Health Benefits of HONEY

Health Benefits of Honey

– Introduction Look, the thing I want to do now we’re talking about health benefits of honey is to give you some plain facts and get rid of all that hype you will see all over the internet, usually on web sites that are trying to sell you honey. If you buy some honey as a result of the information here – great! But actually the real reason for this web site is that I want to share with you my real fascination with bees and honey. One of the problems with honey is that it is a very complex substance.

According to the Nursing Times in 2008, a paper by Stefan Bogdanov of the Swiss Bee Research Center estimates that it contains some 600 components.
Even today, research hasn’t solved all of its mysteries. We have a whole history of stories going back literally thousands of years about how people have used honey to cure a wide range of ailments – but not all of these cures have so far been backed up by scientific research. At least not so far. New research is being carried out all the time.

 What this means is that some of the health claims made for honey, although not proven scientifically today, may be proven tomorrow. But of course there are many claims that will no doubt be discredited aswell. So what I’m going to do on this page is to take a look at some of the (as yet) unproven claims that people make for what honey can do, and then look at the health-giving properties of honey that for which we have some solid scientific evidence.

 First of all, though, let’s take a look at how we humans have used honey through the ages:

A Short History of Honey The first recorded use of honey that we know of is on a fragment of clay tablet found in Sumeria (now an area of southern Iraq), dating from about 2500BC. They had no paper in those days and used clay slabs instead to record just about everything, which is just as well because paper would have been long gone by now and we would never have known about this important civilization. Anyway, the text on this tablet describes an ointment for wounds where one of the ingredients was, you guessed it, honey.

By the time we reached 1500BC, the old clay tablets had gone the way of the steam engine and the Egyptians recorded everything on the world’s earliest paper, or papyrus. Miraculously, some of these records survived until modern times, don’t as me how, and one of them, known as the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus mentions the use of honey to heal wounds.

 Between 460 and 377BC the ancient Greek Hippocrates, known as the “father of medicine” described in his extensvie journals how he used honey combined with other natural ingredients for treating wounds, ulcers and even hemorrhoids. roman soldiers used to carry honey in their medical kits for dealing with wounds, and the use of honey in this way was common in India and China in ancient times. The Bible mentions honey many times, mainly as an essential food rather than a medicine, but the Koran, dating from about 650AD, mentions honey’s healing properties.

 Now we go to England – the year is 1403 and we are in a field just to the North of the medieval town of Shrewsbury where the infamous Battle of Shrewsbury battle is taking place.

The Royal surgeon John Bradmore, in his diaries known as the Philomena, tells us what happened to Prince Hal during this bloody battle. The prince received an arrow wound to the face and the arrowhead remained embedded in the wound (ouch). The surgeon had a special pair of iron tongs made which he planned to insert into the wound and screw into the socket at the back of the arrowhead, allowing it to be pulled out. To get the tongs in, he needed to enlarge the hole, which he did by carefully forcing in wooden rods of increasing diameter infused with rose honey (double ouch!). Anyway, the plan worked, and the arrowhead was removed! The surgeon then applied an ointment of flour, barley, honey and oil to what you can imagine would have been a nasty wound. Soon, Prince Hal made a full recovery, and later went on to become King Henry V. Honey’s use in this way fell out of fashion in the Western world when alternative antibiotics were developed after World War II, but its use for treating wounds and burns in Africa, India and the Middle East has continued to this today. More recently, there has been a revival of interest in the West, mainly because of the growing demand for natural remedies, but also because honey has been shown to kill bacteria that are resistant to other drugs – but more on that later.

First, let’s take a quick look at some of the wild and wacky claims about honey: Some Health-giving Powers of Honey – Yet to be Proven!

Well, as far as I can tell, although there is anecdotal evidence of the following claims, I can’t find any hard evidence. If you know of any scientific evidence for any of these claims, please let me know straight away so I can update the information and keep this page accurate.

