Merkabah

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Physicist Brian Greene explains superstring theory, the idea that minscule strands of energy vibrating in 11 dimensions create every particle and force in the universe.

Brian Greene is perhaps the best-known proponent of superstring theory, the idea that minuscule strands of energy vibrating in a higher dimensional space-time create every particle and force in the universe.

http://www.ted.com/talks/brian_greene_on_string_theory

 

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The Mystical Impactof Near-DeathExperiences
BRUCE GREYSON
Once regarded as meaning less hallucinations, near-death experiences (NDEs) have become the subject of serious study by medical and various other researchers in recent years. Descriptions of near-death experiences can be found in the folk lore and writings of European, Middle Eastern, African, Indian, East Asian, Pacific, and Native American cultures. In 1892, geologist Albert von St. Gallen Heim published a collection of personal NDE testimonies from mountain climbers who had fallen in the Alps (as he himself had), soldiers wounded in war, workers who had fallen from scaffolds, and those who had nearly died in drownings and other accidents. NDEs continue to be reported by individuals who were pronounced clinically dead but then were resuscitated, by people who in the course of accidents or illnesses feared that they were near death, and by some who actually died but were able to describe their experiences in their final moments (“deathbed visions”).
PHENOMENOLOGY OFNEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
Raymond Moody, the psychiatrist who coined the term“near-death experience” in the mid-1970s, identified 15 elements that seem to recur in near-death experiences: ineffability, hearing oneself pronounced dead, a feeling of peace, hearing unusual noises, seeing a dark tunnel, being out of the body, meeting spiritual beings, encountering a bright light or being of light, a panoramic life review, a realm where all knowledge exists, cities of light, a realm of bewildered spirits, a supernatural rescue, a border or a boundary, and coming back into the body. After further study he added four recurrent aftereffects: frustration upon relating the experience to others, broadened or deepened appreciation of life, elimination of the fear of death, and corroboration of out-of-body visions. Moody also noted that no two NDE accounts were the same, no experience in his collection included more than 12 of the original 15 elements, no one element appeared in every narrative, and the order in which elements appeared varied from one experience to another.The most common features of NDEs can be grouped into four components: Cognitive features reflect changes in thought processes, including distortions in the sense of time, acceleration of thought, a life review or panoramic memory, and a sense of revelation or sudden understanding. Affective features reflect changes in emotional state, including a sense of peace and well-being, joy, a sense of cosmic unity, and an encounter with a brilliant light that seems to radiate unconditional love. Paranormal features are psychic phenomena, such as extraordinarily vivid physical sensations, extrasensory perception, recognitive visions, and a sense of being out of the physical body. Transcendental features are apparently otherworldly phenomena, such as travel to a mystical or unearthly realm or dimension, an encounter with a mystical being or presence, visible spirits of deceased or religious figures, and a border beyond which one cannot return to earthly life. Most NDEs include features from all four, although many experiences are dominated by one or more component. How can these phenomena best be understood? No variables that have yet been studied—such as age, gender,race, or history of mental illness—predict either the occurrence or type of NDE. Very little data exist to support the the ample speculation about the cause of NDEs. One plausible physiological model attributes them to decreased oxygen (hypoxia) or to a complete lack of oxygen (anoxia), which appears to be the final common pathway to death. However, hypoxia or anoxia generally produce idiosyncratic, frightening hallucinations and lead to agitation and belligerence, quite unlike the peaceful near-death experience. Studies of persons near death have also shown that those who have NDEs do not have lower oxygen levels than those who have enhancement of mental functioning at a time when the brain is physiologically impaired, as well as the paranormal and otherworldly experiences that can occur, are not easily explained by materialist models.
TRANSFORMATIVE IMPACTS
Many of the experiential features of mystical experiences in general are similar to those of NDEs. The feelings of peace and joy, the ineffability of the experience, the sense of being in the presence of something larger than or transcendent of oneself, and the experience of a bright light or being of light are features common to both NDEs and mystical experiences. Protestant theologian Judith Cressy has compared typical NDE phenomenology and after effects to do not have them. Another fre-quently cited physiologicalmodel attributes NDEs to themedications given to dyingpersons.Although some drugsmay on occasion induce expe-riences that bear superficialsimilarities to a near-death ex-perience, comparative studies show that patients who receivefewer NDEs than do those who receive no medication. NDEs have also been speculatively attributed toneurotransmitters or activities in specific locations in thebrain, but there is little if any empirical evidence for theseneurological mechanisms—which may suggest brain path-ways through which NDEs are expressed or interpretedbut which do not necessarily imply causal mechanisms. Psy-chological models assign defense mechanisms, deperson-alization, wishful thinking, retroactive confabulation, andexpectation, but none of these plausible models is supportedby empirical evidence.And while expectations likely influ-ence an experiencer’s interpretation of certain features ofthe NDE, they do not appear to influence the experienceitself. Studies show that children who are too young to haveinternalized expectations of death or an afterlife describethe same NDE features as do adults. Also, cross-culturalstudies show few differences in NDE content from differingsocieties, and still more research finds NDE descriptionsthat are not affected by experiencers’ expectations ofNDEs, the dying process, or an afterlife. In short, the mystical experiences of St.Theresa of Avila and St. John ofthe Cross and concludes thatthey both had ecstatic out-of-body travels, visions of God,clairvoyance, loss of the fear ofdeath, and healing transforma-tions. She notes that nearness todeath has always played a role inthe spiritual path, and that for Saints Theresa and John mysticism was a preparation fordeath. Cressy also points out that, unlike mystics, near-death experiencers (NDErs) are thrust suddenly into spiritualconsciousness without any preparation and then returnedto a community in which such experiences are not valued.British theologian Paul Badham also concludes that the NDE“shares many of the characteristics of the deepest religiousexperiences known to humanity” and further points out thatmodern resuscitation techniques have made available to ordi-nary people mystical enlightenment that formerly wasavailable to people only on rare occasions. Walter Pahnke, a minister and psychiatrist, and WilliamRichards, a theologian and psychologist, delineated nineaspects of mystical experience based on the work of WilliamJames and British philosopher Walter Stace: a sense of cos-mic unity or oneness, transcendence of time and space,deeply positive mood, sense of sacredness, noetic quality orintuitive illumination, paradoxicality, ineffability, transiency,and persistent positive aftereffects.All nine of these featuresare commonly reported as part of the NDE. Perhaps the most important feature common to both medications in fact report mystical experiences and NDEs is the transformative impactof the experience. NDEs generally have a profound andapparently lasting impact on many who experience them,often precipitating a significant change in values andattitude toward death and a new sense of purpose or meaning in life. Similarly, mystical experiences have been recognized as leading to sudden and lasting changes incharacter and values, including changes in the person’s rela-tionship with God, perception and appreciation of nature,attitude toward self, and, perhaps most significant, attitudetoward other people. This transformative aspect of NDEs is never reported inconnection with the various fragmentary experiences thatare sometimes equated with NDEs, such as the “dreamlets”induced by hypoxia or other abnormalities of blood-gasconcentrations, or experiences reported by patients receivingtemporal-lobe stimulation. More-over, the transformative features associated with NDEs differ fromthose associated with the experi-ence of coming close to death butnot having an NDE. Clearly, theprofound transformative aspect ofNDEs suggests that we need someexplanation that goes beyond the physiological models wehave so far and even beyond the psychological experienceassociated with coming close to death.
SPIRITUALITY BEFORE AND AFTER
Because religion addresses fundamental human concernssuch as death and dying, one might speculate that there issome relationship between religious orientation and NDEs.Are persons of different religious beliefs more or lesslikely to have NDEs or to have specific types of NDE? Oneskeptical view of the NDE is that it represents essentiallya religiously inspired illusion; as psychologist KennethRing put this hypothesis,“Believing is seeing.” Several studies have searched in vain for associationsbetween religiosity and subsequent NDEs. In a cross-culturalstudy in the United States and India, for example, psycho-logists Karlis Osis and Erlendur Haraldsson did not find anystraightforward relationship between religiousness anddeathbed visions, although they did find that an individual’sbelief system influenced the interpretation of the experience.Kenneth Ring interviewed 102 survivors of near-deathcrises, asking a number of questions that collectively providedan overall index of religiosity, including questions aboutdegree of religiosity, strength of belief in God, degree of cer-tainty about life after death, and belief in heaven and hell. Hetoo found no association between prior religiousness andquantitative measures of the NDE. However, Ring did find,as did Osis and Haraldsson,“that the interpretation that wasplaced on the experience by the individuals was markedlyinfluenced by their religious belief system.”If NDEs are not influenced by prior religious belief, dopeople become more or less religious or spiritual after anNDE? If so, how is that effect manifested? Several studies have documented that for many,an NDE permanently and dramatically alters their attitudes, beliefs, and values, often leading to beneficial personaltransformations. Near-deathexperiencers tend to seethemselves as integral parts ofa benevolent and purposefuluniverse in which personalgain, particularly at others’expense, is no longer relevant.Aftereffects most oftenreported include increases in spirituality, concern for others, and appreciation of life; aheightened sense of purpose; and decreases in the fear ofdeath, materialistic attitudes, and competitiveness. Thesechanges meet the definition for spiritual transformation thatArthur Schwartz offers in his work The Nature of SpiritualTransformation (Templeton Press,2000):“a dramatic changein religious belief, attitude, and behavior that occurs over arelatively short period of time.” In his interviews with survivors of near-death crises,Ring found that while NDErs describe themselves as morereligious than they were before, near-death survivors whoreported no NDE did not report any change in their reli-giosity as a result of their close encounter with death.Also,he learned that NDErs do not subsequently attend churchmore often or participate in other modes of formal religiousworship; rather, Ring reports,“There is a heightened inwardreligious feeling . . . which does not seem to require aconventional religious format for it to be manifested.” Healso found that even though NDErs expressed indifference toward organized religion, they also described “an overalltolerance for all ways of religious worship.” British philosopher David Lorimer points out that themoral assessment that takes place in the life review providesNDErs with an experiential moral order that is based on“empathic resonance” with other people, meaning thedirect perception of an intrinsic interconnectedness andinterdependence among all living beings. Near-death expe-riencers know firsthand how their thoughts, feelings, andactions affect others.The ego-shattering effect of NDEsreveals the illusion of separate individual egos by inducingdirect experience of cosmic unity. Australian sociologist Cherie Sutherland interviewedfifty NDErs and specifically asked them to differentiatechanges in their spirituality from changes in their religios-ity. Participants largely rejected describing themselves as“religious” but did describe themselves as “spiritual.” Theyreported “dramatic change in religious affiliation, especiallyfrom organized religion of whatever denomination to noreligion.”Although no one described their NDE as a reli-gious experience, 70 percent did describe it as a spiritualexperience.The most common response to an open-endedquestion about the most significant change resulting fromtheNDE was“spirituality”or“spiritualgrowth.” On the other hand, after completing a rigorous study of116 NDEs and also observing NDEs and their aftereffectsin his patients over twenty years as a cardiologist, MichaelSabom found that NDEs produced a stronger faith and ahigher level of commitment to traditional religious practice,which he thought, in turn, affected patients’ medical out-come. Sabom’s finding that NDEs led to stronger traditionalreligious faith, in contrast to the findings of Sutherland, Ring,and other researchers, may reflect the particular regional cul-tural characteristics of Sabom’s patient population.AlthoughSabom originally approached the study of NDEs as a skep-tical medical scientist, expecting to find that these experi-ences were misfirings of a dying brain, he eventuallyconcluded that they were instead powerful spiritual expe-riences whose underlying message was consistent with divine revelation from more traditional sources.
THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
Mainstream theologians have had little to say about near-death experiences. British religious scholar Mark Fox spec-ulates on the reasons for what he calls this “deafeningsilence,” suggesting that perhaps some theologians regardNDEs as so expected at the point of death that they do not merit discussion, whereas others ignore the phenomenonout of general academic distrust of any paranormal phe-nomena. Religious scholar Carol Zaleski suggests that manytheologians feel more comfortable regarding NDEs asmetaphors or literary motifs than as actual divine encoun-ters, and religious historian Ioan Couliano places NDEs within a continuing cross-cultural tradition of fantasticaccounts of otherworld journeys. Indeed, the Buddhist per-spective on visions of the dying,as described inTheTibetanBook of the Dead, is that they occur in the mind of the expe-riencer.Similarly,Roman Catholic theologian Hans Küngregards NDEs as psychological experiences of dying that haveno bearing on what happens after death. Whatever the reason for the disinterest in NDEs amongtheologians, the result is that most of what has been writtenabout the implications of NDEs has come from psycholo-gists who argue that NDEs should have relevance to theology.Mark Fox agrees: “Many of the claims that near-deathexperiencers have made in the last quarter-century aresuch that they may well be said to demand a response whichgoes to the very heart of the West’s understanding of whatit is to be human and what it is for human beings to die.” Some religious adherents have claimed NDEs as empir-ical support of their particular doctrines. It has been arguedthat NDEs provide striking parallels to the teachings of theHindu Upanishads and to early Babylonian, Egyptian,and Zoroastrian texts, as well as to shamanism, Taoism,Tibetan Buddhism, Gnostic Christianity, medieval Chris-tian religious treatises, Mormonism, and Christian Uni-versalism, among other faiths. Others view NDEs as satanicdeceptions that contradict Christian teachings. Others argue that unconditional forgiveness offers“cheap grace” without any contrition for our past sins. ButRing points out that the unconditional love NDErs report in their experiences does not gloss over their sinsor excuse their future behavior. Quite to the contrary,NDErs experience the painful consequences of theirtransgressions and return to earthly life with an intimateunderstanding that what they do does indeed matter. Far from encouraging indiscriminate behavior, the uncondi-tional love NDErs experience confers on them the self-esteem, courage, and self-knowledge to bring aboutchange in their behaviors. Cressy points out that NDEs differ from many othermystical experiences in that they do not occur in the con-text of a conscious search for meaning or the resolution of a spiritual crisis.A single encounter with mystical con-sciousness may start a near-death experiencer on a spir-itual path, but, Cressy says, “One mystical experiencedoes not make a mystic.”The empirical data support herview that not all NDEs lead to immediate transforma-tion. Expanding on this, Ring developed a hypothesis ofNDEs as “spiritual catalysts” fostering spiritual awaken-ing and development. Social critics as diverse as historian Arnold Toynbee,psychiatrist Carl Jung, and theologian and medical mis-sionary Albert Schweitzer have written that “nothing shortof a worldwide spiritual revolution will suffice” to savehuman civilization. Ring suggests “that the NDE can beviewed as an evolutionary device to bring about this trans-formation” and that NDEs and similar mystical experiencesmay point the way toward unlocking humankind’s dormantspiritual potential. He speculates that with increasing resus-citation technology enabling more and more individuals toreturn from the brink of death, the cumulative impact oftheir uplifting testimonies may foster the spiritual evolutionof the collective consciousness of humanity.The title ofRing’s book on NDE aftereffects, Heading Toward Omega(Harper Perennial, 1985), comes from Jesuit philosopher andscientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s notion of the “Omegapoint”— a hypothetical endpoint in human historyrepresenting an evolutionary culmination in the higheststrivings of human culture. At the very least, near-death experiences should fosterspiritual growth by leading us to question some of our basicassumptions about mind and brain, about our relationship tothe divine, and about the universe and our role in it.


