Julian Assange is a man for this time. He’s an avatar – someone who’s come to do something of a very particular type, for a particular purpose, that’s been done before. That purpose is clear to him and he enacts it with unstoppable vigour and focus. Like many men who stand out from the background fabric of our collective cloth of history, Assange is not the first. Neither is he the last, but he and WikiLeaks are doing what’s needed in a way that’s right for our time. He will be remembered as a hero.

Assange stands with those we remember as heroes after their death, and often as villains during their life – depending on your perspective.
Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Joan of Arc, or Jesus Christ, were all heroes. Not to suggest that Assange is in JC’s league, but these people lived a certain life and manifested a type of energy that Asssange shares – it’s the energy of potent, far-reaching change. Why do we need these heroes? Because we’re always trying to make things stay the same, to maintain the status quo, and believe in a make-believe perfect reality. But life’s about change – balance – change. So when some try to maintain their idea of a perfect world at the expense of other, that’s when the destroyer energy is called in to break the stranglehold.
Like an electrical storm, the strikes of a charged bolt of lightning score into our earthly inertia with enough voltage to burn and kill, yet that same energy is bringing new life into the planetary atmosphere, showering us with the intangible good feelings that come with clear air.

The energy has a dismantling effect, splitting huge old trees in half, bringing down power lines, plunging cities into darkness. When existing structures are poorly maintained or have outworn their use by date, storms and lightning strikes will sort out what stays and what goes.
In the process many are hurt, some are killed, and the hero often has a shortened life because of the enemies made or the intensity of the life which wears out the physical body.
But we don’t forget these people. After a time we revere them and read about them in history books because they did something that most of us only dream of: they lived a full and meaningful life.

Historically, much change has happened through the power of the sword. Christ brought in a new era through the power of the word and showed us what we could be; now WikiLeaks and Assange wield the power of the internet – of the collective thoughts of humanity for something better.
Forgoing comfort, security, and the usual joys of family and stability, to achieve their goals, past heroes have risen to prominence and power only by sacrifice and often by fighting sword to sword, fire to fire, death to death.
One could argue that heroes are on an egoistical quest and their success is more about one-pointed fanatical devotion to a cause than an example of a balanced personality.

There is room to argue that the true hero is the quiet achiever who strives to live Buddha’s noble middle path of harmlessness, peace and love. These are the values of the builders, and they are of equal value with those of the heroes on the path of destruction. We need the yin-yang, the storm and tempest to uproot trees, create storms, fire and drought, to shake us up a little and make us think: maybe we’re not doing it right? Maybe there’s a better way to live. And we need the slower but longer-lasting way of those who build for a different future.

It’s possible that our modern fanaticism with ‘balance’ is often a blind for the consumerism and apathy that seems to characterize our modern society. This isn’t building, this is maintaining a corpse. In the struggle to live a balanced life, all our energies are given to finding perfect health, beauty, personality, family, job and life. Surely there’s more to being here than striving for perfection? I would argue that perfection is like equilibrium – a relative state of balance sure to be flung again into change. Physics shows us that everything is changing and that all forms must transmute and die to a new form. Far healthier I believe, to accept change as the only constant and embrace it.

Since WikiLeaks hit the scene, we’ve woken up. Those of us who embrace the fluctuating scales of life have shouted ‘hurrah’. So many people are excited in a way they have never been before. News sites, especially alternative internet sites like DemocracyNow! are experiencing more hits than they have in a long time.
At last there’s something to read that’s not from the controlled media; that may lead to real change now, in our time, slicing into many of the institutions and belief systems that we no longer hold dear.

What are we hungry for? Truth, Light, Energy. We want something to happen because many of us know that the way things are can’t be sustained, and that it’s only those benefitting in a big way from the status quo that are arguing with us on this point. These are the ones trying to cast doubt on the light that’s being cast on many previously murky areas of our society. Much of this light is revealing the truth we’ve been asking for, and the massive energy that is being released along with the leaks, is energizing dinner parties, bus stops, drinking fountains and internet blogs like few other events can.

Assange is not WikiLeaks, but he symbolizes it. As its spokesperson, he is a human being that we can identify with – respect, fear or hate. We each project our own unrealized desires onto him. Some also project their own dark side, their dark secrets and fears onto him, and he becomes their scapegoat. Those who call for his assassination, using highly emotive and fearful words, are clearly like a rabbit in the spotlight.

Whether he’s crucified as an example to us all of what happens when you open Pandora’s box, or is allowed to continue the work of revelation, or retires to obscurity, this phenomenon is happening now, in our time, and to us.
What are we, Creative Change Makers, doing with this opportunity to move in and build? Now is the time to create, now is the opportunity to feel the energizing fallout from the electrical storm of change. Now, in the yawning chasm between the old and new ages, when our vision is darkening in the twilight as the old ways of lighting the way diminish and the new light is only a flicker. Now is the time when the energies are in free fall.

We have the power as humans to catch them, make them our own, use them – the power held within the electrical charge from a storm must be managed with intelligence and loving care lest we are burned. But provided we remain mindful of our primary task, to create positive change, this fiery energy will run through us but without harm.

Like any of us, Assange must always take care to diminish any actions that stem from thoughts of personal gain. WikiLeak’s stated aim is promote transparency and an informed public, and there are many arguments about whether its own actions comply with its intentions to make governments and corporations transparent. What do we mean by transparency? As long as there’s any argument from any quarter for secrecy – whether it’s a recipe for cooking chicken, making a skin care product, telling a white lie or annihilating a section of humanity – are any secrets or half-truths okay? If so, who’s to decide? And what is truth anyway?

At the end of the day after exhaustive examination only one thing is clear to me – I like what Julian Assange and WikiLeaks is doing. I can criticize it for being hypersensitive about its own secrecy, but the US leads the way in hypocrisy so anyone else only stands in their shadow.
WikiLeaks is like the alter ego of the US and other Governments who wield tremendous power and want to change the world into more of their own image, believing they can keep their intentions hidden – and how many of us do this in our personal lives all the time?

It’s an exciting time and it’s a tough time. As many sense, we’re on a slippery slope down and nothing will stem the muddy flow of old attitudes, values and ideologies that are now spewing forth from all corners of the internet. I’ll be lucky if this article is read by any but a handful, so intense is the response to the electrifying energies entering our planet at this time.
But like Assange, we do our thing because we believe in it. We put it out there and see what happens. For Creative Change Makers this means promoting new ideas, writing articles and books, creating products, building businesses and communities that have as their mission statement: To build a world that respects and nurtures all planetary beings. That’s about as transparent as you can get.