 In 1995, the supermarket tabloid Weekly World News published what was (I hope) intended as a humorous article making many wild claims about honey and cinnamon. (This is the newspaper that reported in 1999 how a Japanese woman had been living in wedded bliss for six years with a gravity-defying alien.) Anyway, these are some of the claims, none of which was backed by any evidence: Honey: strengthens the heartbeat and prevents heart attacks cures arthritis within a week cures toothache increases life-span and allows a 100-year-old to perform the chores of a 20-year-old causes weight loss because it does not allow fat to accumulate even if a high-calorie diet is eaten makes the elderly more alert and flexible cures deafness cures bone and stomach cancer within one month If only… What’s really funny about the claims from this one satirical article is that you will find them quoted word-for-word as FACT on literally thousands of web sites – many of which are trying to sell you honey. Unfortunately, I can offer you no evidence to back up these claims, so without further delay I think we’d better return to planet earth and take a look at some of the benefits of honey that are supported by hard evidence from the scientific community:

 Honey as a Treatment – The Facts I have a whole separate article on the subject of if you are looking for information on honey as part of your diet, but here I want to look at its healing properties when it’s used as a treatment: Healer of cuts and wounds: a trial on 59 patients with wounds and ulcers was conducted by S. Efem in 1988 and reported in the British Journal of Surgery.

Honey straight from the hive was applied to the wounds daily, and 58 out of 59 cases showed “remarkable improvement”, with any infections cleared within a week. The one patient who did not respond had an ulcer infected with mycobacteria for which the honey was found to be ineffective.

Professor Peter Molan of the University of Waikato in New Zealand, the proclaimed researcher into honey and its effects, has published many papers on the subject. He has shown that honey has several properties that help wounds to heal. Wounds heal faster when they are kept moist. This often causes ideas conditions for bacteria to grow.

Honey attracts water and makes a moist pool over the wound, which is idea for healing, but this moisture does not cause bacteria to grow as it usually would, because the honey kills the bacteria. Also, when honey is used between a dressing and the wound, it stops the healing wound from sticking to the dressing, so when the dressing is changed, there is less risk of damaging the healing wound. Sore throat soother: honey has been used to soothe coughs and sore throats for a very long time, and may come back into favor for children following advice in 2007 from the US Food and Drug Agency that over-the-counter cough medicines should not be given to children under two because it is to easy to give an overdose in such tiny bodies.

 This was followed in 2008 by advice from the regulatory body for medicines in the UK, the MHRA, that honey and lemon should be used instead of these medicines for this age group. Having said all that, you should know that current FDA advice is that you don’t give honey to a child under 12 months old, so what you are supposed to do to soothe a cough in that agegroup?

 Now, ask 100 people what natural remedy you would use for a cough, and I bet you at least 75 will say “honey and lemon”. That’s why it pains me to have to tell you that despite all the research into honey, I can’t find hard evidence that honey is better than over-the-counter medicine on coughs and sore throats. There is a 2007 study by the U.S. National Honey Board, comparing honey, dextromethorphan (the active ingredient in many cough medicines) and no treatment at all. This study was picked up by the press and you will find it mis-reported all over the internet as evidence that honey is more effective than dextromethorphan in treating coughs. I am here to tell you that this study found no such thing.

The difference between the results for the honey and for the conventional medicine were statistically insignificant. The study DID find that honey produced better results than “no treatment” – BUT this study was seriously flawed because those receiving “no treatment” knew they were getting no treatment as they were not given any dummy medicine, and the rating of improvement in the cough was by parents completing a survey. Now I’m not against honey – as you know, I love it!

I would like nothing more than to tell you all how good honey is for coughs. But I’ve built a reputation for straight-talking when it comes to the health benefits of honey, so I’m taking great pains here not to mislead you. What we certainly do have is hard evidence that honey is anti-inflammatory and antibacterial, but that’s not quite the same thing as proving it will sooth a cough or sore throat. Look – all I can say is this: people have been taking honey for coughs and sore throats all over the world for centuries, and many say it works for them.

