What We Must Do To Ascend (Page 2 of 3)

oh my GOD PJ.  i think i kinda get it.  u blow me away.  knowing the deal on fungus and bacteria, how their DNA tries to mingle with ours, how 'their' RNA will synthesize and go RETRO--against the flow of life is key.  all these damn retro-viruses.  if ppl only knew.  how retroviruses work.   as u are well aware, they FOOL /TRICK the body into making MORE.  then it takes over.  i always said that viruses were alien.  implanted here, inserted.  they actually DO insert.   this entire tricking thing.  how that works.  i see u KNOW these things.  we will have to talk more and im going to mail u.  i understand.  i am sorry to hear ur sick.  i felt u were away.  i vibe u and the younger and old crones we have here.   dontcha know my lady, how enthralled ive been to hear of ur croning.   will mail u in days.   been wanting to.    look for it coming in thru the ethers.    us FAT LADIES!!!!!!!!  HAH!!!!  u crack me up.  instead of "swing away" to the brother in the movie Sightings, we can/will SING AWAY my friend.

Antaeus your comments about sphere hopping and globe trotting interest me too.  I know Blavatsky wrote of that evolutionary process and what i got was that it refers to distinct globes in the solar system but not always physical.   Depending on the spiritual evolution of the race, the sojourn may be experienced at higher density spheres of the globes. 

For example even now there are very spiritually evolved souls in the etheric plane of earth, only some of whom will incarnate again on earth. (These are the hardiest boddhisatvas.)  A perpetual Golden Age of soul satisfying 'perfections' is in full swing in the etheric plane (which is the highest material plane.)  It acts as a preparatory step for the ascension into spirit and as a shoolroom for earth souls to visit during sleep (and between incarnatiions if the soul is vibrationally prepared) there to be tutored by advanced souls and Adepts.   Not all souls on earth are participating in that because not all are ready yet.  I am writing this paragraph last because i want to point out that many of us could be closer to the (personal) ascension than we think.  In consideration of that real possibility, i think it could be helpfull for each of us to have a little understanding of our current evolutionary status.  An accurate appraisal of that is not a simple matter considering our current lowly estate in the flesh.  The density of our vessells hampers memory to a large degree.  That's why i believe at least a cursory understanding of who's who on earth (in broad evolutionary terms) can begin to open our understanding of our own origin (how we got here to earth) and our history on this planet.  The true record is written in every soul and it is accessable.  While i don't think it is something to obsess about, the truth about it can come to our conscious awareness in dreams and intuitions so it's worth contemplating at least a bit.  Having a thumbnail on a page like this could help trigger a deeper awareness and bring hope that the opportunity for ascension is real because we have surely originated in higher planes.  To those planes we shall return.  And ever beyond.

As i understand it there are several distinct evolutions of beings, criss crossing planet earth today.  Humans look the same, but they are not the same.  That is pretty certain to my mind and might even shed light also, on the fundamentally different psychological profiles of the many people who have passed through the Noble Realms over the past few years, ourselves included.

The true history of the earth reads a bit like a fantasy but, considering what is actually happening on planet earth, the truth seems worth considering as a possibility.  I've seen some elements of that history discussed here in various terms so it's not all new to NR.  It's what i found in different places in my own search, including my intuitions and confirmations of parts of this picture.  Whoever reads this might consider that you might have originated from any one of these distinct evolutions on earth today and chances are, given that you're seeking, you are not soulless and not entirely indigenous to the earth either.  You may already have risen to enlightenment in the deep 'archives' of cosmic history but may have subsequently gotten ensnared here on earth in one of several ways.  When i use the term "angel" i'm not thinking wings.  The wings are symbolic of the "air" and "flight" which symbolises mental power.  The attainment of divine mind is what it's about.... and because that mind can be expanded infinitely through spiritual evolution, there is always a new "angle" of Divine Mind to discover and new dimensions of it to become.  Thus....'angels'.  If an angel is not real then just maybe, you yourself are not real.  So consider that possibility in light of earth's past, present and future.... however you believe that timeline plays out.

Beings of different origins are inhabiting physical human bodies on earth today and obviously, are not all on the same page.  Firstly, there are souls that have arisen over aeons to inhabit, finally, human form and human soul evolution.  These have come through the evolutionary 'ranks' of the mineral, plant and elemental kingdoms.  These souls are on their way up the evolutionary ladder and over aeons, move from sphere to sphere in this solar system to gain experience.  They are here on earth today.