—An extensive discussion and comprehensive collection ofreferences on this subject can be found in Bruce Greyson’s article“Near-Death Experiences and Spirituality,” published inZygon 41 (2) in June 2006. BRUCE GREYSON, PhD, is the Chester F. CarlsonProfessor of Psychiatry and director of the Division of PerceptualStudies at the University of Virginia Health System. He alsoserves as the editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies.Dr. Greyson can be reached at cbg4d@virginia.edu.


The International Associationof Near-Death StudiesFor almost thirty years, the InternationalAssociation of Near-Death Studies (IANDS)has been educating the world about near-deathand similar experiences. An important net-working venue for researchers and academicsin the field, IANDS also consults on the subjectwith radio, television, film, and print media.Theorganization provides publications, holds con-ferences granting Continuing Education Units,sponsors local groups, has sent hundreds ofspeakers to audiences worldwide, and reachesout in person and online with information andsupport to near-death experiencers and theirfamilies. Because these individuals face manychallenges and transformations after their brushwith death, worldwide support groups offerthem opportunities for sharing and learning.“IANDS has helped change the public’s per-ception of what it may be like to die,” saysYolaine Stout, president of the organization.Professional members and IANDS subscribersreceive a quarterly newsletter and the peer-reviewed Journal of Near-Death Studies. TheIANDS’ website offers research-based articles,books, DVDs and audios from past conferences,as well as a forum for near-deathexperiencers.For more information, visit http://www.iands.org/www.iands.org, emailservices@iands.org, or call 860-882-1211.

 

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The above article is (mostly) fixed...sorry.

 

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Disbelief Despite the Evidence

DAVID FONTANA, PhD, is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Cardiff University, a professor of transpersonalpsychology at Liverpool John Moores University, and past president and current vice president of the Society for Psychical Research. His latest book is titled Is There an Afterlife? (O Books, 2005).





Why isn’t the evidence (as opposed simply to the belief) for survival of physical death more widely known and accepted in the West?
In addition, why is the evidence treated by certain high-profile scientists as if it ranks with superstitions such as a belief in fairies or Santa Claus? The answer is that research into survival of death has to struggle against four influential groups that, for different reasons, find it challenges their own interests and beliefs and represents a threat to their status and authority.

ESTABLISHED SCIENCE
The first of these groups is established science.Why are scientists in general seemingly so resistant to any mention of survival of death or indeed of anything suggestive of the paranormal? The typical answer given is that they don’t find the evidence convincing, but the truth is that they simply don’t know the evidence even exists. They have never studied it and show little sign of even wanting to study it. Ignorance of this kind is acceptable given that most scientists have a hard task keeping abreast of developments in their own fields and can hardly be expected to wade through the extensive data on survival of death (my personal library has over six hundred books on the evidence for survival alone) or on psychical research in general, with which research into survival is closely linked. What is not acceptable is the way that those scientists who express views on the validity of the data pretend they know what they are talking about . . . A cardinal rule in science is that you familiarize yourself with the evidence before making judgements on it. You don’t pretend to knowledge that you do not have, particularly when you are well aware your views carry weight with both colleagues and laypeople and are likely to be picked up by the media.
The next question is why do so many scientists, despite their ignorance of the relevant evidence, have such an actively hostile attitude toward psychical research and the possibility of survival of death? There are several interrelated reasons. Perhaps the most important of them is that many scientists claim that if psychic abilities exist and if the mind survives death (and is therefore nonphysical), then many of the most fundamental laws of science would have to be rewritten. One eminent scientist even told me the whole of his subject, chemical physics, would collapse. This claim is absurd.
The known laws of science work perfectly well within their own range of convenience, and the existence of psychic abilities and of a nonmaterial mind do not challenge them within this range. Instead, they add a new dimension to our understanding. Just as quantum mechanics does not negate Newtonian physics, so the existence of nonmaterial energy transfer (as intelepathy, clairvoyance, etc.) and of a nonmaterial mind that survives death do not negate it.
They simply indicate its boundaries . . . Instead of being the final authority on life and death and everything else, material science simply becomes the science of material things.
A more studied argument sometimes heard from scientists is that survival of death is not a subject that can be put to scientific test. But this is only partly true. We can, for example, test the accuracy of statements given through mediums to unseen and unknown anonymous individuals and purporting to come from the deceased. The recent work of [Archie E.] Roy and [T. J.] Robertson in this country [the United Kingdom] and of [Gary] Schwartz in the United States are good recent examples. Such experiments can be carefully controlled and the data yielded by them can be appropriately analyzed.
In addition, science is not only about experiment but also about observation and the reporting of direct experience. Thus, the experiences of those resuscitated from near death or actual clinical death that suggest the continuation of consciousness, even in the absence of vital physical signs, are also the raw material of science [see theresearch of P. Fenwick and E. Fenwick; M. Sabom; P.Sartori; and P. Van Lommel, et al.]. The many thousandsof reported cases of sightings of deceased relatives and friends at or after the moment of death, the prevalence of deathbed visions, and the fact that surveys show over 40 percent of people report postmortem contact of some kind from a deceased spouse provide other examples. Human observation can, of course, be notoriously fallible, but the similarities between these various experiences mean that no science (in particular my own science of psychology) can ignore them if it wishes to present a holistic picture of how people experience their lives and of what it means to be human.

PARAPSYCHOLOGY
The second group against which research in survival has to struggle is parapsychology. Despite the fact that parapsychology is the very subject that should be most identified with survival research, it has in fact consistently directed the attention of those interested away from it. Parapsychology, the discipline largely created at Duke Universityby Professor William MacDougall and by J. B. and Louisa Rhine in the 1930s, has sought to bring psychical research out of the real world and into the laboratory in order to obtain evidence likely to gain scientific acceptance. Research into hauntings, séances, mediumship, poltergeist phenomena, and other goings on outside the laboratory has been largely discouraged as Professor Rhine considered these phenomena could not be studied scientifically and—due to the possibilities of fraud and misrepresentation associated with them—were largely responsible for negative attitudes toward the existence of psychic abilities. In other words, parapsychology wished to rid itself of what it saw as the detritus of the past.
Thus, fieldwork—unless it could be undertaken with all the scientific controls that were derigueur in the laboratory (an almost impossible task)—was regarded as generally off limits. It was not that Professor Rhine and his colleagues rejected the idea of survival or doubted its importance as a subject for debate, as J. B.Rhine himself made clear; it was simply that in their view it had no place in experimental science.

Some seventy years later, the great majority of para-psychologists (by which I mean those with recognized academic qualifications in the subject and based for the most part in universities or reputable research laboratories) still follow much the same line of thinking and are still influenced by the fear that fieldwork research into mediumship, apparitions, and other spontaneous survival-related phenomena risks hindering the scientific acceptance that parapsychology has so painstakingly sought to achieve over three-quarters of a century. However, regrettably, it has to be said that such achievement still remains elusive. Despite the first-class work carried out by many parapsychologists and their exemplary use of scientific methods and controls (far more exemplary than those sometimes employed in other experimental sciences) and the extensive range of positive results obtained (see, for example, Radin 1997 for an excellent survey), parapsychology is still not accepted among scientists largely for the reasons already identified. Even demonstrating an interest in the subject risks blighting the career of the most promising young academic.
The consequence of the efforts by parapsychologists to appeal to mainstream science has therefore not been scientific acceptance but the diversion of attention away from the very subject, survival research, that helped inspire Professor MacDougall’s decision, after accepting the chair of the Department of Psychology at Duke University, to establish the first university-based laboratory for psychicalresearch. Like the majority of the group of academics from Trinity College Cambridge who founded the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in 1882 as the first attempt to study psychic phenomena scientifically, MacDougall saw mind as nonphysical (his Body and Mind, first published in1911, remains a classic study of the mind-body relationship). . . [and] made clear that, informally, “The principal aim of the SPR is to obtain, if possible, empirical evidence that human personality may and does survive in some sense and degree the death of the body.”

