Avatar is also an animated series from Nickelodeon, where most martial arts and handling of the elements in combination with Eastern mysticism.

Avatar Games

Avatar is becoming very popular in recent times through their play. Avatar games free flash web are giving the series a very interesting popularity. As discussed fans of Japanese anime, avatar games are taking steps accurate and deep in the market for flash games today.

Avatar games cover a number of books, with each episode serving as a “chapter” and each season as a “book”, which are titled by the thematic element of the season.

Avatar There are games of all types, including:

• Avatar fighting games, fighting in the fort and defend your principles as a teacher, one of the best games avatar.
• Avatar games of sand, a hand to hand combat between two characters in the avatar series of very interesting games.
• Avatar escape games, the game where we try to escape with the characters in avatar the Last Airbender.

Mirha

Where did Christmas gift giving come from? If we go back to the first Christmas story when God sent Jesus to earth, we recall that Jesus was given three gifts by the three wise men or Magi, which serve as the inspiration for all our Christmas gift giving today.

The Magi presented Jesus with gold, frankincense and myrrh. These gifts were very prophetic for they spoke of our Lord’s offices of King, Priest, and Savior.

GOLD: This carries obvious significance. It’s precious and worthy across all cultures and times. It’s a gift fit for royalty. It says to the Christ child, You will be a King

FRANKINCENSE: The name for this resin likely comes from incense of Franks since it was reintroduced to Europe by Frankish Crusaders. Although it is better known as frankincense” to westerners the resin is also known as olibanum, which is derived from the Arabic al-lub (“the milk”) a reference to the milky sap tapped from the Boswellia tree. Frankincense has been touted for its medicinal and soothing properties. Herbalists say it is calming, restorative, gently clarifying, and meditative. Frankincense oil is thought to have stimulating, toning, and warming properties. The ancient world used it for treating depression. We recognize the word incense in its name. Ancient people burned frankincense, believing it to carry their prayers to heaven. Its use as incense illustrates His role as our Priest.

MYRRH: This is perhaps the most mysterious of the Gifts. It is a resin produced by a small, tough, scraggly tree that grows in semi-desert regions of North Africa and the Red Sea. Myrrh is an Arabic word for bitter, and it is considered a wound healer because of its strong antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. Calling it mo yao, the Chinese used it for centuries to treat wounds, bruises and bleeding and to relieve painful swelling.

The Egyptians made it famous in Biblical times, having acquired myrrh about the fifteenth century B.C. from Africa where cammiphora trees were abundant. It was used in incense, perfumes and holy ointments and also medicinally as recorded in the Ebers Papyrus. But its most notable use to them was that of an embalming material, used in Egyptian mummies. As an embalming ointment it signified that He was born to Die for the world. In fact, Myrrh was one of the burial spices of Jesus (John 19:39).

Source: http://www.magi-gifts.com/significance.html

What is a virtue? Virtue (Greek Arete, lat. Virtus) means the most complete realization of the heart and soul of a good. It may also be defined to mean ethically and morally valuable traits. Virtue was a central concept in ancient moral philosophy or ethics. Virtues are skills, not information or knowledge. Especially this side got me initially interested about virtues. Information overload caused by the collection of information and endless series of open questions made me finally think about the relationship between knowledge and truth. Can I know the truth without having a skill to manifest it?

Cardinal virtues are the best-known ancient virtues that have moved to the doctrine of seven virtues of St. Thomas Aquinas. These are: wisdom, justice, courage and prudence. In addition to these virtues Aquinas counted theological virtues along, i.e. faith, hope and love. I do not know very well the meaning of these three virtues by St. Aquinas, but in my opinion they are not formally part of the virtues, if virtues are thought as a valuable traits and properties under development. They are something even deeper spiritual qualities reflected in the various virtues, or through virtues. For instance in courage there is faith, in patience there is hope and in compassion there is love included. Perhaps one might think theological virtues as a triangle, which descends to the square, i.e. trinity, which descends to the fourfold world saturating virtues with the best features and qualities.