Like Assange, Creative Change Makers are avatars. We may be on a different path – not of the destroyer avatar, but of the builder avatar. This path we share with such illumined minds as the Buddha, Christ (who destroyed and built such was his power), Gandhi, and more recently, Buckminster Fuller, Rudolf Steiner, and E. F. Schumacher.
Now we build as a group. We know each other because we’re connected via the etheric networks of the internet.

Assange and WikiLeaks use the ether to conduct their war using the power of light and sound waves, and so can the builders. The avatars of destruction always show us the way: Genghis Khan and his warriors shone light on the warring tribes of Northeast Asia enabling them to be united under a common purpose. Something in what Christ said and did united people to follow him. Assange and WikiLeaks are breaking down barriers of distance, uniting those who want change. Instead of swords and armies, WikiLeaks, are using modern weapons of social networks and the internet to bring down the parts of the old that are already decaying. The builders are using the same tools to build the new civilisation.

The baton of change has been thrust into our hands. Do we understand the immensity of the time? It’s the opportunity we’ve been waiting for. Now we – Creative Change Makers – can run with fresh vigour, not towards the finishing line, but towards the next hurdle. Motivated by the unfaltering will-to-create amongst the destruction and debris, we gather pieces from the old which are still of value, and bring them together with the shiny new ideas and concepts of the new.
We’re creating a place where peace and balance, excitement and change, builders and destroyers can co-exist with mutual respect. There the intense disruption of energies like WikiLeaks are not needed because the impenetrable inertia of a pretend perfection can no longer exist.

“WikiLeaks is devoted to shedding light on what these injustices are, and it’s then our responsibility to go out and do something about them.”

Creative Change Makers: Creating Positive Change.

Glenn Greenwald Challenges WikiLeaks Critic: Assange & Co. Single-Handedly Subverting America’s ‘Secrecy Regime’

WikiLeaks is a destroyer energy. Its actions perform a valuable public service in helping to reveal and tear-down outmoded forms. A wiki is a collaborative website designed to provide knowledge, and Julian Assange and his team are providing us with information we need to know.

According to some Assange is a hero (see Ted Talks interview), while to others, like the White House he is irresponsibly threatening national security.

In the confusing and chaotic times we live in, many of us are wondering what’s really going on – we don’t believe what we’re told in the news, by politicians or CEO’s – but how do we find out the truth? Not, I suggest, by shooting the messenger. Assange is like electricity: he’s a potential source of light – useful in helping to reveal many dark and dusty secrets that need to be shared by all humanity, but what he reveals needs rational, scientific, not emotive, handling.

Wikileaks provides an important source of information that helps us put the soothing, soma-inducing and apparently benign voices of those in power into a bigger, clearer perspective.
The leaks are helping many to question these voices or maybe they’re just adding to the already jaundiced view we have of ‘authority’. Many are now saying it’s time to destroy or at least take the best from, the old, outmoded institutions and belief systems so that they can make way for the new.

There’s another form of energy we can call the builder energy. Those working with this energy are taking their cue from the destroyers. Now’s the time for the builders to get really busy. They’ve been quietly creating the forms for many years, waiting for the time to come when the new age is ready to be revealed, and by now they’re not just isolated individuals but groups and they’re building in numbers.

The builders are the non-government organisations, groups and organic collections of individuals who are working to help create an equitable, sustainable and purposeful life for us all. They are the environmentalists, educators, scientists, financiers, businesses, philosophers and spiritual groups who are working with different but complementary methods and all with the same aim.

These groups of builders rely on the destroyers to dig out the dying, decaying debris that’s no use to us anymore. The destroyers are clearing the path so that the young, green shoots of a strong, beautiful and harmonious new world can emerge. It’s embryonic and experimental because that’s how all new life begins, and this gives us all cause for joy because we’re all needed to help in the rebuilding.

We can listen and perhaps support the destroyers if we feel they are destroying in a way that will benefit the many, rather than the few. And we can each decide how we can do our bit to help create a new way of living life on our shared planet – a way that enables us all to share resources, engage in meaningful activity and better understand our individual and collective purpose in being here.

What would you do in a disaster? Would you freeze, preventing you from looking for a way out of the situation, or panic – a reaction that could have devastating consequences for yourself and others? According to recent disaster response studies, about 90 per cent of people fall into the ‘freeze’ or ‘panic’ scenario, while only 10 per cent stay cool and focused allowing them to analyse the situation and work out how to get out of it or take a reasoned way forward. Although situations vary in their detail, those who stay calm, act decisively and don’t give up, are the ones most likely to survive.

During the recent Chilean mining accident, it may have been a combination of the hope to again see their loved ones, and a reasoned response to their situation. Hope is belief in something more than our individual self. But hope, without reason may end up directionless. Reason is our individual capacity to think logically. With both skills we may be the 10 per cent of those who stay cool and survive.

Are you one of the 10 per centers? In a paper called, “The weirdest people in the world?” the research found that many psychological studies rely on WEIRD people from western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic nations as their research subjects. (1) Ninety six per cent of their human experimental subjects were undergraduate students from western industrialized countries.(2)

Their research found that these WEIRD people use an egocentric way of seeing the world. For instance, an English speaking WEIRD may describe someone as being, “to the left of my car”. This comes from an individualistic concept of self. Contrast this with a study between WEIRD Germans and non-WEIRD Namibian hunter-gatherer children. When taught a dance routine using the same hand movements – right, left, right, left, the German children reproduced the same pattern when asked to turn around 180 degrees while the Namibian children mostly produced the sequence in reverse – left, right, left, right. (3) This apparently indicates the Namibian’s reliance on an allocentric (centred in others or collectivist) sense of self, while the German children maintained an ego-centric frame of reference.

According to a 2009 report in New Scientist,(4) that explains why we WEIRD people tend to be individualistic and always wanting to be different and stand out from the crowd. It also explains why we tend to reason analytically, categorising and focusing on laws. Contrast this with non-WEIRD people who reason more holistically, paying attention to patterns and context.

Intuitively many would think that a bit of both – individualistic and holistic thinking – sound like a healthy win-win. When we apply these findings to real-life it may be that this is the solution to that elusive balancing act of life.