FDA advice is not to give honey to babies under 12 months, and those with a honey allergy should avoid it – but if you’re not in these groups, it’s not going to harm you, so you can always give it a try and make your own mind up. Healer of burns: a study carried out over the six-year period from 1987 to 1993 on 450 patients, by M.Subrahmanyam at the Solapur Medical College, India, claimed that burns healed faster and with less scarring than with conventional treatments. Antibactierial agent: A 1998 report for the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (the equivalent of the US Food and Drug Administration) noted the four antibacterial attributes of honey: low water content, acidity, hydrogen peroxide content, and other “uncharacterised” antibacterial compounds.

 In 1999 the same Administration approved honey for medical use. Medical honey is now sold as a wound dressing in pharmacies there. Immune system booster: It was reported in the journal “Medical Oncology” in 2006 that a trial on 30 cancer patients had been carried out using a brand of honey called “Life Mel”.

Chemotherapy often causes a low white blood cell count, leading to higher possibility of catching infections, and this is usually combatted with conventional drugs.

All 30 patients had suffered with low white blood cell counts during previous batches of chemotherapy, but when honey was taken during the trial chemotherapy period, 12 of these patients did not develop abnormally low white blood cell counts and therefore did not need any drug-based treatment for this condition. This is of course a very small trial. Killer of drug-resistant bacteria: In 2008 the journal “Clinical Infectious Diseases” reported a study by the University of Amsterdam in which medical-grade honey was shown to be extremely effective in killing bacteria on the skin.

 This study concluded that honey would be effective in killing even drug-resistant bacteria. This was confirmed by a Northern Ireland study by Yasunori Maeda and others, reported in 2008 in the “Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice” journal. This new testtube-based study applied several types of honey to CA-MRSA organisms (a known drug-resistant bacteria).

 In all cases the MRSA was destroyed by the honey within 24 hours. Cancer preventative: In 2004 the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) reported a trial at the University of Zagreb in which mice were injected with cancerous cells and fed honey. Some of the mice were fed honey for 10 days before they were injected with the cancer, and some were fed after they were injected with the cancer. The cancer was shown to be less likely to spread in the mice that had been fed with honey before the cancer was introduced.

Unfortunately, when the honey was given after the cancer had been introduced, secondary cancer growth was more likely to occur. So we have a mixed message here and those involved in this trial recommended more thorough and widespread research into honey and cancer. So there you have it. There have been enough studies and trials to establish beyond all doubt that honey has some important health benefits. But remember, if you find yourself reading some wild claim or other about honey, take a look to see if it’s backed up by reputable scientific research. http://world-of-honey.com/benefits-of-honey/health-benefits-of-honey/

Healing Hands

Healing Hands
May 30, 2000

Healing Hands

Have you ever felt the palms of your hands tingle, perhaps get warmer - even to the point of being uncomfortable - around someone who was ill? Have you ever placed your hand on someone who immediately exclaimed that your hands felt very hot?
It may be that you have a natural healing ability. Most people who have heard of Reiki may consider this as Reiki healing, and I grant that they are similar. Having a natural healing ability however requires no study, no attunements, and no initiations. Just your compassion and the healing energy you channel will suffice.

If you have read my article on Chakra Healing or if you have some interest in chakra energy centers, you will be familiar with the seven main centers. There are many more minor centers, but for this article I will focus on those in the palms of your hands, and the tips of your fingers.

The minor centers in the palms of a healers hands draw healing energy through the main chakra points, and channel it through the hands to the recipient. When the healer "activates" these centers, the energy is immediately tapped and available for use. Some ways of activating the centers are meditation, conditioning (programming yourself to begin healing at a certain word or musical note only known by you, and only functional when you yourself have spoken it, or sounded it with intent) or physical means such as clapping the hands three times harshly, or rubbing the palms together in a circular motion. In some people, the palm centers will activate spontaneously ( sometimes unbeknownst to the healer her/himself!). This generally occurs around someone who is drastically or terminally ill. Often in these cases, although the person's physical mind may have resigned to the illness, the higher or spiritual mind may be reaching out to the healer's spiritual mind in a plea for help.