Virtues may be listed in the dozens, or even hundreds so you can get a good meditation theme for every week of year if you wish. Here are some for chewing:

…diligence, generosity, openness, empathy, selflessness, sensitivity, thoroughness, piety, benevolence, enthusiasm, flexibility, beauty, gratitude, courtesy, respect, obedience, patience, compassion, integrity, sobriety, compassion, determination, humility, willingness to service, cleanliness, impartiality, determination, sobriety, peace, honesty, courage, perseverance, endurance, morality, depth, subtlety, discernment, balance, fairness, truthfulness, loyalty, modesty, prudence, responsibility, innocence, hospitality, sincerity, intensity, non-violence, kindness,…

Truth, truthfulness and love of truth has been said to be a basis of all virtues. Deep longing of truth drives human through all kind of mazes and hazards and one cannot get through them if the other virtues have not developed in person and become true in practice.

I could keep a lecture of each virtue but now I would highlight one of those, namely honesty. Honesty with oneself and other people is one of the most important virtues, but also the largest afflicter in self-education. “Spirits” are fighting in us. Other side knows what is good and the other half wants to do something else like enjoy, relax, not necessarily to do evil, but also not good in a sense that it desires to abandon own delights and actively directs life for the highest virtues and implementation of the highest goals. Sacrificial life seem only way to prevent karmic relations. I don’t believe that great teachers have said without reason and urged us to forget ourselves, so that we can find ourselves. In people that accomplish fairness, it will raise the battle that can last and last for long periods of time and torment the soul. As a seeker of truth, I can easily see that the only one who carries out the will of God from the sweet beginning to the salty end is finally free, in other words rescued and saved from that internal battle.

You cannot really forget vices because we understand things through the opposites. While my point in this lecture is in virtues I can mention only shortly some examples like the traditional seven deadly sins: pride, envy, greed, anger, gluttony, adultery and falsehood. In addition selfishness, indifference, grain, indiscretions, cowardice, etc. belongs to vices, but is it all so black and white, only good and evil? And what is it in virtues so special, that all the great religions and persons constantly speak of them. Probably not without a reason, or what you think? I have collected a few quotes for my aid and defense:

1. A superior man always thinks of virtue; common man thinks of comfort. -Confucius
2. Rise up the hill is a virtue. Running down is a vice. -Chinese proverb
3. A noble man is not aware of the virtue with, and in this way, he really has a great virtue. Lower-ranking man never loses virtue from his eyes, and in this way, he loses a virtue. -Lao Tzu
4. To walk safely in a maze of human life man needs wisdom of light and guidance of virtue. -Buddha
5. Purity creates wisdom, lust creates stinginess and ignorance creates madness and darkness. -Bhagavad-Gita
6. Our virtues and vices will rise from the same source. -Goethe
7. Virtue is like health of soul, beauty and a good manner. -Plato
8. Virtue is the beauty of the soul and vices the deformity of the soul. -Socrates
9. A man who is not virtuous, can never be happy. -Epicurus
10. Great adepts always practice the highest virtues. -Blavatsky
11. In human being, there can be no more truth than she’s got grace. -Swedenborg
12. Smile is a half virtue. -Eino Leino

The list could go on forever. Purpose of virtuous life in short is: glorification of the thought life + purifying the feelings + awakening of intuition, which together vitalizes material and the physical body until ultimate perfection. As a by-product, it can really bring happiness and relief from ignorance.

Next analogies illustrate meditation exercises and the relationship with virtues. As previously mentioned, meditation is traditionally divided into the three main states that are:

1. Concentration -> Calculation of breath
2. Meditation -> Monitoring breath
3. Contemplation -> Being

Each step may take years to achieve. Meditation is usually done in small time and space. Often the problem is: how to the results of meditation or contemplation may be moved to the presence in everyday life? Let’s assume we are not living monastic life or in retreat. I think that MOMENT can be extended to LIFE by exercising virtues. Let me show similar analogies here:

1. Concentration -> Electing one virtue as a theme of the day or week and keeping it in mind
2. Meditation -> Going deeper into the virtue and retrieving more information
3. Contemplation -> Being one with the virtue, becoming virtuous

There are two different translations and usage for the word contemplation. Here I use it as a third state of the process referring to Samadhi, but it can be also interchanged with 2nd state so that contemplation comes the 2nd and meditation the 3rd state.

