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bellicons ultimate rebounder
September 2009 
Enlightenment.Com's Halloween/Samhein '06 Newsletter
Jordan
Enlightenment.Com's
Halloween/Samhein '06 Newsletter
October 31st, 2006
by Jordan Gruber
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This Enlightenment.Com
Newsletter Contains:
- Hello & Overview: The State of the Site
- Beyond My Ken?: Personal Ponderings on the Philosopher Profound
- The Digital Zen Alarm Clock: A Great New Product
- Dan Millman: Some New Free Video Interview Clips
- 4 Short Book Reviews:
- Hebrew Illuminations
- Living Wisdom with His Holiness The Dalai Lama
- Oozing the Moon
- Receiving God
- Samhein, the Tree, Responsibility, and Me: A Morality Musing
- The Ultimate (Bungee-Based) Rebounder: Truly the Next Step
- Invitation: A Simple Practice For You
- Thank You!
1. Hello & Overview: The State of the Site
Good evening to you, now (if it is indeed still evening for you). Thank you for taking the time to open this newsletter. Welcome back if you've been here before, and welcome for the first time if you're brand new to Enlightenment.Com. If for some reason you wish to unsubscribe, please see the very end of this newsletter.
Yours From Within and Without the Veil,
P.S. I just looked at last year's Halloween Newsletter, and thought these two paragraphs might be worth repeating:
Happy Halloween from Enlightenment.Com! Even though this isn't technically the same date as the neo-Pagan Holiday of Samhein (pronounced "sow," to rhyme with "cow," plus "when," thus "sow-when"), we thought we'd remind you that right about now, for a few days on either side of this Halloween transition (aided in the United States by the Daylight Savings Time shift), the veil between the worlds is thinnest. Actually, the veil is just as thin on Beltane (roughly May Day), some 6 months from now. The difference, it is said, is that during this time of year spirits and entities of all sorts from other planes and dimensions can visit here, while during Beltane, it is possible for humans to visit the other places, spaces, planes, strings, dimensions, archetypes, and assorted whatnots of existence.
In any case, we wanted to remind you that the veil between your highest self – your Big Mind, your soul, your Higher Self, however you'd like to see and feel it and whatever you'd like to call it – is indeed very thin, especially right now. If you allow and invite that more divine aspect of yourself to shine through you ... it will do so in an instant, always and forevermore. While this is always the case, it's just that right now it's a bit easier to part the curtains and let Yourself in and through.
2. "Beyond My Ken": Personal Ponderings on the Philosopher Profound
Let's get real about this. Or, at least, let me get real about this. The philosophical elephant in our psycho-spiritual living room at least needs to be recognized…
And so, let me start with an absolute, personal truth: Ken Wilber has probably had as great an influence on my mind as any living author. His integration of developmental psychology and Eastern mysticism, and several of his key concepts – the pre/trans fallacy, intersubjective hermeneutical verification, states and stages, levels and lines, and even the 4 quadrants as either a phenomenological or epistemological lense or orienting device – have proven to be of inestimable value.
Starting in 1982, I have recommended Ken Wilber to more friends, and later to more readers of this website, than any other author. And not just tepidly, but excitedly and enthusiastically. ("Enthusiasm" is a great word, with roots meaning "having a god within" or "god possessing.") Ken Wilber gifted me and many others with huge cognitive breakthroughs – on multiple occasions I had undeniable "Aha!" moments while reading Ken – and that's why I did everything in my power – and I mean everything – to make the first-ever interview with Ken – Enlightenment.Com's very own Speaking of Everything – happen. (You can read the story of this, where I describe what it was like to get through snow storms, lost luggage, malfunctioning equipment, and an extremely reluctant Ken, to be able to bring the Speaking of Everything interview to the world.)
The Speaking of Everything interview wasn't all that long ago, coming out in late 2001. That's just five years ago. Five years! (Bowie fans … are you listening?) A lot has happened with Ken since then, a whole lot. Integral Institute has blossomed, and there's more live Ken Wilber media – now including video – than you can shake a memory stick at.
