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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stanislav Grof
Born	1 July 1931 (age 88) Prague, Czechoslovakia
Citizenship	Czech
Alma mater	Charles University, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences
Known for	Transpersonal psychology
Spouse(s)	Brigitte Grof since April 2016
Scientific career
Fields	Psychology, psychiatry
Institutions	Johns Hopkins University University of Maryland, Baltimore Esalen Institute California Institute of Integral Studies
Influences	Otto Rank

Stanislav “Stan” Grof (born July 1, 1931) is a Czech psychiatrist, one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology and a researcher into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of exploring, healing, and obtaining growth and insights into the human psyche. Grof received the VISION 97 award granted by the Foundation of Dagmar and Václav Havel in Prague on October 5, 2007.

Life and career

Grof is known, in scientific circles, for his early studies of LSD and its effects on the psyche—the field of psychedelic therapy. Building on his observations while conducting LSD research and on Otto Rank‘s theory of birth trauma, Grof constructed a theoretical framework for prenatal and perinatal psychology and transpersonal psychology in which LSD trips and other powerfully emotional experiences were mapped onto a person’s early fetal and neonatal experiences.^[1] Over time, this theory developed into what Grof called a “cartography” of the deep human psyche. Following the suppression of legal LSD use in the late 1960s, Grof went on to develop a theory that many states of mind could be explored without drugs by using certain breathing techniques.^[2] He continues this work as of 2015 under the trademark “Holotropic Breathwork“.

Grof received his M.D. from Charles University in Prague in 1957 and then completed his Ph.D. in medicine at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in 1965, training as a Freudian psychoanalyst at this time.^{[note 1]} In 1967 he was invited by Joel Elkes^[4] to work as a clinical and research fellow at the Henry Phipps Clinic, a part of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, United States, and went on to become Chief of Psychiatric Research for the Spring Grove Experiment at the Research Unit of Spring Grove State Hospital (later part of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center where he worked with Walter Pahnke and Bill Richards among others. In 1973 he was invited to the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, and lived there until 1987 as a scholar-in-residence, developing his ideas.

As founding president of the International Transpersonal Association (founded in 1977), he went on to become distinguished adjunct faculty member of the Department of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies, a position he remains in as of 2015.

Grof featured in the film Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within, a 2006 documentary about rediscovering an enchanted cosmos in the modern world.^[5]

Grof distinguishes between two modes of consciousness: the hylotropic and the holotropic.^[6] The hylotropic mode relates to “the normal, everyday experience of consensus reality“.^[7] The holotropic has to do with states which aim towards wholeness and the totality of existence. The holotropic is characteristic of non-ordinary states of consciousness such as meditative, mystical, or psychedelic experiences.^[8] According to Grof, contemporary psychiatry often categorizes these non-ordinary states as psychotic.^[8] Grof connects the hylotropic to the Buddhist conception of namarupa (“name and form”), the separate, individual, illusory self. He connects the holotropic to the Hindu conception of Atman-Brahman, the divine, true nature of the self.^{[citation needed]}

More at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Grof

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thomas Berry
Born	November 9, 1914 Greensboro, North Carolina, United States
Died	June 1, 2009 (aged 94) Greensboro
Occupation	cultural historian, historian of world religions, “geologian”

Thomas Berry, CP, PhD (November 9, 1914 – June 1, 2009) was a cultural historian and scholar of the world’s religions, especially Asian traditions. Later as he studied Earth history and evolution, he called himself a “geologian.”  He rejected the label “theologian” or “ecotheologian” as too narrow and not descriptive of his cultural studies in history of religions. He was drawn early on to respond to the growing ecological and climate crisis and proposed the need for a “New Story” of evolution in 1978. In this essay he suggested that a deep understanding of the history and functioning of the evolving universe is a necessary inspiration and guide for our own effective functioning as individuals and as a species.

Berry believed that humanity, after generations spent in despoiling the planet, is poised to embrace a new role as a vital part of a larger, interdependent  Earth community, consisting of a “communion of subjects not a collection of objects.” He felt that we were at a critical turning point, moving out of the Cenozoic era and entering into a new evolutionary phase, which would either be an Ecozoic Era, characterized by mutually-enhancing human-Earth relations, or a Techozoic Era, where we dominate and exploit the planet via our technological mastery.