Virtuous life changes all parts of the human essence and opens your senses to see the truths, both psychological and invisible. An interesting view to the implications of ethical life and the spiritual growth can be read from the book of The Esoteric school of Jesus by Pekka Ervast. It sheds light on the fivefold guide spoken on the Sermon on the Mount, how implementing five ethical instructions leads to the wisdom. Temperlessness, purity, swearlessness, unoffeding of the evil and love are a special blend of old traditional virtues, but also a modern or should we call new age virtues. This part of the teachings of Ervast was greatly influenced by Leo Tolstoy.

When MOMENT becomes LIFE, there is still one analog to go, where LIFE becomes WAY. WAY refers to initiation path where a chain of human lives perfects, mankind’s goal will be achieved, the individual will create a new body, “better rod from the old one” by editing a bit of an old Finnish dictum. Since the ordination of these issues will go more to talk about category of invisible realities, I will confine myself to just quoting Pekka Ervast, what he said in a lecture about the initiation path in 1926:

This way, we can briefly describe that initiation is a kind of threefold mystery. The first man will be received in some brotherhood. Second, the initiation is a certificate and the stamp that the knowledge was obtained, and thirdly that consciousness is expanded and the expansion of consciousness will continue.

This raises a specific question about the nature of the truth: is it obtainable alone by ones own merits? When we need assistance from the others, either brethren or higher facets that already has found the truth?

I leave that question open and finally want to present the musical structure of my album that presents the truth seeker path through the elements and principles by cultivating corresponding virtues. It is certainly not intended to provide any absolute equivalence between elements and virtues, but rather showing the naturally arising associations on my mind, which are nice to meditate on everyday life.

Mirha

(The end)

Please see also these informative websites of science of virtues:

http://scienceofvirtues.org
http://arete.uchicago.edu

And my article about virtues in business:

48 virtues for business and joyful life

1. Virtue of Truthfulness – Invisible realities
2. Virtue of Truthfulness – Psychological truths
3. With virtue you cannot be entirely poor… Without it you cannot be really rich

Kuoleman kunniaksi

Jos olisin runoilija, tahtoisin laulaa ylistysvirren sinulle, kuolema. Sinua eivät laulajat ole kiittäneet.
Sinua on kutsuttu ihmisen viimeiseksi viholliseksi, synnin palkaksi ja ilon hävittäjäksi. Ihmiset pelkäävät
sinua, kammovat sinua ja koettavat sinua välttää. Mutta minä tahtoisin virittää kanteleni sinun
kunniaksesi, oi tuoni.

Sillä minä uskon, että sinä olet minun ja kaikkien ihmisveljieni paras ja uskollisin ystävä. Sinä olet
tosi, suora ja rehellinen. Sinä olet ylevämielinen ja viisas ystävä. Aivan kuin isä sinä tiedät, mitä meille
ihmislapsille on hyväksi ja hyödyksi, sinä et meitä imartele, vaan tahdot meitä auttaa ja sanot suoraan,
missä olemme erehtyneet. Ja voimakkaalla kädellä sinä viittaat meille tien ja sanot: „kas tästä teidän
pitää kulkeman.“

Minä tahtoisin laulaa sinun ylistystäsi, kuolema, sillä sinä olet meidän ihmislasten hellä ja
lempeäsilmä ystävä. Sinä kerrot meille kauniita satuja ja kuljetat meitä ympäri unelmoiden eedenissä.
Sinä olet kuin äiti, joka riemulla ja ylpeydellä suljet meidät syliisi, kun olemme isän opetuksia huolella
seuranneet. Sinä olet sydämemme ilo ja hymy kaiken surun jälkeen. Sinussa kaikki sävelet sulautuvat
yhteen mahtavaksi sopusoinnuksi.

Sinun kunniaksesi tahtoisin kieltäni virittää, tuoni, sillä kun sinä tulet, et sinä tule kuin luurankoinen
viikatemies, vaan sinä tulet kuin jumalan ylevä sanansaattaja, kuin „yksi näistä pienimmistä“, jotka
pyytävät meitä, ettemme unohtaisi kaikkia armahtavan rakkauden ikuista elämänlakia.