Then there are the spiritual beings who fell from higher realms into the lower planes and now wear physical human bodies.  They got here by a circuitous route having destroyed other planets in their quest for power, before targetting earth.  These beings came here with evil intent to make earth their kingdom, independent of any higher power.  They moved in to take over and control it by severing the chord to spirit on planet earth by many devious means.  So these fallen angels are here today too.  Having fallen with great metaphysical and scientific knowledge they are "wiser in their generation than the children of light". They are totally self- interested, dangerous and cunning.  They are self- programmed to the ways of death and they seek control by programming others in the same ways.  They come bearing gifts, inducements (for us to share their appetites) threats and war as the grossest of their tools of coersion.  They are still here today on earth and in the astral planes.  They form a false hierarchy spanning both planes.

Also, many of the angel devas in etheric realms, who were tending the earth and her evolutions, responded badly to the fallen angels gate crashing the earth and engaged their powers against them.  It was a war fought at psychic levels and eventually included the psychic domination of the earth souls evolving here .  Consequently, the angel devas also fell into duality consciousness, but did so foolishly at first, in defense of their earthly charges.  Eventually, blinded by revenge and hatred,  both sides in this epic battle of 'giants' had 'conscripted' earth humans in their service and both sides were phycically dominating earth souls for their own advantage.  Both sides threw themselves at each other with all psychic and physical means, using infant humanity as fodder.  Humans were genetically altered to limit them ... make them more controllable and useable and, as i understand it, both sides participated in this sacreledge to create the "well engineered fodder" needed to defeat each other.  After falling under the psychic influence of dark, selfish forces, human souls became  willing, faithfull pawns in their "fodderhood" just like they are today.  Easily fooled by appearances and highly pliable.

[The term "fodderhood" gives new meaning to that paternal command you can still hear at my house when my son visits me and i greet him in good humour at the door..... arms outstreched and with a heavy bronx accent..... "give ya fodder'a hug.... cummun... gimme a hug".  I imagine i look more like Billy Crystal doing a zombie.   I dunno, something about the way he runs in mock fear for his life when he sees it... ..straight past me to the refrigerator.]

Sorry, back to more light hearted matters...

Anyway, that epic battle between 'angels' (of different evolution and origin) has all happened in the physical and astral planes and has happened/ is happening over vast cycles of time and space.   Everyone involved has been karmically reduced in power and potency yet war continues on earth in it's many psychic and gross forms.  The karma for genetically altering humanity, was for the warring bands of angels to reincarnate into those genetically altered bodies themselves.   And so they are here today too.   And everyone walks past each other in the street looking pretty much the same to the eyes of flesh.  Human.   But their souls are from different evolutions.  These parties also produced clones who were soulless.  These multiplied and they also are still here today.   If it wasn't for the mindmush of masses of soulless and dumbed down human beings , all the 'left / right' games on every concievable issue could not succeed.   Humans are easily divided because most are divided in their own beings.  All the psychological wounds have produced deep divisions within each individual and these are projected outward in infantile displays of affection for their enemies and pre- judice against their friends. 

Clones were just one tool produced as fodder in a war for the conquest of a planet on which divide and conquer is the main game.   The war rages to this day, in every area of life.  It is obviously not just a war of explosions and physical death, but a war of ideas, soul imprisonment and even soul death.

Lastly, another evolution of souls is on earth today inhabiting human bodies and looking pretty much like everyone else here.  I descibed them in my last post.  They are the 'newcomers' (angels too) who arrived in numbers (legend has it) in an attempt to re- ignite the fallen souls then on earth with the inspiration of their divine identity.  While it can truly be said that "you save yourself", once beings totally lose the heartflame of divine awareness they are lost and have no options left for rising again.   They are totally caught in the loops of duality consciousness, and without a lifeline, they cannot even see the possibility of a higher way.  When all the divine attributes of consciousness are snuffed out and replaced with animal passion, death is the inevitable consequence.... barring a compassionate intercession.  Legend has it that at that time every last soul incarnate on earth had severed themselves from the interior spirit and were living like animals.  A decision was made to give those souls ( the ancient warring parties) an opportunity to truly live and to reach their original estate again.  Those who came to earth in this rescue mission, volunteered to the request from one among them who had the greatest attainment of the divine mind.  That Divine Person had greater knowlege of how earth and her evolutions fits into the greater cosmic scheme and understood the great loss which would ensue and the great suffering that would continue if earth and her evolutions remained adrift in maya, illusion and perpetual conflict.  That compassionate being has been called different names in different cultures.... called "the ancient of days" in the Book of Daniel, and called "Avalokitesvara" in the east ,and today known as Sanat Kumara.