Berry said the transformation of humanity’s priorities will not come easily. It requires what he called “the great work” — the title of one of his books — in four institutional realms: the political and legal order; the economic and industrial world; education; and religion.^[1]

Biography

Born to William and Bess Berry in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1914, Berry was the third of 13 children. His father founded Berico Fuels in 1924. At age 11 he had an epiphany in a meadow, which became a primary reference point for the rest of his life.^[2] He later elaborated this experience into a set of “Twelve Principles for Understanding the Universe”, which became the basis for his contributions to Earth Jurisprudence.^[3] These principles are based on this perspective:

“The universe, the solar system, and planet Earth in themselves and in their evolutionary emergence constitute for the human community the primary revelation of that ultimate mystery whence all things emerge into being.”^[4]

More at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Berry

Watch more videos on iai.tv

 The confirmation of the Higgs boson was supposed to usher in new age of discovery in particle physics. But the Large Hadron Collider at Cern has offered up precious few new finds. Is this the ‘nightmare scenario’ some predicted? Is particle physics in crisis, or is there still hope that theories like supersymmetry might lead us to a theory of everything? 

Astrophysicist Catherine Heymans, theoretical physicist John Ellis and particle physicist Ben Allanach discuss where the next big discovery might be found. 

Isolation. Despair. Facing our demons. What does “Robinson Crusoe,” the most-translated novel, tell us about living with COVID-19?

The Conversation

• Richard Gunderman

Nearly lost at sea, Robinson Crusoe lands on an island only to reckon with isolation, solitude and his own life. Photo from the Culture Club / Hulton Archive via Getty Images.

He survived the last great plague in London and the city’s Great Fire. He was imprisoned and persecuted for his religious and political views. There was no happy ending for the journalist Daniel Defoe, author of “A Journal of a Plague Year.” When he died in 1731, he was mired in debt and hiding from his creditors.

Yet Defoe, born in 1660, left behind a work of fiction that is one of the most widely published books in history and – other than the Bible – the most translated book in the world. Like many great works of fiction, it speaks across centuries, especially now as we face the COVID-19 pandemic.

The book is “Robinson Crusoe,” written by and first published in 1719. Crusoe is an Englishman who leaves his comfortable life, goes to sea, gets captured by pirates and sold into slavery. Later, he emerges from a shipwreck the sole survivor. He sustains himself alone on a tropical island for 28 years, relying on grit, imagination and the few things he salvaged from the ship. His tale offers lessons for us all.

As a physician and scholar, I have taught Defoe’s novel many times to my students at Indiana University. I believe it is one of the best books to read as we endure the uncertainty and isolation due to COVID-19, because it invites us to reflect on existential issues at the core of a pandemic.

What Matters in Our Lives?

Title page of the first edition (1719) of Robinson Crusoe. Photo from the Culture Club / Hulton Archive via Getty Images.

For those hunkered down in the midst of a pandemic, one of Robinson Crusoe’s lessons is understanding the folly of worldly goods. Crusoe finds gold but realizes it is of no value to him, not even worth “taking off of the ground.” In his former life, money had become a “drug.” Now, marooned on an island, he learns what is truly necessary and rewarding in life.

Like Crusoe’s shipwreck, sheltering in place during COVID-19 interrupts long-established habits and rhythms of life. With this interruption comes a chance to examine our lives. What is genuinely necessary in life? And what things turn out to be little more than distractions? For example, where on such a spectrum would we situate the pursuit of wealth or caring well for loved ones?

Making Do With Very Little

Crusoe quickly learns to be open to discovery. When he first arrives on the island, he finds it barren, inhospitable and threatening, like a prison. Over time, he comes to recognize it as home. As he explores the island and learns to live in harmony with it, it protects and sustains him. The island emerges as an unending source of wonder that at first he couldn’t see.

As my family and I have sheltered in place, we have shared a similar experience. We are taking more walks and lingering longer at the dinner table. Now that we are not rushing as much from one thing to another, we’ve discovered what it means to be in one place and simply savor being together.

Necessity, the Mother of Invention

Alone on an island, Crusoe can’t rely on anyone but himself to provide the things he needs. On the day of his shipwreck, he is naked, hungry and homeless. He laments that, “considered by his own nature,” man is “one of the most miserable creatures of the world.” Out of necessity, he figures out how to make the things he needs.

A 1900 lithograph of Robinson Crusoe building his first dwelling. Photo from Leemage / Corbis Historical via Getty Images.

