Soul's Code

We’ve extended the best, brightest and biggest Soul’s Code photo, video and art contest: Get featured on our homepage, in our next postcard . . . “Take” a shot at snagging a spiritual basket of prizes worth $250!

The idea: Show us a person, place or practice that inspires, or enlightens you. Email us an image or video clip. Finalists will have their work featured on our homepage, and the winner will receive a

Grand prize:

* A $50 lululemon gift card 
* A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
* The companion audio CD, Meditations for a New Earth, by Tolle’s companion, Kim Eng
* An energy reading with psychologist and healer, Smadar de Lange
* And for when you have Zinned too much, Vaishali’s Gemstone Alcohol Detoxifier

“Just because CNN is selling economic fear across the board doesn’t mean you have to buy it.”

GUEST COLUMN: VAISHALI — From the Eastern perspective there will never be one single pill, diet, exercise or lifestyle that will cure what ails all people.

Each of our lives fulls of thoughts and episodes and sensations reflect an intensely-experienced microcosm. Each being has a unique fingerprint —  let it be said, soul’s code — and wants to be understood, examined and healed uniquely, not through the lens of mass judgment.

What is experientially, emotionally and perceptually toxic to one person could be liberating to another. There is not one accepted standard that will equally measure every nuance of every person’s life. The “average person” does not exist in Eastern philosophy.

7 Reasons why Michael Jackson’s shocking June 25, 2009 death will become a larger event than Princess Diana’s

BY PAUL KAIHLA — Diana, Princess of Wales, had one of the most famous funerals in living memory — and the memory of the ‘Peoples’ Princess’ was celebrated in saturation TV coverage of her public vigils.

But the public outpouring for Michael Jackson has grown much larger and widespread than that for his friend, Diana, even though he was far more controversial than she. Within minutes of the Reagan UCLA Medical Center’s DOA announcement, networks called Jackson’s death “the story of the year.”

Here are 7 reasons why Jackson’s June 25, 2009 death will become a larger event in the global village’s collective consciousness than Diana’s 1997 tragic demise in Paris:

1. Michael Jackson became known when he was 11 years old; Diana, age 20. Jackson touched a much wider swath of humanity for a far longer period of time.

We surf Oprah . . . so you don’t have to

The L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, has given Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince a four star rating.

Not overly concerned that most of the characters are witches and warlocks, the article praises the movie for its values of “friendship, altruism, loyalty and self-giving.”  Catholic News Service.

Mira’s miracle?

One wonders if the word “miraculous” is getting too much play.  Mira Sorvino’s third child has been called a “miracle baby.”

After Charlie’s Angels ended, Farrah embraced the divine

GUEST COLUMN: DR. JEANINE AUSTIN — Farrah Fawcett was a huge beauty icon for all of us who came of age in the ’70s. I didn’t know any 13-year-old girls that didn’t, in some way, try to copy the Farrah feathered hair style. In earnest, I took a photo of Farrah to my hairstylist who offered to create a variation of the Farrah hairstyle for me. I was completely deflated at the thought that my hair could not be made to resemble Farrah’s exactly.

I felt burdened by the injustice of it. I didn’t have blond hair, thick hair or wavy hair, which made my morning efforts with the curling iron laborious. I admit that I stayed home from school on several occasions simply because I couldn’t get the Farrah feathered hair down.

Scientology leader accused of slapping subordinates

David Miscavige, Church of Scientology chairman, has been accused of  hitting staff members on several occasions. Said one alleged witness, “It was random and whimsical. It could be the look on your face. Or not answering a question quickly. But it always was a punishment.” Soul’s Code finds this a curious use of the word “whimsical,” but hopes that such whimsy, if true, will come to an end, soon. It can only contribute to our collective pain body.

A priest and psychotherapist shares how he and his friends have dealt with recession, job loss and financial poverty

BY DAVID RICKEY — The loss of a job — the proverbial “Pink Slip” — can be a major challenge on several levels. Material survival, physical well-being, emotional balance, and, ultimately, sense of meaning are all threatened by this single event.

Here’s a “prescription” for dealing with this threat.

First, breathe . . .

Then, as you keep breathing deeply, let the fears and emotions gently come forth. With each fear, as it arises, ask yourself: “Is that really true?”

Marriage and family therapists are advancing a new way to disarm people when they lose their cool: the Aikido of Communication

SOUL’S CODE —  Like a scene out of the Michael Douglas movie, Falling Down, a just-divorced aerospace worker in California’s “Inland Empire,” dressed up as a Santa on Christmas Eve 2008 and shot nine people at his in-laws’ holiday party.

The  day after Christmas, 2008 in Philadelphia, 29-year-old James Joseph Cialella Jr. shot a father in a movie theatre after arguing with the latter and his son while watching the Brad Pitt-Cate Blanchett vehicle, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

It’s not a total coincidence that the shootings in Covina and Philly took place on either side of Christmas Day.

These aren’t “The Rules” that Oprah loves. DAVID RICHO’s arise out of Buddhism, a Catholic priesthood and depth psychology

SOUL’S CODE —  Shrunken stock portfolios, canceled checks, and an unemployment rate in the double-digits indicate that couples who are distressed in their relationships today will stick together tomorrow.

Stick it out, rather than walk out is a distinctly anti-Me Generation response to fear and unmet wants — the opposite of the Baby Boomer ethic of autonomy and desire-fulfillment.

The polar-opposite is our parents’ and grandparents’ code for survival — a Survivor-response to love and relationships forged in the scarcity of The Depression’s and WWII.

“Headscarf martyr” mourned in Egypt

An Egyptian woman stabbed to death in a German courtroom was mourned by a throng of people in Alexandria, Egypt, July 7, 2009. Marwa al-Sherbini, 32 years old and pregnant, was allegedly attacked in court during a case in which a neighbor accused her of being a “terrorist” for wearing traditional Muslim garb. This is what’s in the air over there: President Nicolas Sarkozy has made waves over the past few weeks by advocating a ban of wearing burkas in public.