As the Chilean miners shared their ordeal and coping strategies, it seems that as the men realized their life-threatening situation, their individualistic responses (withdrawing, despair, squabbles, fear), gave way to a more team-oriented approach.

They achieved this by acknowledging that each person was of equal value,”Everything was voted on… We were 33 men, so 16 plus one was a majority,” recounted Urzúa. Fellow survivor, Richard Villaroel, told reporters, “We all agreed that we would all share the food that was there.”

This collectivist position was balanced with the importance of each miner knowing he had a particular role to play, “We all had our roles and that’s how we survived”, said Mario Gomez. These roles tapped into personal expertise: Yonni Barrios was “the doctor”, his very basic medical knowledge greater expertise than anyone else. Engineer Raul Bustos redirected water away from the sleeping area and flushed waste deeper underground.(5)

The miners’ story shows that both hope and reason – the belief in a greater force, and a belief in our own skills – are the keys to keeping cool and focused in a crisis. We’re in a global crisis today of no lesser threat to our collective survival. The Chilean miners’ stories illustrate the skills and attitudes needed to survive an experience akin to the mythological initiation by fire, and how to emerge physically safe but no doubt psychologically changed.

Creative Change Makers regularly descend into their own underground place of fire to refine their skills and attitudes so that they can be the 10 per centers who stay cool and focused, balancing hope and reason in a crisis. Their capacity for analysis and thoughtful action is the result of finely tuning their strongly individualistic sense of self with the needs of the whole. This capacity to walk the noble middle path, incorporating these two extremes is a skill that neither WEIRD nor non-WEIRD people own. It’s a new skills set that has to be fought for and won from the voluntary descent into the underground of the psyche; to display the courage and persistence needed while the fires of the otherworld do their work; and to then emerge, as did the miners, to share their knowledge and inspired sense of direction with us all.

Footnotes:
1. Behaviour and Brain Sciences, vol 33, p 61 quoted in New Scientist p 41

2. American Psychologist, vol 63, p 602 quoted in New Scientist p 40

3. Current Biology, vol 19, p R1068 quoted in New Scientist p 42

4. New Scientist, 10 March 2009, p 32

5. UGM Consulting, http://www.ugmconsulting.com/Is%20a%20hero%20of%20the%20Chilean%20mining%20disaster%20working%20for%20you%20UGM%20Briefing%20Oct%2015%202010.pdf, retrieved 22 October 2010

World Forum of Spiritual Culture was held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, from October 18 – 20, 2010, the Forum attracted over 500 inspiring and empowered creative change makers from more than 70 countries.

The “Peace Through Spiritual Culture” Astana Declaration is a summation of what the forum set out to achieve and where we – all of us together – can take it from here.

Organised by the Kazakh government, this Forum called on representatives – people who are inspired to be part of positive change – to streamline their efforts, to make the Spiritual Culture a priority over other values in human civilization. And they answered the call – in all colours, shapes and sizes.

Ideals of cooperation, nonviolence, and a belief in the victory of common sense and light permeated every momont of this forum. Activated by the intense landscape surrounding Astana, conference participants seemed to be riding a huge wave of serotonin, walking and talking love, peace and a better world. What inspired these highly educated and respected scientists, political leaders, educators, lawyers, writers and activists to meet together in the heart-centre of Eurasia, exploring concepts like ‘spiritual’, ‘world culture’ and ‘noosphere’ ?

The idea for the Forum began in the early 90s as leaders in various countries realised that new knowledge and attitudes were required for the development of Civilization and Culture. From this it was envisaged that a series of intercultural and international conferences would encourage global dialogue and active cooperation in working towards solutions for the current problems facing us all.

Michael Gorbachev wrote on the Forum’s site, 30 April, 2010, that, although a lot of things depend on government policy, without participation of civil society, policy can’t fix the challenges facing us all now. Many of us know this to be true. Along with the forum’s participants, we are all Creative Change Makers – practical idealists – each with a vision that we’re formulating into pragmatic action.

Noosphere Constitution: from this Forum a major initiative was birthed – the Noosphere Constitition, written by Gordina Liubov and others. Its authors are hopeful that this constitution could be the blueprint for creating a world culture that is sustainable and socially equitable for us all. It relies on each of us to do our bit – individuals, NGOs, groups and, if they get the picture, governments.

If you want to know more about what happened, who said it and where to from here, check out

my facebook page for constant updates.

Also follow these links for inspiring reading and contacts -

Science: http://noosphere.princeton.edu; www.newhumanity.org

Education and Youth: www.coeworld.com;www.povod.si; www.vno.sfedu.ru

Media: www.seinswelten.de; www.rocketmedia.at;www.rtarabic.com

Law: www.pollyhiggins.com

Peace and Culture: www.peacethroughculture.org; www.estreladapaz.org;

Earth Healing: www.earthcharter.org; www.markopogacnik.com

Global Governance is Inevitable. It’s the major issue facing the emerging world culture. It’s number one on the United Nation’s agenda. The UN Declaration of Human rights Article 1 states that: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

If it’s our enshrined right to freedom and dignity, how can we ensure that global governance will work towards creating a world where we can all live the life we deserve?

During September 2010 heads of government met to discuss the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) – eight globally-agreed targets to reduce or eliminate world poverty, hunger, disease and other social and economic ills by 2015. These are goals that many of us currently enjoy; but many don’t.
At the same meeting there was much discussion about the UN’s role as the centre for global governance in the emerging world culture. On 15 October 2010, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke at the opening session of this year’s World Policy Conference at the French Institute of International Relations. Approximately 140 representatives from the public and private sectors, academia and the media, talked about global governance.(1)

The message from these meetings is that our rights as humans and the way we are governed are inextricably aligned. It’s also clear that in a globalised world we need global rules and regulations. But who decides?
According to General Assembly President Joseph Deiss, the danger of the UN becoming marginalized as other actors emerge on the international scene is a key theme for all 192-members of the Assembly. He also said that for the UN to fulfill its role at the centre of global governance, it must be made stronger, more open and more inclusive. The meeting focused on reaffirming the UN’s central role in global governance – not global government – but as a world body that can “bridge the efforts of different actors”. (2)

Emerging World Culture
As if linked telepathically, there seems to be a wave of consciousness sweeping the world, stretching our collective awareness up a notch or two. There are email, social network, web posts and forum conversations about the need for change – a recognition that we, humanity, hold an important place on this planet we call home. We are acutely aware that our common purpose needs to be the creation of a more sustainable planet to ensure our ongoing survival.

