Piotr Rajski's Blog

Image courtesy of Google Images Facing a six hour drive to Saskatchewan, not so long ago, and encouraged by my friend Mike's positive comments about the medium, I checked out from the local library, somewhat by chance, Robert Waggoner's audiobook, entitled "Lucid dreaming." I immediately got hooked up. Lucid dreaming can be defined as a dream, in which a dreamer is AWARE that he/she is dreaming. I had this kind of experience myself, so it was easy for me to relate to what Waggoner was describing. I once dreamt that I went to visit with my neighbor across the street in High Level, where we lived at that time. The visit was very pleasant, but at some point I noticed that his living room was opened straight into the street, without any walls. "This is not possible," I remember saying to myself, "I must be dreaming. And if I am dreaming I can wake up." This is exactly what I had done. After listening to Waggoner's book, I realized that my d...

I started watching impeachment procedures in the US House of Representatives, thinking that as a retiree, I could give it an hour or so. However, once I started I could not stop. I spent, glued to the TV, probably 5-6 hours on both Wednesday and Friday. The process itself is fascinating. Though quite adversarial, it impressed me how this can be done in an open and fairly respectful way. But I was most impressed by the people who testified - George Kent, Bill Taylor and Marie Jovanovich. Brilliant, focused, to the point, noble, people of integrity and courage. I was particularly impressed by the testimony of Marie Jovanovich, who was an object of a powerful smear campaign, while being US Ambassador to Ukraine, and who was personally attacked by President Trump. Though she appeared close to tears a couple of times, she withstood the pressure of the inquiry beautifully. I think America is lucky having the people of this format serving as her diplomats. Why do you care, one c...

In his recent announcement of the killing of the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , President Trump used the phrase that al-Baghdadi "died like a dog." I have never had any sympathy for ISIS, which committed numerous, often well publicized, acts of atrocities. This seems to be the tendency of the regimes based on dualistic religions - dualistic means attached to its form and being intolerant of other forms of devotion. Since the time immemorial, it seems easier for people to kill if the killing is done in the name of the God. Eliminating a leader of such a regime was probably a good thing. However, I am somewhat concerned about Mr. Trump's choice of words. Alleging that al-Baghdadi "died like a dog," in a cowardly manner, was meant perhaps to break the will to fight of ISIS followers. It also somewhat dehumanizes the whole act - implies, by association, that a-Baghdadi was a dog, and killing a dog is not as serious as killing a human being. But was this ...

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada ... and selected (a solid) minority Liberal government for the wonderful country of Canada. Personally, I am glad. To quote from the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, it seems "Canadians rejected the politics of fear and division" and stayed focused on the future challenges. It seems Justin Trudeau will have a chance to continue his father's efforts towards "progressive" Canada and "the just society." Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative Party  Andrew Scheer, his conservative rival, undoubtedly a man of many talents, appeared to focus his campaign on Trudeau and his record. It is, naturally, always easier to criticise others than to show some positive path forward. Scheer, often, appeared to be quite perfidious in attacking his rival, and this is what eventually turned me against him. As a result of Mr. Scheer's strategy, in one of the meetings, the crowd was chanting "lock him (Tru...

... was tirelessly repeated by Shri Nisargadatta. The way he reached this conclusion was by focusing his attention on the very fact of his existence - I am! With time, he realized that our true nature is ... consciousness! Nisargadatta was not unique in reaching this conclusion. In fact, it has been well established in thousands years long traditional of Indian philosophy and the practices of yoga. This is how Swami Rama explained this issue: Swami Rama (Wikipedia) "The main teaching of yoga is that man’s innermost nature is divine but he is unaware of this and mistakes himself for his body and intellect – both of which exist within the realm of matter and therefore are subject to decay and death. All of man’s misery is a consequence of this false identification. Yoga leads one to the direct experience of inner Self, his true identity. With such realization comes liberation from all human imperfections." (Swami Rama (1998). The Royal Path. Practical Lessons on Yoga. ...

