This message was originally sent privately here but I feel that anyone who has a response for me will be helpful. I am asking for ideas and thoughts for philanthropic foundations rather than money from "you" so please do not see this as that.


Hi Tom and group,

I seem to be finding a little ambiguity in the concept of intent during my reading of the trilogy, and have my own questions as well so figured I'd just ask. I am curious to others thoughts on this, but with so much personal information to follow am limiting it to your eyes for now. I am trying to create a higher quality physical environment for my disabled adult child that allows for a more quality interactive opportunity for social as well as in the home life. By association I will be benefiting by whatever I come up with to improve his life as I live here too; it would also benefit his twin sister's life which is part of my intent as well. A higher quality physical environment cannot be pulled out of NPMR in its functioning form; it has to come out as money (I think). I am/was working towards this goal by first buying a home in 2002. One week after escrow closed I was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, two financially draining and physically draining treatments later I still have no remission so I still have Hep C actively slowly destroying my liver. I am a recovering methamphetamine addict who came clean on 3/21/97 by pulling my head out of my butt (putting the children first finally) after being an addict since I was 13. I have been raising them alone since they were three in 1992. I worked at and got my AS degree during my first 4 years clean, when I was diagnosed with Hep C in 2002 I found that financial aid money would not add to the $629 a month share of cost medi-cal required to help me (me getting a third job would have raised my share of cost), I had to pay the first 629 of expenses before medi-cal would kick in each month. I started my BS degree to be able to pay that, the medicine made me very sick, my degree work suffered but I held on until they took me off the medicine after 6 months because it wasn't working. I finished my BS in the summer of 2005 with quite an interest in education desiring further growth there. The next round of treatments lasted 11 months and again didn't work, but I had to try. I started work on my MS in 2007 with a tentative completion date of May 5, 2009. I am working on my thesis now for the next two 12 week terms. My son could have attended his special ed high school for two more years but chose to end it this month. He now has no outside interests having lost interest with the only social activities for him, I think because the environments they are held in need updating. The only day program here is very drab and unimaginative, he didn't want to stay at all and I didn't make him. So, I have changed my thesis to one of raising the health and quality of life for the disabled community by creating a Let Our Vegetables Empower Us (LOVE U) garden for the disabled, the elderly, and high school students can work in together doing the soft gardening. Working in soil, touching it, breathing it in, is good for the soul with actual neurological benefits (google "is soil the new prozac"), and working outdoors with others is good for anyone. Ok, so my thesis is a critical literature review and proposed study and once it is complete and accepted I get my MS. Then for my PhD my dissertation will be this LOVE U garden in action, my gathering data about before and after health and happiness measures of those in the study (disabled community, elderly community, and high school students), reporting on the results of the project. For the actual project I envision grants to fund the extensive and special garden required so that all disabled have access, raised beds with wheelchair access, special removable shading, etc. At the point I am right now this is all on paper, although I plan on starting to ask my city fathers about possible land, and otherwise put my idea out there for review soon. Ok, so my main question for you is since my intent is to make a better world for my son, is it selfish since by default I will benefit as well with intention that some of the grant money will go towards living expenses during the project? My other question is, and I am not asking if you are one unless you are, do you know of any philanthropic entities that have a program to allow them to be a co-signer on a deferred graduate student loan? I made several financial errors the main one being living "as if" I had money (credit cards) to create that reality on top of then unexpected medical financial expenses taking me to the top of my limits with the resulting tanking of my magic credit score number. Ok, being I will benefit do you think my intent is pure, I have always not asked for special things for us because I felt like it was using his disability "wrongly". How can me picturing this wonderful LOVE U garden in the future as a business run by the disabled with help to pay for better social activity stuff as "my baby" (to be a memory of me when I am out of here) be selfless? How can my thoughts that when the project gets going some of the grant money will be mine be selfless or of pure intent? How can I get a co-signer for a differed graduate student loan when my own family won't do it as they think I have too much education as it is? The intent is the main thing I would like your thoughts on, although the co-signer thing weighs heavily on my mind as I am behind two payments on both my mortgages. I want to insist that this isn't a request for your money, although it has to appear that it is. I am looking for philanthropic groups that do this already and hope you have some ideas or know of one already. I sent 17 letters out to possible foundations with no luck. What do you think Tom and anyone else with an idea?

