched TV in years.
Are people still gathering around that arcane device?

hmm, guess we still have work to do.

Love and light,
-Alex

Student Film Generates Buzz...underground

Check out this new online Steampunk web movie called "Wormtooth Nation" created by our very own Geoff Boothby and Cullen Thomas. Most of the people acting in it are Maharishi University students. It's starting to get a lot of buzz online. New episodes come out every monday and Thursday. (9 episodes in all)
http://vimeo.com/theskyisfree


If you like it...Digg it here! --> http://digg.com/television/Gritty_smart_steampunk_web_series_Wormtooth_Nation

Love and light,
-Alex

Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen come and visit...

Last night I performed music for the world-renown authors and lecturers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (best known for creating the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series). They also granted Tidal Wave productions with an interview about sustainability and human awakening- the theme of our feature-length documentary coming spring '09.

They were in town to receive Maharishi awards for their contributions to society, and it was refreshing to find out that they still practice Transcendental Meditation. Jack Canfield is the creator of the Transformational Leadership council (TLC), and turns out that the movie "The Secret" was initially shot at one of their TLC meetings. Mark Victor Hansen gave a great 2-hour lecture about thinking big, and later on in the evening both authors shared stories about their own development and creating change in the world.

They loved our ideas, and our plans for our film...Academy Award anyone?

Love and light,
-Alex

Chalk Paintings on the street...

It's called "CHALK WALK!" It was about an hour and a half from Fairfield, IA, In Mount Vernon. Basically a bunch of artists got together and recreated paintings in chalk on a closed street in downtown Mnt Vernon. The idea is based on an original art form that started in Italy in the 16th century. It is commonly known as "Madonnari."

The main event was a massive recreation of the "Dogs playing poker" masterpiece right in the center of the street. Artists used about a half a ton of chalk. Anyone could purchase a 2' by 2' square and redraw a portion of the masterpiece.

There were mostly families and lots of kids who couldn't contain themselves at the thought of being allowed to paint on the ground. The event lasted two days, Saturday and Sunday, and the clear sunny skies were happily welcomed by the organizers; rain would have kept many people away.

For more information about events in Mnt Vernon, you can click here

<---This was my favorite!

Love and light,
-Alex

Moby Crashes High School Prom...

So the David Lynch Weekend is over. Moby ended up crashing a high school prom and performing for the kids...you can watch the video here, and David Lynch crowned the Prom king and queen at the same event...you can watch that here. Donovan also played for the kids, and you can watch that video here. They also jammed in the garage right before going into the prom...here's that video.

I got to perform with a group of students on opening night for all the visitors including Donovan, David Lynch, and John Hagelin. We ended up doing a parody of Donovan's "Mellow Yellow" and he loved it. For the rest of the weekend he kept running into us and telling us how great it was. That video (along with Donovan's reaction) will be up as soon as we get through the many hours of footage we got from the weekend.

We were also granted interviews with all those guys, and they were absolutely great. David Lynch and Donovan both gave us hugs :-) Moby didn't give me a hug after our interview but he did say some neat things.

Lots of fun, and lots of amazing people at our school.

Love and light,
-Alex

PS: I also met Kurt Loder, I told him "Hey I remember you from when I used to watch TV..." Really nice guy, he just laughed and ended up talking for a bit.

Inside the Seattle Green Festival...

3 students plus a faculty member flew to Washington state to promote our neat little university located in the middle of nowhere. The festival hosted 25 thousand people, all of which were democrats...just kidding, I'm sure there were some republicans in there.

We attended under Maharishi University of Management, but we also got press passes from the Environmental News Network which is also headquartered in Fairfield, IA. Unfortunately we weren't prepared for the press aspect of it and we didn't take our production crew, Tidal Wave productions, to capture any interviews. So it was a missed opportunity 'cause we could have had awesome interviews with the event's speakers. Amy Goodman from Democracy Now, Amory Lovins author of Natural Capitalism, and Annie Leonard from The Story of Stuff were just some of the speakers, and not event he best ones... sorry guys. They were great nonetheless, and it just goes to show how amazing the speakers were.

