Wednesday, October 6, 2010

TOTAL WELLNESS VILLAGE PROJECT CONCEPT PAPER

A One Stop Alternative, Holistic and Complementary Therapy Center for Total Wellbeing for Body , Mind, Emotion and Spirit, that has facilities for Wellness Tourism, Retirement Village, Budget Hotel and Orphanage.


Project Concept


By Dr. Thomas Kwan
Msc.D. (U.S.A.), D.M.H. (U.K.) Corporate & Life Coach, Trainer & Speaker on Metaphysics Science.


Table of Contents Page
Introduction 3
Construction Design Models 4
Therapy Center 5
Retirement Village 7
Budget Hotel 8
Organic, Herbal & Flower Essence Farming 8
Orphanage 8
Cultural Center 9
Souvenir Fair 9
Funding 9
Management Team 10
Marketing & Sales 10
Skills Training 10
Summary 11
Appendixes List 12

Introduction
It started in the year two thousand when I had a vision in my meditation of a center to cater to the growing needs of people looking for alternative, holistic and complementary therapy under one roof.
A facility such as this would be an advantage to the consumer because they do not need to look for and travel far for all their wellness needs.
As a practitioner, the main advantage is being in a place that naturally draws the consumer crowd thus reducing advertising and market development cost.

Such a facility would also provide jobs and career opportunities for many through direct or supporting services and industries especially when the wellness village is located in a province with suitable infrastructure.

Some of the economic benefits that the wellness village would bring to the province will be secondary. These would be in the form of increased tax dollars and use of local businesses for operational needs such as food, tours, utilities, long term work force of local employees or service providers etc.

Other benefits will be in the form of tourism dollars through eco-tourism, wellness tourism and alternative health related businesses that will be the major component of the wellness village, which is marketed to become a destination for groups and individuals.

Another long term benefit would be the creation of facilities designed to fulfill the needs of clientele which will be able to afford to invest their time and money into health related workshops and related activities for all four levels of body, mind, emotion and spirit. The wellness village will also be built with eco friendly systems.

The wellness village will incorporate a retirement community that becomes an all season local resident and visitor base with the intention to create a more reliable and diverse economic base over the long term for the province, ultimately benefiting the entire region by bringing in a steadier flow of revenue.

This concept is not new as there are smaller complexes existing that are run by specific religious organizations. There are existing religious organizations that build and run their own orphanages, retirement homes and even health care clinics and hospitals.
However the key to this proposed concept is to have such a complex that is void of any religious influence that are open to all religious faith and in this way will be able to tap upon the vast wellness tourism industry and retirement village for many.

Construction Design Models Depending on the land and funding resources, there are two models put up to ignite creative ideas for the wellness village.

Single Multi-story Building: The first is shown in Appendix # 1 where the therapies are housed in a multi-story building surrounded by other facilities such as orphanage and retirement housing etc. This design requires more capital to construct besides the land cost. The design is only an outline of the purpose filled layout for each floor but the actual plans are dependent on the funding and business concept that determines the total floor area.

Multiple Building Therapy Complex: The second model as indicated in Appendix # 2 shows the wellness village spread out in a wider area. This is a much cheaper way to implement as there is no need for high cost construction.

It is a growing trend in North America, Europe and Australia to use recycled ten year old shipping containers to build housing. The shipping containers have strong framework that are designed to withstand heavy multidirectional loads. The container walls, ceiling and floor can be replaced with other suitable materials for climate and sound insulation, waterproofing etc. Several containers can be combined together to make up bigger floor spaces and even stacked for more floors. Appendix # 4 shows various designs of spaces created from recycled shipping containers.
Construction cost is estimated to be half of traditional way of construction thus making it more feasible and an added advantage of recycling used shipping containers. Before the recent world economic crisis, a 10 year old 20 foot shipping container cost US$1,800. But because of the economic crisis many container yards around the world are filled with old shipping containers and are offered free of charge to any takers.

This second model also makes the implementation much more flexible and cost effective because potential tenants and owners could choose from an array of designs and then build to order on site.

There is also a world wide effort to promote the use of bamboo for low cost housing, resorts and luxury housing as indicated in Appendix # 5.
Another alternative low cost way of building includes the use of “paper-create” where recycled paper are incorporated into the cement mix. There are also other alternative ways of construction where local natural available materials are used.

Location: Regardless of either construction models, the ideal location should be out of city limit to provide the natural healing benefits of nature through a tranquil environment and also blending with earth’s harmonics.

Infrastructure: The location should have available infrastructure for water, electricity, sewerage, waste disposal, service roads, street lighting, security and fire fighting facilities.

Therapy Center The center could attract practitioners and consumers of the following therapies;
Acupressure, Acupuncture, Aquatic-Therapy, Alexander Technique, Anthroposophical Medicine, Aromatherapy, Art Therapy, Auricular Acupuncture, Autogenic Therapy, Ayurveda, Bach Flower Therapy, Bates Method, Bio-energy Healing, Biofeedback, Biomechanical Re-alignment Therapy, Body-centered Psychotherapy, Breath-Therapy, Chirokinetic Therapy, Chiropractic, Cognitive-Therapy, Colon-Hydrotherapy, Color Resonance Therapy, Counseling, Craniosacral-Therapy, Crystal and Gem Therapy, Dance/Movement Therapy Detoxification, Dream Therapy, Ear Candling, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Energy Medicine, Enzyme Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR), Feldenkrais, Gerson Therapy, Herbalism, Homeopathy, Hoxsey Cancer Therapy, Hydrotherapy, Hypnotherapy, Indian Champissage, Iridology, Kinesiology, Kundalini Yoga, Laughter Therapy, Life Coaching, Light Therapy, Lymph Drainage Therapy, Magnet Therapy, Massage Therapy, Meditation, Metabolic Typing, Mindfulness, Music Therapy, Myotherapy, Natural Hormone Replacement for Men, Natural Hormone Replacement for Women, Naturopathy, Neural Therapy, Nutritional Therapy, Ortho-Bionomy Osteopathy, Oxygen Therapy, Physical Therapy Pilates, Pranic Healing, Psychotherapy, Q2 Water Energy System, Qigong, Quantum Training, Raindrop Therapy, Rapid Eye Technology, Rebirthing, Reflexology, Regression Therapy, Reiki, Relaxation Therapy, Rife/Bare Therapy, Rolfing, Rosen Method, Sedona Method, Shamanic Healing, Shiatsu Massage, Sound Therapy, Spiritual Healing (Prayer), Su Jok Therapy, Tai Chi, Thai Massage Therapy, Therapeutic/Healing Touch, Thought Field Therapy (TFT), Traditional Chinese Medicine, Trager Work, Tree-Gong, Trigger Point Therapy, Urine Therapy, Vision Therapy, Water Therapy , Watsu, Yoga, Zero Balancing, etc.

Retirement Village
Rising Market Needs: As can be seen, the world’s largest population group is the baby boomers and they are starting to be in their retirement ages. A new industry has sprung up to cater to this group for their retirement needs and many are looking into options for a place where they can be looked after in a caring and affordable manner.

There are several well managed retirement complexes in Australia and England that cater to the upper middle class. But the worldwide bigger market to cater to the middle class has yet to be tapped upon.

Housing for the Effluent Retirees: The retirement village consists of three housing categories as illustrated in Appendix # 3 showing various designs of British garden design concepts of cottage-like units. ;
The first housing category being “In place housing” describes where the elderly choose to live in their own homes.

The second category is “Congregate housing” where meals are served in common dining room, and housekeeping and nursing services are provided, even though individuals live in their own quarters.
Depending on the consumer requirements and management policies, some congregate housing can be of the “continuing care” type, which is a more intensive community geared to providing health care and maintenance services until death.

The third known as “Shared housing” describes the type in which at least two unrelated persons live together in a dwelling unit, each one having one’s own private space and sharing other common areas such as a kitchen, dinning room, and / or living room.

Independence and control seem to be the most important aspects of elderly housing regardless of housing type (Berkowitz 1988). People who live closer to the ground tend to have healthier lives as they are close to the healing harmonics of Mother Nature.

Life Purpose: Children living in the orphanage within the complex will be able to gain from the experiences of the retirees. This could provide a sense of life purpose for the retirees rather than just waiting aimlessly for the last day of their lives.

Medical Facilities: Apart from the availability of the holistic therapies, there should be a twenty four hour clinic that can provide modern medical services in case of emergencies.

Budget Hotel: Within the wellness village, there should be a budget hotel for tourist and visiting seminar speakers, trainers, therapy specialist etc. Sample designs can be seen in the pictures showing the use of recycled shipping containers.

Organic Vegetables, Herbal & Flower Essence Farming: Many alternative, holistic and complementary therapy use organically grown vegetables and herbs as part of the therapy regime. Batch flower remedies use flower essence for their tincture etc. It is therefore appropriate to have organic, herbal and flower farming within the wellness village. This also serves as farming therapy for some seeking wellness.
As it may not be possible to be fully organic certified due to the soil conditions at the location, a combination of other technologies such as hydroponic and aeroponic may be used to meet the food and remedy requirements. New vertical hydroponic and aeroponic technologies also require less land space for the same yield as compared to traditional farming methods. Organic plant nutrition is now readily available for hydroponic and aeroponic farming.

