 How Do Waldorf Education and Anthroposophy Relate to Each Other?
(dasgoetheanum.com) I recently saw this article posted Facebook, accompanied by concerns that not only Waldorf Schools but a variety of initiatives arising from the work of Rudolf Steiner are coming under increasing - and essentially unfair - criticism today. A second article was soon shared as a further sign of this trend, and I've included an excerpt of the conversation that followed. Waldorf schools, biodynamic agriculture, anthroposophical medicine and other initiatives arising from Rudolf Steiner's work are generally perceived by the public to be good and wholesome things. People mostly have excellent experiences with them, and therefore they're inclined to grow and thrive. But they're also under a certain very sophisticated and undermining attack, even in Europe where they're best established. The basis ? Much of it, that they're "unscientific" and "based on occultism", based on a kind of guru worship - or alternately, "possibly outdated" because Rudolf Steiner is no longer alive. This is not innocuous, as evidenced by increasing restrictions on anthroposophical medicines, scrutiny of all of these initiatives by the state, and closer regulation EVEN WHERE NO HARM IS BEING DONE. The article above is very well written, the first in a series of four. I recommend a close and thoughtful reading, as these attacks will not decrease until meticulously refuted - and until the courage and skill can be found to publicly "make the case" for the occult content itself. Here are some of the reactions and responses to the piece : Martin : Anthroposophists are now labelled "Querdenker" in Germany. (Note : see this succinct definition of the term from July 2021) "In fact, Querdenker has garnered so much attention that a whole list of books has been published about this subject ..... also the German spy agency decided to watch the Querdenker movement." We English speakers are supposed to know very little about Rudolf Steiner's untranslated works and would supposedly change our minds about him if we did. I suggest reading this also, for the same reasons Jeff Smith states above : The Cult of Rudolf Steiner Part 1 internationalresearch.com Michael : Martin, 1) You write as if it were "common knowledge" (meaning basically everybody, or "public opinion") that anthroposophists are Querdenker. Is that so ? You would think that the fruits of Waldorf education or of Biodynamic agriculture would justify what is behind them, not the opposite. 2) Is it even a little justified ? Do anthroposophists know what they are talking about ? Just to take an example, if an anthroposophist talks about the activity of Buddha on Mars, do they actually know what they are talking about ? (I don't mean to question whether it is true ; my point is completely different. Do they understand it ? If they can't put it in their own - and different - words, I doubt it.) 3) Anthroposophists again and again post long or short quotations from Steiner lectures. They seldom speak for themselves, except perhaps to quarrel about what he really said or how it should be interpreted. 4) I sometimes wonder whether most of us "anthroposophists" would do well to enter into a fast on quoting RS and instead in silence study and practice his Philosophy of Freedom (first !) and his Knowledge of Higher Worlds. Perhaps it would help us to think straight instead of quer. I think that the above article is biased, but I knew nothing of many of the things he was writing about. You ? Jeff : Waiting to hear Martin's clarification too, Michael. I didn't get that he thinks anthropops are Querdenkers - but reinforcing that there is in truth a rather virulent group trying to create that impression. Concerning your own observations - well maybe some anthros are Querdenkers to some extent. Not enough to disqualify a large body of excellent observations, thinking and fruitful work on the part of its best representatives - but enough that we need to pull up our socks, and be mindful not to undermine OURSELVES. Michael : Jeff Smith I am not so sanguine about this. Martin : Michael, the article is indeed biased. Where the name Peter Staudenmaier appears quoted as a worthy source, one can be assured of it. The expression "Sticks and Stones ..... " encapsulates my attitude to it. The expression was first attested in Folk-phrases of Four Counties by GF Northall, published in 1894 for the English dialect society. I could address each of your points separately but at the end of the day Anthroposophists will individually do as they wish. There will always be detractors and their voices will become more and more deafening as time moves on. In our attempts to communicate the impossible it must be expected. It is the fate of any artist or art appreciator working out of a non-mainstream impulse I'm afraid. Martin : Jeff, the German Spy Agency obviously thinks the terms Querdenker and Conspiracy theorist are interchangeable and that Anthroposophist is just a synonym. This is a phenomenon most recently linked to the Covid Op. Question the official COVID narrative at your peril. Jeff : Michael, what do you mean by sanguine in this case ? Niels-Peter : This problem I believe is due to various factors. 1. That the schools don't talk enough about the pedagogy's very close relationship with Steiner's esotericism, but instead focus on the popular things - natural materials - the creative subjects - the seasonal festivals - and all the other "easy" things that are popular to "sell". 2. That many teachers at a Steiner school do not have a Waldorf education. This causes problems regarding the understanding of why the curriculum looks the way it does - i.e. the esoteric reasons for it. It can also create two "camps" in the college - one that takes the esoteric foundations seriously - and one that looks more at what is popular in the eyes of the public (this is often the reason they have applied for the job of Steiner teacher) 3. Crazy attitudes from anthroposophists - such as we have seen them during COVID - and also in concrete cases at schools. Here in Odense (in Denmark) - we had a trained anthroposophical teacher who completely destroyed a large well-functioning school by claiming that half of the teaching staff were Ahriman emissaries from Nazi circles in Germany. The other half believed that - and the war broke out - and the parents fled with their children. Esotericism can make people do really strange things. 4. That far too little is said matter-of-factly about Steiner's esotericism. That really skilled anthroposophists don't stand up more and speak publicly about this. Make it a natural thing to associate with Steiner's name - so it's not just biodynamic goods - Weleda cosmetics and beautiful things in schools. This means - especially around the schools that it can appear to the outside world as if the schools are hiding something - is a cult that will not stand by their hidden agendas. And then it can be "exposed" by journalists and others. So a much more transparent approach to the fact that Steiner's esotericism is actually totally determining the pedagogy in Steiner schools - or at least in schools where the teachers have an esoteric Walddorf training. Don't hide behind all the beauty - but be proud of the esoteric background - and talk about it completely freely and openly. Then there will be nothing hidden - and nothing to reveal either. Jeff : Good thoughts, Niels-Peter ! There's also a saying that in the face of an attack, if your response is to explain yourself, you're already losing. With rare exceptions, none of the initiatives are doing harm, and left to its own devices, the public experiences this organically. And yet a case is being made that there is somehow danger lurking. First of all, if there is genuine evidence of harm, it should simply be handed over to the courts, to be either proven or disproven. No contest if children or patients or consumers of biodynamic foods are being injured - it should be stopped. But if it's exonerated, anthroposophists can also stand on THAT fact. The real issue is a campaign of insinuation that the esoteric aspects of anthroposophy make the initiatives somehow dangerous no matter how much good they do. These by the way were the tactics used against Steiner from the very beginning. So the question is, who makes charges like these and why ? In the big picture, I'd say people with a conceptual commitment to materialism. An adamant and aggressive one. What people's individual reasons for this would be, would be just that - individual - but I think an important underlying factor is existential fear. You can have compassion for people in that situation, but you can't let the problems with this conceptual kind of materialism slide. Rudolf Steiner, for one, never did ! Materialism has a soft underbelly, and that's that in its dogmatism, it eventually pollutes and parts ways with science. Unable to adequately explain phenomena of life, soul or spirit, it denies not only their existence, but the possibility that ANYONE could understand them. And in doing that it begins to make mistakes. As long as natural science is unable to take the phenomena of life, soul and spirit into account, understand them and work with them, it's sooner or later going to make mistakes with them, and do harm. This happens constantly with natural science. It gets many things right that we can admire and be very grateful for. But it also create dangers, that if not corrected, lead to catastrophes. As long as scientists leave this possibility open they'll be receptive and even glad to hear it when someone points out a problem in their creations, and be eager to correct it. If their reaction is denial, however, they risk creating monstrosities. And this does happen, on the largest imaginable scale. This is exactly how we come to food and agricultural technologies that also chronically damage our health and the natural environmental ; worldwide oversaturation with electromagnetic fields that have elsewhere in science been demonstrated to be harmful ; and universal, even mandated use of vaccine technologies that, elsewhere in science, we've been warned are gravely harmful or dangerous. And in the world of transgender therapies, doctors, psychiatrists and the pharmaceutical industry are rubber stamping treatments that are scientific travesties, and medically grotesquely harmful. Science, in situations where these things happen, begins to take on every negative characteristic human thinking and action are capable of, even to the extremes of negligent murder. It ceases to be, even refuses to be SCIENTIFIC. It surrenders the necessary practice of free inquiry to the exercise of heirarchy, authority and power. In the process, it degrades science to "scientism" - an attitude something like the old doctrine of the infallibility of pope and clergy. In the end, conceptual materialism has nowhere else to hide. Whatever reasons are given for attacking the "esotericism" of anthroposophy, I think this is the actual motivating factor. Rudolf Steiner was 100% for natural science - and 100% for extending it through what is being attacked as esotericism. He refuted conceptual materialism as an aberration of science, and modern anthroposophists need to be able to do that too. We can certainly explain whatever we understand of anthroposophy to any thinking person of goodwill, as skillfully we can. But explaining or justifying it to those who attack and undermine it would be a losing strategy from the start. Martin, Niels-Peter, your thoughts ? Niels-Peter : Nice clear explanation of the tendency of natural science to make very harmful things (also) because it does not respect "the finer matters" - I would then add money and greed to the explanation, as these are often the driving force behind very harmful inventions/claims - which we saw the pharmaceutical companies use to the extreme during COVID. But - as you also mention - the natural science club also works well - namely where it is open and curious. We saw this with cold fusion - which was first received with great enthusiasm, but soon also with demands for repetition and proof - and then the idea was dead. Because it was wrong. Also around near-death experiences, we see hard-core materialist scientists stop and wonder - investigate the matter more deeply - and reach insights that change their basic perceptions of life and spirit. It is fantastic. I have a dream that spiritual science will work in the same way - results are presented - ideas are proposed - everyone listens - many investigate - open debate - something can be verified by others - something must remain uncertain - something can be rejected - but nothing remains stuck in the land of dogmatics and ego - because only the truth counts. But OK - it probably won't be tomorrow I also agree that one should not enter into a dialogue with the hard-core opponents directly - that is a lost cause - but instead openly present alternative explanations - for the whole thing. I think that to the extent we lack alternatives to the materialistic explanations of life - really, it is only near-death research that really provides a greater alternative. And this, I believe, is a task for spiritual science - to a far greater extent than we do now. Because at the moment, the soulless explanation of life is destroying our children's minds like a grinding machine - and it hurts to the core to witness. And no - I don't exactly have the "Einstein proposal" for how we do it - but there MUST be a solution to confront materialism on a much larger scale than is happening now - as I see it. Jeff : Niels-Peter, consider this possibility, as a way of working in the future. I'll probably refine it a little more, but will post it for discussion here more than once in the the time to come, each time with a different specific question, focused on some important present issue - for instance this one here, of attacks on anthroposophical work. The exercise would be to discuss the matter from many sides, gather related facts and information and "think it right". This would be a path of many small but related insights, that would include the spirit fully - but would also be fully "doable" in the real world. Think It Right ! livingwaterswellnessresources.weebly.com Michael : Well said Jeff ! Jeff Smith : Thank you Michael ! Michael Hall : Jeff, you know, on this point I think we have a problem - we, not just our critics. What I am trying to say is nuanced and maybe a bit vague, but I'll try. It is a problem in the modern age to go on speaking about two worlds (the material world and the spiritual world). Partly, for sure, it is because the culture in which we grew up is so materialistic. But that may be changing; science is growing, even if slowly. Space now is not just a box of nothing; it is elegantly curved. I think there is one reality and we need one science, and of course it needs to include spirit. But to tell the truth, I have never liked or trusted the word "occult", and I still never use it willingly. If we identify ourselves publicly with hidden or secret or occult things, we are probably identifying ourselves with a sect. And it probably has its dogmas, etc. I think we should PRACTICE what we have found that is healthy and true, and then speak out of what we have learned. There is to my mind no greater book of Steiner's than the Philosophy of Freedom, and the next would be probably KOHW. I think we should start where we are, and go on from there. I even suspect that he would agree. But most anthroposophists, apparently, would not. Jeff : Yes, there are certainly probIems on "our" side too. One is as I mentioned earlier, that people can be very loose with vocabulary, speaking without realizing it, that probably almost no one can understand them, and taking no care to connect the dots a) for newcomers and b) for