We talked to hundreds of possible prospective students who were pretty impressed with he fact that our university cafeteria only serves organic vegetarian meals and we grow our own food or buy it locally. And others peeled their eyes when we told them that we practice meditation as part of our curriculum. Most couldn't believe we were in Iowa.

I still can't believe it. :-)

Love and light,
-Alex

Inside the David Lynch Weekend...

So the David Lynch weekend starts tomorrow here at MUM. Already students from all over have started to arrive, and the media has also arrived. I was put on a list of possible student interviewees, and I hear that MTV will probably interview me. Pretty sweet, although I haven't watched TV in about 2 years so I have no idea what kind of programming they have these days. Is the "Blame Game" still around? Just kidding.

Moby will be here as well, and I've been told that our production company, Tidal Wave productions, might get an exclusive interview with him. We already set up interviews with David Lynch and Donovan, and John Hagelin and Moby are maybes. Tidal Wave productions, the production company we've set up, is also working on a top secret documentary that we will be unveiling when the time is right.

We're doing a dress rehearsal tonight for our student performance that will kick off the weekend. We've thrown in a parody of Donovan's Mellow Yellow, I hope he likes it and doesn't rush the stage in mad dash of fury. Although it would be ironic and highly amusing.

Love and light,
-Alex

Responce to "The Truth about Maharishi and Deepak Chopra"

I got this letter in response to Deepak Chopra's article about his relationship with Maharishi. You can read that article here.

Here's the response:

Dear Friends:
I am an Indian physician who was Maharishiji's personal physician at the time that Dr Deepak  Chopra was assisting Maharishiji in England, as per his article entitled "The Maharishi Years - the Untold Story". I must inform you that his article is replete with untruths and inaccuracies.  I was at Maharishiji's side during the entire incident. Some of the details of the article that I know to be untrue are as follows:

        * there was no blood transfusion from Dr Chopra;
        * Maharishi was not on a ventilator and was not pronounced dead as claimed;
        * he did not have kidney failure at all at that time;
        * Dr Chopra's father attended Maharishi in India, but not in London;
        * there was no helicopter involved;
        * Dr Chopra did not carry Maharishiji in his arms into the hospital.

Dr Chopra was handsomely paid for his services by the movement. These facts can be  corroborated by Prakash and Kirti from the Indian TM movement and Maharishiji's medical records would bear this out as well.  There were two other Indian physicians involved, both of whom were instructed in TM by Farrokh.  They can confirm the facts as well.

Dr G. M.
Please note that Dr G M is an outstanding Indian Governor responsible
for single-handedly creating the first group of 8,000 pundits in
India .  He is a Maharishi-trained TM-Sidhi instructor and teacher of
Advanced Techniques.
******************************************************************
I will leave you, oh dearest or readers, to make up your own mind about what is true and what isn't. I would suggest letting your feelings be your guide :-)

Love and light,
-Alex
 

Back from Seattle Green Festival!

We just got back from the Seattle Green Festival. 20+ thousand people gathered for sustainability, green, peace and paradigm shifting. It's amazing to see so many people interested in this super-fast growing area. A clear indication that there's a huge paradigm shift taking over our world.

Just a simple definition of sustainability for those not familiar with my blog, or the "green" movement: It is a way to continue doing what we're doing without taking away the ability for future generations to do the same. For example: exploitation of labor isn't sustainable. We cannot keep exploiting a labor force indefinitely, eventually, if we wish to continue in business, we must change these habits.

Sustainability isn't just about wind generators and solar panels. It's about staying power. Do you (or your group or organization) want to be here tomorrow or not? This new paradigm is currently sweeping through every facet of life, and it's testament to the power of people and a rise in consciousness.

I will write much more on the subject , in the meantime, watch this talk by Amory Lovings (Author of Natural Capitalism) talking about "ending the oil game"
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/51
enjoy!

Love and light,
-Alex

David Lynch Weekend is a-coming...