Orphanage: Facilities to provide lodging, education, skill development and any other needs for qualified orphans could be within the wellness village.
Most charity projects have an annual problem of raising funds for the following year and this can be retified by the following concept; Ten percent of the rental of space and sales of goods and services could go to the financing of the orphanage.
For both the consumer and practitioners, knowing that ten percent of their spending goes to a good cause could serve as an intangible benefit.

Cultural Center: As the complex caters to wellness tourism, there should also be a facility for cultural shows to entertain and familiarize foreigners of the local culture thus making their stay enjoyable. This aspect of the complex feature could also be catered by the local community and perhaps when appropriate by the orphans.

Souvenir Fair: There should also be a place where souvenirs can be bought. Small spaces from as little as two square meters could be suitable for small business owners. Owners who want larger spaces could also use re-modified shipping containers to suit their needs.

Funding: The project could be funded by philanthropist who may have the land and financial resources to build the infrastructure and buildings.
The rental of spaces should take care of monthly expenses for the management and maintenance of the complex.

Management Team: A professional management team will oversee the profitability of the entire wellness village.
The management team should consist of division vice presidents each responsible for the following departments;
1) Marketing & Sales (Local & International)
2) Therapy Center Management
3) Retirement Village Management
4) Budget Hotel Management
5) Orphanage Management
6) Building Facility & Utility Management
7) Administration & Security
8) Payroll and Financial Control

Marketing & Sales: This is the most crucial division that is responsible for promoting the wellness village to the following;
a) As a preferred destination for wellness tourism needs.
b) As a retirement village with the right facilities and topped up with unparalleled professional standard of care givers.
c) Health care providers be it products or services.
The wellness tourism industry is spending huge sums of money on developing new attractions, improving products and for building the infrastructure. The way in which the risk level can be minimized is only through the adoption of a marketing strategy which provides products and services related to the needs of consumers.

Skills Training: The work force has to be trained in new skills in order to maintain a high level of proficiency for the profitability of the center. This is also vital for maintaining a high standard to differentiate from copy cat players who may also see the significant impact on the economy.
Inadequate quality of service and facilities are major obstacles in the wellness industry.
Wellness tourism provides a wide variety of job opportunities at various levels.
a) Entry level employment for relatively unskilled and semiskilled workers.
b) Employment for higher skilled craft persons.
c) Professional level opportunities for well-educated decision makers.
One approach is to entice professional institutions and associations of alternative, holistic and complementary therapies to conduct regular certification courses to train, upgrade and maintain the level of proficiency of care givers. This will ensure the level of professionalism and standard of the center for long term reputation and benefits.

Summary: Tourism is one of the most successful and fast growing business activities in the world and of late, wellness tourism has shown a steady increase over the years. This is because of the growing aging world population and the need to find alternative, holistic and complementary health care.

A total wellness village as presented in this project concept paper has shown the potential for answering the needs of this growing market. It has also shown the extent of creating vast amounts of jobs directly or indirectly that is required to meet the growing consumer needs.
The task now is to find a person or a group of people who share the same vision and have the resources to materialize this vision for the highest good for all.

A project of this scale will definitely leave a legacy behind for many generations to come as it will touch the lives of those who are part of it be it as a giver or receiver of the total wellness village.


Appendixes List: Please refer to attached documents for the relevant appendixes.
Appendix # 1 Page 1 of 6 (Single Building Concept Therapy Center Front View).
Appendix # 1 Page 2 of 6 (Single Building Concept Therapy Center 1st Floor).
Appendix # 1 Page 3 of 6 (Single Building Concept Therapy Center 2nd Floor).
Appendix # 1 Page 4 of 6 (Single Building Concept Therapy Center 3rd Floor).
Appendix # 1 Page 5 of 6 (Single Building Concept Therapy Center 4th Floor).
Appendix # 1 Page 6 of 6 (Single Building Concept Therapy Center Plan View).
Appendix # 2 (Multiple Building Therapy Center Concept Overview).
Appendix # 3 Page 1 of 2 (British Garden Design Retirement Cottages).
Appendix # 3 Page 2 of 2 (British Garden Design Retirement Cottages Interior).
Appendix # 4 Page 1 of 5 (Recycled 10 Year Old Shipping Container Structures).
Appendix # 4 Page 2 of 5 (Recycled 10 Year Old Shipping Container Structures).
Appendix # 4 Page 3 of 5 (Recycled 10 Year Old Shipping Container Structures).
Appendix # 4 Page 4 of 5 (Recycled 10 Year Old Shipping Container Structures).
Appendix # 4 Page 5 of 5 (Recycled 10 Year Old Shipping Container Structures).
Appendix # 5 (Eco-Friendly Bamboo Housing Examples).
Appendix # 6 Pages 1 to 7 (Samples of Dome Housing Etc)

Any person or party that is interested to know more or want to discuss how to materialize such a proposed project can contact Thomas Kwan.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

What is Metaphysics?

by Thomas Kwan.

Metaphysics is about the dynamic interaction and constant evolution of consciousness in tune with the Universal agenda of evolution. It has always been an individual experience and has never stayed stagnant with obsolete man made rules, rituals, superstitions, suppression and control over others.

Metaphysics is non-secular and does not belong to any organizational structure and therefore it definitely has no influence on or political ambitions. In this essay I wish to refer to Metaphysics is not a noun but a verb; it is about the individual’s path to finding the authentic self with the understanding and wide leeway that many paths lead back to the same original source. That is why metaphysics can be and is being embraced by more people of many creeds, races, faiths and walks of life for everyone can resonate with the Universal truth only their authentic self could identify with.

Lessons from Polarity.

by Thomas Kwan.

"When people see things as beautiful, ugliness is created.
When people see things as good, evil is created.
Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low oppose each other.
Fore and aft follow each other.” Lao Tze. Tao Te Ching Passage 2. (McDonald 28).

The Universe and all life within it cannot exist without polarity for they are complementary forces to each other. The problem comes when we view one side of the polarity as negative but chose only to have the positive. This is not possible for it creates imbalance and the cyclic forces become stagnated thus going against the Universal law of cycles and rhythms. When we realize that even within the ‘negative’ side there is a white dot of window of opportunity or an opportunity of wisdom, then we can harness the wisdom that can come from both sides of the polarity.

One of the ways to use this lesson from polarity is; to just look for a good attribute in every person rather than focus on the obvious darkness they outwardly portray. Lives have been transformed this way and my own life transformation is a testament to this powerful tool.

There are other life changing lessons from understanding the law of polarity but it is not within the scope of this essay to cover them.

To find out how to capitalize on the effects of polarity in life, contact Thomas Kwan.

Have You Found the Higher Purpose of Your Life?

by Thomas Kwan.

The purpose of the soul is to evolve as it is part and parcel of Oneness Consciousness. To deny the existence of the soul is to deny the existence of the science of consciousness that physicist and quantum physicist have researched on. One of the many such researches by physicists on consciousness that I admire are reflected in The Physics of Consciousness: The Quantum Mind and the Meaning of Life. Walker, E.H.. 2000. New York, NY: Perseus.

“Even when we lose in life, it’s important not to lose the lesson.” (Linn xviii).

"The one-sentence secret of soul intelligence, wisdom, and knowledge is: Soul carries power, intelligence, wisdom, and knowledge to heal and transform life; what we need to do is ask." (Zhi 111-112).

“After many years of struggling through life, I’ve finally learned the secret: ‘We don’t need to suffer to grow! You can live every moment with joy, no matter what’s happening around you – it’s often simply a matter of telling the truth to yourself.” (Linn preface).

Life then is the school of wisdom for the soul.


To find the Higher Purpose of your life, contact Thomas Kwan.

The Four Stages of Your Life and What They Mean to You.

by Thomas Kwan.

To understand the phases of life better we must be aware of the four main stages of life and they are as follows:

Ego/Personality Awareness: This is the process of awareness that starts from birth right till teenage years where one tries to discover what am I really? It covers the stages of childhood mental development, emotional awareness of from between 8 to 14 years of age and the reproductive developments of the body of the creative teen.

Ego/Personality Search: From the lunar node which is about eighteen years seven months onwards, the search for who I am takes a turn when one tries to figure out what career path, social identification, and the pursuit for the finer things in life.

Soul Search: This is the stage when one has or not attain whatever they want in life but begin to ask and ponder if there is more to life or what is the higher purpose in life.

Soul Awareness Living: One has come to a stage where the acceptance of the authentic self is the soul and now begin to live a soul conscious life where it takes a leap in consciousness.

"I invite you to look at your actions. You've deeply involved in your physical life. You've paid little attention to your soul. It's been a challenging period. Yes, all the more reason to have included your soul in the process.” (Walsch 9).

To find the easier path through life, contact Thomas Kwan.

Personality vs. Soul.

There is no better way to describe the main differences between ego/personality and soul than Gary Zukav’s explanation; “Your personality is that part of you that is mortal. Your soul is that part of you that is immortal. When you look at yourself as a personality, you think of yourself as a body and a mind. When you look at yourself as a soul, you think of yourself as a powerful and creative, compassionate and loving spirit that has entered the Earth school in order to learn lessons and to give gifts. Your personality is a tool of your soul. It is part of your soul that is on a mission. It has all the powers of the soul, but that power is calibrated to a certain set of circumstances. Those circumstances are the experiences of the five senses.” (Zukav 222).

The Four Components of People.

by Thomas Kwan.

There is no denying that people consist of the following four components and each of them have unique functions, capabilities and purpose.

BODY -Biological physical body.

