Well..I don’t want to give up on society yet...
Seriously…you should check out the movie…it is absolutely amazingly interesting.
It offers some great solutions along the lines of what you were talking about.

What?!?!? Give up on society???

Oh noooo....please don't do that....
Give it your love.
Give it love as if they were small children learning their way.
Give it love as if they were small helpless kittens or puppies.
Give us love....sweet heart....
Give us love. :love:
 
Well..I don’t want to give up on society yet...
Seriously…you should check out the movie…it is absolutely amazingly interesting.
It offers some great solutions along the lines of what you were talking about.

Ill check it out when I have time.

Giving up isnt the solution. Finding real solutions though must be the goal. Wishing something was one way, wishing that change could come easily is nothing. Its like checking the "like" box. No real effect.

Understanding how things work, why they work and working on that level is how things change. Understanding that greed is more powerful than charity. Understanding that the reason people get up in the morning and go to work is to make money.

If you want a world without money that the majority will buy into and actually work toward, find out what will actually drive that. My conclusion is that free energy will be the foundation of that movement.

At this present moment you can absolutely count me out of a world where I am "told" what I will do in society, where I am told the job I will have and am not allowed to make my own choice. Without money this is what people would be subject to.
 
Ill check it out when I have time.

Giving up isnt the solution. Finding real solutions though must be the goal. Wishing something was one way, wishing that change could come easily is nothing. Its like checking the "like" box. No real effect.

Understanding how things work, why they work and working on that level is how things change. Understanding that greed is more powerful than charity. Understanding that the reason people get up in the morning and go to work is to make money.

If you want a world without money that the majority will buy into and actually work toward, find out what will actually drive that. My conclusion is that free energy will be the foundation of that movement.

At this present moment you can absolutely count me out of a world where I am "told" what I will do in society, where I am told the job I will have and am not allowed to make my own choice. Without money this is what people would be subject to.
Not necessarily…people could still have a choice in what they do…even the jobs that no one wants to do…there are other incentives besides money that could be used…or maybe we all get to take a turn doing it?

Yes, of course understanding is the first step, and that is where the US and a lot of the world is severely lacking…being stupid is almost advocated in a lot of social circles, which is sad. Notice how all those things that would benefit the working class, or the working poor, have been systematically dismantled (like affordable college) or privatized, or both.
It’s not just a coincidence…persons who are in a position of power and wealth have made those decisions for everyone, concerning what is best for them…it didn’t matter to them if social services were cut…or if people couldn’t afford health care, or college, or pensions/retirements…they wanted to make the most money possible for the least money invested…they don’t give one flying fuck about you or me or there would be NO jobs overseas at all.
They busted the unions…they have written stipulations in our hiring contract stating they can fire you for no reason.
They make the laws that help them pay no taxes…then gouge the working class and below on gasoline prices…they were just talking the other day about raising the gas tax nationally…really? Meanwhile, the oil companies not only pay NO taxes here…but they actually get subsidized by the rest of us taxpayers…all this while they are making record profits year after year.
Not just the oil companies….but the drug companies…(an asthma inhaler that costs $80 here in the US, costs the rest of the world about .5 cents!), manufacturing companies…you name it…they are gouging us.
Democrat, Republican….it doesn’t matter….our vote doesn’t count…it hasn’t counted for a long time. Especially now with the “citizen’s united” decision and the “McCutcheon” decision - the votes are already bought and paid for….they probably already know who will be president in 2016.
Meanwhile, if anyone speaks up against Wall Street…or social services being cut off…or anything that is very detrimental to the most susceptible of our society - they are labeled a “kook”, “hippie”, “liberal”, “tea-bagger”, “druggie”, etc. etc.
Remember the Occupy Wall Street protests? The media, who is also owned by huge corporations….did their very best to show the protesters in that light….but if you look into it further….there were police joining the protesters, military soldiers and officers alike, firemen/women, clergy members, etc.
The message they were trying to bring to light was quickly changed into a negative thing by the media…they were angry that WE the US taxpayers are having our taxes stolen, on top of the their own money from their IRAs, and other retirement accounts, etc, that had been gambled away by these fucking bankers…who then handed out huge bonuses on top of it all. The tax money supposedly got paid back….but the money the people lost was never given back….it was a money grab by the rich….they made a killing in the recession…they were the only sector in the US who did really, really well.
Meanwhile, Fox News, MSNBC, have us arguing about bullshit like “who should pay for birth-control?”…really? Fucking really?!
Congress is stagnant and they should all be fired…so should all the lobbyists…we should have never allowed lobbyist for private corporations…who thought that would turn out well for anyone else but the very rich and those who pass the laws?
Anyhow….yes, check out that movie when you get a chance…it is very enlightening.
 
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Not necessarily…people could still have a choice in what they do…even the jobs that no one wants to do…there are other incentives besides money that could be used…or maybe we all get to take a turn doing it?

Yes, of course understanding is the first step, and that is where the US and a lot of the world is severely lacking…being stupid is almost advocated in a lot of social circles, which is sad. Notice how all those things that would benefit the working class, or the working poor, have been systematically dismantled (like affordable college) or privatized, or both.
It’s not just a coincidence…persons who are in a position of power and wealth have made those decisions for everyone, concerning what is best for them…it didn’t matter to them if social services were cut…or if people couldn’t afford health care, or college, or pensions/retirements…they wanted to make the most money possible for the least money invested…they don’t give one flying fuck about you or me or there would be NO jobs overseas at all.
They busted the unions…they have written stipulations in our hiring contract stating they can fire you for no reason.
They make the laws that help them pay no taxes…then gouge the working class and below on gasoline prices…they were just talking the other day about raising the gas tax nationally…really? Meanwhile, the oil companies not only pay NO taxes here…but they actually get subsidized by the rest of us taxpayers…all this while they are making record profits year after year.
Not just the oil companies….but the drug companies…(an asthma inhaler that costs $80 here in the US, costs the rest of the world about .5 cents!), manufacturing companies…you name it…they are gouging us.
Democrat, Republican….it doesn’t matter….our vote doesn’t count…it hasn’t counted for a long time. Especially now with the “citizen’s united” decision and the “McCutcheon” decision - the votes are already bought and paid for….they probably already know who will be president in 2016.
Meanwhile, if anyone speaks up against Wall Street…or social services being cut off…or anything that is very detrimental to the most susceptible of our society - they are labeled a “kook”, “hippie”, “liberal”, “tea-bagger”, “druggie”, etc. etc.
Remember the Occupy Wall Street protests? The media, who is also owned by huge corporations….did their very best to show the protesters in that light….but if you look into it further….there were police joining the protesters, military soldiers and officers alike, firemen/women, clergy members, etc.
The message they were trying to bring to light was quickly changed into a negative thing by the media…they were angry that WE the US taxpayers are having our taxes stolen, on top of the their own money from IRA, and other retirement accounts, etc, that had been gambled away by these fucking bankers…who then handed out huge bonuses on top of it all. The tax money supposedly got paid back….but the money the people lost was never given back….it was a money grab by the rich….they made a killing in the recession…they were the only sector in the US who did really, really well.
Meanwhile, Fox News, MSNBC, have us arguing about bullshit like “who should pay for birth-control?”…really? Fucking really?!
Congress is stagnant and they should all be fired…so should all the lobbyists…we should have never allowed lobbyist for private corporations…who thought that would turn out well for anyone else but the very rich and those who pass the laws?
Anyhow….yes, check out that movie when you get a chance…it is very enlightening.

