Cannabis may soothe inflamed bowels
Posted on | January 31, 2009 | No Comments
Cannabis-based drugs could offer treatment hope to sufferers of inflammatory bowel disease, UK researchers report.
Cannabis smokers with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have often claimed that smoking a joint seems to lessen their symptoms. So a group of researchers from Bath University and Bristol University, both in the UK, decided to explore the clinical basis for the claims.
“There is quite a lot of anecdotal evidence that using cannabis seems to reduce the pain and frequency of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, so we decided to see if we could find out what was going on there,” says Karen Wright, a pharmacologist at Bath University. “Historically, it was smoked in India and China centuries ago for its gastrointestinal properties.”
The chronic conditions, known collectively as IBD, are caused by an over-active immune system which produces severe inflammation in areas of the gastrointestinal tract. Up to 180,000 people in the UK are thought to have colitis or Crohn’s disease and suffer symptoms of pain, urgent diarrhoea, severe tiredness and loss of weight. Repeated attacks can lead to scarring of the colon and fibrosis to the extent that the bowel narrows to form a stricture, for which a colonectomy – the surgical removal of the bowel – is the only cure.
Repair trigger
Reports that cannabis eased IBD symptoms indicated the possible existence of cannabinoid receptors in the intestinal lining, which respond to molecules in the plant-derived chemicals. Wright and colleagues grew sections of human colon and examined them in vitro.
To their surprise, the team discovered CB1 cannabinoid receptors – which are known to be present in the brain – in the endothelial cells which line the gut. “I think they must be involved in repairing the lining of the gut when it is damaged,” Wright says.
She deliberately damaged the cells to cause inflammation of the gut lining and then added synthetically produced cannabinoids. “The gut started to heal: the broken cells were repaired and brought back closer together to mend the tears,” she told New Scientist.
Wright believes that in a healthy gut, natural endogenous cannabinoids are released from endothelial cells when they are injured, which then bind to the CB1 receptors. The process appears to set off a wound-healing reaction. “When people use cannabis, the cannabinoids bind to these receptors in the same way,” she said.
Excess cells
Previous studies have shown that CB1 receptors located on the nerve cells in the gut respond to cannabinoids by slowing gut motility, therefore reducing the painful muscle contractions associated with diarrhoea.
But Wright and her team also discovered another cannabinoid receptor, CB2, in the guts of IBD sufferers, which was not present in healthy guts. These receptors, which also respond to chemicals in cannabis, appear to be associated with apoptosis – programmed cell death – and may have a role in suppressing the overactive immune system and reducing inflammation by moping up excess cells, she suggests.
“Ideally we would want to be able to stimulate the body’s own endogenous cannabinoid system, which might become dysregulated during long-term inflammation. Knowing more about how this system actually works will help us to look for therapeutic targets,” Wright says. “We are not advocating cannabis use, particularly as smoking tobacco exacerbates Crohn’s disease and many smokers of cannabis use tobacco as well.”
“Anything that offers hope is good news for sufferers of IBD,” says a spokesperson from the National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease, commenting on the research.
The Magic in Believing
Posted on | January 29, 2009 | No Comments
Is there some special magic taking place when it comes to your beliefs and what transpires in your reality…?
I read an interesting article yesterday, (and actually woke up this morning thinking about it). So, I’ll take that as a sign I should share it with you. The article was from a Church Pastor, and was called, Becoming What You Believe.
In the article, the pastor quotes several verses from the Christian Bible, specifically Matthew Ch 9.
Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge (hem) of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; and their sight was restored.
What I find interesting in these two verses, is the importance of belief. One example is without question, and the other example – the question had to be asked.
In the first verse, the woman knows, absolutely believes, that all she has to do is touch his cloak, and she will be healed. And she was.
And in the second verse, Jesus asks the two blind men, to make sure they believe, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”. The blind men respond YES of course, and are then healed, followed by the words “According to your faith, will it be done”.
To put it another way, According To Your BELIEF, You Will Be Healed. Or maybe you could also say it like this, You Will Become Whatever You Believe.
