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Actual for You - Advice for Missionaries
X-Rated Ringtones | How Much Advertising Hype is Too Much? it.”Ringtones are sound files played by cellular or a mobile phone. They give a unique ring to a mobile phone so that it can be easily distinguished by its owner in places where there may be many cellular phones. Many new models of mobile phones also have features that allow users to create their own ringtones. Imagine the possibility of creating a ringtone for your mobile phone that is as unique as you are.Ringtones are usually melodious in nature and are used to notify the owner of an incoming call or a message. More and more ringtone options are becoming available on a near daily basis. This form of content is helping the mobile hand-set market grow. However, there is a disturbing trend of advertising hype marketing x-rated ringtones.Though personalization of mobile phones with ringtones have long been popular, many people would balk at the thought of an x-rated ringtone. Complaints would be sure to increase if mobile phones suddenly began "ringing" with sounds of persons involved in private encounters. X-rated ringtones would be sure to irritate persons in public places. Parents would certainly not want their children to be subjected to such sounds.However, it appears that x-rated ringtones are just marketing hype at this point in time. Internet advertisers play upon the curious and the free spirited people who would truly find an x-rated ringtone amusing, or at the very least a shocking conversation starter. If you have a stout enough heart to click the advertisements on the internet, you will only find well known companies selling normal ringtones that everyone already uses on a daily basis.The closest thing you may hear to an x-rated ringtone is the questionable language of some songs. Most ringtone companies, however, will judiciously choose a music file that leaves out any language The Christian group would have had no notion of what I was thinking about, even if they would have afforded me the opportunity to get a word in edgewise, but, of course, they didn’t. It was their way or the highway! Going within takes courage and effort. Simply believing in something requires little effort, and therefore frees us to build great economic, psychological, and emotional empires with our misdirected zealous energy, while sacrificing real liberation. Personal introspection involves tearing down built up delusions, and this is painful. For the brave seekers who dare take this on, however, out of the ashes of their former selves arise that which few beings can hope to experience; unbridled freedom. The Catholic Church, in my opinion, has always underestimated the seriousness of seekers within their religion. Lectio Divina, Meditatio, Oratio, and Contemplatio all bring one within God’s reach. Orison, Recollection, Void, Contemplation, Rapture, and Ecstasy are stages described by Christian mystics, stages of giving up one’s idea of “self.” Here, even ideas and concepts of heaven and God are eventually sacrificed, as one completely An Instant Health Insurance Quote Takes the Hassle Out of Finding Affordable Health Insurance I had recently ordained as Theravada Buddhist monk at Wat Pah Nanachat, a monastery in Northeast Thailand. One afternoon, as I was half asleep and resting in the shade underneath my hut after meditating all night, I thought I heard someone approaching through the jungle. This was unusual because the villagers usually respected this time of day when the monks typically rested, but it wasn’t villagers at all; I was surprised to be confronted by three aggressive Christian missionaries, two men and a woman that had somehow wandered into the monk’s living area.Nowadays the medical expenses are escalating steeply, and to protect yourself and your family, you will need to look for cheap health insurance plans.In order to obtain the most affordable health insurance quote, you need to shop around. The best place to start comparison shopping is the internet. The internet provides rapid and easy access to a wide selection of insurance companies that offer insurance plans which suit your financial plan. Instant health insurance quotes can be obtained online by filling out a simple application form. You may be asked to put down some fundamental information about your own and your family’s medical history and current health status in order to make the process simpler and faster. A number of companies will be listed, and then you can pick and choose.After you get your quotes, scan through the list and select a handful that appears as though they might suit your health care needs and fit your budget as well. Then go over these carefully and ascertain the cover that each plan provides. Many people tend to be sidetracked by the coverage that the plan provides, and overlook the monthly payment that needs to be paid. A higher coverage does not necessarily justify the payment of exorbitant premiums. A coverage that you are not likely to use is not worth spending for. Prioritize your needs in order to streamline the coverage options. Take care to understand the deductibles involved. Find out how much you need to pay yourself, and for how long, before the company takes over the burden of the entire medical bill. It is a good idea to find out the period of time that elapses before the insurance company settles a claim. This is imperative, because certain companies tend to delay the reimbursement. Compare all the policies to find out which plan is giving you the cover you require at the price that you ca “We’re not disturbing you, are we?” they politely, but firmly began. Then they proceeded to berate me about the disastrous mistake I was making, claiming that Buddhists are negative, that Buddhists believe that the world is a bad place, a place of suffering for human beings, that Buddhists have no hope and no