Sincerely,
Bette
Aka 2banon

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

Dear Dear Bette,
I was so touched by your story and I can only address part of you story.
It is a wonderful idea and one that will benefit many underprivledged and disabled people. I do not for one minute think that by you using any grant money for what you consider to be personal expenses to be either dishonest or underhand nor of pure intent.
I would consider the amounts involved to be investment and implemntation costs. If you need to spend money on some personal considerations in order to accomplish this wonderful idea than they are no more than initial capital outlay. Consider the money consultation fees and then pay your bills with them,whats wrong with that? I have no doubt Tom will be able to supply an answer that will directly address the moral aspect and the dilemmas you are in but it if was my money that you were using to accomplish this project I would be more than willing to finance whatever it took to enable you to continue with this project.(I wish I was able to)
By virtue of the fact you are questioning your intent tells me you are obviously a person of integrity and therefor as far as I can tell already working notches above the average person regarding our PMR habits.
In order for this garden to come into being ,it needs you to actualise it,that will cost money,no matter how it is actually spent as long as you continue to work towards it for the right reasons and not "just" for the Money involved then I don't believe you are being anything other than honest and a wonderful example to the rest of us.
I am only answering from my heart here but no matter how I look at it I cannot see how your actions could be misconstrued by anyone that understands what you are trying to accomplish.
Your letter also reminded me how fortunate we are in the U.K to have the NHS for our health care. It is not perfect but it is one of the best things about England. I am always amazed how much we take it for granted....
Good luck to you and I wish you every success,please keep us informed of your progress.
If you recieve answers to your post disagreeing with my take on the matter on the issues of intent I would still be willing to aid you if I could...
Cherie
xxx

Bette,

Physical results do not imply intent. Intent is found in the motivation of the intender. Intents can be complex and contain mixed components -- they do not have to be "pure". That you benefit is not the point. There is nothing wrong with benefiting as long as your motivation truley includes helping others at its core -- and your family can be amomg those others.

Best of luck with your project.

Tom C

Thank you Cherie, I wasn't sure how this would be received as I was suddenly unable to sign on under my original 2banon identity here shortly after I sent this as a private message to Tom. I spent last evening with hurt feelings thinking he banned me, as well as doubting my "picker" as an indication I misjudged the entire MBT "thing" if I had been banned for this message. My being able to open a new account showed my IP wasn't blocked so it must have been a glitch. So as is my M.O. I decided to push it and just post it for everyone to see; I do this in school too and sometime get great responses there too, most of the time. Thank you for your kind thoughts and validation that this is a BIG idea. It feels like a big idea. I am working on my thesis for my MS in psychology and am using this as my topic now. This will be a literature review (critical by design) and a proposal for a study. The proposed study will require having the LOVE U garden in place in advance so the the groups under study, disabled, elderly, and HS students to see before and after wellness and quality of life measures. The intent of the study is to get numbers for the powers that be, they like numbers statistically manipulated. The actual study will require some participants be naive of the garden which is a con-founder because as I get it up and running I want everyone involved. I have to think that through if I want to use the actual study in reality as my future PhD dissertation. Right now for my degree I just need to write about it while at the same time figuring out grant writing. I already have the ability to bring people on board as I am non threatening (not too beautiful ;) and fearless when talking to strangers or people in position to help me. I don't have a big professional appearance though (not beautiful enough:), they'll just need to be able to see through to what I'm doing. There really is no reason other than that fact I am writing a thesis right now to not start the processes to get this going. Thank you again for your wonderful support, I feel it.
Love,
Bette

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

Thank you Tom
Love (I like to sign some of my posts in my classes Love too for S&G's, can't get too much love I always say)
Bette

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

Bette,

Banned? Good grief! Nobody has ever been banned here. Unfortunately, for reasons entirely unknown, a small minority of those registered on the MBT Discussion Group have had trouble logging on and needed to switch registration ID. One such individual recently related his interaction problems to his Foxfire browser (switched browsers and everything worked fine) - I haven't been able to figure what the problem is --gremlins.

Tom C

Thank Tom, it was the first time I had signed out since joining, and I couldn't get back in...:(
It felt bad because everything I have experienced since experiencing your ideas has felt good here, it all fits nicely.

For anyone interested here is my first draft of my prospectus for my thesis. The third chapter (the study proposal part) of my thesis might not manifest because I do realize that the study part of this isn't the big idea and if it doesn't happen as a study (because of confounds like not wanting to have to hold back to keep some participants naive to test and retest after their experiences) it doesn't really matter (although that contradicts my 'everything matters' belief) because it is the garden that matters. I guess I'll cut and paste as .doc type files are not allowed. What type files are allowed, bty? My proposed study is just the evidence they need that I learned enough there to get my letters (MS and eventual PhD) behind my name so I can play at a different level, so I can level up I suppose.