April 25-28th we'll have another huge event at our university. The third annual David Lynch Weekend. This year's event will feature Singers Moby, Donovan, Chrysta Bell, and Quantum physicist John Hagelin (Along  with David Lynch himself, of course)

There's also an added emphasis on sustainability. Since meditation is really sustainability of the self and that's really where it all starts from :-)

We're really excited about this event. Our new production company Tidal Wave Productions will get 30 minutes with each: Moby, Donovan, John Hagelin, and David Lynch.Be on the lookout for those clips on YouTube and elsewhere.

Love and light,
-Alex

The Truth about Deepak Chopra and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

I ran into this article, written by Deepak Chopra about his relationship with Maharishi and subsequent fallout from the TM movement. It's called "The Maharishi Years- The Untold Story: Recollections of a former Disciple"

Highlights from the Article:

• Apparently Maharishi was poisoned and momentarily died, only to recover thanks to a blood transfusion from Deepak
• Maharishi later felt that Deepak sought adulation for himself and confronted him by saying "People are telling me that you are competing with me."
• When they parted, Maharishi told Deepak, "Whatever you do will be the right decision for you. I will love you, but I will also be indifferent to you from now on."

You can read the entire article here

Love and light,
-Alex

The 'Loving Kindness Peaceful Youth' group

This group found me through the Public Meditation Project. They are doing such amazing things; I thought I should feature them. Loving Kindness Peaceful Youth

They are based in Australia, and they have programs all over the world. They are for "anyone interested in creating peace           within themselves and the world around them." Go check them out!

Love and light,
-Alex

Public Meditation Project video wins "Video of the Week!"

My Public Meditation Project video has been named "Video of the Week" by KarmaTube.org - go ahead, take 30 seconds to leave a comment!

I was floored when the hits to the Public Meditation Project blog went through the roof!

Thanks everyone for your support!
If you leave at or near Chicago, we're planning a trip sometime around the weekend of March 21. You are more than welcomed to join us for some Public activism. you can contact me at publicmeditationproject@gmail.com

We'll have "Public Meditation Project" shirts for you  :-)

Love and light,
-Alex

Why you should care about sustainability...

Because we're all in this planet together, that's why.

It's easy to forget that there's a big world out there. What we see in our daily routines is too limited, and it fails to tell the story of how the stuff we have, ended up as such (check out www.storyofstuff.com or see my previous post about it)

I was thinking about the general world-ignorance prevalent in the US educational system (And yes, it is changing, but maybe not fast enough), and it is simple to see why wealth and lack of purpose can create indifference and cluelessness at their worst. These kids have every opportunity, resource, and attention... but they have no purpose. And, the ones that have no opportunity, no resource, nor purpose, are left in identity limbo. They don't know how they fit into the world, and at worst, they end up becoming destructive.

Sustainability gives us purpose. We are all in this together, and there's much work to be done on this earth.

Given that the planet is growing at a rate of one city the size of Seattle every 7 days, it is absolutely necessary for people to understand that we cannot keep on consuming and trampling through natural resources at the rate we're doing it. There are better, smarter ways to structure this world. For example: less than 5% of raw materials used in a production line, end up in the finished product- the rest ends up as TRASH. This is like trying to eat a cake by violently punching through it so that we end up with a tiny bit in our mouths, and the rest in uneatable garbage all around us. Can we seriously not think of a better way to efficiently use our resources? 

We should care about sustainability because it is our lives that are at stake. It's that simple. I'm guessing if you're reading this you're already pretty much on board. This is written mainly for those who do know, so they can tell the ones that don't.

I've written about purpose before, but this is the first time I've realized that our collective purpose can swiftly be collapsed into the sustainability movement.
For now, this is our generation's time to shine.

Love and light,
-Alex

We're featured on Elevision!

The following is a 15 minute video about the Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Fair we attended this past September.

I managed to get a hold on one of the camera crews from Elephant magazine, and they ended up featuring us!

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1370840308&channel=1449895

You can see my roommate Robbie Gongwer and I at 7 minutes and 30 seconds into the video. Right after the Amy Goodman interview. They even caught our MUM booth and banner and they put the mum.edu link on the bottom of the screen. I guess this means I'm famous.