Nostradamus (courtesy of Wikipedia) Normally I am not a great enthusiast of prophecies. Taken literally, they often have quite a sway over people's minds, and tend to make people fatalistic, or, at times, paranoid. The most famous are perhaps the prophecies of Nostradamus , that, many people believe, have already come to be, in some parts, true. Full of prophesies are also the sacred scriptures of many religions. However, I find a lot of congruence between what scientists tell us about the upcoming troubles, related to climate change, and the prophecies of Maha Kranti, pronounced in the early 1980s by Haidakhan Babaji . Maha Kranti is typically translated as Great Destruction or Great Revolution. Haidakhan Babaji started talking about Great Destruction quite early in his ministry. He said: "The change of the present which is full of turmoil, will be brought about by bloody revolution. Peace will return only after revolution reaches its zenith. In the aftermath of the...

When do we want it? NOW! I don't have grand-children - yet - but it still concerns me what kind of world we will leave for these little ones. That is why I decided to join the popular climate action march on Sat, 27 Sep, in Edmonton. People gathered in three places in the city. I joined the group on Churchill Square, which grew up, in my estimate, to about 3 thousand people. Many people came with their children, some of them not yet ready to carry a banner. However, the cause of the environment is also on the minds of older folks. Many people arrived on their bikes to demonstrate their effort not to pollute. I took a public bus. From Churchill Square we walked toward Jasper Avenue. Even the police was environmentally friendly that day. We marched nine blocks in freaking cold. The march and scanding warmed us up a bit. Even construction workers applauded! In a smaller street, close to Alberta Legislature, we were better s...

After publishing my post yesterday - Younger Next Year - I had some additional reflections on the importance of physical activity. I would like to share them in this post. The research on, so called, " centenarians ," i.e. people who lived until 100 and longer, clearly indicates that in most cases centenarians remained physically active late into their lives. They would often farm or grew their garden. Japanese study of the centenarians from Okinawa and Shimane regions also indicated other factors: simple diet, low stress lifestyle, caring community and sense of purpose as factors that kept Japanese centenarians alive. Not to look too far, my own grandfather, Bronek, lived to 100. He worked hard all his life, including 30 years as locksmith in a mine. He was always happy to help his neighbors (as in this picture). I saw with my own eyes like, in his late 60s, Grandpa grabbed two buckets of mortar and carried them up on a wobbly board, when he was helping my uncle to bu...

In spite of the recent setback with immortality (see the post On the Death of the Immortal ), I haven't stopped searching for the best ways of living the days that I still have ahead of me. As a part of this search I reached for the New York Times bestseller - a book by Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge, M.D., entitled: "Younger Next Year - Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy - Until You're 80 and Beyond." As I am especially interested in staying "sexy," I picked this title from a plethora of other books on how to live a good life in retirement. In the Chapter Three - The New Science of Aging - Henry Lodge claims that "Some 70% of premature death and aging is lifestyle related." He differentiates between "aging" as a normal process and "decay" caused most often by lack of activity and overeating. Although we are "stuck with real aging," Lodge writes, "decay is optional." The theory behind is, Lodge explains, is that w...

Rebirthing came to my life, one could say, at an ideal moment. The same could be said about Poland. I met Leonard Orr, the founder of Rebirthing, for the first time in the fall of 1982. Earlier that year I had spent 4 months in Uherce prison [i] , interned for my involvement with the Solidarity Movement , and my support for Lech Walesa . I was also fired from my job with the University of Silesia. I was traumatized, scared and paranoid. I was considering emigration.  To survive a few months until then, I thought, I took a job as psychologist in a small addiction clinic in Siemianowice Slaskie. This clinic shared one building with a mental health clinic and a day psychiatric division. It was there where I had a chance to experience Conscious Connected Breathing (Rebirthing), in a group session run by Nora Rutkowska. I have not experienced anything like this before. My whole body tensed up and then released all that tension. The state of peace was unparalleled. It was for the f...