belief in God, and going on and on about salvation and saving my soul. Instead of sitting in the jungle meditating, I should be out helping feed the poor Thais and Cambodians as they were. My first impression was that their uninvited interruption was rude and disrespectful, and something about this unrelenting display of insensitivity didn’t set right in my heart either. I could only assume that they reasoned extreme measures were called for if they hoped to save my soul from the fires of hell! I couldn’t help wonder, however, whether they were really worried about me, or perhaps worried about making points with God themselves. I'm sure that they were sincere in their beliefs, but I had done enough interior introspection via meditation to understand the tendency to use Christ no differently than a bottle of Jack Daniels, an opiate, a dependency to ease the pain of human existence. Then again, maybe it was only a simple ego thing with them – to claim superiority by swaying others to their point of view. But I just couldn’t believe how a group could be so antagonistic, although I really couldn’t blame them, somebody must have taught them to act in this manner. And as far as feeding the Cambodians, which the locals humorously regarded as “Rice for Christ,” who wouldn’t proclaim allegiance to anything if they were starving? It would have been nice if this particular Christians sect would have just offered the rice, as the Catholics did, without the brainwashing. It would never be my intention to disparage any religion or person, but I must tell you what happened and how I felt about it, although I’m not proud of it. When I was mysteriously drawn toward Buddhism, I, too, had to rely on ideas. I had to read books and so forth about meditation, but I soon verified enough of what I read with my own honest experience through practice that I didn’t have to rely on only what I read or was told – the practice of meditation does not rely on belief; it’s experiential. When meditation is experienced, no doubt remains about what one has found, nor is there a dependence on others to tell you what you should or should not believe. Everybody has their own beliefs based on many things; culture, experience, personal inclinations, and to think that we can barge into another culture with our “better or truer” ideas, or that we are the only ones with a handle on truth, is, to my mind, the pinnacle of insensitivity and ignorant self-righteousness. This is accurate not only for religions, but any ideal that becomes obsessive, be it communism, democracy or monarchies. Democracy is fine for the United States, but the Thais love their king, and they are happy. They also love Buddhism. The understanding that I developed from meditation was converted into wisdom through personal experience, not through beliefs or reading the good book. I had to be careful, however, because my mind would always attempt to take control of the insights I did experience. It attempted to take over the insights and change them into knowledge — facts that I would then become proud of, that I would recite and defend, maybe write my own bible and claim it was divinely inspired! Then I might self-delude myself into believing that God spoke to me directly. This is the danger of not understanding clearly the difference between belief and moment-to-moment experience. The old story goes that the devil and one of his prot?g?s were walking down the street and happened to see a man across the way pick up something and put it in his pocket. “What did he put in his pocket,” the prot?g? asked the devil. Oh, just a little piece of truth,” the devil replied. “Oh, oh, we’re in trouble, aren’t we? The prot?g? remarked. “No, not at all,” the devil replied. “I’m going to let him organize it.” The Christian group would have had no notion of what I was thinking about, even if they would have afforded me the opportunity to get a word in edgewise, but, of course, they didn’t. It was their way or the highway! Going within takes courage and effort. Simply believing in something requires little effort, and therefore frees us to build great economic, psychological, and emotional empires with our misdirected zealous energy, while sacrificing real liberation. Personal introspection involves tearing down built up delusions, and this is painful. For the brave seekers who dare take this on, however, out of the ashes of their former selves arise that which few beings can hope to experience; unbridled freedom. The Catholic Church, in my opinion, has always underestimated the seriousness of seekers within their religion. Lectio Divina, Meditatio, Oratio, and Contemplatio all bring one within God’s reach. Orison, Recollection, Void, Contemplation, Rapture, and Ecstasy are stages described by Christian mystics, stages of giving up one’s idea of “self.” Here, even ideas and concepts of heaven and God are eventually sacrificed, as one completely s Case Study: How A Headline Made The Difference Between 100 And 5000 Visits out the brainwashing.Want to attract thousands of visitors? If you are a blogger or webmaster struggling to succeed on the social sites, this post is a must read.For the first few months of writing I hadn’t been able to get much traffic from any of the social sites (Digg, Reddit, StumbleUp, etc.). I’d been frequently submitting to all of them but nothing stuck. I wasn’t sure why. I knew my content was good, but for some reason people weren’t going for it. I finally made a break through, and I’ll tell you exactly how it happened.The Stats - On Friday, January 26, I wrote a post titled “The Two Types of Cognition”. I posted it to Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Del.icio.us and attracted a grand total of 100 visitors in the next two days.The average time spend on the post (6:11) was great, so I knew the people who read it liked it. The problem was people weren’t seeing it.On Saturday, my friend Greg came