According to Mr. Deiss, “Poverty, conflicts, global warming, the economic and financial crisis, migration, pandemics, terrorism, international crime and a whole range of other issues have consequences that cannot be managed at an individual level and that humankind can address only through common global strategies”.(3)

Sure the UN has a lot of housecleaning to do. It needs to not just rearrange the furniture, but allow the whole variety of household furniture, appliances and floor coverings – every nation on earth – to be part of the discussion and decision making process. That is, share equal status in both the General Assembly and the Security Council. There are a lot of nations pushing the UN to reform – pull up its socks and be accountable to us all, not just to the select few. At present there are only five permanent Security Council members – China, France, Russia, UK and US and 10 non-permanent seats. Where nations are exluded or given secondary – non-permanent status – the playing field is not level and the rich kids are ruling the playground.

While the UN debates how it will take the next step in its evolution, many are growing impatient. Celebrating the end of WWII, Mr. Ban noted that the end of the war saw the triumph of idealism with the founding of the United Nations.(4) Now, 65 years on, as Hany El Banna, World Humanitarian Forum UK said, “Humanity is waiting for us. Not to hear about our actions, but to see our actions.”

Of course, it easy to criticize the UN – a remote, non-individual that has apparently little relevance to our daily lives. However, it’s important to realize that everyday services like global telecommunications are made possible courtesy of the UN.

These good and useful initiatives aside, the main issue for many is that the UN is run by governments. And the emerging culture is about individuals and groups, the common man and woman, wanting to be part of the change process. It’s about the grassroots flourishing. But this time it’s not a nation here or there; it’s not the dispossessed, downtrodden and poor. It’s the informed, the intellectuals, the thinking, conscious individuals from everywhere – any and all nations, cultures, mainstream and ‘sub-groups’ who are striving to live Mahatma Gandhi’s famous mantra, “Be the change you want to see in the world”.

World Spiritual Culture
At the 63rd Session of the UN General Assembly in 2009 President Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann presented a report with terminology including words like, “Noosphere” and “Living Planet”; terms usually dismissed in government circles. President of the Noosphere Spiritual-Ecological World Assembly, Dr Liubov Gordina said that after the presentation, “A large number of international organizations expressed their appreciation stating that they realized “the ice had started melting” and that now also those who hold power at a global level had become aware of the importance of the spiritual and ethical development of society.” (5)

Dr Gordina said that only a spiritual culture can bridge between the old and emerging civilization. “This future appears not as a technical or a scientific problem but as (an) ethical one.” (6)

How To Create A World Spiritual Culture
How long have we been singing about making love not war? Since Christ perhaps but then it was only a few who understood. Now there are millions who know it’s the only way. Is it possible that a world spiritual culture is really around the corner?

According to Investment Analyst and author Ron Robins (7), there is a fundamental shift in individual consciousness towards global ecology, spirituality and social justice. He cites Dr Paul Ray’s 2000 research (8) that found more than 50 million Cultural Creatives lived in the US and 90 million in Europe. Along with Robin’s definitions for this group, Ray’s research pointed to their deep interest in saving the planet, in self actualization and self-expression.

In 2000 that may have been only 140 million people, there may be more than that now. They may only represent a tiny percentage of the planet’s more than 6 billion human inhabitants, but there’s a magical factor at play here. Critical mass is when a large enough number of people collectively want the same or similar things. This concept is taken from nuclear physics and although it’s hard to identify the magic number for tipping the scales, there’s a snow ball effect which has a life of its own, gathering mass and momentum.

As new ideas develop and deepen so does the power and voice for change emerge more forcefully. The number in this collective pool of new ideas or thought must be large and powerful enough to overcome the inertia of the past and resistance to future change.(9)

The Noosphere
Research by Dr Roger Nelson, Director of the Global Consciousness Project, neatly demonstrates the effect of critical mass in creating change. By monitoring synchronized data collected at independent network nodes separated by thousands of kilometers, Dr Nelson and his team has shown that, “when the attention and emotions of large numbers of people are made coherent by great tragedies or great celebrations, a slight but detectable structure is imposed on our random data.” (10) Dr Nelson claims that this change in the data is due to the effect of the Noosphere.

The Noosphere is a concept made popular by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Vladimir Vernadsky. It divides the planet into nine levels of complexity that make our world. The first three are the lithosphere, the next is the biosphere and finally the noosphere which is level nine. This is the home of thinking matter, human society, the human brain and creative intelligence.

It’s as though we’re all inherently telepathic but don’t realize it. We can all access this great global mind and brain yet few do. It has been suggested that the internet is like a prosthetic for this latent telepathic ability, enabling us to realize skills that we will one day fully utilize without the need for this electronic assistance.

The Noo-Constitution is a document written by Dr. L.S. Gordina and Dr. M.Yu. Limonad, Vice President of the Noosphere Spiritual Ecological World Assembly. It is an attempt to formalize the opportunities that can come from this leap forward in our collective evolution. Its authors have utilized the theories and findings about the Noosphere into a document outlining what we need to do to create a “unified and unitary planetary civilization” and world spiritual culture. The document is in the form of a legislative constitution with three parts and a Conclusion framed in 14 chapters and 132 Articles.

According to Dr. Nelson, now that we’ve broken through to this new level of Noosphere awareness, we’re faced with a new level of responsibility. We now realize what we’ve done to our planet and each other, why we’ve done it, and what we can do to fix it. We realize that to do this we need to undergo fundamental change at the core level of our being – our self concept and our collective thinking patterns about who we are. He sums up this ideal: “It is time to recognize that we are humanity, an organism with purpose, no longer a scattered collection of elemental individuals”.(11)

Meditation and Creative Visualisation
With this emerging awareness and interest in who we are as a race of beings, called humanity, comes the desire to understand ourselves and our individual contribution and place in this new collective identity. Many of those who are Cultural Creatives and/or Creative Change Makers are aware that their task is to somehow bring the spiritual – the unseen yet intuitively and telepathically grasped ideas and realities, into the mundane, everyday, physical world. They are bridgers.