As i wrote in the last post, even that mission has had failure.  Many of these angelic souls who came to assist humanity also fell into duality consciousness and, although many have already risen, many more are still finding their way out.  But the divine memory is returning with the divine self in this cycle and souls are awakening to a new opportunity for ascension.  And many will succeed even in this life.  But very few, if any, will fully master the energies of self in the earth plane, so virtually no- one will consciously dissolve the physical body to ascend.  Only a few have ever done that.  For the majority of those who fulfill the requirements for ascension (ie... the resurrection of the lower- self and the balance of the heartflame of love, wisdom and power) the physical body will still get old and die.  I say, don't be overly concerned about that.  So long as we are balancing the energies that we have sown in ignorance and balancing the heart flame, we will be purging the soul and etheric body (called the "wedding garment" and the "deathless solar body") and raising our vibration in preparation for ultimate union with spirit.  As the physical body withers and dies, the etheric body can still shine during this incarnation and be adequate at 'death' to propell the soul to the etheric plane.  That's the preparation we need.  It is that body of light which is our ticket to the central SUN of being after we pass on.   

But the etheric body is now scarred with the karmic records of all human incarnations.  The grooves of that trauma are now also  impressed upon the mental and astral bodies causing people to get set in their ways and to repeat old patterns.  But love "covers a multitude of sins" and love has arrived in this wave of the holy spirit.  It is gently awakening us to our divine identity and to our heart friends of the ages.  We can now begin to rise above our programming in our interactions with all life and by loving service, transmute the old records of karma.   Stumbling at first we have taken a breath of inner freedom and we know we cannot turn back.  We cannot turn our backs on our inner- God in this cycle of increased opportunity (which will pass) so we are willing to be lead through the valley of the shadow to fulfill the law.  Later we will meet at that bar at the end of the universe (guess who's) and we will take a draught of the greatest love this world has ever known.  We will do that because we will bring it here first.  But even that may not always be recognised for what it is.  So, with a heart for any fate ... onward to the I AM Presence and victory in the ascension... whatever happens just around the next bend.

MIllenium--dontcha know GIRLFRIEND!!!??  u IS/WAS A CRONE--WISE ONE when u were Born.  the knowledge and thirst and thrust runs in ur veins.  ur strength, tenacity, quick wit, genius and satirical TRUTH has turned me on repeatedly.  u have no fear girl.  ur a warrior and we saw it right away.  talk about trips babe--i'd ride to hell and back with YOU.  as a matter of fact--we could just stay there if we fancy and kick some ass for something to do.  if it struck us to do so and we felt like it.   methinks its "How We ROLL."  i have been wanting to tell u that.   u been riding with the crones and this old bag here for some time.  i have been wanting to tell u that   could u just see us after our travels sidling up to the counter at the bar at the end of the universe, telling Sophia to mix us a tall one.   as our friends are on their way and we need to be tuned in to tell our war stories.   we're torn and tattered (have on the stuff Mila Jovovich wore in her latest resident evil: Extinction flick).  were all grimey and pooped but have tall tales to tell.  god, i love it.  NR'ers come rolling in and they bring guests.  wow.

i need ur email and u need mine.   we will get it straight.  we have some time, altho short (for Now). i wish u werent in Manhatten but hey, and was going to say this the other day-- I know somebody COOL in manhatten.  way cool.   id love to meet ur mother.   is she still in the Alzheimer's place?  will hang on this thread as its so fantastically interesting and i want PJ to teach me more stuff.  its all unreal.  aint it tho?   ha.

no hangover but felt that tired feeling after tears.  i didnt make 'er strong ENUF!!! Maybe, and how could that have been?!  crap vodka was/is one reason.  ever the chintz.  will mix a badass one tonite (at work right now) and think of us all.  i havent even read nexus's stuff up there but jumped on quick to the post box to get this done.  been on the mind.