In some cases the only thing left for the healer is to help ease the passage of the spirit into the next world. I, as with many others, believe that we have all chosen our time of death, the circumstances, and even those who are with us at that time. Once our higher minds have made that decision and we are one with it, it will happen, despite intervention.

Enough of the dire stuff - how about a "demonstration"? I received review copies of many books in the past few months, one of which being "The Healing Energy of Your Hands" By Michael Bradford (published by Crossing Press). The book follows Michael through the discovery of his own healing power, through to present day teacher/speaker/healer. Descriptions of his various techniques, energy flows, and the physical symptoms of emotional/energetic dis-ease are wonderful - I recommend the book highly for those interested in energetic/spiritual healing.

I quote from "Two Hands Forming A Triangle" (chapter 10; pgs. 150-152).
"A simple, effective two-handed method for removing negative energy is the triangle technique. Here, the negative energy is neither pulled into your hands, nor run through your body. Place your hands palms down, with the tips of your pointer fingers touching and your thumbnails overlapping. Your hands, especially the open area between them, form the shape of a triangle*.

Form the triangle directly on, or 2 -6" (5 -15cm) above the area to be worked on. Visualize and feel positive energy as well as healing colors coming from the palms of your hands and your fingers, penetrating directly into the area in need of healing. As the positive energy penetrates the area, visualize the negative energy breaking up. See and feel the negative energy being pushed up and out through the center of the triangle and being released and immediately transmuted*. This was the technique used to pull the tumor out of the cat**. Please remember to have the person you are assisting visualize the healing process with you."

This method works well for simple pain relief as well as other illness. Since reading the book, I have used the method, with great results. I hope you will too!

*These are marking areas where there were illustrations.
**This is in reference to a story told earlier in the book.

The copyright of the article Healing Hands in Alternative Medicine is owned by Jodi Wetherup. Permission to republish Healing Hands in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/women_healing_methods/40483/2

The Good Life

What are incense sticks and joss sticks?

Burning incense may be good for spiritual wellbeing but it could also be bad for your health.

The fragrant smoke, used in religious ceremonies and to scent rooms, contains a cocktail of harmful chemicals linked to a host of physical disorders, scientists say.

Chinese people believed that they could build a communication with holy spirits through the smoke of incense sticks. They burn slender stick in front of joss from which the name joss stick has originated. In India also, incense sticks have been used during religious rituals from centuries with believe that the soothing scent of these sticks enhance spiritual elements. The aromatic smell of these sticks heightens the spirits, enhance the surroundings by purifying the air and put an unusual soothing effect on the mind. Regular use of incense is said to prevent disease, promote longevity and enhance mental clarity.

Burning Incense Sticks and cones - General Safety Instructions

Though incense sticks and cones are very easy to use, certain amount of safety is required to avoid any mishappening. When lit, incense stick or cones are very hot, and could cause severe burn or fire if not handled properly. Some common safety measures are


1. Never leave burning incense sticks or cones, unattended.
2. Do not burn incense products in the presence of flammable fumes or in the presence of materials that can create
flammable fumes such as gasoline, acetone, varnish, etc.
3. Keep burning incense sticks or cones out of the reach of children or pets.
4. Never place burning incense sticks or cones near moving objects or draperies such as curtains.
5. Always use appropriate incense burner for the type of incense you are burning and place the burner on a flame-
resistant and heat-resistant surface. Never place burners on television, stereo or computer cabinets.
6. Do not fall asleep while incense stick or cone is burning. Do remember that incense creates smoke and may trigger
smoke alarms.
7. Always lit incense products in a well-ventilated area.
8. Incense sticks and cones are not edible and may represent a choking hazard, hence must keep them away from
children and pets.
9. When lighting stick incense, be sure to hold the incense away from your face and hair as some types of stick incense
ignite with a tall flame. Always hold the stick by the bare end and light the coated end, after lighting, gently blow out the
flame.
10. While burning incense cone, remember to place it in right burner, and burner should be placed on flame-resistant and
heat-resistant surfaces.
11. It is always advisable to consult your doctor if you have some kind of allergies, breathing or lung disorders
conditions, difficulties or illnesses, before using any incense product.