ESTABLISHED RELIGION
The third group that has opposed survival research is another body that should in theory be among its strongest supporters, namely established religion.
Across the centuries religion, while not questioning the existence of communications from the beyond, has equated them with witchcraftand the powers of evil. I well remember the congregations being told from the pulpit by the minister of the church I attended as a boy that contact with the dead was the work of the devil. The messages received through mediums, he assured us, came in fact from demons impersonating the souls that mediums claimed were communicating . . . [And] heresy was always seen as a potent threat to the power and authority of the Church, which insisted that the priesthood and the clergy were the only intermediaries between man and God and the only arbiters on who deserved heaven and who deserved hell. No one other than the ordained had the right of direct access to the Divine or to other worlds. Only the ordained could act “vicariously” (hence,“vicar”)for Christ.

We live in an age where for many people's faith and belief are no longer enough. Sadly, having abandoned faith and belief, such people have nothing to put in their place except materialism and short-term consumerism. I am not criticizing established religion or subscribing to the nonsense that it is the root of all evil (a nonsense that not only reflects ignorance of religion but also conveniently ignores the actions of Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and other atheist dictators). I am criticizing only the misuse that men have made of religion in order to further their own desire for power. The belief that we survive physical death is at the heart of all the great religions, but particularly in the Christian churches the emphasis is upon believing this simply because we are told to believe it. Christ’s resurrection is said to be all we need. Little is taught—or it seems known—about the nature of the afterlife. Inevitably this leaves a wide range of unanswered questions, and religion would be greatly strengthened if it could provide answers to them.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC
The fourth group, the general public, does not so much oppose research into survival as avoid it. Death, as we are frequently reminded these days, is a taboo subject. We are in fact the only age in which this has become the case. Right through toVictorian and Edwardian times and to the carnage of the two World Wars, people lived with the reality of death. Many large families would see only two or three of their children out of a much larger number survive into adult life. Even as adults, death was a constant companion. We may scoff at the sixteenth-century scholars who kept skulls on their desks as memento mori [“reminders of death”], or at the Victorians with their lockets containing tresses of hair from deceased loved ones and their mourning veils and their partiality for dark, gloomy Victorian gothic architecture, furniture, and tombstones, yet these were all examples of coming to terms with death. For the most part people fell sick, declined, and died at home, and the tragedy of death was forever present. Thanks to immunization, antibiotics, improvements in public health and in medicine generally, we are the first generation in recorded history that is insulated from many of the reminders of our own mortality. Consequently, there is an unspoken resistance to any talk of leaving this life and of what might happen next.

The general resistance to any discussion of death and an afterlife is sometimes justified by the argument that we should put our thoughts and our energies into improving this life rather than into diverting attention to what may happen when it is over. This argument is based upon the assumption that thoughts of an afterlife are a form of escapism from the present and thus hinder attempts to improve what goes on within it. This assumption is misplaced. The recognition that there is more to our being than the short time we spend in this world can and should have a profound effect upon our behavior while we are here. The acceptance of an afterlife implies also an acceptance that our present lives have a meaning and a purpose greater than themselves and that we are not simply biological accidents programmed by natural selection and with nothing to drive us except our own genes. The way in which we live our present lives becomes part of a much bigger picture in which compassion, altruism, and other transpersonal values are recognized as timeless essentials that help define our humanity.

NEW ANSWERS
What of the future? There seems to be a growing recognition that science cannot provide us with answers to life’s fundamental questions. There is in addition a recognition among a growing section of the population of the so-called developed world that we have pushed consumerism past its sustainable limits and that possessions do not provide the route either to individual happiness or to a future for our planet. The search for greater meaning in life may therefore gain momentum. We shall see. People’s thoughts do indeed seem to turn most readily to religion and to the possibilities of an afterlife when times are hard.

—Reprinted and abridged from Network Review:Journal of the Scientific and Medical Network 93 (2007)

 

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[h=1]People Can Draw Energy From Other People The Same Way Plants Do[/h]

A biological research team at Bielefeld University has made a groundbreaking discovery showing that plants can draw an alternative source of energy from other plants. This finding could also have a major impact on the future of bioenergy eventually providing the evidence to show that people draw energy from others in much the same way.
Members of Professor Dr. Olaf Kruse’s biological research team have confirmed for the first time that a plant, the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, not only engages in photosynthesis, but also has an alternative source of energy: it can draw it from other plants. The research findings were released this week in the online journal Nature Communications published by the renowned journal Nature.
Flowers need water and light to grow and people are no different. Our physical bodies are like sponges, soaking up the environment. “This is exactly why there are certain people who feel uncomfortable in specific group settings where there is a mix of energy and emotions,” said psychologist and energy healer Dr. Olivia Bader-Lee.
Plants engage in the photosynthesis of carbon dioxide, water, and light. In a series of experiments, Professor Dr. Olaf Kruse and his team cultivated the microscopically small green alga species Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and observed that when faced with a shortage of energy, these single-cell plants can draw energy from neighboring vegetable cellulose instead. The alga secretes enzymes (so-called cellulose enzymes) that ‘digest’ the cellulose, breaking it down into smaller sugar components. These are then transported into the cells and transformed into a source of energy: the alga can continue to grow. ‘This is the first time that such a behavior has been confirmed in a vegetable organism’, says Professor Kruse. ‘That algae can digest cellulose contradicts every previous textbook. To a certain extent, what we are seeing is plants eating plants’. Currently, the scientists are studying whether this mechanism can also be found in other types of alga. Preliminary findings indicate that this is the case.
“When energy studies become more advanced in the coming years, we will eventually see this translated to human beings as well,” stated Bader-Lee. “The human organism is very much like a plant, it draws needed energy to feed emotional states and this can essentially energize cells or cause increases in cortisol and catabolize cells depending on the emotional trigger.”Bader-Lee suggests that the field of bio-energy is now ever evolving and that studies on the plant and animal world will soon translate and demonstrate what energy metaphysicians have known all along — that humans can heal each other simply through energy transfer just as plants do. “Human can absorb and heal through other humans, animals, and any part of nature. That’s why being around nature is often uplifting and energizing for so many people,” she concluded.
Here are five energy tools to use to clear your space and prevent energy drains while releasing people’s energy:
Stay centered and grounded. If you are centered within your spiritual self (instead of your analyzer or ego) you will sense right away when something has moved into your space. If you are fully grounded, you can easily release other people’s energy and emotions down your grounding cord with your intention.
Be in a state of non-resistance. What we resists sticks. If you feel uncomfortable around a certain person or in a group, don’t go into resistance as a way to protect yourself as this will only keep foreign energy stuck in your space. Move into a state of non-resistance by imagining that your body is clear and translucent like clear glass or water. This way, if someone throws some invalidation at you, it will pass right through you.
Own your personal aura space. We each have an energetic aura surrounding our body. If we don’t own this personal space we are vulnerable to foreign energy entering it. Become aware of your aura boundaries (about an arms length away from your body all the way around, above and below) as a way to own your personal space.
Give yourself an energy cleanse. The color gold has a high vibration which is useful for clearing away foreign energy. Imagine a gold shower nozzle at the top of your aura (a few feet above your head) and turn it on, allowing clear gold energy to flow through your aura and body space and release down your grounding. You will immediately feel cleansed and refreshed.
Call back your energy. When we have our energy in our own space there is less room for other’s energy to enter. But as we focus on other people and projects we sometimes spread our energy around. Create an image of a clear gold sun several feet above your head and let it be a magnet, attracting all of your energy back into it (and purifying it in the gold energy). Then bring it down through the top of your aura and into your body space, releasing your energy back into your personal space.

 

[Skarekrow]

[h=1]Is the Human Body A Mini Universe?[/h]

We are a compact universe blessed with arms and legs to walk and grasp in love. We are messengers of thought transmitting our experiences to the source that energizes all that is. Our brains are lovingly embraced by the water that is the conduit for universal messages just as we were embraced by the fluid in our mother’s womb. We are constantly giving and receiving energy from our thoughts which are sourced from different areas in our magnificent head.
If we were to compare our human bodies with that of the earth, you would find many similarities. The earth is covered by approximately 70 percent water, which is the same for the human body. What about the rivers that flow into the oceans? Could our veins and blood vessels be a mirror image? What about the vast forests and trees rooted so firmly into mother earth? Could this be another representation of the human species? Our feet planted firmly as we walk forward in daily life giving and receiving nature’s abundance. Our arms reaching out like branches emitting the energy that is absorbed through the feet. Our hands and fingers emitting the loving energy into everything we touch. On a physical level, we can compare ourselves to the density of the earth.
How about our head that sits atop of our spine? We could compare this to the universe above which is the giver and receiver of thought. The brain, like the universe is the computer which downloads the information from the source above. The term, “I’m seeing stars” when we are dizzy may hold more truth than meets the eye. Yes, one does tend to see stars when there is lack of oxygen, but what if the brain does actually consist of solar systems that light up the night sky like neurons firing when thoughts spark our imagination. There are galaxies, wormholes, the Milky Way and other possible universes out there. Our expanding consciousness today is discovering/ uncovering new and old philosophies, prophecies and discoveries pertaining to the all-encompassing universe and individual consciousness. They are one in the same.
What if we tie in the human emotion and how it intertwines with nature? What if the day brings sadness upon waking? We go about the morning with heaviness upon our shoulders. You glance outside and notice that it is overcast and gloomy. The afternoon brings showers that evoke tears. Perhaps it is not seen as an individual reference but one of global consciousness. It is compared to the butterfly effect where one thought sends a wave that ripples across the globe. A hurricane or strong wind can be summed up to the anger of the human psyche. Our thoughts are reflected in the mirror of our ever expanding world.
It is a mind blowing thought if one grasps this understanding. It is a huge responsibility and undertaking if it is fully understood. Everything that we think affects the universal forces for we alchemize our thoughts into reality through our senses. If we think and live love, fully understand its power, we will radiate an energy that people are drawn to. When in a state of love, we bless those around us alchemizing their cells into love. We were birthed from Mother Earth out of love and to experience emotions for her. The creator of mother earth gave her the power of choice which she passed on to all of humanity. It is through the sixth sense, if we shall call it that, where our bodies respond to our choices. We know whether our choice is being made in a balanced state or not. Our emotions will reflect this.
We were put here on this earth to experience the realm of emotions so Mother Earth could experience them through us. If there is sadness, weep for it will bring on the rain that will purify and nourish the landscape. If there is joy, the sun will energize our souls and all life that exists. If there is love and compassion, the breath and earths eternal hum will electrify with energy. We were given the gift of being birthed into this time, so we may as well have some fun with it and experience the bliss for it nourishes more than meets the eye.

 

[Skarekrow]

Can your brain detect events before they even occur?