A Confluence of Troubling NewsRecently, however, a confluence of troubling news concerning Ken has come together. On the one hand, there is Ken's physical condition. As is well-known, Ken has an auto-immune disease that he has termed REDD, but the pictures that Ken released of his fall a few months ago, and the bruising that resulted, were fairly horrifying. Also, the reports that Ken frequently can't get up by himself, can't use his arms, has flu-like syptoms far worse than any normal flu, and so forth, can only be deemed sad and disturbing.
On the other hand, even worse than Ken's physical condition is the diminishing status of his reputation. Recently, he has embroiled himself in some highly distasteful attacks and counter-attacks on his critics, including what can only be described as an ad hominem or personal attack on Frank Visser, who runs IntegralWorld.net and who has long promoted interest in Ken's writings. Ken has used foul language completely unbefitting a thinker and spiritual celebrity of his stature, and all attempts to excuse him as having consciously been a "rude boy" or by espousing "crazy wisdom" fall flat and ring hollow. Whether Ken and his followers are exhibiting cult-like behavior or not, there's no denying that multiple critiques along these lines have sprouted up on the web. (See the list of links at the end of this last live link.)What to Do?
So, despite my mentor's warning to stay out of this mess entirely, I'm going to go ahead and make a set of observations and recommendations so that those of us who love Ken Wilber (albeit now from more of an intellectual and energetic distance) can get on with our lives:
- Pray for Ken: He really is sick with an appalling auto-immune disease, and he really could use some good energy. Whether or not Ken believes in distance healing and prayer, I – and probably a good many of you – do believe in the possibility of sending energy and healing via positive thinking and love. So, let's hit it. Put Ken in your prayers, put him in your prayer-group's prayers, and just love the heck out of him regardless of what's going on.
- Use What Works For You from Ken's System: Personally, I stopped being 100% in accord with Ken's system once he adopted spiral dynamics and once Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality came out (the footnotes put me off). So, don't feel obligated to swallow Ken's whole system. For my money, a cogent argument has been made that what Ken presents is ultimately only a certain version of Hindu-Buddhist spirituality anyway, so it's not like you're missing out on understanding everything anyway, despite claims that Ken's work is an "integral" theory that integrates everything that is known better than any other theory. There are other integral thinkers, and there are certainly other human potential and psycho-spiritual authors who have a great deal to say, some of whom have expertise in areas that Ken has little experience in. But also, don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Much that Ken has written about is extremely useful. Segregate out what works, and keep using it.
- Read Your Own Primary Materials and Do Your Own Practices: Ken is great at showing the way, and at suggesting new possibilities, but nothing replaces reading original source materials and undertaking your own practice(s). Find out what works … for you. Ultimately, that's all that counts anyway.
- Forgive Ken: He may not need or want our forgiveness, but I am going to forgive him anyway. He is just a human being ... wait, that's not right! He is a great and magnificent and brilliant and warm and amazing human being. And, he appears to have made some mistakes in dealing with others who don't agree with everything that he has written or said. So, let's simply forgive him.
- Forgive Yourself (and Ourselves): This is probably even more important than forgiving Ken. Really, the reason this whole "criticism thing" has become so dicey is that many of us who have been amazed and cognitively awakened by Ken have then gone on to put a whole lot of loading onto him, expecting more from him than is humanly possible. (Admittedly, Ken has exacerbated this situation by moving away from the pandit role and into the workshop leader and close-to-guru role.) One of the key points I tried to make in the Speaking of Everything interview was that because Ken is in fact so amazing, people unfairly (and impossibly) expect him to be able to deliver to them some kind of personal spiritual salvation. A related, collective (LL quadrant?) notion of what is going on with Ken now was recently put forth to me by a fellow named Jordan (wonderful name, eh?) on the Zaadz site, who goes by the moniker Lucid Life. This is what he wrote to me (emphasis added):
"I've been thinking a lot about this since you first mentioned it. And it's actually put a whole lot in perspective for me. I think this was bound/meant to happen. But I don't think it's Ken's fault. I think Ken's followers, myself included, have done this to him. I have been constantly obsessed by “Ken's insights.” What's funny, is that I was attributing his ideas to his EGO. Haha. Sounds a bit backwards to me. I'm trying to transcend my own ego, and yet, I'm building up someone else's.The reason I say I think this happened for a reason, is because of how it's profoundly affected my perspective on everything Ken has said. No longer is this “his” insight, but it is all of our insight (not in the egoic sense, of course). It is universal insight. It is wisdom that only now are we ready to hear. I think Eckhart Tolle does a very good job of reminding us of this when he speaks – almost too much so. Unfortunately, Ken maybe didn't do this enough.