WORD DOC COPY TO BE USED IN PSYC 6310 AND FOR DRAFTS

Name: Bette S B Date: 9/3/08

Select a Specialization:

Name of Chair: Dr. W

Thesis or Dissertation Title: Cultivating Health, Quality of Life, and Social Change

Introduction to Your Area of Interest:
Members of the disabled community (dc) require special care in all areas of life with specific attention to areas facilitating health and a Quality of Life (QoL) that humans deserve. The elderly population (ep) has life experience to understand QoL issues, but need a facilitated outlet to utilize this effectively for social change. Many High School (HS) students do not have access to psychology as a science in their curriculum to peak their interest. Psychology, like any other successful enterprise, needs talented young maverick's interest and energy to expand the awareness and utility of its field into the future. The eventual project and focus of this thesis is to create a Let Our Vegetables Empower Us (LOVE U) garden to facilitate all of the above.

Dr W, all of the above seem self-evident, do I need references there?


Theory/Theories or Conceptual Framework(s) Related to the Area of Inquiry:
Carl Rogers person-centered (Rogers, 1979) humanistic phenomenological theory will ground this study. Rogers found humans to be "purposeful and intentional beings" (Chen, 2001, p. 317) with inner energy focused on organizing experience into meaning (1979). There is a fundamental "actualizing tendency" (p. 99) to take in stimuli with its personal meaning and transmute it into development and growth (1979). Using the Rogerian attitudes of "genuineness.unconditional positive regard.and empathetic understanding" (p. 98-99) to allow dc members and the ep to interact in a quality experience of focused conscious attention (1979).


Purpose of Your Research:
The purpose is quality human interaction in an organic garden environment to create better health and QoL for the dc, and ep while using a psychology in action project to grow HS students' interest in the science of psychology as a career. The research questions are, will being a part of psychology in action working together with dc members and ep members in the LOVE U garden encourage HS student interest in a career in psychology? Will working with HS students and ep participants doing soft gardening improve the dc's health and QoL? Finally, will working outside doing soft gardening while mentoring dc members raise the ep's health and QoL perceptions?

Your Proposed Research Approach/Methodology:
Check one
M.S. students ONLY - Critical Literature Review with Proposed Quantitative Study 0

M.S. students ONLY - Critical Literature Review with Proposed Qualitative Study 0

M.S. students ONLY - Critical Literature Review with Proposed Mixed Methods Study X
Quantitative Study 0

Qualitative Study 0

Mixed Methods Study 0



Describe Your Proposed Design:
This is a psychology in action design utilizing a special garden built to allow a quality personal interactive experience to both the dc and the ep participant. These special study gardening beds will support comfort, ease, and empathetic genuine interaction (Rogers, 1979) between the dc and ep members facilitated by HS students who will be growing an interest in the science of psychology as a career choice by their helping behavior (Rogers, 1958). The study will facilitate a high quality human interchange between the dc and ep participants to raise groups' health, happiness, and QoL perceptions coded for statistical quantitative analysis.

Your Proposed Research Population and How You Would Draw Upon this Population for your Research Inquiry:
The dc population will be local HS students and dc agencies clients, the ep will come from local in home and local nursing home residence, the HS population will come from all the local HS's including continuation, alternative, and home schooled students. Since the garden must exist per specifications before the study, there will be knowledge of the garden from local calls to volunteers to help build it. The study will request participants with flyer's and newspaper announcements to all agencies involved for each of the three groups, garden naive dc and ep participants, and HS students.

Examples of Research Data That May Be Collected:
The Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) designed for a layman's perception of health (Coons, Rao, Keininger, & Hays, 2000) looking at "energy level, emotional reactions, physical mobility, pain, social isolation, and sleep" (2000, p. 17) with the ability to "detect changes over time" (p. 16) in these measures, and adapted for use with the dc (Post, Gerritsen, van Leusen, Paping, & Prevo, 2001) will be used before and after (b&a), as well as a Q-Sort using the adaptable customizable Q-Technique (Gregory, 2007) b&a as measures of perceptions of self, health, and happiness.