I agree with some of what you have said, see good thought process in other aspects. Some I dont agree with.

"Remember the Occupy Wall Street protests? The media, who is also owned by huge corporations….did their very best to show the protesters in that light….but if you look into it further….there were police joining the protesters, military soldiers and officers alike, firemen/women, clergy members, etc. "

I remember liberal media as trying to paint occupy protesters in the best light possible and STILL failing. Why did the tea-party of which liberal media (The vast majority of media) tried their best to discount as a fringe group not only make it to Washington but is taking over Washington slowly but surely? The tea-party has a clear message where Occupy never did. Occupy became a dump all for every general gripe people had with corporations. While I agree corporations because they have money direct the country in a way that is not in the best interest of Americans should be checked, I do not fault them. Instead I fault the fact money is able to steer the direction our country goes in the first place.

People need to be held accountable for THIS but because the law makers that benefit from this are the only ones that can change it, it never will change.
 
What?!?!? Give up on society???

Oh noooo....please don't do that....
Give it your love.
Give it love as if they were small children learning their way.
Give it love as if they were small helpless kittens or puppies.
Give us love....sweet heart....
Give us love. :love:

Better idea. Turn everybody into small children and kittens.That way, the worst people could do is scratch or call each other mean names.

I, as the only adult, would of course have to be in charge of the world. It would be a difficult burden to bear, but I'm sure I could handle it.
 
Better idea. Turn everybody into small children and kittens.That way, the worst people could do is scratch or call each other mean names.

I, as the only adult, would of course have to be in charge of the world. It would be a difficult burden to bear, but I'm sure I could handle it.

Turn children into kittens.
Turn teenagers back into children.
Turn adults into TOADS.
 
I agree with some of what you have said, see good thought process in other aspects. Some I dont agree with.

"Remember the Occupy Wall Street protests? The media, who is also owned by huge corporations….did their very best to show the protesters in that light….but if you look into it further….there were police joining the protesters, military soldiers and officers alike, firemen/women, clergy members, etc. "

I remember liberal media as trying to paint occupy protesters in the best light possible and STILL failing. Why did the tea-party of which liberal media (The vast majority of media) tried their best to discount as a fringe group not only make it to Washington but is taking over Washington slowly but surely? The tea-party has a clear message where Occupy never did. Occupy became a dump all for every general gripe people had with corporations. While I agree corporations because they have money direct the country in a way that is not in the best interest of Americans should be checked, I do not fault them. Instead I fault the fact money is able to steer the direction our country goes in the first place.

People need to be held accountable for THIS but because the law makers that benefit from this are the only ones that can change it, it never will change.
Just like you…I agree with part of what you said…I actually DO fault the corporations…it wasn’t always like this…they systematically and over several decades have torn down every law that protected the workers…that protected the congress from being bought…that protected the votes of Americans. THEY did this…yes…money was the carrot to the jackass(es), but there used to be a greater balance struck.
As for the Tea Party…I can give you story after story…with facts and everything…about how the Koch Brothers are the one’s directing it…just as they have from the beginning when they created it. They have manipulated the American public into getting angry at those things protecting and keeping them safe, under the guise of "OMG bigger government!” “cut taxes” etc. etc. all for their own benefit…and no, it doesn’t trickle down…it is to break down corporate tax barriers…to break the unions…remember wisconsin?
Seriously though…I’m not talking about the liberal and conservative media…if you look outside of how it is…the conservative media painted the worst possible picture…enough for anyone to look down upon them…and then you had the mainstream liberal media…who painted a better picture and made you want to side with them and what they stood for, but still gave you just enough “crazy” on TV, so you wouldn’t really want to join them….and those that did see it on TV and wanted to go join even after watching how they were portrayed, still joined them anyhow…chances are they just got an influx of the crazies after that…because normal people who have to pay rent, feed kids, go to work, mow the fucking lawn, aren’t always in a position to go out and join a camp-out protest…the normal people of this country aren’t even in a position to take a day off of work…isn’t that sad? If I need tomorrow off for any reason other than being sick (must have fever and you only get 8 a year) or someone in my immediate family has died (and no my own step-son since I got a divorce, wouldn’t even count anymore) I will not get it off.
That is what is wrong….we are all fucking slaves…so afraid to take the country back…because we can’t afford to…and nothing will ever change…because we can’t afford to…unless you are already homeless.
 
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[TD]Some very interesting news about time travel!

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Time travel has been simulated by Australian physicists

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Image: edobric/Shutterstock​


Physicists at the University of Queensland in Australia have used photons - single particles of light - to simulate quantum particles travelling through time and study their behaviour.
They were hoping to find out more about whether time travel would be possible at the quantum level - a theory first predicted in 1991.

In the study, the researchers simulated the behaviour of a single photon that travels through a wormhole and interacts with its older self. This is known as a closed timelike curve - a closed path in space-time that returns to the same starting point in space but at an earlier time.
Their study is published in Nature Communications.

They did this by making use of a mathematical equivalence between two cases, lead author Martin Ringbauer told The Speaker.

In the first case, photon one "travels trough a wormhole into the past, then interacts with its older version,” Ringbauer explained. And in the second case, photon two travels through normal space-time, but interacts with another photon that is trapped inside a closed timelike curve forever.

"We used single photons to do this but the time-travel was simulated by using a second photon to play the part of the past incarnation of the time travelling photon," said University of Queensland physics professor Tim Ralph.

The research will hopefully help researchers bridge the gap between two critical theories, said Ringbuaer.

"The question of time travel features at the interface between two of our most successful yet incompatible physical theories — Einstein's general relativity and quantum mechanics," Ringbuaer explained.

"Einstein's theory describes the world at the very large scale of stars and galaxies, while quantum mechanics is an excellent description of the world at the very small scale of atoms and molecules,” he added.

According to Einstein’s theory, it could be possible to travel back in time by following a closed timelike curve. However physicists and philosophers have struggled with this theory given the paradoxes such as the grandparents paradox, where a time traveller could prevent their grandparents from meeting, thus preventing the time traveller’s birth in the first place.

But in 1991 it was suggested that time travel in the quantum world would avoid these kinds of paradoxes because the properties of quantum particles are “fuzzy” and “uncertain” - and this is the one of the first times anyone has simulated the behaviour of such a scenario.

“We see in our simulation (as was predicted in 1991) how many effects become possible, which are forbidden in standard quantum mechanics,” said Ringbauer. “For example it is possible to perfectly distinguish different states of a quantum system, which are usually only partially distinguishable.

This makes quantum cryptography breakable and violates Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. We also show that photons behave differently, depending on how they were created in the first place.”
 