im loving "this" in a difft way.  im starting to see possiibilities.  AND I JUST HAVE TO SAY this--as guardians, gatekeepers, anchorers,  ive never been the middle of anything in all my life.  im an extremist.  BUT im beginning to think the MIDDLE path is a combo/ result/amalgamation of the other ends of extreme.  one MERGES these attributes, takes ALL into consideration, and rides a pathway right down the middle.   as both 'side's then (dark and light can be inserted here);  have been accessed.  im LIKIN' it.  right down the freakin' MIDDLE.   hmmmm

I better be getting in on the action with some of these email orgies, people!  I might not post enough... but I can't imagine not having all of your wonderful words to read and quote in my notebooks.  Great stuff in here zen, pj, nexus and the rest of ya.  I'm gonna really try to spend some time digging through my stuff and kicking out a few decent posts before all is said and done... but I noticed zenden and a few others don't have their email on the site so I wanted to mention it somewhere.

I've been really sad too, Z - my eyes have been crazy puffy ever since I found out.  I think they're finally starting to recover but mah face still don't look right lol   Speaking of making drinks tonight (good idea, lyra you up for more pina coladas? lol) Last night a few of us got back on the ol' IRC and it really made me feel a lot better - which I was needing.  So anyway Zenden, and the rest of you guys who are sad you should find a way to pop on tonight because I'm pretty sure a few of us are gonna be back in there later on.  If you have trouble getting IRC going just send me a message and I'll help you with it.  Will be fun if you get a chance.  If not I'll be sending you big hugs and lookin out fo' your email in the ethers.  We'll get it all figured out though, I'm slowly feeling better about it after the initial shock.  Can't wait to talk more ?

W H O A nexus.  oh god, again.  man u have such terrific writing ability.  ur one that definitely should consider writing a book. i have no doubt of it, but u know this IS the story and whats going on, but this has been explained with slightly difft players, using difft language and difft labels, but ALL remarkably the SAME.  in outcome, in story level, in origin.  we can throw in lyrans, orions, arcturians, elemental,s all the players.  and theres wasy more labels and/or names.  i sincerely give YOU the utmost credit for spieling that out like u did,  u have the most INTEGRITY.  and the sincere intent to deliver what u know and have found.  it takes tremendous credence to call a spade a spade and name names.  or explain it from one solid angle.  u explained it well there.  and we have talked abotut the players before.  in many ways and in many threads. 

the state of the human there is a mess.  what a muddle for the muddles.  what a tangled absurdity and still wreaking havoc.  the war in heaven, whatever EXPLANATION (of the players) is THE DEAL. as u have outlined.  we differ in the sense that i think/feel/know (went out on a limb with that one  by saying 'know') that indeed, NOUS somehow, some kind of instigated nous and and epinoia, injected in occurs somehow after time all the above events u outlined, in certain sectors, for some of the humans, and and an overall lifting to another realm reality for the ex-human or human players occurs in a slightly greater number.  and with slightly difft forms. all that matters not though.  humans have to keep evolving somewhere, since they were so engineered and i think nous breaks them out of the mold, that they eveolved anyway even tho it wasnt planned, or expected and they shed that engineered role.  get/become higher in the herarchy as a breed, a species.  and im partially a de-humanist.  (they can be so disappointing).   its  so worn out how the cycling goes.  i think the warranty is out/up on it.  i say this after reading the Pistis Sophia, the padgett channelings more recently.   altho skewed they had the master backing uop much u said.  now, the kumaras (are they truly brothers?) and could u explain more on that for us here,  please?

several works (lots gnostic), myths legends explalin this ascension phenomena.  i looked up Barbelo and was amazed at how these players in this cosmic gam are known to mankind and to other beings from interplanetary courts and schools.  history has stored all this.  all can be found.  i think some will definitely make it past many realms, really jumping them and not in order like the egyptians have said, and im thinking some wiser egyptians way knew better.   i cant see tho how ppl that dont know who they are will, since i think the plan is imprinted on some, in some, to do so.  and that that decision was made and installed by that being somehow.  as its been seen and done already kinda sorta.   the reality will change here for these humans, more than suspected is what im thinking.  in the whole sector.  so that the games like they have cant be played as rotten again, as overall evolution keeps speaking and this is so worn out, here.

that was a great epic post nexus.  laughed at the bar bit at the end and didnt expect it.   u have to know the tab's on me.  ur additions to posts and threads are monumental.  the knowledfge u've disseminated.   ur billy crystal new yorker schtick was delightful.   u r so brilliant and well read.  (we can picture it and hear it when ur son visits--that was cool and funny and a good share).   i think this should be the time, that if u have more of ur views--tell it.