That was the stunning conclusion of a 2012 meta-analysis of experiments from seven independent laboratories over the last 35 years, which found that the human body “can apparently detect randomly delivered stimuli occurring 1-10 seconds in the future”(Mossbridge, Tressoldi, & Utts, 2012). In the studies, physiological readings were taken as participants were subjected to unpredictable events designed to activate the sympathetic nervous system (for example, showing provocative imagery) as well as ‘neutral events’ that did not activate the nervous system. These readings showed that the nervous system aligned with the nature of the event (activated/not activated) — and what’s more, the magnitude of the pre-event response corresponded with the magnitude of the post-event response.
In a more recent paper, researchers have critically analysed these findings, considering possible mundane explanations for the results and also the implications of the results if they truly do point to a paradigm-shaking discovery:
The key observation in these studies is that human physiology appears to be able to distinguish between unpredictable dichotomous future stimuli, such as emotional vs. neutral images or sound vs. silence. This phenomenon has been called presentiment (as in “feeling the future”). In this paper we call it predictive anticipatory activity or PAA. The phenomenon is “predictive” because it can distinguish between upcoming stimuli; it is “anticipatory” because the physiological changes occur before a future event; and it is an “activity” because it involves changes in the cardiopulmonary, skin, and/or nervous systems.
They found that “neither questionable research practices (bias) nor physiological artifacts seem to be able to explain PAA”, and that “the evidence indicates that there is a temporal mirroring between pre- and post-event physiological events, so that the nature of the post-event physiological response is correlated with the characteristics of the PAA for that event.”
The authors of the paper also point out fascinating aspects of the research, such as the fact that “PAA is an unconscious phenomenon” that “appears to resemble precognition (consciously knowing something is going to happen before it does), but PAA specifically refers to unconscious physiological reactions as opposed to conscious premonitions”. The implication is that “there must be a necessity for PAA to remain non-conscious most of the time”, given that “if some part of our nervous system can obtain information about events seconds in the future, wouldn’t we have evolved to make this information conscious?”
There is also an ingenious, speculative discussion of how such a phenomenon might be possible:


A metaphor may help to provide an intuitive feel for this effect — watching a river move past a stick. The metaphor works as follows: Imagine that the direction of the water’s current is the conscious experience of the flow of time (temporal flow), and imagine that an intrusion in the flow (the stick) is an emotional, arousing, or otherwise important event. The largest disturbance in the water made by the intrusion is downstream (in the “forward” time direction), which is analogous to our conscious reaction to experiencing the important event. But if one examines the flow of water near the stick, one will also see a small perturbation upstream, anticipating the intrusion in the water downstream due to the back pressure. Similar to PAA, this upstream perturbation is a hint of things to come. It is not normally part of our conscious awareness and, as with disturbances in a flow of water, the majority of the effect of an intrusion is downstream of the intrusion.

Nevertheless, as we always note here, this is science at the edge so caveat lector. The authors of the recent paper urge caution until more extensive research is undertaken. “Until there is a gold standard experiment that is replicated across laboratories using exactly the same experimental procedure, physiological measures, and statistical analyses,”, they note, “there remains the possibility that multiple analyses could influence the body of evidence supporting PAA”. They recommend that all researchers investigating the topic register their experiments in advance “at any of several registries designed for experiments examining exceptional experiences”.I look forward to seeing the results of these future investigations. Or do I already know what the result is going to be?

 

[Skarekrow]

Three Unexplained Scientific Concepts That Can Make Us More Spiritual



“There is nothing you can learn from as much as a problem you cannot fully solve. Unsolved problems can be some of the greatest tormentors, but also the greatest teachers. Unsolved problems keep the mind hungry and the eyes open.” –Jonathan Zap
When it comes down to it, the universe is a baffling place. There is perhaps nothing more baffling than the fact that there’s even a universe to be baffled by. How many universes are there? Some scientists claim the answer could be anything between zero (this universe is an illusion) and infinity (multiverse). Nobody really knows the answer. And yet, the more we know, the more fascinating everything seems. The more baffling the question, the more exhilaration we feel. It’s the unanswered questions that pull us forward and bring a sense of the spiritual to the task of figuring things out.
Even the things we have figured out are minuscule compared to the things we can’t even imagine we can’t explain. Like Werner Heisenberg said, “The existing scientific concepts cover always only a very limited part of reality, and the other part that has not yet been understood is infinite.” Here then are four basic unexplained scientific concepts that seemingly bridge the gap between science and spirituality, and just might make us more spiritual in the process of trying to figure them out.
1.) INFINITY

“We, aeronauts of the spirit! …it was our fate to be wrecked against infinity.” –Nietzsche
​

Infinity says we’re everything, finitude says we’re nothing. Between the two, we flow. From microcosm to macrocosm we are infinite beings perceiving an infinite reality using finite faculties. As such, infinity will always elude us. Infinity cannot be pigeonholed into finite scientific inquiry. The universe is infinite at every point. Every point is itself infinite, creating an infinite array of infinities: an infinite super-infinity multiplied by other super-infinities equaling an infinitely more infinite level of uber-infinity (Cantor’s Set Theory). And that’s just the infinite water molecule on the infinite ice cube balancing on the tip of an infinite iceberg, as this just speaks toward the spatial aspects of infinity. Once you throw in the temporal aspects of infinity then the brain-flipping really begins.
Temporal infinity leads us down a wormhole of infinite realities, where timelines are nothing more than quantized time-particles themselves. Every nano-second of every timeline is an infinite nano-second branching off into infinite timelines each with their own set of nano-seconds branching off infinitely through something outside of time. Huh? Toss in the never-ending irrational number Pi, which is so long that it cannot even be contained by our universe and may even contain the universe within itself, and then the brain-crushing somersaults really begins.


Are you baffled? Good, because that’s a healthy reaction. But there is a veritable boon of spiritual gold in the perplexing conundrum of infinity. I mean, as long as infinity is the rule, there can be no such thing as boredom. If spirituality means anything it means honoring the sacred and respecting the soul of things while also relating to the intellectual and higher endowments of the mind. It means having a genuine concern for that which is unseen and intangible as well as what’s physical and mundane.
If we’re bored we cannot be spiritual. There’s no space for spirituality if there is no awe, no astonishment, and no baffling curiosity to grapple with. The concept of infinity promises that we will never be bored. If there’s always something more to learn (infinite knowledge) then there can be no boredom, which brings up an interesting correlation between boredom and knowing. If we knew everything, we’d be cursed with eternal boredom and tedium. But since there’s always something more to learn, we’re blessed with eternal awe and fascination. It turns out that an infinite mind aware is infinitely bored, while a finite mind aware is infinitely enchanted.
2.) QUANTUM MECHANICS (SPACE & TIME)

“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light-years and the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual.” –Carl Sagan
​

Atoms consist of 99.9999999% empty space. That means: everything from the chair you’re sitting on, the computer you’re staring at, even you, are only 000000001% there. In all actuality, nothing can exist separate from anything else. Everything is needed for anything to be possible. Maybe intuiting “space” is the mind’s way of preventing everything from being in the same place. Maybe “time” is the mind’s way of preventing everything from happening at once. Either way, much spiritual abundance is here to be had.
Perhaps space-time is nothing more than the insomnia of Infinity. Perhaps our searching for an explanation to time is akin to a fish searching for water. The fact that scientists can’t even explain something as simple as why the “arrow of time” only seems to move in one direction is absolutely bewildering. Most physicists even go so far as to claim that time is an illusion. And that’s because most of the research is pointing in exactly that direction. Pun intended. From Einstein’s relativity theory to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, from Schrödinger’s equation to Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, from quantum tunneling to the now eleven dimensions of space, space-time is one giant conundrum. It screams paradox. But is it really?
We find ourselves looking back and wondering: if history has proven, time and time again, that human perception is inadequate for explaining the way things “actually” are (flat earth, geocentric solar system, uniform time, etc.) who is to say that our perceptions are not tricking us into seeing what we think is real, as opposed to what is “actually” real? Perhaps the paradox isn’t time and space. Perhaps the paradox is us. It’s not reality that’s begging the question. It’s us, we, the very things pointing at everything and screaming “paradox” that needs to be questioned, measured, and deemed fallible. When we grasp the utter futility and beauty of this conundrum, a sense of humiliation and joy combines to gift us a spiritual goldmine of cosmic proportions.
3.) CONSCIOUSNESS

“Human consciousness is just about the last surviving mystery. A mystery is a phenomenon that people don’t know how to think about – yet. There have been other great mysteries: the mystery of the origin of the universe, the mystery of life, the mysteries of time, space, and gravity… With consciousness, however, we are still in a terrible muddle. Consciousness stands alone today as a topic that often leaves even the most sophisticated thinkers tongue-tied and confused. And, as with all of the earlier mysteries, there are many who insist — and hope — that there will never be a demystification of consciousness.” -Daniel C. Dennett
​

Consciousness is the granddaddy of all unexplained scientific concepts, the be-all-end-all of all things unexplainable. I mean, we don’t even know how to go about thinking about not understanding it. Consciousness is the muddled soup of the previous two unexplained concepts combined, with the added bonus of being an unexplained concept itself, and the only tool we have to explain how unexplainable it is. Can you say Möbius-snake eating its own Möbius-tail? Can you say Schrödinger’s alive-cat chasing Schrödinger’s dead-cat around in a box that may or may not exist?
From Hugh Everett’s Many Worlds interpretation of the collapsing wave-function to the multiple histories in Feynman’s Diagrams, each and every particle (electrons, photons, protons) is in an infinite superposition across the multiverse of reality. The wavefunction of each infinite particle collapses only when something, a conscious observer, attempts to measure it. In fact, the research is showing that the particles are not even quantized particles UNTIL they are observed. Before observation, they are merely an infinitely smeared-out wavefunction quantum entangled with everything else.
Even stranger is how the research shows that each of us (who are also made up of protons and electrons), and every single object in the universe, are entangled in the superposition of each and every other particle. This means that not only are all particles spread out infinitely throughout the multiverse, but so are we. So is everything! It’s only conscious observation itself that is bringing tangibility to anything. Without conscious observation, everything is simply infinite, no beginning and no ending, merely infinite energy. With conscious observation, however, we have form and shape and texture and flowers and mountains and planets and galaxies and the universe. More importantly, we have ourselves, observing the absolute miracle of it all.
Consciousness is the medium by which reality, as we know it, exists. It is both the glue that binds all things and the force that separates things into conceivable constructs. It’s a matrix within a matrix observing and creating the matrix it’s in while branching out into an infinite amount of parallel matrixes in a multi-matrix which is spread out through the uber-matrix of time and space. Indeed, it is that which dares to count to Pi. Without conscious observation, everything is everything. With conscious observation, everything is separate, dynamic, beautiful, meaningful, and, yes, spiritual. And suddenly we are not so small.

 

[Skarekrow]

10 Surprising Things That Benefit Our Brain That You Can Do Everyday



Our brains are by far our most important organs. Here are 10 of the most surprising things our brains do and what we can learn from them:
1. Your brain does creative work better when you’re tired.
Here’s how it breaks down:
If you’re a morning lark, say, you’ll want to favor those morning hours when you’re feeling fresher to get your most demanding, analytic work done. Using your brain to solve problems, answer questions and make decisions is best done when you’re at your peak. For night owls, this is obviously a much later period in the day.
On the other hand, if you’re trying to do creative work, you’ll actually have more luck when you’re more tired and your brain isn’t functioning as efficiently. This sounds crazy, but it actually makes sense when you look at the reasoning behind it. It’s one of the reasons that great ideas often happen in the shower after a long day of work.
If you’re tired, your brain is not as good at filtering out distractions and focusing on a particular task. It’s also a lot less efficient at remembering connections between ideas or concepts. These are both good things when it comes to creative work, since this kind of work requires us to make new connections, be open to new ideas and think in new ways. So a tired, fuzzy brain is much more use to us when working on creative projects.