Sillä suurempi sinua, kuolema, on ikuisen elämän salaisuus. Syvempi helvettiä, korkeampi taivasta
on jumalan valtakunta, joka on sydämen puhtaus, anteeksiantamus ja rakkaus. Tämä on jumalan
valtakunta, ja jumalan valtakunta on ikuinen rauha ja ilo, joka asuu niiden sydämissä, jotka tuntevat sen
armahtavaa sääliä. Ylevämpi ja avarampi se on kuin nerokasten ja maailman viisasten taivaat, ja niiden
pienten luokse se tulee, jotka ikävöivät sen lähestymistä.

Sentähden kiitän ja ylistän minä sinua, tuoni, että tästä kaikesta meitä muistutat ja tulemisellasi kerta
kerralta opetat meitä sinua voittamaan. Sillä lopulta saamme mekin periä sen valtakunnan, josta
kirjotettu on: „mitä ei silmä ole nähnyt eikä korva ole kuullut eikä ihmisen sydämeen ole astunut, on
jumala valmistanut niille, jotka häntä rakastavat.“

1. Juhannus Kainuussa – Eino Leino

When I took an interest in martial arts, I had to face the Indian yoga. If the Chinese philosophy does not contain enough mystical elements then mysterious Indian philosophy and yoga would contain it for certain. Metaphysical truths, are in fact more acceptable than the more concrete and verifiable, but invisible realities. Consider, for example, the body’s energy system, Chinese or Indian chakra system. Also think about all the deities, mankind and world creation myths, doctrines of humanity’s past and future that are told for you, pre-natal and post-death life, doctrines of heaven and hell, stories of the wise teachers, etc.

There is no religion that does not take a position on these questions in some way. Is there any way to get us out of the truth of these doctrines? Theosophy teaches and proves by a comparative religion science (ie. the Secret Doctrine) the simple fact that all religions have the same origin, the so-called wisdom-religion. None of the current religions teaches it in pure form, but always in a damaged form. Does this just add one more doctrine to the immeasurable stack of doctrines?

Personally, I am fascinated and attracted by this unifying doctrine. I always had the feeling that this is how it should be, but at the same time the truth seeker living inside me wanted to know and experience deeper, better and more. Therefore, at some point I was in the front of a dilemma. Do I have to believe to a particular religion, what about the theosophical explanations of religions, what are the basic things that I can and I want to believe or support? When I mentioned before that my journey has been from east to west, it also meant that at some point in my life I had to struggle with this idea seriously. It would have been easier just to have one system where to believe, for example Christianity, and go with it. Would someone else make the choice for me or would I do it myself and on what basis? Fortunately, through writings of Finnish mystic Pekka Ervast and his teachings transmitted to the Finnish Rose Cross, I was able to see the wonderful, shall we say, at least comparable meanings in the Christian doctrines as I was able to see on Eastern doctrines. It calmed my mind a little and I realized that I am not forced to do any special election with the doctrines.

In practice, the deadlock finally calmed down only when I allowed myself the freedom not to believe anything other than Goodness. This means that invisible realities or doctrines whose truth I cannot confirm, will remain open until I gain the necessary knowledge and experience, either by myself or with the assistance of other skilled seekers. Basically, I learned to live with open questions and concentrate on basic values.

All the above-described brings a new definition to the truth. One might ask, what is the truth-value of the various spiritual teachings and claims? Each religious dogma or the individual’s claim about the spiritual world can be studied through the value of truth. As a seeker of truth, therefore I would like to know the truth behind each relevant theory, whether it’s reincarnation, doctrine of ascended masters, angel hierarchies or even the historicity of a person. By the way, in the Middle Ages, the Christian angelic hierarchy had the second group of the second circle, which the English name was Virtues. The mission of heavenly angels was to observe the movements and maneuvering of heavenly bodies to keep the order in the cosmos.