I'll be sending signatures out to the highest bidders :-)

Love and light,
-Alex

Ever wonder where your stuff comes from?

Watch this cool little 20 minute video about how our stuff became stuff, and what it all means for all of us and our planet.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Some facts from the video:

• In the past three decades, one-third of the planet’s natural
resources base have been consumed.1
• In the United States, we have less than 4% of our original
forests left.2
• Forty percent of waterways in the US have become undrinkable.3
• The U.S.has 5% of the world’s population but consumes 30% of
the world’s resources4 and creates 30% of the world’s waste.5
• If everybody consumed at U.S. rates, we would need 3 to 5
planets.
• There are over 100,000 synthetic chemicals in commerce today.6
• Only a handful of synthetic chemicals have even been tested for
human health impacts and NONE have been tested for synergistic
health impacts.7
• In the U.S., industry admits to releasing over 4 billion pounds of
toxic chemicals a year.8
• The average U.S. person now consumes twice as much as they
did 50 years ago.9
• We each see more advertisements in one year than a people 50
years ago saw in a lifetime.10
• In the U.S. our national happiness peaked sometime in the
1950s.11
• In the U.S., we spend 3–4 times as many hours shopping as our
counterparts in Europe do.12
• Average U.S. house size has doubled since the 1970s.13
• Each person in the United States makes 4 1/2 pounds of garbage
a day.14 That is twice what we each made thirty years ago.15
• For every one garbage can of waste you put out on the curb, 70
garbage cans of waste were made upstream to make the junk
in that one garbage can you put out on the curb.16

Go watch it, it's freaking sweet :-)

Love and light,
-Alex

Maharishi documentary on history channel...

About a month ago the history channel aired a documentary about Maharishi. I gave a google video link to it but it looks like the link is now inactive. Here's a link to the same documentary, on Youtube, broken up into 5 parts.

    1.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPGafwv2CvU&feature=related

    2.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRSjXRW5E3Y&feature=related

    3.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E7z7b2-Tns&feature=related

    4.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTRwWD4ZKEs&feature=related

    5.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijswEnedfYs&feature=related

Also, tonight at 10:30 central time on MOU.org (Maharishi Open University) they're airing the cremation ceremony live from India. You can watch it online along with other Maharishi-related videos.

Love and light,
-Alex

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi...

It seems that  Maharishi has accomplished what he came here to do and has now left this physical plane. Here are a couple of links related to Maharishi that were shared with me, and I will now share with you :-)


One is an article by Deepak Chopra about Maharishi. Deepak would not be who he is if he hadn't met Maharishi when he did.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/the-three-maharishis_b_85432.html





The other link is Howard Stern (surprise!) talking very highly about Maharishi and Transcendental Meditation. He talks about how his mom is alive thanks to Maharishi and TM.
http://www.rencapp.com/Howard_Stern_on_Maharishi_02_06_2008.mp3
Enjoy!
 
 

"The wise grieve not for the dead or the living"
-Bhagavad-Gita

Love and light,
-Alex

February edition of Conscious Times is up!

I'm the chief editor/creator of Conscious Times, the university's new student newsletter. You can read the new edition (February) here.

Download ConsciousTimesFebruary08.pdf

Enjoy! This issue is packed with goodness! It's always a pleasure to put together these issues, and I love the new students and the ideas they're bringing with them!

I can't wait to use their stuff for the next issue :-)

Love and light,
-Alex

My article "Why Meditate?" gets published on EdgeLife Magazine...

So my fellow blogger puki and I wrote articles for EdgeLife magazine about meditation and going to school. You can read them here
Why Meditate?- a former college partier's perspective

Enjoy the read, I know I enjoyed the write!

Love and light,
-Alex

New Student Center opens up Feb. 1st!

The entire campus is very excited about our new building, the Argiro Student Center. It'll open up on Feb 1st, and even though some of the sections won't be completed yet, the entire school is really looking forward to making this new building our home.

The building is huge. It has tons of features and it is LEED certified to one of the highest levels. LEED certification means it meets the highest standards for sustainable construction and design. It is quite exciting to be able to watch the process unfold from nothingness. Now I feel the whole atmosphere of the campus will shift towards this new building and it'll be fun to have tons of people gathered there at the same time.