The interesting point here to ponder, and this may be somewhat of a sticky question, but WHO HAS THE POWER HERE? We are taught that Jesus healed them. But without their belief, he could not. Why do I make that statement? Remember, Jesus could not perform miracles in his hometown, because to the people he grew up with, he was just another carpenter kid. No one believed he was anything special. Miracles? Him? That’s just crazy? They didn’t believe.
Doesn’t it sound like WE are the ones with the Power?
Let’s look at it another way. In the examples, these people are sick and go to Jesus for healing. When we are sick, we go to a doctor for healing. They believed Jesus would heal them. We believe our doctors will heal us. Jesus touches them and they are healed. Our doctors give us a pill and we are healed, even if the pill is a sugar pill, or placebo.
“According to your belief, you will be healed”.
Did you read the report where a national survey finds that half of all US doctors routinely prescribe placebos for medical conditions to make patients feel better?
Sherman and Hickner conducted a survey of 466 physicians from Internal Medicine departments of three Chicago area medical schools and they got response from about 50 percent of the doctors. They found 45 percent respondents routinely used placebos in clinical practice.
So, it’s not always the pill that heals. It is OUR BELIEF that heals. And – not to try and take any power away from The Big Man himself, but I seriously think that was what Jesus was trying to teach us to begin with.
We are the ones with the power. We can heal ourselves. It just takes pure 100% belief.
And once we learn to use that power, to heal ourselves, to heal our bodies. Then what else can we do? What else can we Become, if we Only Believe? Maybe the men in the photo could give us a hint. Maybe – Anything we dream of?
Preface
Posted on | January 26, 2009 | No Comments
The Science of Getting Rich is a success classic book written by Wallace D. Wattles in 1910. Wattles’ work is considered a philosophy of Mental Science or Mind Science which may have preceded the New Thought movement. Wattles published the work during a time of famous self-help founders such as Thomas Troward and Charles F. Haanel.
Preface
THIS book is pragmatical, not philosophical; a practical manual, not a treatise upon theories. It is intended for the men and women whose most pressing need is for money; who wish to get rich first, and philosophize afterward. It is for those who have, so far, found neither the time, the means, nor the opportunity to go deeply into the study of metaphysics, but who want results and who are willing to take the conclusions of science as a basis for action, without going into all the processes by which those conclusions were reached.
It is expected that the reader will take the fundamental statements upon faith, just as he would take statements concerning a law of electrical action if they were promulgated by a Marconi or an Edison; and, taking the statements upon faith, that he will prove their truth by acting upon them without fear or hesitation. Every man or woman who does this will certainly get rich; for the science herein applied is an exact science, and failure is impossible. For the benefit, however, of those who wish to investigate philosophical theories and so secure a logical basis for faith, I will here cite certain authorities.
The monistic theory of the universe the theory that One is All, and that All is One; That one Substance manifests itself as the seeming many elements of the material world -is of Hindu origin, and has been gradually winning its way into the thought of the western world for two hundred years. It is the foundation of all the Oriental philosophies, and of those of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Hegel, and Emerson.
The reader who would dig to the philosophical foundations of this is advised to read Hegel and Emerson for himself.
In writing this book I have sacrificed all other considerations to plainness and simplicity of style, so that all might understand. The plan of action laid down herein was deduced from the conclusions of philosophy; it has been thoroughly tested, and bears the supreme test of practical experiment; it works. If you wish to know how the conclusions were arrived at, read the writings of the authors mentioned above; and if you wish to reap the fruits of their philosophies in actual practice, read this book and do exactly as it tells you to do—-
The Author
Chapter 01
Posted on | January 26, 2009 | No Comments
The Right To Be Rich
WHATEVER may be said in praise of poverty, the fact remains that it is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless one is rich. No man can rise to his greatest possible height in talent or soul development unless he has plenty of money; for to unfold the soul and to develop talent he must have many things to use, and he cannot have these things unless he has money to buy them with.