The idea of a noosphere fits nicely within their personal paradigm. If we individually and collectively have a purpose then it’s easy, axiomatic in fact, to envisage the planet having a mind, a purpose too.

The Noosphere is the logical next step in our emerging awareness of ourselves and our planetary home. Since James Lovelock rejuvenated the idea of our planet as Gaia, the living, thinking system, we’ve been wondering who we are – the planetary brain, or maybe even its mind?

Dr Nelson’s research supports Rupert Sheldrake’s Morphic Resonance theory that each of us is connected via the morphic field of humanity. This resonance allows us to learn from those we’ve never met by sharing a great pool of human thought from which we can all draw sustenance. For instance, some lawsuits for breach of an idea for a story or song may be due to this sharing of ideas.

Along with Carl Jung’s archetypal consciousness and Peter Russell’s global brain, we are receiving information from different disciplines – science, philosophy, psychology – each shedding light on the next step we can take in our deeper understanding of our place in the greater scheme.(12)

If we can share thoughts we’ve produced then maybe we can also share in premonitions that come from somewhere beyond human thought. Dr Nelson’s research showed that five hours before the 9/11 incident, the instruments detected significant fluctuations in the data as well as after the incident as expected These theories all share the common belief that our planet is an evolving entity, and that the Noosphere which means the mind sphere, may be the planet’s brain. In turn this brain may receive input from the planetary mind or the mind of god.

Quite logically we can see that humans have the immense potential to tap into this greater mind sphere by using their own thoughts. It seems within the realms of physical reality to accelerate our learning, perhaps more easily on a collective level, but sometimes individually, to draw new knowledge and inspiration from this wellspring.

Those who think this is possible are preparing their mind and brain much like we prepare our body for better functioning by exercising. They are working on watching their thoughts, being conscious of the mind chatter, taking control of their thoughts rather than letting them run randomly. This seems like common-sense – we don’t let our bodies run riot so why our minds and thoughts?

Using creative visualization and meditation those on the cutting edge of this practical science of thought are learning to draw ‘down’ ideas from the higher spheres and then direct it as positive, loving mental energy into the world. This can be the basis for many creative outcomes in written, visual, or any other form.

This may also be a way that each of us can have a say in the way our world will be organized into the future. We may not sit at the tables of the UN General Assembly, but to create positive change, we don’t need to. The power of thought is believed by many to be the greatest power available to each of us. As Dr Nelson says, “It is absolutely necessary to inspire world leaders with powerful new social and cultural values…” Along with tangible measures like what we say and do, we can also engage the power of our mind by controlling our thoughts to tap into the global mind and then creatively meditate or visualize the kind of outcomes we desire.

If the 140 million plus individuals in the world are able to tap the power of the noosphere, by aligning with the planetary mind, then with focused intent on such ideals, using visualisation, word and action it does seem possible that a critical mass may be reached. In cooperation with the leaders of goodwill in the UN, the enlightened and inspired creative change makers on the planet may be able to effect this change. The Millennium Development Goals can be reached and Global Governance by the people for the people may indeed be a reality we can all touch, taste, feel and enjoy.

Footnotes:

1.www.un.org/news 11.10.10
2. General Assembly President Joseph Deiss, www.un.org 24.0.10
3. Ibid
4.United Nations Radio http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/detail/95011.html retrieved 13.10.10
5. An article on the World Forum of Spiritual Culture website to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan in October 2010 www.astanaforum.kz/en/index.php?option=com_content retrieved 30.6.10
6. Ibid
7. Cultural Creatives to Dominate in the Age of Enlightened Economics http://enlightenedeconomics.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/cultural-creatives-in-age-of-enlightened-economics/ retrieved 13.10.10
8. Dr. Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson, Cultural Creatives
9. How to Build a Critical Mass of Support to Accelerate Your Change http://www.beingfirst.com/resultsfromchange/pastissues/print.php?i=13 retrieved 13.10.10
10. Dr. Roger Nelson, Scientific Evidence for the Existence of a True Noosphere: Foundation for a Noo-Constitution. Paper for the World Forum of Spiritual Culture, Section 5, The Noo-Constitution. Astana, Kazakhstan, October 18-20 2010.
11. Ibid
12. Law of Time http://www.lawoftime.org/noosphere/theoryandhistory.html) retrieved 13.10.10

As an Australian I’ve been fascinated observing our Federal politics. What’s happening in Australia at present? Our last Federal election resulted in a hung parliament. Is this a chance for a makeover? If so, what will we do with this opportunity?

I decided to analyse this question within an astrological framework – by looking at the sun sign of our previous Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and our present PM Julia Gillard, in the light of the astrological signs governing Australia’s personality and soul.

According to Alice Bailey,1 Australia, like all nations, has a personality and soul just as each individual does. She states that Australia has a Virgo ascendant or soul sign, and a Capricorn sun or personality sign. This means that Australia’s personality is essentially materialistic, grounded, business-orientated, pragmatic, hard working, and not prone to considering the non-physical, unseen or spiritual realms of life. ‘She’ll be right’, work hard, play hard, the importance of ‘a level playing field’ and a ‘fair go’, these values, along with a laid-back lifestyle, are the results of living in a sunny country with wide open plains, ample resources and shimmering blue oceans.

Young and Free
Australian’s national anthem says, “Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free…”.2 Perhaps many of us were once, and many of us still appear to believe that we can continue that way. But amidst the global winds of change isn’t it time we grew up and looked at what it means to compulsively pursue the dream of eternal youth and freedom?

The white-Australian tradition seems to have us believe that life’s here to be lived without much care for the rest of the world. It’s a hard thing for an individual to fess up to the realization that youth and all the trimmings are not eternal, and it’s even harder for a collection of disparate individuals that collectively make a nation. But perhaps that’s what we are being called to attend to. Why not turn the apparently odd and unworkable situation of a hung parliament resulting in a government without a clear majority of votes, to our longer-term benefit.

While migration has made us a multi-cultural society, and many of us embrace this vibrant diversity, others are concerned with job loss, environmental degradation, and threats to the status quo. Some blame migration on increasing citizen numbers which puts a strain on resources. They call for a small Australia.