A pandemic renews opportunities for necessity to give birth to invention. Just as Crusoe finds within himself a resourcefulness he didn’t know he had, confinement can reveal new ways of living and creating. Even simple things such as cooking, reading, handcraft, writing and conversation may turn out to have more to offer than we supposed.

A Wasted Life and Forgiveness

One of the greatest challenges Crusoe faces is unburdening himself of the guilt he bears for his misspent life. It had been devoted to getting rich and dominating other people – at the time of his shipwreck, he had been on a voyage to secure slaves for his plantation. But on the island, he begins to see the beauty in simple things. For example, he finds trees indescribably beautiful, a beauty so profound that it is “scarce credible.”

Something similar can transpire in the lives of the homebound. Frustration and disappointment can fade, to be replaced by new and unexpected sources of fulfillment. It may be something that we experience, such as a bird singing in the morning, but it can also be of our own doing. The tools lie at our fingertips – mail, phone and social media provide all we need to reach out to others with a kind word or helping hand.

Gratitude for What We Have

One of the most profound transformations that Crusoe experiences is spiritual. Alone, he begins to meditate on the Bible he recovered from the shipwreck, reading Scripture three times per day. He attributes his newfound ability to “look on the bright side of my condition” to this habit, which gives him “such secret comforts that I cannot express them.”

By the time Crusoe is rescued after nearly three decades, he is a new man. He has formed the deepest friendship of his life with Friday, a man he rescued from death. He has learned the most profound lesson that “all our discontents about what we want spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.”

Crusoe’s social isolation changed him for the better. Photo from the Universal History Archive / Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

A Life of Isolation

Enforced quiet and separation because of coronavirus can reacquaint some of us with the value of peace, while solitude can whet our appetites for the joys of true fellowship. Just as the shipwrecked Crusoe is reborn, so trying times can clarify for us the true bounties of our lives.

A pandemic can seem like the end, but it can also serve as a beginning. We are, in a way, cut adrift. Yet a new and ultimately more fertile landfall lies ahead, at least for those of us who are not sick, broke or homeless. If we heed Defoe’s inspiration, these unprecedented challenges can transform us into wiser and more caring human beings.

Richard Gunderman is Chancellor’s Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy at Indiana University.

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This post originally appeared on The Conversation and was published April 5, 2020. This article is republished here with permission.

Pilar Lopez-Cantero

April 27, 2020 (aeon.co/ideas)

is a lecturer in philosophy at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. She researches ethics and moral psychology, particularly personal relationships, narrative and the self-concept.

Room in New York (1932) by Edward Hopper. Photo courtesy Wikimedia

Imagine two couples, each at home for dinner. The first couple spends the whole meal caressing each other’s hair, calling each other cheesy monikers and, after the meal is finished, holding hands across the table, staring affectionately into each other’s eyes. Before long, they are in bed together. The other couple eats quietly, barely talking and, when the meal is through, they load the dishwasher. Later, they sit in the same room, but apart, both reading.

Both couples are in love. They just express it differently. The philosopher Karen Jones at the University of Melbourne has an important insight into what is going on here. Love is what she calls an interpretation-sensitive trajectory. Trajectories are processes. One isn’t really in love for a fleeting moment, in the same way that one doesn’t have a profession or a hobby for a fleeting moment. The fact that an episode counts as love for a certain person – like another episode counts for a certain person being a writer or a knitter – depends on things that have happened before, or will happen after, that episode.

In that sense, love is a process, not an episode. Each action fits within an ongoing narrative, and that is how it gets its meaning. The same action performed in a different narrative could have a radically different meaning. For instance, for the first couple, the idea of sitting apart from each other reading might be the opposite of an expression of love – it might signify that the relationship has broken down. Meanwhile, for the second couple, this could be their perfect understanding of how they want to be together that evening.

We jointly write our stories of love and give meaning to our actions within these narratives.

In a narrative, specific events make sense in light of each other. Sitting down with your partner reading in silence might make sense as part of your romantic relationship in light of other events, such as having lived together for years or sharing your respective passion for books. More importantly, it makes sense as an episode of love for your partner because of how you have conceptualised your relationship, which is, in a sense, unique to you both. That is why reading a novel in silence with your partner can be an expression of your love, while reading a legal document in silence next to your colleague is not (unless your colleague also happens to be your romantic partner, and you have a second narrative of love interwoven with your work narrative).