The Lawyer's Craft as a Spiritual Way

The Lawyer's Craft as a Spiritual Way
By: R.C.L.

The common laws of psychology, religion and philosophy can be applied to unlock full human potential.

The legal perspective and craft of law, the skills and techniques of a lawyer, can be a Spiritual Way. Anyone who can think can use the skills and perspective of the Law to create a thinking bridge between science and religion. On this bridge the natural laws of the cosmos and human development - the Laws of Wisdom - can be put to practical use. The common laws of psychology, religion and philosophy can be applied to unlock full human potential. Lawyerly thinking is the key.

If you learn how to think for yourself, then the essential legal knowledge for self realization, the Laws of Wisdom, can be applied to enhance and improve the quality of your life. The book attempts to teach you how to "think like a lawyer" in the best sense of the phrase. This does not mean to just be "rational," disciplined, stiff and linear. On the contrary, a good lawyer thinks creatively, flexibly, both analytically and analogically. To think like a lawyer means to think holistically, skeptically, objectively, independently, clearly and concisely.

Lawyers are trained to base their thinking on evidence and proven precedent. Perhaps most important of all, after a few years of practice in professional thinking, every good lawyer comes to understand quite well the inherent limitations of thinking. A lawyer knows better than anyone what the law and rationality cannot do. From countless human dramas and legal contests the lawyer comes to understand the limitations of thinking and reason. They see the significance in life of chance and stray choices. Lawyers, especially the ones called upon to serve as judges, know from hard experience that on some occasions justice and fairness demand that the rules and reason be bent. Thinking is a reliable guide, but it does not always lead to justice. When it does not, good lawyers are trained to go beyond the law, to create new law, so as to serve equity and fairness.As Marcus Cicero, the great Roman Lawyer said: The people's good is the highest law.

A highly developed thinking ability is in accord with our higher sensitivities and capacities, not cut off from them. Such thinking abilities are the natural birthright of all humanity, not the exclusive domain of lawyers. Unfortunately, most people are indoctrinated into various forms of pseudo-thinking as a child. In order to fit into the particular culture in which they happen to be born, they accept the beliefs and thinking of that culture. As a result they become stunted, warped and entranced. As an adult they never really learn how to think independently or creatively. They never know themselves, nor realize their full potential.

The thinking inculcated by a culture is essentially designed to perpetuate the culture. It is usually very limited, compartmentalized, repetitive, rigid and dependent. On the rare occasions when thinking is taught, only the analytic and logical aspects of thinking are considered. The analogic and holistic sides are ignored. The western tradition and culture of the Law is unique in encouraging creative, well rounded and fully developed thinking. Law schools, unlike other graduate schools, focus on learning methods of thinking, rather than learning a body of knowledge. For that reason only law schools utilize the Socratic method of teaching where questioning of students is emphasized, rather than lecturing. Yet anyone, not just law students, can wake up from their consensus trance and rid themselves of pseudo- thinking. Our natural thinking abilities may be stunted by cultural indoctrination, but they are not killed. With the help of this book, you too can think like a lawyer to tackle the toughest questions of life.

LAWYERS AND THE LAW

In modern western society lawyers are people who know the laws of society, how they relate with each other and how to use them. Lawyers do not learn the laws for academic reasons. They spend long hours researching the law so they can use the laws for practical purposes. Purposes such as the peaceful resolution of disputes, or the structuring of business transactions. Knowledge of the law is always directed to action, to making decisions, solving problems and getting things accomplished. The ends to be accomplished, the goals, come from the client, not the lawyer. Lawyers serve clients by applying their knowledge of the law to help clients attain their goals. Lawyers give advice and make recommendations, and in the process frequently help clients clarify their goals. The final decisions are made by the clients who are free to ignore the advice of their lawyers, and for better or for worse, they frequently do.