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Magic or Science:A Look at Reiki in American Medicine
Joshua Graham
A merry heart doeth good like medicine.- Proverbs 17:22

Introduction

In a sterile environment, a surgeon, already scrubbed and prepared to begin the procedure approaches anervous patient lying on the hospital gurney staring into a blindingly bright light.
After the doctor offers a
quiet mummer of assurance to the patient, the physician systematically moves his hands in a complex, arcane pattern over the patient’s body and through his or her aura to adjust the biofield of the patient before giving a quick nod to the Anesthesiologist acknowledging that it is time to begin the operation…

While the above fictive illustration may seem odd
to the modern, Western reader, magic and modern medical bioscience have not evolved away from each other as completely as may be believed. The question of what is magical and what is biomedical is not completely black and white, and to illustrate this seeming impossibility, I plan to turn the reader’s attention to the modern use of Reiki, an energy healing modality, in major medical institutions in the United States of America.
From Boston Children's Hospital’s use of Reiki as a part of the standard treatments offered to all patients by the Integrative Therapies Team (Centers Services), to Yale New Haven Hospital's adoption of the Reiki Volunteer Program (Complementary Services Program) and even John Hopkins’s Integrative Medicine & Digestive Center growing use of Reiki (Reiki), reputable American medical centers are adding Reiki to their list of services.

I
propose that by using Reiki, Western medical science blurs the barriers between magic and modern bioscience and makes the distinction irrelevant when contextualized by the treatment of the patient. Furthermore, through the lens of anthropology, this can beseen as an embodied phenomenological event and due to the limitations of studying ideas and value judgments such as quality of life, a rational analytical mode of study should be abandoned and an Epoché approach of suspension of judgment as suggested by Edmund Husserl should be attempted.

Methodology

As this paper is concerned with a phenomenological understanding of Reiki’s place in a biomedical setting, questions of its statistical effectiveness will not be considered. Rather, this will allow for a more nuanced understanding of the complex web of meaning that is created when considering notions of biomedical and ‘magical’ in the Western prospective vis-à-vis Reiki in America.

Reiki’s nebulous position as a heal
ing modality offers an interesting lens by which to consider the place of magic in the hospital.
Reiki has
taken on Christian narratives over its historical use and importation into America, placing it in the realm of faith healing and thereby mitigating the stigma of the magical (Klassen 2005, Petter 1997, Nield-Anderson 2000).
However, research by Reiki practitioners have rejected this myth and instead emphasized Reiki’s roots in Buddhist cosmologies (Lübeck etal 2002).
Furthermore, while authors such as Amy
Rowland stress how Reiki as a modality is not a magical practice but rather that it engages with Science, others such as Katalin Koda, Christopher Penczak, and Diane Stein argue for the opposite (Rowland 2010, 121, Koda 2008, Penczak 2004, Stein 1995).

When regarding manuals produced for
the dissemination of Reiki to a broad public, the tension between its use as a magical system and or a science can be seen.
However, the means of under
standing the issues surrounding magic and Reiki through its growth from Japan to American and beyond, a subject and knowledge difficult to track between practitioners and patients, will not be examined here.
Rather, a more personal, subjective approach is needed in order to understand tension between the biomedical and magic from the view of recipients and practitioners.

In order to develop such
a methodology, I will briefly introduce the concept of phenomenology and Husserl’s epoché as a means of doing just this.
After such, Reiki’s use in the biomedi
cal sphere may be more thoroughly understood. Reason and phenomenology have had an interesting relationship since the philosophy’s inception in the early twentieth century by the German philosopher Edmund Husserl.

While “Husserl proposed a
transcendental phenomenology to restore reason to its historical role in determining the meaning of human existence” (Kultgen 1975, 372), phenomenology is not necessarily in keeping with the Western tradition of rational empiricism. “The radicality of the phenomenological method is both continuous and discontinuous with philosophy’s general effort to subject experience to fundamental, critical scrutiny: to take nothing for granted and to show the warranty for what we claim to know” (Natanson 1973, 63).

Phenomenology challenges the a priori concep
tion of Western empiricism that the personal experiences of the researchers and subjects are barriers to the actuality of data and calls participants in intellectual discourse to I (here the first person is essential) must “reduce" my lived experience.
First, I must suspend the "natu
ral attitude," setting aside ("bracketing") my habitual belief in the existence of objects, common sense and scientific ideas of their nature, and the logic by which I arrive at these.

Then I can describe precisely how
objects appear, purely as phenomena, with intuitive certainty as data for all higher forms of cognition.
I
must also practice "eidetic reduction," imaginatively varying my experience to uncover constant or essential structures, to gain a podictic intuitions of trancendental forms of both phenomena and the processes by which I experience them. [Kultgen 1975,372]

Only by the acceptance of the personal experi
ences of both the researcher and the subject can one truly arrive at any actual knowledge of the object they are interacting with or the event they perceive without any reductionism.
Phenomenology also al
lows for a wider, non-Western dialogue when discussing events pertaining to the discussion of non-measurable phenomena such as magic, health, happiness, etc., due to its resemblance to eastern philosophies – the most notable being Buddhism, which expresses that “unlike many other religious philosophies, [Buddhism] regards personal experience as the only valid source of knowledge” (Lesser 1979, 55).

A new application of phenomenological theory
in anthropology, and especially medical anthropology, can lead toward an innovative conceptualization of the fundamental questions and methods of research and discourse raised by the discipline.
Born out of
basic Enlightenment theory, “A singular premise guiding Western science and clinical medicine (and one we hasten to add, that is responsible for its awesome efficacy) is its commitment to a fundamental opposition between spirit and matter, mind and body, and (underlying this) real and unreal” (Scheper-Hughes 1987, 8).

Only by commitment to this prin
ciple of dichotomy can concepts like medicine and magic be relegated to separate categories. Magic is pigeonholed into the realm of the ethereal, and as nonmaterial is innately Orientalized, as compared to the materially focused modern Western biomedicine.

This reliance upon rationality concocts a potentially
antagonistic situation that forces patients to rely on diagnostic science over their own experience in order to receive treatment.
Likewise, when diagnosticians
invested in the idea of the patient’s own self-efficacy, and the “physicians, psychiatrists, and clinical social workers ‘knew’ that pain was ‘real’ whether or not the source of it could be verified by diagnostic tests,” the medical staff seemed uneasy with the results, and “could not help but express evident relief when a ‘true’ (i.e., single, generally organic) cause could be discovered” (Scheper-Hughes 1987, 10).

Furthermore, the binary dichotomy is carried
over into the very definitions of Western healthcare itself with the distinction drawn between disease, the more officious biomedical term, and illness, the more subjective term that encompasses the patient’s subjective experience.
However, by being the party that
controls the definitions, “one unanticipated effect has been that physicians are claiming both aspects of the sickness experience for the medical domain,” (Scheper-Hughes 1987, 10) which in turn, further disenfranchises the patient.

Yet, if this imbalance is methodological in nature
and key to the systems that support Western empirical thought, how does one overcome the obstacles inherent within the system, and how might one “re-thinks [the] idea of evidence” (Ecks 2008, s92) and renew the system?
The answer is to change the sys
tem; instead of submitting to traditional empirical thought that supports a dualistic model, one could perhaps explore Husserl’s theory of Epoché - the essence of which revolves around the idea that “consciousness suspended without its own sanctions for objectivity, [is] purified and thereby certain” (Kuspit1964, 30).