This Scientific American article explains how distractions can actually be a good thing for creative thinking:
Insight problems involve thinking outside the box. This is where susceptibility to “distraction” can be of benefit. At off-peak times we are less focused, and may consider a broader range of information. This wider scope gives us access to more alternatives and diverse interpretations, thus fostering innovation and insight.
2. Stress can change the size of your brain (and make it smaller).
I bet you didn’t know that stress is actually the most common cause of changes in brain function. I was surprised to find this out when I looked into how stress affects our brains.
I also found some research that showed signs of brain size decreasing due to stress.
One study used baby monkeys to test the effects of stress on development and long-term mental health. Half the monkeys were cared for by their peers for six months, while the other half remained with their mothers. Afterwards, the monkeys were returned to typical social groups for several months before the researchers scanned their brains.
In the monkeys who had been removed from their mothers and cared for by their peers,areas of their brains related to stress were still enlarged, even after being in normal social conditions for several months.
3. It is literally impossible for our brains to multitask.
Multitasking is something we’ve long been encouraged to practice, but it turns outmultitasking is actually impossible. When we think we’re multitasking, we’re actually context switching. That is, we’re quickly switching back and forth between different tasks rather than doing them at the same time.
The book Brain Rules explains how detrimental multitasking can be:

Research shows your error rate goes up 50 percent and it takes you twice as long to do things.
​

The problem with multitasking is that we’re splitting our brain’s resources. We’re giving less attention to each task, and probably performing worse on all of them:

When the brain tries to do two things at once, it divides and conquers, dedicating one-half of our gray matter to each task.
​

When our brains handle a single task, the prefrontal cortex plays a big part. Here’s how it helps us achieve a goal or complete a task:

The anterior part of this brain region forms the goal or intention – for example, “I want that cookie” – and the posterior prefrontal cortex talks to the rest of the brain so that your hand reaches toward the cookie jar and your mind knows whether you have the cookie.
​

A study in Paris found that when a second task was required, the brains of the study volunteers split up, with each hemisphere working alone on a task. The brain was overloaded by the second task and couldn’t perform at its full capacity, because it needed to split its resources.
4. Naps improve your brain’s day-to-day performance.
We’re pretty clear on how important sleep is for our brains, but what about naps? It turns out that these short bursts of sleep are actually really useful.
Here are a couple of ways that napping can benefit the brain:
Improved Memory
In one study, participants memorized illustrated cards to test their memory strength. After memorizing a set of cards, they had a 40-minute break wherein one group napped and the other stayed awake. After the break both groups were tested on their memory of the cards, and the group who had napped performed better:

Much to the surprise of the researchers, the sleep group performed significantly better, retaining on average 85 percent of the patterns, compared to 60 percent for those who had remained awake.
​

Apparently, napping actually helps our brain solidify memories:

Research indicates that when a memory is first recorded in the brain – in the hippocampus, to be specific – it’s still “fragile” and easily forgotten, especially if the brain is asked to memorize more things. Napping, it seems, pushes memories to the neocortex, the brain’s “more permanent storage,” preventing them from being “overwritten.”
​

What Happens in the Brain During a Nap
Some recent research has found that the right side of the brain is far more active during a nap than the left side, which stays fairly quiet while we’re asleep. Despite the fact that 95 percent of the population is right-handed, with the left side of their brains being the most dominant, the right side is consistently the more active hemisphere during sleep.
The study’s author, Andrei Medvedev, speculated that the right side of the brain handles “housekeeping” duties while we’re asleep.
So while the left side of your brain takes some time off to relax, the right side is clearing out your temporary storage areas, pushing information into long-term storage and solidifying your memories from the day.
5. Your vision trumps all other senses.
Despite being one of our five main senses, vision seems to take precedence over the others:

Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10 percent of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65 percent.
Pictures beat text as well, in part because reading is so inefficient for us. Our brain sees words as lots of tiny pictures, and we have to identify certain features in the letters to be able to read them. That takes time.
​

In fact, vision is so powerful that the best wine tasters in the world have been known to describe a dyed white wine as a red.
Not only is it surprising that we rely on our vision so much, but it actually isn’t even that good! Take this fact, for instance:

Our brain is doing all this guessing because it doesn’t know where things are. In a three-dimensional world, the light actually falls on our retina in a two-dimensional fashion. So our brain approximates viewable image.
​

Let’s look at this image. It shows you how much of your brain is dedicated just to vision and how it affects other parts of the brain. It’s a truly staggering amount, compared to any other areas:

6. Introversion and extroversion come from different wiring in the brain.I just recently realized that introversion and extroversion are not actually related to how outgoing or shy we are but to how our brains recharge.
Here’s how the brains of introverts and extroverts differ:
Research has actually found that there is a difference in the brains of extroverted and introverted people in terms of how we process rewards and how our genetic makeup differs. Extroverts’ brains respond more strongly when a gamble pays off. Part of this is simply genetic, but it’s partly a difference in their dopamine systems as well.
An experiment that had people take gambles while in a brain scanner found the following:

When the gambles they took paid off, the more extroverted group showed a stronger response in two crucial brain regions: the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens.
​

The nucleus accumbens is part of the dopamine system, which affects how we learn and is generally known for motivating us to search for rewards. The difference in the dopamine system in the extrovert’s brain tends to push them toward seeking out novelty, taking risks and enjoying unfamiliar or surprising situations more than others. The amygdala is responsible for processing emotional stimuli, which gives extroverts that rush of excitement when they try something highly stimulating that might overwhelm an introvert.
More research has actually shown that the difference comes from how introverts and extroverts process stimuli. That is, the stimulation coming into our brains is processed differently depending on your personality. For extroverts, the pathway is much shorter. It runs through an area where taste, touch, visual and auditory sensory processing take place. For introverts, stimuli run through a long, complicated pathway in areas of the brain associated with remembering, planning and solving problems.
7. We tend to like people who make mistakes more.
Apparently, making mistakes actually makes us more likeable, due to something called the pratfall effect.
Kevan Lee recently explained how this works on the Buffer blog:

Those who never make mistakes are perceived as less likeable than those who commit the occasional faux pas. Messing up draws people closer to you, makes you more human. Perfection creates distance and an unattractive air of invincibility. Those of us with flaws win out every time.
This theory was tested by psychologist Elliot Aronson. In his test, he asked participants to listen to recordings of people answering a quiz. Select recordings included the sound of the person knocking over a cup of coffee. When participants were asked to rate the quizzers on likability, the coffee-spill group came out on top.
​

So this is why we tend to dislike people who seem perfect! And now we know that making minor mistakes isn’t the worst thing in the world; in fact, it can work in our favor.
8. Meditation can rewire your brain for the better.
Here’s another one that really surprised me. I thought meditation was only good for improving focus and helping me stay calm throughout the day, but it actually has a whole bunch of great benefits.
Here are a few examples:
What happens without meditation is that there’s a section of our brains that’s sometimes called the “me center.” (It’s technically the medial prefrontal cortex.) This is the part that processes information relating to ourselves and our experiences. Normally the neural pathways from the bodily sensation and fear centers of the brain to the “me center” are really strong. When you experience a scary or upsetting sensation, it triggers a strong reaction in your “me center,” making you feel scared and under attack.
Here is how anxiety and agitation decrease with just a 20-minute meditation session:

When we meditate, especially when we are just getting started with meditation, we weaken this neural connection. This means that we don’t react as strongly to sensations that might have once lit up our “me centers.” As we weaken this connection, we simultaneously strengthen the connection between what’s known as our “assessment center” (the part of our brains known for reasoning) and our bodily sensation and fear centers. So when we experience scary or upsetting sensations, we can more easily look at them rationally. Here’s a good example:

For example, when you experience pain, rather than becoming anxious and assuming it means something is wrong with you, you can watch the pain rise and fall without becoming ensnared in a story about what it might mean.
​

Better Memory
One of the things that meditation has been linked to is improving rapid memory recall. Catherine Kerr, a researcher at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging and the Osher Research Center, found that people who practiced mindful meditation were able to adjust the brain wave that screens out distractions and increase their productivity more quickly that those who did not meditate. She said that this ability to ignore distractions could explain “their superior ability to rapidly remember and incorporate new facts.” This seems to be very similar to the power of being exposed to new situations, which will also dramatically improve our memory of things.
Meditation has also been linked to increasing compassion, decreasing stress, improving memory skills and even increasing the amount of gray matter in the brain.
9. Exercise can reorganize the brain and boost your willpower.
Sure, exercise is good for your body, but what about your brain? Well, apparently there’s a link between exercise and mental alertness, in a similar way that happiness and exercise are related:

A lifetime of exercise can result in a sometimes astonishing elevation in cognitive performance, compared with those who are sedentary. Exercisers outperform couch potatoes in tests that measure long-term memory, reasoning, attention, problem-solving, even so-called fluid-intelligence tasks.
​

Of course, exercise can also make us happier, as we’ve explored before:
If you start exercising, your brain recognizes this as a moment of stress. As your heart pressure increases, the brain thinks you are either fighting the enemy or fleeing from it. To protect yourself and your brain from stress, you release a protein called BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). This BDNF has a protective and also reparative element to your memory neurons and acts as a reset switch. That’s why we often feel so at ease and things are clear after exercising, and eventually happy.
At the same time, endorphins, another chemical to fight stress, are released in your brain. The main purpose of endorphis is this, writes researcher McGovern:

These endorphins tend to minimize the discomfort of exercise, block the feeling of pain and are even associated with a feeling of euphoria.
​

10. You can make your brain think time is going slowly by doing new things.
Ever wished you didn’t find yourself saying, “Where does the time go!” every June when you realize the year is half-over? This is a neat trick that relates to how our brains perceive time. Once you know how it works, you can trick your brain into thinking time is moving more slowly.
Essentially, our brains take a whole bunch of information from our senses and organize it in a way that makes sense to us, before we ever perceive it. So what we think is our sense of time is actually just a whole bunch of information presented to us in a particular way, as determined by our brains:

When our brains receive new information, it doesn’t necessarily come in the proper order. This information needs to be reorganized and presented to us in a form we understand. When familiar information is processed, this doesn’t take much time at all. New information, however, is a bit slower and makes time feel elongated.
​

Even stranger, it isn’t just a single area of the brain that controls our time perception; it’s done by a whole bunch of brain areas, unlike our common five senses, which can each be pinpointed to a single, specific area.
When we receive lots of new information, it takes our brains a while to process it all. The longer this processing takes, the longer that period of time feels.
When we’re in life-threatening situations, for instance, “we remember the time as longer because we record more of the experience. Life-threatening experiences make us really pay attention, but we don’t gain superhuman powers of perception.”

 

[Skarekrow]

[h=2]Enjoy!

[/h][h=1]Online Esoteric Library[/h]
http://www.hermetics.org/ebooks.html

 

[Skarekrow]

[MENTION=1871]muir[/MENTION]
The above link is to an online esoteric library has many books on secret symbols and societies that you would probably be very interested in!

 

[muir]

@muir
The above link is to an online esoteric library has many books on secret symbols and societies that you would probably be very interested in!

yeah thats a good one, they've got a lot of stuff!

I have a link i think you'd be interested in but its on a disk i need to pick up from somewhere...might be a few days!

 

[Skarekrow]

yeah thats a good one, they've got a lot of stuff!