Lawyers are legal counselors. They tell their clients what they need to know of the particular laws which pertain to the client's situation. The unique facts and people involved are critical to evaluating the equities and determining which laws govern. The law is never applied in a vacuum. It is always molded and shaped by the evidence. So a good lawyer carefully investigates the client's situation before reaching any conclusions. Once a lawyer understands the facts and the law, he or she then analyzes these laws and determines how they apply to the client's case. The lawyer's basic tool is independent thinking, both analytical and analogical. By such thinking legal opinions are made and actions are taken.

The lawyer's craft can also be applied to the universal problems and opportunities faced by everyone who confronts their psychological depths - those who try to make sense of life and understand their place in it, who seek to understand the totality of their self, who they are and can become. The solution to the philosophical problems - the life and death issues of fulfillment of human potential - can not be found in the laws of Man and State. The lawyer who seeks answers to these ultimate questions must research altogether different fields of "Law." Law in the sense of a natural universal order, defined for instance by Montequieu in 1748 in his landmark book The Spirit of Laws:

Laws in their most general signification, are the necessary relations derived from the nature of things. In this sense all beings have their laws, the Deity has his laws, the material world its laws, the intelligences superior to man have their laws, the beasts their laws, man his laws.

In contrast to the laws made by Man, the Laws of Wisdom are those laws by which Man is made, the laws with which Man can find fulfillment. The term "wisdom" is here used in the Socratic sense as a kind of dynamic flow state or level of consciousness. Wisdom is profound self realization, an individual's unique fulfillment of their special potentials. It is the goal sought by the knowledgeable and presumed by the ignorant. The universal laws which govern the attainment of Wisdom can be found in many areas of natural law - science, philosophy, psychology, myths and religion. Legal research in these areas is much more difficult and time consuming than research of the laws of Man. Still, with help from older, more experienced searchers, sufficient data on these Wisdom Laws can be found to provide meaningful answers to life's basic questions.

BOOK OF THE BASIC LAWS OF WISDOM

Having spent the last twenty five years researching the common laws of psychology, religion, physics and philosophy, searching for the esoteric rules which govern the realization of full human potential, I know just how difficult the search can be. As a lawyer, the methods and disciplines of my profession have aided and affected my approach in many ways. This book - like the law - follows precedent. Yet it is based on independent thinking, both analytical and analogical, left and right brained. The book covers a broad area of scientific, psychological and spiritual laws, disdaining the limited compartmentalism of customary thinking. The laws included are the ones which the precedent known to me suggests are the most relevant and material to human development. The essential Laws of Wisdom are introduced, concisely explained and analyzed in a systematic manner. Wherever possible the Laws are illustrated by charts and diagrams with some references to accepted authorities. Many fields of Law are discussed in a broad synthesis. For that reason some of the details and complexities are omitted to make the Laws easier to understand.

An abstract presentation of the Laws of Wisdom alone does not suffice to convey the meaning of these Laws. Just as the laws made by Man cannot be fully understood without looking at the unique facts and the personalities, the people involved, the Laws by which Man is made cannot be fully absorbed without similar considerations. For that reason this book will also include case histories of the lives of some of the men and women of this century who have discovered and clarified these Laws. Their intriguing stories will help articulate the meaning of the Laws with which they are associated. As the great law professor and legal realist Karl Llewellyn said in during a famous lecture at Columbia Law School (collected in Bramble Bush,1929), the way to study the law is to look at its cases and, visualize the initial transaction between the parties. Who were they? What did they look like? Above all, what did each one want, and why did he want it? ... if you can see these desires and feel them in the light of who the parties were and of their situation - then and only then will the case become real to you, will it stick in your head, will the words speak, and set your mind to working.

The entire life story need not be given for each of the scientists, psychologists, philosophers and religious leaders included in this book. Only that portion of their life which is related to the laws they helped to discover, that case, needs to be examined. A review of the facts of the particular transactions and the personal desires and motives behind the discovery, will allow the laws they found to become real, to "stick in your head."

For some not conversant with these areas of the law or with holistic thinking, LAWS OF WISDOM may set the mind working at a difficult pace. Nevertheless, study of these laws is worth the effort because the information presented is directed to pragmatic action, not knowledge for its own sake. The laws are described not as an academic exercise, but as legal counsel designed to attain a practical end - the awakening and development of you the reader.