This makes things sound simple. But they’re not. In any relationship, we will be subject to several different levels of narrative running simultaneously, and also the possibility that what we assume to be a shared conception might not be so. Typically, we each arrive at our individual conceptualisation of romantic love through three levels of narrative. The philosopher Hilde Lindemann at Michigan State University points to the existence of socially shared narratives that are associated with certain practices. In Holding and Letting Go (2014), she explains, for example, that pregnancy is associated with eating certain foods, posting on social media or reading parenting books. All these are expected events in a pregnancy narrative, which is partly shaped socially.

Equally, there are certain practices conventionally associated with the narrative of love that we accumulate from our culture – often from popular culture. These might include the Romeo and Juliet trope, or the Disney princess story, or the tug between duty and romantic love. Think of the nostalgia for moments of bliss together captured in Humphrey Bogart’s line in the film Casablanca (1942): ‘We’ll always have Paris.’ These and other stories contribute to shaping our conceptualisation of love when we move from fiction to reality. We also have our own specific relationship narratives, which are types of we-narratives, in the words of the philosophers Deborah Tollefsen and Shaun Gallagher at the University of Memphis in 2017. In the case of a romantic partnership, that ‘we’ refers specifically to the people involved in the relationship. Each romantic partnership has a unique we-narrative that is both shaped by and the shaper of the relationship. For example, the backstory of ‘how we met’ can shape how people define their romantic relationships. Certain practices, such as the degree of expected physical affection, become episodes that become habits and expectations that make sense as part of some relationships and not others, given that different people have different we-narratives.

Finally, we have our individual narratives. Most of us are or will be in more than one romantic relationship over our lifetimes, and those different we-narratives too become blueprints for our definition of what gets counted as love and what does not. They shape our expectations, but can also act as exemplars of the we-narratives we hope for, or perhaps explicitly want to avoid.

From this amalgamation, we get a personal interpretative framework that defines which actions, for each of us, count as loving. We understand what it is to be in love through the cultural and personal stories we enact. People who live in the same societies are exposed to similar cultural stories; they tend to have life arcs that bear a great deal of resemblance to each other (growing up, getting a career, searching for fulfilment through a reciprocal ongoing romantic relationship, or more than one). Yet there is room for individual differences too, and they can be the source of misunderstanding, tensions and disappointment – for example, when a partner expects more physical expression of love, or less, than you wish to give; or when a narrative clashes with a partner’s expectations of both romantic and emotional exclusivity. Where partners have narratives that produce very different expectations, disappointment and resentment are almost inevitable.

In love, there are no easy guidelines. But perhaps, by coming to recognise the degree to which overlapping and different narratives shape our expectations in love, we can avoid some of the worst outcomes. Perhaps, too, we have a philosophical duty to interrogate the extent to which our narratives are shaped by crass romantic clichés from songs, movies and sitcoms – even if we wrongly believe ourselves above them. However, it won’t suffice to recognise that we’re all entangled in complex webs of romantic narrative. We also need to make sure that we are truly co-authoring our we-narratives. The people we love are not just characters, but also creators, of our shared story. To love each other better, we should respect this. The world is unlikely to furnish us with a perfectly matched storyteller, but love won’t flourish if each of us is trying to tell a different story.

Bob DylanBob Dylan Listen to Bob Dylan’s “Murder Most Foul” now: https://bobdylan.lnk.to/MurderMostFoulAY Amazon Music: https://bobdylan.lnk.to/MurderMostFou… Apple Music: https://bobdylan.lnk.to/MurderMostFou… iTunes: https://bobdylan.lnk.to/MurderMostFou… Soundcloud: https://bobdylan.lnk.to/MurderMostFou… Spotify: https://bobdylan.lnk.to/MurderMostFou… YouTube Music: https://bobdylan.lnk.to/MurderMostFou… Follow Bob Dylan: http://bobdylan.comhttps://www.instagram.com/bobdylan/http://facebook.com/bobdylanhttp://twitter.com/bobdylan