But it's not his fault. In my opinion, we 'created' this egoic entity in Ken, and that's why he has so much trouble seeing it. He's transcended his personal ego, but the collective ego we've created for him snuck up in the process. And why have we created this ego? So we can borrow it. When we speak his teachings, we've got this collective ego behind us.
Fortunately, this downward spiral can teach us this, can make us question our beliefs and inherit them as our own, not simply ideas that we have borrowed – backed not by the ideas and experiences of others, but by our own revelations, insights, and feelings."
Conclusion: Beyond my Ken?
There are times when I think this whole Ken Wilber imbroglio is, in fact, beyond my ken, beyond my ability to understand and comprehend and know what to do. But the reality is that I, personally, have been blessed by Ken's thinking, by his presence when I was fortunate to spend a few days with him, and by all the good he has done in and for the world. Despite any faults that he may have, or any trouble that he may have brought upon himself, Ken deserves to be honored and loved. While this new Ken, embroiled in a bit of trouble, is beyond the Ken of simpler times, he is still my Ken, and probably as a whole, for the readers of this site, he is still our Ken. So go ahead and pray, forgive, use what works, do your own reading and practices, and forgive Ken and forgive yourself individually and all of us, collectively. You Ken do it, if you want to.
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3. The Digital Zen Alarm Clock: A Great New Product (From A Venerable Product Line)
Remember that bit about helping to support Enlightenment.Com – which is most certainly not our day job – so that we can continue to bring you interviews and newsletters and other goodies? Well, when Enlightenment.Com was first born, the site was barely able to support itself, and that "barely able" was due almost entirely to one product line: the fabulous Now & Zen alarm clock. Today, we have re-introduced a relatively new Now & Zen timepiece into our store: the Digital Zen Alarm Clock.
The Digital Zen Alarm clock is a masterful accomplishment by my old law school buddy and soon-to-be-published-integral-author, Steve McIntosh. (By the way, feel free to go to Now & Zen if you like, but then if you do decide to buy a Digital Zen Alarm Clock, please come back here and make the purchase – our price, including shipping, is the same as their's!). The Digital Zen Alarm Clock incorporates the best of digital control interfaces as well as a beautiful acoustic chime. With this handsome, fully portable clock, you get the following features:
- Progressive time with gradually-increasing chime progression
- Interval timer
- Countdown timer
- Hourly chimer
- Available in 3 different natural wood finsihes, and two different tones
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4. Dan Millman: Some New Free Video Interview Clips
Do you like Dan Millman? I do. In fact, over the years, from my first encounter with his book The Way of the Peaceful Warrior through his later book Everyday Enlightenment and then my personal interview with him, I have found Dan consistently engaging, genuine, positive, and very knowledgeable. So, if you like Dan like I do, then you are in luck, for two reasons.
So, we have for you new, free, Dan Millman interview video to watch. Starting here, you can watch 4 new clips (totaling close to 35 minutes!) of high-quality video (with me, Jordan Gruber, as the interviewer off-screen), and you can go back and watch the first 3 clips in this series if you missed them earlier. This will give you a wonderful sense of how Dan thinks and expresses his wisdom in real time. This is our free offering to you, and we hope you enjoy it.
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5. 4 Short Book Reviews
So, to start with, Adam Rhine's Hebrew Illuminations is a stupendously beautiful book. Rhine, a professional artist since 1991 and a member of the American Guild of Judaic Art, has put together a coffee table book of illustrations of both the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and a variety of Stars of David (i.e., 6-pointed or Jewish stars).
From the coloring to the fine graphic detail, these hand-drawn letters andstars unflinchingly reveal the magic that is at the core of Hebrew and Jewish written expression.As Rabbi David Zeller says in the book's forward:It is indeed illuminating to see how far the Hebrew letters have traveled around the world and into the cosmos. It is a wonder how they have inspired people of many religions, traditions, cultures, and professions. What is this fascination with these strange shapes – the ancient, timeless, Hebrew letters?… As you contemplate these letters now, go beyond the identified letter and its 'sub-atomic' letter particles. Allow your imagination to soar and
take you through the portals of these glyphs to the worlds beyond them.…
This is the nature of the contemplative process: we open ourselves to the stimulus – here, the bold and richly colorful illuminations of the Hebrew alphabet – and our inner being supplies the rest, taking us to previously unimagined universes within. The potential of art rooted in the sacred is to take us on a sacred journey on which we discover our own unique relationship to the source of life.