critics, including ones with an impulse to tear down anthroposophy and anthroposophical work. It does not help the former, and gives the latter all the ammunition in the world. Rudolf Steiner built up understanding step by step for those he spoke to, so that he didn't lose or confuse those who were open to to what he brought, and that he created no opportunity for those who came to undermine. A better way for us, I think, would to make VERY sure, before we speak, that we understand what we've been given through and through on the level of thinking and concepts, and ALSO that we've penetrated it well enough that we can connect it to the realities of life ; including some insight into the mindset and needs of those we're speaking TO. Rudolf Steiner was a master of recognizing the needs and understanding level of the person or audience he was speaking to. There are many, many bridges to be built between natural science and spiritual science, but they need to be able to bear the full weight of questions, challenges and relevance to life as people live it. Perhaps we can each have some small part in building those bridges. But if we don't have the viable construction skills and safety awareness for that, we really should stay off the construction site ! Michael : The problems you list in your first paragraphs are all problems of someone who is not really speaking for himself. Niels-Peter : There is also another problem in this, and that is that the world has a very short tradition of talking publicly about esoteric secrets. A good 100 years - that's all. Esoteric sounds completely insane to the unprepared ear - or at least part of it does. So anthroposophists and others have a tough task, to make madness sound reasonable - without the guru's power to make the audience sweep the floor if they don't behave properly. But that is the task - to talk publicly about the old - and new - secrets about how the world looks like behind the outer curtain - behind the veil. So the two Jesus children - Buddha's mission on Mars - the 4 world incarnations - and the three to come - Atlantis - the group souls of the animals - the three powers of resistance - the Rosicrucians - reincarnation - karma and 2384 other "strange" things - there is no turning back. And any insecurity - or attempt to hide something - will become a weakness, and turned into victory for those who see no purpose in seeing the world as the result of the creative power of living spirit. So this problem is probably also about how uncertainty becomes an old tradition to hide the esoteric - but it is too late - the books are in all the world's bookstores - and many of them are written by Steiner. Martin : Niels-Peter, check out Gigi Young . She seems to be doing a good job of it in my opinion. Jeff Smith : Not so sure Martin. My sense is that she's pretty loose with terminology. It always bothers me when people use an esoteric term without first building up an understanding and background for the listener. To me, one of Rudolf Steiner's best qualities is that he DOESN'T do that. If you're speaking to an audience fully familiar with your theme, that's one thing - but if your audience is likely to include newcomers - or people potentially hostile to what you're saying - I don't think it's wise, or that in the long term it will be particularly helpful or productive. At times some of the commentary on our anthroposophical pages sound a little like gibberish to me - and I've been studying this for a long time ! In the meantime, I'll listen to some more of her broadcasts, and see if my impression changes. Martin : She refers her listeners to Steiner's work repeatedly, Jeff. And answers any questions as they come up, certainly to my satisfaction with the insight of a true occultist. Occasionally she uses a wrong word like "channelling" inappropriately but otherwise bringing in a whole new generation into Rudolf Steiner's work. Jeff : All good Martin - will take that into consideration, and listen to more, including to her responses to those questions. Jeff : Niels-Peter your first three sentences I understand, and I think you're quite right. To your fourth statement, I'd say that no one should attempt to represent anything they haven't penetrated through and through themselves, and are able to put in their own words competently. A lot more could be said and explored about communicating with skeptics/critics. What are the person's own real life concerns ? Do they have any genuine questions lurking, that might be starting points for a non-adversarial conversation ? Is there some particular work of Steiner they might be referred to, without "casting pearls before swine" ? And as I said in my previous comment, hard core materialism should never be given a rest concerning its own MASSIVE history of disasters. Niels-Peter : Jeff I believe that one can present many of the results of spiritual science - without being able to stand as a personal guarantor of their evidence. As long as you do it with humility - curiosity and openly talk about where your own cognitive limits go. I think we stand somewhere between the image-saturated language of the Bible (and other holy books) (which still works on the soul) and then the logical and clear results of pure science, and in this transitional land I think spiritual science's mixture of logic and imagination will be able to win the hearts of many - because they will perceive it as "making God/the gods visible in a slow and emotional way" After all, spiritual science also speaks to the heart - far more than natural science, and we can take great pleasure in this, in the presentation of it. But - of course you're also right - it's a balancing act - but one that I think is necessary, because otherwise the veil will be put on Isis again - and that's not the point. Michael : Jeff I agree with your statement that "no one should attempt to represent anything they haven't penetrated through and through themselves, and are able to put in their own words competently." Or rather, stated more positively, that we should speak about things in a way for which we can take real responsibility.
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Here is an organization orchestrating efforts to deny people some of their most basic rights ; freedom of speech, freedom to peaceably assemble - i.e. by by attacking their online platforms and reach ; and actually, indirectly, their right to petition the government for needed changes, which, in the end, is what ALL these people are attempting to do. If crimes are being committed, CCDH has every right to call the police. As a matter of fact, maybe this is what we should all do about CCDH itself - contact our elected officials and demand they put a stop to the colossal cyber bullying being aimed at these civil and human rights activists - which is what these 12 people ACTUALLY are.
https://www.counterhate.com/disinformationdozen Recommended Action : Search the names of these activists, get on their mailing lists ...... and share their work with friends !
I discovered this song just recently, but it made quite an impression on me, and I've feel a persistent impulse to share it. I'll add the lyrics below. I've heard the saying before that a woman (at best) sees and can hold a strong image of what a man, a child or any other human being can or could BECOME ; and can mobilize incredible loyalty to that, for a very long time. That, for better or worse, this is a kind of default setting in the female human being. I know I've experienced this, and that at different times it's been both saving, and deeply excruciating ! I also have the sense that to feel oneself "seen" - and feel wanting - is a step along the path for EVERY human being. We can fall into self hatred behind this, and if we can't find our way through it, it can take us into the abyss. One part of finding the way through is a rigorous commitment to self honesty and self development - but another unavoidable one is the love someone else, and/or God holds for us and shows us, without our ever yet deserving it. For this we can only be grateful, eternally ! Kudos here to the musicians for capturing this human dilemma surpassingly. The best pop, rock (and every other) music does that, and it's something else to be grateful for eternally ! The lyrics : "If I said what's on my mind You'd turn and walk away Disappearing way back in your dreams It's so hard to be unkind So easy just to say That everything is just the way it seems You look up at me And somewhere in your mind you see A man I'll never be If only I could find a way I'd feel like I'm the man you believe I am And it gets harder every day for me To hide behind this dream you see A man I'll never be I can't get any stronger I can't climb any higher You'll never know just how hard I've tried Cry a little longer And hold a little tighter Emotions can't be satisfied You look up at me And somewhere in your mind you see A man I'll never be If only I could find a way I'd feel like I'm the man you believe I am And it gets harder every day for me To hide behind this dream you see A man I'll never be" - Boston Recommended Action : "Fullscreen" mode, plus volume as tolerated !
Along
Interview With Geert Vanden Bossche PhD, DVM Along with this video, I've included Geert Vanden Bossche's professional biography and two more related articles below. I highly recommend you read them ! As a scientist Geert Vanden Bossche has been a full member of the vaccine development world - but one who takes risks and potential downsides of vaccines particularly seriously. He's deeply concerned at our response to COVID-19 so far - and calls urgently for a change of course. The change called for, however, is first of all a scientific one. Stepping back from hasty, fear-based or politicized policies and decisions : "I am herewith posting a list of a series of publications that have been instrumental in providing enlightening insights on the interplay between Covid-19 and the host immune system. They provide so to speak critical pieces of the puzzle that I have been putting together. Entire puzzles are rarely published. That’s why publications rarely bring solutions to complex problems. For your convenience, I have allocated the publications I consulted to different categories. As you will appreciate, I have been tapping into several disciplines. To ‘solve’ a problem as complex as a viral pandemic, one has to draw from several different fields, including epidemiology, (molecular) biology, virology, immunology, genetics, vaccinology and even biophysics. Again, this is why ‘finished’ puzzles cannot be found in science journals specifically dedicated to a specific field of interest." At the end of the second article below, he finishes with : "I only take responsibility for the statements and scientific papers that I have published myself. I want to emphasize that what I am trying to convey goes beyond various beliefs and opinions. They are irrelevant to what concerns us as humans. In fact, they are an obstacle. Above all I want to safeguard my integrity and insist on absolute independence. The response to my appeal should remain only and purely scientific and in no occasion ever be used or abused by any non-scientific rhetoric." Interview, articles, credentials, recommendations - urgent recommendations. I encourage you to study these thoughts and call to action ; and to share and take action on them in the spirit they're given ! Executive Summary and Supporting Articles : Geert Vanden Bossche 
Addendum to Executive Summary March 17, 2021
About Geert Vanden Bossche Experience Company Name : VARECO Dates Employed : Sep 2012 – Present Employment Duration : 8 yrs 7 mos Location : Europe Independent vaccine consultant with a long-standing track record in Academia, Vaccine Industry and Global Health (GH) ; providing support on vaccine project management as well as advice, guidance and expert opinion on preclinical development of vaccines & biologicals, from project selection up to IND. Assignments include prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine projects in Human and Veterinary Vaccine Industry, Small Biotech, Global Health organizations in the US or Europe My knowledge, insights and skills cover a diversified spectrum of Life Science domains including : - Life Science Project Management (in early and late dvpt) - Due diligence on technologies & processes related to vaccines, adjuvants and biologicals - Patent writing and strategic IP management - Guidance on regulatory requirements to CMC documentation, DMF files - Target product profiling and SWOT analysis - Infectious and immune-mediated diseases including their (immune) pathogenesis and epidemiology - Host-pathogen interactions and mechanisms of immune escape - Innate and adaptive immunology (both, humoral and cell-mediated) - Antigen discovery - Preclinical vaccine development (including animal experimentation as well as immunological and physicochemical characterization of vaccines and biologicals) - Vaccine formulation science and modern vaccine delivery technologies (incl. devices) ; modern technologies for enhancement of antimicrobicidal activity in multidose vaccines - Small-scale pre-GMP vaccine manufacturing (incl. synthetic chemistry of Ag or adjuvant, recombinant Ag expression, viral vectors, upstream and downstream processing) To enhance the quality and capacity of my consultancy services, I leverage an extensive network of professional contacts providing direct access to US and European governmental and regulatory agencies, Academia and Research Institutions, Human and Veterinary Vaccine Industry, Global & Public Health organizations and CROs in the US and Europe Company Name : German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF) Dates Employed : Aug 2017 – Feb 2018 Employment Duration : 7 mos Location : Cologne, Germany Spearheading a portfolio of translational vaccine research projects, conducted at German universities and research centres sponsored by DZIF. Holding overall accountability for strategic alignment of translational infection research in support of preclinical and early clinical testing Developing a trans-academic translational network for Vaccine development totaling eight universities and research organizations across Germany Company Name : Univac Dates Employed : Nov 2014 – Nov 2016 Employment Duration : 2 yrs 1 mo Location : HuldenbergI I founded Univac as inventor of a new vaccine technology which I subsequently further developed as CSO of the Company. The technology enables the development of universal vaccines educating the host immune system to redirect immune targeting away from canonical antigens to a widely divergent spectrum of vitally vulnerable pathogen-derived ‘self-mimicking’ antigens, irrespective of MHC polymorphism. Although ‘non-self’ and exposed on the surface of infected or pathologically altered cells, these antigens are not effectively recognised upon natural infection or disease. This new type of vaccines harnesses the power of the immune system by unlocking the untapped potential of self-centered Natural Killer (NK) cells capable of recognising these unconventional antigens. The resulting type of immune response is unprecedented and licenses the host immune system to readily eliminate infection or to cure disease across a broad range of unrelated pathogens and/ or mammalian species. This sharply contrasts with conventional targeting of natural immune responses as induced by conventional vaccines. Because of their fast (NK cells) and universally protective effect, Univac vaccines are uniquely suited to prevent pathogenic agents from escaping host immune responses as of an early stage of infection or immune-mediated disease. The technology obviates the need for traditional adjuvants, multiple boost injections or expensive manufacturing processes and is readily compatible with