There are thousands of different methods to apply the Laws to realize your full potential. A few of these "legal procedures" are referred to in the book, but not in any detail. Legal procedure is difficult if not impossible to teach in a book. It is something you learn by doing, and usually requires personal instruction and group work. For information on the legal procedure I know best in this area, one that employs music meditation, see my book with Professor Keyserling: Chakra Music: the Story of PrimaSounds. It is important to find and try some of these procedures, to apply the Laws in your own life. You can do so alone, but for most it is easier in a group. In the last chapter specific reference is provided to one such organization of groups, The School of Wisdom. No matter how you do it, or with whom, practical application of the Laws of Wisdom through some kind of spiritual exercise is imperative.

Later as you employ your favorite procedures, you will want to return to this book as a reference. You can consult it from time to time as you "get your head together," become even more awake, think better and grow and mature as a person. The statement of essential Laws in the book, and other books in the School of Wisdom Series, can help you to understand the changes that you will naturally go through on a path of personal evolution. As you progress, your understanding and comprehension of the essential Laws will grow. The interconnectedness of the Laws will become ever clearer. Eventually when your thinking is at full capacity, these Laws will appear simple. You will have mastered them. But this can only come through applying the Laws, through spiritual exercises, practices and discipline. As any lawyer will tell you, knowledge of legal procedures is as important as knowledge of the law itself. So you are advised to find and use a procedure which suits you.

Of course, you the client are free to follow this advice or not. Better yet, with the help of this book you can learn to think like a lawyer and advise yourself. You can then use the Laws introduced in the book to make sense of your life. This book can help you to hear the lawyer's voice within yourself, the objective counsel of your higher self. Then you can weigh the opinions of law made in this book and elsewhere and truly judge for yourself what to do. Once the innate human ability of autonomous thinking is awakened, with the knowledge of the fundamental laws here presented, you can craft your own answers to life's ultimate questions, forge your own path.

THE REALLY BIG QUESTIONS

By virtue of being human we all know that we are alive, and are more or less aware of ourselves as separate entities, as beings. Moreover, unlike almost all of the animals, we are aware of our own mortality. We know that some day we must inevitably die. We know that death means our body will cease to have life, will no longer function, but beyond that, we are not really sure what death entails or means. It is the greatest mystery of mysteries. Our common situation of self awareness and knowledge of impending death creates in all of us a universal human curiosity about the "really big questions."

These big questions consider life and death as both a problem and an opportunity. The basic problem with life is to figure out what to do with it, why you are alive. The opportunity is to live it joyously, with satisfaction and fulfillment. The problem with death is to learn how to prepare for it, to live courageously in spite of your awareness of death. The opportunity is to possibly conquer death, to survive as a conscious entity after the body ceases to function. Self realization comes from living life with your own answers to these questions, true answers in accord with natural common Law, answers that work, that solve the problems and bring love and inspiration. In the words of the great American jurist, Benjamin Cardoza:

Three great mysteries there are in the lives of mortal beings: the mystery of birth at the beginning; the mystery of death at the end; and, greater than either, the mystery of love. Everything that is most precious in life is a form of love. Art is a form of love, if it be noble; labor is a form of love, if it be worthy; thought is a form of love, if it be inspired.

There are many ways to express the fundamental issues, to pose the really big questions: What is the meaning of life? Who am I? What is the meaning of death? What happens at death? How can I find peace and fulfillment in my life? What is the purpose of my life? How can I make sense of the chaos of my world? Where was I before I was born? How was the Universe created? What is my mission in life? Is there a God? If there is a God, what is my relationship to God? What is a divine He or She like? What is truth? Is there life after death? How can I be happy, content? How can I avoid death and attain immortality? How can I attain maximum self realization, love and enlightenment? What are my unique potentials? How can I fulfill them?

