May be it was too arrogant of me to think that I can serve as a balancing influence in such a community.
The result was to be perceived as an unwelcome trouble maker, critical and judgemental of individual members. So I was unceremoniously banned yesterday for posting the following comments on my space What is Spirituality.

--------------------------------- 

Practical Spirituality is marked by personal development on the three levels of Meditation, Study, Service.

We meditate on what we study and on how any wisdom, extracted from study via meditation, can be put into action through service.

If personal change within does not manifest in due course in vigorous involvement in service activities in the outer world, our spirituality is not of a practical kind and will not contribute to the task of Externalizing on the physical plain the presence of the spiritual hierarchy of the Elder Brothers of the human family.

This community is full of stunning imagery and wording of spirituality but I confess to being confused and saddened by the seeming lack of awareness that every minute of the time while we are thinking of spiritual development hundreds of children die of starvation related diseases.

There must be some serious dearth of practical spirituality in this hallowed corner of cyberspace.

----------------------------

OK, maybe it is too strong a language for some sensibilities; but I was hoping to initiate a mature discussion. I must be quite naive.

Anyway, querying the decision, I got this reply (italics are mine) explaing the moderator's decision (which I respectfully accepted in a return e-mail):
---------------------------------
Hi there Janos,
We have just read your post saying how saddened by this group you are.
Indeed, yes the dreadful fact that there are starving children in the world is sheer disgusting and shocking in itself.
However, the site is of a personal development nature, and is about the personal development levels that suit each member here.
We are  sure that everyone here shares the same views on the matter of children around the world, but that does not mean that our spiritual forum should be fingered out and criticized for the fact that what draws most people here, is to meet like minded people who are too, on the spiritual development path.
Everyone has the right to freedom of speech, and the forum is a great place to air views about spiritual topics. But, we are not happy to see the community falling prey to criticism, and judgment of  members. There are many members here who help towards the topic you speak about, and everyone does what they can.
After careful consideration we have decided to end your membership here, as you may find a suitable membership with a group which addresses the topics you speak of.
Good luck on your journey.
Blessings
Spirit Path Adminsitration.

Is this a satisfactory outcome?

Have a very good vakation. We will mind the store (unles you are planing to be with us through mobile computing)

J

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Re: Your mails to Keith

Yes please do. I am always ready to reconcile unfortunate disputes...

In this case maybe there have been some misunderstandings that fueled some of it.

Anyway I can agree to forget the past and move on

Zak

Sent about 5 hours ago by janos

Re: Your mails to Keith

Zakariyya,

Thank you for putting your side of the story. Have I your permission to forward this meail to Keith?

It may help with a reconciliation.

Janos

Sent about 6 hours ago by Zakariyya

Re: Your mails to Keith

Hello

Thanks for your kind words.

But it is I who is baffled at the aggressive hostile treatment towards me by Chrysalis, Keith, and a few others on your pod. In fact it is I who probably will complain to Zaadz at this treatment. It is amazing that I attacked or was hostile to not one individual on this pod, and these people go around calling me names[ of course in a nice way] and I am the bad guy!

"Now I am quite unable to comprehend how you can send emails full of unfounded accusations and hostile warnings to Keith. These messages are quite out of character when viewed against your public communications. This is not a private matter between you and Keith because you are talking about a member of our community."


Look read the posts and Keith always threatening me, and disparaging me [not others who started this unfortunate abuse]. That's why I threatened him with going to Zaadz hierarchy and complain about the abuse heaped on me in this pod.

Why would I bother Keith, I don't even know him. I have nothing against him or the pod, in fact if I didn't like the pod I wouldn't be on it. I only am responding to the hostility heaped on me. I didn't start this.

I have never in all my experience with other pods, or other forums, been abused like I have on this pod!


You need to read the posts before you pass judgment on me, as you are unjustly doing, in defense of your friends.

It is I who am the aggrieved person here not you or Keith.

I commented that I thought it was all right for Michael Sharp to post his links, and after that came the immediate hostility towards me from Chrysalis calling me an egotist and disparaging my profile. I answered his charges and stated to him that he was being unjust, in essence. Then it got worst as Keith accused me of causing trouble [a falsehood]

Then others on the pod found it neccassary to pounce on me.


I emailed Keith and told him his slandering me would not do. I wouldn't allow it because it wasn't the truth.

What is wrong with that?

I am mocked, called names and I am the bad guy.

Judge for yourself



Anyway as long as these people refrain from their offensiveness towards me, I will have no complaints.  I feel without a doubt that I was personally publicly attacked by people for being different here. That to me is not the true spirit of what Zaadz is about. I will leave them alone, but I am not going to sit idly by and be abused and unjustly personally attacked.


I don't care being challenged on my posts not being relevant to the pod, that's fine, but being disparaged by these people and personally attacked is not acceptable to me.


I never have and never will abuse, personally attack, anyone on any pod, or forum I have been on, am on, and will be on. That's not my method of communication.

On the other hand I WILL NOT STAND BY AND BE PERSONALLY ATTACKED BY ANYONE.