by and told me he liked the post and that I should try to promote it. This planted the seed of curiosity. On Sunday I decided to make an effort to promote the article.I realized that my original headline wasn't effective. I’m new to copywriting, so I normally want to use headlines as labels. ‘The Two Types of Cognition’ is a perfect description of the post and it includes the main keyword, but it doesn’t give the reader any incentive.My breakthrough was galvanized by the discovery of Steve Olson's post, How This Blog Attracted 100,000 Visitors in the First 30 Days. Through Steve’s post I discovered “5 of Your Headlines Remixed” by Prepaid Cell Phone Deals There are many types of cell phone deals available on the market. At the basic level they can be divided into two types?pre-paid cell phone deals and post-paid ones. Of the two, pre-paid cell phone deals are the more popular for a variety of reasons.The inherent disadvantage of a post-paid connection is that it requires one to sign a year long contract that also carries with it a lot of fees and charges. It is for this reason that post-paid connections are not very popular with a lot of people.On the other hand, with pre-paid cell phone deals, one does not need a credit check. There is also no deposit that is required to be paid since it is pre-paid phone usage. There are also no monthly rental fees or service fees. Also no termination fee is charged if one wants to change the provider or not use a cell phone at all. The most important advantage of a pre-paid cell phone, however, is that one is always in control of the amount one spends on calls; this is not possible on a post-paid connection. Pre-paid clearly means that one can only use the phone according to the amount that has been paid.However, one also needs to remember that in order to meet their expenditure, cell phone companies recover this amount by charging more on calls and short message service. Also, one can run out of cash at a very crucial time, and there might not be a facility to recharge the amount anywhere nearby. There are often time periods on the credit limit, which means that if the amount is not used within that specified time, it expires and results in a loss for the person.Hence, for an overall analysis one needs to remember that prepaid connections are good for conditions where one does not have to make too many calls and the phone is for the primary reason of receiving calls rather than making them. It would never be my intention to disparage any religion or person, but I must tell you what happened and how I felt about it, although I’m not proud of it. When I was mysteriously drawn toward Buddhism, I, too, had to rely on ideas. I had to read books and so forth about meditation, but I soon verified enough of what I read with my own honest experience through practice that I didn’t have to rely on only what I read or was told – the practice of meditation does not rely on belief; it’s experiential. When meditation is experienced, no doubt remains about what one has found, nor is there a dependence on others to tell you what you should or should not believe. Everybody has their own beliefs based on many things; culture, experience, personal inclinations, and to think that we can barge into another culture with our “better or truer” ideas, or that we are the only ones with a handle on truth, is, to my mind, the pinnacle of insensitivity and ignorant self-righteousness. This is accurate not only for religions, but any ideal that becomes obsessive, be it communism, democracy or monarchies. Democracy is fine for the United States, but the Thais love their king, and they are happy. They also love Buddhism. The understanding that I developed from meditation was converted into wisdom through personal experience, not through beliefs or reading the good book. I had to be careful, however, because my mind would always attempt to take control of the insights I did experience. It attempted to take over the insights and change them into knowledge — facts that I would then become proud of, that I would recite and defend, maybe write my own bible and claim it was divinely inspired! Then I might self-delude myself into believing that God spoke to me directly. This is the danger of not understanding clearly the difference between belief and moment-to-moment experience. The old story goes that the devil and one of his prot?g?s were walking down the street and happened to see a man across the way pick up something and put it in his pocket. “What did he put in his pocket,” the prot?g? asked the devil. Oh, just a little piece of truth,” the devil replied. “Oh, oh, we’re in trouble, aren’t we? The prot?g? remarked. “No, not at all,” the devil replied. “I’m going to let him organize it.” The Christian group would have had no notion of what I was thinking about, even if they would have afforded me the opportunity to get a word in edgewise, but, of course, they didn’t. It was their way or the highway! Going within takes courage and effort. Simply believing in something requires little effort, and therefore frees us to build great economic, psychological, and emotional empires with our misdirected zealous energy, while sacrificing real liberation. Personal introspection involves tearing down built up delusions, and this is painful. For the brave seekers who dare take this on, however, out of the ashes of their former selves arise that which few beings can hope to experience; unbridled freedom. The Catholic Church, in my opinion, has always underestimated the seriousness of seekers within their religion. Lectio Divina, Meditatio, Oratio, and Contemplatio all bring one within God’s reach. Orison, Recollection, Void, Contemplation, Rapture, and Ecstasy are stages described by Christian mystics, stages of giving up one’s idea of “self.” Here, even ideas and concepts of heaven and God are eventually sacrificed, as one completely Eight Important Components