intradermal or mucosal administration. Hence, it also offers unprecedented advantages in terms of safety, convenience and cost-effectiveness Company Name : Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) Dates Employed : Mar 2015 – Mar 2016 Employment Duration : 1 yr 1 mo Location : Geneva Area, Switzerland During my term at GAVI, I coordinated GAVI’s Ebola Vaccine Program and contributed to the implementation of an integrated vaccine work plan in collaboration with Global Health Partners (WHO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CDC, UNICEF), regulators (FDA) and vaccine manufacturers to enable timely deployment or stockpiling of Ebola vaccine candidate(s) that suitably meet the requirements for use in an Ebola epidemic. In this capacity, I also contributed to several workshops aimed at proposing novel and efficient approaches to improving preparedness in cases of Global Health Emergencies of international concern Company Name : Positions in Academia Dates Employed : Sep 1980 – Sep 2015 Employment Duration : 35 yrs 1 mo Location : Belgium - Germany Training in Veterinary Medicine at the faculty Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix and the State University of Ghent (1980-1983) - Doctoral degree in Veterinary Medicine from State University of Ghent (1983) - Postdoctoral training in Equine Medicine and Surgery at the Free University of Berlin, Germany (1984-1987) - Postdoctoral Fellowship in Virology at James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA (Sept 1990- mid 1991) - Research scientist in Virology, Immunology and Molecular Biology at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, Germany (1987- 1990) - Board certified in Veterinary Virology (1990) - Senior Research Scientist and Head of Environmental Virology at University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany (1990-1994) - Board certified in Veterinary Microbiology and Animal Hygiene (1992) - Visiting Professor in Environmental Virology at the European Faculty for Environmental Sanitation (1998-2004) - Adjunct Professor in Environmental Virology and Zoonotic Diseases at University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany (1997-2000) - Visiting Scientist at the REGA Institute, KU Leuven, Belgium (2013 - 2015) Company Name : Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Dates Employed : May 2008 – Jun 2011 Employment : Duration3 yrs 2 mos Location : Seattle, Washington 98102, USA Responsible for operating Vaccine Programs (e.g., HIV-1, Malaria, TB, Polio) and establishing international product development partnerships for immune interventions in Global Health (e.g., with Academia, Biotech Industry, NIH, Welcome Trust, WHO, PATH). Coordinating and spearheading international collaborations and consortia on innovative vaccine approaches and steering multidisciplinary vaccine initiatives Company Name : Solvay Biologicals Dates Employed : Jul 2007 – May 2008 Employment Duration : 11 mos Location : Weesp, the Netherlands Responsible for leading the operational aspects of an interdisciplinary project team including the planning and implementation of adjuvanted Influenza vaccines that enable dose sparing. Implementation of commercial-scale production of cell-based methods and expansion of Influenza vaccine production capacity such as to meet DHSS (U.S. Department of Human Health Services) contractual requirements (Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan) Company Name : Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics Dates Employed : Aug 2006 – Jul 2007 Employment Duration : 1 yr Location : Siena, Italy & Emeryville, USA Vaccine Research Program/Adjuvant Program responsibilities : - Project leader of NVD's RSV vaccine project (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) - Coordinator of preclinical activities on combined seasonal RSV-Influenza vaccine or elderly & high risk adults - Responsible for defining and shaping the scope and strategy of NVD's adjuvant and vaccine delivery technologies including management of NVD’s adjuvant portfolio, opportunity sourcing, and establishment of an internal interdisciplinary due diligence team for the evaluation of relevant extramural opportunities Company Name : Glaxo Smith Kline Biologicals Dates Employed : May 2001 – May 2006 Employment Duration : 5 yrs 1 mo Location : Rixensart, Belgium - Research Program Leader on Vaccine Formulation Development & Alternative Deliveries and in charge of biophysical characterization activities on adjuvanted vaccine formulations. - Coordination and follow-up of extramural contracts & collaboration agreements on new immunization strategies and innovative vaccine adjuvant, delivery or formulation technologies (e.g., co-delivery, mucosal, subcutaneous, intradermal immunization) - Development and validation of vaccine and adjuvant characterization assays - Study of adjuvant-antigen interaction and of adjuvant structure-function relationship - Coordination and resource management of preclinical activities including CMC section of INDs and cGMP production of (adjuvanted) vaccine candidates - Planning laboratory activities and establishing outside collaborations with academia Total Duration : 6 yrs 4 mos Title : Senior Project Leader ‘Adolescent Vaccine Projects Dates Employed : Jun 1998 – May 2001 Employment Duration : 3 yrs Location : Rixensart, Belgium Major responsibilities : - Project Management on Raw Material Traceability (RAMATRA) and vaccine projects in Late Development, e.g., Herpes Simplex Virus type 2, Hepatitis B, Streptococcus Pneumoniae and Enterotoxic Escherichia Coli (in collaboration with SBL Vaccines, Sweden)
Employment Duration : 3 yrs 4 mos Location : Rixensart, Belgium Major responsibilities (3 direct reports ; 6 technicians) : - Management and coordination of vaccine product development, optimization as well as validation of analytical methods in accordance with regulatory requirements or guidelines and vaccine marketing constraints - Budget management of all activities related to QC assay development - Transfer from R&D and further development of new QC-relevant characterization techniques on new vaccine candidates (e.g., HSV-2 vaccine, Lyme disease vaccine); contacts with national/international regulatory and health authorities (e.g., FDA, NIBSC, IHE, WHO) on technical dossiers ; active participation in pre-IND meetings Source of Geert Vanden Bossche profile : LinkedIn.com
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with friends !  If we're concerned about racism today - which every thinking person of good will should be - here's an example of bedrock, real injury, harm and loss perpetrated on people of color : long term, large scale and continuing, in the present now. Recommended Action : While you visit this page, Bookmark/Favorite this organization, and take 30 seconds to get on their mailing list. IMO there's no better activism work happening anywhere today. Medical Racism : The New Apartheid Share this page
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This article is from Epoch Times, a conservative news source I follow. IMO it's an outstanding overview of the political/cultural landscape we live in just now, and if a time capsule were created for this moment, this should be in it. To anyone with the impulse to reject it out of hand, note how it condemns both left and right extremism - and the corporatism that uses BOTH in its bid for control over our earth. Recommended Action : Read carefully, consider, and if this corresponds to your thinking and observations, SHARE - while you still have the chance. Recommended Action : Bookmark or Favorite this website, explore it and visit it in the time to come ! Ideological Alignment Pushing America Toward Totalitarianism, Experts Warn Concerns over the nexus of big tech, big media, and big government By PETR SVAB January 21, 2021 News Analysis The formation of a totalitarian state is just about complete in America as the most powerful public and private sector actors unify behind the idea that actions to stamp out dissent can be justified, according to several experts on modern totalitarian ideologies. While many have warned about the rise of fascism or socialism in “the land of the free,” the ideas have largely been vague or fragmented, focusing on individual events or actors. Recent events, however, indicate that seemingly unconnected pieces of the oppression puzzle are fitting together to form a comprehensive system, according to Michael Rectenwald, a retired liberal arts professor at New York University. But many Americans, it appears, have been caught off guard or aren’t even aware of the newly forming regime, as the idea of elected officials, government bureaucrats, large corporations, the establishment academia, think tanks and nonprofits, the legacy media, and even seemingly grassroot movements all working in concert toward some evil purpose seems preposterous. Is a large portion of the country in on a conspiracy ? The reality now emerges that no massive conspiracy was in fact needed—merely an ideological alignment and some informal coordination, Rectenwald argues. Despite the lack of formal overarching organization, the American socialist regime is indeed totalitarian, as the root of its ideology requires politically motivated coercion, he told The Epoch Times. The power of the regime is not yet absolute but it’s becoming increasingly effective as it erodes the values, checks, and balances against tyranny established by traditional beliefs and enshrined in the American founding. The effects can be seen throughout society. Americans, regardless of their income, demographics, or social stature are being fired from jobs, getting stripped of access to basic services such as banking and social media, or having their businesses crippled for voicing political opinions and belonging to a designated political underclass. Access to sources of information unsanctioned by the regime is becoming increasingly difficult. Some figures of power and influence are sketching the next step, labelling large segments of society as “extremists” and potential terrorists who need to be “deprogrammed.” While the onset of the regime appears tied to events of recent years—the presidency of Donald Trump, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, the Capitol intrusion of Jan. 6—its roots go back decades. Is It Really Totalitarian ? Totalitarian regimes are commonly understood as constituting a government headed by a dictator that regiments the economy, censors the media, and quells dissent by force. That is not the case in America but it’s also a misunderstanding of how such regimes function, literature on totalitarianism indicates. To claim power, the regimes don’t initially need to control every aspect of society through government. Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist Workers Party in Nazi Germany, used various means to control the economy, including gaining compliance of industry leaders voluntarily, through intimidation, or through replacing the executives with party loyalists. Similarly, the regime rearing its head in America relies on corporate executives to implement its agenda voluntarily but also through intimidation by online brigades of activists and journalists who take initiative to launch negative PR campaigns and boycotts to progress their preferred societal structure. Also, Hitler initially didn’t control the spread of information via government censorship but rather through his brigades of street thugs, the “brown shirts,” who would intimidate and physically prevent his opponents from speaking publicly. The tactic parallels the often successful efforts to “cancel” and “shut down” public speakers by activists and violent actors, such as Antifa. Dissenting media in America haven’t been silenced by the government directly as of yet. But they are stymied in other ways. In the digital age, media largely rely on reaching and growing their audience through social media and web search engines, which are dominated by Facebook and Google. Both companies have in place mechanisms to crack down on dissenting media. Google gives preference in its search results to sources it deems “authoritative.” Search results indicate the company tends to consider media ideologically close to it to be more authoritative. Such media can then produce hit pieces on their competitors, giving Google justification to slash the “authoritativeness” of the dissenters. Facebook employs third-party fact checkers who have the discretion to label content as “false” and thus reduce the audience on its platform. Virtually all the fact checkers focused on American content are ideologically aligned with Facebook. Attempts to set up alternative social media have run into yet more fundamental obstacles, as demonstrated by Parler, whose mobile app was terminated by Google and Apple, while the company was kicked off Amazon’s servers. To the degree that a totalitarian regime requires a police state, there’s no law in America targeting dissenters explicitly. But there are troubling signs of selective, politically motivated enforcement. Signs go back to the IRS’s targeting of Tea Party groups or the difference in treatment received by former Trump adviser Lt. Gen Michael Flynn and former FBI deputy Director Andrew McCabe—both allegedly lying to investigators but only one getting prosecuted. The situation may get still worse as the restrictions tied to the CCP virus see broad swaths of ordinary human behavior being considered “illegal,” opening the door to nearly universal political targeting. “I think the means by which a police state is being set up is the demonization of Trump supporters and the likely use of medical passports to institute the effective equivalent of social credit scores,” Rectenwald said. While loyalty to the government and to a specific political party plays a major role, it’s the allegiance to the ideological root of totalitarianism that gives it its foot soldiers, literature on the subject indicates. Totalitarian Ideology The element “that holds totalitarianism together as a composite of intellectual elements” is the ambition of fundamentally reimagining society—“the intention to create a ‘New Man,’” explained author Richard Shorten in “Modernism and Totalitarianism: Rethinking the Intellectual Sources of Nazism and Stalinism, 1945 to the Present.” Various ideologies have framed the ambition differently, based on what they posited as the key to the transformation. Karl Marx, co-author of the Communist Manifesto, viewed the control of the economy as primary, describing socialism as “socialized man, the associated producers, rationally regulating their interchange with Nature, bringing it under their common control, instead of being ruled by it as by the blind forces of Nature,” in his Das Kapital. Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist Workers Party in Nazi Germany, viewed race as primary. People would become “socialized”—that is transformed and perfected—by removing Jews and other supposedly “lesser” races from society, he claimed. The most dominant among the current ideologies stem from the so-called “critical theories,” where the perfected society is defined by “equity,” meaning elimination of differences in outcomes for people in demographic categories deemed historically marginalized. The goal is to be achieved by eliminating the ever-present “white supremacy,” however the ideologues currently define it. While such ideologies commonly prescribe collectivism, calling for national or even international unification behind their agenda, they are elitist and dictatorial in practice as they find mankind never “woke” enough to follow their agenda voluntarily. In Marx’s prophecies, the revolution was supposed to occur spontaneously. Yet it never did, leading Vladimir Lenin, the first head of the Soviet Union, to conclude that the revolution will need leadership after all. “The idea is that you have some enlightened party … who understand the problem of the proletariat better than the proletariat does and is going to shepherd them through the revolution that they need to have for the greater good,” explained James Lindsay, author of “Cynical Theories : How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody.” Elements of this intellectual foundation can be found in ideologies of many current political forces, from neo-nazis and anarcho-communists, through to progressives and to some extent even neoliberals and neoconservatives, Lindsay acknowledged. “This is why you see so many people today saying that the only possible answers are a full return to classical liberalism or a complete rejection of liberalism entirely as fatally disposed to create progressivism, neoliberalism, etc.,” he said. That’s not to say these ideologies are openly advocating totalitarianism but rather that they inevitably lead to it. The roadmap could be summarized as follows : There’s something fundamentally and intolerably wrong with current reality