Lyrics of Murder Most Foul by Bob Dylan

Twas a dark day in Dallas, November ’63
A day that will live on in infamy
President Kennedy was a-ridin’ high
Good day to be livin’ and a good day to die
Being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb
He said, “Wait a minute, boys, you know who I am?”
“Of course we do, we know who you are”
Then they blew off his head while he was still in the car
Shot down like a dog in broad daylight
Was a matter of timing and the timing was right
You gotta pay debts, we’ve come to collect
We’re gonna kill you with hatred, without any respect
We’ll mock you and shock you and we’ll put it in your face
We’ve already got someone here to take your placeThe day they blew out the brains of the king
Thousands were watching, no one saw a thing
It happened so quickly, so quick, by surprise
Right there in front of everyone’s eyes
Greatest magic trick ever under the sun
Perfectly executed, skillfully done
Wolfman, oh wolfman, oh wolfman howl
Rub-a-dub-dub, it’s a murder most foulHush, little children, you’ll understand
The Beatles are comin’, they’re gonna hold your hand
Slide down the banister, go get your coat
Ferry ‘cross the Mersey and go for the throat
There’s three bums comin’ all dressed in rags
Pick up the pieces and lower the flags
I’m going to Woodstock, it’s the Aquarian Age
Then I’ll go to Altamont and sit near the stage
Put your head out the window, let the good times roll
There’s a party going on behind the Grassy KnollStack up the bricks, pour the cement
Don’t say Dallas don’t love you, Mr. President
Put your foot in the tank and step on the gas
Try to make it to the triple underpass
Blackface singer, whiteface clown
Better not show your faces after the sun goes down
Up in the red light district, they’ve got cop on the beat
Living in a nightmare on Elm StreetWhen you’re down in Deep Ellum, put your money in your shoe
Don’t ask what your country can do for you
Cash on the ballot, money to burn
Dealey Plaza, make a left-hand turn
I’m going down to the crossroads, gonna flag a ride
The place where faith, hope, and charity died
Shoot him while he runs, boy
Shoot him while you can
See if you can shoot the invisible man
Goodbye, Charlie
Goodbye, Uncle Sam
Frankly, my Scarlet, I don’t give a damnWhat is the truth, and where did it go?
Ask Oswald and Ruby, they oughta know
“Shut your mouth, ” said the wise old owl
Business is business, and it’s a murder most foulTommy, can you hear me?
I’m the Acid Queen
I’m riding in a long, black Lincoln limousine
Riding in the backseat next to my wife
Heading straight on in to the afterlife
I’m leaning to the left, got my head in her lap
Hold on, I’ve been led into some kind of a trap
Where we ask no quarter, and no quarter do we give
We’re right down the street from the street where you live
They mutilated his body, and they took out his brain
What more could they do?
They piled on the pain
But his soul’s not there where it was supposed to be at
For the last fifty years they’ve been searchin’ for thatFreedom, oh freedom
Freedom above me
I hate to tell you, mister, but only dead men are free
Send me some lovin’, tell me no lies
Throw the gun in the gutter and walk on by
Wake up, little Suzie, let’s go for a drive
Cross the Trinity River, let’s keep hope alive
Turn the radio on, don’t touch the dials
Parkland hospital, only six more milesYou got me dizzy, Miss Lizzy
You filled me with lead
That magic bullet of yours has gone to my head
I’m just a patsy like Patsy Cline
Never shot anyone from in front or behind
I’ve blood in my eye, got blood in my ear
I’m never gonna make it to the new frontier
Zapruder’s film I’ve seen that before
Seen it 33 times, maybe more
It’s vile and deceitful
It’s cruel and it’s mean
Ugliest thing that you ever have seen
They killed him once and they killed him twice
Killed him like a human sacrificeThe day that they killed him, someone said to me, “Son
The age of the Antichrist has just only begun”
Air Force One coming in through the gate
Johnson sworn in at 2:38
Let me know when you decide to thrown in the towel
It is what it is, and it’s murder most foulWhat’s new, pussycat?
What’d I say?
I said the soul of a nation been torn away
And it’s beginning to go into a slow decay
And that it’s 36 hours past Judgment DayWolfman Jack, he’s speaking in tongues
He’s going on and on at the top of his lungs
Play me a song, Mr. Wolfman Jack
Play it for me in my long Cadillac
Play me that “Only the Good Die Young”
Take me to the place Tom Dooley was hung
Play “St. James Infirmary” and “The Port of King James”
If you want to remember, you better write down the names
Play Etta James, too
Play “I’d Rather Go Blind”
Play it for the man with the telepathic mind
Play John Lee Hooker
Play “Scratch My Back”
Play it for that strip club owner named Jack
Guitar Slim going down slow
Play it for me and for Marilyn MonroePlay “Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”
Play it for the First Lady, she ain’t feeling any good
Play Don Henley
Play Glenn Frey
Take it to the limit and let it go by
Play it for Karl Wirsum, too
Looking far, far away at Down Gallow Avenue
Play tragedy, play “Twilight Time”
Take me back to Tulsa to the scene of the crime
Play another one and “Another One Bites the Dust”
Play “The Old Rugged Cross” and “In God We Trust”
Ride the pink horse down that long, lonesome road
Stand there and wait for his head to explode
Play “Mystery Train” for Mr. Mystery
The man who fell down dead like a rootless tree
Play it for the Reverend
Play it for the Pastor
Play it for the dog that got no master
Play Oscar Peterson
Play Stan Getz
Play “Blue Sky”
Play Dickey Betts
Play Hot Pepper, Thelonious Monk
Charlie Parker and all that junk
All that junk and “All That Jazz”
Play something for the Birdman of Alcatraz
Play Buster Keaton
Play Harold Lloyd
Play Bugsy Siegel
Play Pretty Boy Floyd
Play the numbers
Play the odds
Play “Cry Me A River” for the Lord of the gods
Play Number 9
Play Number 6
Play it for Lindsey and Stevie Nicks
Play Nat King Cole
Play “Nature Boy”
Play “Down In The Boondocks” for Terry Malloy
Play “It Happened One Night” and “One Night of Sin”
There’s 12 Million souls that are listening in
Play “Merchant to Venice”
Play “Merchants of Death”
Play “Stella by Starlight” for Lady MacbethDon’t worry, Mr. President
Help’s on the way
Your brothers are coming, there’ll be hell to pay
Brothers? What brothers? What’s this about hell?
Tell them, “We’re waiting, keep coming”
We’ll get them as wellLove Field is where his plane touched down
But it never did get back up off the ground
Was a hard act to follow, second to none
They killed him on the altar of the rising sun
Play “Misty” for me and “That Old Devil Moon”
Play “Anything Goes” and “Memphis in June”
Play “Lonely At the Top” and “Lonely Are the Brave”
Play it for Houdini spinning around his grave
Play Jelly Roll Morton
Play “Lucille”
Play “Deep In a Dream”
And play “Driving Wheel”
Play “Moonlight Sonata” in F-sharp
And “A Key to the Highway” for the king on the harp
Play “Marching Through Georgia” and “Dumbaroton’s Drums”
Play darkness and death will come when it comes
Play “Love Me Or Leave Me” by the great Bud Powell
Play “The Blood-stained Banner”
Play “Murder Most Foul”