Of An Effective Sales Letter but the Thais love their king, and they are happy. They also love Buddhism.The lifeline of most businesses is sales. If your business is unable to reach its target sales for several years, chances are your business might close sooner or later. Without ample sales, a business would find it very hard to sustain itself. Therefore, it is imperative for any company to attract as much people as possible to buy its products or contract its services.There are many ways to promote your goods or services. You could opt to advertise using the different media available today, such as television, print or even the Internet. Sending sales letters, whether through the post or the Internet, is one technique that many companies use because of its effectivity in helping boost sales.If you want to take advantage of such a tool, however, you need to know its vital components. Making a sales letter is easy, even your 10-year old child or niece can do it. The hard part is actually creating a sales letter that will effectively provide you and your company actual sales. Here are the important elements of an effective sales letter:1. Very interesting headlineThe reason why newspaper headlines are big, bold and interesting is to attract people to buy the papers. The same is true for sales letters. You not only need to highlight your headline by using a font that is bigger and bolder than the rest of the body of the letter, but you also must make it interesting and compelling.In sales letters, the headline will almost always be the one that will hook your potential customers to read the rest of the letter. Headlines that work usually give a promise, such as a discount or money back agreement, or a very compelling benefit, such as a guarantee that your product will work 100%.2. Short but substantial background of your company and productPeople usually buy from the people and companies that they trust o The understanding that I developed from meditation was converted into wisdom through personal experience, not through beliefs or reading the good book. I had to be careful, however, because my mind would always attempt to take control of the insights I did experience. It attempted to take over the insights and change them into knowledge — facts that I would then become proud of, that I would recite and defend, maybe write my own bible and claim it was divinely inspired! Then I might self-delude myself into believing that God spoke to me directly. This is the danger of not understanding clearly the difference between belief and moment-to-moment experience. The old story goes that the devil and one of his prot?g?s were walking down the street and happened to see a man across the way pick up something and put it in his pocket. “What did he put in his pocket,” the prot?g? asked the devil. Oh, just a little piece of truth,” the devil replied. “Oh, oh, we’re in trouble, aren’t we? The prot?g? remarked. “No, not at all,” the devil replied. “I’m going to let him organize it.” The Christian group would have had no notion of what I was thinking about, even if they would have afforded me the opportunity to get a word in edgewise, but, of course, they didn’t. It was their way or the highway! Going within takes courage and effort. Simply believing in something requires little effort, and therefore frees us to build great economic, psychological, and emotional empires with our misdirected zealous energy, while sacrificing real liberation. Personal introspection involves tearing down built up delusions, and this is painful. For the brave seekers who dare take this on, however, out of the ashes of their former selves arise that which few beings can hope to experience; unbridled freedom. The Catholic Church, in my opinion, has always underestimated the seriousness of seekers within their religion. Lectio Divina, Meditatio, Oratio, and Contemplatio all bring one within God’s reach. Orison, Recollection, Void, Contemplation, Rapture, and Ecstasy are stages described by Christian mystics, stages of giving up one’s idea of “self.” Here, even ideas and concepts of heaven and God are eventually sacrificed, as one completely Do I Just Trust That I Will Be Paid? it.”When it comes to affiliate marketing, oftentimes people are scared to sign up for a program, and sell a lot of products for the company, because they’re afraid that they won’t get paid. In fact, I find this to be one of the more common questions I’m asked: “How do you get paid?”While it may seem a simple question, it’s an important one to address, because the world of Internet Marketing is, for many people who are new to it, a confusing topic. A confused mind most often does nothing, so in an attempt to de-confuse some minds, this article will cover some of the more basic money questions in affiliate marketing.How do I get paid?How do you get paid at your job? Do you get a direct deposit, or does the company send you a check every 1, 2, or 4 weeks? Affiliate marketing is no different. Most often, you will start off getting paid by check directly from the company. However, as time goes on, and you earn more on a monthly basis, the company may offer you the ability to have money directly deposited into your bank account or PayPal account. PayPal or direct deposit are excellent options which should be considered if they are offered to you.If you want to know whether or not the company offers a direct deposit of some kind, just email the manager of the affiliate program and find out. Also ask what level you have to be at in order to get directly deposited commissions.When do I get paid?The timeline of payment on affiliate programs can often be a bit different than in a job. In a job, if you are paid monthly, you are most often paid at the end of the month for the hours you put in during the month.In affiliate marketing, you may market a product today, and depending on the product or service you are marketing, it