Mind & Psychology
When we assign a symbol to any aspect of experience, we create an invisible line or division in reality between that aspect of experience and the rest of experience. In this way, reality is fragmented by conceptulaization. [more >>]
Conspiracies are behind many of the disasters that that have beset humanity through the ages. But as humanity lets go of outdated perspectives and embraces unity consciousness, we are now witnessing the end of conspiracy. [more >>]
The Bystander Effect (Jun 2009)
If you saw someone lying in the road calling for help, would you help them. According to research, you would be a lot less likely to help them if there were lots of people around because of the so-called diffusion of responsibility — the bystander effect.
When we force rationality onto highly strange experiences, we lose the opportunity for the dissonance of our confusion to challenge our paradigms and work its alchemy in freeing us to greater possibility. [more >>]
Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroanatomist who had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains and their structure define us and connect us to the world and to one another. Taylor's brain haemorrhage was in the left hemisphere, and as that part switched off, she had a unique experience of right side brain function. Feb. 2008
Psychiatry: An Industry of Death (2007)The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a Scientology organisation, has produced a documentary on the shocking abuses of psychiatry. Without a doubt, psychiatry is the most brutal, cruel, immoral, uncaring and money-fixated profession that anyone can follow, responsible for the murder of millions of people in modern history — Hitler's eugenics programs that killed 6 million Jews and the more recent Balkan state ethnic cleansing were both driven by psychiatric agendas. And today, around 100,000 people are murdered annually by the psychiatry's chemical cocktails. Even psychiatrists themselves have the worst record of fraud and patient abuse of any sector of the medical profession. The psychiatrist's bible is the DSM which lists all the recognized psychiatric conditions that psychiatrists, in league with the $27b dollar pharmaceutical drug industry, can then treat. Of course, there is absolutely no objective test for these mental conditions — they are a result of pure conjecture, and their burgeoning numbers (the DSM gets alarmingly thicker with each edition) is due to the fact that the more conditions defined, the more money you make treating them. Shortly, the definitions will be so numerous that we will all be labeled mentally ill and therefore fair game for enforced treatment. And despite its scientific presentation, psychiatry has never cured anybody: the whole thing is a money scam and crime against humanity. Psychiatrists have the power to incarcerate you and your children for no crime and without trial (this happens every 75 seconds in the US) and drug you into a state of stupor so that they can milk your medical insurance (those with the best insurance tend to be kept longest). What can you do? Watch this dvd, join CCHR and oppose this evil. If you don't, who will? Remember, your family's lives are at stake. www.cchr.org
US Evangelist Confesses to Sexual Immorality (Nov 06)
When disgraced former US evangelical leader, Ted Haggard, recently confessed to "sexual immorality" because of his involvement with gay masseur Mike Jones, he stated that, "There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark and I've been warring against it my entire adult life." And that warring seems to have expressed itself in his fervent and vocal opposition to gay marriages. How many other political, social or religious leaders are being driven by their own repressed demons to attack on the public stage what they try to disown in themselves? Bush, for example, probably attacks terrorists because, at heart, he is one, and many a Catholic church leader has preached against sexual impropriety whilst being a closet pedophile. Of course, these leaders do serve a purpose. By fervently attacking this or that and then being exposed as complete hypocrites, they serve as a warning to the rest of us to stop being so judgemental and look at our own pet hates. Do we join anti-war rallies because, underneath all the rhetoric, we are war-mongers ourselves, baying for the blood of those who attacked Iraq or Afghanistan? Do we send threatening letters to vivisectionists because, at heart, we are as cruel as they are? Ted Haggard's fall from grace is a timely reminder for all of us to learn how to express our shadow selves less destructively by learning to accept different aspects of ourselves. And if you are not an introverted type of person who can do this directly, the best way is just to start accepting other people unconditionally.
When disgraced former US evangelical leader, Ted Haggard, recently confessed to "sexual immorality" because of his involvement with gay masseur Mike Jones, he stated that, "There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark and I've been warring against it my entire adult life." And that warring seems to have expressed itself in his fervent and vocal opposition to gay marriages. How many other political, social or religious leaders are being driven by their own repressed demons to attack on the public stage what they try to disown in themselves? Bush, for example, probably attacks terrorists because, at heart, he is one, and many a Catholic church leader has preached against sexual impropriety whilst being a closet pedophile. Of course, these leaders do serve a purpose. By fervently attacking this or that and then being exposed as complete hypocrites, they serve as a warning to the rest of us to stop being so judgemental and look at our own pet hates. Do we join anti-war rallies because, underneath all the rhetoric, we are war-mongers ourselves, baying for the blood of those who attacked Iraq or Afghanistan? Do we send threatening letters to vivisectionists because, at heart, we are as cruel as they are? Ted Haggard's fall from grace is a timely reminder for all of us to learn how to express our shadow selves less destructively by learning to accept different aspects of ourselves. And if you are not an introverted type of person who can do this directly, the best way is just to start accepting other people unconditionally.
Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity - TED Talks
Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. Creativity is the most important thing that we can teach our children, especially when we have so little idea of what the future will bring, and yet creativity is the one thing children are born in abundance with and yet it is educated out of us by the modern educational system. This is an absolutely inspiring talk and very funny! Feb. 2006
For many in the West, the
fanatical Moslem is the face of fundamentalism. But
examine fundamentalism more deeply and we find it
rife in our society too… and more dangerous.
Here is how to reduce it. [more >>]
UK
Outlaws Possession of Magic Mushrooms (18 July 05)
Today, legislation came into force that places magic mushrooms into a Class A category of illegal drugs, along side heroin and cocaine. This means that anyone found in possession could potentially be given seven years in prison and a fine. Why was this legislation rushed through? According to ministers, it is because mushrooms could have a negative effect for some people with existing mental health problems; they have also been known to induced vomiting and anxiety in some cases. Of course, alcohol, which actually kills 33,000 annually (stats from Alcohol Concern) and no doubt is extremely harmful to those with existing mental health problems remains legal because the government makes such healthy profits from its sale. So if you are out wandering in the woods on a beautiful Autumn day and happen to come across something that looks suspiciously like an innocent little magic mushroom, don't pick it! Big Brother is watching you and you could end up in jail for your crime.
Today, legislation came into force that places magic mushrooms into a Class A category of illegal drugs, along side heroin and cocaine. This means that anyone found in possession could potentially be given seven years in prison and a fine. Why was this legislation rushed through? According to ministers, it is because mushrooms could have a negative effect for some people with existing mental health problems; they have also been known to induced vomiting and anxiety in some cases. Of course, alcohol, which actually kills 33,000 annually (stats from Alcohol Concern) and no doubt is extremely harmful to those with existing mental health problems remains legal because the government makes such healthy profits from its sale. So if you are out wandering in the woods on a beautiful Autumn day and happen to come across something that looks suspiciously like an innocent little magic mushroom, don't pick it! Big Brother is watching you and you could end up in jail for your crime.
How often do we tell the
truth, about who we are, what we are feeling, what
we are thinking? If truth be told, hardly at all.
The rewards for telling the truth, however, can be
both unexpected and profound. [more >>]
An interview with a woman who is
has decided to take responsibiliy for the reality that
she is creates and the world she experiences. [more >>]
A brief look at the limits of skepticism
in a modern world of alternative remedies, spiritual
growth and psychic phenomena. [more >>]
How Cults Silence
Their Critics
Scientology is a cult that was started by a science fiction writer called L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard was quoted in Readers Digest as saying that, "If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion," and so he did. Dianetics or Scientology as it came to be known, was born in the 1950s — a strange mixture of science fiction, pop psychology and technology (resistance meters are used as stress instruments). Members who join the cult are sworn to secrecy and fork out thousands of dollars for courses on how to be "clear". The problem with Scientology is that it is unable to tolerate criticism… the standard response invariably being to slap lawsuits on anyone who dares question or divulge its hidden agendas and activities. Over the years, only a few individuals have had the courage to stand up to this sort of intimidation… one of them being Andreas Heldal-Lund who now runs an anti-Scientology website. This site should be of interest to anyone wanting to see how some cults try to silence critics.
Scientology is a cult that was started by a science fiction writer called L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard was quoted in Readers Digest as saying that, "If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion," and so he did. Dianetics or Scientology as it came to be known, was born in the 1950s — a strange mixture of science fiction, pop psychology and technology (resistance meters are used as stress instruments). Members who join the cult are sworn to secrecy and fork out thousands of dollars for courses on how to be "clear". The problem with Scientology is that it is unable to tolerate criticism… the standard response invariably being to slap lawsuits on anyone who dares question or divulge its hidden agendas and activities. Over the years, only a few individuals have had the courage to stand up to this sort of intimidation… one of them being Andreas Heldal-Lund who now runs an anti-Scientology website. This site should be of interest to anyone wanting to see how some cults try to silence critics.