Social Change Implications:
The dc does not have the freedom to have the quality interpersonal experience they need to have to develop to their potential (Rogers, 1979) they need help in having them. The ideal ep participant has life experience that has allowed them empathetic understanding and unconditional regard for the dc they need opportunity to help. The science of psychology needs talented HS students to grow a love for psychology as a career, seeing it in action in such a positive light can allow this. Self-actualization and developmental growth is indicated for all involved.

Other Information About Your Dissertation Proposal:
The LOVE U garden must exist with specific garden beds adapted for quality interactive experience including the flowing of the three Rogerian concepts of genuineness, unconditional positive regard, and empathetic understanding (Rogers, 1979) as well as for comfort and ease of use. Shading and misting devises used as required as well as all anticipated needs facilitated during the experience. The entire focus of both the dc and the ep participants will be on their one to one phenomenological (1979) experience.

References:
Chen, C. (2001). On exploring meanings: combining humanistic and career psychology
theories in counselling. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 14(4), 317-330.

Coons, S., Rao, S., Keininger, D., & Hays, R. (2000). A Comparative Review of Generic
Quality-of-Life Instruments. PharmacoEconomics, 17(1), 13-35.

Gregory, R. (2007). Psychological testing history, principles, and applications. Pearson
Education, Inc.: USA

Post, M., Gerritsen, J., van Leusen, N., Paping, M., & Prevo, A. (2001). Adapting the
Nottingham Health Profile for use in people with severe physical disabilities.
Clinical Rehabilitation, 15(1), 103-110.

Rogers, C. (1958). The characteristics of a helping relationship. Personnel & Guidance
Journal, 37(1), 6-16.

Rogers, C. (1979). The foundations of the person-centered approach. Education,
100(2), 98.


Tom, the 1979 Rogers article is something I would love you to read if I could get it to you in pdf format somehow.

Love (to all)
Bette

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

Bette,

Email it to me -- address is at web site. If that doesn't work, send a PM and we will work something out that will work.

Tom C

Tom
I emailed it last night to the eddress on your website. Did you receive it?
Bette

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

Bette,

I had a feeling from the beginning that you did not truly wish to be anonymous and then signing with Bette at the bottom. Some subtlety of the way you said things and the name you chose. And I believe that your guides were manipulating things as well. I have encountered numerous program crashes and such that result in withholding or sending information that had unexpected benefits. I suspect that your guides had some hand in manipulating things to this end. My experience is that they do that kind of thing.

I unfortunately know nothing about getting the kind of help you are seeking. I have my own problems with aspects not unlike yours in some ways. One thing that you might try regarding your health problem is to ask your guides for help. They can keep you going and provide healing of sorts at your request. Not if it was planned that way and you are stuck with the health problems and consequences as part of your learning package. But it can be a matter of learning that you can have this type of interaction with your guides/The Consciousness Reality as the important lesson to be learned. In a virtual reality, this and much more is possible. Just don't explain a cure to your doctors. Just let them scratch their heads. Telling doctors is much more likely to kick in the Psi Uncertainty Principle than telling friends and fellow travelers who know about this kind of thing and are on your side.

Intent is not a matter of simple, conventional morality as you will note if you think more about Tom's reply above. Tom thought well enough of an essay/chapter I wrote on Intent to ask me to post it here on these forums. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2783 Perhaps it will be of interest and perhaps even help. My personal experience from the past is that many things are clearly right in my mind as proper to do that by conventional concepts would not be so clear. As Tom said, it is a matter of your intent towards all the others involved. Is your intent the balanced good of all involved as opposed to the advantage of yourself or someone specific like your son with no sharing of the value of the results with others.

There is much information on grant applications on the Internet. Unfortunately much of a sales and self serving or even a scam nature. But looking there might find something of value. And professors who do research write applications all the time. Would not some favorite professor who is favorably inclined towards you be willing to offer advice on how to write a grant application that is effective. And this should not be entirely your problem. Would not your major professor/adviser participate in the research and thus have an interest in getting it funded? Since the work of getting such a project into operation includes much more than your research participation, for which you can expect nothing as the student doing the research as I understand things, why not a stipend as project coordinator and chief gardener. Gardening takes a lot of fertilizer and all gardeners know about BS. So you are seeking More of the Same and Piled higher and Deeper.

Not my field, but I have read of research recently on the Internet to the effect that there were literally beneficial bacteria with beneficial excretions that you would come into contact with from direct contact with the soil and/or the plants growing in the soil. Natural tranquilizers or antidepressants. If this were not so, then why would so many medications be found from these same sources? The more you get 'into it' and dirty, the better. Nor will the relaxed pace of this activity fail to be helpful. Discovering a relationship between yourself and other growing things. It is something that gardeners are familiar with already from their own experience.