I speak of the essence of the idea here be
cause, perhaps fittingly, no definitive explanation of epoché can be found, and even “Husserl only gives us some indirect hints about what the epoché really is.
It
is even an open question if Husserl himself had a positive understanding of the epoché” (Lübcke 1999,2).
Nevertheless, it is easier to be clear about what
epoché is not.
Epoché is not about conceptualizing
notions only relegated to the realm of the mind nor is it wholly about being skeptical of empirical thought (Husserl 1962, 99-100).
Epoché can be practiced as a
holistic form of experiential learning that removes the need to separate the illness and disease aspects of sickness.

Husserl points out that the Descartian ideal
of doubt serves “only as a device of method,"(1962,107) and thus should not be a sole method for dealing with the world.
Not to say that doubt has no place in
the social sciences, but “the epoché gives a ‘direction' to doubt” (Kuspit 1964, 32) with that direction being grounded in the exploration of the experiences, but objective and subjective, of the researchers and subject leading to a state of "transcendental subjectivism” (Husserl 1962, 7).

In the above I briefly introduce the concept of
the epoché and argue that through its implementation, subjective and objective forms of data and their analysis may be more thoroughly integrated.
Through this integration, studies of modalities which move beyond the confines of the rational, such as Reiki or other healing modalities which could be classified as magical, can integrate the personal knowledge and experiences of subjects in a rigorous fashion.
Having discussed this methodological approach,
Reiki’s position in magical or biomedical settings will now be discussed in greater detail.

Hands on Healing

Reiki is a biofield healing modality based around
the concept that trained, initiated practitioners have the ability to manipulate and direct a universal lifeforce energy, often referred to as that translated phrase or spoken of as the Japanese term qi, in a manner that allows the recipient relief from pain and a general increase in healing quality and time. Reiki itself is a Japanese word meaning universal (rei) lifeforce energy (qi) (Honervogt 1998).

This manipula
tion is achieved by the practitioner placing his or her hands on the fully clothed Reiki recipient in a specific pattern often involving specific mudras, or placing the hands gently over, but not touching, the patient and performing the same process of positions and mudras; likewise, the Reiki energy can be stored by the practitioner in an inanimate object for the recipient’s later use, or the practitioner sending the Reiki energy through time and over great distances to heal patients in need.

Reiki is a multi-initiatory, referred in Reiki as
an attunement, healing modality where only at the final level is the initiate allowed to pass on the knowledge of how to perform Reiki sessions (i.e. attune others) with any authenticity (Garrett 2001, Jain2010, LaTorre 2005, Natale 2010).
Once an individual has been initiated into even the most basic levels of Reiki they have not only the capability to channel the universal life force energy to heal other, but also it should be noted that “unlike many other healing methods, self-healing is the empowering core of the practice of Reiki” (LaTorre2005, 185).

As a Japanese practice, Reiki’s conception is re
moved and exempt from the Westernized dualism that I wrote of earlier.
Reiki’s focus lies in the experi
ences of the recipient. Both for the Reiki practitioner and recipient the experience is described as “soothing, nurturing, and restoring,” (Brathovde, 2006, p.95) with a focus on the modality’s noninvasive quality and pleasantness.

The impact of Reiki is experiential
– focusing on quality of life issues such as pain reduction and ease of recovery.
But while these descriptions may describe how Reiki exists, the core issue of what Reiki is has not been addressed.
To determine if the practice of Reiki
is magical one may turn to the traditional definitions offered by Frazier, Durkheim, Mauss, or Malinowski.
However, these treatments of magic seem to not be an appropriate gauge for a practice such as Reiki.

One of the most glaring reasons for the lack of valid
ity lies in the fact that these grand theories try to define magic in terms of religion, and as a practice with roots in Shinto and Buddhism this can be increasingly difficult with a Reiki practice that is more often than not practiced in a secular environment especially in regards to Western medicine.

As an alternative to the attempts at grand theory
and universal definition, “academics in many disciplines now focus on historically and culturally specific understandings of magic” (Bailey 2006, 5). However, what historical tradition is most fitting to judge Reiki by?
The Japanese tradition may have been where the
practice was created, but it is in the Western medical field where Reiki is being utilized and questioned.
With that in mind does Reiki meet a Western definition, and more specifically, a Western medical definition, of magic?
Still, this question is more compli
cated than it first may seem. While “there is and probably can be no simple methodological solution to
the definition or study of magic,” (Bailey 2006, 22) that does not preclude a discussion on the subject.

Bailey notes that “terminology for and concepts of
magic are almost universally vague, mutable, and ‘‘occult’’ in the literal sense of hidden or obscured” (Bailey 2006, 23).
However, Reiki’s definition as a
biofield healing modality acknowledges a lack of empirical measurement. More so, Reiki is practiced through secret, initiatory skills taught in an effort to channel a universal life force energy that has no firmer definition.

However, to modern Western
medicine the most definitively magical aspects of Reiki lie in Reiki’s experiential nature.
Reiki results
are individualized to the practitioners and to the recipient and even more specifically to the particular session. Reiki’s theoretical underpinnings rely on the idea that “Reiki energy flows through the practitioner’s hands into these negative energy patterns of the human biofield and charges them with positive energy” (Natale 2010, 171).

Though magic can be de
finitively hard to pin down, under Western ideals Reiki can be argued to meet a base criteria of magic.
Still, though Reiki can be said to meet a magical definition, this does not necessarily exclude Reiki also meeting a modern Western definition of biomedicine as well.
Biomedicine inhabits what Kleinman de
scribes as “ the professional area” (1978, 87) of medicine which is demarcated by “a professional system staffed by professionals with many years of formal training and legitimated by the state” (Finkler 1994,179).

This is seen in opposition to popular health
care, when sickness is managed in the home and folkhealth care when healing is ministered by lay evaluators (Kleinman 1978, 86).
Using this definition as a working definition for Western biomedicine, criteria can be named to evaluate Reiki under those terms.
As mentioned pre-
viously, Reiki is an initiatory practice in which the knowledge of Reiki mudras and the ability to channel the Reiki current is passed through three degrees of initiation from a Reiki master to a student.

Because of
this person to person transmission, Reiki, while having individuals who practice the healing modality professionally, has no organization that verifies the veracity of a party’s Reiki training or practice and is mostly only associated through “informal networks of Reiki practitioners” (Hargrove 2008, 34).
Not only
does Reiki lack an accredited oversight board, but even for the official practitioners of Reiki the “initial training takes about 2 days and can be done in aweekend,” (LaTorre 2005, 185) and though a “prolonged period of study” is possible during Reiki training, this is an inconsistent standard that must be balanced against those that train “from a weekend work-shop” (Engebretson 2002, 48).