MIND -Thinking Conscious and sub-conscious Minds.

EMOTION - all aspects of emotional feelings and desires.

SOUL -Super Conscious Mind consisting of soul memory and consciousness.

But do you know which of the four components is the most important?

To find out how each of these four components affects how you live your life and the impact on your happiness and the search for inner peace, contact Thomas Kwan.

Be the Master Over Your Life's Issues

by Thomas Kwan.

Before you can be the master over your life's issues, you have to be aware of the three stages of soul awareness and they are as follows:

1) Deep Un-Aware: Do not know or acknowledge there is a soul. Think they are their thinking mind.

2) Un-Aware: Acknowledge there is a soul but think it only exists after death. Do not know they can connect with soul.

3) Aware: Acknowledge soul’s existence as the authentic self and embark on the process of Soul Awareness Living.

But just knowing that our authentic self is the soul is only an intellectual concept. The process has to cross the mental stage till it becomes a feeling welling from the core of our being, only then does the transformation take place and life takes on a turn for the better in all aspects of our life. It totally changes our perception of how we view people, situations, death, and every other manner of life’s issues. Unconditional love becomes spontaneous and natural as a verb rather than a noun or something so abstract that it’s too good to be true or impossible to achieve. The thinking conscious mind has its limits where as the soul reaches for the limitless Universe.

To be the master over your life's issues, contact Thomas Kwan.

Conscious Mind (Thinking Mind) vs. Intuitive Mind.

by Thomas Kwan.

“The soul speaks to you in feelings. Listen to your feelings. Follow your feelings. Honor your feelings.” (14). “Feelings are the language of the soul. And your soul is the truth.” (15). The feeling mentioned here by Welsch is not in reference to the human feeling of emotions but that of intuitive instinct.

The way to use the two minds is 90% should be from our super-conscious mind which is our creative and intuitive abilities for inspirations and creative ideas. Then use the remaining 10% of our thinking conscious mind and sub-conscious mind to figure out how to put the inspirations into reality. The super-conscious mind is the boss where as the other two minds the followers.

To learn how to evolve beyond the limited thinking capacity and harness the infinite power of intuition, contact Thomas Kwan.

Sub-Conscious Mind vs. Soul Awareness.

by Thomas Kwan.

The Subconscious Mind is a reactive mind based on past experiences, education and upbring of this present life where as the Super Conscious Mind is part of the Soul's awareness and memory that include past lives.

In the book Conversation with God, book 2, Walsch explains clearly; "Reaction is just that - an action you have taken before. When you ‘re-act,"’ what you do is assess the incoming data, search your brain’s memory bank for the same or nearly the same experience, and act the way you did before. This is how the mind works, not the soul. Your soul would have you search it's ‘memory’ to see how you might create a truly genuine experience of ‘You in the Now Moment’. This is the experience of "soul searching" of which you have so often heard, but you have to be literally ‘out of your mind’ to do it. The soul creates, the mind reacts.” (Walsch 13).

To learn how to reprogram your sub-conscious mind and tap upon the power of soul awareness, contact Thomas Kwan.

Consciousness vs. Conscious Mind.

by Thomas Kwan.

The physical brain is to the thinking conscious mind as different parts of our brain has specific processing functions. The brain can be trained to increase its comprehension of complex tasks or store detailed and academic information. Thinking is the processing of information, images, and stimulus and is usually associated with logic, analysis, rational, and forms its own opinions. The activities of the thinking mind are usually within the left brain functions.

Consciousness is to that of the Soul. Consciousness can only exist outside our mental world of the thinking mind. Consciousness is the observatory function of awareness and it will not function as long as the conscious mind is working. Unlike the sub-conscious mind, only either the conscious mind or the super-conscious mind can work at any one time and when we are aware of this we can switch between the minds for specific tasks.

“The intellect is characterized by a natural inability to comprehend life.” Arthur Mitchell’s authorized translation of the work of Henri Bergson (1859 – 1941).

Consciousness; Transpersonal experiences are defined as; “the feeling of the individual that his consciousness expands beyond the usual ego boundaries and limitations of time and space. Whereby a person can experience his own identity in a different person, form, an animal, plant, rock; he can encounter supra-human spiritual entities, be one himself, transcend temporal limits, have all sorts of archetypal, para-psychological, and mystical experiences.” (Grof 1996).

To learn how to raise your consciousness, contact Thomas Kwan.

Understanding Your Three Minds.

by Thomas Kwan.

The many suffering and difficulties in life is due partly to the seclusion of the important role of the soul in one’s life. Our mental thinking capacity is limited as a result of our upbringing, education and experiences in this life alone. But the soul and its ability to tap upon its memory of wisdoms gained through many past lives and its ability to connect to the Universal consciousness opens up unlimited boundaries of creativity, possibilities and abundances.

Before we can understand how to connect with our soul we have to understand the functions of the three minds. The three minds are as follows:
1) Conscious Mind.
2) Sub-Conscious Mind.
3) Super-Conscious Mind.

The Conscious Mind (Thinking Mind); is rational, analytical, thinking, logic and filled with prejudices. It is limited to: This life’s upbringing, education, experience and memory of just this life time. When faced with limitations could end with fear and anxiety. Limitations such as ‘I do not have the proper education or training to do the work, I am not gifted enough, I do not know enough contacts or the right connections, if only....’ are just some of the limitations that the conscious mind faces.

The Illusion of the Conscious Mind:
Because the conscious mind is only connected with and knows only this life time, it has the following illusions:

1) Illusion of separation from Oneness.
2) Illusion of Time & Space.
3) Illusion that the Self is the Body, Ego, Personality.
4) Illusion of aging and that when body dies, the self dies.
5) Illusion that the Mind is the Self.
6) Death is the ultimate end of life.
7) Material Possession is ultimate in Life.

The Sub-Conscious Mind: There are two broad functions of the sub-conscious mind. The first being the autonomous system that controls our basic bodily functions such as breathing, digestion, circulation etc. The second broad function of the sub-conscious mind is the ability to be program by our conscious mind either by direct or indirect, conscious or unconscious inputs. This is where our upbringing, education, prejudices, experiences with life’s issues, and our conditioning become automatic reactions and responses. It is the automatic and spontaneous reaction to both inside our mind and outside stimuli.

When the capacity of the Conscious Mind and Sub-Conscious Mind are combined, they make up about only 10% of our total human potential. This is also the reason why when we just use these two minds to solve life’s issues, we struggle much and life seems to be a never ending steep uphill climb. It is also the reason for much of the soul searching because deep down inside each of us we fell that there is something more about ourselves that is missing.

The Super-Conscious Mind also known as the Universal Mind or God Consciousness; it is our creative, intuitive, abstract capabilities. It is the mind that connects all living species on Earth which includes but not limited to humans, birds, mammals, animals and plants. It is not limited to this life but can tap upon soul’s memory of wisdoms gain through the many past lives we had. It has the ability to connect to the Universal mind of all beings. The super-conscious mind is the major 90% of our human potential. “Divine mind is the one and only reality.” (Filmore 1).

An example of the workings of super-conscious mind is through the observation of babies and how they perceive and interact with their mothers. Before the ability to learn language (conscious mind function), a baby communicate mostly through the connection with the super-conscious mind and he/she could sense how the mother feels or is interacting. It is only when the gateway between the super-conscious minds is disconnected and that is usually on the part of the mother that the baby begins to cry out of frustration to tell that he/she is hungry, thirsty, other physical discomforts or wants interaction and attention.

Another example of how the super-conscious mind works is with our pets. When we want to buy a dog, we do not go to a pet shop and ask if the shop has a puppy that understands Spanish and English. No we don’t but after narrowing down to the species, gender , color and all other physical attributes, we gaze at the eyes of the dog and instantly as if the eyes are the windows to the soul, there is a connection and we make a decision.

There were controlled experiments done in England where dogs were tested if they could sense when their owners were returning from work each day. The controlled experiments entailed sudden impromptu decisions to leave the office at varied times of the day and each time exactly when such decisions were made, the dogs would go to the windows or gates and wait in anticipation for the owners arrival. Likewise too when we are not using our thinking conscious mind and when the phone rings, somehow we instinctively know who is calling.

To understand the above phenomena, science has shown that thought is frequency and emotion is the amplifier and thus our thoughts are broadcast into the ether that all can tune in through their super-conscious mind which is also the Universal Mind. In fact there are successful projects that can broadcast frequencies beyond the hearing ability of human ears that can be used to manipulate human behavior at will through the super-conscious mind. So if we are not aware of the functions of our three minds and learn how to fully utilize them, someone else will control our minds without us knowing and we wonder why!

The power of the super-conscious mind is not just limited to the above examples but could be extended for social, corporate or other human interactive purposes. This is where further research and development could be made to harness this natural human capability for the better of the human race of course.

To learn how to be aware of your three minds and to harness the infinite power of your Super Consciouss Mind, contact Thomas Kwan.

"Mind Power" vs. "Soul Power"

Mind Power vs. Soul Power: or Mind over matter vs. Soul over matter.

"A human being has a soul, mind, and body. Your mind can do a lot for your life. Mind has the power to heal the body. Mind can create and manifest. Mind can transform consciousness and every aspect of life. Mind-body medicine and mind- body connection are well known. They are examples of mind over matter, which is Mind Power. There has been a great deal of research that demonstrates the power of the mind. We honor the power of the mind, but the power of the mind is not enough. The next step to serve humanity is Soul over Matter, which is Soul Power. 'Soul over Matter' means soul can make things happen. It includes soul healing, soul prevention of sickness, soul rejuvenation, soul prolongation of life, and soul transformation of every aspect of life, including relationships and finances. The final goal of soul over matter is to enlighten your soul, to enlighten all souls of humanity, and to enlighten all souls in all Universe." (Zhi 14).