Points four and five now appear to be in progress. Former Facebook executive Alex Stamos recently labeled the widespread questioning of the 2020 election results as “violent extremism,” which social media companies should eradicate the same way they countered online recruitment content from the ISIS terrorist group. The “core issue,” he said, is that “we have given a lot of leeway, both in traditional media and on social media, to people to have a very broad range of political views” and this has led to the emergence of “more and more radical” alternative media like OAN and Newsmax. Stamos then mused about how to reform Americans who’ve tuned in to the dissenters. “How do you bring those people back into the mainstream of fact-based reporting and try to get us all back into the same consensus reality ?” he asked in a CNN interview. “And can you ? Is that possible ?” CNN host Brian Stelter added. The logic goes as follows : Trump claimed the election was stolen through fraud and other illegalities. That has not been proven in court and is thus false. People who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and managed to break inside and disrupt the electoral vote counting did so because they believed the election was stolen. Therefore, anybody who questions the legitimacy of the election results is an extremist and potentially a terrorist. With tens of thousands of troops assembled to guard the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) recently told CNN that all guard members who voted for Trump belong to a “suspect group” that “might want to do something,” alluding to past leaders of other countries who were “killed by their own people.” Former FBI Director James Comey recently said the Republican party needs to be “burned down or changed.” “They want a one party state,” commented conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza in a recent podcast. “That is not to say they don’t want an opposition. They want a token opposition. They want Republicans where they get to say what kind of Republican is ok.” Just as Marx blamed the ills of the world on capitalists and Hitler on Jews, the current regime tends to blame various permutations of “white supremacy.” “Expel the Republican members of Congress who incited the white supremacist attempted coup,” said Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) in a recent tweet, garnering some 300,000 likes. She was referring to the Republican lawmakers who raised objections on Jan. 6 to election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania. Their objections were voted down. “Can U.S. Spy Agencies Stop White Terror ?” Daily Beast’s Jeff Stein asked in a recent headline, concluding that a call for “secret police” to sniff out “extremist” Americans “may well get renewed attention.” Under the regime, allegations of election fraud—de facto questioning the legitimacy of the leader—have become incitement of terrorism. YouTube (owned by Google), Facebook, and Twitter have either banned content that claims the election was rigged or are furnishing it with warning labels. Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey was recently recorded as saying that banning the president’s account was just the beginning. The approach closely mirrors that of the Chinese communist regime, which commonly targets dissidents for “subverting” the state or “spreading rumors.” What’s the Alternative ? If calls for radically reorganizing the world are inherently totalitarian, how is the world to avoid them ? The question appears to be its own answer. If totalitarianism inherently requires allegiance to its ideology, it can’t exist in a society with a lack of such allegiance. The United States were founded on the idea that individual rights are God-given and unalienable. The idea, rooted in traditional beliefs that human morality is of divine origin, stands a bulwark against any attempt to assail people’s rights even for their own good. “If you’re not a believer in actual God, you can posit a God’s ideal on the matter ..… We have to posit some arbiter who’s above and beyond our own prejudices and biases in order to ensure these kinds of rights. ..… Because otherwise you have this infinitely malleable situation in which people with power and coercive potential can eliminate and rationalize the elimination of rights willy-nilly,” Rectenwald said. Follow Petr on Twitter : @perszab LWW Blog Note The original article can be found at Epoch Times here. To read it there you may be asked to disable your ad blockers. But as I understand it you can also whitelist the website without turning off your add blocker. I click the blue whitelist button without selecting an ad blocker, and I still get in. I think that it must be a temporary thing, as they ask for it each time I visit. Worthwhile thing to do for this article, IMO. And of course, you can also subscribe if you choose to.
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with friends ! Luke 21 : 25-36 King James Version 25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity ; the sea and the waves roaring ; 26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth : for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads ; for your redemption draweth nigh." In my church we hear this Gospel reading each Sunday in Advent - the beginning and first festival of the Christian year, that culminates in Christmas. We may hear it as many as five Sundays, a bell repeatedly tolling - images of turbulence, yet a mood also of expectation and hope. The reading continues : 29 And he spake to them a parable ; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees ; 30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. 31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. 32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. 33 Heaven and earth shall pass away : but my words shall not pass away. 34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." This year 2020 has manifested more than its share of fear, doubt and hatred - the "three beasts of the abyss" that always lurk near us as human beings, tempting us to our darkest potentials, misleading us, sometimes tragically, from our best ones. It has been a year of threats and dire predictions, of losses, disruption and change pressed on us largely against our will. These things have "befallen" Roswitha and me too, and while we've tried to meet them directly and honestly as we could, "the spirit of Christmas" has not come easily this year. At low points, I've had to just let myself feel pain, accept it and turn my whole attention to whatever Goodness, Beauty and Truth there might be in or around me ; and trust that it will be enough. Tonight, though, the spirit of Christmas found us here in Mexico ! Friends from our travels flew in, and we had a truly exquisite meal - for me, perhaps the best "turkey with all the fixings" I've ever experienced ! The conversation was earnest and uplifting, and behind us a saxophonist played Christmas songs and others so soulfully, it more than once brought tears to my eyes. When we finally emerged to the street, the moon and stars were shining brightly ; Christmas lights shone from windows ; couples and families strolled by with many warm greetings of "Feliz Navidad" ; and suddenly, feliz in my heart it was. As we walked to our car, I could only say "Friends - now it's Christmas Eve !" When we arrived home and I checked the computer, the first thing I came upon was this : "The forms that our consciousness takes from our original thought or intent can become unrecognizable in life's troubles and obstructions but can end up looking all the more beautiful when observed with the eye of an artist." - Danica Wolkiser With this image :  And the further comment :
"What you see here is something rare that's being described as what happens when a rainbow falls apart. It’s actually a rainbow being diffused by scattered raindrops which reflect off the clouds behind it. If the clouds were gone it would just be a regular rainbow." - Howard Curtis To all of this, I could only say "yes - yes !" Dr. Yehuda Schoenfeld is among the most respected authorities on autoimmune disease in the world today, and this landmark book is the first textbook of its kind ever published. Of special note and concern are findings that autoimmune effects of vaccine adjuvant substances can take up to eight years to manifest. This is important to remember when new vaccines we're told are effective and necessary, are also proclaimed to be "safe”. The reality is, we won’t know that for a long time to come. Use discernment, seek more information - and don't make potentially life-altering decisions solely on the basis of fear ! Vaccines and Autoimmunity For an overview of what this important book covers, see its Table of Contents here : https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Vaccines+and+Autoimmunity-p-9781118663431 For medical professional and/or scientists, you can also buy "Vaccines and Autoimmunity" here :  Learn more about the very large - and very underreported - autoimmune epidemic underway in our world today here : http://livingwaterswellnessresources.weebly.com/apps/search?q=autoimmune 
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Today, on Election Day 2020, I'm building my wish list for the next 365 days. Since you're my friends I hope you'll help me make them come true : 1) I'd really like to see my friends on the more conservative side discover (please bear with me) MEXICO, if they haven't yet, and - exercising normal precautions and common sense - come down here and see what it's about. Don't just hang out in a time share ghetto with other gringos, find ways to get out there and see how the people are and live. It could change your life and outlook in surprising ways. Beyond that, to my more conservative friends, I wish for you that you find ways to travel in general, if you can. Same reasons. 2) I'd like to see the following people get together, with no more initial agenda than "we need to talk" : - Black Lives Matter people. - Good cops who've been pushed to the edge by staffing and budget cuts this year. - Parents of children with vaccine injuries. - People with food and chemical sensitivities. - People with autoimmune diseases. - People highly sensitive to electromagnetic fields. - People who've lost or had their businesses crippled by COVID-19 policies this year. - People who do "non-essential" work, and have lost most of their income due to COVID policies this year. - People who are in the tourist industry and have been devastated by COVID policies this year. - People who've lost or are in danger of losing their homes this year because of COVID policies. - People who've ESCAPED the COVID economic havoc thus far. - People who take as much responsibility for their own health as they possibly can. - People 100% willing to learn more about caring for their own health, and take more responsibility for it in the next year. I'd also like to see people who want to make voting rights complete and pristine sit down with people who want to make MEDICAL FREEDOM complete and pristine. Friends, can we talk ? 3) I wish for my conservative friends who haven't acknowledged man made global warming so far, to do so ( ! ) I also wish for my more progressive friends who DO acknowledge GW to step back from government regulation as a way of dealing with it - and instead focus on egregious individual offenders ("law enforcement approach"). The point is that there is a problem ; but that regulation of all things cripples - while prosecution of serious dangerous practices actually works, and is ENOUGH. Make this crucial, CRITICAL distinction, people - and start talking to each other ! 4) The question arises for me : how do you reduce the flames of divisiveness in our country - and the world ? Two things that occur to me : a) Withdraw fuel. b) Withdraw air. We really can't control the actions or attitude of others - only our own. We can "keep our own side of the street clean", and no one can really stop us from doing that. Here are some things I hope we do in the next year (and in fact, always) : - Refuse to make inflammatory statements, and STEP BACK when others do. - Deal only in facts we can verify. - Look for the things we AGREE on with people, and work together with them on those, where possible. - Take a step deeper into the process, and contact our elected officials with our wishes and concerns. Do it regularly, and build up an actual relationship with them. - Give direct feedback to CORPORATIONS that are causing us injury, harm or loss. Under everything, we need them to change their practices that hurt us, and their products that cause us harm. It's a feedback loop we perhaps haven't used much yet, but I think we need to start talking to them directly. If they ignore us, we still have the option -together - to bring down the law on criminal actions. That's what the law is for. The message in ALL these things, I think, is that we need to talk to each other - regularly, directly and with goodwill. Including with people we don't usually talk to. Please help make my wishes come true ! Jeff Smith RN (Retired) Bucerias, Mexico 11/3/2020
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The Most Complete Resource Yet One hidden potential benefit in a crisis, is that it throws us back on our own resources - it makes us dig deeper, and extend our development in new and important ways. Such has been the case for this group in the the Philippines, where COVID-19 lockdowns are among the most extreme in the world. These lockdowns have been especially devastating for people in second and third world countries. I received this yesterday from a Facebook Friend in the Philippines, and it's one of the most comprehensive presentations on COVID I've seen. It give both an overview of the matter, and insight into many of its component parts. I post this for your personal interest - but please also share it with friends. Click here for the homepage of this in-depth resource. I encourage an initial scan of key topics, then a deeper dive into those aspects closest to your heart : "Science Has Spoken - End the Lockdown" Here's an additional link to this group's newsletter (highly recommended) : COVID Call to Humanity And a sampling of some typical blog posts : Truth to Action Although it's become one, I feel COVID-19 should never have been a political issue. It's a medical, practical and social problem in need of solutions - but not beyond our collective grasp. This website explores questions of science in a sober, clarifying way, with skilled review of facts and statistics. It should untangle certain common confusions, and show pathways for more effective action. Be well - and be part of the solution !