Actually, Reiki “does
not require any special effort on the part of the practitioner as the energy is drawn through the practitioner according to the recipient’s need so that the practitioner needs do nothing but remain inwardly still”(LaTorre 2005, 185).
Showing both the lack of collec
tive oversight and long-term education, Reiki cannot be said to meet the definition of Western biomedicine.
And yet, biofield healing modalities do have a current place in the Western medical establishment as “the use of complementary therapies increased from 34% to more than 40% between 1990 and 1997, with a specific increase in the use of touch or energy therapies,” (Engebretson 2002, 48) to the point where “Reiki is reported to be offered at 15% of U.S. hospitals” (O’Mathúna 2011, 97).

While complementary
and alternative healing practices may not be mainstream, they are still extant in Western contemporary healing.
So much so that in the United States alone
“more than 30,000 nurses “are estimated to practice touch therapies” (Engebretson 2002, 48).
Reiki has
been utilized in both the treatment of mental health diagnoses, (LaTorre 2005, O’Mathúna 2011) and the treatment of long-term illness and pain (Herman2004, O’Mathúna 2011).

The above alludes to the prevalence of Reiki in
some US hospitals and its growing in corporation in complementary healings practices as noted by nurses and their trainings.
Furthermore, the terms ‘magic’
and ‘biomedical’ have been problematized in regards to the overall dissemination, popular understanding, and narratives surrounding Reiki.

However, despite
trends by Reiki practitioners to situate Reiki within the purely scientific in popular literature, there is still a tinge of the magical that the overall Reiki community, if such can even be discussed, has not abandoned.
Non-rational and biomedial explanations are
both considered for Reiki’s purpose and effectiveness, perceived or otherwise, though the difficulties imposed by empirical testing situate the modality more in the realm of the magical from at least an American perspective.

As such, further questions remain as
to the broader question of Reiki’s place the hospital.
As the following section will explain, the reason for this lies in the experiences of the recipients of biomedical treatments.
This in turn allows us to consider
epoché as discussed in the previous section, as well as broader anthropological issues as will be examined below, as a methodological means by which to incor
porate the experience of practitioners and recipients in future Reiki studies.

Energy and Experience

If traditional biomedicine more habitually relegates itself to the professional sector, why, in any way, are practices such as Reiki—which fit a more traditional definition of folk healing—utilized in modern western medical practices?
For recipients of Western
biomedicine, the line between contemporary Western biomedicine and folk healing is not simply black and white.
Stanley Tambiah argues that “the danger of
reifying such phenomena as ‘astrology’, ‘alchemy’, and ‘magic’ and soon as well-defined bounded systems, whose contours and motivations and propensities can be delineated a historically and universally in a context-free fashion,”(1990, 29) is ignoring the reason, creativity, and problem-solving foundational to the areas inception.

I agree, but suggest adding sci
ence itself to that list.
Modern science is not a natural
fact like it seeks to study, but a philosophical principal that has evolved out of centuries of trial and error.
As
it has advanced, reason has become a main priority, but by doing so has allowed parts of the data set that cannot be quantified to take a seemingly secondary precedence.
While Interrogative Medicine, which includes biofield healing touch therapies such as Reiki, utilize reason, it “does include ideas and practices currently beyond the scope of the conventional… it neither rejects conventional therapies nor accepts alternative ones uncritically” (Culbert 2010, ix).

Nevertheless, by
incorporating practices such as Reiki into any aspect of modern healing practice the Western medical establishment is giving tacit approval to a healing modality that meets the definition of magic but not of Western biomedicine.
One theory as to why modalities such as Reiki maintain a place in contemporary Western medical practices is that “in the current fast-paced healthcare environment, the ability to maintain a caring focus is becoming increasingly more difficult to achieve”(Culbert 2010, 181).

With biofield subtle energy heal
ing modalities, such as Reiki, they “each uses a holistic approach that views the client as a dynamic with in its own contextual relationship to life and environment” (Natale 2010, 172).
Disease and illness are
treated as synonymous under treatments like Reiki.
Furthermore, the interpersonal relationship forged between the Reiki practitioner and recipient due to Reiki’s need for prolonged physical contact allow for a personal side of the medical process that is sometimes missing from more traditional biomedicine.

Likewise, “Some patients undergoing treatment that
involved what I call a pleasant process also enthusiastically described their treatment not only as a way of getting rid of a problem but also as a means of transformation” (Halliburton 2003, 171).
The use of inte
grative medicines such as Reiki can be as an attempt to find a healing modality that “seeks to restore core values of the profession that have eroded in recent times” (Culbert 2010, x).
Here again Tambiah cau
tions us “not to adjudicate these differences in terms of true and false, but to suggest that all of these currents and influences feed into the river of history”(1990, 29).

The philosophy of sciences informs the
West’s use of science and reinforces the artificial binary dichotomy between magic and science.
Reiki
seems to be fulfilling a real need in the patients.
As
seen in the programs mentioned in the introduction to this paper, Reiki is an optional, additional treatment option that people are choosing to either learn or be treated by.
Furthermore, Reiki’s simplicity of
treatment removes the distance imposed between patient and practitioner seen in modern biomedical treatments.

With Reiki, no instrument or glove sepa
rates the two engaged in the Reiki practice.
Unlike
modern biomedicine, Reiki literally retains its human touch.
Nonetheless, as anthropologists, a devotion to reason, as inherited from the natural science roots of the discipline, can be detrimental to our understanding of the entire human condition.
Sahlins mentions
that while seminal anthropologists such as Boas and Linton do not have the advantages of modern anthropologists to access, theory, and data they still retained the advantage of having "no paralysing fear of structure"(1999:399).

William Walker agrees with
Sahlins, but he also contributes to the argument by saying “Sahlins stresses that where practical reason drives economic, ecological, or agency explanations, it oversimplifies human practice” (2002, 159).
This
over simplification can be seen clearly in both medical anthropology and anthropology of science because of these sub areas’ closer relationship to reason.
Even in
fairly standard anthropological ideas—such as cultural competency—medical anthropology occupies a precarious position due to “how culture is defined in medicine, which contrasts strikingly with its current use in anthropology— the field in which the concept of culture originated” (Kleinman 2006, 1673).

However, these issues are answered by a stronger phenomenological approach to medical anthropology.
This is not saying that phenomenological appli
cation and evaluation have been completely absent in medical anthropology.
Kaufman gives an insightful
call for a greater use of phenomenology in anthropology claiming that “phenomenological studies of existential responses to illness are necessary in order to understand cultural sources of unmet expectations resulting from chronic conditions,” (1988, 338) over twenty years ago.

Yet this call for greater inclusion is
still valid today.
A Western rational approach to
medical anthropology cannot fully encapsulate the experiential elements related to both being unwell and treating the unwell.
The importance of and expanded use of ph-nomenology, and more specifically the principle of epoché, is “the gist of phenomenology lies in the epistemological perspective of taking absolutely nothing for granted,” (Perniola 2011, 159) including the preeminence of Western detached rationalism as a methodology.

This allows for greater inclusion of
both patient and practitioner’s experiences and emotional reactions to the healing process.
More specifi
cally, “epoché forces us to ‘bracket,’ that is, disregard some aspects of the phenomena, notably their reality or being” (Overgaard 2010, 310) so that nothing is presumed by the researcher – one simply regards and analyzes the phenomena one experiences as tempered by one’s knowledge of one’s own previous experiences.