A man develops in mind, soul, and body by making use of things, and society is so organized that man must have money in order to become the possessor of things; therefore, the basis of all advancement for man must be the science of getting rich.
The object of all life is development; and everything that lives has an inalienable right to all the development it is capable of attaining.
Man’s right to life means his right to have the free and unrestricted use of all the things which may be necessary to his fullest mental, spiritual, and physical unfoldment; or, in other words, his right to be rich.
In this book, I shall not speak of riches in a figurative way; to be really rich does not mean to be satisfied or contented with a little. No man ought to be satisfied with a little if he is capable of using and enjoying more. The purpose of Nature is the advancement and unfoldment of life; and every man should have all that can contribute to the power, elegance, beauty, and richness of life; to be content with less is sinful.
The man who owns all he wants for the living of all the life he is capable of living is rich; and no man who has not plenty of money can have all he wants. Life has advanced so far, and become so complex, that even the most ordinary man or woman requires a great amount of wealth in order to live in a manner that even approaches completeness. Every person naturally wants to become all that they are capable of becoming; this desire to realize innate possibilities is inherent in human nature; we cannot help wanting to be all that we can be. Success in life is becoming what you want to be; you can become what you want to be only by making use of things, and you can have the free use of things only as you become rich enough to buy them. To understand the science of getting rich is therefore the most essential of all knowledge.
There is nothing wrong in wanting to get rich. The desire for riches is really the desire for a richer, fuller, and more abundant life; and that desire is praise worthy. The man who does not desire to live more abundantly is abnormal, and so the man who does not desire to have money enough to buy all he wants is abnormal.
There are three motives for which we live; we live for the body, we live for the mind, we live for the soul. No one of these is better or holier than the other; all are alike desirable, and no one of the three–body, mind, or soul–can live fully if either of the others is cut short of full life and expression. It is not right or noble to live only for the soul and deny mind or body; and it is wrong to live for the intellect and deny body or soul.
We are all acquainted with the loathsome consequences of living for the body and denying both mind and soul; and we see that real life means the complete expression of all that man can give forth through body, mind, and soul. Whatever he can say, no man can be really happy or satisfied unless his body is living fully in every function, and unless the same is true of his mind and his soul. Wherever there is unexpressed possibility, or function not performed, there is unsatisfied desire. Desire is possibility seeking expression, or function seeking performance.
Man cannot live fully in body without good food, comfortable clothing, and warm shelter; and without freedom from excessive toil. Rest and recreation are also necessary to his physical life.
He cannot live fully in mind without books and time to study them, without opportunity for travel and observation, or without intellectual companionship.
To live fully in mind he must have intellectual recreations, and must surround himself with all the objects of art and beauty he is capable of using and appreciating.
To live fully in soul, man must have love; and love is denied expression by poverty.
A man’s highest happiness is found in the bestowal of benefits on those he loves; love finds its most natural and spontaneous expression in giving. The man who has nothing to give cannot fill his place as a husband or father, as a citizen, or as a man. It is in the use of material things that a man finds full life for his body, develops his mind, and unfolds his soul. It is therefore of supreme importance to him that he should be rich.
It is perfectly right that you should desire to be rich; if you are a normal man or woman you cannot help doing so. It is perfectly right that you should give your best attention to the Science of Getting Rich, for it is the noblest and most necessary of all studies. If you neglect this study, you are derelict in your duty to yourself, to God and humanity; for you can render to God and humanity no greater service than to make the most of yourself.
Chapter 02
Posted on | January 26, 2009 | No Comments
There is A Science of Getting Rich
THERE is a Science of getting rich, and it is an exact science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws which govern the process of acquiring riches; once these laws are learned and obeyed by any man, he will get rich with mathematical certainty.
The ownership of money and property comes as a result of doing things in a certain way; those who do things in this Certain Way, whether on purpose or accidentally, get rich; while those who do not do things in this Certain Way, no matter how hard they work or how able they are, remain poor.