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"Just a little review of my termination 2 years ago from a 35 year career in nursing. I declined the mandatory flu shot. I requested to wear a mask during the duration of "flu season," which had always been hospital policy. I was told that surgical masks as well as N95 masks are not effective in filtering viral particulate. Masking was no longer an option and I was fired. Now the public is being told to be "good citizens," "wear your mask to protect others," "you're being selfish if you don't mask." Excuse me - I don't understand why I was fired 2 years ago because hospital grade masks were not effective enough in filtering viruses, but now suddenly tying any kind of covering around your face is good enough to protect you and the public. I call BS on all of it ! I'm sick of all of the constantly changing guidelines and recommendations. The science doesn't change every other week but politically driven, orchestrated narratives do. Just think about it. If masks are made mandatory for all, people will be eager to line up for the experimental covid vaccine just to be able to take off their masks. Forced compliance has always been looming. No shot - wear a mask indefinitely. No shot - you can't travel. No shot - you can't renew your driver's license. No shot - sorry you can't go into public places. Get the picture ? Sorry I'm not buying it, nor will I comply to mandated mask wearing or mandated vaccines. If you're sick stay home. If you're healthy breathe freely and maintain your health and immune system. In a few short months we may be faced with another mandatory order. What will your choice be ? I value my autonomy and the right to make my own health decisions. That won't change." Michelle McAllister Krinsky #HealthFreedom
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Seven Requirements for Healthy
Growth and Development Michaela Gloeckler, MD The health of the modern human being depends entirely upon how he thinks of himself as a human being and upon which path of development he travels. Everyone who becomes aware of divine spiritual existence, who "awakens" to it, can learn how to become healthier and more human. Rudolf Steiner, an experienced teacher in the realm of self-development, has described how this can be done. In his books Esoteric Science, Theosophy and How to Know Higher Worlds, he clearly states that the acquisition of knowledge, the striving for higher development or meditative exercises can only be beneficial if we make the results of this work fruitful for daily life. For ultimately, how can such magnificent human characteristics as veneration, inner peace, courage, confidence, hope, loyalty, devotion, love and honesty become autonomous and, in turn, confirm the autonomy of others ? To be learned, these qualities must be rooted in everyday life, and in fact, have to be developed and proven in daily life. The First Requirement "The first requirement is that we turn our attention to improving our physical and mental or spiritual health. Our health does not in the first place depend on us, yet we can make the effort to improve it." From the above statement, we might surmise that we are given free license to egotistically cultivate our own health. However, the right balance between pleasure and duty can be found. We are very much bound up, both mentally and physically with our daily tasks - so much so that we often overlook our health. We may skip a meal, or we work through half the night —or even all night to make ends meet. In other words, the demands of our work often prevent us from paying adequate attention to our own well-being. The Second Requirement "The second requirement is to feel ourselves fully part of life. It holds true for the smallest thing as well as greater ones. For example, out of such an attitude I will be able to look at a criminal totally differently, holding back my own judgment and saying to myself: he is a human being just as I am. My particular upbringing probably prevented me from a destiny like his. If his teachers had taken the same trouble with him as mine did with me, he may have thrived. I will reflect that I have enjoyed privileges that were denied him, and that I can thank my circumstances for the good fortune that was granted me. Then the realization that I am simply a member, a segment of the whole of humanity, will not be foreign to me, and that as such I am co-responsible for everything that happens." Whoever practices this requirement, comes to the somewhat shocking realization as to just how much power is exerted by our own actions. If someone annoys me, and I react on that level, the situation can easily escalate or lead to lasting discord. If I avoid reacting to the person but instead ask myself : how should I act so this person can express their better nature - or : what was he experiencing inwardly - what may have happened to him at home that his tolerance level is so low ? Even if we are unable to answer such questions, the very fact that they are posed non-judgmentally is an important step. It is not uncommon that, faced with such an attitude, the other person begins to change his/her behavior after a time. The Third Requirement "..... that we win through to the conviction that our thoughts and feelings are as important for the world as our actions. Hating someone is just as destructive as a physical blow. This leads to the insight that I not only do something for myself when I perfect myself, but I do something for the world. The world is served as much by my pure feelings and thoughts as it is by my good deeds." Anyone who knows someone for whom they feel love, respect, and veneration, knows just how effective good thoughts and feelings are in relationships. Children treated with loving respect grow up in an atmosphere that acts as a moral wall of protection against common daily mishaps and fearful experiences, and they grow up with quite a different inner confidence than would be possible without this kind of protection. The Fourth Requirement "The acquisition of insight that our true nature lies within. If we see ourselves merely as a product of our physical environment we cannot accomplish anything in esoteric training. The basic requirement is to consider ourselves as a being of soul and spirit. When we manage to break through to this conviction we are in a position to discriminate between inner calling and outer achievement, discovering that one is not necessarily measured by the other. As esoteric students, we must find the middle balance between what outer circumstances demand and what we know to be true to our character. This practice develops what, in esoteric science, is termed the ‘spiritual scales.’ On one of its scales lies a heart open to the needs of the outer world, and on the other 'inner certainty and unshakeable endurance'.” The Fifth Requirement “Steadfastness in following through on a resolution once it has been made. Nothing should lead us to abandon something we have decided upon except the insight that we have made a mistake. Each resolution we make is a force that works in its own way - even when it is not immediately successful in the area where it is first applied. Success is crucial only when we act out of longing, and any action motivated by craving is worthless from the point of view of the higher world. In the higher world, love is the only motivation for action. Everything which stirs the esoteric student to action should come to expression in this love. Then we will never fail to transform resolutions into deeds, regardless as to how often we have failed in the Past.” The Sixth Requirement “A sixth requirement is that we develop a feeling of gratitude for everything that human beings receive. We must realize that our own existence is a gift of the whole universe. What a great deal is necessary so that each one of us can receive and sustain our existence ! How much we owe to nature and to other people! Those who seek for esoteric training must lean towards thoughts such as these if they are to develop the all-embracing love necessary to attain higher knowledge.” Conclusion “All of the aforementioned requirements must unite in a seventh : to continue to understand life in the sense that these requirements demand. By doing so, the esoteric pupil creates the possibility for giving life the character of unity. The individual expressions of his life will be in harmony and will not contradict each other. He will be prepared for the peace of mind to which he must attain during the first steps in esoteric mining.” It becomes clear to us, when we take a look at our own path of development, that although we are imperfect, we are capable of development. Becoming more human allows us, if we are willing, to follow these requirements, to practice them and be willing to try ever anew. If we are able to make the sources for them more and more accessible, we are then at the same time increasingly able to achieve good health at the three levels of our existence, in the physical, soul and spiritual. Apart from this, we will also acquire a basic healthy ethical attitude which can stimulate the development of our humanity in all realms of life. Michaela Gloeckler, M.D. has been Head of the Medical Section at the Goetheanum, the School of Spiritual Science in Dornach, Switzerland since 1988. She co-authored A Waldorf guide to Children's Health : Illnesses, Symptoms, Treatments and Therapies, Floris Books. This article is adapted from a lecture given in September 2001. Special thanks to Anne Sproll for translation from the German
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BIG !
"A truth which should be engraved in the human soul as a lofty moral maxim : When you see something evil in the world, do not say, Here is evil - that is, imperfection ; ask, rather, How can I attain to the enlightenment which will show me that on a higher plane this evil is transformed into good by the wisdom of the cosmos ? How can I learn to tell myself : Here you see naught but imperfection because you are as yet unable to grasp the perfection of this imperfect thing ? Whenever man sees evil he should look into his own soul and ask himself, Why am I not yet able to recognize the good in this evil that confronts me ?" - Rudolf Steiner 
As human beings, illness and death belong to our situation - always. Again and again in smaller and greater ways, they announce their presence in our lives ; at times they send us hard shocks. They remind us to live circumspectly, have caution in our affairs ; at best to find purpose in life, and have compassion for others. The aggressive nature of evil, however, strikes us as different - something cruel, perverse, unnecessary. Beyond the burdens and sorrows of illness or death, it seems intent to destroy the whole. I don't read the above quote to say we shouldn't oppose evil ; but rather that we notice gaps and distortions in our own mindset, that affect how we understand and fight. What we're being reminded of, I think, is that there are greater forces at play in the world than just evil - and that we tend to lose sight of them. As there are world-destructive forces - no matter how great - there are world-perfecting forces too. Activism, perhaps more than some other kinds of work, deals especially with evils in the world. But to think of these as imperfections, as they're called here, helps break their hold on us. That perfecting forces in the universe also see the evil, know it and have their own goals in the matter, means it's not all up to us - and this can be a relief. Without losing focus, we can first of all simply be ourselves ; and freed a little from anger, fear, even desperation we feel about evil, we can begin to grow our view of life larger. This is the potential. Whether for survival or for service to the world, life asks us to keep a lot of balls in the air - always. When we're focused on evil, our mood's often one of being in danger. Our thoughts, feelings and actions get entangled in it, trapped in it. As Rudolf Steiner observes, we have our own issues that need attention. We're used to thinking we must control everything, and it frightens us to think we can't. But if we wait out our fears and judgments, and don't act immediately - if we can find our way to trust in something greater, our need to fight/flee/freeze changes. Without yet even looking for a bigger picture, we can better keep the balls, the many facts of our situation in the air of our imagination, so to speak - until they themselves report to us what the pattern is. And it can be breathtaking. First, we may discover that instead of a great monster threatening to devour us, the universe is a symphony of factors, a great work of art ; and that evil is just one instrument, whose tone served to awaken us, and for which we can even be grateful. And that we too are an instrument with a part to play - a challenging part we may have to work hard to learn, but through which we develop competence - and of which we can be proud. And we get to play with others - friends - whose parts we can listen to and be grateful for. We often labor under the burden that we must be the great conductor of the universe - or that if we can't, there's something wrong with us. Poor us. But good for us that we don't have to be - that we can just be valuable working parts in a mystery : a noble unfolding drama/comedy in which we're both thrilled audience and indispensable participants. We all have pain in our lives, and must die, no matter what. But we don't have to die fearful, snarling at death, illness, evil. And more important, we don't have to live that way !