Allowing for a loosening of the importance of
traditional Western rational thought in favor of examining a more experiential method of academic inquest opens new doorways in medical anthropology not only in regards to the intersection of magic, science, and healing, but also on any number of other topics in the discipline.
For example, the phenome
nological approach allows for a greater exploration of the relational perspective in medical anthropological work.
L’Abate and his colleagues engage in just such
an exploration for a social psychological perspective in their recently published monograph. (2011) This perspective is possible in such a close social science to anthropology, so surely increased awareness and exploration is called for.

Conclusion

The question of magic’s existence in contemporaryWestern healing practices is not simply a matter of examining the ritual of a trip to the chemist or exploring the extent of the placebo effect.
Modern
medicine has made allowances for magic in its current form no matter how complementary or alternative those allowances relegate those practices.
Reiki is
a biofield healing modality that by definition cannot be measured or its results replicated by current scientific practice.

As I have argued, Reiki meets the defi
nition of magic far more succinctly then it does of biomedicine or even a more general definition of Western scientific practice, and yet I have also shown how in modernized Western medical settings Reiki has been utilized and is increasingly more utilized in hospital settings.
In order to study more fully the reasons behind Reiki’s incorporation into the biomedical setting, I have argued for a methodological shift that future studies of Reiki could utilize within Medical Anthropology.

As shown above, previous forms of research
have emphasized Reiki’s attempt to fit into the biomedical model or have examined Reiki with the same tools applied to biomedical healing.
Instead, I argue
that by focusing on a holistic picture of patient experience, via a phenomenological approach, we may more readily and fully examine the inclusion of non-Western, even magical practices, in the biomedical setting.

Indeed, such a methodological lens does not
need to confine itself to studies of Reiki, but could be utilized in other experiential studies.
However, in re
gards to Reiki, there is still the matter of its inclusionwithin American hospitals which bares consideration.
Despite competing narratives and the push by some popular literature to describe Reiki as a hereto unknown or not yet testable science, presently the practice meets a Western understanding of magic.

This in turn problematizes the practice in the hospital
setting when one places undue emphasis on Reiki’s empirical value.
If Reiki is unable to be solidly slated
as Western biomedicine, then where does its increasing popularity stem from?
Sadly, that is a question too
grand in scope for this theme – however, I propose that the value of this healing modality can be found by an inquiring scholar ready to take on this research in phenomenological investigation.

Phenomenology,
specifically the tool of epoché, allows the researcher to examine a concept from a new perspective because it allows the researcher to approach the instance while taking nothing for granted including the importance of reason itself.
While it may not be “reason
able” to incorporate magical practices such as Reiki into Western biomedical practices and treatments, it
does happen, and this incorporation can be seen in the embodied experiences of the Reiki healing modality.













 
Found a very cool online book for you all to check out!!
Loads of great info!
I have included the “Table of Contents” and all the links here.
Enjoy!

The Roots of Consciousness is a look at the history, folklore and science that shapes our understanding of psychic capacities. The original edition was published in 1975, while I was still a graduate student at U.C., Berkeley, working in an individual, interdisciplinary doctoral program in parapsychology. It is, in part, a personal book containing descriptions of significant events in my own life. It is also personal because in the field of consciousness exploration there are so many competing interpretations that any telling of the story -- even in strictly scientific terms -- contains many individual choices.

The Roots of Consciousness
by Jeffery Mishlove PhD
Roc.gif


[SIZE=+2]Contents
[/SIZE]
INTRODUCTION
Dedication
Acknowledgments and Permissions
Introduction to Revised Edition


  • [*=center]We Are All Ourselves
Introduction to the Original Edition

SECTION I: THE HISTORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS EXPLORATION
Shamanistic Traditions

Ancient Mesopotamia


  • [*=center]Dream Portents


  • [*=center]The Language of Consciousness
    [*=center]The Discipline of Yoga
    [*=center]


  • [*=center]Taoism


  • [*=center]Mystery Traditions
    [*=center]Oracles
    [*=center]Pythagoras
    [*=center]Democritus
    [*=center]Socrates
    [*=center]Plato
    [*=center]Aristotle
    [*=center]Neoplatonism


  • [*=center]Appolonius of Tyana


  • [*=center]Prophecy
    [*=center]The Teachings of Jesus
    [*=center]Christian Saints
    [*=center]The Monastic Tradition


  • [*=center]Theories of Occult Radiation


  • [*=center]Maimonides
    [*=center]Albertus Magnus
    [*=center]Cornelius Agrippa
    [*=center]Paracelsus
    [*=center]John Dee
    [*=center]The Rosicrucians


  • [*=center]Descartes and Mind-Body Dualism
    [*=center]Leibnitz and Monadology
    [*=center]Idealism
    [*=center]Sir Isaac Newton
    [*=center]
SECTION II: THE FOLKLORE OF CONSCIOUSNESS EXPLORATION

Astrology


  • [*=center]Ptolmaic Astrology
    [*=center]Kepler and Astrology
    [*=center]Astrology in Contemporary Times
    [*=center]Astro-Biology
    [*=center]Chronotopology
    [*=center]Arthur M. Young's "Geometry of Meaning"
    [*=center]Concluding Thoughts on Astrology


  • [*=center]Ramacharaka's Theosophical Perspective
    [*=center]An Accidental Projection
    [*=center]OBE In A Dream
    [*=center]Conscious Astral Projection
    [*=center]Sylvan Muldoon's Method
    [*=center]Robert Monroe's Method
    [*=center]Robert Crookall's Observations
    [*=center]Contemporary Perspectives About OBEs


  • [*=center]Healing Temples
    [*=center]An Inner Healing Advisor
    [*=center]Mesmerism
    [*=center]Animal Magnetism
    [*=center]Holistic Faith Healing
    [*=center]Radionics
    [*=center]Edgar Cayce
    [*=center]Psychic Surgery
    [*=center]Delusion and Fraud
    [*=center]Healing at Lourdes
    [*=center]Mental Imagery
    [*=center]Omega Seminar Techniques
    [*=center]A Case Study
    [*=center]Ramacharaka's Healing Exercise
    [*=center]Deep Healing


  • [*=center]Thoughtforms
    [*=center]The Aura
    [*=center]Experimental Tests
    [*=center]The Vital Body
    [*=center]The Chakras
    [*=center]Chinese Acupuncture
    [*=center]Wilhelm Reich and Orgone Energy
    [*=center]The Soviet Concept of Biological Plasma
    [*=center]Kirlian Photography
    [*=center]Kirlian Photography Anecdotes
    [*=center]The Phantom Leaf Effect
    [*=center]Kurt Lewin's Field Theory


  • [*=center]Angels and Guardian Spirits
    [*=center]The Glance of the Master
    [*=center]Cabala
    [*=center]Emmanuel Swedenborg
    [*=center]Gustav Theodor Fechner and Psychophysics
    [*=center]The Theosophical Society
    [*=center]A Course in Miracles
    [*=center]The Invisible College