Have you talked to the agents at the local county level or state agricultural agency? And most states have land grant colleges with agriculture programs and extension agents. it is not that unusual for there to be agricultural extension agents that can provide training in gardening, food preparation, canning and preserving, etc. I am not familiar with the situation here at present, but there were agents in this county who did so up to a county canning kitchen to process the results. The local water management district may be able to help. I recently received extensive information from one of their agents on xeriscape landscaping with minimal watering and maintenance. Some communities have areas where community gardening plots are available. This doesn't help with funding, but might solve the problem of land for this use. This also sounds like just the kind of project that they are in part there to aid.

Ted Vollers

Hi Ted and thank you for your time here with this response. The project will definitely be funded with grants and am thinking through which units of consciousness UOC I could utilize their expertise in that area on. For now my focus is one writing my thesis which I would like to have done with two 12 week terms, next week is week 3 of term 1. The study in my thesis the prospectus of is in a post above, doesn't require manifestation only the proof that I learned enough at the institution to design a feasible study. The actual garden plan is as a business to support the disabled community environment in their adult day program as well as perks like massages, and having a garden totally disabled accessible for whatever the diverse population here might need. There are grants for small business start ups, and for health issues for the disabled and elderly. Once my thesis is further underway and now as well, I can get information together on how to do the garden. I think I would like funding and land information in place around the time I get my MS degree which is suppose to be May 2009.

I have been immersed in MBT and Ted Vollers the last couple days. I have read both the Higher Self's and Indra's Net post, and am now working on your Intent chapter. I always considered Indra's net and string theory analogous, what do you think?
Love
Bette

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

Bette,

I don't see any relationship between Indra's Net and string theory, but am not a physicist or otherwise very knowledgeable of string theory. Indra's Net is just an ancient concept, prior to written records, referring to the Hindu god Indra with the Net of Jewels as a decoration in his palace. Look for the Flower Garland Sutra for an early description and there are many variants of the descriptions given. I used this terminology because of its historical basis and match to how I can envision the development of our selves as the bootstrapping of Consciousness, The One and on to AUM as occurring. It also places Tom's personal exploration and development of the understanding that led to MBT into a historical context, the same context as the ancient Hindu metaphysicians that preached the sutras that eventually were written down in Sanskrit. Tom did it on his own and by himself, just as they did by mental exploration, and made no reference to this historical record. Using this terminology puts Tom into context for those aware of Indra's Net for religious reasons. The description of jewels of consciousness reflecting each other in their facets (the net) maps directly onto the description of our individuated beings existing in a consciousness field, each connected to and communicating over the RWW of MBT.

Frankly, I think of string theory, membrane theory, dark matter and energy and similar postulated things as finagle factors added to the theories of physics to make up for the fact that they don't think in terms of virtual realities governed by rule sets and existing in the consciousness field of AUM. Their theories and equations don't actually match the rule sets that govern PMR. PMR has existed for a LONG time and the ability to notice discrepancies that these theories try to allow for is only relatively recent. For most of the time since the switch was turned, there has been no one to notice and then when they could, there were only lights in the sky. Only when science reaches the point of recent history must the fractal levels necessary to detail these aspects of PMR even be calculated beyond probability. Much of AUM has a substantial element of 'good enough to be getting along with' and things didn't really have to be worked out in detail. Neurology and genetics doesn't govern our development, the rule sets defining PMR do. Neurology was nothing more than a bloody smear on the killers stone axe until relatively recent times or something to use in curing hides for maximum softness. Presuming that you accept this as a virtual reality. All a matter of what can you explain by describing this as a VR in a Conscious Reality as opposed to what you can explain by modern science.

Ted Vollers

Ted
At my level physics or those UOC involved in physics have information on the rules of this PMR, therefore I find their field pertinent. I think of the strings in string theory as tiny vibrating closed and open loops forming the net. Maybe we are the jewels...
Love
Bette

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

Bette,

Yes, we, and all the other individuated beings of all of consciousness reality existing within Indra's Net are the jewels whether participating in our PMR or 'elsewhere'. The net part is the Reality Wide Web (RWW) interconnecting us all. The strings of string theory are something else again out of PMR physics rather than coming from Consciousness and AUM and VR concepts. Tom can tell you what they are or might be. I can only say what they are not as herein, not the net of Indra's Net.

Ted

Thank you Ted.

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.