It is a natural law that like causes always produce like effects; and, therefore, any man or woman who learns to do things in this certain way will infallibly get rich.
That the above statement is true is shown by the following facts:
Getting rich is not a matter of environment, for, if it were, all the people in certain neighborhoods would become wealthy; the people of one city would all be rich, while those of other towns would all be poor; or the inhabitants of one state would roll in wealth, while those of an adjoining state would be in poverty.
But everywhere we see rich and poor living side by side, in the same environment, and often engaged in the same vocations. When two men are in the same locality, and in the same business, and one gets rich while the other remains poor, it shows that getting rich is not, primarily, a matter of environment. Some environments may be more favorable than others, but when two men in the same business are in the same neighborhood, and one gets rich while the other fails, it indicates that getting rich is the result of doing things in a Certain Way.
And further, the ability to do things in this certain way is not due solely to the possession of talent, for many people who have great talent remain poor, while other who have very little talent get rich.
Studying the people who have got rich, we find that they are an average lot in all respects, having no greater talents and abilities than other men. It is evident that they do not get rich because they possess talents and abilities that other men have not, but because they happen to do things in a Certain Way.
Getting rich is not the result of saving, or “thrift”; many very penurious people are poor, while free spenders often get rich.
Nor is getting rich due to doing things which others fail to do; for two men in the same business often do almost exactly the same things, and one gets rich while the other remains poor or becomes bankrupt.
From all these things, we must come to the conclusion that getting rich is the result of doing things in a Certain Way.
If getting rich is the result of doing things in a Certain Way, and if like causes always produce like effects, then any man or woman who can do things in that way can become rich, and the whole matter is brought within the domain of exact science.
The question arises here, whether this Certain Way may not be so difficult that only a few may follow it. This cannot be true, as we have seen, so far as natural ability is concerned. Talented people get rich, and blockheads get rich; intellectually brilliant people get rich, and very stupid people get rich; physically strong people get rich, and weak and sickly people get rich.
Some degree of ability to think and understand is, of course, essential; but in so far natural ability is concerned, any man or woman who has sense enough to read and understand these words can certainly get rich.
Also, we have seen that it is not a matter of environment. Location counts for something; one would not go to the heart of the Sahara and expect to do successful business. Getting rich involves the necessity of dealing with men, and of being where there are people to deal with; and if these people are inclined to deal in the way you want to deal, so much the better. But that is about as far as environment goes.
If anybody else in your town can get rich, so can you; and if anybody else in your state can get rich, so can you.
Again, it is not a matter of choosing some particular business or profession. People get rich in every business, and in every profession; while their next door neighbors in the same vocation remain in poverty.
It is true that you will do best in a business which you like, and which is congenial to you; and if you have certain talents which are well developed, you will do best in a business which calls for the exercise of those talents.
Also, you will do best in a business which is suited to your locality; an ice-cream parlor would do better in a warm climate than in Greenland, and a salmon fishery will succeed better in the Northwest than in Florida, where there are no salmon.
But, aside from these general limitations, getting rich is not dependent upon your engaging in some particular business, but upon your learning to do things in a Certain Way. If you are now in business, and anybody else in your locality is getting rich in the same business, while you are not getting rich, it is because you are not doing things in the same Way that the other person is doing them.
No one is prevented from getting rich by lack of capital. True, as you get capital the increase becomes more easy and rapid; but one who has capital is already rich, and does not need to consider how to become so. No matter how poor you may be, if you begin to do things in the Certain Way you will begin to get rich; and you will begin to have capital. The getting of capital is a part of the process of getting rich; and it is a part of the result which invariably follows the doing of things in the Certain Way. You may be the poorest man on the continent, and be deeply in debt; you may have neither friends, influence, nor resources; but if you begin to do things in this way, you must infallibly begin to get rich, for like causes must produce like effects. If you have no capital, you can get capital; if you are in the wrong business, you can get into the right business; if you are in the wrong location, you can go to the right location; and you can do so by beginning in your present business and in your present location to do things in the Certain Way which causes success.