Come visit and check it out for yourself. :-)
I promise to give you a tour.



Love and light,
-Alex          

When 47 degrees feels like summer...

It's been really cold here in Fairfield. The other day I had to scrape the INSIDE of my windshield because the humidity in the inside of the car was frozen. Last week is was about 0 degrees without factoring in the windchill. Today it was a scorching 47 degrees, and some were rushing to the store to buy sunscreen.
It's funny how relative this whole thing is. i just hope it stays warm until April, then I hope it gets warmer.
Maybe I'll take this opportunity to build my very first snowman. I've yet to partake in such an activity. I'll get to it eventually.
Stay warm people, and watch that wind-chill factor :-)

Love and light,
-Alex

Is peace a struggle?

The simple answer is no, and the complicated answer can be seen all around you. Chaos, drama, and lack of fulfillment have become part of our everyday lives, but is this really the intention we've been sending out to the world? I think not.

The world has wanted to experience a life of peace since the earliest of historical records. But, all we've managed to experience so far seems to be nothing but constant conflict. Conflict within ourselves, and conflict within our societies. What, then, is the purpose of our endless quest to achieve this vision of an ideal humanity? Did we miss something? Did we do something wrong? Maybe these aren't the questions we should be asking, but rather, we should be looking to create this vision in the worlds that are within our reach.

Think about this... when you tackle a problem that is bigger than yourself you will more than likely experience a great deal of struggling. But, when you take on a portion of the problem, and deal with that, everything becomes smoother and easier to manage. Could it be that peace is a struggle because of the magnitude of our society? What if instead of writing-off "world peace" as an Utopian dream we create peace in our daily actions and internal dialog? surely we'll create peace in the world.... even if it's  experienced by only you.
:-)
Love and light,
-Alex

War with Iran? maybe Bush thinks we haven't been paying attention...

Happy new year everyone, this is my first post of the year and a necessary one, I feel. As Bush travels the middle east and rallies countries to "confront Iran," and as the public is made to believe that a tiny interaction between the US navy fleet and Iranian speedboats(they looked more like Jet skis) is somehow a sign of a worldwide threat, I feel a growing sense of concern about whether the American public is paying enough attention. I know I'm paying more attention that years past, but it really took a small amount of awareness to realize that the US government has failed to represent the American people.

Or, maybe it is simply representing them fully. At a time when more people are caught up in celebrity scandals and don't realize that we've had the technology to say goodbye to oil forever, it seems only fitting that the administration that represents the people is equally clueless. On the left is a chart showing the amount of money we've spent invading Iraq.

Now, as evolution continues its mighty move towards the future, the one thing that's completely clear is the fact that things will surely change. And, I feel it is supremely important to continue to grow as individual human beings, so that our collective actions manifest the highest of intentions for our society.

Meditation, anyone?

Love and light,
-Alex

Was Jesus stressed out before his birthday?...

The Christmas holiday is fast approaching, and I haven't even packed for my trip tomorrow! I'm sure Jesus had an easier time during the holidays. "What should I, Jesus Christ, give everyone for my b-day?" "maybe I'll just manifest some fish... everyone loves fish."

I'm almost done with my business class, and I've got to say it's one of the best classes I've taken at MUM. I'll dedicate an entire blog just for it.

Oh, just a quick update about my wisdom teeth. I've yet to find the wisdom but it turns out that all four need to come out. I don't understand why my body would create 4 new teeth when clearly there wasn't any room for more. I should find out who's running the 'development' department. This type of thing must be stopped before it spreads to other areas of the body... "Oh look at that...it's an extra arm!" you get the point.

Merry shopping to everyone, let's keep this economy rolling and let's do everything we can to make sure the large corporations keep getting richer and richer. They can never have too much money, control or power.

Just kidding, please stop them.
Buy local, and know where your products come from...(Are you indirectly supporting child labor for extra savings of 50 cents? get informed...)

Love and light,
-Alex

Where's the wisdom?