Soul over matter is not a new age fad, motivation jargon or a new management and marketing business model. It is in fact the way the Universe intends life to be. Except for humans, this is how the rest of the creatures and life forms of the planet have been operating as they do not have the conscious thinking mind of mankind. It is therefore a blessing and a curse depending on how we use our thinking conscious mind. Most depression cases are due to the way we look at life through our thinking conscious mind. It is no wonder we cannot leave the soul and its connection to spirituality out of our existence if we are to live a peaceful and fulfilling life.

Here is where the trained metaphysician can work side by side with psychologist and psychotherapist to bring a well balanced and enhanced therapy. Psychology deals in depth into the understanding of the conscious and subconscious minds. But it is the trained metaphysician that could bridge the gap between the conscious mind and the super-conscious awareness.

"Metaphysics enables and assist us to return to our Divine Source, and ends the sense of separation and feeling of alienation; of wandering in a barren, unfriendly desert wasteland." (Pell xiv).

To learn how to progress from Mind Power to Soul Power, contact Thomas Kwan.

Spirituality is Becoming More Prominent in Psychology.

Before we dwell on what has spirituality got to do with psychology, let us take a look at the true facts of the history of psychology and how it deviated from the original study of human character.

The true facts of the history of psychology:
Edward Reed who was the associate professor of psychology at Franklin and Marshall College mentioned in his book, From Soul to Mind; Early in the nineteenth century, psychology was considered a science of the soul; by the end of the century, it had abandoned the soul to become a science of the mind. Reed’s research traces back to Robert Whytt (1711-66), a physician who taught at the prestigious school of the University of Edinburgh. “Whytt invented both the idea and the term stimulus, by which he meant a brief application of a physical energy (light, heat, mechanical energy, electricity) to a nerve. Whytt argued that nerves could somehow bring the impression of that stimulus to the spinal cord, where the organism would, in some way, ‘feel’ the stimulus and begin the process of responding to it. Whytt’s conceptual emphasis on stimuli to the nervous system became the basis of virtually all later psychological research and had immense influence during the next century and a half. But Whytt has never been given credit by internalist historians for his fundamental breakthrough, because he called the ‘sentient principle’ (which he explicitly suggested was a sort of subordinate soul) in the spinal cord – an idea that was eliminated from ‘scientific’ psychology in the second half of the nineteenth century.” (Reed xiii).

“Time and time again, I found that psychologist towards the end of the 1800s would restate Whytt’s ideas in the language of the mind rather than the soul, without crediting him. In fact, Charles Sherrington, to whom the modern reflex theory is due, followed Whytt’s ideas closely in everything except the language in which they were expressed, receiving credit for a good bit of the work Whytt had done a century and a half earlier.” (Reed xiv).

Throughout the book From Soul to Mind, Reed relates the historical story of the progressive narrowing of focus, the story of how psychology became a science, divorced itself from literature, and invented that most modern of concepts, the mind. Reed’s research on Whytt and his influence was supported by a Drexel University Research Grant, while bibliographical research on nineteenth century psychology was supported by the Franklin and Marshall College faculty research fund. The research funding alone speaks much of Reed’s work and bolsters the credibility of his work.
“Mainstream psychological theory from 1815 to 1830 had been committed to the existence of a conscious individual soul.” (Reed 128).

The return of spirituality to psychology:
Within the last ten years, some psychotherapists have come up with new treatment based on spiritually oriented treatment models and were recently published by Sperry and Shafranske (2005).

Richard and Bergin (2004) built a casebook on spiritual strategies for counseling and psychotherapy with contributions from a wide range of spiritually inspired psychotherapists.

Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality by Paloutzian and Park (2005) indicate a growing trend in research within mainstream psychology acknowledging the positive effects on health and well-being seen through the combination of psychotherapy with the role of religion and spirituality.

The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence by Roehlkepartain, et al (2006). This is a book that specifically addresses the spiritual requirements of the young generation.

It is a matter of time that psychology come to acknowledge the fact that humans are foremost spiritual beings as spirituality is central to their lived experience. In a landmark study, Kendler, et al (322-329), using a twin study design, found that a personal sense of connection to the creator is about 30 percent attributed to broad heritability, such that (biological reductionism aside) a personal connection to the universe is part of our inherent constitution.

New psychotherapists could be trained to be in touch with their own spiritual experience and this will allow the field to expand beyond its current limitations. Through spiritual awareness pedagogy, new psychotherapists could be trained to enhance their spiritual awareness. Miller and Athan (17-35).

Dr. Lisa Miller, “What has naturally emerged in my work with clients is a process of spiritual awareness psychotherapy (SAP). Ultimately, in the final phase of SAP, the clarity of a fundamental spiritual reality comes to fore, and the client considers a life built upon relying on the spiritual as a foundation.” - Spiritual Awareness Psychotherapy DVD Miller (2005). (Rayburn 225).

The Dutch psychotherapist coined the intriguing expression ‘Spirituality in Exile’ in order to characterize contemporary spiritualities that flourished without religion. This expression indicates that spiritualities have moved to the margin of religious institutions and exist at their periphery, far removed from the center that religion once occupied in people’s lives.’ (Kingsley 56).

The psychotherapist Victor Schermer argues in his book that a spiritually based psychology provides a new paradigm for psychology, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy. He speaks of a ‘psychospiritual self’, and maintains that important empirical evidence exists to show that spirituality is linked to human development. “Three areas support this view: first, research on infants that shows that their development occurs within a living-systems, relational perspective; second, the expanding research on higher consciousness, from dreaming states to the slowed brainwaves of people who meditate, to differentiated left/right brain functions and other experiments; and third, studies on the increased capacity for perception, healing, altruism, concentration, and other characteristics which are developed through spiritual practices.” (170).

“Contemporary psychotherapy reveals numerous links to spirituality. If spirituality can emerge from many experiences and is interwoven with every aspect of human life, then it must also exist within numerous other contexts of contemporary cultures – a culture so often characterized as having lost a sustaining spiritual vision.” (Schermer 121).

“The esteemed editor who brought us the acclaimed four-volume set the ‘Destructive Power of Religion’ also wrote; Radical Grace: How belief in a benevolent God benefits our health turns his attention here to a similarly powerful, yet positive side of religion: how our concept of God can fuel healthy body and mind. This book contends that all health- mental and physical-is shaped, for good or ill, to our spiritual, theological, and psychological notions about the nature of God, and by that form an outlook on life. Across history, a large percentage of people have believed that God is a threat, an attitude Ellens describes as ''sick gods created through pathological beliefs or ''sick gods that make sick people's But Ellens grounds his brighter perspective in this text on God as a sluice of unconditional grace and goodwill, then illuminates the effect this perspective has on people who have incorporated it into their minds and lives. Ellens shows that people with firm faith in God's -radical graced are psychologically strong and healthy. His offering of psychology interfacing with theology is reminiscent of Carl Rogers' teaching on unconditional positive regard and its ability to heal suffering persons. All readers, he explains, can benefit by this understanding that can inspire spiritual and psychological healing whether for ourselves, family, friends, or clients in counseling or therapy.” (Inside cover).

“I saw life as a spiritual journey. I was shown that all the events of existence, even the traumatic ones, were essentially for spiritual evolution.” (Linn xiv).

The mere fact that spirituality is becoming more prominent in the fields of psychology is a testament that the awareness of the existence of soul and spirituality play important and crucial role in the total well-being of humans. Indirectly it reinforces the proof that the soul is the authentic self and that many of life’s issues are spiritually based rather than that of the thinking mind.

Finding The Authentic Self and Living the Authentic Life

by Thomas Kwan.

I cannot agree more with a complete description of the authentic self written in the book A Life in Balance: Nourishing the four roots of true happiness by Dr. Kathleen Hall; "Discovering your authentic self; your authentic self is when you feel at one with your Self and your experience. It’s your experience of energy, power, and connection. The ancients used to call this 'the place of knowing’. You know you are aware and fully present. This is an experience of fullness and communion. It feels as if you are living in a state of grace. It is your original Self before you were influenced by the effects of your primary family, society, school, and other experienced that began to define and shape your life. Many of us have experienced fleeting of our authentic self.” (35).

The interpretation of passage 13 of Lao Tze’s Tao Te Ching by Timothy Freke and Judy Piatkus is; “Believing you are your personality, is the source of all your troubles. What does it mean, believing you are your personality, is the source of all your troubles? The reason you experience troubles is because you think you are just a persona. If you saw through this - you'd have no problems. Stop clinging to your personality, and see all beings as yourself. Such a person could be trusted with the whole world.”

Most of our own insecurities and quarrels with others are because of our fragile ego/personality. The ego does not want to lose because of the false pride. It feels isolated when others do not agree, support, or challenge our view. The ego/personality craves constant attention from others in the hope to authenticate its existence. The ego/personality is constantly checking for a better me which tends to shift in search of acceptance by self and/or others hence it is unstable at times. This search for a better me ends the moment we find our authentic self and only then will the process of inner peace begins.

To learn about your authentic self and live an authentic life, contact Thomas Kwan.

