Greed @ MindSay 
lust
I am happy to have a temporary reprieve from children on power trips. Those who when given an inch take a mile and then some, and use it for their own gains at the expense of others.
So often the theory of looking out for #1 is destructive. Sure, we've all been trampled on, dismissed, abused, ignored. Does the rage of being a victim turn us into the oppressor? Have we forgotten our humanity, our compassion, and our decency?
Many have. Look around at those in power - our CEOs, heads of state, even our bosses and coworkers. Survival (looking out for #1) has turned so many into unrecognizable monsters.
So I leave you with an expression from the Wiccan way of life - be ever mindful of the Rule of Three. It applies to both good and evil.
| By Dr Daniel Sokol Medical ethicist |
I nearly swallowed my tongue.
Their second answer was House, the fictional doctor from the American TV series.
Tears of frustration welled up in my eyes.
Their third answer was Hippocrates, presumed author of the Hippocratic Oath - I breathed a sigh of relief.
Written nearly 2,500 years ago, the Oath is the most famous text in Western medicine, yet most people (including doctors) know precious little about it.
One GP recounted the story of an elderly patient who believed the Oath instructed doctors never to tell patients the truth. It contains no such advice.
Here is a brief guide to the Oath.
The Oath starts: "I swear by Apollo the physician and by Asclepius and Hygieia and Panacea... to bring the following oath to fulfilment."
Apollo, the god of healing, fell in love with a human, Coronis.
| | I will use treatments for the benefit of the ill in accordance with my ability and my judgment, but from what is to their harm and injustice I will keep them Hippocratic Oath |
In his absence, Apollo sent a white crow to look after her.
When the crow informed Apollo that Coronis loved another man, Apollo's rage turned the crow black.
To avenge her brother, Apollo's sister shot Coronis with an arrow and, as she lay dying, Coronis told Apollo that she was bearing his child.
Although Apollo could not save Coronis, he rescued the unborn child, Asclepius.
Hygieia, the goddess of health, and Panacea, the goddess of cures, are the daughters of Asclepius.
According to legend, Hippocrates was a descendant of one of Asclepius' sons.
Inspiration
Doctors taking the Oath would doubtless have been inspired by this illustrious lineage of healers.
The next section instructs the doctor to treat his teachers as his parents, and to pass on the art of medicine to the next generation of healers.
| | In a pure and holy way, I will guard my life and my art and science Hippocratic Oath |
The Oath continues: "And I will use treatments for the benefit of the ill in accordance with my ability and my judgment, but from what is to their harm and injustice I will keep them."
In other words, doctors should act in the best interests of their patients, and when unjust circumstances arise - for instance, a certain life-prolonging drug may not be available on the NHS - they should strive to correct the injustice harming their patients.
The next part seemingly concerns euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, saying: "And I will not give a drug that is deadly to anyone if asked, nor will I suggest the way to such a counsel."
Two leading scholars of the Oath, Littre and Miles, have however suggested that this passage alludes to the then common practice of using doctors as skilled political assassins.
Steven Miles notes: "Fear of the physician-poisoner may be traced very close to the time of the Oath."
The word "euthanasia" (meaning "easeful death") was only coined a century after the writing of the Oath.
Abortion
The text continues: "And likewise I will not give a woman a destructive pessary."
This passage is often interpreted as a rejection of abortion.
However, abortion was legal at the time and the text only mentions pessaries (a soaked piece of wool inserted in the vagina to induce abortion), not the oral methods of abortion also used in ancient Greece.
As pessaries could cause lethal infections, the author of the Oath may have had a clinical objection to the method, rather than a moral objection to abortion itself.
The next sentence - "In a pure and holy way, I will guard my life and my art and science" - is a call for professional integrity.
Doctors should refrain from immoral behaviour and resist the temptations that accompany their privileged position (today, from drug companies offering generous gifts, for example).
Surgery
The Oath continues: "I will not cut, and certainly not those suffering from stone, but I will cede this to men who are practitioners of this activity."
Another common misconception is that the Oath forbids surgery.
| | About whatever I may see or hear in treatment, or even without treatment, in the life of human beings, I will remain silent, holding such things to be unutterable Hippocratic Oath |
In fact, it instructs doctors to acknowledge the limits of their competence and to refer cases to more specialised practitioners.
Next, the doctor enters the patient's house: "Into as many houses as I may enter, I will go for the benefit of the ill, while being far from all voluntary and destructive injustice, especially from sexual acts both upon women's bodies and upon men's."
The need for such a statement reflects the wide distrust in healers at the time.
In a competitive marketplace where quacks abounded, it was necessary to reassure the public that doctors would not exploit patients.
Confidentiality
The penultimate section deals with confidentiality and reads: "And about whatever I may see or hear in treatment, or even without treatment, in the life of human beings, I will remain silent, holding such things to be unutterable."
As today, patients in ancient times shared deeply personal information with doctors on the assumption that their details would not be revealed to others.
Without this trust, patients may withhold facts that would help the doctor make an accurate diagnosis.
The text ends with the rewards that await those who respect the Oath ("the benefits both of life and of art and science, being held in good repute among all human beings for time eternal") and the punishment of those who do not ("if, however, I transgress and swear falsely, the opposite of these").