Each letter occupies its own over-sized page, and facing it is a description of the letter along with commentary written by Rhine. Relevant prayers and sayings, in Hebrew, are also sprinkled throughout the book.
After theletters of the Hebrew alphabet come the Stars of David, and these are truly visionary and breathtaking in both their conception and execution. If you are Jewish, or know someone who is Jewish, or are just interested in things relating to the core of the Western esoteric tradition, then this book is a must-have. I truly feel lucky to have a copy to hold in my hands and to show my friends. Children love the beautiful images as well.
Also in the Jewish tradition is Jason Shulman's The Instruction Manual for Receiving God. Shulman, a Kabbalaist who has also drunk deeply from the well of Buddhist Dharma, is the founder of A Society of Souls, a school based in New Jersey dedicated to awakening the human spirit. Shulman writes in a direct but low-key manner, presenting us with 108 (a number favored by Buddhists) "seed passages" which he invites us to meditate and reflect on.
For example, one of the seed passages states that "God receives us just as we are. But we
don't receive ourselves in the same way. We don't love ourselves as we our. Our deepest work is not so much to improve ourselves as to realize ourselves, to see ourselves clearly and dearly." Then, the commentary on this passage concludes that, "The secret here is
that we are not practicing being better than we are. We are simply practicing
kindness toward who and what we are."
Next we have Living Wisdom with His Holiness The Dalai Lama by Don Farber and the Dalai Lama. Once again, Sounds True has done a stunning job in presenting an absolutely breathtaking boxed set. You get four things with Living Wisdom:
- a 47 minute DVD spanning 25 years of the Dalai Lama's career with over 400 beautiful photographs by Don Farber set to sacred Tibetan music
- a 145 page "study guide" with the Dala Lama's classic lessons on The Six Transcendent Perfections, the qualities one needs to cultivate in order to achieve enlightenment
- a full-length music CD with musicians, monks, and nuns chanting and singing original compositions, along with a few tracks featuring some traditional chanting by the Dalai Lama himself
- a set of 36 Dalai Lama "contemplation cards" (the size of medium-large Tarot cards) featuring an image of the Dala Lama on one side and a contemplation from his teachings on The Six Transcendent Perfections on the other side
It all fits together in a sturdy box, and for fans of the Dalai Lama or Tibetan Buddhism generally, it's hard to imagine a nicer gift.
Finally, we have Dennis Roth's Oozing the Moon: A Sky and Night Woods Guide to the Galaxy. Dennis's previous book, Rhythm Vision, was reviewed on Enlightenment.Com quite a while ago, and this book continues and takes Dennis's perspective to the next level. Written mainly as a kind of journal or diary, Dennis has discovered that by hanging himself upside down, for example, over a park bench on the perimeter of a lake in Northern Virginia, he sees the night sky and the world quite differently and as startlingly beautiful.
While the only actual image we get is on the cover, Dennis – who holds a PH.D. in cultural anthropology, and who was Chief Historian of the U.S. Forest Service from 1979-1989 – is a really excellent writer. As he describes his experiences of seeing light and trees and clouds bend and shift and morph … especially fro mthe upside down perspective, we are given fascinating observations on everything from philosophy to mythology to quantum physics. As the book cover says, "This book, full of fun and sparkling language, gives us a profound appreciation of the galaxy we all call home."Here's a brief passage, taken from the Preface:
Circadian Rhythm–5/28/04.
I found a new place to trip. In the second of the two nature parks I frequent… I recently discovered a hidden field of mowed grass. It has two small storage buildings for park equipment and some big trees in the middle of the field. It also sports four picnic tables, which are in front of the trees. When I first discovered the lace, I liked it for the trees in he field and those that surround it, pus its relative isolation. In its own way, hanging over the tables is as good
as inverting over the lake or a stream. Reflections aren't absolutely necessary. I think I've said this before, but upside down the eyes naturally see more panoptically – Big Sky, Big Trees, Big Mind is what happens! Almost
everything looks better, more interesting, more real, and stranger upside down. Also the cicadas not in full voice and movement. They were fluttering gall over the trees and bouncing off my forehead.