could be 90 days before you get a payment. This should not be a cause for alarm, and The Christian group would have had no notion of what I was thinking about, even if they would have afforded me the opportunity to get a word in edgewise, but, of course, they didn’t. It was their way or the highway! Going within takes courage and effort. Simply believing in something requires little effort, and therefore frees us to build great economic, psychological, and emotional empires with our misdirected zealous energy, while sacrificing real liberation. Personal introspection involves tearing down built up delusions, and this is painful. For the brave seekers who dare take this on, however, out of the ashes of their former selves arise that which few beings can hope to experience; unbridled freedom. The Catholic Church, in my opinion, has always underestimated the seriousness of seekers within their religion. Lectio Divina, Meditatio, Oratio, and Contemplatio all bring one within God’s reach. Orison, Recollection, Void, Contemplation, Rapture, and Ecstasy are stages described by Christian mystics, stages of giving up one’s idea of “self.” Here, even ideas and concepts of heaven and God are eventually sacrificed, as one completely surrenders to the void and emptiness within. At this point of emptiness, the fullest emptiness imaginable, no differences exist between Buddhist and Christian, as all understanding is suspended within an ineffable ecstasy. But I related none of this to my Christian missionary friends. Thai monks had guidelines, and one was not to teach until a monk’s desire to teach was exhausted. Another guideline cautioned against teaching higher principles to self-indulged people, because good intentions could easily turn contentious for everybody, and therefore only simple morality was taught to most lay people. I could understand the reasoning behind this now. And as I looked into the bright, self-righteous, cheerful faces of these Christians, I couldn’t help feel a pang of jealousy. In a way, I wished that I could still be as happy as they were, living in their world of images. But I could no longer do that. This uncovering of truth had not been easy for me, and I’ll admit that I was still struggling with it. But it was far too late to go back. Even though watching everything disintegrate that I had previously believed in was a most difficult thing, what else could I do now? I knew that what I had relied upon in the past was delusion, a child’s fantasy, and I had gone too far to return . . . ever. How could I expect anybody else to go to the extremes that I had gone? That would be asking too much. But then again, if I, a normal person could do it, and if Janet, my wife and Buddhist nun could do it as well, then perhaps others might understand, too. All religions, including Buddhism, admittedly have built-in limiting factors for authentic spiritual seekers. I had already seen beyond the sensational miracles, secrecy, and emotionalism of Catholicism, and if I didn’t now go beyond, in my mind, the robes, and forms of Buddhism, beyond the idea of being a monk and all of that, I would never get to the core of what I thirsted for. If I allowed myself to be caught up in the concepts and ideals of religion, there would never be the necessary dissolution of my “self”’ that was so necessary in order to realize that which is beyond that small self. The Buddha himself said that his training methods were but a raft to reach the other shore, and just as one who reaches the far shore leaves his raft on the beach and walks away on foot, so should training methods be understood once one attains liberation. Attaining liberation was the catch! Despite what the Christians claimed, I have never heard a Buddhist monk say that the world is a bad place. Monks consider the world to be simply . . . the world. Only when we create in our minds the idea that we are separate from it, or from anything else for that matter, does contention and hopelessness arise. Meditation clears the windshields of our minds so that we can see these things for ourselves, without being subjected to indoctrination by others, and that makes contemplative Buddhism liberating and full of hope. The Buddha never recognized a creator, as such. In his enlightenment, he acknowledged the creation of consciousness moment to moment. He saw humankind’s destiny resting within humankinds’ own hands, within its own actions and not in the hands of an authoritarian deity that oversaw our every move. His exposition on Dependent Origination and his explanation of the deep aspects of our consciousness, rebirth, and karma provide a framework of indisputable logic that can actually be proven by the intuitive insight of meditation. The Buddha was not a deity. More amazingly, he was a self-perfected human being that gave us fellow mortals tremendous hope. And “hope:” . . . How could I explain hope to these Christians who were so emotionally blinded with the “Word” of their holy book and their concept of a substantial, unchanging self. “Hope” represents wanting, desire, both being the basis of our suffering according to the Buddha, and the antithesis of freedom. Wanting or hoping to achieve any state of mind — salvation, enlightenment or anything else, represents a condition arising from a cause, an effort. All conditioned things are transient, according to the Buddha, and since we are conditioned transient beings, what could we desire that would be eternal? It’s not possible for us to understand either eternity, or Reality, but we can know them in our hearts. We just can’t talk about them. We only mislead ourselves when we think that any “state” can represent ultimate freedom, and the Buddha revealed a way to go beyond states, which is the greatest of miracles. Meditation is definitely a state of “not knowing,” and I was learning not to trust the mind that thoug
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