Sure! I am dead serious. The last thing I needed to hear when I was in the "enlightenment" stage was somebody coming at me with race or culture. When I was struggling with the meanings of these words (race, ethnicity, gender, etc.) I wasn't trying to hear anything else. Then I stopped seeing a certain way and I became more aware of the energy around me and the influence of certain ways of thinking (not just Western, either). I like some of the things Zukav has to say about fear and power. Thus, I included it in this discussion.

Carry on! :)

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"Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own"
--Paulo Coelho, "The Alchemist"

"Know thyself"

"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you". So we may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
-- Hebrews 13:5,6

"There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path"
--Morpheus in "The Matrix" (and a Buddhist philosophy)

"It's our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"- Dumbledore to Harry Potter "Chamber of Secrets"