I do not know what you think, but I think these invisible realities are more difficult to swallow as the pieces of the psychological and metaphysical truths. It is easier to agree and reach consensus on the fact that behind all is the Unity, than the claim, that Jesus of Nazareth, for example, lived or did not live in the early Christian era.

On a quest to reach the truth, some rely on logic and reasoning, others to intuition or faith. There are also those who are waiting repeatability and measurability of the truth, and those who say truth is only a relative thing or a concept like each has its own truth. A seeker of truth is not forced to any of these divisions, but I think these practices are essential to understand.

My life has always been seeking answers to questions of life and death. I also wanted to do everything it can be done to get forward on a road. Compiling the information and reasoning has its own challenges, and even your own experience can sometimes lead astray, since it is acquired in one lifetime experiences, hence always limited and subjective. Next, I would like to present a draft of my current method to determine truths in both psychological and invisible worlds. This also brings us at last from truths to the virtues.

(to be continued – Virtuous life as meditation)

1. Virtue of Truthfulness – Psychological truths
2. Virtue of Truthfulness – Virtuous life as meditation
3. Nature has placed nothing so high that virtue can not reach it

Content:

1. Music from Virtues album: Purity
2. Psychological truths
3. Invisible realities
4. Virtuous life as meditation
5. Music from Virtues album: Truthfulness

Music from Virtues album: Purity

This writing is a translation from Finnish lecture kept on Jyväskylä in November 2009. It tells about the path of the truth seeker and the virtue of truthfulness. When looking back, the road to the west where I’m living at the moment has clearly been through eastern religions. Theosophy has opened my understanding of differences and similarities between religions and worldviews. Rosicrucianism in turn, has deepened understanding of Western mysticism. Ultimately I believe it has shown a very important place of the cornerstone of the intellectual endeavor, namely the importance of virtuous life.

In the first part of the writing I will reveal some of my experiences with meditation and so called psychological truths. Second part is about invisible realities told in religions. Third part is dedicated to the virtues with complementary theoretical definitions and quotes. In conclusion, I try to bind together what I have opened so far.

Virtue of truthfulness – Psychological truths

The truth is hard to define, but life itself has brought some meanings to the word little by little. My seeking started when I was about 13 years old through the practice of martial arts, which I had been engaged in for several year prior. Through it I became captivated with the spiritual, even religious exploration. In the beginning I did not know the term of truth seeking, of course, but rather I swallowed oriental mysticism for its own sake. The natural childlike interest and curiosity was great and brought me with the reality behind.

At some point, however, it became clear that I was searching for something both in physical and mental or spiritual state. Physically, I wanted to achieve the body’s management and sustainability. Spiritually, I wanted to find the right kind of mental concentration and state where the physical being and doing should be light, harmonic and complete. It was somewhat obvious that if physical exercises could lead to a flexible and strong body, mental exercises and mental training were the ones that crowned the skills, making martial arts not only art, but also something that helped to exceed human limits. Interest in supernatural forces woke up at that stage, after all, some martial arts masters appeared in their performance to be almost superhuman (as an example I might mention Iron Shirt Chi Kung techniques). Some of the schools clearly taught that championship is achieved through internal power management. Physical exercises alone would never be able to reach the same level as Chi -force management.

The path transformed from a hobby to mind control and spiritual exercises, and of course to the literature, which discussed the underlying issues, oriental religions and beliefs. Soon, the information on these fundamental issues began to puzzle me and took more room in my life. The importance of the search for truth began emerging and meditation practices began to feel more important. Meditation is, at least at the beginning, a pursuit for something that has not yet been experienced, or at least has not been recalled. We talk about the pursuit of enlightenment or realization. We say that we are already gods, we are already Buddhas, and complete. We just need to remember and return it to ourselves, sweep away the curtains of forgetfulness. On early exploration we strive for the unknown. At best, we have only heard or read the descriptions of enlightenment. Therefore we can say truth contains an unknown element. The difficulty of the search for truth comes from the paradox: How to look for something that you do not know already? Not in any way, except that tampering and experiencing all kind of things, by sensing what feels right and cultivating.