Then there are a series of secondary questions for those who not only dare to ask the really big questions, but actually try to answer them. These questions include: How can I know myself? How can I really know anything? How can I find out the meaning of life in general, and my life in particular? What is wisdom? What happens to "me" every night when I go in the unconsciousness of deep sleep? What happens to me when I dream? What do my dreams mean? What should I do to find my mission in life? How do I go about finding truth? When do I know if something is really true or not? Then there are a series of issues related to those secondary questions, such as: Can another person tell me the answer to any of these basic questions? If another person claims to know, how do I know their claim is valid? Is another person's answer valid for me? Is there a divine being who will give me the answers, or do I have to figure them out for myself? Can anyone else at least tell me what to do in order to find out the answers for myself?

CANNED ANSWERS TO THE REALLY BIG QUESTIONS

There are literally hundreds of belief systems that purport to provide you with ready answers to the really big questions, the secondary questions, and more. Any religion will gladly tell you the purpose of life in general, and yours in particular. There is an established view, a simple formula answer or dogma for everything. In this way you do not have to face the really big questions, or think for yourself. Just do as they say and you will attain heaven or enlightenment. Independent thinking is not allowed, it is counter-productive.

Science as a belief system, as opposed to a method, is not much better. Its "sophisticated" answer is that no answer is possible to the big questions, so don't even try. Self realization and peak experiences are non-existent fictions, delusions; or better yet, just psychotic states. With either dogma, Science or Religion, the really big questions are avoided.

In the law easy, simplistic answers to complex questions are derogatorily referred to as "black letter" rules. They are the general rules or statements of law contained in a simple law text, called a "hornbook." No lawyer worth their salt ever accepts hornbook law as the final answer. Black letter rules or hornbook law are only a starting point of legal analysis. If you accept hornbook law as the answer, you avoid grappling with the nuts and bolts of the issues. The law only uses hornbook rules as teaching lessons for law students, and as starting points for legal analysis. It is not accepted by the courts unless independent reasoning shows that the general rule in fact applies to the particular case at hand. The law demands that analytical and analogical reasoning be employed to test a proposed rule of law, to determine if its application is just. The complexities of the unique facts of each case require the exception to, or modification of the black letter rules in a hundred different ways. Only in this way can justice be done. For a lawyer the ready answer, the black letter hornbook law, is automatically suspect, and is usually the wrong answer. Reference to hornbook law - the established dogma - is the beginning point of legal analysis, not the end.

All belief systems with ready, simple answers ask you to accept their answers to the really big questions, to have faith in their dogma. You have an instant - one size fits all - black letter Law answer for everyone. This gets rid of the questions. You can then go about your business, tending to material subsistence questions, such as food, money, supporting the ones who gave you the answers, and the like. This unthinking reliance on the answers of others is the traditional way of religion and most cultures. It still seems to work for some people. But for others the black letter rules don't work. They are no longer persuaded by the canned briefs. Without ready answers, many are left alienated, unhappy, rebellious, drifting without meaning and purpose, depressed, anxious. The answers of the established belief systems, both orthodox and unconventional, no longer work, and so their doubt grows and they lose faith. They don't believe the answers, even though they purport to come from God Himself. They are instead forced to join those who approach the really big questions independently, like a lawyer.

The numbers of would be spiritual lawyers appears to be growing every day. This book is dedicated to those few who seek their own answers to the really big questions. Accordingly, this book will not answer these questions. If I inadvertently suggest an answer, know that this is just my answer, not yours. It may or may not work for you. There are as many correct answers as there are people. Everyone is unique and, potentially at least, has their own special insight into reality. I try only to suggest answers to the secondary questions, the practical "know how" questions of how to find your own answers to the big questions.

With the tools of analysis provided in the book, you can take the black letter substantive rules from religion and science as a base to reason out your own solutions. Once you know the Laws, you can select and apply the Laws to your particular life situation. You can then formulate answers to the universal questions that make sense to you, answers that work, that solve the problems and fill the opportunities of life and death. It can be attained, but only you can do it.

http://www.lawsofwisdom.com/course-overview/opening-statement/the-lawyers-craft-as-a-spiritual-way/