Happy Harbinger

M

Mick

Guest
This was sent to me many years ago by a Baha'i friend. I loved it then and I still love it today. I hope you enjoy it as well.


The Harbinger of Spring​


Remember that 'Abdu'l-Baha said that as the days grow shorter in the autumn, the sap in the trees run more and more slowly until by the 19th it has come to a full stop. The 21st of December is the Winter solstice, with the next day being the first day of winter. It is also the day when the days begin to lengthen again. The trees remain fully dormant until the 25th, when the days have lengthened enough to cause the sap to begin moving . This is the reason for the Christmas tree of the Druids, the Saturnalia of the Romans and the birthday celebration of Jesus chosen by the Christians. The 25th is therefore the harbinger of spring. Happy Harbinger to you all.

Mick
 
The Happy Harbingerof more leaves...

Thanks Mick!

You're right about the trees... They look dead in the winter and made a terrible mess when all the leaves fell...My neighbor was not thrilled to have a four inch layer of leaves over their vintage Caddie and even I was shocked by the great profusion! We are all as you know merely the leaves of one tree and lately there have been a lot of leaves.

But I know now thanks to you the sap is moving and we'll grow a new crop of leaves in Spring...but I think I may prune some before next Fall.

- Art
 
Does this mean that I don't have to be depressed? I live in the lowest spot on our street. I have nothing against mulching my leaves with the lawnmower or whatever it takes. It's just that my trees and everyone else's around me leaves the leaves in my yard (and gutter). And I am one of those folks who is not in a hurry to tell nature what to do.

Sometimes this doesn't set well with more progressive types.

Oh well. For now, I am content.

I look forward to the spring, and for now, I live in the moment.

InPeace,
InLove
 
I live in Muskegon, Michigan on the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan. We can have extraordinary snow falls from what is called the "Lake Effect". Ten years ago the University of Penn. set-up a weather station here to study the effect, which I always thought was a little ironic, since Erie, PA and Buffalo, NY have similar effects with bigger headlines.

We also have one of the lowest incidences of sun days in the nation and SAD (originally stood for seasonal attitude disorder caused by lack of sunlight) was studied here by Michigan State University because the conditions are perfect for a lot of depression. So anything that can brighten up our day is welcome. Since "The Harbinger of Spring" was first sent to me, rather than think of the long winter ahead of us when Dec. 21 approaches, I think that spring is just around the corner.

I also have cherished Dec. 22 for years as well as it is the first day that the days start to get longer. I seriously pay attention to the times of sunrise and sunset as an indicator of good things to come. Can you tell I suffer from SAD?

warmly,

Mick
 
I've been studying seasonal affective disorder for about 3 years now. I've come up with a method of effectively relieving the condition even more effective then the use of a light box and drugs for that matter.

Very simply but very effective method which i'm sure no one is aware of yet.
 
Postmaster said:
I've been studying seasonal affective disorder for about 3 years now. I've come up with a method of effectively relieving the condition even more effective then the use of a light box and drugs for that matter.

Very simply but very effective method which i'm sure no one is aware of yet.
Click to expand...

Before I knew the condition existed, I had ways of overcoming my depression as well. One year I built a sand box in my dining room and "layed on the beach" in a swimming suit many weekends during the winter. I was also joined by friends that enjoyed the treat. One year I went to the library and took every book I could find with large pictures of palm trees and layed them all over the house, so that no matter where I was, I was looking at palm trees and sunlight.

Probably the best thing I ever did was to make myself get out and walk in the countryside during the winter. Of course, this would give me some sunlight and that would help the depression to go away. Whenever I am not able to leave the Muskegon area in the winter, as has been the case in the past couple of years, I still do this. I get outside anytime the sun is out. It only takes 30 minutes or so of sunlight to feel lightened in spirit.

Now, please share yours with us, Postmaster.

Mick
 
You would be ,mistaken to think it’s a physiological disorder, it is far from that! Here's the basics

The earth has a 24hr cycle and during evolution this cycle has influenced our natural body clocks, you will find that the human body clock runs on a 24hr cycle too, just abit more I think.

So this is what sets off the right chemicals at the right time of day in your brain, for sleeping and eating and so on. Winters disrupt the natural body clock and can cause all kinds of problems.

Socrates himself used to send his patients to the south coast of the med in the winter, he was probably one of the first people to try treat the condition.

Maybe one day I'll go into the rest. The sunlight or light is a secondary problem in my view. You wont read or hear anyone else say that. How much do you know about the condition? Send me a PM and I'll tell you what I discovered.
 
Postmaster said:
You would be ,mistaken to think it’s a physiological disorder, it is far from that! Here's the basics

The earth has a 24hr cycle and during evolution this cycle has influenced our natural body clocks, you will find that the human body clock runs on a 24hr cycle too, just abit more I think.