A Glimse into our Future?
When Kevin Rudd came to office as PM, many of us were excited. Here was a bi-lingual Australian who spoke Mandarin – very exotic. He was measured, visionary and seemed to want to take on the big issues like the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which he then backed away from due to a backlash from some consumers and business. He said ‘sorry’ to the Aboriginals and ratified the Kyoto Protocol. He called for a big Australia inviting us to embrace the benefits of a larger population via current immigration and birthrates. His final deed was to try and tax the mining industry’s super profits – an attempt to reclaim some of the extraordinary riches mined from the land on which we all depend.

With a Virgo sun, Rudd seemed to embody much that Australia was emerging into – a society that realized it needed new blood to prosper and grow; deepening awareness of our fragile bio diversity – that we can’t farm it like it’s England; a new respect for our plentiful mineral resources, and of our shared responsibility and right to benefit from their abundance.

Those who could see what Rudd and his government were trying to do were generally the thinking, intelligentsia, and those aware that there’s more to life than the pursuit of money, comfort, security and materialism for its own ends. Those who wanted a vision for Australia. Virgo rules the relationship between spirit and matter; it shows us the sacredness, the spirit or life within all atoms, and all forms in all kingdoms in nature including the human. It governs the capacity to honour the earth: the ecosystem on which we all depend. The energy from this constellation is available to show us how to relate to the other kingdoms – mineral, vegetable and animal – that represent our resources and nourishment. The same resources that give us freely, and without fear or favour, the beauty, perfume, colour, devotion, sound and divinity that we call our wonderful Australian lifestyle.

Initiatives like Kyoto, the ETS and the mining tax, were an important test of the Australian people. Are we ready to honour, understand, support and nurture these kingdoms in nature – the environment and ecosystem upon which we all depend? This was the opportunity to step towards a clearer expression of our collective soul as a nation of diverse people.

It appears some are ready, but many are not. Rudd lost the leadership of his party. He’s now Foreign Minister and appears to enjoy greater respect overseas in Europe, Asia and the US, than he does at home. Can others see Australia’s potential more easily than many who live here?

Which way will we choose?
Rudd’s been replaced by Julia Gillard. With a Libra sun sign she represents the fragile balance of power the Labour party now tries to enjoy. How will Gillard’s scales tip? Libra represents the opportunity to make a choice – for the lower way of materialism and self-interest at the expense of the many, or the higher way of inclusivity that considers the highest good of the greatest number in all its dealings. This includes a responsibility for a just and sustainable Australia not just for its citizens but also for the natural kingdoms that underpin our country as part of a global family of nations.

Rudd helped to open up the Australian psyche a chink more so that we could all peer in to see what we could do if we worked together instead of tearing ourselves and our ecosystem apart in petty self interest. He showed us our Virgo soul, and the pathway we can all tread to be a bigger Australia, both in our own eyes, and in the eyes of the world.

Will Gillard take us back further into the negative side of Capricorn by sychophanting to big business, and the lowest common denominator just to grasp onto power? Or will she choose the higher way by tipping the scales in the direction of an Australia in which we can all rejoice – a growing-up Australia that’s willing to embrace its inevitable emergence from just being young and free, to being a conscious, consenting adult in a global world. An Australia that understands the relationship between freedom and responsibility within the big picture is the only real way to “advance Australia fair”.

1. Bailey, A. Destiny of the Nations, Lucis Trust, London, 1977.
2. Australia’s National Anthem, http://www.imagesaustralia.com/australiannationalanthem.htm
retrieved 24.9.10

“Where there is Peace, there is Culture;
Where there is Culture, there is Peace.”
—NICHOLAS ROERICH

Painter, writer and peace builder, Nicholas Roerich believed that it was possible to create peace through art and beauty. He said, “When the whole earth will be covered by the Banner of Peace, protecting cultural treasures, there will be no field for war.” As a consequence he wrote the Roerich Pact.

On April 15, 1935, the Roerich Pact was signed in the White House. Agreed to by twenty-one nations of the Americas, the treaty was signed in the presence of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It is now international law. Since that date many other nations have signed the treaty which agreed on preserving and protecting the cultural produce and activity of the world, in both war and peace.

The desire for peace never leaves us. There are always those among us who strive to create a better world for us all. On September 21, 2010, we will be celebrating Peace Day, (see video) a 24 hour-window of opportunity for life-saving activities around the world, and an opportunity for individuals – particularly young people – to become involved in the peace process.

This UN International Day of Peace, was started in 1999 by Jeremy Gilley, an actor and filmmaker. It is a day of global ceasefire and non-violence. This year Peace Day is also part of the UN Millenium Development Goals Summit in New York. There are 12 Goals nominated by the UN as those most important to all humanity: end hunger and poverty, universal education, improve maternal and child health, combat AIDS, create a sustainable environment, gender equality and a global partnership for development.

Our human journey to create and sustain peace on Earth continues unabated. But what do peace days, culture, art, beauty and development goals have in common? They’re all a product of the soul of humanity, of our collective desire for something greater and better than we have now. It’s the energy that drives us to want to do something, to create something that is uniquely our own expression of the highest and best that we can believe in; our vision of what may be.

According to Alice Bailey, the soul is the creative artist. 1 “Our modern civilisation is the result of this creative activity of the soul’s desire nature, limited by form”. All concepts and ideas that evoke a response of beauty are the products of the soul. They draw out from the deepest parts of ourself feelings of love, harmony, joy and aspiration. Beauty is our way of expressing and acknowledging truth – the best and highest to which we can all strive.

Art is our human way of touching the divine. As Thomas Merton puts it, “Art is not an end in itself. It introduces the soul into a higher spiritual order, which it expresses and in some sense explains. Music and art and poetry attune the soul to God because they induce a kind of contact with the Creator and Ruler of the Universe.” 2

Nicholas Roerich understood that culture and art are the keys available to every human being, to help them unlock the beauty within. Once the door is opened, the energy released by beauty can express itself in the outer world, transforming it for others who can then also see the beauty, previously veiled, now made tangible.

“Art is science made clear,” said Jean Cocteau.3 Both art and science are intrinsic to culture. That’s why Roerich’s Banner of Peace is so potent a symbol of humanity’s collective striving for betterment. This banner of three circles is an ancient diagram symbolising the trinity – in this case the triune reality of Love, Beauty and Action, and of Art, Science and Spirituality.