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"The Triumph of Death" - Pieter Breughel the Elder
Merchants of Doubt
It's said of the English speaking peoples that we're the world's great masters of politics and warfare ; but that we'll let a problem build up in our own backyard until it becomes a catastrophe.
Merchants of Doubt shows these "talents" at work in the worlds of science and government in ways that threaten to grow far beyond our own backyard and - eventually - spread our catastrophe to the whole earth.
Recommended : watch in Fullscreen ^
Science Has a Toxicity Problem There's a large and strange process at work in our world today - one we don't notice as a pattern, but that's actually a mega-phenomenon of our times : Again and again, science creates a product or technology that's truly useful or helpful to us. With the help of some economic entity - a corporation - the invention is produced and circulated, and our lives become in some way easier and better. In an amazingly short time, it's implemented all around the world - but then something else is discovered : namely that the product or invention has certain harmful effects - even ones that are deadly to us, or the natural world. Examples of such unintended harmful effects include those of - Agricultural chemicals - pesticides, herbicides, fungicides etc. - Chemicals in our foods, skin and body care products, and any number of other products in our homes and workplaces. - Our use, extraction and transport of fossil fuels. - Widely used pharmaceutical products (overused antibiotics for humans and animals ; our intensive, extensive, increasingly mandatory use of vaccines). - Electronic and telecommunications technologies and - Unnoticed collateral effects even of "green" technologies (wind, solar) through their "smart" and WiFi tracking features, dirty electricity etc. Most often, unfortunately, these effects are noticed only once people become sick, or they badly harm our natural environment. At this point science awakens to diagnose, and at best, find ways to solve the problem ; but paradoxically, this often proves near impossible to accomplish. This is a second great unseen pattern and mega-phenomenon of our times. How is it that a problem can be seen clearly by some portion of scientists, even a majority, protested adamantly by those it affects - but nothing can be done about it for long periods of time ; while damage from it accumulates steadily ? It can be asked, fairly, why science so repeatedly wreaks harm in the world of living things - this is a fair question. Some things made with the help of science clearly have few benefits - cigarettes are one example. Others, like the dependence of our farming on toxic chemicals, beg changes to our basic thinking. But for their greater part, defects and downsides in our technologies can be corrected with the help of science. Yet activists in the realms noted above - and more - assure us they're not corrected, even where they easily could be. Dismissal and Denial Rather, activists report frustration, a sense of impotence and despair that work done competently and diligently to stop obvious harm, is blocked, blunted, ridiculed, attacked with baffling vehemence ; and themselves with it. Worse, they see one activist cause set against another (e.g. climate change and vaccine safety) ; in a fog of confusion and acrimony that consumes decades of precious time. Perhaps worst of all, they see scorn heaped, and calls made to restrict products with virtually no history of harm, and against which virtually no credible complaints are ever made, such as natural supplements, or homeopathic medicine. For the public, this may lead to attitudes of cynicism - or simply confusion ; and at the level of action, aggressive anger - or at the other extreme, apathy. What drives this chaos and social warfare ? Merchants of Doubt lifts the curtain on an aggressive, well funded shadow industry, tasked to bend public opinion, research findings and government policies for the sake of corporate profits - at the expense of almost all else. The film traces this with a light hand, but is systematic, connecting actions to effects firmly, in three historical cases. Consequences What strikes the mind, on reflection, are not just the scale and consequences of these tactics for humans and the environment ; but how many such problems exist today, stamped with just this pattern. For this reason it becomes urgent to bring these methods to more realms where these merchants operate, to know the full effects of their practices - and exactly where they're leading. As humans, we can sometimes go a long way before the consequences of our actions catch up to us. Clever and confident, we seize the materials of the mineral world, arrange, combine and bend them to our will. It was to this world that our science first turned its attention, and that it still knows best. Cause and effect are straightforward here ; and its substances are durable. Do what we will with metals and minerals, we can hardly injure what was already dead ! The world of living things, plant, animal, human, is also robust - but has limits. It thrives under many conditions, adapts and adjusts, bends and bounces back ; but it can also be injured decisively, and driven past the point of no return. And yet we bend this world to our will too, as we would the metal or mineral. Thinking it inexhaustible, we tear this web of life. Progress - or Destruction ? As humans our nature includes the potential for error ; but also the potential to notice and correct it, on our own or at the advice of others. This is a process not just of learning, but of progress - progress in terms of our humility and integrity, our knowledge of the world and even our practical expertise. At best our errors teach us, even if painfully - and in the end, lead us forward. As humans our conditions of life also include the possibility of illness, and the certainty of death. They serve us reminders in our own bodies when we're in danger, have erred or gone too far. They warn us of error, and the need to correct it, and can in this way also lead us forward. If we don't or won't notice and correct mistakes, however ; if we ignore or reject warnings from others, our errors tend not just to deepen, but multiply. Mistakes in our thinking play out in our technologies ; the flaws in the our technologies, in our lives. When harm a technology does is in turn concealed, the danger is that we know neither why we suffer, nor even that we should protect ourselves. The only remaining questions now are the amount of harm we're at the mercy of, and how much we can endure. Multiplication - and Magnification Science, as noted, brings us comforts and benefits that in most cases make our lives better. In the normal course of events it also corrects it'sAt best that in most innovations Our normal recourse - and hope - in times of danger would be that those only remaining questions are how great the harm is, and how long we can bear itbefore it's irreversible. Of all roles government may take in the world, its core and most legitimate task is to protect us from coercion, bullying, fraud ; and not least, from undue harm and injury. When bound too closely with economic interests, however, it falls deeply prey to conflicts - so that instead of protecting from harm by unsafe products and practices, it comes to protect products and practices that do the harm. practices that protection from harm or coercion single most important and legitrole and task is correction with The colossal scale of our world economy means that once freed from these restraints restraints Beyond lost opportunities lies the realm of real and cumulative we do. Solutions The only thing that can truly help, agaist this organized duplicity, is the hard and unromantic work of science : the resolute deployment of laws and facts, meticulously ordered and fully penetrated with understanding by those who present them. There's no way around this work - which must next be shared, not just with large numbers of people willing to listen, but with massive numbers. Each such person has some insight or ability to bring to activism, even if small ; and some part of a cause closest to his or her heart. These are the small units by which any activism succeeds, when it succeeds - or fails when it fails.
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with friends !  Achoo ! Having the flu can be a nasty, serious, potentially deadly business. An age old companion-adversary to our human race, it's like the ocean - something we can never safely turn our back on. But like other recurring and unavoidable risks in life, we do best to take it on directly, as vigilantly and responsibly as we can. The following are some robust, straightforward, science based measures against flu I've encountered in my 35 years as an RN. I've wanted to write these down for some time now, and the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed me to finally do that. Although COVID-19 isn't the same as flu, they do share common features. Both are infectious viral respiratory illnesses, that can also cause inflammation elsewhere in the body ; and both can be deadly to the most vulnerable. This said, there should be no measure for flu here that won't also be helpful with COVID. Some are specific care and proactive measures, others more general and constitutional - but don't underestimate their value to many aspects of your life and health. Reduce viral concentrations in the air and on surfaces It's impossible to avoid exposure to viruses and bacteria entirely - and in fact, not even desirable. When we're in general good health, routine, moderate exposures to these organisms actually stimulate the immune system, and make it stronger. Attempts to create an antiseptic, contact free environment will in the long term weaken it, and are therefore misplaced. Highly concentrated, overwhelming exposures, however, are another story. When viral or bacterial concentrations are high in the air or on surfaces, our chances of being infected increase ; and if we're infected and fall ill, our symptoms will likely be more severe. Persons with serious pre-existing health conditions, or with chronically weakened immune systems should therefore be protected from such exposures, and take special care to protect themselves - especially during peak seasons. Here are some time tested ways to do this : Social distancing : avoid extended close contact with others in crowded places - especially if the space is confined or poorly ventilated. - Wash hands consistently/frequently/well with soap and water. Do this as a general personal routine, especially in peak infection seasons, and after touching possibly contaminated surfaces. When in public places, use hand sanitizers offered to you. - Avoid unnecessary contact with such surfaces whenever possible, and with your own face and hair. - Turn coughs and sneezes into an elbow or shoulder if caught by surprise, while turning away from any persons nearby. - Mask - conscientiously - at the first sign of symptoms ; and if you know or feel yourself to be especially vulnerable. - Stay home when you're sick or symptomatic - or if you're highly vulnerable, during peak seasons altogether. - Ventilate closed spaces regularly. Just open windows, weather permitting, and air them through to reduce viral/bacterial concentrations. In older cultures this is just part of daily life - airing rooms briefly (5-10 minutes) morning, evening and bedtime. In Europe I've seen this done even in schools and hospitals ! These measures keep germs out of you - and out of people around you. They make excellent sense, and can be turned into habits without trouble. They'll reduce spread of infection at any time - but double down on these precautions in peak infection seasons. Having said this I should add that fear of germs and illness, if extreme, is like any other fear : if not dealt with, it wears on the immune system, and is known to predispose to illness - including infectious ones. Secret weapon against the flu : WARMTH Here are some preventive and care measures you may not hear much emphasized for flu (or Coronavirus), but that improve your odds to avoid infections - or if infected, to escape with a milder case :
Most people today are unable to maintain the normal human body temperature of 98.6 degrees. Besides being an ideal habitat for infectious disease organisms, low body temperature is also a hallmark symptom in cancer.
Give your body every chance to FIGHT As much as possible, therefore, let fever do its healing work. In the meantime, keep hydrated with water, warm herbal teas and other non-sugary drinks ; and keep yourself supplied with needed electrolytes, through clear broths and soups. Add to these measures a lukewarm sponge bath during higher fevers, and ride them out safely and with minimal discomfort until they "break" naturally. For higher or prolonged fevers (over 102.5 and rising, with weakness and discomfort) seek help - but generally speaking, fever is your friend. When you have an infectious disease with fever - or any highly inflammatory condition - reduce heavier kinds and quantities of food, especially dairy, fat and protein. Reduced food intake frees your body's forces to fight the infection, and often it will signal this need with reduced appetite. Cooked fresh or fermented vegetables, vegetable and chicken soups are all supportive during fever, without being overburdening. Resume an upbuilding diet once fever has passed - but don't "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" through dietary excesses ! Stealth killer in viral infections : INFLAMMATION As noted, sugar is not your friend during the flu - or during any infectious illness. Disease organisms thrive on this easy nutrition ; and it also contributes to excessive inflammation - among the more dangerous features of these illnesses. Runaway inflammatory processes are in fact the main cause of death in COVID-19 infection. This is an internal process between the immune system and the organism - but again, our own actions can tip the balance either way. Besides sugar, highly salty and spicy foods can also contribute to inflammation. Artificial sweeteners have their own problems, and should also be avoided at these times. Secret measures only nurses know ! Here are some more measures you may not have considered :
If the flu (or COVID) kill you, it will most likely be by attacking your lungs ; and perhaps their most important pathway into your lungs are something called micro-aspirations. "Swallowing the wrong way" is the form of micro-aspiration we're most familiar with, but small amounts of secretions actually slip into our lungs all the time - especially in older people. Our mouth, noses, noses, throats and sinuses are never the cleanest parts of our bodies ; and when colonized with disease organisms, they present real dangers. Most deaths from COVID-19 and flu start with disease related lung infection ; and mouth care is an important way to keep these organisms out ! The simple but essential program : meticulous mouth care - flossing, brushing and a suitable mouthwash - three times a day after meals and at bedtime. Leading experts - and hospital infection control teams - actually consider this the most important bronchitis and pneumonia preventive measure for hospitalized patients !