I have a link i think you'd be interested in but its on a disk i need to pick up from somewhere...might be a few days!

Please, I would be very interested!
Thanks!

 

[Skarekrow]

300+

I watch a lot of documentaries. I think they are incredible tools for learning and increasing our awareness of important issues. The power of an interesting documentary is that it can open our minds to new possibilities and deepen our understanding of the world.
On this list of mind expanding documentaries you will find different viewpoints, controversial opinions and even contradictory ideas. Critical thinking is recommended. I’m not a big fan of conspiracy documentaries but I do like films that challenge consensus reality and provoke us to question the everyday ideas, opinions and practices we usually take for granted.
Watching documentaries is one of my favorite methods of self-education. If I find a documentary inspiring, I usually spend more time researching the different ideas and interesting people interviewed in the film. I hope you find these documentaries as enlightening as I did!

[1] LIFE IN THE BIOSPHERE

Explore the wonder and interconnectedness of the biosphere through the magic of technology.
Home
How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth
The Magical Forest
Ants: Nature’s Secret Power
Mt. Everest: How It Was Made
Mariana’s Trench: The Deepest Spot On Earth
Natural World: The Andes
Shining Mountains: The Rockies
Grand Canyon: How It Was Made
The Intelligence of Plants


[2] CREATIVITY AND DESIGN:

Learn about all the amazing things that people create with their imaginations.
Everything Is A Remix
The Creative Brain: How Insight Works
Design: The New Business
PressPausePlay: Art and Creativity in the Digital Age
Infamy: A Graffiti Documentary
Influencers: How Trends and Creativity Become Contagious
RIP: A Remix Manifesto
Design: e² – Sustainable Architecture
The Genius Of Design

[3] THE EDUCATION INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX:

The modern school where young minds are moulded into standardized citizens by the state.
The College Conspiracy
Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk
The Forbidden Education
Default: The Student Loan Documentary
College Inc.
Education For A Sustainable Future
Networked Society: The Future of Learning
The Ultimate History Lesson With John Taylor Gatto
The Education System in Communist China
The War On Kids
[4] THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION:

The Internet is now the driving force behind change and innovation in the world.
The Age of Big Data
Resonance: Beings of Frequency
Life In A Day
Networked Society: On The Brink
Us Now: Social Media and Mass Collaboration
WikiRebels: The WikiLeaks Story
The Virtual Revolution: The Cost of Free
How Hackers Changed the World

[5] A NEW CIVILIZATION:

We are at the dawn of a new golden age of human inventiveness.
THRIVE: What On Earth Will It Take?
Zeitgeist III: Moving Forward
Paradise or Oblivion
2012: Time For Change
The Crisis of Civilization
The Collective Evolution II
The Quickening: Awakening As One
2012 Crossing Over: A New Beginning
Collapse
The Awakening

[6] POLITICS:

Explore the politics of power and control and how it affects your life.
Owned and Operated
UnGrip
The Power Principle
The True Story of Che Guevara
Earth Days
Capitalism Is The Crisis
WikiLeaks: The Secret Life of a Superpower
The Putin System
The War On Democracy
Rise Like Lions: Occupy Wall Street and the Seeds of Revolution

[7] BIOGRAPHIES OF GENIUS:

The biographies of modern geniuses who pushed humanity forward.
Isaac Newton: The Last Magician
The Unlimited Energy of Nikola Tesla
The Missing Secrets Of Nikola Tesla
Richard Feynman: No Ordinary Genius
How Albert Einstein’s Brain Worked
The Extraordinary Genius of Albert Einstein
Leonardo Da Vinci: The Man Who Wanted to Know Everything

[8] WAR:

War is history’s oldest racket for stealing from the powerless and redistributing resources to the powerful.
Psywar: The Real Battlefield Is Your Mind
The Secret History of 9/11
Robot Armies in the Future
The Never Ending War in Afghanistan
Shadow Company: Mercenaries In The Modern World
Why We Fight
The Fog Of War
The Oil Factor: Behind The War On Terror

[9] ECONOMICS:

Learn about the financial system works and how people and societies are enslaved through debt.
The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power
Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of The World
The One Percent
Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street
The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers
The Four Horsemen
Inside Job: The Biggest Robbery In Human History
Capitalism A Love Story
Money and Life

[10] DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

Profiles of the entrepreneurs who used technology to change the world.
The Life Of A Young Entrepreneur
Profile: Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Profile: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg
Starting-Up in America
Steve Jobs: One Last Thing
Steve Jobs: The Billion Dollar Hippy
Elon Musk: Risk Takers
The Story of Twitter

[11] SPORTS:

Watch the inspiring stories of amazing athletes.
Fearless: The Jeb Corliss Story
Carts of Darkness
Usain Bolt: The World’s Fastest Man
Wayne Gretzky: The Life and Times
Mike Tyson: Beyond the Glory
Birdmen
The Legacy Of Michael Jordan
We Ride: The Story of Snowboarding

[12] TECHNOLOGY:

Find out more about the impact of exponential growth and the approaching Singularity.
Ray Kurzweil: The Transcendent Man
How Robots Will Change the World
Human 2.0
Trance-Formation: The Future of Humanity
The Venus Project: Future By Design
Bionics, Transhumanism And The End Of Evolution
The Singularity Is Near
Car Technology Of The Future

[13] ORIGINS OF RELIGION:

Explore the original religious experience of mankind at the dawn of civilization.
Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within
Manifesting the Mind: Footprints of the Shaman
Ancient Egypt and The Alternative Story of Mankind’s Origins
The Hidden Knowledge of the Supernatural
Re-Awaken: Open Your Heart, Expand Your Mind
Shamans of the Amazon
The Root of All Evil: The God Delusion
Ancient Knowledge
The Naked Truth
Before Babel: In Search of the First Language

[14] WESTERN RELIGION:

The fascinating history of the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Secret Quest: The Path of the Christian Gnostics
The Secret Gate of Eden
Forbidden Knowledge: Lost Secrets of the Bible
Banned From The Bible: Secrets Of The Apostles
The Road To Armageddon
Muhammad: The Legacy of a Prophet
A Complete History of God
Gnosis: The Untold History of the Bible

[15] EASTERN RELIGION:

Expand your mind by also studying the entirely different religious worldviews of the East.
Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds
The Life Of The Buddha
The Seven Wonders of the Buddhist World
Mysteries of the Cosmic OM: Ancient Vedic Science
Where Science and Buddhism Meet
The Yogis of Tibet
Taj Mahal: Secrets To Blow Your Mind
Light at the Edge of the World: Tibetan Science of the Mind
Myths of Mankind: The Mahabharata
Ayurveda: The Art of Being

[16] CONSCIOUSNESS:

Learn about the basic unity of existence and the miracle of consciousness.
Athene’s Theory of Everything
Theory of Everything: GOD, Devils, Dimensions, Dragons & The Illusion of Reality
The God Within: Physics, Cosmology and Consciousness
5 Gateways: The Five Key Expansions of Consciousness
Return to the Source: Philosophy and The Matrix
The Holographic Universe
DMT: The Spirit Molecule
Kymatica
Neuroplasticity: The Brain That Changes Itself

[17] MYSTERIES:

Indiana Jones-style explorations into the unsolved mysteries of the past.
Alchemy: Sacred Secrets Revealed
The Day Before Disclosure
The Pyramid Code
The Secret Design of the Egyptian Pyramids
Decoding the Past: Secrets of the Dollar Bill
Origins of the Da Vinci Code
Forbidden Knowledge: Ancient Medical Secrets
Secret Mysteries of America’s Beginnings: The New Atlantis
Secrets in Plain Sight

[18] MASS CULTURE:

Learn about how our thoughts and opinions are influenced by mass culture.
The Century of the Self
All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace
The Power Of Nightmares
Starsuckers: A Culture Obsessed By Celebrity
Human Resources: Social Engineering in the 20th Century
Obey: The Death of the Liberal Class
Motivational Guru: The Story of Tony Robbins
Bob Marley: Freedom Road
Radiant City

[19] CORPORATE MEDIA:

Discover how the mass media and advertisers channel our irrational impulses.
Weapons of Mass Deceptions
Secrets of the Superbrands
Orwell Rolls in his Grave
The Esoteric Agenda
Propaganda
The Myth of the Liberal Media: The Propaganda Model of News
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media
Symbolism in Logos: Subliminal Messages or Ancient Archetypes
Edward Snowden: A Truth Unveiled
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism

[20] ART AND LITERATURE:

Explore the lives of famous artists and how art opens people’s minds.
Cosm: Alex Gray’s Visionary Art
Banksy’s Exit Through The Gift Shop
New Art and the Young Artists Behind It
Salvador Dali: A Master of the Modern Era
The Day Pictures Were Born
Off-Book: Digital Age Creativity
This Is Modern Art

[21] HEALTH:

Explore issues in health, how our bodies work and the incredible power of our brains.
The Human Brain
The Truth About Vitamins
How To Live To 101
America’s Obesity Epidemic
The War On Health
The Beautiful Truth
Food Inc.
The Truth About Food
The Living Matrix

[22] DRUGS:

Documentaries on the effect of drugs — legal and illegal — on the body and mind.
The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
The Drugging Of Our Children
How Marijuana Affects Your Health
Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging
Clearing the Smoke: The Science of Cannabis
LSD: The Beyond Within
The War on Drugs: The Prison Industrial Complex
Are Illegal Drugs More Dangerous Than Legal Drugs?
The Prescription Drug Abuse Epidemic
Run From The Cure: The Rick Simpson Story

[23] ENVIRONMENT:

Thought-provoking documentaries on the environmental movement and the growing threats to our biosphere.
Earthlings
Blue Gold: World Water Wars
Shift: Beyond the Numbers of the Climate Crisis
All Things Are Connected
The Fight For Amazonia
Flow: For Love Of Water
Here Comes the Sun
The World According To Monsanto
The Story of Stuff

[24] COSMOS:

Expand your mind by exploring our indescribably large and beautiful Cosmos.
The Search for Planets Similar to Earth
Cosmic Journeys : The Largest Black Holes in the Universe
The Mystery of the Milky Way
Fractals: The Hidden Dimension
Into The Universe With Stephen Hawking: The Story of Everything
Pioneer Science: Discovering Deep Space
Carl Sagan’s Cosmos
The Strangest Things In The Universe

[25] SCIENCE:

The history of scientific discovery and how scientific instruments expand our perception.
The Complete History of Science
Secret Universe: The Hidden Life of the Cell
Stephen Hawking: A Brief History of Time
Quantum Mechanics: Fabric of the Cosmos
The Light Fantastic
DNA: The Secret of Life
Parallel Universes, Alternative Timelines & Multiverse
What Is The Higgs Boson?
Infinity
[26] EVOLUTION:

The story of our evolution and the emergence of self-aware human beings.
The Origin of Life
Homo Sapiens: The Birth of Humanity
Beyond Me
The Global Brain
Metanoia: A New Vision of Nature
Birth Of A New Humanity
Samsara
Ape Man: Adventures in Human Evolution
The Incredible Human Journey
The Human Family Tree

[27] PSYCHOLOGY AND THE BRAIN:

New research is shining a spotlight on how we can improve our brains.
How Smart Can We Get?
The Science of Lust
The Secret You
What Are Dreams?
A Virus Called Fear
Beyond Thought (Awareness Itself)
The Human Brain
Superconscious Mind: How To Double Your Brain’s Performance
How Does Your Memory Work?
Secrets of the Mind
[28] MODERN HISTORY:

The story of the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the modern world.
History of the World in Two Hours
The Industrial Revolution
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
The French Revolution
Big Sugar
The American Revolution

[29] PRE-MODERN HISTORY:

The story of the Americas and European history in the pre-modern world.
Socrates, Aristotle and Plato
The Medici: The Most Influencial Family In The World
A History of Celtic Britain
The Crusades: Victory and Defeat
The Vikings: Voyage To America
Copernicus and the Scientific Revolution

[30] CURRENT EVENTS:

Become more informed about current events that are shaping the world.
Syria: The Reckoning
Empire: Putin’s Russia
The New Arms Race
The Killing of Yasser Arafat
Egypt In Crisis
Inside Obama’s Presidency
The Untouchables: How Obama Protected Wall Street
Behind The Rhetoric: The Real Iran
A History of the Middle East since WWII
Climate Wars

[31] ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS:

Fascination explorations into the ancient civilizations of our past.
The Persian Empire : Most Mysterious Civilization in the Ancient World
What The Ancients Did For Us
What the Ancients Knew
Egypt: Beyond the Pyramids
Secrets of the Ancient Empires
Graham Hancock’s Quest For The Lost Civilization
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
I hope you enjoy watching some of these mind expanding documentaries! If you have a personal favorite, please share it with everyone in the comments.