  • [*=center]Swedenborg
    [*=center]From India to the Planet Mars
    [*=center]The Fatima Appearances
    [*=center]UFOs As Apparitions
    [*=center]Carl Jung's Interpretation of UFOs
    [*=center]Uri Geller and UFOs
    [*=center]UFO Research Today
    [*=center]The Stella Lansing Case
    [*=center]Automobile Teleportation
    [*=center]The Strange Case of Dr. X
    [*=center]Biological Effects of UFO Contact
    [*=center]The Betty and Barney Hill Case
    [*=center]Robert Monroe UFO Encounter
    [*=center]UFO Contactee Cults
    [*=center]Ray Stanford UFO Research
    [*=center]Earth's Ambassador
    [*=center]Close Encounters
    [*=center]Jacques Vallee's Analysis

Life Within Death -- Death Within Life

Survival of Consciousness After Death
Ancient Egypt
The Tibetan Book of the Dead
The Visions of Gustav Theodore Fechner
Spiritualism
The Spiritism of Allan Kardec
Founding of the Society for Psychical Research
Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death
The Watseka Wonder
Apparitions and Hauntings
Near Death Experiences
Mediumship
Mrs. Piper
Cross-Correspondences
The "Marjory" Mediumship
Reincarnation
Xenoglossy

Unusual Powers of Mind Over Matter


  • [*=center]D. D. Home -- The Greatest Medium Who Ever Lived
    [*=center]Sir William Crookes' Researches
    [*=center]Marthe Beraud
    [*=center]Paraffin Hands
    [*=center]Eusapia Palladino
    [*=center]Psychic Photography
    [*=center]Nina Kulagina
    [*=center]Uri Geller
    [*=center]Poltergeist Cases
    [*=center]Matthew Manning
    [*=center]Philip the Ghost
    [*=center]Ted Owens -- The "PK Man"
    [*=center]Lightning Striking
    [*=center]Weather Control


  • [*=center]Harmful Purposes
    [*=center]National Security Applications
    [*=center]Ancient History and Folklore
    [*=center]The World Wars
    [*=center]Eastern Europe
    [*=center]United States
    [*=center]Accident prevention
    [*=center]Dowsing
    [*=center]Treasure Hunting
    [*=center]Accuracy of Information Transmission
    [*=center]Psychic Archeology
    [*=center]Psychic Police Work
    [*=center]Journalism and Investigative Reporting
    [*=center]History
    [*=center]Precognition in Business Management
    [*=center]Public Safety
    [*=center]Communication
    [*=center]Creativity in Art, Literature and Music
    [*=center]Agriculture and pest control
    [*=center]Athletics and Sports
    [*=center]Finding Lost Objects
    [*=center]Scientific Discovery
    [*=center]Weather Prediction and Control
    [*=center]Animal Training and Interspecies Communication
    [*=center]Intuitive Consensus

SECTION III: THE SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Introduction


The Problem of Consciousness


To Err is Human


  • [*=center]The Psychology of Cognitive Biases
    [*=center]The Illusion of Self-Awareness
    [*=center]The Illusion of Control
    [*=center]The Need to be Consistent
    [*=center]The Sleeper Effect
    [*=center]The Effect of Formal Research


  • [*=center]Introduction
    [*=center]J. B. Rhine's Early Research at Duke University
    [*=center]Criticisms of ESP Research
    [*=center]Unconscious ESP
    [*=center]Dream Telepathy
    [*=center]Hypnosis and ESP
    [*=center]Exceptional ESP Laboratory Performers
    [*=center]Pavel Stepanek
    [*=center]Bill Delmore
    [*=center]Uri Geller
    [*=center]Ganzfeld Research
    [*=center]The Experimenter Effect
    [*=center]The Sheep-Goat Effect
    [*=center]Psi-Missing
    [*=center]ESP and Personality Traits
    [*=center]Extraversion/Introversion.
    [*=center]Effects of Different ESP Targets
    [*=center]Psi Mediated Instrumental Response
    [*=center]Stanford's Conformance Behavior Model
    [*=center]Precognition


  • [*=center]Rhine's Early Studies
    [*=center]PK With Random Number Generators (RNGs)
    [*=center]Chinese Reports of Psychokinesis Associated with ESP
    [*=center]PK Metal-Bending
    [*=center]Bio-PK


  • [*=center]Casino Gambling Simulation
    [*=center]Possible Psi Healing
    [*=center]Bernard Grad's Research at McGill University
    [*=center]Conceptual Replications of Grad's Research
    [*=center]The Transpersonal Imagery Effect


  • [*=center]Randomization
    [*=center]Sensory Leakage
    [*=center]Subject Cheating
    [*=center]Recording Errors
    [*=center]Classification and Scoring Errors
    [*=center]Statistical Violations
    [*=center]Reporting Failures
    [*=center]Experimenter Fraud


  • [*=center]The Nervous System
    [*=center]The Endocrine System
    [*=center]The Temporal Lobe Factor in Psychic Experience
    [*=center]The Ecology of Consciousness
    [*=center]Challenges to the Biological Identity Model


  • [*=center]Space-Time According to Einstein
    [*=center]Folded Space
    [*=center]Multidimensional Spacetime
    [*=center]The EPR Effect and Bell's Theorem
    [*=center]The Implicate Order
    [*=center]Observational Theories
    [*=center]Unified Field Theory and Consciousness
    [*=center]Evaluating Implications of the New Physics


  • [*=center]Introduction
    [*=center]Consciousness as Reflection Space
    [*=center]Coda
    [*=center]References
    [*=center]Glossary
Note: This Appendix is a 9 mb .pdf file (allow time to download)

The Thinking Allowed and InnerWork Video Collections

About the Author


 
Just like you…I agree with part of what you said…I actually DO fault the corporations…it wasn’t always like this…they systematically and over several decades have torn down every law that protected the workers…that protected the congress from being bought…that protected the votes of Americans. THEY did this…yes…money was the carrot to the jackass(es), but there used to be a greater balance struck.
As for the Tea Party…I can give you story after story…with facts and everything…about how the Koch Brothers are the one’s directing it…just as they have from the beginning when they created it. They have manipulated the American public into getting angry at those things protecting and keeping them safe, under the guise of "OMG bigger government!” “cut taxes” etc. etc. all for their own benefit…and no, it doesn’t trickle down…it is to break down corporate tax barriers…to break the unions…remember wisconsin?
Seriously though…I’m not talking about the liberal and conservative media…if you look outside of how it is…the conservative media painted the worst possible picture…enough for anyone to look down upon them…and then you had the mainstream liberal media…who painted a better picture and made you want to side with them and what they stood for, but still gave you just enough “crazy” on TV, so you wouldn’t really want to join them….and those that did see it on TV and wanted to go join even after watching how they were portrayed, still joined them anyhow…chances are they just got an influx of the crazies after that…because normal people who have to pay rent, feed kids, go to work, mow the fucking lawn, aren’t always in a position to go out and join a camp-out protest…the normal people of this country aren’t even in a position to take a day off of work…isn’t that sad? If I need tomorrow off for any reason other than being sick (must have fever and you only get 8 a year) or someone in my immediate family has died (and no my own step-son since I got a divorce, wouldn’t even count anymore) I will not get it off.
That is what is wrong….we are all fucking slaves…so afraid to take the country back…because we can’t afford to…and nothing will ever change…because we can’t afford to…unless you are already homeless.