[zenden...I sent  you an email to your zenden2 address.  not sure if that's still a valid address for you or not, but just thought i'd let you know..........]

Thanks Daisy, Zen.   It looks like there really is a war in the "heavens" and true, it is engaged in the lower astral and lower mental planes.  The dark powers can't get beyond those lower regions into the upper astral and upper mental planes nor into the etheric planes, all of which are much clearer and lighter and populated with a more evolved calibre of soul.  We don't want to gravitate to the lower astral or lower mental planes after 'death', so it's essential to progress our spiritual growth while we're in this physical body.  By transmuting the negative energy in our personal energy field, we give ourselves the best opportunity to rise above all strife in this world and in the spheres beyond after 'death'.  If we do a fine job refining our soul while still in this body, we can consciously realise the etheric realms (the "Tushita Heavens" in Buddhist lore) while we are still in this body and we can easily consciously awaken in the etheric plane at 'death'.   Then from there, when the requirements for ascension are met we can fully ascend into the I AM Presence in spiritual planes.  But certain requirements must first be met.

I've seen it written around the place that if we are 51% STO we fulfill the requirements for ascension.  I think that comes from the 'Ra' material (from the 1980s) and David Wilcock and others are passing it along, perhaps also from other sources subsequent to Ra, (the 'Cassiopaeans?) i don't know.  But i think that concept it is a misunderstanding of an earlier dispensation given in the 1950s or 1960s before 'Ra' appeared on the scene (i think it was released through 'The Summit Lighthouse').  I believe that the source of the Ra material, whoever that is, has simply taken the 51% concept and grafted it on to their own work in a way that shreds it of it true meaning.  The true meaning being actually, that if we balance 51% of our karma (those misqualified energies sown by the soul in ignorance during all incarnations) we will have fulfilled just one of the requirements for ascension and will no longer be compelled to take physical embodiment again. (the remaining 49% of karma can be balanced from higher planes).  That is a fair bit different to what the 'Ra' material is saying.  Personally i don't accept the Ra material as a very accurate source of information on a few important things and that is one of them.   

Think about it.  If we spend this lifetime devoting 51% of our interactions with people in a sevice to others orientation (as Ra says we must do to ascend), will that necessarilly balance 51% of the karma we have ever made in the earth planes?  To me, they are two very different concepts.  For instance, if i have a heavy karma, lets say i had positions of power many times and failed to use it in service to others,(say i used it in STS)  and let's say i was responsible for the unnecessary suffering of many people, could i expect to just cheer up today, behave well 51% of the time in STO (and behave selfishly 49% of the time) and leave my karmic responsibilities behind?...  Merrilly off to ascend?  or, as some would have it, to hit the ground running in an entirely different timeline?  My many victims perhaps ignorantly self- imprisoned on a worse timeline?  My many victims uncompensated by the law?...  Myself the rightful instrument of that law of compensation? ... off to another timeline? ... never to cast a backward glance at my victims? 

While it's hard to believe from appearances, we live in a universe of justice and compensation.  The 'criminal' always compensates the 'victim'.  Anyone with a modicum of remorse and respect for free will, will do that by agreeing to reincarnate in order to bring balance to old conflicts at the scene where they happened.  That is where honour comes in.  Right where we find ourselves in the here and now.   Like standing now on the beaches of Normandy, we are now at the scene of old karmic "battles".  No more asking ourselves... "Why am i here?"  We're here to honour our obligations, and more.  "Noblesse Oblige" is the motto of service.  We have each been 'vic' and perp' over and over and so we do have obligations of a karmic nature.   So the law compells us to honour our obligations to life through reincarnation.... by service to others.... until honour arises naturally within us and changes the orientation of our interactions with life from within.  So obviously, we are not just talking about a reorientation of outer behavior.  A dawning realisation of love and forgiveness is a grace that arises from within and it changes everything.  By that grace, the whole game can be transcended.   This whole opportunity we have at this time (to catch the wave of the holy spirit and to re- integrate with it and ascend) is the grace of a lifetime and should be taken with both hands.