I sit here patiently waiting for my wisdom teeth to come out. It hurts, a lot. Is this some kind of design flaw? I would like to have a word with the manufacturer.
Apparently our mouths were once big enough to carry this extra set of teeth. They are not anymore, and there's no room in my mouth for anymore teeth. Why would my own body do this to itself? I don't understand. Should I have them taken out? maybe, maybe not? I must speak with a professional on the subject.
In the meantime, I will patiently wait and see what my body decides is best.

Love and light,
-Alex

Winter in Fairfield, IA...

So I've been taking pictures of this tree near my house. My goal is to have a picture of it from every season. So far I have fall and winter. you can see the difference for yourself.


I must comment on a curious little aspect of the season that makes me laugh when it isn't irritating me. It's 32 degrees, but sometimes it goes up, and sometimes it goes down. Stay with me. Sometimes it rains when the temperature is below 32 and sometimes it rains when it's above 32. Still with me? ok. Imagine what happens to the water when it is told to freeze and melt over and over again. Confused? that's how the water feels.

This morning I scrapped a 1 inch think layer of ice from my car that was on its way to becoming water. It was one of the funnest things I've ever done. The ice would just shatter and slide around the car like a force field of winter-ness. Walking, now that's a whole different adventure. Imagine the world as a gigantic ice skating rink, and you're not wearing the appropriate footwear.

Fun times.
Come and visit so I can throw snow balls at you :-)

Love and light,
-Alex

History Channel Airs documentary on Maharishi...

About a week ago the History Channel aired a documentary about Maharishi. It is now available on YouTube (5 parts) and you can watch it by clicking here.

They have a few shots of our university. They're pretty recent too. At least from this summer.

Anyways, it's a nice little intro to his life and subsequent movement.

Go watch it... now...

Love and light,
-Alex

Update on the Public Meditation Project...

Hello world. As many of you know, I started the Public Meditation Project this past summer and now you can watch a short intro to it on QuantumShift.tv if you click this link. The video is currently #1 on their site!

The Public Meditation Project comes from the idea that we should be the change we wish to see. If we display our own personal peace publicly, imagine what that image would do to a society bombarded with negativity, chaos, and advertisers.

I'm encouraging everyone (who's adventurous enough) to go out and publicly display your peace. Then send pictures or videos to publicmeditationproject@gmail.com.

Love and light,
-Alex

lalalalalalala-life is wonderful...

It's a Jason Mraz song (Life is Wonderful). I just came back from open mic night at Cafe Paradiso(With my friend Surya. Actually, he did most of the singing). The place is a little coffee shop where they host tons of traveling musicians and open mic nights on Wednesday nights. We go there and play our little hearts out until people climb onto the stage and say, "please, please stop playing...we've closed about an hour ago." Just kidding, that's never happened.
Speaking of music and cafe paradiso, go check out a man by the name of Justin King. He's come through Fairfield a couple of times and I missed him both times because I had no idea he was so good. Go to Youtube and listen to his song "knock on wood." Wait, I forgot I have the power to direct you there magically and instantaneously. Click here to see him perform an amazing instrumental guitar thing 

You won't regret it. I promise, and I don't promise a lot of things through my blog. That says something.

Have a great day, and don't forget to smile.

Love and light,
-Alex

New Student Center is Amost Ready...

The schedule completion date is February, but It'll probably be pushed back to March or April. Nevertheless, I took a tour of the almost-completed building along with this year's Student Government a few weeks ago, and here are some of the features this building will have:

In the area of sustainable design-

• Natural daylight
• Passive solar design and solar hot water heating
• Geothermal heating and cooling
• An innovative heating system (developed by our University’s Physical Plant staff) that will recapture the large amount of heat generated by the kitchen equipment and use it to preheat the mechanical system’s incoming fresh air in the winter.

The student center will also feature the following sections:

• Grand Assembly Hall
• Cafe and food court
• Two dining halls
• Kitchen
• Bookstore
• Student Lounge
• Reception room, available for religious services, celebrations, etc
• Offices for student government and the student deans
• Recreational space