 

[Skarekrow]

[h=2]100+ Self-Education Resources For Lifelong Learners[/h]


Self-education and the embrace of lifelong learning is becoming a critical mindset to navigate our rapidly changing world. Lifelong learning can be a catalyst for earning more money in your career and it can be a gateway to self-employment. Fortunately, the Internet has made it easier than ever to find the right resources to spark your curiosity and learn what you need to know.
In this post, I have compiled some of the most useful self-education resources that I’ve found online. You will find online courses and tools to master new skills, learn languages, find classic books, broaden your mind and interact with other lifelong learners.
Find MOOCs Online:

Take free online courses from the world’s best Universities. MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses) provide video lectures, structured deadlines and interactive learning communities.

1. Coursera -The largest course platform for free MOOCs . Founded by two former Stanford University professors.
2. Udacity - Founded by Sebastian Thrun, the creator of the artificial intelligence system behind Google’s self-driving cars. Udacity’s focus is on free MOOCs for improving your knowledge of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) disciplines.
3. EdX - A free MOOC platform developed through a partnership between Harvard, MIT and Berkeley. Expanding rapidly.
4. MIT Open Courseware - This ambitious project launched over a decade ago by MIT makes the course materials used in virtually all of MIT’s courses available on the web for free.
5. Khan Academy - Salman Khan’s pioneering online academy where you can learn just about any academic subject online for free.
6. Saylor - Started by serial entrepreneurial and education futurist Michael Saylor. The Saylor Foundation is a non-profit that provides a free University education that includes written exams and University credits for most of your work.
7. University of the People - A tuition-free online University that aims to democratize higher education by offering it anyone in the world.
8. iTunes U - Apple’s iTunes University initiative makes it easy to take courses on your iPhone or iPad wherever you go.
9. World Education University (WEU) - A massively open online University (they call it MOOC 2.0) that offers degrees and full program for free. It’s a for-profit enterprise that funds itself through advertising, publishing and organization partnerships rather than tuition fees.
10. Canvas Network – An open learning network with a growing collection of free online courses. Sign up early for courses, they fill up fast.

Lectures and Video Learning Websites:

Get inspired by watching short lectures by the world’s leading thinkers, entrepreneurs and creators.

1. TED - With its slogan “Ideas Worth Spreading” the TED Conference (stands for Technology, Education, Design) features world’s leading academics, teachers and innovators in easily digestible 18-minute lectures.
2. YouTube EDU - Google’s YouTube Education channel. Lots of great educational content, lectures and conference talks conveniently organized.
3. Do Lectures - Inspiring talks from people who have set out to change the world.
4. Solve For X - A forum established by Google to amplify technology-based solutions to radically challenge the world’s problems.
5. Big Think - Short videos with important contemporary thinkers, entrepreneurs and scientists talking about their expertise.
6. Fora.TV - Constantly expanding collection of videos from the world’s biggest conferences and events.
7. @Google Talks - Innovator thinkers and doers visit Googleplex to give inspiring talks that are posted freely online by Google.
8. RSA Animate - Engaging, hand-drawn videos that illustrate important issues in the world today.
9. Creative Live - Live workshops taught by world class experts. Free if you mark the talks on your schedule and watch the live streams.
10. Mixergy – Excellent courses and interviews by Andrew Warner with today’s top Internet entrepreneurs.
11. Academic Earth - 1000s of free video lectures from many of the world’s top Universities.
12. The Faculty Project – Udemy has created an excellent free platform for the best professors from the world’s leading Universities to teach online.
13. The Floating University – Inspiring video lectures from today’s most interesting thinkers, practitioners and leading scholars.
14. Reddit Lectures – A busy Reddit community for the latest and greatest video lectures.
15. Video Lectures – A growing collection of 14,500+ video lectures.

Watch Streaming Documentaries:

Watching documentaries is a great way to relax and learn new things.

1. Documentary Stream – Free, streaming educational documentaries collected from across the web.
2. Snag Films – One of the largest collections of ad-supported movies and documentaries online.
3. Can I Stream I? – Search Netflix, Hulu, Google Play and iTunes to find movies and documentaries that you can instantly rent or buy.
4. PBS Video – Watch full-length shows and documentaries from PBS. I especially recommend their Frontline documentaries.

Digital Skills Training:

An emerging group of education startups that are offering skills training for the digital workplace.

1. Udemy – The iTunes of learning new digital skills and training for your career.
2. Skillshare – A global community centered around creativity, collaboration and learning by doing. Online and offline classes.
3. University of Reddit – If you love Reddit, you can take part in their evolving online education initiative.
4. ALISON – Free workplace skills training with over 300+ online courses accessible to you.

Digital Skills Portfolios:

With so much informal learning now happening online, your credentials are less important than what you can do with your knowledge. These platforms are developing alternative forms of accreditation that are based on your practical skills and accomplishments.

1. Degreed - Trying to jailbreak the college degree by helping your build a digital, lifelong diploma.
2. Pathbrite - Collect, organize and share a lifetime of learning and achievement.
3. Smarterer - Benchmark your skills and track what you’ve learned through online skill tests.
4. Mozilla’s Open Badges - Get recognition for your skills and achievement by earning digital badges.
5. LinkedIn – The professional social networking website has become the new social resume.

Open Educational Resources:

Access high-quality education textbooks, get your burning questions answered and explore a world of free digital self-education resources.

1. Boundless – Disrupting the big textbook publishers by offering textbooks online, for free.
2. Textbook Revolution – Free, open source textbooks if that’s how you want to learn.
3. Open Textbooks – Browse college textbooks by subject, which are made freely available online.
4. Scribd – Amazing library of digital documents on every imaginable subject.
5. Slideshare – Learn new things and find information broken down to the essential bits in this incredible library of digital presentations.
6. Creative Commons Education – An open source movement to make educational content freely available online.
7. Connexions - A global knowledge sharing community that breaks information down into small, easily-digestible chunks.
8. Open Study – Ask. Answer. Understand. Get real-time study help in the world’s largest study group.
9. Quora - My favorite question and answer community. Find expert and amateur advice on every imaginable topic.
10. iTunes Podcasts – I highly recommend browsing the Podcasts on iTunes. So many incredible free audio shows at your fingertips.

DIY Education Communities:

Online communities where you can meet other lifelong learners and build a mastermind community for your own self-education endeavors.

1. Uncollege – The Uncollege movement challenges the notion that you need to go to University to get an education. They provide inspiration and resources for alternative educational paths.
2. Zero Tuition College – A community of self-directed learners that provide mentoring to each other.
3. The Public School – A school with no curriculum. A framework for self-education and auto-didactic activities, operating under the assumption that everything is in everything.
4. Meetup – Find interesting meetups and meet new people in your local area. Or start your own meetup, join a mastermind group or create a new learning community.
5. P2PU – An open education community for lifelong learning leveraging open source education materials, collaborative learning and an evolving system that gives learners recognition for their achievements.

Liberal Arts: Study The Classics

A great way to get inside the minds of civilization greatest thinkers is to read their books.

1. The Liberal Arts 4-Year Reading List – Study the essential classical books and educate yourself in the liberal arts by reading a book every 2 weeks for 4 years (or pick the ones that interest you the most). The first year covers Greek authors; the second year is from Roman, medieval, Renaissance periods; the third year is the books of the 17th and 18th centuries and the fourth year covers books from the 19th and 20th centuries.
2. A Lifetime’s Reading: The World’s 500 Greatest Books – Compiled by the prolific Philip Ward, a librarian, scholar, editor and author of more than 50 books.
3. Great Books of the Western World – 161 books essential books of the West on Wikipedia.
4. The Western World’s 500 Greatest Books – An excellent collection of over 500 books from Western civilization with links to where you can read them on Project Gutenberg.
5. Great Literature of the Eastern World – I couldn’t find an equivalent book of Eastern books online but this book apparently covers the major works of prose, poetry and drama from China, India, Japan, Korea and the Middle East.
6. Classic Reader - Search and access an online library of 3800+ mostly classic books.
7. Planet Ebook – Read 80+ free classic books for free on your computer or mobile device.
8. Project Gutenberg – Read over 42,000 free books in the massive Project Gutenberg archive. Download many of them directly to Kindle or other mobile reading formats. Amazing resource for self-education.

Find and Share Amazing Books:

Discover new books that you can read online or find at your local library and connect with other people reading similar books.

1. Good Reads - A massive social network (recently acquired by Amazon) for discovering new books and sharing the books you love.
2. Book Yards – 1000s of more free ebooks easily browsable by author or category.
3. Read Print Library – A social network “where books and people meet”.
4. Library Thing – A community of 1.6 million book lovers. Meet and share stories with people who have similar taste or are reading the same books you are.

Self-Knowledge and Wisdom

Educating the mind without awakening the heart is no education at all. Explore religious texts to develop your self-knowledge and awaken to the spiritual dimension that gives life meaning and richness.

1. Internet Sacred Text Archive – Read the sacred texts from the world’s major religions and other less institutionalized religions like Sufism, Gnosticism, Tantrism, Taoism, Shamanism and more.
2. Sacred Books of the East – Browse and read public domain copies of 50 of the most important books of Eastern philosophy and civilization.
3. Virtual Religious Index – Extensive link collection maintained by Rutgers University of websites with informative religious content. Categorized by religion as well as ancient religions, archaeology and philosophy.
4. Meta Religion – Internet project for educating people in a multidisciplinary view of the religion, spiritual and the world of esoteric phenomena.
5. Sacred Destinations – Places of great spiritual power around the world that you can explore and plan to visit one day.
6. Religion Facts – Get your religious questions answered on this site.
7. Spiritual Reality Power of Meditation – Freedom from compulsory thoughts is the gateway to wisdom and a true understanding of who you are. This YouTube video is one of the best introductions to meditation.

Education Depositories and Tools:

Some great digital tools for furthering your self-education and lifelong learning.