Source: LyricFindSongwriters: Bob DylanMurder Most Foul lyrics © Audiam, Inc

April 27, 2020 (futurism.com)

By DAN ROBITZSKI

A controversial new study suggests that it may be possible to bend the laws of the universe — but just a little bit.

Scientists at the University of New South Wales found what seem to be discrepancies in what’s called the fine structure constant, a number that’s thought to remain perfectly unchanging and describes how subatomic particles interact with each other. It’s a bold claim, but if it holds up it would fundamentally alter our understanding of the universe.

Frayed Edges

The fine structure constant describes the force that influences subatomic particles with electrical charge, like how protons and electrons within an atom are drawn to one another. The study, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, found that the number seemed to change when they analyzed extremely distant quasars — but only when they looked in certain directions, meaning that the laws of physics may break down at the edges of the universe.

“And it seems to be supporting this idea that there could be a directionality in the universe,” University of New South Wales physicist John Webb said in a press release, “which is very weird indeed.”

Bold Claim

As it stands right now, our models for the universe assume that it expands outward in all directions like an ever-growing blob of galaxies and other starstuff. If this new study is correct, however, it instead presents a universe with a dipole structure, not unlike the North and South poles of a magnet.

Because it’s such a bold finding, even Webb himself isn’t convinced by his own work — but argues that it’s definitely worth exploring with more and better measurements.

READ MORE: New findings suggest laws of nature ‘downright weird,’ not as constant as previously thought [University of New South Wales]

More on physics: New Theory Could Solve Universe’s Biggest Paradox

BUT THERE’S JUST ONE PROBLEM: IT’S STILL IDENTIFYING NEW CASES.

BY DAN ROBITZSKI / April 27, 2020 (futurism.com)

On Monday, the Prime Minister of New Zealand declared that the country had successfully eliminated the coronavirus among its residents.

If the claim holds up, that would be a remarkable success story — though, in reality, there are several technicalities about what it means to have “eliminated” the country’s outbreak.