So this is what sets off the right chemicals at the right time of day in your brain, for sleeping and eating and so on. Winters disrupt the natural body clock and can cause all kinds of problems.

Socrates himself used to send his patients to the south coast of the med in the winter, he was probably one of the first people to try treat the condition.

Maybe one day I'll go into the rest. The sunlight or light is a secondary problem in my view. You wont read or hear anyone else say that. How much do you know about the condition? Send me a PM and I'll tell you what I discovered.
Click to expand...

Postmaster,

I just reread this post and it hasn't been active lately anyway. In fact, you are the last poster. I don's see any reason that you couldn't share your findings right in this thread.

I live the condition. I suffer from SAD. Oh, yeah. I have learned when we do get sunlight, I go out into it and literally make sure it hits my face and as much skin as I can stand in the cold. The Russians found that just standing facing the sun with your face exposed helps immensely. I will do this at least for a half hour. It seems to help for about a week. It has to do with the assimilation of Vitamin A or D, I forget which. Here is a snippet from a SAD site.

"
SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is a type of winter depression that affects an estimated half a million people every Winter between September and April, in particular during December, January and February.
It is caused by a biochemical imbalance in the hypothalamus due to the shortening of daylight hours and the lack of sunlight in winter.
For many people SAD is a seriously disabling illness, preventing them from functioning normally without continuous medical treatment.
For others, it is a mild but debilitating condition causing discomfort but not severe suffering. We call this subsyndromal SAD or 'winter blues.'"

The site is here The Seasonal Affective Disorder Association

For me, recognizing what I was going through even helped. When you seem to be the only one that is suffering, it can start to feel psychological and not physiological. You say no, but I say yes.

Mick
 
Basically Mick it's all about the natural human body clock, the circadian rhythm. Its simple all you have to do is keep it synchronised. Seasonal affective disorder is caused by an out of sync body clock. The body clock tells us when were feeling hungry, helps us sleep, helps us wake up etc. If it's out of sync wrong chemicals will be produced at the wrong time of day. It's often thought that light or sunlight is the most powerful stimulator of the body clock, but scientific research shows temperature is more to blame. Eating and sexual activity are also important powerful stimulants.

You have to train your body clock to expect certain cues and check points of stimulation everyday to keep it synchronised. To do this simply eat and do sexual activity same time everyday, in equal quantities, always the same amount and alway the same time to the previous day. Consistent exposure to sunlight and temperature to the previous day are the 2 most important. But the easiest and very effective thing to do is wake and sleep the same time everyday. Thats what I do to combate SAD, I don't use a light box. Once I start eating and sleeping inconsistently my SAD kicks in. In the Summer I find I don't need to keep to my routine as the weather is consistent enough to keep me happy.

I also drink my teas and coffees at the same time everyday and stick to the same amount everyday, caffinee kicks off a good cue. Getting my drift? Timing is everything, this is the way forward with SAD.

Circadian rhythm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Takes 3 days to kick in. I'm not a doctor just pointing that out, if you have any real concerns see them, thats why i was reluctant to post this. But personally I think this is the most effective way of treating sad, second to leaving the country. Probably the first to suggest such a thing so I'm probably considered crazy. Migrain suffers have known for along time that too much or too little activity or eating can trigger off there migrains. SAD, is circadian rhythm disorder, although many people will tell you it isnt. ;)
 
Postmaster said:
Takes 3 days to kick in. I'm not a doctor just pointing that out, if you have any real concerns see them, thats why i was reluctant to post this. But personally I think this is the most effective way of treating sad, second to leaving the country. Probably the first to suggest such a thing so I'm probably considered crazy. Migrain suffers have known for along time that too much or too little activity or eating can trigger off there migrains. SAD, is circadian rhythm disorder, although many people will tell you it isnt. ;)
Click to expand...

Postmaster,

I appreciate the information. Sorry I wasn't answering you. Just a little busy for the past couple of days. Actually, makiing sure I get up to an hour of sunlight a week seems to do the trick for me. Fortunately, I have the freedom to go outside when the sun shines and spend time "basking". The more times I do this, the better chance I won't feel any depression. I used to go to work in the dark, here in Michigan, and leave for home in the dark. Sunlight was not part of my day at all unless I could find some on the weekend. May I or anybody else ever have to live under those conditions ever again.

Thank you again.

Mick
 
Here is something I've been thinking about alot lately that I would like to share with you.

