Art By Tali Landsman

It has taken me days to get adjusted to being in Kohukohu again. Coming from the dry thin air of the mountains of Colorado, the humidity level of a beachside, subtropical town in New Zealand felt like someone forgot to close the steam shower door... The air felt thick to breathe, and my hair frizzes and curls. On the good side, I do not have to moisturize my body, as I have to do after each shower in Colorado... When the sun is out and shining brightly, it is as pretty as a picture here... But when it is raining, the air gets chilly and everything looks grey.... And it feels as if the gods of nature are angry.... As angry as some people living here.... In the one week since I arrived, I've noticed a neighbor screaming and yelling at her husband at the top of her lungs.... We've witnessed a house burnt to the ground, and noticed more disabled and paralyzed people in Kerikeri than I ever did before.... It's made me wonder..... The season is turning cool and in the...

In his novel titled, "Futility, The Wreck of the Titan," author Morgan Robertson describes a huge, luxury cruise ship which hit an iceberg and sank at sea. This fictional cruise ship, named "The Titan," had many more eerie similarities beside the name, to the real Titanic, which hit an iceberg and sank at sea... Both ships were luxurious, lavish, and were considered unsinkable.... Both ships hit an iceberg in April, about four hundred miles from Newfoundland... The fictional Titan had only twenty life boats, half of what was needed to save its fictional passengers, and the real Titanic had only twenty four lifeboats, half of what was needed to save its passengers. Both ships, the fictional and the real, had a capacity of three thousand people, three propellers and two masts.....and even the number of people who died in both cases is almost identical.... Now.... You might think to yourself...."So what? It is clear that the author Morgan Robertson ba...

Recently I noticed that some of the spam scam e-mails that I've gotten, start with the words: "It is so amazing that I came upon you, it is such a synchronicity, because....." And it reminded me that for a long time, I've intended to write about this subject. The scammers, along with many advertising campaigns to promote more product sales, had realized that the tendency people have to believe in mysticism and the supernatural, can be a weak spot that could be manipulated. I believe that when you let the wiser side of you, your Higher Self, guide your life, that synchronicity happens normally and very naturally..... Synchronicity is only amazing to those who do not believe that a Higher, loving hand is helping us along the way. There is something else that happens naturally, which many, many people mistake to be Divine synchronicity, when in fact it is nothing more than a normal occurrence that is called "A Confirmation Bias Filter." A confirmat...

Birds live among us, hovering over and adapting to the changes we humans constantly make in the environment and the world around us. I love birds.... And both in New Zealand and in Colorado, I enjoy taking the time to observe them. My Persian grandmother used to feed the pigeons that gathered on her front porch. Her neighbors in her Jerusalem apartment building used to complain, calling those pigeons, "the new city rats." My grandma ignored them and continued to feed the pigeons daily, and she also raised two large parrots and many small parakeets in her house. She loved birds, and I think that she could not relate to the fact that most people love cats and dogs, and keep them as pets. She came from a culture that kept doves as pets, and prized the songs of love birds. Many stories in Asia and the Middle East revolve around birds..... A colorful bird with exceptional feathers would be a gift offered to pacify a covetous king.... Legends were told about singing bi...

There is a prevailing belief that is held by many, that in order to succeed, you have to be shrewd, wise, intelligent, and alert to possibilities. Many people also believe that in this life, nobody will take care of you, nor should they, and that you have to be smart on your feet and make things happen for yourself. My own life experience has not proved those beliefs to be true.... Many times, my life sailed in the right direction, DESPITE myself and my limited ideas and vision. At times, it was as if things were conspiring to help me..... When I was unaware and sleepwalking, as most of the world's population does.... This phenomena of being directed, guided and assisted by the Universe, despite my conscious awareness and contrary ideas, is one that I finally came to appreciate, to rely on, and even to expect to happen..... And I am eternally grateful when I do see it happen. I will give you a tiny example of how outside circumstances conspire to help you, regardless of your tardin...

There is a commonly used saying, that familiarity breeds contempt. This means that some people tend to give strangers the benefit of respect, which they do not extend to their family or close friends. A woman said it in these words: "I love my online virtual friends, they do not judge me like my REAL friends do..." But I wonder if she ever made her virtual friends more than that..... If she ever started to meet them for lunch and invited them to her home.... Would they judge her in the same way her real friends do..... About two years ago, I felt that maybe the right course of action was to share our great abundance and joy, and to try to help people...... To try to make a difference in someone's life, with a far extending and intimate attempt, rather than just donating money to charities. I once read about the life story of one of the world's most respected genetic researchers. He published research saying that we are genetically encoded to help ONLY those who are ...

