I started out of habit here this morn, but have not much to say. My mandala colouring is progressing in leaps and bounds, with only the Fall sections of the perimeter left to do, plus the eight flower rosettes that I am leaving to the end. This because I don’t know yet what theme I will use for their colours. ‘Comes time, comes counsel’ as a transliterated Dutch saying says.

Last Thursday I made two new selections of my photos and scaled them back for web use. One is Fall2013-two, the wintery part and the other is a collection of Diwali photos and some of Sarah and BJ’s. I have also made a start with the actual Existence Divine belief framework essay. And in my head, while colouring the mandala, I am giving intermittent thoughts to my talk ‘My Belief as Practice’.

A number of threads have emerged from this intermittent thought process as I coloured my mandala. One is that I want to show integration and continuity from my upbringing to the present. This as an illustration that learned and taught habits, customs and values can be adapted to those acquired later on in life.

This results in a past and present type thread to which I can then add the application of New Thought ideas of shaping the future and affecting your own life. This, I then want to expand on and apply to the diversity of our world and the need to affirm tolerance for it.

The practice of affirmation is New Thought’s contribution and its proven record that can be added to whatever belief a person may hold. No religious tradition teaches tolerance towards another, let alone cooperation and making common cause. This is a newly required teaching to be so affirmed and taught.

The New Thought discoveries, values and techniques can be applied as a modern addition - New World self made type if you like - to the accumulated collection of human traditions.

How to practice this tolerance in our daily life here and now, is the next step. That is, how to affect and effect this chnage in our personal life and the community we live in? For this we need insight into our own situation and our world community aspects.

The latter is available right on our door step here in modern day Calgary and I tried this out last week by visiting the Chinese Cultural event and the Diwali festival.

I also visited several ethnic restaurants to sample food and community traditions, in addition I want to make a list of ethnic calendar events. In this manner we can inform ourselves about the diversity present in the community, right here in our own city.

No need to travel far and wide, we can do the ‘footwork’ right here making new friends and learning about cultures, values and traditions from around the globe by taking the bus or hopping in our car. Very cost effective!
8:35am

P.S: Just now, I am thinking about the big storm that hit the Philippines just a few days ago. Here we are connected by the weather instead of a festival, so the connection are every where, all the time in our world and in many ways.
9:10am, with editing.~