The kingdom of heaven directly overlaps the kingdom of earth. Humans try to fuse them together, to do this one must have the capacity do to so then they must choose to do so, is what probably is prophetic ability and go in to bring us revelation. But the price paid for that is erosion of the flesh and mind. This way all humans play a roll in the heavenly kingdom coming and great prophets play big rolls. I think mental illness such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia are symptoms of that erosion. Many of the greats and genius of time that have changed society and civilisation for the better were probably suffered from mental problems, I would go as far to say that all religious founders did. Maybe your SAD has a connection to your revelation of the Baha'i faith and I mean that in a very positive way. Saying that, as the Greeks say Iparxi logos, "there is way". I'm sure one day we will eliminate mental conditions.
 
Postmaster said:
Here is something I've been thinking about alot lately that I would like to share with you.

The kingdom of heaven directly overlaps the kingdom of earth.
Click to expand...

I'm not aware of this. Or maybe I just don't understand what you are tryng to say.

Postmaster said:
Humans try to fuse them together, to do this one must have the capacity do to so then they must choose to do so, is what probably is prophetic ability and go in to bring us revelation.
Click to expand...

You have really lost me now. Are you suggesting that "prophetic ability" is something we can choose?

Postmaster said:
But the price paid for that is erosion of the flesh and mind. This way all humans play a roll in the heavenly kingdom coming and great prophets play big rolls. I think mental illness such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia are symptoms of that erosion. Many of the greats and genius of time that have changed society and civilisation for the better were probably suffered from mental problems, I would go as far to say that all religious founders did.
Click to expand...

It seems that you are stating that all the Manifestations of the Great Religions, such as Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krshna, Zoroaster, Jesus of Nazereth, Mohammed, The Bab and Baha'u'llah were mad. Am I getting this correctly. If that is what you are saying, then why would we want to follow their directions? I would agree they stood out and maybe were considered unusual and peculiar. Truly they wouldn't have been of the norm. We have The Bab and Baha'u'llah to verify these descriptions. But never, in the thousands of personal accounts that document a meeting with these individuals, has anybody ever written that they seemed crazy.

In fact, in 1890 Professor E.G. Brown of Cambridge, wrote these words,

"In the corner where the divan met the wall sat a wondrous and venerable figure, crowned with a felt head-dress of the kind called taj by dervishes (but of unusual height and make), round the base of which was wound a small white turban. The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one's very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow; while the deep lines on the forehead and face implied an age which the jet-black hair and beard flowing down in indistinguishable luxuriance almost to the waist seemed to belie. No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before One who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain!"

If you go here, Meeting Baha'u'llah you can read the treatise in its entirety. It is not very long, in fact only about one page copied into a Word Document, but powerful in the fact that E.G.Brown was the first, and as far as I know, the only Westerner to meet Baha'u'llah. His impression of Baha'u'llah are very interesting to Westerners.



Postmaster said:
Maybe your SAD has a connection to your revelation of the Baha'i faith and I mean that in a very positive way. Saying that, as the Greeks say Iparxi logos, "there is way". I'm sure one day we will eliminate mental conditions.
Click to expand...

And at last, it seems you suggest that I became a Baha'i because I am a little kiltered, maybe a little crazy and, what, can't make rational decisions. When I declared my belief in Baha'u'llah in the fall of 1978, the weather was beautiful. October in Western Michigan is a wonderful place to be with the trees changing colors, the air crisp and a lot of sunlight. I have never been accused of being crazy accept by myself. I recognized my depression but wasn't overwhelmed by it. In fact, during that time, I was a Marketing Manager for a professional hockey team. I actually saw a show on PBS about Russian studies in Siberia concerning the effects of the lack of sunlight on its populace and what they did to overcome the ennui people suffered from. I self doctored myself long before the USA and Michigan State University showed any interest or knowledge of SAD.

No, Postmaster, I became a Baha'i because I recognized the truth of Baha'u'llah and was overwhelmed with His message. I reached a point in my life that I couldn't deny the existence of the most recent Manifestation of God. Once you reach that point, you can't go back. Once you become aware of God in all His Grandeur and His Plan in all Its Wisdom, you can't simply table the notion and go back to where you were. I declared my belief in Baha'u'llah amid tears of joy. I pray daily like this,

"I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth.

There is none other God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting."

Baha'u'llah​

I have been created to know Him and to worship Him. Anything else is simply in support of those two roles.

warmly,

Mick Zellar
 
It's just an idea, I'm not saying it’s true.

I would say that prophetic ability is something we can all attain, yes. It's just that I believe some people are born with a greater ability then others because they have a greater capacity for it and then it depends how you use it, one might use it for self gain or some might use it to help others, or both. I have this idea that heaven directly overlaps us here on earth and we constantly try to absorb information from that side or integrate but by doing so it erodes us. I think that mental conditions are also part of that erosion.

Also an idea that to develope great capcity and strength in humans comes from practising passiveness.
 
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