This whistle-stop tour of the Oath gives some idea of the content and spirit of this ancient text.
In an age of technological developments, cosmetic surgery, complementary medicine, drug companies, and many other temptations for patients and doctors alike, the spirit of the Oath is as relevant as ever.
• Dr Daniel Sokol is a medical ethicist at St George's, University of London, and Director of the Applied Clinical Ethics (ACE) programme at Imperial College, London.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7654432.stm
I am of course talking about the need for spiritual enlightenment! The need for a mass global collective consciousness. Peace is at our fingertips, yet it seems so hopelessly far away sometimes, doesn't it? Such an idea should, one would think, be universally welcomed and accepted. Shouldn't everyone be trying to live with the best of intentions and the warmest of hearts in an attempt to create that idealistic Utopia? That state of Shambhala? Life, as we know it, could be exponentially better!!! Our health, our homes, our relationships (intimate or not) and generally our overall happiness could be the best we would have ever known. A shift in mindset could see the development of impoverish nations, the feeding of every hungry belly, the adoption of cultural beliefs into other cultures and so forth.
Now I am definitely not the most spiritually inclined, nor am I the most positive of people at times, but as an individual, I have begun to devote myself to following a healthy spiritual lifestyle. I am most assuredly not religious in any way, so I searched for something else to fulfill that void I was feeling. I have met many many wonderful amazing people and through these people I discovered a whole world right in front of me! It's the same world you and I both live in , the same people are around me, but it is 100% different. It is a world based entirely on love and energy. A close friend, who calls himself the "Love Activist" taught me the most important thing I have ever learned to this date. No matter who we are, where we are from, what we believe or don't believe in, we all have the capability to do one universal thing. LOVE. Yes, that's it. It really is as simple as that, though I never before would have guessed it. Love is something we are born with and blessed with. With enough love, we can conquer all trials and tribulations. We can eliminate greed, and fear for with love, we need nothing else but each other. With enough love, everyone will be taken care of because that's what love ensures.
Life is hard, make no mistake about that. But with the beauty of such things as Synchronicity and Manifestation, we can start to see how our choices affect our paths, and how our thoughts are one of the most powerful tools we have. Our intentions that we set can determine our successes, our thoughts can forge a path through anything. By connecting ourselves to the beauty in everything, and embracing the feeling of love we can begin a progressive and powerful change in our lives. It will not happen overnight, and will not happen if we don't open our eyes to the truth many people have not yet been introduced to. But with time and patience, we can overcome the dramas of today, the genocides, the wars and the famines.
So educate yourselves! Pick up Celestine Prophecy, or watch The Secret. Learn the Sedona Method, learn to meditate or simply talk with those around you who may have reacher a higher spiritual frequency. There are many others like myself who know a tonne more than I do at this point. But what I do know is that the time for change is now, and that it is our movement that will encourage others to follow suite!
As Bob Marley once said, "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, None but ourselves can free our minds."
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Two travelling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guestroom. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold
As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, "Things aren't always what they seem."
The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest.
When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.
The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel how could you have let this happen?
The first man had everything, yet you helped him, she accused. The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die.
"Things aren't always what they seem," the older angel replied.
"When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it."
"Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave him the cow instead. Things aren't always what they seem.“
Sometimes that is exactly what happens when things don't turn out the way they should. If you have faith, you just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage. You might not know it until some time later...
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality http://www.ahrq.gov , the average hospital stay is 5 days with an average cost of $17,300. The most expensive hospital stay is infant respiratory distress, which can cost up to $90,000. Can anyone honestly say that these prices reflect a free market based on supply and demand? Isn't it more honest to admit they are more likely an indicator of racketeering? That's why if you want medical care in this country, you need insurance.
Since insurance companies have deep pockets, this leads to over-billing on the part of the hospitals. Most of us have heard of doctors that charge your insurance company for a whole box of syringes whenever he uses one. It's not entirely the doctor's fault either. Doctors often face malpractice litigation that, while sometimes legitimate, is often cooked up by greedy patients, who likely are in debt due to medical bills. It's a vicious circle of people making bad decisions that keeps medical care out of reach of 15% of the American population.
The results only confirm the grim reality: the United States is among the lowest-ranked nations in the developed world in a variety of health categories that include life expectancy and infant mortality rates. To anyone who isn't sticking their head in the sand, the system simply, doesn't, work.
There is something strange in the attitude of most Americans I see. They don't seem to think that everyone having access to necessary health care is something we need. It's as if they want to be thrown out of the hospital to die at home because the surgery they need was deemed "experimental" by their insurance company who refused to pay for it. Cable News pundits like to talk about the evils of "some government bureaucrat deciding what medicine you can take and what doctor you can see." Why the hell don't they complain when it's the same situation, except the bureaucrat is replaced with an insurance adjuster with a rubber signature stamp? Why would they rather have their health care decisions made by a company who puts profits above patients instead of a government run by officials who are elected by the people?
Imagine if the government decided to get rid of public education, the interstate system, or the post office and left it to private industry? There would be a revolt. Yet, for some reason, no one seems to think that everyone having access to necessary medical care (e.g. staying alive) is as important as being able to send a package for $3.95.
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