“At this crossroads (for our planet) how humanity views itself at some deep level is going to make or break the situation.” –Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. The Buddhist principle of basic goodness is not particularly religious or secular. It’s not something esoteric or unrelated to us. It’s about how we feel about ourselves at the core. We are fundamentally open-minded, open-hearted, worthy, and good.

www.earthsky.org reports: The super Harvest Moon and Mid-Autumn Festival of September 8-9 are early in 2014, but September equinox isn’t until September 23 at 2:29 UTC. Although the equinox happens at the same moment worldwide, the clock times vary by time zone. In the U.S. this equinox comes on September 22 at 10:29 p.m. EDT, 9:29 p.m. CDT, 8:29 p.m. MDT or 7:29 p.m. PDT. In the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is rising later now, and nightfall comes sooner. This is our autumn equinox, when the days are getting shorter in the Northern Hemisphere. At this equinox, day and night are approximately equal in length.

In Collecting Feathers, Daniela I. Norris blends pitch-perfect storytelling and a keen spiritual awareness to bring us a beautiful and haunting set of tales from the beyond. A feast for the heart, mind and soul, each story is layered with unfolding intrigue, and each one will stay with you long after the pages have been turned.

Tom North is the author of True North – The Shocking Truth About “Yours, Mine and Ours” They appeared to be the blissful Beardsleys, the happily blended family-eight of Helen North’s, ten of Frank Beardsley’s, and two children from their union. A family so famous in America that Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda played the parents in the box office smash–Yours Mine and Ours. But they were anything from blissful; in fact they were the beaten and battered Beardsleys. That’s the real hidden story behind the spotlight…. But True North is much more than an inspiring and powerful account of a man who rose to success against all odds. It’s a story of how Transcendental Meditation (TM) brought peace to Tom North and saved his life.

Question: Li Chen, please tell us, where do we go when we sleep, and why? Dear One, there is a marvelous and complex answer to a very simple and excellent question. Thank you. There are three layers of reasons for our sleep…. the physical, the mental and the spiritual….

The September Newsletter is out! Merlian News is now translated into over 50 languages. Just go to www.merliannews.com , upper right hand corner to Google Translate and use the drop down menu. Also, don’t forget to check us out on Facebook & Twitter and please take a look at our Website of the Month!

Vitamin D research has repeatedly shown that vitamin D can improve a number of brain disorders, including depression and dementia–the most devastating form of which is Alzheimer’s disease. Vitamin D receptors appear in a wide variety of brain tissue early in the fetal development, and activated vitamin D receptors increase nerve growth in your brain. Researchers believe that optimal vitamin D levels may enhance the amount of important chemicals in your brain and protect brain cells by increasing the effectiveness of the glial cells in nursing damaged neurons back to health.

Experiencing Soul: Moving Beyond Space, Time, & Words – A new Omega Workshop featuring Larry Dossey, Eben Alexander, and others. October 3rd-5th at Omega in Rhinebeck, NY

From the Omega website: “Emerging scientific studies are revealing a universal consciousness–one mind and soul–that connects us all through space and time, offering a deeper understanding of what it means to be human and confirming what many ancient spiritual teachings say about the human hunger to belong, to love, and to care for one another.”

Bertha Huse, a teenage mill girl, goes out for a walk in the cool morning mist of a New Hampshire fall. This is her habit, but her family worries when she does not return for breakfast and does not show up for work. A few hours later, a full-scale search is in progress. She likes to walk a Shaker bridge across Lake Mascoma, and it is feared she may have fallen into the water and drowned. The mill owner sends for a diver. There is no sign of Bertha above or below water.