What is culture? It has been defined as the service of the light – Cult = service and Ur = Light. “Spiritual culture is the highest form of service to Light. Spiritual culture is a diverse and uninterrupted communication of the higher with the lowest, the spirit and the matter.”4

Although at present treated as separate disciplines, art and science share a common heritage and a united goal. They both strive to express truth and the beauty therein; the highest that humanity can know and try to manifest in form at any time. Whether the beauty is expressed through art as painting, writing, sculpture, photography, music, or through science as inventions, knowledge and theories, all are different ways of expressing the same soul urge to draw forth that which is hidden.

The soul is the creative agent and both science and art are expressions of the soul and of spirituality which – the spirit hidden in matter and form. Science creates in atomic matter, the energetic and the particular, while art creates in the world of the forms made up of the atomic, the energetic and the particular. Both are striving to make sense of our world, to make our lives better, more meaningful, and both aspire to understand what lies behind the outer veil that covers the daily, mundane world. Both seek to reveal something more: interesting, helpful, beautiful, wise and meaningful.

The Roerich Pact and Banner of Peace symbolises this common striving across disciplines, cultures, races and nations; striving for a world that is peaceful, beautiful, harmonious, loving and joyful. Some call it the Golden Age, others the New Age, others think it’s a fantasy that can never be, but all dream of it because it’s part of our archetypal memory and our collective hope that there is a better life for all.

Thomas Carlyle suggested that, “The great law of culture is: let each become all that he was created capable of being.” 5 If we accept that we are each in essence a soul in a physical body, and that the soul is the part of ourselves that creates, then art and science, are both creative. Whether they contribute to the highest culture of our time, or try to keep us chained to the rocks of materialism and the status quo, depends on who is creating. If it’s the soul – the light part of ourselves that’s aware of its shared humanity – then the created work is worthy to be added to the cultural heritage of our age.

Initiatives like Peace One Day and the Millenium Development Goals are proof that the lighted soul in many is alive and well. Like Nicholas Roerich before him, Jeremy Gilley used his creative imagination, powered by his soul, to manifest something beautiful in the world. This something is beautiful because it is inclusive, joyful, loving, meaningful and much needed right now. Its energy spreads waves of fun, laughter, and light that automatically create a sense of wellbeing and harmony, if for some it’s only one day.

These qualities of beauty and joy are part of the emerging culture. This is a world culture that doesn’t belong to any one person or nation, it belongs to the whole world. Whereas in the past nations have claimed certain people, works of art, science or philosophy as their own, in the world we are now creating, culture will recognise its spiritual base as being inherent in all humans. Simplicity of forms is true beauty and truth, giving a closer expression of divine meaning and purpose. 6

To create there needs to be peace. It’s difficult to create anything but more dis-harmony when all around guns are firing and corpses are lying in the street. The UN Day of Peace and the Millenium Development Goals reflect our collective understanding of this fact. In their ideals of sharing peace, resources, personal freedom and liberty, these and other similar initiatives show us the best that is human. Our common humanity, our in-built knowing that we can’t live here alone, that we need each other and that wherever there is war and suffering, all are at war and all are in pain. Many also understand that to achieve these noble goals, we need to take personal responsibility for them by choosing to live more simple, sustainable lives.

The Banner encourages all humans to beautify all aspects of life. Wherever it is displayed, it recognizes the great achievement of the past, the present, and the future. It encourages all individuals to strive to fulfill their highest potential; it encourages each person to take responsibility for the evolution of the planet; it signifies the peace-builder; and it symbolizes the transformation of the individual and of society. It represents cooperation—the cornerstone of the emerging planetary culture—in all aspects of human activity.7

Art, science, philosophy, the highest and best that any period in history can create, is our shared culture, our spiritual culture. Roerich’s Banner of Peace is used by many individuals, groups and associations around the world to promote awareness of the Pact, the Banner and their underlying principles. Symbols speak to the soul and the Banner of peace resonates with humanity’s un-faltering desire for cessation of fighting between individuals, groups, tribes and nations, so that all can witness the flowering of the new age.

Nicholas Roerich, like Jeremy Gilley and thousands of others, believe that peace on Earth is a prerequisite to planetary survival and the continuing process of spiritual evolution. Now many believe, as did Roerich, that the symbol of peace unites all humans, across cultures, in the common language of Beauty and Knowledge.

“Art is to create beauty, through beauty we gain victory, through victory we unite and through beauty we pray.” Nicholas Roerich

1. Bailey, A. Esoteric Psychology II. Lucis Trust, New York, 1970,
2. No Man Is An Island, The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, Florida,1955.)
3. Le Coq Et L’Arlequin, 1918.
4. World Forum of Spiritual Culture, Spiritual culture is the new ideology of the renewing world, , retrieved 7 September, 2010
5. Great Ideas of Western Man, 1965.
6. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology II. p. 247
7. Centre for Peace through Culture, www.centerpeacethroughculture.org,
retrieved 6 September 2010

Journalists are asking themselves who they are now that the internet and digital recording technology is making everyone a citizen journalist.
They ask: whats the difference between ‘old’ and ‘new’ journalism. They call this the difference between vertical and flat news.
It questions the line between deliverer and receiver of information, the journalist and the audience, and who is the authority and why.
Essentially journalism, news, media are terms for how we communicate whether its over a cuppa with a friend or via breaking world news.

Vertical news is news from above, from authorities and experts, while flat news is the information and communication that happens everywhere from everyone. With access to flat news, most of us have the opportunity to shape and interpret the fantastic parade of life’s events for ourselves. I wonder whether this means that as individuals and cultures we are becoming more intent on reinforcing our perspectives and attitudes to life, or whether we will access a broader range of information that challenges us to re-think them. Are we using the tools of the internet and technology as a means to broaden our communication and ability to learn about the world and other cultures and perspectives, or is it just a means to maintain our little status quo?

One way that the internet may assist is in the sometimes random way that search engines (often due to broadly worded queries), cause us to stumble on information that is outside our comfort zone. Providing this is not because we’ve been delivered a porno site or similar, then the find may be useful in helping to broaden our personal horizon.

Intrigued we may have the opportunity to take in information that hasn’t been sanitised and prepared for our consumption, or that fits with our normal world view.
Access to flat information may help us to broaden our ideas about who else is in the world, what they’re doing, and why they’re doing it.
I think we need to remember that both flat and vertical information is tinged with the perspective of the mind that wrote/shot/spoke it. This means we’re all being influenced all the time by each other’s thoughts about life and events.