One of the highlights of desiring the unknown and undefined was a mind emptying exercise that I continued to struggle with during martial arts practices. Idea of the empty mind, or mushin is that only a vigilant and empty mind is able to sense the counterpart and the necessary signs. An empty mind makes it possible to turn a situation to its advantage. It must not have any fear or hope. The mind does not latch into the hands of the other party, not the legs, not shoulders, not in the eyes or any other external factors, or designing the attack and defense movements. The mind must glide smoothly and in a continuous motion. In a way, one might think that you let cosmic reality and purpose to manifest, not just through your own wills and plans.

The three fold meditation, namely, calculation of breathing, observation of breathing and being silent is the simplest and most common method of emptying the mind. But think of a new approach. You sit down, cross your legs, calm down, you will begin to calculate the in and out of your breath. How fast you will find yourself mixing the calculation, because thoughts just went their own separate ways? We are talking about a very real spiritual exercise, one in which the effects may be one of the main virtues of what a person can achieve in life. This means the ability to focus the mind and thoughts to a single destination for ten minutes, even hours.

Now, if you get to the point where you are able to calculate slowly your thoughts to ten and even to a second time in a row, you have achieved something. This is actually something quite a few people can do, or even think about in their life time. However, practice is only about to begin. How does it sound that the flight of the thoughts is wholly stopped, all thoughts emptied on the mind? Impossible? Scary? What if thoughts would no longer pop up? What if there is the dweller on the threshold waiting for you? Is it even of any use? The mind invents one hundred reasons drift away from this exercise, but on the other hand, there is interest to know whether it is possible. If it is indeed possible, the interest may be greater than the reasons to avoid it. I must say that I had at least curiosity to go further and it was profitable. The first time I realized that thoughts had stopped, the realization was like winning a lottery or jackpot. I would even dare to compare it with some kind of enlightenment experience. The moment was brief, daunt and strong. Empty mind experience has certainly expanded to new varieties and dimensions between twenty years. Psychologically, perhaps the most important aspect of the idea of an empty mind is that when the blank moment is reached, it opens up new tracks for the chain of association, which otherwise would go the same path day after day, year after year.

This is just one example of how aspiring to the unknown can reach to the goal if it is attempted enough. The paradox: How to miss something that you do not know is really a paradox only; it is nothing impossible or just reverie. In practice, I had books that transmitted information to me, that I did not know true in forehand but only learned its value through my own experience.

The truth may be the pursuit of such achievement. However you cannot realistically say anything with certainty, except when you have experienced it. Even then, as time goes by, your certainty decreases. Now we can see couple of definitions to the truth: unknown, emptiness, insight, experience, and joy. It is said that the truth frees us. Freedom raises pleasure, which I could describe by a cow, which has wallowed the whole winter in the barn and feels the delight and joy when it is released into free pasture from gate in the spring. Pleasure fills each of the cells and half years of being in one place no longer seem cumbersome. The whole body and mind are full of joy, elation and limber.

The empty space is not actually a void but contains everything as opportunities of expressions. Those opportunities will always try to emerge one way or another, usually through thoughts. The activity is a natural presence, emptiness is a natural root. After this experience comprehended by my own reasoning, I do not see any danger and fear, on the contrary, it has very much to offer. In fact, I do not believe that man can live a very happy and harmonic life without encountering this unpredictable, perhaps the scary side of the truth. Buddhists have named this element of emptiness by the word sunyata.

The other side of the truth is perhaps more theoretical, but you have to remember that what is theory and feels theoretical for one person; another may take it as very practical and concrete. Eastern philosophies includes practical basic psychological truths from happiness to basic nature of life, that can be found in life by observing, studying and living, but it also includes more difficult to verify religious premises and axioms.

(to be continued – Invisible realities)

1. Virtue of Truthfulness – Invisible realities
2. Virtue of Truthfulness – Virtuous life as meditation
3. Nature has placed nothing so high that virtue can not reach it

Original diary is in Finnish, but you can use Google translator to read posts in English or any other language.