Relation Between Quantum Physics and Spirituality.

Ian Thomson, Ph.D., Physics Department, University of Surrey, talk to the ‘Swedenborg Scientific Association’ on 20th April 2002. ‘Are Quantum Physics and Spirituality Related?’

Ian Thomson in this talk made reference to the works of other prominent physicist such as: Hugh Everett, Ph.D. American physicist; Niels Bohr Danish physicist Nobel Prize in physics in 1922; Werner Heisenberg, Prof., Ph.D., Nobel Prize in physics 1932: Eugene Paul E.P. Wigner, Hungarian American physicist, Nobel Prize in physics 1963: Henry Stapp, Ph.D., American physicist in particle physics: Shimon Malin, Prof. theoretical physicist; Emanuel Swedenborg, a scientist, anatomist and theologian; Chris Clark, U.K. physicist whose research covers science, spirituality and ecology.

In his number 4 slide, he indicated “Related ideas sometimes held; the wave function looks like an idea; Spirit and nature are: different grades of energy, different frequencies, different dimensions, and/or different ‘fineness’ of materials – So the spirit and the quantum are essentially identical.”

From Swedenborg’s revelation, we have a keener sense of the relation and difference of the spiritual and natural. His talk showed there are multiple generative levels within quantum physics (old and new), that help us to understand quantum processes and they correspond to spiritual processes in revealing ways where there are triadic degrees within each level. Spirit and nature are degrees joined like this. He continued to illustrate that spirit is an essential means in the creation of nature, where the natural world is the final effect of causes working in spiritual wisdom that manifest celestial love.

In his slide 10, “Soul acts by the mind in the body” he illustrate how the triadic pattern is repeated: in the soul and in heaven, in the mind (interior and exterior rational, sensory mind), and in the natural world. He continued to elaborate with other quantum theories from slides 11 to 14 to show that quantum physics and spirituality are related.

From the standpoint of a prominent physicist, he concluded his talk by saying that there is a thorough correspondence between functions in quantum nature and functions in the internal and exterior minds and putting what we know of nature and spirit gives more complete picture of each, and their relation.

The Return of "Soul" into Scientific Terms.

“It wasn’t until the nineteenth century that Faraday replaced the old idea of the soul with the new idea of the field. In the 1920s, Einstein extended the field concept to gravitation; the gravitational field coordinates and holds together the whole universe, fulfilling the role of the anima mundi, the soul of the world, in the old cosmology. Then fields were introduced in the heart of matter, as quantum matter fields. Fields were introduced into biology in the 1920s, in the form of morphogenetic fields, form-shaping fields, invisible formative fields, organizing the development of animals and plants, maintaining them and underlying their regeneration. So souls have been brought back into science in the guise of fields.” (Fox 81).

As can be seen above, across many fields of science is the discovery of the important and undeniable crucial missing elements that have no quantifiable explanations and is strong proof that science and spirituality be once more be inseparable as it has always been meant to be in the Universal order of harmony and existence.

When and Who Withdrew the Soul from Nature?

The philosophy of Rene Descartes in the seventeenth century also created a lot of the present confusion. Descartes said that “the whole of Nature is a machine; it is inanimate. In effect, he withdrew the soul from Nature, from all animals and plants, and from the human body as well. How the rational soul interacted with the machinery of the body was an utter mystery to Descartes and it’s still a mystery today, because today we still have the same theory. When Descartes made this division between the realms of matter and spirit, he established a new demarcation between science and religion, defining their territory. Science took the whole of nature, including the human body. All nature was secularized. The arts and religion took the soul, this ineffable something located in a small region of the head. In this way a modus Vivendi was established between science and religion. Science was concerned with the objective realm of facts, religion and the arts with the realm of values, aesthetics, morality, and belief.” (Fox 77-79).

Materialist philosophers, like Daniel Dennett, for example, try to exorcise the ghost from the machinery. But they find it very hard to convince people that they themselves are computerized automata. (Fox 78).

Due to some of these shallow and narrow thinkers, generations have been misguided and this also helped to give the false sense of self as the thinking mind. It is so sad to see many who still think highly of their intellectual abilities and mental supremacy and yet are suffering like paupers isolated from their soul’s higher purpose in life. Sad because they do not realize that their thinking conscious mind and subconscious mind make up only approximately 10% of their total human potential whereas their super-conscious mind or intuitive and creative capabilities make up 90% of their full potential.

“As science has turned its reifying light upon mysteries of the human mind, however, Descartes’ dualism (along with our own ‘folk psychology’) has come in for some rough treatment. Bolstered by the undeniable successes of three centuries of purely physical research, many philosophers and scientists now reject Descartes’ separation of mind and body, spirit and matter, as the concession to Christian piety that it surely was, and imagine that they have thereby erased the conceptual gulf between consciousness and the physical world.” (Harris 207-208).

To learn how to tap upon the 90% human potential of the Super Conscious Mind, contact Thomas Kwan.

Religion and Reincarnation.

70% of the world’s religions have reincarnation in their central core of believe system. They belief that at the point of death, the human spirit will separate from the human body and travels to another world. They also believe that the spirit will return to live another life.

If 70% of major religions belief in Reincarnation, then why and when onwards till now are the Bibles rewritten without Reincarnation as compared to the original Bible?

It is documented in history that the early Christian church believed in Reincarnation and that the soul returns back to Oneness. But all this changed some 500 years after the death of Christ because of an imperial decree by the Roman emperor Justinian in 545 A.D. Using the full power of Rome through his authority, he stopped the belief in Reincarnation by forcing the ruling cardinals to draft a papal decree stating that those who belief that souls come from God and return to God will be punished by death. The actual decree stated: ‘if anyone asserts the fabulous pre-existence of souls, and shall assert the monstrous restoration which follows from it: let him be anathema. (The Anathemas against Origen), attached to the decree of the Fifth Ecumenical Council, A.D. 545, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2d ser., 14:318).

This is only one of the many discrepancies found in the various versions of the bible that is creating much confusion and is definitely not helping those who are seeking to know the truth.

Scientific Proof of Reincarnation.

Thanks to the advent of advance multimedia and internet technology, it is very easy to access information and gain knowledge from sites such as ‘YouTube’. Just by simply typing in the subject keyword and a host of information of; Near Death Experience (NDE), Past Life Therapy, Out of Body Experiences (OBE), Dr. Brian Weiss’s famous researches on Past Lives, Science of Eternity, evidences of Reincarnations etc. Many of these videos cover interviews and documentaries of the works and discoveries of prominent scientists, medical doctors, psychiatrist, philosophers and quantum physicist. There are also large array of books available in these subjects of existence of soul and the documentation of reincarnation.

For the purpose of this essay, I have selected just two videos on the scientific researches of life after death and they are as follows;

- In 1874, one of the greatest scientists that Britain ever produced was Sir William Crooks, president of the Royal Society, the most prestigious scientific body in the world. He came across one of these discoveries - experiments called ‘A Materialization Medium’ which was suppressed. In 1983, Crook’s experiment was repeated. In the summer of 2007, Michael Roll was interviewed by Lou Bondi in Malta. cfpfuk. July 27, 2008. YouTube.

- The Science of Eternity. “The greatest question affecting each and every human being is the question of death and dying. Do we simply cease to exist or do we pass quite naturally into the next world? Astounding personal encounters with supposedly dead relatives coupled with new scientific evidence based on quantum physics – the study of the invisible part of the universe – suggest that we all survive death. Written and presented by Alan Pemberton this 60 minute video features: Ronald Pearson – The scientist’s papers linking surviving after death with subatomic physics have been peer-refereed and published by physicists in Russia and USA. Michael Roll – The author of the pamphlet ‘The Scientific Proof of Survival after Death’. Gwen and Alf Byrne – These parents have been physically reunited with their ‘dead’ son, Russell, in several hundred repeatable experiments. Tom Harrison – He tells the story of his incredible medium ship of his mother, Minnie Harrison, who was one of the greatest materialization mediums ever to make contact with people in the ether universe. David Lcke – Talks about life after death.” cfpfuk. September 03, 2007. YouTube.

Dr. Ian Stevenson, M.D., a psychiatrist from Charlottesville, Virginia, has done the largest number of case histories of children who remember past lives, over 2500 case histories to date, which he researched and documented for over thirty years before he published his book Reincarnation and Biology in two volumes consisting of over two thousand two hundred pages. In his acknowledgement, he mentioned a long list of medical doctors, assistants, associates and others from various countries that assisted in the reporting, research and documentation of over two thousand five hundred cases of reincarnations. It is probably the largest medically documented proof of the possibility of reincarnation available.

Dr. Stevenson in his conclusion said that reincarnation was the best possible explanation for the following reasons: the large number of witnesses and the lack of appropriate motivation and opportunity due to the vetting process thus making the hypothesis of fraud extremely unlikely. The large amount of information possessed by the children is not generally consistent with the hypothesis that the child obtained that information through investigated contact between the families. Demonstration of similar personality characteristics and skills not learned in the current life and the lack of motivation for the length of identification with a past life makes the hypothesis of the child gaining his recollections and behavior through extra-sensory perception improbable. When there is correlation between congenital deformities or birthmarks possessed by the child and the history of the previous individual, the hypothesis of random occurrence is improbable. Flash memory according to Dr. Stevenson is out of the question!

