So, the book has been out there on Amazon since the 21st December 2012. Great response, thanks. The next step is to do it the real way, get a literary agent, a publisher etc etc, and then it can be out there in print. that would be very cool.

My first novel: Dragon Town

This is due to be published on the 21st December 2012 

DRAGON TOWN

The story takes place in Hopeville, a small sleepy town in the semi desert of the Karoo, South Africa.

Nothing usually happens there.  However,  an agreement signed between the Mayor of Hopeville, elements in the Pretoria government, and an Australian mining company changes all of that, and fracking begins in the Karoo.

Max Van Rooyen is a 17 year old boy, whose parents died in a car crash when he was nine. He now lives with his thespian aunt Marge, but was largely brought up by his Grandfather Sam Van Rooyen, who is also Max’s best friend. Sam is a retired geologist who has also done extensive research into alternative forms of energy.

Sam owns a “dragon ball”, a carved ivory ball with an amazing history; this ball is handed down through generations from grandfather to grandson.  It has great powers and manifests the imagination of it’s owner.

Sam has a lifelong friend, Supa, a Bushman and former tracker. Supa now works as a janitor in the Mayor’s office.

PJ is an agent for the Environmental Investigation Agency – an offshoot of Greenpeace and he is keeping a close watch on the development of the fracking company, and it’s activities in the Karoo.

Supa discovers the controversial fracking agreement in the Mayor’s office and takes it to show his friend Sam, but is unaware that their discussion is being overheard in the shadowy corridors of power. Sam mysteriously goes missing. Max, Supa, Bronwyn (a new Australian friend of Max’s, and a recent arrival in the    local school) and PJ join forces as their journey begins, in their attempt to unravel the mystifying disappearance of Sam. 

This leads them into a dangerous world of intrigue within the small town, raising questions about the mine’s security, shadowy figures within the Australian mining company as well as corruption in favour of interested parties within the Pretoria government. This is the age-old recipe for money, greed and power.

The story culminates as Max learns how to use the ball and it’s powers through coaching from his grandfather, now in the fifth dimension. Max and his team pit themselves against the hit men of the monstrous corporation resulting in reinforcements being summoned by Pretoria to counter their attack; three Rooivalk attack helicopters and a platoon of soldiers descend on Hopeville.

Max’s ultimate manifestation is a dragon, inspired by the carvings on the ball, and dominant in the ancestry of Supa’s Bushman origins. The beast is created to help him in his quest to find his grandfather and set the Karoo back to its former unspoilt glory.

A tale of greed, power, dragons, other dimensions and love in a small town in the Karoo.

 JP

This is such an exciting project for me - my first novel!  So all support would be most welcome - please 'like', comment, feel free to buy and even review if you have the energy. 

I will post the link to Amazon and Kindle on this Friday, the 21st December. 

Swedish House Mafia

On Reason and Passion

 ...and then I remembered this man, and this passage from 'The Prophet'
JP
 

 Kahlil Gibran

On Reason and Passion



Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite.
Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody.
But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?


Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.
For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.
Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing;
And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.


I would have you consider your judgment and your appetite even as you would two loved guests in your house.
Surely you would not honour one guest above the other; for he who is more mindful of one loses the love and the faith of both.


Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields and meadows -- then let your heart say in silence, "God rests in reason."
And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky -- then let your heart say in awe, "God moves in passion."
And since you are a breath in God's sphere, and a leaf in God's forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion.

He puts it so much better than I can!

JP

It is ok to feel. 

The passion -
The storm within - 
and the calm after the storm.
It's the opposites that make us complete, 
and that is all ok. 


It is what you do with the passion that's important. 

Regardless of the ebb and flow,
still feel compassion -
feel the love and eternal gratitude. 
Be the Observer of your own opposites
your yin and yang
light and darkness
rage and calm
and bring the balance 
Be the One.


Jaypax

Karma

 

Lao Tzu

What of Karma?

Karma quite simply is the record of cause and effect in each soul’s existance. You kill someone in one life, you eventually pay for it in another (normally with your life and blood).

As we reach the end of a 26000 year cycle, we are about to move into the Fifth dimension - Heaven on Earth - the age of ‘knowing’ rather than the current age of ‘believing’ - astrologically - The Age of Aquarius. This is an age where only those who have evolved enough spiritually to be able to handle power and not abuse it are able to participate - those who haven’t evolved sufficiently can continue to pursue the demands of their ego in another dimension.

There is the freedom of choice.

It is all about evolution of the spirit to find your way back to your source.

(Many religions record this as a momentous event of judgement, where you are either ‘in’ or ‘out’ - however the criteria in their eyes is a badge of membership, and not what is really is, - the evolution of a soul to an equilibrium of love and compassion. A person in whom  those qualities are completely natural, and not guided by necessity)

We have been there before as a race - and most people have heard of Atlantis. The fact is that there are so many stories, because there are so many storytellers (and of course you have to factor in the ‘Chinese Whisper’!) - but Atlantis was an age in the Fifth dimension, and it was once more through the abuse of power that it fell into ruin, washed away, or sunk by a great flood (you’ve read about Noah’s ark - well that was a consequence of this flood that covered Atlantis).

So - what to do?

Here's my first thought - become a vegetarian................. 

I hear a great laugh go up! - but bear with me.

OK - maybe as the first step, think of becoming a vegetarian.

Actually our Karma as ‘cause and effect’ is directly related to everything we eat, and if even indirectly we have caused the death of a sentient being, then through the law of Karma will we have to pay for those deaths - eventually.