This book is an outstanding achievement by an individual who has something to share, something to say, and a great deal to give. If you like good writing about unusual visual
effects, then I heartily recommend this volume to you.
6. Samhein, the Tree, Responsibility, and Me: A Morality Musing
But wait a minute. Neo-Pagan? What does that mean? (Yes, this is a tangent, but as Dan Millman said in the first of his new Enlightenment.Com interview video clips, "I'm going off on a brief tangent. I love tangents. As a writer, that's what I do.")
And so, when I made the mistake that I made, I suffered, because I felt a hole in the Force that resulted from my inattention. A living being – a gorgeous 30 foot tall flowering plum tree that I myself had planted in 1990 – was no longer shedding its purple grace in my backyard, no longer visible from my back door.
But I had felt queasy about it. And so I consulted with two of the people closest to me … but they were both kind of busy, and both said, "Go ahead and do what you think is right." Well, I was looking for someone to give me a red or yellow light, and I didn't get it, and I didn't give myself that red or yellow light even though the still small voice in the back of my mind – at least, this is what I tell myself in retrospect – was urging me to reconsider.
And then a couple of people came home, including my 7-year-old daughter, and they both hated it. Hated it. "Why did you have that done?" they said. And "Why did it have to happen now?" And "It looks terrible."
I became pretty upset. At one point I had to go lie down and cry a bit. It just felt terrible, there was absolutely nothing I could possibly do, and it was, really, nobody's fault but mine.
Eventually, I processed things through by talking to a few people. The next weekend we rearranged the backyard so that the eye was no longer drawn to the hole (and the junk pile you could see once the flowering plum was taken out) but instead to other beautiful things. If you now look out from the back door you see prayer flags and a very nice Fichus in a pot (and, really, the Fichus was just too big for the deck where it was … we tried putting the Norfolk Pine-in-a-pot back there too, but it didn't like it very much).
So, what did I learn? Or what had I failed to learn when I made my poor decision? Or perhaps, what was it, once again, did I manage to teach myself? Simple: When I get a strong instinct, when I hear the voice, trust it. I hate to say it, because I know it's politically and spiritually incorrect, but I should have listened to my feelings, to my instincts.
But because the flowering plum was still relatively small, I thought it would be OK to act for convenience's sake. What a mistake that was. I simply over-looked the fact that this tree was something that I loved, that was part of my life not just visually but energetically.
And what does this Morality Musing have to do with Samhein? Samhein is the time of year when the veil between the world's is thinnest and most passable. I am going to go out, tonight, and be where the tree was, feel its spirit, and ask for its forgiveness (and my own full forgiveness of my own perfectly imperfect self). And I invite you to do the same, with someone or something from your past, even if in memory only. Dead or alive, it doesn't matter. Just say hi, freely give of your blessings and positive energies, and then come back into the present.
7. The Ultimate (Bungee-Based) Rebounder: Truly the Next Step in Rebounding Technology
But until I discovered the rebounders made by the German/Swiss company Bellicon, I was bummin', because every rebounder I had tried came apart under my intense regimen. (45 minutes X 200 pounds X 100 bounces a minute X spring-based acceleration ='s a whole lot of force.) The springs broke, the mats started fraying and coming apart … I was not a happy camper.
Then, like magic, after I registered the domain name "ChiBounding.com," a German woman named Sylvia Dreiser Farnsworth – yes, related to the great American author Theodore Dreiser – contacted me and we quickly struck up a deep friendship, both because she was both moving to America and was just as interested in and experienced at rebounding as I was (in some way, she was much more knowledgeable). Well, wouldn't you know it that Sylvia represents Bellicon and sells their products here?
First, I had the pleasure to try their spring-based reobunders. Finally, a rebounder that didn't break! Then, even better, about 1.5 years ago she introduced me to what she called "The Ultimate Rebounder." Instead of springs, it used a kind of high-tech bungee-band to attach the special mat to the frame and provide resistance and acceleration. Instead of springs! This was heresy, and yet, as soon as I tried it, I knew that the next technological step forward had been made.