1. Learnist – Browse and create your own online learning collections. Lots of great content to enjoy.
2. MentorMob – Discover and create your own learning playlists. Similar to Learnist.
3. Kibin – A proof-reading and editing community that can help you improve your writing. You can either pay or proof-read other people’s work and get credit for it.
4. Library of Congress – The de facto national library of the United States of America and the largest library in the world. Most of it is accessible online.
5. BBC Learning – Huge collection of learning resources from the BBC. Find online courses, video clips and educational games.

Learn New Languages:

The best way to learn is to travel. To travel well, you’re probably going to want to learn the local languages. Here are the best ways to do it fast.

1. Duolingo - My favorite free language learning website. Totally gamified learning process where you can learn for free by translating content while you learn. Their iPhone app is great too.
2. Memrise - Innovative memorizing system for learning new languages.
3. Live Mocha - The largest language learning community online that I know of.
4. BBC Languages - Great language learning resources freely provided by the BBC.

Self-Education Toolbox:

Here are my favorite tools for managing my own self-education and creative projects. I prefer digital tools with seamless cloud-based syncing across computers and mobile devices.

1. Evernote – Outsource part of your brain to Evernote. Much more than just notes synced across all your devices. You can also take photos of pages or items and search them later with full text recognition, record voice memos, organized your research and collaborate seamlessly with colleagues on projects.
2. Feedly - The best Google Reader alternative for grabbing RSS feeds from your favorite blogs. Syncs with iPhone, iPad and Android too.
3. Flipboard - Find interactive content from the web’s best sources and curate your own digital magazine of the websites, articles, videos and photos that inspire you.
4. Pocket – Save articles and information on websites you like to read later online or offline on your laptop, smartphone or tablet.
5. Diigo – My favorite tool for organizing bookmarks by keyword, highlighting text online and posting sticky notes to read important things later. Accessible from any computer or mobile device.
6. Trello - An essential tool for keeping yourself organized and accountable with to-do lists, workflow and flexible deadlines. Also excellent for collaborative learning projects. In one glance, know what’s being worked on, who’s working on it and keep up-to-date with your colleagues progress with private Twitter-like social project stream. Great mobile support on iPhone, iPad and Android.
7. Google Apps For Education – Free web-based email with Gmail, calendar to set reminders and schedule your life, and documents for collaborative study anytime, anywhere.
8. Toggl – Easy time and task tracking for your creative projects. Get an instant breakdown of which projects are consuming your time. For freelance business projects, Harvest has better invoicing and tax features.
9. MindMeister – Create mind maps for brainstorming and organizing where you creative ideas lead you.
10. Astrid – Create and share to-do lists and easily set reminders from your iPhone, iPad or Android device. Wunderlist is great too.

Self-Discipline Tools:

Self-discipline rarely comes naturally so these digital tools are great for setting goals, accountability and tracking progress.

1. Cojourneo – A new app in beta-testing for setting goals and achieving them.
2. 43Things – A goal setting community with 3 million members.
3. Day Zero Project – Make lists of your goals and turn them into a challenge.
4. Everest App – An iPhone app that helps you achieve personal goals.
5. RescueTime - An excellent time management and productivity tool. See where you’re wasting your time and break the habit.
6. Pomodoro App – My favorite productivity tool. The scientifically-proven Pomodoro method breaks down your work or study projects into easily managed 25 minute chunks with 5 minute breaks in-between.

Recommended Reading:

All education is self-education, a good teacher can only point the way, we have to do the work. Interesting perspectives on how education is being revolutionized by the Internet and information abundance.

1. Weapons of Mass Instruction (John Taylor Gatto)
2. Hacking Your Education: Ditch the Lectures, Save Tens of Thousands, and Learn More Than Your Peers Ever Will (Dale J. Stephens)
3. The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think and It’s Not Too Late (Michael Ellsberg)
4. The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined (Salman Khan)
5. Better Than College: How to Build a Successful Life Without a Four-Year Degree (Blake Boles)
6. DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education (Anya Kamenetz)
7. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling (John Taylor Gatto)
8. Instead of Education: Ways to Help People Do Things Better (John Holt)
9. The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World (Chris Guillebeau)
10. Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life (Peter Gray)
11. The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School (Neil Postman)

Free Self-Education Ebooks:

Some great free ebooks about self-education and how to become more creative in your life and work.

1. Stop Stealing Dreams: What Is School For? (Seth Godin)
2. The EduPunk’s Guide To A DIY Credential (Anya Kamenetz)
3. Deschooling Society (Ivan Illich)
4. Teaching As A Subversive Activity (Neil Postman & Charles Weingartner)
5. Education and the Significance of Life (Jiddhu Krishnamurti)

Critical Thinking Resources

If you’re going to follow the path of self-education these resources can help you sharpen your critical thinking skills.

1. Think Again: How to Reason and Argue - Improve your ability to assess arguments other people make and learn how to construct good arguments of your own.
2. Critical Thinking in Global Challenges - Interesting course that teaches you how to assess information and develop reasoned arguments in the context of global challenges facing our world.
3. Trivium Education - An excellent website dedicated to the Trivium, an ancient system of grammar, logic and rhetoric that provides the intellectual tools to establish clarity and consistency of personal thought. It used to be the cornerstone of a classical liberal education through the study of essential 7 liberal arts and sciences but it is now largely absent from schools.
4. Trivium Resources - An excellent collection of Trivium resources from online free thinking community Tragedy and Hope. I recommend starting with the 5-page summary of the Trivium method for critical thinking and creative problem solving.
5. The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric - The classic book by Sister Miriam Joseph that teaches the Trivium and how it can be used to improve your faculties of intelligence and reasoning.

More Lifelong Learning Resources

1. Meta-Learning - 70 pages of the Meta-Learning section of Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Chef book.
2. Google World Wonders Project – Google brings to life the wonders of the modern and ancient world.
3. Google Art Project – Explore collections from art museums around the world with thousands of artworks photographed in extremely high resolution.
4. National Geographic Education – Cultivate your knowledge of the world’s geography and countries.

 

[Skarekrow]

THE SCIENCE OF THE HEART

The heart generates the largest electromagnetic field produced in the body. Researchers have analyzed the spectrum analysis of the magnetic field that’s produced by the heart, and results have shown that emotional information is encoded into this electromagnetic field. So, by shifting our emotions, we are changing the information that is encoded into these electromagnetic field that are radiated by the heart. This can impact those around us. When we are feeling emotions of compassion, love, gratitude and understanding, the heart beats out a very different message.

[video=youtube_share;Kyfm5_LLxow]http://youtu.be/Kyfm5_LLxow[/video]

 

[Skarekrow]

[h=1]Reuniting Psyche with Cosmos: Opening the Archetypal Eye[/h]
“We are the cosmos made conscious and life is the means by which the universe understands itself.” – Brian Cox
We are not born into the world; we are born of it. We are of the earth, born out of her. Adam means “red earth” implying that man is bound to the earth by blood. Similarly, “human” refers to humus, which takes us back to the soil. The Incan word for “human body” was alpa camasca, which means literally, “animated earth.” Everything about our bodies, from bones to ovaries, is a part of the earth.
Only superficially can we separate cosmos from psyche. The problem is we have given into this superficiality. The only way to break our servitude to the superficial is to reawaken our primordial self and renew our connection to the prima materia, the formless void preceding the perceptual split of psyche and cosmos. We must reunite the human soul with cosmic nature.
Bill Plotkin said, “When we become alienated from soul – our inner nature – we lose respect for outer nature, resulting in the pollution and degradation of the environment.” This is the quintessential hypocrisy of nature and the human soul: that we are born from nature and yet we must transcend it, or perish.
Since the dawn of mankind we have struggled against a hostile world. Human beings are rather inadequate animals, aside from one dramatically unique thing: a very large frontal lobe. This is the only thing that has gotten us where we are today; a species that seems hell-bent on destroying its own world.
It’s almost a catch-22. We could easily use the excuse that we need to keep controlling nature or we die. But this doesn’t have to be the case. The very thing that got us into this mess, the frontal lobe, is the very thing that can get us out of it, and back to a healthy equilibrium with the biosphere. Through meditation practice we become more adept at adapting. We become more adept at seeing reality the way it is: interconnected.


With enough practice we come to discover that our third-eye, the frontal lobe, the ajna chakra, has been closed off to the heart. With even more practice we get to a point where new strategies for living in the world become manifest: Instead of controlling nature, let us have a relationship with her.
Instead of consuming everything around us, let us seek moderation in our appetites and regain a sense of sharing. Instead of rampant competitiveness and expropriation, let us embrace moralistic compassion and lean towards a healthy equilibrium with our environment. Like Allan Watts said, “Nature is always differentiated unity, not unified differences.”
“Man,” wrote Blaise Pascal, “is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges as the infinity in which he is engulfed.” Indeed.
But perhaps through meditation and the opening of the third eye –what James Hillman described as the “archetypal eye,” that implicit form of intuitive intelligence that is capable of recognizing the rich synergy of patterns at work in both the subjective-microcosm of the individual and the objective-macrocosm of the cosmos – we can turn the tables on our incapacity for seeing reality the way it truly is.

[video=youtube_share;YMDu3JdQ8Ow]http://youtu.be/YMDu3JdQ8Ow[/video]

When the archetypal eye opens, we see that the cosmos is constantly interrogating itself through random mutation and impermanent change. We see that God is interrogating herself. We come to realize that we are not merely a speck in the cosmos; we are the entire cosmos in a speck.
At the end of the day, God questioning herself to the limit is you, and you questioning yourself to the limit is God. We are not merely egos in bags of skin that need to be force-fed the divine, rather we are walking aspects of cosmos. We are God. Not only is this disposition beyond theology and ideology, it is beyond atheism and nihilism; it is beyond good and evil.
It brings us to a transcendence of meaninglessness and absurdity, and into a state of uncertain gaiety and a unity with all things that is meaningful and humorous in itself. The question is can we get the majority of us aware of this unity before it’s too late.

 

[Kgal]

300+

I watch a lot of documentaries. I think they are incredible tools for learning and increasing our awareness of important issues. The power of an interesting documentary is that it can open our minds to new possibilities and deepen our understanding of the world.
On this list of mind expanding documentaries you will find different viewpoints, controversial opinions and even contradictory ideas. Critical thinking is recommended. I’m not a big fan of conspiracy documentaries but I do like films that challenge consensus reality and provoke us to question the everyday ideas, opinions and practices we usually take for granted.
Watching documentaries is one of my favorite methods of self-education. If I find a documentary inspiring, I usually spend more time researching the different ideas and interesting people interviewed in the film. I hope you find these documentaries as enlightening as I did!


I hope you enjoy watching some of these mind expanding documentaries! If you have a personal favorite, please share it with everyone in the comments.

Oh myyyyy... I don't think I have enough hours left in my lifetime to watch all of these extremely interesting sounding and enticing documentaries.... Hahahahahahaha...

I couldn't resist putting 5 of them in my Watch Later list on youtube - though.

[shakes head in resignation] I admit I am totally addicted to documentaries. :tongue:

 

[Skarekrow]

Oh myyyyy... I don't think I have enough hours left in my lifetime to watch all of these extremely interesting sounding and enticing documentaries.... Hahahahahahaha...

I couldn't resist putting 5 of them in my Watch Later list on youtube - though.

[shakes head in resignation] I admit I am totally addicted to documentaries. :tongue:

Glad to help....I love documentaries as well!
Sadly, I cannot just sit and watch them all day, every day....lol.

 

[Kgal]

Glad to help....I love documentaries as well!
Sadly, I cannot just sit and watch them all day, every day....lol.

You big TEASER!

Hahahahahaha....