Interview of Robert Almeder, Ph.D., Dept of Philosophy, GSU “Reincarnation Evidence: Stevenson's Research” - meaning by implications, that human beings are more than their bodies. At least their personalities are not reducible to a state about biochemical states or any states biological properties produced by brain states or anything like that. I can't think of any alternative explainable as plausible for the data. It's irrational to disbelieve in, that there is a very strong argument here that you cannot refute. And not to accept the argument is to act irrationally. One of the implications would be that something wrong with psychology as we know it as purely on a physically model. That it will not be able to succeed in explaining these kinds of cases and probably not another number of others. Also this data suggest that there are some incredible mysteries here about human nature that we can't begin to fathom. Stevens research for 30 to 40 years and if reincarnation couldn't occur because we don't know the mechanism how it occur – from a scientist view is that you don't have to know why things end up the way they are. Although mature science all our explanations will be causal. But there all kinds of explanation that are that are not causal but statistical, that there are some things occurring but you don't know why. It’s just like electricity where you need not understand how it works but everyone can benefit from knowing that it exist and works.” twipley Nov 10, 2008. YouTube.

Soul Awareness Living: It's Impact on Global.

by Thomas Kwan.

I must profess that I am totally new in the area of ecology but I am very encouraged by the vast array of work that is being done by so many quarters of science, technology, societies and non-governmental organizations around the world. It is a bright light at the end of the tunnel when we are now faced with global warming, greenhouse effect, depleting natural oil and other natural resources that we have taken for granted for generations. "The rise of ecology, the environmental sciences, and the search for sustainable development provide a creative new vision which may make it possible to counter, perhaps even reverse, some of the destructive human interventions in nature." (King 47).

In a way the awareness of the eminent coming of these calamities have stirred and awaken the soul consciousness of these driving forces behind such projects as energy conservation, alternative energies, organic farming just to name a few. This trend can be illustrated by but not limited to a few such projects mentioned as follows:

"New technology created for more efficient batteries.” Paris - A nanoscale material developed in Britain could one day yield wafer-thin mobile phones and light-weight, long-range electric cars. AFP. 17th Feb 2010. (18). Today newspaper.

“Record number of entries for competition on environmental sustainability.” SINGAPORE: A competition on environmental sustainability saw a record number of entries from local schools. The Green Wave Environmental Care Project received a total of 292 submissions. - Saturday, January 30. Channel NewsAsia

“First eco—town in Punggol, solar panels in more HDB precincts.” SINGAPORE: Plans are underway to turn Punggol into Singapore’s first eco—town as part of the sustainable development blueprint. The aim is that over the next five years, energy consumption in public areas will go down by up to 30 percent while energy use in households is targeted to decrease by 10 percent. - Friday, January 29. Channel NewsAsia

Only the people that are driven by their soul consciousness will see things from a higher perspective of being one with and part of Mother Earth. How we live our life has an effect on everything and everyone around us in so many ways because we are all intertwined and linked within one enormous living organism. The micro vision of understanding this macro concept is imagine you and I are but just one part of a cell in the living human body that whatever state we are in has an impact on the entire body.

"The consciousness of the global, of one planet, of one world, possesses many positive features. It can point to a greater sense of being together, a new global sense of responsibility and ethics, which tries to address global problems through concerted human effort and consensus, created by sharing the same intentions and spirit. As Ewert Cousins and others have pointed out, contemporary spirituality needs to be a 'global spirituality'-global in the sense that it is both rooted in the earth, and connected to the diversity of peoples, cultures, and faiths around the globe." (King 44).

“If we take care of nature, harness its energy, and learn to adapt to it, we will feel that this is our world and be grateful for it.” (Steger 174).

“The biosphere provides us with a biological vision of oneness- the web of life- but human history, philosophy, and religion, also know of the dream of a cultural and social oneness of humankind. This theme is very ancient, found in numerous creation stories and myths. The vision of a common beginning, of a shared origin and destiny, is also deeply enshrined in the teachings of different world faiths. In Christianity, for example, there exists the notion of the oikoumene, the whole inhabited world, an idea that the early Christians took over from the Greeks and Romans. The oikoumene expresses a belonging together, a common identity, beyond particular individuals and groups. Other faiths posses their own images and words pointing to this greater, underlying unity of humankind patterned by the flux of history and destiny. Numerous religious teachings speak about the inclusiveness of creation and salvation for all human beings, visions that are all embracing and universal in their intentionality. Traditionally, religions foster wisdom and morality, have guided individuals and groups through life, and shaped entire civilizations. Yet their noble teachings on human unity, peace, and justice have shown few outward signs of real success, since religious' loftiest ideals have rarely been fully put into practice." (King 51).

Besides this Earth and all her inhabitants is all that we have, it’s our only home in this vast universe. There are still billions of people out there somewhere; that are deprived of basic living fundamentals not due to their own choices. They are also part of us as Universal family and if they hurt and are suffering, so are we.

This includes seeking wholeness for the human community, living with nature, taking seriously our responsibility for the future well-being of planet Earth, and for the future of all people but it can only come when we are conscious of our own soul and the soul of our planet.

Conscience only comes when people are aware of and guided by their soul otherwise it’s just an elaborate and extravagant whitewash that even supersede the Oscars.

For the many people who are soul aware and helping to make our global community and Mother Earth a better place, I thank you and may you be blessed with more inspirations and aspirations fulfilled.

Universal Law of the Rippling Effect.

by Thomas Kwan.

Many people are not aware of the enormous power of the Universal law of the ‘Rippling Effect’. From time to time I would remind myself of this empowering observation in nature that I realized by observing the reaction of the ripples generated by the dropping of a stone in a still and calm pond. It is not so much of the ripples that the dropped stone generate outwards from the point of entering the water surface but the returning rippling effect once the ripples reach the shoreline. The stone may have a circumference of about three inches but the ripple at the circumference of the pond is thousands of inches to say the least. The energy generated coming back towards the point of entry by the stone into the water is now multiplied thousands of fold over.

This Universal law applies to every thought, word and action that we have and some people are confused and wonder why things turn out the way they are in their lives in terms of business, social, family etc. Our reality is our own creation regardless if we are conscious of it or not. When we change out intentions, we change ourselves and we change the rippling effect to and from the world around us.

“We shall serve for the joy of serving, and prosperity will flow to us and through us in streams of plenty.” (Filmore 2).

I have heard of corporations using the concept ‘win-win-win’ and ‘social responsibility’ in their sales and marketing drive. But their clients and consumers can easily sense it is just a marketing gimmick if there is no soul in the corporate direction.

When we do things for the universal good for all, it is inline with the Universal law of peace, harmony and abundances. If we chose to work against this natural law, then we must be prepared to face its consequences thousands of times over. Would it not then be better to work in line with the Universe and be blessed thousands of times over?

To learn how to maximize the Universal Law of the Rippling Effect, contact Thomas Kwan.

Soul Awareness Living: It's Impact on Corporate.

by Thomas Kwan.

The concept of corporate soul is not new as can be recalled in the following few quotes:

Sir Edward Cook’s famed words about corporations lacking a soul were common parlance in the 1800s, joining the sayings of Bacon (“Knowledge is power.”), Baccaria (“The greatest happiness of the great number…”), and Hobbes (“Words are wise men’s counters, but the money of fools.”). Familiar Quotations, New York Times, August 28, 1881, (4).

In 1864, a rider of the Harlem River Line wrote to the New York Times saying, ‘I know that corporations have no souls – especially railroad corporations. But they have hides, and it is hoped that they are not yet so thick, that the shafts of outraged public justice and decency may not penetrate them.’ Letter to the Editor, Complains to the management of Harlem Railroad, New York Times, January 31, 1864, (5).

In 1900, Professor Franklin Russell of New York University School of Law predicted that the public’s reaction to corporate illegalities and unethical acts would likely prompt change. Corporations, he reasoned, ‘will some day have a soul. It cannot be that we will have long to wait before an enlightened public opinion will demand that every corporation act be judged by the same standard of lofty morality by which we measure the conduct of the individual man.’ Women Graduate in Law, New York Times, March 30, 100, (2).

The consumer public can never be fooled forever and the truth will always come to the surface in a matter of time and this can be reflected with; “We at Philip Morris are learning the painful lesson that if you turn your back on society, society will turn its back on you. Opinion research consistently shows that people expect companies not simply to obey the law, but to act in ways that are consistent with a society’s sense of what is right.” Greenberg, July 22, 2002.

“The prime purpose of corporations has been to make profits, and perhaps for this reason corporations have not carefully examined their values. The emphasis of corporations on profits creates an environment in which social irresponsibility and unethical practices by management can flourish. In turn, this emphasis may set the stage for law violations, inasmuch as corporate practices often tend to conflict with the values imposed by law.” (Quinney 1964).

Here I would like to bring into focus the philosophy of one company that has inspired me and could also help to inspire those who are thinking of going into business or at a point of reframing the vision and mission of existing businesses.

The company in view is the humble beginnings of Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream founded in 1978 which is now a giant in its industry. This company is based on social responsibility in the sense that business has a responsibility to give back to society. This humble company started its business in the State of Vermont and shared profit by community of Vermont. Its business is values met products and the use of products that are kind to our environment as part of its integrated social responsibility. The inspiring history of this company can be found on the internet.

Over time, top management may change and reset the tone and direction of organizations which are spelled out in print or spoken rules that shape the morality of the corporate culture.