It is true that in prior dispensations in prior ages we haven't had this grace very often.  We have had to experience our karma "by the sweat of the brow".  We have experienced what it is like to be on the recieving end of our own actions in multiple incarnations.  That karmic law has necessitated more incarnations than we care to think about.   Karmic lessons were among the main lessons we had to learn....  How does it feel to recieve what we have dealt?  And how to develop compassion in the midst of such toil?   And in each of those incarnations, fresh karma has been created and increased our obligations.  More heedless deeds were performed.  These really were not the lessons we came here to learn.  The lessons of negative karma have only been necessary because without grace, we often continued to offend others.  We chose to damn the flow of love and thereby damned ourselves (by our actions) to constant rounds of "lessons".  These "lessons" are only needed while one has a need for them.  Sounds simple.   But that can be a hard road if one keeps needing them.  And one only has a need for karmic lessons while one is engaged in the karma making activity of misqualifying energy in service to self.   To my mind, the term STS is very broad and inadequate to describe the infraction of the law because it seems narrowly to deal with human behavior.   It is deeper than behavior.  It is the misqualification of spiritual energies.  While the qualification of energy is linked to behavior it cannot be remedied simply by manning the soup kitchen downtown .... although that is a noble endeavour if done in the right spirit.  A reorientation of the flow of energy and consciousness must accompany the service to others (and ironically, much of this can be accomplished in solitude) if outer service is to accomplish more than the breaking of bread with others....what ever one's bread may be.

                     "Man cannot live by bread alone  [man cannot live on mere external physicalities]
                       but by every word  [the holy spirit of inner christ- consciousness]
                       that proceedeth out of the mouth  [that flows out from the 7 chakras]
                       of the lord"  [the 7 rayed christ- consciousness]                                           (Jesus)

The violation of freewill is also cited as the ultimate sin by the 'Ra' material.  True, but there are also countless activities of personal license (which violate the freewill of no- one) but which misqualify the personal lifeforce.   These are karma making insofar as those energies must be redeemed (at least 51%) before one requirement of ascension is fulfilled.  And that "ascension" is firstly to higher more subtle planes where the rest of the requirments for ascension need be  fulfilled. (ie... the balance of the remaining 49% of karma by redeeming / transmuting that energy too)

I realise that some consider these concepts of karma to be archaic and innacurate.  But i believe karmic responsibility results from our personal expressions or ommissions in this and other incarnations.  Since our first incarnation in matter each individual soul has 'spent' an allotment of personal energy which has streamed forth from the higher- Self through our chakras and 4 lower bodies into the material planes. That energy is 'stamped' with our personal identity and is identifiable as our own.... because it is actually ourself..... the stream of consciousness of self.   Energy which we have qualified in spiritual harmony blesses all material life, then rises back to spirit to increase the causal body.  The causal body, in spiritual planes,  is comprised of the spheres of consciousness on the 7 rays (and the 5 secret rays).   It is comprised from all spiritual energy which has been qualified harmoniously by the evolving soul in matter and (having no karmic weight) that energy has risen back to spiritual planes to increase the causal body.   This is how spiritual energy is supposed to flow freely between octaves.   The causal body is our "treasure laid up in heaven" as the scriptures record.  It is also written  "One star differeth in glory from another".  This refers to the 'star' of the causal body of each individual.  Some have greater manifest attainment of God consciousness than others and that is why "one star differeth in glory than another."   

I understand the other requirement for the ascension is the balance of the heart flame of love, wisdom and power.  At the etheric level of the heart chakra, there is actually a tiny spiritual flame which is the soul's contact at inner levels with the  christ- Self and I AM Presence. The christ flame is a 3 fold flame with each plume being one of the primary colors.  This 'fluer de lis' in the heart is colored with one pink plume (love) another yellow (wisdom) and the other blue (power).  Most people who have a manifest heartflame have it out of balance.   ie... Some people have developed power with too little love....  or love without enough power to carry it properly into action.  Or, some are more loving but lack enough wisdom to guide love's expression.... And other combinations of inbalance.   So we also need to bring these divine attributes of the heart into balance in our lives as another prerequisite for the ascension. 

I didn't intend to go into most of this.  I wanted to reply also to some points Zenden and Antaeus brought up but it's 3am.  Over the next couple of days for sure.