Some say that Angels are merely a religious concept, and that since the nature of the Real world is peace, light and all encompassing love, there is nothing you need protecting from anyway.... The world you seem to live in, the materialistic world of bodies and matter that you believe you reside in, is nothing more than an illusion... A dream.... A mistaken interpretation... A creation of our collective minds.... If you are not a body, but a free spirit with a free will power, then you ONLY experience what you WANT to experience for awhile.... So why take it away from you.... Why guard you from your own choices.... When you are ready to give UP your pains, vain attachments and struggles, and look higher into your True Nature, you will be uplifted by your intentions and by your new WILL... You will then be reuniting your own will with the Will of God, Who always wishes for you to be happy, healthy, and whole..... He wishes you to come Home.... Others say that each person on this earth h...

The time is drawing near to our flight back to New Zealand. My stomach is turning with excitement to be be back in the land of two halves... As usual, my midnight dreams and even my thoughts, are already traveling back to NZ.... In my mind's eye I am already opening my studio door...... Trimming overgrown plants... Cleaning spider webs from the eaves and dusting the place clean.... I know that the weather is getting colder in the Southern Hemisphere, but we do not plan to spend the winter in NZ. I am participating in the Original Art show, so we plan to deliver the art by hand and to spend some time in Auckland, dining in nice restaurants we have not tried yet, and to possibly travel to Napier before we head back home to Kohukohu. As it will get colder in June, we plan to take a longer trip to Japan. We are not yet sure as to how we will get around Japan, since we plan to skip the big cities and to spend time in the northernmost part of Hokkaido, as well as to visit the northern...

Over our morning tea, I mentioned to my partner that I find it interesting that I have gotten no harsh or negative comments on my blog posts, regardless of how contradictory or weird they may sound to some people. When I read some of the extreme comments that people post on news stories and editorials, I am terrified.... yet I get no bashing, even on some of the most advanced spiritual subjects that I have posted...... I wondered why was that....... I know that my blogs get plenty of visitors....Do they just look at the photos and not read any of it?.... Do they just scan the pieces cursorily and not thoroughly?.... Or are they just polite enough to disagree in silence?..... Who knows..... Jules said that it could be all of the above.... But his own feelings tell him that we do not live in a world that is interested in spirituality at all. We live in a materialistic world and people seem to be focused on the material. It is what they know, it is what they enjoy and it is what ...

Living in relative isolation in the beautiful mountains, surrounded with nature, is very restorative. Sometimes... When I allow my artistic imagination to roam... I imagine that somehow.... Jules and I have escaped through some reality crack, into a MUCH better... Heavenly reality... While most of the world is still caught in wars, in struggles for survival, for money, for equality, for basic human's rights, for asserting themselves through careers and power.... I dwell almost all the time, in an indescribable happiness. Not every day of my life is different, but the days always offer me such an all encompassing happiness. I have read some people speaking about how with the passing years and with much spiritual growth, they have come to a place they can describe as 'Contentment'..... But I would be lying if I described my own state in the same words.... I truly experience much light-filled joy... When we do venture out of our own beautiful place, we usually have wonderful e...

The beginning of April is both Passover and Easter time. I am EXTREMELY busy in the studio trying to meet some deadlines, which leaves me very little time to write or to be online these days. Ski season is over in Colorado, and most of the snow on top of the mountains has melted into the rivers. The fish are spawning and the salmon and trout are jumping, their skins glistening in the glorious sun... Today I feel inspired to write about Passover and Easter, since it is such an important and significant time of the year. The Jewish tradition celebrates Passover, which symbolizes the fact that the Angel of the Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites, while the rest of the people were afflicted with ailments. I am not a religious person, far from it, so I will explain the story as I understand it, as a story of Spiritual growth. While mortal men live believing that they are bodies, they are susceptible to all sorts of ailments and environmental disasters. Those who chose to believe i...

It was a sunny day and we were cycling in rural China, when our Chinese guide cycled near me and started a conversation. He told me that even though China is relaxing its strict communist policies and allowing people to own their own homes and apartments, the dream of home ownership is not available to most people. In the past fifty years, many who have an entrepreneurial spirit, have emerged from forced poverty, which was caused by the fact that the communist party took away people's inheritances and all private property, and did not allow people to save money or to own private property. But unlike those entrepreneurs who have been quickly amassing their riches, many students and young adults have nothing but a job that pays very little and which is never secure. I asked Jason, our Chinese guide, what about buying a small apartment and later selling it for profit, if he could find an apartment in a place that is up and coming... He has a good chance of enjoying his own place to...