Why heresy? Because conventional wisdom held that any rebounder using anything like a "band" would have to be a cheap unit, like the one Walmart sells for $20.00. How could some kind of "band" possibly compare to high-grade springs? (One of the things about Bellicon's spring-based units was that they used shorter, thicker, and overall heavier springs than any American-built unit I'd ever seen.) Well, these weren't ordinary "bands" but instead were a very special, proprietary type of "bungee band" or elasticized string that gave a far smoother, softer, and more ecstatic bounce. Every single able-bodied person I know who has tried both prefers the Ultimate Rebounder (although it does take more energy and balance to use one). Especially for those with lower back problems of any kind, this unit is really worth trying.
Bellicon's Ultimate Rebounders are still quite expensive, as they are imported into America in small shipments still. One day, I hope to see the price come down by more than half, and for those who simply can't afford the price of a moderately expensive bicycle, the best thing to do is to not even try one of the Ultimate Rebounders even if you get the chance! (Once they've seen Paris…)
I still like, and occasionally pull out, my spring-based Bellicon unit, because it does indeed give me a different kind of bounce that on occasion, especially for deeper structural work, can be useful. But day in and day out I'm on the Ultimate Rebounder, and I expect one day, many millions of others will be as well. If you know someone who is at the high-end of physical experience, you may want to let them know about the Ultimate Rebounder.
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8. Invitation: A Simple Practice For You
A few years ago my good friend Lance, the host of Enlightenment.Com's Meditation Hall, gave me some advice when I was having difficulty sitting down and meditating daily. "Every day," he said, "even if you can't meditate, make sure that you take 10 deep breaths in a row at some point during the day."
Sound advice. Breathing deeply triggers all sorts of beneficial physiological and psycho-spiritual responses. It can be done almost anywhere, it costs nothing, and it almost always "works" in the sense that perceptions broaden, the body relaxes, and things come both into focus and deeper perspective.
Most people, though, as my friend Sun pointed out, space out at about breath number 7. Yeah, it *should* be simple to breathe deeply 10 times in a row – 10 full inhalation and exhalation cycles – but in point of fact, it's not as easy as it sounds to actually carry it out (or is that carry it off?). It can bring up digestive reactions, it can look funny to people around you, it can "distract" you from what you're doing in the physical world, it can distract you from your normal patterns of mind-chatter.
Any daily practice is hard. You may have one or more regular, daily, practices, and feel it would be a waste of time for you to do three series of ten deep breaths a day for a week or a month or two. But if you don't have one or more daily no-matter-what regular practices, then you might get a lot of value from going with this.
I, for one, will be doing 10 full breath cycles, three times a day, every (and I mean *every*) day from Samhein to Solstice, a kind of Magickal Dedication to the Powers of Simple Practices. I think of this as a challenge, and as a game of sorts. Won't you join me in playing this bit of the enlightenment game? Won't you join me in this simple practice?
Try it at least once, would you? I think you'll like it.
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9. Thank You!
Thanks for opening and reading this newsletter. And thanks to Jeramy, Sylvia, my family, Shadow, Raja, and especially Gabriel, for their help on this one.
Enlightenment.Com is what you make it, and we appreciate everything that youhave helped to make it so far. As we bring more audio and video online, we think that the
pathway to EVOLUTION:COMMUNITY:TRANSFORMATION will be somewhat accelerated, and we invite you to join us on that journey.
Blessings to You,
Jordan Gruber, Founder, CEO, and
Editor-in-Chief, Enlightenment.Com
© 2006,
Enlightenment.Com, Inc., and Jordan Gruber
Access: Public
Sorry for the formatting issues here. This was an experiment; I just wanted to see if my Enlightenment.Com newsletter would port of, with no changes, and work through the Zaadz system. MOst of it is readable, and the links work, so I guess I should be happy.
If you want to subscribe to the Enlightenemnt.Com newsletter so you can in the future get these correctly formatted, please go to http://enlightenment.com/xcart/catalog/index.html. And if you’d like me to forward you a properly formatted version, just send me a message here on Zaadz.
Thanks for all your patience.
– Jordan
P.S. And I did go out to the tree. And only one more set of ten to go…