• 29.03.05 Lento ja saapuminen Hurghadaan (Flight and arrival to Hurghada)
• 30.03.05 Päivä Hurghadassa (Day in Hurghada)
• 31.03.05 Päivä Kairossa (Day in Kairo)
• 01.04.05 Uintia Punaisessa Meressä (Swimming in Red Sea)
• 02.04.05 Meren alla puolisukellusveneellä (Under sea with half-submarine)
• 03.04.05 Karnakin ja Luxorin temppelit (Temples of Karnak and Luxor)
• 04.04.05 Hapsetshutin temppeli ja Tutankhamonin hauta (Temple of Hapsetshut and tomb of Tutankhamun)
• 05.04.05 Takaisin suomeen (Travelling back to Finland)
• 07.04.05 Tragedia Kairossa (Tragedy in Kairo)

Kuvagalleriaan (to the gallery)

1. Päivä Hurghadassa
2. Uintia Punaisessa Meressä
3. Päivä Kairossa

1. Find out 10 to 14 songs from different continents, countries or ethnic groups
2. Make uniform arrangement for each melody, rhythm and vocal part of the songs
3. Record songs with group of co-workers and artists
4. Share musical views through different windows to the unique experience of different cultures and their spiritual heritage

So I’d like to find a typical and describing song for each of the selected part of the world. Songs should have sophisticated theme for lyrics, not just songs about love or hate, perhaps some spiritual meaning behind the message, but not in narrow meaning. In addition rhythmical and melodic part of the song should describe the common personality of people or culture living on the area.

Second step is to make arrangement for guitar, perhaps one other ethnic instrument, singer and in some cases maybe choral part. If we think oriental or African native songs, they usually have conversation between lead singer and audience, so it would be crucial to get that feeling on such songs.

It might be necessary, that some lyrics must be translated to common languages, but I’m preparing to cover some exotic languages also. Singer with multilingual talents is really hard to find, but not impossible as I’ve seen recently.

As a start for the project, I’m leaving an open blog post here for comment and giving suggestions to the first part of the project. If you have time and interest, you could help me a lot by replying to these “small” questions:

Song name (native)  [write song title in native language]
Song name (English) [write song title in English or other common language]
Region              [country, continent or other area, where music is originated]
Music description   [describe rhythm, melody and instruments used in original 
                     song, link to music sample mp3 or video or any additional 
                     resource]
Lyrics description  [describe message on lyrics, link to lyrics sample or write 
                     lyrics here]

Give your name and email to the comment form so that I can contact you later. Please feel free to link to your website or for example Twitter account as well to get some link juice back.

When I get 10-14 songs collected, which may well take from weeks to months, I’ll raffle a $100 Amazon gift card between all serious contributors.

1. Some of my music inspiration sources
2. Greetings from summer vacation
3. Virtues album – Purity

After that I decided to try sugar free diet and find out, what kind of results and observations it might cause. I made a plan to start diet on January and stop it on June.

My quick observations were:

1. It is hard to find products without added sugar, almost as hard as to find products without plastics.
2. There are several forms of fructose and artificial sweeteners, that has same or worse effects as sugar.
3. It is hard to leave sugar off from diet because our body has been saturated of it since early age. It is very addictive ingredient.
4. Our body can produce sugar for it needs by itself, but for example lipids it needs, has to come from external sources.

I managed to go thru months and found it a good experience. So I planned to start it again from August and stop on Christmas. Then start diet again on January and continue to the end of June. I found it a good way for me to control sugar consumption and its been working fine ever since. On my daily energy needs all additional sugar is just extra and useless energy which gets stored on body. Diet also helped me to find new delicious fruits, berries, sugar free pies and cakes (yes, there are some) and vegetables plus favor 100% juices. Most difficult thing was to refuse sugar on family meetings and similar parties because of social pressure and questioning.

Now some experts say, that adding sugar to healthy food makes us to eat it more. Do you really think it is the reason for adding sugar? To make people eat more fibers? Or is it to make people consume more so that producers get more profits from corn flakes for example? More it seems like a conscious action taken to get people addictive to any food manufacturers want to promote and make them money. I dont think their first concern is our health.