Here’s a quote from Genesis (King James Bible) that gives you food for thought (sorry)

Genesis 1 29
And God said, "Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."

So for now, think about that - we are supposed to be vegetarian - this meat eating business causes more misery and food shortage problems than you can imagine - the problem is - I am a meat eater, but I am trying to evolve:

As I write this, I can say that I am a ‘Pescatarian’. OK it is a slight cop-out, but in reality I started my path as a vegetarian two weeks ago, and on the first friday, I was invited to Koi in Rosebank. Then it hit me! I hadn’t factored in Sushi. So I sat there, wobbled, justified everything to myself and wolfed down a plate of delicious sushi.

Hence Pescatarian. Baby steps............

Maybe by the next entry or two, I will be off fish as well.

The point is this. We as human beings contribute to the misery and suffering of animals in the pursuit of our food. We grow animals in the most inhumane circumstances and then kill them (in the name of food and profit). Often with no thought towards the suffering of those animals.

Well, to a red blooded meat eater, this is either me being feeble-minded, or if they agree, they must look at their meat and see a chop, or a steak, or a lifeless hunk of ‘chicken’ - but don’t dwell on the animal. Lets face it, as humans we are generally very thoughtless and cruel about our survival. (and before you even think it - Darwin can’t be factored in!) - it is not justified by the survival of the fittest, that isn’t necessary, as we are not in a jungle, and we are not wild animals. (we even try this mindless Darwinian quote to justify our unethical behaviour in business)

We have the freedom of choice, which means we can behave ethically and with compassion if we choose to!

Seriously - in our daily living, we shouldn’t be responsible - directly or indirectly for anyone’s misery or death. We should rather be consiously thinking of other people we share this planet with as we go about our daily business of living, and that includes animals of every sort. 

So, if you think that our Karma includes what we do to our dumb companions - the animals on the Earth, then maybe it is time to reconsider.

I love my food, and I eat more than anyone I know, but through understanding more about cause and effect, and my own personal footprint on this planet, I have taken this step.


Jaypax

Stream of life and the world in which we live

 Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941)

This is fantastic stuff:

"The same stream of life that runs through my veins runs through the world, and dances in rhythmic measure. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth into numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers. It is the same life that has rocked in the ocean cradle of life and death, in ebb and in flow. I feel that my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life, and my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment." Rabindranath Tagore

and on greed........(this is pretty much the blight of the world).

"The greed of gain has no time or limit to its capaciousness. Its one object is to produce and consume. It has pity neither for beautiful nature nor for living human beings. It is ruthlessly ready without a moment's hesitation to crush beauty and life out of them, molding them into money."   Rabindranath Tagore

Isn't this pretty much what we see all around us?


So here's some thinking on how to change the world in which we live.....

Don't fight against things you disagree with - they only gain power from your resistance......

Don't judge.......everyone is at a different stage of learning.

Don't criticise....(much the same as judging)
Do -  use your imagination and desire to create a better world. This may sound very flakey, but if you ask Bruce Lipton (author of Biology of belief, and spontaneous evolution) or Deepak Chopra (author of so much!) or Greg Braden (The science of miracles) - the same thing always comes through - that if you use your intention, and imagine what it would be like to have your version of the world, actually try to conjure up the feeling of what it would be like, then that is what will be attracted to you from the field of infinite possibilities. Like attracts like, so if you have the vibration of your intention, then you are planting a seed in the Field, which can only grow and begin to manifest in your life. (previous entry 24th August)

The amazing thing, going a step further, is that if you have a group of people all imagining the same outcome, having the same intention, then the effect is so much more powerful. Greg Braden worked out (through various experiments) that the square root of 1% of a population is enough to have the effect of influence and change on that population. 


So for a population of 1000 people it would take 3 people coordinating their thoughts, imagination and intention to have an influence on the 1000 people. 


This was proved and documented in Washington state where 1000 people used Transcendental Meditation (TM) to lower the crime rate by 30% during a heat wave a few years ago, to the astonishment of the Chief of Police. (Greg Braden and Masaru Emoto have both made mention of this in their writings)

Many Global catastrophies have been avoided (previously mentioned in predictions by Seers as probable outcomes - Nostradamus being one) through the use of collective coordinated meditation throughout the world, because those predictions were probable outcomes at the time, but through this intervention, those outcomes were avoided. 


So back to imagination, intention, and desire for change - it is completely possible. 


This is what Deepak Chopra intended when he started the Alliance for a New Humanity - lots of small groups starting up all over the world, with the intention of creating a New Humanity. These are the words of Ernesto Sabato (Argentinian lauriate and writer) on the launch of the Alliance.

”An emergence is happening everywhere, unsung heroes are courageously demonstrating that a change of heart, a unified humanity and an improvement of the quality of life for all, is possible and is linked to a new conception of life. United in giving to others, in their absolute desire for a more human world, they have already started to generate change, taking risks in experience as profound as love and solidarity. And the Earth will become impregnated with their perseverance.” (www.anhglobal.org)

The point I am making is that everyone is trying to live their lives day by day, surrounded by bad stuff - bad news, greed, and abuse of power. The way to change this isn't to moan and bitch about what is wrong, but to be pro-active in creating the change.

Wayne Dyer in his writings about the Tao te Ching entitled it "Change your thoughts" - meaning "Change your thoughts and you will change your life". This cry has been taken up everywhere - you only have to Google 'Change your Thoughts' and see what comes up!

OK - enough for now

Jaypax (one day I will get a post!!! Feel free to write stuff, ask or whatever)