“Corporate leadership affects not only the culture of the organizations but also the general culture of the country as they have contact with political leadership, law makers, and other powerful leaders within the country and abroad. Corporate employees in turn spread their leadership’s culture as they spend long hours at work, absorbing the corporate culture and the assumptions of how people behave and should behave – that is, the society’s culture. Before changing the culture of corporations, leadership must change its own culture.” Tamar. 2006.

To learn how to be ahead of the competition by developing a business with a soul,contact Thomas Kwan.

Soul Awareness Living: It's Impact on Society.

by Thomas Kwan.

People will look after their own interests and a natural tendency to ignore the interests of others and of society, and willing to protect themselves against other people. The reverse will be the exception until the people evolve to a soul conscious living society.

"Because of the critical stage of the world we live in we have to pay attention to the deep need for spiritual well-being beyond the existing physical, mental, and moral needs of humankind. This was already recognized in the 1960s by the Burmese U Thant (1909-1974), the third secretary-general of the United Nations, and former assistant secretary-general Robert Muller from Alsace-Lourraine in France, who reflected in the early 1980s on the place of spirituality in secular society in his inspiring book New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality." (King 45).

Society is made up of individual members of its inhabitants regardless if they are citizens, permanent residences or long and short term work permit holders. As such, personal habits are in a way reflected in the culture of a society. A visitor to the country would not be able to tell if the inhabitants are citizens or foreign professionals working on a temporary basis. In order for a society to evolve into a graceful society, a change in the general consciousness of its inhabitants is required.

This change starts with the fundamental requirement of awareness. For without being aware, one could not and would not know where one is as a reference point. Awareness also helps to pin point the old programmed reaction of preconceived and prejudice concepts of outdated habits that may no more serve the needs and growth of the society.

After awareness, the next element towards a graceful society is to know that the change could and should be beneficial to the individual as well as the organization or society at large. It is only human nature to ask ‘what’s in it for me?’, ‘why should I make a change if it does not benefit me or my family?’ The third and most important step following awareness and knowledge is the self motivation and commitment to action with perseverance that eventually becomes part of the new habit over time and help to blossom a community into a graceful society.

It’s an undeniable fact that our children are our future and what kind of future will we have is determined by how the young creative minds are molded and guided. One of the historically proven ways is to schedule back the teaching of ethics and social studies into schools. Virtues and ethics education are among the many links to higher consciousness thus also leading the way towards spirituality and building a society with a soul. Sir Winston Churchill is quoted as saying: “A nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it,” One must learn form the past in order to be free from it.

Singapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said “Singapore must project a new identity, one that captivates the eyes, moves the heart, stirs the soul and inspires the mind.” Today Newspaper, News section, (4), Friday November 6, 2009.

A small country whose only resource is human talents and capabilities, must provide its products and services with a soul and only then can she stay ahead of competition and continue to prosper through the ups and downs of global economic climates. In short its ‘service with a heart’ that can only come from sincerity of service for every potential customer and consumer can intuitively detect superficial front of the service provider and be turned away. Service with a heart cannot be faked but can only come when a person is aware and in touch with his/her own soul. Since society is made up of individuals then collectively they determine the soul of the society.

Robin Dunbar, professor of psychology at the University of Liverpool in the UK, asserts, “The lack of social contact, the lack of sense of community, may be the most pressing social problem of the new millennium.” (Cutler 12).

Due to globalization, the societies of the world are becoming more culturally diversified, multiracial, multi-religious and in order to try to create a homogeneous, harmonious and peaceful society, the inhabitants must evolve spiritually. Only then can the people go beyond their obvious dense differences and connect at the soul conscious level and see each other as part of the global Universal family.

With the onset of a new breed of global citizens, reflected in the ever growing numbers of ‘Indigo ‘adults and children, ‘Crystal’ and ‘Rainbow’ children, a general trend started to emerge and is becoming more prominent than ever. These are the future leaders of the world and their battle cry can be reflected but not limited to the following two quotes;

" The increase in interest on a global scale for spiritual truth to spear head global economy, ecology ......An immense spiritual hunger exist today, a deep longing for a life of personal wholeness and meaning and a society of greater justice and peace. The universal upsurge of interest in spirituality in all its different forms is the urgent call to find new ways of mindful and authentic living, and to spiritually transform our economy, politics, education, and culture." (King Cover Page).

"The stress is on unity, integrity, holism, individuality; their language often invokes 'harmony, balance, flow, integrations, Being-at-one with, centered." Heelas, Paul et al., The Spiritual Revolution. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. (26). this study is set in a community in England. It is clear that the themes here are very similar to those invoked in the U.S., or indeed, anywhere today in the Atlantic world. (Taylor 507).

From my observation over the last ten years, I would add that this theme is also reflected in the East and this change is inevitable because of the new breed of global citizens that are slowly but surely replacing and taking over from the old guards. As Lao Tse said; ‘Nothing is permanent or forever – change is inevitable'. Hence societies all over the world are evolving as part of the Universal evolution process. To sum up in a few words, “Change is inevitable which is in line with the Universal expanding Consciousness.”

Living in the "Now" Solves Mind Worries.

by Thomas Kwan.

The past is gone and cannot be changed. The past is for us to reflect and learn from it in the hope of gaining wisdom from the experience. Reflection and observation of the past helps us gain wisdom for the soul. No one knows what the future may bring. But the future is dependent on what we do now.

We only have this very moment which is the essence of the moment. If we let this moment just go by with frustrations of the past and worry of the future, we have lost the moment of opportunity to make our lives meaningful. The moment is all we’ve got to make life the way we want to feel.

If we can apply this simple task of living in the moment, we will experience more of the essence of the moment in everything that we do and every relationship that we have and see the beauty of life unfolding before our eyes. Just like a flower in bloom is but a tender brief moment but capturing its moment lives in our hearts forever.

To learn how to see the beauty of life unfolding before your eyes, contact Thomas Kwan.

What was the Greatest Revelation of the Human Genome Project?

When the available evidence of the Human Genome Project was completed there were stories in the media everywhere about how we share 99.9% of our genetic code with every person on the planet and 99% same with all creatures.

"If you examine the beauty of the double helix, and then go to have your own genome sequence fully analyzed, you will be at once impressed that such a near-perfect phenomenon is at the core of your being, and assured (I hope) that you have so much in common with other tribes of the human species-'race' having gone, along with 'creation' into the ashcan-and further fascinated to learn how much you are part of the animal kingdom as well." (Hitchens 8).

“We show how empathy and compassion cause specific changes in brain function that alter the way we perceive and interact with others – for example, causing us to perceive others as being more similar to ourselves. These changes result in relating to others based more on our similarities than our differences, removing the barriers between “us” and “them”. (Cutler xvi).

The Illusion of Enlightenment

by Thomas Kwan.

Many people have a notion that enlightenment is a destination and a state of which they aspire to attain and be in. Enlightenment is not a destination but little wisdoms gained along the way in this Earth life, past lives and future lives to come. Collectively these little wisdoms gained contribute to the soul’s purpose to evolve which is part of the purpose of the Universal Consciousness. Enlightenment therefore is an endless process of the soul’s evolution through wisdoms gained through life’s issues and challenges that is not a destination, not affected by time and space, not a state of mind nor is it only reachable by a select few of evolved beings.

I would like to use the analogy of the academic school for the thinking conscious mind to help shed light on understanding the school of wisdom for the soul. If one were to stretch the imagination of the impossibility that all of a sudden a toddler is suddenly bestowed with the wealth of knowledge of a professor as if mysteriously popped out from a genie lamp – it’s impossible and ridiculously improbable an accomplishment. The process of gaining knowledge is a gradual exposure to the learning process from infancy, toddler, preschool, primary, secondary academic education and so on. Every step of the learning process will bolsters, fosters and expands the person’s knowledge of the world he/she lives in.

The moment the person stops learning is the time the person becomes stagnated in growth. Knowledge for the conscious mind is only limited to this single life span on Earth. Whereas, the school of wisdom for the soul, is not constrained by the limitations of this Earth life, which is subjected to the fragility of the physical body, through ageing, illness, diseases and eventual death and decay of the body.

Wisdom gained through the many past lives are never lost as they are stored in the soul’s memory and can be called upon when needed and this explains why some people are wiser than others given the same demographic, economic, educational, environmental backgrounds. The saying that a person is an old soul is a testament to his/her ability to see through and beyond the thinking, analytical, logical and mental memories of the average person. Hence we are not our body, mind or emotions but our authentic self is our evolving soul!

On the same note, for some people, they have been also mislead to belief a misconception that this could be their last life on Earth without any need for more reincarnations because they have been told by astrologers that based on numerological calculations and according to their stars and destiny they have reached their ultimate spiritual achievements. I personally feel that the effect of being told such a misconception would only help bring temporary relief and hope to those people who are encountering hardship and sufferings beyond their understanding. Yet having told this the search for higher meaning in life still goes on. It is only when they find their authentic self that they come to terms with life and end the cyclic suffering.

It is the purpose of the Universal Consciousness to evolve through souls and this misconception runs in total contradiction of its purpose. If people were to realize that every life issue and situation is an opportunity for wisdom for the evolution of their soul, they would not be focusing on the negative side of the polarity but rather look at life from the elevated higher level of the soul’s consciousness. But this view goes far beyond the bird’s eye view on life as it opens up to looking at life from the way that Oneness intended us to do.

To learn more about how to cope with life's issues and break the cycle of sufferings, contact Thomas Kwan.