How sugar can affect to your health

• Sugar can suppress the immune system.
• Sugar can upset the body’s mineral balance.
• Sugar can contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, concentration difficulties, and crankiness in children.
• Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
• Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.
• Sugar can reduce helpful high density cholesterol (HDLs).
• Sugar can promote an elevation of harmful cholesterol (LDLs).
• Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.
• Sugar contributes to a weakened defense against bacterial infection.
• Sugar can cause kidney damage.
• Sugar can increase the risk of coronary heart disease.
• Sugar may lead to chromium deficiency.
• Sugar can cause copper deficiency.
• Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
• Sugar can increase fasting levels of blood glucose.
• Sugar can promote tooth decay.
• Sugar can produce an acidic stomach.
• Sugar can raise adrenaline levels in children.
• Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.
• Sugar can speed the aging process, causing wrinkles and grey hair.
• Sugar can increase total cholesterol.
• Sugar can contribute to weight gain and obesity.
• High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
• Sugar can contribute to diabetes.
• Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.
• Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
• Sugar leads to decreased glucose tolerance.
• Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.
• Sugar can increase systolic blood pressure.
• Sugar causes food allergies.
• Sugar can cause free radical formation in the bloodstream.
• Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.
• Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.
• Sugar can overstress the pancreas, causing damage.
• Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.
• Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.
• Sugar can cause liver cells to divide, increasing the size of the liver.
• Sugar can increase the amount of fat in the liver.
• Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in thekidney.
• Sugar can cause depression.
• Sugar can increase the body’s fluid retention.
• Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance.
• Sugar can cause hypertension.
• Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.
• Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha and theta brain waves, which can alter the mind’s ability to think clearly.
• Sugar can increase blood platelet adhesiveness which increases risk of blood clots and strokes.
• Sugar can increase insulin responses in those consuming high-sugar diets compared to low sugar diets.
• Sugar increases bacterial fermentation in the colon.

Source: http://www.healingdaily.com

More resources about the subject

http://www.medicinenet.com
http://www.sugarbusters.com

1. None are more trapped than those who think they are free but not

I know, that hard work might help to find my own voice which could work with instrument I play. We all have a potential, that could sound both good and original. I believe it is same with any art and concerns every people. It just requires self knowledge, boldness and work. We have endless possibilities through imagination power. It just needs time to mature after you have seeded.

Some of music is little low volume because of no audio compressor used.

1. Classical and experimental pieces

Ballade for Fineland – Classical guitar composition, multiple tracks.

New Sonata – Piano composition from early days of 90′s

Waltz of winter solstice – Synth composition for christmas seasons.

Well, Well (Wedding edition) – My first steps toward understanding jazz music. You learn by doing I thought, but cannot deny the importance of good guides and teachers.

2. Vocalized

Power of Dreaming – Ballade to some person living on deep waters

Don’t let me go – Ballade mixing eternal and mortal love

Hoida meitä – This is a song I learned on a church choir group and recorded it later at home.

Ylistäkää Herraa – Choral multi-instrument song containing clear evangelizing attitude, which was inspired from one trip I made around Finland on 2001 and met a lot of christian groups and listened their music.

3. Maha mantric

Vaikuntha Saints – Experimental variation of Vaishnava hindus Maha Mantra mixing some other song which I learned on satsangs on 90′s.

4. “Metallurgia”

Wellamo – Story from our national epic Kalevala, where two heros called Väinämöinen and Joukahainen meet on a swamp and take a poetrical fight with each other. Our national instrument called Kantele is used here on intro with well known melody, that we used to play and sing on schools. This is live recorded with a drum player, basist and keyboard player contra to other songs that I’ve made on my home studio by myself from start to end.

Väinämöinen & Joukahainen meets by R. W. Ekman

Raw game, so shame – One more song that came up after enjoying too much Satriani, Vai and Malmsteen music.

Harry blind – It made days of work to put last classical part of the song together (with computer!) and realize the genius of some classical masters like Mozart. You just feel yourself so small, when listening their music.

5. Virtues – The latest project

Mirha – Read More

Purity – Read More

Truthfulness – Read More

Leniency – Read More

Have a nice moments!

1. World music – top 10 profound themes quest
2. Misty morning with Kalevala songs
3. Virtues album – Purity