In fact if I see another person attacked by anyone I WILL GO TO THEIR DEFENSE.

That's my nature


Finally this can be resolved if those people discontinue their abuse of me. If it doesn't stop though I reserve my right to counter their abuse. I will never initiate what they initiated towards me, I don't start fights.

Sent about 13 hours ago by janos

Your mails to Keith

Hello Zakariyya,

Before writing this mail, I have looked at the material on your personal page and it is really fascinating. Also, I have just read your latest on the Esoterics board which stirred a lot of relevant thoughts in me about what we are trying to do at the Knights & Maidens Roundtable.

Now I am quite unable to comprehend how you can send emails full of unfounded accusations and hostile warnings to Keith. These messages are quite out of character when viewed against your public communications. This is not a private matter between you and Keith because you are talking about a member of our community.

I would be obliged if you took the time to explain your behaviour in this respect.
You could easily be banned from the pod but we want to apply that solution only as a last resort.

Janos

I find Zaadz space still confusing. The write up about Zaadz Lounge (the "uber" pod) says that it is "a place for relaxing and chatting." So it is replete with recreational posts and small talk issues. So the occasional entries about "serious" concerns get rather hidden under the general hubbub. 

I suppose it would be too much to ask for a facility allowing copies to be made in one's own space of only items of interest to oneself. To overcome this lack I will experiment with copying the links to my favourite posts on which I might want to comment arranged under a few collective headings.

Ideas and proposals
http://pods.zaadz.com/zlounge/discussions/board/2028

Change agents
http://pods.zaadz.com/zlounge/discussions/board/2872

Analysis of US Census data reveals that 20% of Americans (60 million) live on less than 7 dollars a day.

Given the price levels in this richest of societies, this means that one out of five Americans is no better off than the poor in the poorest countries.

Since most zaadzlanders lives in America, I have to apologize for bringing up this subject. But consciousness raising and awareness expansion being a major interest here, it must be pointed out that spiritual development includes having the strength not to deny that something is very wrong under the surface alongside all the good things we can point to.

Doing what one can do, rather than what needs to be done seems to be an illusion afflicting so many of the good people of the world. And zaadzLanders seem to replicate that aspect of the larger world. But why do we decide that something cannot be done even if that is the only thing that will make a real change? Maybe it relieves the tension and discomfort arising from feeling powerless in face of a seemingly impossible task.

The story comes to mind of the good man walking the beech  strewn with millions of stranded crabs. Throwing them back one by one, he is seen by someone who remarks how hopelessly large is the task is. Our friend replies throwing one of the crabs "it is not hopeless for this one". Thus the "feel good" factor is justified.

Why do Americans tolerate this shameful "state of the union". One reason is that clear awareness of the facts is missing. It is always more satisfying to register stories with happy endings and facts that do not intrude on our mental comfort zones.

Having become a citizen of Zaadzland about a month ago I am still confused about what I am doing here.

It looked like a world-wide community of people whose intention was tha create a new world (new heaven and new earth?).

Instead I find that most people are here for three main reasons:
* to engage in "recreation posting" of whatever grabs their fancy at the moment;
* to engage in abstract, psycho-spiritual philosophical discussions;
* to talk about various ways of rearranging the dis-ease symptoms in the world while it is slowly or cataclysmically dying around us.

Apologies for this over simplified statement of where Zaadzlanders are at. It is just my way of "thinking aloud".

A search for "all pods" reveals that, as at April 26, there are 782 pods. The list seems to be sorted according to the number of members. This is useful for seeing what interests are uppermost in public consciousness.

The easiest start is to look at which pods have most members and which the least (right down to zero). Mine is right up there with one, kind, member!

Looking for one of my my favourite subjects, evolution, I see that there are 44 pods. Promising count. Within the category two pods are about "conscious evolution", a really exciting concept for me. They have a sizeable membership of 216 and 164. Very promising.

Well, one pod seems to be concerned with personal aspects of conscious evolution, so is the other. Nothng about what we, as a species, may become; or with what species will evolution replace us if we commit specicide.

I posted a message on a certain topic in zLounge hinting at a deficiency in awareness in the "New Consciousness" movement. There seems to be a belief that needed/desired changes come about as a result of thinking beautiful thoughts and speaking beautiful words.

A day and three new posts later it seems that no one has read the message or understood the hint. Maybe it is not surprising because it challenges the culture of addiction to the "feel good" factor (complacency, to use a slightly stronger term).

Following my usual habit, I will wait another day or so before posting again to spell out what I was trying to say.

As a practical philospher, George Soros may be in a class of his own.

As he says in the prologue to his book, The Age of Fallibility, he "combines three qualifications":

He has

• a conceptual framework that has given him a way of understanding history;
• a set of firm ethical and political beliefs;
• a lot of money to nurture the political seeds of  Open Society in many troubled parts of the world.
• 
  

Soros may be among the most competent and ethically guided critics of current American foreign policy. So the subtitle of the book is Consequences of the War on Terror.