Whether it’s been reported by a qualified journalist, a citizen journalist or a blogger, all information that we access is a secondary source unless it’s our own first-hand experience, and so it’s only one person’s perspective.
The benefit of flat information, in my view, is that the information is easier to de-construct, than that served up by reporters paid by media organisations.
The audience has only to sift through the veil of one perspective, than the many veils of corporations with a particular culture-shaping agenda.
The disadvantage of flat information is that this one veil can be more elusive than the conglomerate. It’s often difficult to know who wrote, shot, or said it – what’s their frame of reference, their bias?

An audience can choose to shun vertical information delivered by experts or qualified journalists, for the freedom of surfing the plethora of flat information available via the internet. But with freedom comes responsibility.
In this new dynamic, fluidic world of the internet, the media’s purpose in reflecting a society or culture back to itself is unclear. Who is doing the reflecting? We all are. We’re all becoming the media, the medium and the message.

There’s a world-wide interaction going on and if we wish to claim the right to report and air our views in the flat news environment, then, in my view, it’s up to each of us to hone our skills in communication, and to broaden our knowledge of what’s happening. Then we can analyse and contribute in a consciously and critically intelligent way to this great and exciting global conversation.

Each of us, as audience, will value this interaction on an item-by-item basis, rewarding and reinforcing the contributor accordingly asking ourselves, how did this add to my sense of what’s going on in our world, and how can I more effectively relate with it?

A Spiritual Perspective on the Burqa Veil

As European countries debate whether or not to ban the burqa, or burka – the complete covering of the head, face and body, we can see that the issue can get pretty heated. In order to make use of this opportunity we can take a step back and try to get an objective perspective by pondering what the term ‘veil’ symbolises to us on a deeper level.

Is the controversy about religion or does it touch the nerve of our often subconscious social and cultural values of what is and isn’t acceptable? Let’s drill-down to try and find what underlies the actions being taken to legislate against the wearing of a particular item of clothing.

What is the burqa? It’s a veil isn’t it? A veil is an ancient symbol which means to shroud something – usually a clearer sense of reality. So we have the veil of mystery, glamour and illusion.

When brides marry they sometimes wear veils, we veil monuments and thrilling achievements just before they are unveiled by a dignitary. The mist veils the moors and streets in a mystical shroud of natural secrecy, and we cover our naked bodies in the veil of clothes, sometimes out of embarrassment, hoping to improve on our inheritance. Animals and soldiers employ the veil of camouflage to protect from the enemy, and our lies veil the truths we prefer to keep hidden.

So what is the mystery that the veils seek to protect? In all the instances cited above, the veil is used to cover-up something to provide physical, emotional or mental protection. And there seem to be myriad reasons for the cover-up.

The veil is sometimes interpreted in erotic terms as veiling something to make it more alluring and desirable (1) such as the veil over a bride’s face, or the transparent veil over the harem women’s faces.

According to the Ageless Wisdom texts, the veil is interpreted as a separation between the physical and spiritual worlds or realities.(2) In this case, the veil is intended as a temporary but effective means to prevent humans accessing the spiritual realities before adequate preparation has been made to understand and withstand their power.

Often there is more than one veil. Spiritual mysteries are veiled in secrecy and as the veils are withdrawn, the truth is revealed. As with everything the axiom ‘as above, so below’ can be applied. The veils are like peeling an onion; we remove one layer only to find another until eventually we come to the ultimate Truth in the centre.

So what does this have to do with the burqa? This item of clothing is just another veil. Like all other veils, it is designed to obscure reality. And, as Einstein showed, reality is relative.

Mohammad Qadeer says that the burqa is a tent-like cloak that completely drapes a woman’s body and face, with only a crocheted screen as an eye-piece. It has been worn by women to go out in public for almost a century or more in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and parts of the Arabian Peninsula. It literally draws a curtain around a woman and allows her to move about outside the family compound, while conforming to the religious-cultural custom of remaining secluded from men”. (3)

The burqa is used in this context to create or retain an illusion agreed upon by those conforming to the tradition. What is the agreement? That depends on who’s been conditioned and how because our social and cultural upbringing creates our prejudices, beliefs, fears, hopes and desires – our collective veil – until we decide to unveil ourselves. We can ask: Is the burqa being used so that men can own their women; is it to protect women; or maybe because she’s having a bad hair day? Then again it may be so that men can pretend to be women?

In all societies and cultures the veil has been used as a convenient means to cover for unsociable or even culpable behaviour. Be it the balaclava, scarf, mask, sleeping with the enemy, corporate lies in memos, ‘read my lips’ whoppers, or promises made on the campaign trail – where does the veil really end? It all depends what we have culturally decided is an okay veil, what lies and deceit, norms of behaviour or prejudices, we have collectively agreed to protect or turn a blind (veiled) eye.

So in the west enough of us have agreed it’s okay for women to wear makeup, low cut tops, short skirts, and be available for sex 24/7, but it’s not okay for them to cover up their face. That is our collective veil – our agreed belief system about how the world is and should be.

The veil is about protecting illusions. Sometimes we don’t know why we’re condoning the veiled behaviour or attitude, like allowing banks to charge interest, or polluting our waterways, but we’ve collectively agreed to cast a veil over such actions – it’s just expeditious, but for who’s benefit?

To wear a burqa or have a boob-job; to perpetrate corporate crime that’s covertly concealed by layers of veils, or to detonate a car bomb that enjoys no such protection – all are actions that are supported or condemned based on veiled beliefs. But who can really point the finger and condemn one veil as being okay and another as not?

It may be clear to some, but to others the issue of how we legislate is based on often deeply hidden motives. What laws do we want to see enacted, how will they affect our social good (the highest good of the greatest number), and on what values are they really based? This question needs to be at the forefront of our minds because whether it’s about women’s freedom, cultural fit or religious freedoms, the burqa debate is just another veil to be lifted.

May 2010

Sources:
1. The Lure of the Veil, A History and Examination of the Practice and Pleasures of Veiling, http://www.talesoftheveils.info/lure/lure.html, retrieved 11.5.10
2. The Torn Veil, Jean Borella, The World Wisdom online library: www.worldwisdom.com/public/library/default.aspx, retrieved 11.5.10
3. The Evolution Of The Burqa, Mohammad Qadeer, http://iramz.wordpress.com/2006/10/05/the-evolution-of-the-burqa/ March 23, 2002, retrieved 11.5.10