Chief among them is that there are still new cases of COVID-19 being identified and reported in New Zealand, health officials said at a press conference attended by CNN. But because those new cases remain in the single digits, the country’s leaders are still calling it a job well done.

Ashley Bloomfield, New Zealand’s Director General of Health, said at the conference that the small number of new infections “does give us confidence that we’ve achieved our goal of elimination, which — that never meant zero but it does mean we know where our cases are coming from.”

“Our goal is elimination,” Bloomfield added. “And again, that doesn’t mean eradication but it means we get down to a small number of cases so that we are able to stamp out any cases and any outbreak that might come out.”

Of course, that could change, as experts suggest that countries that previously got a handle on their coronavirus outbreaks could expect a second wave in the future.

“So as we have said elimination means we may well reach zero but we may well then have small numbers of cases coming up again, that doesn’t mean we have failed,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at the conference. “It just means that we are in the position to have that zero-tolerance approach to have a very aggressive management of those cases and keep those numbers low and fading out again.”

By John Perkins 

April 27, 2020 (sourceofsynergyfoundation.org)

The Prophecy of the Eagle and Condor probably began more than two thousand years ago. It says: “Back in the mists of history, human societies took two routes. The Eagle peoples flew the path of the mind, of science, technology, and industry. The Condor peoples flew the path of the heart, of passion, intuition, and spiritual connections with nature.” It goes on to explain that for centuries they would never meet. Then in the Fourth Pachacuti (in Quichua, the language of the Andes, a five hundred– year interval), which began in about 1500 AD on our calendar, their paths would cross; the Eagle would nearly drive the Condor into extinction. But not quite. The prophecy says that five hundred years later, at the beginning of the Fifth Pachacuti—now—the opportunity arises for the Eagle and the Condor to fly together, to mate, and to produce a new offspring, higher consciousness. 

History confirms the first prophecy. Columbus, 1492. The Eagle swept into Condor territory and almost wiped out the Indigenous peoples. But not quite. 

Now, five hundred years later the prophecy is being fulfilled again. The Eagle and Condor are coming together to create higher consciousness. It is happening! Indigenous teachers have invited us to learn their ways. There is a deep interest in traditional nature-based wisdom and shamanism among industrialized people around the world.– Touching the Jaguar, John Perkins, p.99

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The coronavirus is giving us a new perspective and a new opportunity to fulfill the Prophecy of the Eagle and Condor. Many Eagle people, including scientists, politicians, and business leaders emphasize that medical technology will prevail; we will find a vaccine to prevent future outbreaks; human ingenuity will dominate nature; and we will return to “business as usual.” Many Condor people maintain that Pachamama is sending a strong message that we must make radical changes in the ways we live, govern ourselves, and conduct business; we are being shown that “business as usual” is ultimately self-destructive; and we must move into a “new normal.”

The good news is that more and more of us who have spent most of our lives predominantly either as Eagles or as Condors are now spreading our wings to soar together. As I talk to people – virtually – and participate in on-line events, I hear over and over that this virus is telling us to reexamine who we are as individuals and as a species. The message that the hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and other “once in one hundred years” events that now happen every year or so failed to convey is now being heard around the globe – because of the coronavirus. 

We once took satisfaction in knowing that if we survived the hurricane, earthquake or other catastrophe, within a week or two help would arrive from the “outside” world: bottled water, food, medical help. Now we know: There is no “outside” world.

On a recent webinar call, an MD participant said, “We undoubtedly will come up with a coronavirus vaccine and yet we must now admit that we can expect the unexpected to strike again in the future – unless we are mindful of the lessons we are learning, and we change our priorities.” She went on to explain something that I hear these days from many people in both the Eagle and Condor communities. People everywhere have come to understand that our future survival as a species – at least in a world we would recognize – depends on combining the rationality of the mind with the intuition of the heart. They recognize that science only has some of the answers and that our willingness to listen to the messages of nature takes us to the other answers. Both are essential. Our successful navigation into the future depends on balance; we simply must honor both, our Eagle and our Condor aspects.

We humans may see ourselves as belonging to one nation or another, but in the final analysis we are all citizens of this Living Earth. This fact was recently expressed by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres: “The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war,” he said on March 23, 2020. “That is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world. It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives.” 

This virus is telling us that it is time for Eagle and Condor, mind and heart, to soar together, to mate, and to produce a new offspring: higher consciousness.