These days whenever a politician repeats a promise over and over again commentators say that this promise has become a "mantra" for that politician. For the journalists, the word "mantra" means a meaningless phrase that is repeated endlessly. For yogis however, a mantra is a word or collection of words, which has the power of liberating a human being from all limitations.

We all have psychic abilities. For many people this ability is dormant or asleep. It?s a bit like the person who sits at a piano for the first time and discovers that they have a natural talent for music. The ability was always present it just takes the right circumstances for the talent to become apparent.

When you read books about meditation, or often when meditation is is presented by different groups, much of the emphasis falls on the techniques. In the West, people tend to be very interested in the "technology" of meditation. However, by far the most important feature of meditation is not technique, but the way of being, the spirit, which is callled the "posture", a posture which is not so much physical, but more to do with spirit or attitude.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is promoting this drug that has serious side effects. Here are some of the reasons why.Did you know that 80% of cases of cervical cancer occur in low-income countries? That means that only 20% happen in the more developed countries like the US. Worldwide there are 500,000 new cases each year and 250,000 deaths. What this means is that 50,000 deaths occur in the developed countries of the world.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has been plugging away since 1960 with no success. I predict that that is about to change. It won't be quite what they expect. But they will get very excited; they will think they have discovered intelligent life in outer space but then they will realize the sounds are from inner space. A bit like Carl Sagan's film Contact that starred Jodi Foster.

My old teacher was decades ahead of his time and a master of the gap. He knew this place wasn't solid and he was fearless in the way he moved in and out through the Hidden Door. The supernatural was natural to him; he knew the secrets of backwards and forwards, so he could see the future. He knew about the initiates.

Our life's journey of self-discovery is not a straight-line rise from one level of consciousness to another. Instead, it is a series of steep climbs and flat plateaus, then further climbs. Even though we all approach the journey from different directions, certain of the journey's characteristics are common to all of us.