Pooled secretions in the sinuses, whether due to colds, flu or seasonal allergies, form a rich medium for disease organisms to thrive and reproduce. Related post nasal drip makes us prone to micro-aspirations, especially at night when we're asleep, and is a risk factor for throat, bronchial and lung infections. When secretions build up significantly, irrigation reduces this risk in two ways : First, it loosens secretions (with disease organisms in them), and washes them away mechanically. Secondly, the solutions used for this purpose are formulated to draw fluids out of sinus membranes (swollen, for instance, due to colds, allergies etc) ; thus also effectively irrigating "from the inside out". These additional fluids, plus reduction of membrane swelling, help both to open sinus passages, and clear them of their contents. Some people irrigate using a nettie pot or a reliable, widely available irrigation kit - see link below I can share a notable personal experiences in this regard. Have you ever had the kind of sore throat where, when you swallow, it feels literally as if you have rocks in your throat ? I've had this painful symptom several times where, after irrigating and clearing my sinuses, the pain simply disappeared. Full caution and the attention of a doctor are of course indicated if symptoms persist - but in these cases, the relief was prompt - and remarkable.
Dry coughing in the early phases of flu (also of COVID-19) can be exhausting, so a first important things to learn is how to contain a cough. Best practice in this case is to hold a firm stabilizing pressure with your hands - and/or a pillow - over both your upper abdomen and chest. To protect others, of course, cough into the pillow, your sleeve or your shoulder. Again, appropriate fluids are your friend, both to loosen secretions and avoid dehydration Secretions in your lungs can become abundant - and dangerous - during these illnesses, and there's both an art and science to moving them out. This is best done by a technique called huffing. Huffing is something to do before you try to clear secretions by coughing, and makes that process much more efficient. This is something nurses were formerly taught in their training (younger nurses, please report in if this is still so !) ; and the technique can be found in older nursing textbooks. First, hold your upper abdomen and chest as you would to cough ; then contract your diaphragm strongly, while at the same time exhaling deeply. Do this cautiously, experimenting with shorter and longer, deeper and more shallow exhalation, more and less force - taking care not to make yourself dizzy or out of breath ! With practice you'll learn to direct this skillfully, to clear different lung areas as needed. To end this section, I've purposely save "cough medicines" for last. The best are those that not only suppress cough (important for the night), but have an expectorant effects - simply put, loosening secretions so you can cough them up. You can of course ask your doctor about this, but there are also excellent natural, herbal and holistic cough syrups - I'll share some we've found helpful on the promised linked page. Caution : pneumonia can be felt as heaviness, discomfort and/or pain deep in the chest, with rapid respirations and shortness of breath. Pneumonia in both lungs can easily be fatal - quickly. Symptoms as noted should never be ignored, especially if experienced at bedtime - and require a doctor's immediate attention. Reduce PREDISPOSING FACTORS to flu complications and deaths Not everyone realizes that the symptoms of flu are due not to the virus itself, but to the powerful reactions of our immune system as it attacks the organism. After such an illness the immune system creates antibodies to the virus so that when we're exposed again, we can recognize and fight it without such extreme reactions. There are things we can do to strengthen and support our immune system - and also things we do that weaken and damage it. We can learn about these factors, and to take more effective responsibility for them. Further decisive factors in how seriously flu affects us are preexisting health conditions. Factors known to increase COVID-19 complications include obesity, hypertension, diabetes, diseases of the lungs and of the coronary arteries. While there are differences between COVID and flu, these conditions also make the flu more dangerous. Measures that reduce your risk from these factors are a good way to begin self care efforts. Here are some places to start :
These measures form just an outline, but offer a real path to improved resistance and resilience in the face of seasonal flu. They can be summarized as a commitment to add positive measures and habits to your life at every opportunity ; and subtract harmful influences one by one. Below you'll find some more detailed steps and measures on that path ! A Modest VITAMIN AND MINERAL Protocol for Flu Here's a very straightforward program of vitamins and mineral I've seen recommended for flu. It came with numerous research citations, and after reviewing these, I trust it : 1) Take Vit D 5-10,000 IU/day to get your level above 50 ng/mL. This has also been reported to be a sweet spot to prevent COVID-19 mortality. Ideally, keep your level between 60 and 80 for overall health. The data so far indicates a fairly direct relationship between COVID severity/fatality and Vit D deficiency. A large proportion of severe COVID cases appear to occur in patients with D levels below 30, yet there is still extremely little national conversation on supplementation. 2) Take Zinc 50mg/day and increase to twice a day if you feel viral symptoms. Zinc historically has been shown to reduce the severity of viral infection, and in COVID has also appeared to show lower mortality in hospitalized patients - but here also, there's been little national conversation. 3) Take Quercetin 500mg/day and increase to twice a day if you feel viral symptoms. Quercetin assists in the transport of Zinc into the cells where it suppresses viral replication. 4) Take Vit C 2-4,000 mg/day and increase to twice a day if you feel viral symptoms. Natural Supplements & Wellness Measures : Our Picks ! Related Articles from Living Waters Wellness Building Your Personal Wellness Program Earthly Articles and Cosmic Nutrition Share this page
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How Vaccines Train the Immune
System in Ways No One Expected
TED Talk by Dr Christine Stabell Benn
This is a more differentiated perspective on vaccines than we usually hear - one that may offer a new, possibly better direction to our search for a COVID-19 vaccine Here's a brief overview of this talk - and some thoughts and questions it's triggered in me : Third world countries like Guinea-Bissau, where Dr Christine Benn works, often lack dependable basic resources, such as public sanitation, clean water and adequate nutrition. For this reason, children in these areas are especially vulnerable to infectious diseases ; and if infected, outcomes are often far more serious than for children with the same illnesses in developed countries. Vaccines, for these children, may be the difference between life and death. Dr Benn's team has conducted research that shows oral vaccines with attenuated (weakened) live disease organisms have surprising additional benefits for children's immune systems, making them resistant to other diseases, beyond the targeted ones, and significantly increasing survival rates. They've found these kinds of vaccines have important generalized benefits to health. These findings are very significant, Dr Benn emphasizes, and should be explored further. The team's research has also shown that conventional injected vaccines containing dead (killed) organisms or their proteins, have high effectiveness against the targeted disease - but surprisingly, children who receive them are more susceptible to other diseases, and have significantly higher overall mortality than those who receive attenuated live vaccines. Dr Benn notes that almost ALL vaccines today are of this second kind - but that it's planned to phase live organism vaccines out altogether in 2022 How to Understand This Research ? Live, attenuated vaccines provide the same experience to the immune system as the disease itself, and provoke the same reactions - but the infection is so mild, it can easily be overcome. At the same time, however, the immune system learns how to fight off this disease - and somehow, also other diseases - in the future. It should be noted that there's a large body of literature on later health benefits of having had certain infectious diseases - but this is not well known, and is often dismissed or ridiculed in the charged atmosphere surrounding vaccination today. This presentation indicates that much the same benefits can be gained - and more safely - through using attenuated live oral vaccines. 
A question not asked in the talk, that I think could and should be, is : what explains the surprisingly worse outcomes in children given the other vaccines - those with killed organisms ? It's known that these vaccines do not stimulate the entire immune system - only the part that creates antibodies. Could it be that in not activating the whole immune system, they don't stimulate it enough ? A second question not addressed in the video, but that can also fairly be asked, is whether negative effects of the conventional vaccines lie not just in the antigen - the killed organism - but in other substances in them. Some scientists and healthcare providers express concerns about vaccine excipient substances - other ingredients, besides their antigen components - and in particular, vaccine adjuvant substances. These ingredients, many well known toxic substances, are included in vaccines to cause strong, long lasting immune reactions to killed organism antigens, and trigger antibody production against them. The concerns raised are that extensive, repeated exposures to vaccine adjuvants cause the many, and in some cases very serious adverse effects listed on vaccine package inserts ; and that vaccine safety advocates see played out in their own or their children's bodies. The concern is also that for each dramatic acute effect, there may be less obvious, more slowly developing, yet equally serious effects, that emerge only over time. Safety advocates fear that immediate adverse events are not just the tip of the iceberg ; but that we trade generally mild and temporary infections like chicken pox, measles etc now, for much more chronic problems later. This talks by Christine Stabell Benn points out a possible middle way between rigidly "pro-vaxx" and adamantly "anti-vaxx" thinking and policies : the promise of attenuated live organism vaccines. But as she notes, these vaccines are endangered, scheduled for discontinuation in the very near future. Attenuated live oral vaccines may also present us a path forward in this moment of COVID-19 pandemic. A first step any of us can take is to learn more about this work - and to make it more visible. But this path is also about to close for us - so any insight we gain here needs urgently to be followed by action ! Here are some important further resources : Bandim Health Project See especially : their "About BHP" and "Research" tabs. Vaccines Reimagined To enlarge text size : Click "Ctrl" together with "+" as many times as needed. Support Bandim Health Project Lastly, please note that BHP has no core funding or donations - and that individual donations are highly needed ! 