The Illusion of Haven and Hell

by Thomas Kwan.

“In the summer of 1999, Pope John Paul II stated that heaven and hell were not actual places but rather that they were states (of this life) involving being in relation with God or out of relation with him. I was in Costa Rica when the pope said this, and the newspaper were filled for weeks with letters from disgruntled Catholics wondering if the aged pope was losing his mind. My friend Marcel Kinsbourne, a distinguished cognitive neuroscientist, told me that American and European Catholics, including members of his family, had similar reactions.” (Flanagan 185).

People should be rejoicing when finally told by the authority that there is no heaven and hell but instead are wondering if he is losing his mind. This is the natural spontaneous reaction of a programmed habitual belief system. But over time people will begin to wake up and wise up and start questioning what else have they been told for centuries and then contradicted at a later time, which just adds to the confusion to their spiritual path.

On the lighter side of things; in the constant search of the vast multi-verse out there by astronomers for new stars, galaxies, asteroids and planets, they have yet to name one such discovery as ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’. Surely with such clear and vivid religious descriptions of ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’, these two prime and important planetary properties would be glaring into our scopes the moment we gaze into the stars.

So heaven or hell on Earth is really what we make of our life by how we view life’s issues. In quantum physics terms this is known as ‘The Observer Effect’ which when simply put is that we create our reality. This not only apply to life’s issues but also how we gauge and perceive people in our life. They can be ‘devils’ or ‘angels’ depending on how we chose to see them. But what we chose with our thinking conscious mind determines how we feel inside and thus how others see us on the outside. Hence people are our reflection of what is inside us. Our outside world need not change but when and its easier we change from the inside, our outer world responds accordingly.

We are responsible for our own happiness and not someone else. We tend to expect others to make us happy but since no two people have the same interpretation of expectations, and therefore expectation are never met, this is a fruitless pursuit and thus no one is happy. It is time to take our own responsibility to create heaven on Earth.

To learn how to create your heaven on Earth, contact Thomas Kwan.

The Misconception of "One Life"

by Thomas Kwan.

There is also a misconception on the concept of one life as most people are only aware of their physical body that must eventually die.

But to view the concept of one life with regards to the infinite soul is like looking at a rain drop falling from the clouds onto a leave and eventually merging with the stream and back into the ocean to be evaporated once more into rain clouds. This process of the experience of the single rain drop is repeated in an endless cycle of rebirth, merging and reemerging.

Just like the many lives that the soul reincarnates into for the purpose of evolution and yet between reincarnations is part of the ocean consciousness of Oneness.

To learn more about purpose of the soul and related topics, contact Thomas Kwan.

The Illusion of Death

by Thomas Kwan.

E. Ecker Steger, Professor of philosophy at St. John’s University, wrote in his book The Many Dimensions of the Human Person; The dimension of eternal life. “In this contemporary age statistics show that approximately 97% of people belief in an afterlife. Belief is partially based upon the experiences of dying persons. Deathbed visions are common in both Eastern and Western countries, as indicators of survival after death. Data on such experiences reveal the following facts. (Karlis Osis and Erlendur Haraldsson, At the Hour of Death (New York: Avon Books, 1977). Research reveals that sex, age, and education have little influence on the death bed experience and, whereas religion appears to facilitate afterlife experiences, many ‘who were slightly involved in religion and did not express a belief in afterlife, still had otherworldly emotions.’ There was no relation whatsoever between medication and experiential characteristics suggestive of an afterlife.’ Mood elevation near the time of death often accompanied visions of oncoming post-mortem existence. The dying experience a heightened consciousness of those they leave behind in this dimension. Such factual reports, however, neither prove nor disprove immortality.” (168).

When we know our authentic self is our soul and that the soul does not die, then the death of the physical body is but a change of ‘vehicle’ for the soul. If this is the case we need not try to prolong the physical body as if we are clinging onto a vintage car and deprive ourselves of the advantages of having a new vehicle to serve our growing needs. Would you not prefer to drive a dashing eye-turner Ferrari, over that of the outdated, slow and sluggish Henry Ford’s ‘Model T’?

“If you do not fear death, then how can it intimidate you? If you aren’t afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot do.” Lao Tze. Tao Te Ching. Passage 74. (McDonald 117).

Once we realize that the purpose of the soul is to evolve through the school of wisdom in this Earth life; then death is our graduation and time for celebration. That is why I prefer to refer to funerals and wakes as farewell parties rather than a time of sadness and lost. Don’t worry as outwardly I still wear the somber look to blend in but deep inside I rejoice for and with the departing soul.

To learn how to cope with and overcome the fear of death and the uncertainties of after life, contact Thomas Kwan.

The Ilusion of Time

by Thomas Kwan

A physicist who explains timelessness and eternity; “In an interview in Discover magazine with the famous physicist Julian Barbour, author of The End of Time, ‘there is no past and no future. Indeed, time and motion are nothing more than illusions. In Barbour’s universe, every moment of every individual’s life – birth, death, and everything in between – exists forever. ‘Each instant we live, is, in essence eternity’ Barbour says.” (Yahya 170).

The unprepared elderly and the people who are given a short time to live due to terminal illnesses are usually the ones that are anxious about death. This is because they are not aware that their higher self that is in charge of this Earth life are reminding them through their sub-conscious mind that their contract with their physical body in this life time is coming to an end and that the lessons and higher purpose which they were meant to fulfill has not been done.

I would use the analogy of the academic school to shed light to this understanding. Imagine if you will that a student has not been serious about the studies for three quarters of the school year and suddenly realize that there is not enough time to cram all the learning required with the little amount of time left. I do not know about you but I sure did have my share of anxieties and panic during my school days because of this illusion of time syndrome. This is exactly how the subconscious mind disturbs us when we have not fulfilled our lessons in this life time. Hence this gives rise to the anxiety and fear of death syndrome.

We have heard about how the dying can experience their life flashing past them as if viewing the movie of their life in super speed. Well this is what the higher self does as it reflects the life’s experience against the list of lessons it was meant to learn in the life time.

When we are aware that our soul’s purpose is to evolve in this Earth school of wisdom for the soul, then we are much more prepared and at peace when the time comes when we are to graduate - knowing that we have fulfilled our higher purpose and also gained the wisdoms we were here to have.

To learn more about the purpose of the soul and higher purpose in life, contact Thomas Kwan.

Catalyst for Our Wisdom

by Thomas Kwan.

"Forgiveness: happy people know forgiveness sets the soul free. A famous person said, 'Living with resentment is like taking poison and expecting the other person to get sick.' open your heart to the gift of happiness by letting go of pain, judgment, anger, and resentment." (Hall 29).

People struggle to forgive because though they may say they have forgiven, in actual fact they cannot forget the hurt they suffered. The pain lives on because it is literary etched in the memory of the brain and can be triggered anytime in the future because the ego still hurts and sometimes they feel they are victimized or misunderstood. Forgiveness is a state of consciousness of the thinking conscious mind and because of this it has the habit to dwell on unpleasant things, issues and people thus keeping the toxic emotions brewing for a long time which over time is detrimental to our health.

But the soul see others as catalyst for the soul’s wisdom, this changes the perception completely. First we do not expect others to change because as catalyst they themselves do not change their form but they create reactions upon those they come in contact with. Then there is no need for forgiveness but instead we become thankful for the role of the catalyst for being part of the process of our evolution. Everyone, every event, issue in life, experience provides an opportunity of wisdom for our soul’s evolution.

“Compassion sprang forth from my heart when I saw that all human beings, even those who were cruel and selfish, were majestic and magnificent at their core. Each was an essential part of the great wonderment of life. It was a blessing to be here on this planet, even in the bad times, and that there was a Divine plan for each of us. I understand that everything was good – everything – and eventually each occurrence in life would allow us to raise our level of consciousness.” (Linn xiv).

To learn how to see life from the soul's point of view, contact Thomas Kwan.

How to Tap on the Power of Prayer

by Thomas Kwan.

All religions teach their followers to pray but yet many feel that their prayers are not answered. Over a period of unanswered prayers anyone will give up and start to doubt that the infinite even exist.

It is not just the reciting, frequencies and numbers of repetitions of prayers that the prayers will be heard or answered. Prayers being answered or not is another extensive subject but will not be covered in this essay or else this essay will have no ending. The key here is connection and the question is effective communication with the infinite. If the communication is effective, one only need say the prayer once and there is no need for endless nagging. This sounds familiar even when we communicate with each other let alone Oneness. Let’s examine what happens when we pray with specific minds and what are the implications;

When we pray with our Conscious Mind, it is only “Wishful Thinking”. And since humans are the only species on Earth that are given ‘Free Will’, the celestial and infinite consciousness will not interfere and intervene.

As with most people, they are taught how to pray with the rote method and over consistent practice becomes a Sub-Conscious Mind activity of repetitive action and reaction. Prayer in this way is created into our “Belief Systems” and habits. Yet there is still no connection with the higher consciousness.

It is only when we pray with our Super-Conscious Mind that the connection to the Universal Mind or God Consciousness is made. Why do I have to learn this the hard way after years of kneeling on my knees and rubbing the prayer beads till my finger prints almost disappeared but more importantly my prayers were heard but not answered. But now it is a different story when I know the science of prayer. Yet again we see that science and spirituality are meant to be inseparable.

To learn how to be aware of and master the use of the Three Minds, contact Thomas Kwan.