You are clear headed. Think well.

However, I would mention this. Conservative media is far less in size than liberal media. Given this, how again did Occupy fail to get a foot hold? Again I say its because they never had a clear message.

I sat in a room for 6 years that had 40, 50 inch plasma screens that played the news 24/7 365. CNN, Foxnews, MsNbc, cspan were always on side by side. I dont know how many people can say this. I the differences in the news stories reported by each. Liberal media ignored storys they didnt want to gain a foot hold. Conservative media reported on those stories. Time and time again the stories conservative media said were stories and liberal media brushed off, those stories were shown to be of real concern later. Liberal media is not anyones friend. BOTH sides of an argument must be known to make real world decisions about how best to move the country forward.

I try to listen to liberal media input. But I have to read so deep between the lines, do so much research to see what out of what they are saying is actually whats going on it becomes tiresome. Its super annoying. No, I do not take conservative media at its word, I still question it but more often than not, its telling you the story even if its not all aspects of it.
 
You are clear headed. Think well.

However, I would mention this. Conservative media is far less in size than liberal media. Given this, how again did Occupy fail to get a foot hold? Again I say its because they never had a clear message.

I sat in a room for 6 years that had 40, 50 inch plasma screens that played the news 24/7 365. CNN, Foxnews, MsNbc, cspan were always on side by side. I dont know how many people can say this. I the differences in the news stories reported by each. Liberal media ignored storys they didnt want to gain a foot hold. Conservative media reported on those stories. Time and time again the stories conservative media said were stories and liberal media brushed off, those stories were shown to be of real concern later. Liberal media is not anyones friend. BOTH sides of an argument must be known to make real world decisions about how best to move the country forward.

I try to listen to liberal media input. But I have to read so deep between the lines, do so much research to see what out of what they are saying is actually whats going on it becomes tiresome. Its super annoying. No, I do not take conservative media at its word, I still question it but more often than not, its telling you the story even if its not all aspects of it.
They are both sides of the same coin…they both have the same ultimate goal…and IMO that is to keep us fighting about nonsensical bullshit social issue, like whether Holly Hobbie has to pay for their employees’ birth control or not - give me a fucking break…who cares?
And yet…it gets turned into this huge thing by the media on both sides. And the news stations reflect the mindset of people in the US today…we have stations like MSNBC for those who are more liberal minded, and FOX for those who are more conservative. But they are really the same deep down…they are all owned by Billionaires or giant corporations who give up mindless dribble.
Have you seen the filler stories they have every day? Stories about how some cat is nursing baby squirrels…or some kid learned to skateboard with no legs….etc….etc. Actually, the stores they come up with are even worse than those…those might be slightly entertaining.
My point is, they are both liars…they are both telling us what they want us to hear, and censoring, or even ignoring, what they don’t want us to focus on.
For the liberals…they ignore things like Benghazi (yes they fucked up)…for the conservatives they demonize the poor to justify cutting social programs.
They both make me want to vomit.
Try this website - http://www.alternet.org
They have the most honest reporting I have found yet…but don’t take my word for it, check their facts for yourself.
 
They are both sides of the same coin…they both have the same ultimate goal…and IMO that is to keep us fighting about nonsensical bullshit social issue, like whether Holly Hobbie has to pay for their employees’ birth control or not - give me a fucking break…who cares?
And yet…it gets turned into this huge thing by the media on both sides. And the news stations reflect the mindset of people in the US today…we have stations like MSNBC for those who are more liberal minded, and FOX for those who are more conservative. But they are really the same deep down…they are all owned by Billionaires or giant corporations who give up mindless dribble.
Have you seen the filler stories they have every day? Stories about how some cat is nursing baby squirrels…or some kid learned to skateboard with no legs….etc….etc. Actually, the stores they come up with are even worse than those…those might be slightly entertaining.
My point is, they are both liars…they are both telling us what they want us to hear, and censoring, or even ignoring, what they don’t want us to focus on.
For the liberals…they ignore things like Benghazi (yes they fucked up)…for the conservatives they demonize the poor to justify cutting social programs.
They both make me want to vomit.
Try this website - http://www.alternet.org
They have the most honest reporting I have found yet…but don’t take my word for it, check their facts for yourself.

Ah! Excellent. I agree.

Mostly... :)
 
Better idea. Turn everybody into small children and kittens.That way, the worst people could do is scratch or call each other mean names.

I, as the only adult, would of course have to be in charge of the world. It would be a difficult burden to bear, but I'm sure I could handle it.

Jacobi? I know you're making fun of me in a very gentle and amusing way. It's ok... when I used to be a hard core Atheist I would have done the same. :w:

But truly - if we ever get the chance to co-create something together I'd be honored to work with you and your intellect. You'll just have to get in your heart first. :love:
 
Jacobi? I know you're making fun of me in a very gentle and amusing way. It's ok... when I used to be a hard core Atheist I would have done the same. :w:

But truly - if we ever get the chance to co-create something together I'd be honored to work with you and your intellect. You'll just have to get in your heart first. :love:

Thank you Kgal; I really respect you and would be honored to co-create something with you.

I was far colder and emotionally detached before I came to this forum, so you could say it's work in progress.
 
This is an interesting article on meditation: http://themindunleashed.org/2014/06...tation-can-affect-heart-brain-creativity.html

It has a TedTalk and then 4 scientific articles supporting meditation! I like their perspective and candid thoughts on meditation! I gotta say- I've thought these things too! :)

Hey you know, I used to be quite insane, depressed, and mentally ill. I ended up hospitalized three different times because of it, and on all kinds of medications. After I started doing shikantaza and studying Zen (even though I don't consider myself a practicing Buddhist) all of these things dissipated. I rarely feel depressed for long, don't get the crazy breakdowns I used to have, and when I get anxiety I know what to do. I don't need any medications - taking them would just give me the side effects without the benefits.

I'm still a bitch some times and not as kind as I could be, but all things considered I have improved a lot through meditation and I can only see this getting better in time.
 
Beliefs are nothing to be proud of.
Believing something is not an accomplishment. I grew up thinking that beliefs are something to be proud of, but they’re really nothing but opinions one refuses to reconsider. Beliefs are easy. The stronger your beliefs are, the less open you are to growth and wisdom, because “strength of belief” is only the intensity with which you resist questioning yourself. As soon as you are proud of a belief, as soon as you think it adds something to who you are, then you’ve made it a part of your ego. Listen to any “die-hard” conservative or liberal talk about their deepest beliefs and you are listening to somebody who will never hear what you say on any matter that matters to them — unless you believe the same. It is gratifying to speak forcefully, it is gratifying to be agreed with, and this high is what the die-hards are chasing. Wherever there is a belief, there is a closed door. Take on the beliefs that stand up to your most honest, humble scrutiny, and never be afraid to lose them.
 
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Makes me sick...
 
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