Homeopathy Needs Your Help : HERE'S HOW ! The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued new Draft Guidance on the regulation of homeopathic medicine. Although somewhat better than its most recent previous Guidance - vigorously opposed by the industry and consumers - it still has provisions that could drastically restrict future use and manufacture of these remedies. The FDA is now accepting comments from the public, and this is the time to speak out clearly against restriction of homeopathy and for this important aide to health and wellness Americans for Homeopath Choice has prepared excellent guidelines for responding to the Daft Guidance, that I'd like to briefly introduce to you. Your comments will be sent directly to the FDA, your U.S Congressperson and Senators, our President and Vice President. This is an important moment for homeopathy, and your participation means a lot. Here's what you can do to help : 1) For an overview of the Draft Guidance and its meaning, plus key guidelines for your participation in this process, see this Background for Comments and Messages from Americans for Homeopathy Choice at any time. 2) To send your comments directly to the FDA and elected officials, patiently and carefully complete the steps on this page : https://homeopathychoice.org/fdacomment/ Please note that the page permits you to send a series of three carefully formulated messages. I encourage you to read each of these through (they're quite educational), and make any small changes you feel will personalize and individualize them 3) If you want to comment directly to the FDA (recommended - and a chance to share your personal positive experiences with homeopathy), use this additional link and page : https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=FDA-2017-D-6580-4828 This is an important matter of health freedom - and your personal comments on how homeopathy has helped you, matter most This said, here are some guidelines to make your comments as effective as possible :
I encourage you to share this need and process as widely as possible. There are social icons both at the top of this page and immediately below, for this purpose. When you share, add comments of your own to let your friends know how important their support is ! Also if you share further on Facebook, or when you click share, don't just click "Share Now," but rather "Share Post" and when the window opens click the check box to the left that says "Share Original Post." This Draft Guidance comment process doesn't just need large numbers of signatures and messages - it needs massive numbers ! Be respectful, factual and succinct - but show the FDA a statement of solidarity it can neither ignore nor forget One more consideration regarding Facebook. Because of its algorithm it may not show your post to every one of your friends you'd like to reach. So if you want to make sure a person - or even more important, a group or page you follow - be sure to tag the people/groups/pages you want most to know. In case you don't know how to tag, just type the @ sign and start typing the name, with no space in between. When the name pops up, just click on it and you've tagged. Facebook may have a limit on how many times you can tag on one post or comment - but you should be able to tag at least ten you want to reach most. You can also copy the URL (the page address of any desired post or page), from the address bar at the top of the page ..... and paste it, with your comments, anywhere you need to ! These are the tools of modern activism, that extend the reach of good ideas and actions needing to be taken. I hope you'll run with them ! Jeff Smith RN (Retired) 
In watching the most recent Democratic Candidate Debate I was truly impressed by the ideas I heard. I felt that from socialists to billionaires, EVERY candidate had something good to contribute. This brought to mind a thought I've had again and again in this campaign - a way to beat Trump in 2020, if ANYTHING can. I think of it as "The 1972-1973 New York Knicks NBA Championship Strategy" Older sports fans will remember that the key players on the Knicks championship team that year were (later to be U.S. Senator) Bill Bradley, Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe ; Jerry Lucas, Dave Debusschere, Dean Meminger and Phil Jackson (later coach to his own Chicago and L.A. championship teams) ; and Jerry Lucas. They were each outstanding athletes, without a doubt - but what they did better than almost anyone I've ever seen, was TEAM PLAY Guided by NBA Hall of Fame Coach Red Holzman, they moved the ball selflessly until the open shot appeared, and my sense was that it didn't matter WHO took it. They had a different star every game, and were called "one of the smartest NBA teams ever assembled". And they won Difficult as it would seem, these candidates will also need to not compete in the end, but work as a team - starting NOW. Here's what I'd see : Let these candidates, in addition to whatever else they do, meet and talk together - regularly. Let them evaluate themselves honestly for strengths and weaknesses, and their chances with every constituency they can think of. Let them INTEGRATE their good ideas, where possible - and look without illusion at who REALLY has the best chance - "the open shot" And at the right moment, pass that player the ball The best outcome I can think of would be that they become clear among THEMSELVES who that would be, bring the public on board as to why - and support that candidate for dear life There's no reason why these good people shouldn't keep Trump and the GOP off balance for now, with every bit of razzle-dazzle they can muster - but honest-razzle dazzle, for the sake of the country These are ALL good and talented people - but I really think what's needed to beat Trump is a TEAM http://livingwaterswellnessresources.weebly.com/think-it-right.html
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"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of
evil to one who is striking at the root" - Henry David Thoreau Culture, Law and Economics This blog often addresses concerns about vaccine safety - but vaccine adverse effects also belong to a pattern of problems in technology today : namely, of products or practices that serve us in important ways ; but are then at some point found to have intolerable downsides effects that, perversely, we're unable to challenge or change. We tend to notice these problems only one at a time as they affect our lives. As many as we recognize, we fight vigorously ; but we may not notice the high number of them, or the pattern of factors keeping them in place. We fill the air with the leaves and branches of evil, so to speak - but do not discover its roots. Despite even heroic efforts, harm and tragedies of this kind multiply multiply, threatening our whole planet and species. It's now the case that, although our thinking is overwhelmingly scientific, some of the greatest dangers we face have been created by science ; and that once established, they may be almost impossible to un-establish. Our greatest strengths, so to speak, have become our greatest vulnerabilities. How does this happen ? Causes these many, serious problems have in common are not at first easy to discern. Our modern situation has evolved gradually, over a period of centuries. It includes not just our outer, material circumstances, but our concepts - how we understand ourselves and our world. Because they've also evolved gradually, our concepts are highly familiar to us - even to the extent that they become automatic : habits of thinking we take for permanent truths, and never challenge or question. Thus while the problems we face cause us pain, or even extreme harm, they don't necessarily change the way we think And the dangers we face are not limited to technology. Our great economic achievements, our worldwide, efficient mass systems of production and distribution are accompanied by deepening inequalities of wealth, and in various countries, the specter of economic collapse. Likewise the realm of rights and government, our means to improve freedoms and protections in our lives, is prone to infringements on civil and human rights, and a drift into catastrophic wars. What is perverse, seemingly in every sphere of human social life, is the contrast of the immense ability and goodwill of human beings everywhere - and our almost magnetic trajectory towards instability and destruction. On the one hand the goodness and potential of humanity ; on the other fear, doubt and hatred, deepening into an abyss What are the reasons for this - and equally important, what is the way out ? In the aftermath of World War I an idea emerged, that shed crucial light on these questions. This perspective identified three core realms of human social life as 1) Cultural and spiritual life, including education, science, medicine, religion, the arts and other activities arising from the gifts and abilities of individual human beings 2) The realm of laws, rights and government, serving the need of all human beings to be free from injury, harm, coercion or fraud 3) Economic life, encompassing production and distribution of goods to meet the physical needs of life common to all human beings Each of these areas, though different, is essential to human life, and provides something beneficial and necessary. Problems arise, from this perspective, when any of these realms encroaches on another, disrupting or intruding into its natural sphere of activities Although vigorously presented and discussed in Germany after the war, the will could not be found for more. And amid conditions and events that soon led to a still more devastating war, it could not yet take root practically. It was not lost, however, and remains as a seed, waiting to grow into a greater, more fruitful social movement. This perspective is known as the threefold social idea Renewal - Or the Abyss ? The threefold social idea is not an ideology, but an observation of real phenomena ; of factors that lead to health in human social life - or to progressive social destruction. It also not a program or prescription for society, or a rigid party platform. Whoever understands it does not force it on others, but rather thinks and feels differently in social situations, and makes choices contributing naturally to social health, increasingly in his or her affairs. For our present ominous situation to grow into "the threefold social order", what's needed is that as many people as possible understand the needs of culture, law and economic life, and the necessary boundaries between them. The linked article below gives an overview with examples, and a view of where this idea might lead, in a positive sense. More resources on this theme are listed as well ! http://livingwaterswellnessresources.weebly.com/culture-law-and-economics.html
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Thanks to Vaccine Education League of America for sharing elsewhere :
"The 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) provides immunity to the vaccine manufacturers for the adverse reactions, vaccine related injury and death resulting from the administration of all vaccines which are on the CDC schedule. There are conditions which extend this same protection from liability to the doctors administering the vaccines. People assume that means the doctors and their staff are immune from the liability however there are conditions that must exist for doctors to be covered by that exemption for liability, such as the requirement that they provide their patient with the same warnings that are included by the manufacturer on the vaccine insert (not an information sheet) and those inserts are almost never provided to the patient, even if you ask for them. The same act also does NOT cover medical malpractice, malfeasance, or neglect and if the doctor ever took the time to educate themselves on the dangers of adverse reactions they likely wouldn't risk losing their malpractice insurance by negligently administering the vaccine anyway. If they refuse to educate themselves, especially when the manufacturers are protecting themselves by providing the inserts, that constitutes malpractice, malfeasance, and neglect. Does that mean I can still hold them accountable ? YES it does. Just holding them accountable by the use of loop holes and alternative approaches to suit. The existence of a properly worded sworn Affidavit and Notice of Liability in a child's medical record is likely to make all nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, etc not willing to accept the personal liability and administer the vaccine anyway. If they do administer it they can be held accountable. The key is to provide them with proper Notice and in the form of an Affidavit which is a legal document. If they ignore the Affidavit, they are assuming the liability when they administer the vaccine. This type of Affidavit should be added to the medical record of each child and a copy filed with any applicable school nurse or administrator and it's helpful to keep a copy on hand to add to the record of any ER or urgent care if needed. You DO NOT need a separate Affidavit for each child. One Affidavit from a parent or guardian will be sufficient with copies made to each child's file. Those who know me already know my background at law. I do provide these to those who wish to order them but they are not free. These are the same ones we offered from the law firm with a $250 retainer but I offer them now for $25 each to make them more easily accessible to parents who have a need for them. If you are comfortable enough with your knowledge of law to draft a properly worded Affidavit, get it done. If not you can order one from me from my online shop but you do not have permission to use my intellectual property for redistribution (you can't resell my work). When checking out make sure I have the name of the parent/guardian requesting the Affidavit, the County and State where it will be notarized, and en email address to send it to you since these are delivered electronically." https://squareup.com/store/pmapower/item/notice-affidavit-for-vaccine-injury?
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Should you be concerned that measles gives you "immune amnesia" ? Recently you may have heard about a research study indicating getting measles can cause "immune amnesia", and put you at serious risk of harm from other infections. Having - like almost everyone in my generation - HAD measles, my first thought was "What ?" Then I encountered this article, by an immunologist, that explores the matter more deeply, and undoes some of the fear mongering this research has given rise to I'm grateful for an article like this - and to the people who shared it where I could find it. As small an act as it is in the current poisoned atmosphere, it's important that the deeper science be imprinted in the world somewhere, alongside the disinformation IMO it's a scientific and actually, spiritual deed, that we need as much as we need food, or any physical substance ! http://www.tetyanaobukhanych.com/blog/should-you-be-afraid-that-measles-gives-you-immune-amnesia?fbclid=IwAR21iLY_yuYQTZ4eMf3A8ORHjB9hKBHBPrkbfsTRUr2QY00hWn_TbgKsmds
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Measles : A Close Examination of the Facts to Counter the Fear I feel compelled to post articles like this, if for no other reason than because of the courage the writer has to publish it. I would be ashamed to let this kind of integrity stand alone ! If the more radical among vaccine advocates have their way, there will soon be a lot of vaccinations given to children directly against their parents' will. At some point, vaccine related injuries, deaths and immune system dysfunction will become so prevalent that they CAN'T be ignored. Scientific research will draw connections that CAN'T be discounted, dismissed or hidden from web searches. The superficiality of "vaccine science" and inadequacy of vaccine testing will be seen for what they are, and the whole conceptual house of cards will come down. And eventually, whistle blowers will step forward to confirm the corruption and conflicts of interest that have kept all this in place for so long. Where will the radical advocates stand then ? If they claim not to have read articles like this one, then they'll have been negligent - because enough people have asked them to If they're found to have read scientific and political commentary of this kind and not understood it, they'll be seen as superficial medical and scientific thinkers, who have also done a great deal of harm, both to the health of children and the rights of their fellow citizens We'd like to believe there are ways to avoid pain, illness and death in life - and may adore those who tell us we can. But in truth we can only deal with these problems as soberly, responsibly and rationally as we can. If the vaccine "solution" is in fact an illusion, we need to find better ways NOW, not double and triple and quadruple down on mistaken strategies If vaccine advocates are sincere about finding the BEST ways to deal with infectious illnesses, they should reach out to the best among those they considers their enemies - and they might do something magnificent Measles : A Close Examination of the Facts to Counter the Fear
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This headline grabs attention, but the conversation it leads to is IMO, actually more enlightening and encouraging, than shocking
I'd love to see us step back from the ledge of black/white thinking we're standing on today, concerning vaccine safety and choice. This seems to be a step in the direction of sanity, & was a breath of fresh air for me this morning !
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We Have No Reason to Believe 5G is Safe Do you have friends who aren't concerned about the new 5G telecommunications networks being rolled out - or who may simply not be aware of the risks they entail ? We have just one message : share this article from Scientific American with them ! There's extensive research indicating 5G is dangerous, both to human health and the natural environment. There are also concerns about risks to our personal privacy and cyber-security. For your interest, we encourage you to explore these further Resource Articles : 5G Networks And lastly for now, we encourage you to look into things you can actually do to resist this rapidly expanding technology. This is absolutely something to do together with friends ! Stop 5G Networks : Contact Your Local Elected Officials NOW
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The Real Story of Dr Andrew Wakefield and MMR
The prevailing view of Dr Andrew Wakefield in mainstream media is of a man who claimed autism was caused by the MMR vaccine, whose research was not only conclusively proven wrong and fraudulent, but was done in the first place for sake of personal economic gain. This rather explicitly formulated view of Wakefield has come to be repeated almost any time vaccines are discussed in mainstream media, or when people express concerns over vaccine safety or choice. It is treated almost as proof of the safety of vaccines, and as a kind of method and template to discredit others who express concerns, or do research on vaccine safety Demands are being made increasingly today that vaccines be made mandatory, that vaccinations exemptions be reduced, and that the same be gradually implemented for all citizens Very much to the contrary, this review of Dr Wakefield's case by legal scholar Mary Hollands, indicates we should rather be reviewing our assumptions concerning vaccines - and how we deal with those who question them - systematically
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AuthorJeff Smith RN, born 1950. A registered nurse since 1984 - but holistic in my outlook to health since probably around 1968. Living Waters Wellness considers not just the health of the physical body, but our soul and spirit, our social forms, our environment - and as a matter of fact, our whole earth. It's a new website, and a work in progress - but by all means, have a look around ! Archives
October 2023
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