Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
Deepak Chopra: Richard Dawkins Takes the Magic Out of Reality
Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/dawkins-magic-of-reality_b_1004216.html?ref=tw (sent via Shareaholic)
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The scientific method does not explore "nature as it is" but nature as exposed to a human nervous system and the available range of questions we ask about Nature.
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The scientific method does not explore "nature as it is" but nature as exposed to a human nervous system and the available range of questions we ask about Nature.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Om namah shivaya : More people answering Kirtan call http://bit.ly/V8jYXe
By: MICHELLE BOORSTEIN, The Washington Post
Kirtan
Krista "Gita" Zember plays the harmonium and sings at Lil Omm Yoga in Washington. Her husband, Christopher Zember, plays drums. (Washington Post photo)
WASHINGTON - Beth Swick was a 40-year-old atheist with warm childhood memories of singing in the church choir when she found herself drawn by a one-word event notice taped to a door: "Chanting." Inside, she found something called a kirtan, or group devotional music.
That experience 12 years ago - joining a call-and-response song in the unfamiliar holy language of Sanskrit with a group of strangers and a beautifully voiced leader - blew the doors of nonbelief off the disaffected Presbyterian.
For decades, Swick had thought that she wasn't religious unless she identified with "some man-God off in some alternate universe in the sky somewhere."
Yet in that room, enveloped by the rich music and the group repetition of a single sacred phrase (although at the time indecipherable to her), Swick felt powerfully connected to something divine.
She was soaring.
She was praying.
"It was an expression of a feeling there wasn't room for in my life at the time, some of those feelings of praise. Where does the word "praise" fit into an atheist's life?" said Swick, a project manager for architecture and design firms in Maryland's Montgomery County who no longer considers herself an atheist.
After a few years of seeing kirtans only sporadically in the Washington area, Swick launched a monthly one in 2009...
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/74741/
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The Economic Times: Pilgrims flock to the Ganges for Kumbh Mela
Organisers have set up 35,000 toilets, 14 medical centres, 22,000 street lights, 150 kilometres (93 miles) of temporary roads, 18 bridges, and new sewage facilities.
ALLAHABAD: Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims led by naked ash-covered holy men begin entering the sacred river Ganges on Monday at the start of the world's biggest religious festival.
The Kumbh Mela in the Indian town of Allahabad will see up to 100 million Hindus gather over the next 55 days to take a ritual bath in the holy waters, believed to cleanse sins and bestow blessings.
At dawn on Monday at a time chosen by astrologers as auspicious, hundreds of gurus, some brandishing swords and tridents, will run into the swirling and freezing waters for the first bath, signalling the start of events.
Assorted holymen, seers and self-proclaimed saints from all over the country have assembled for a colourful spectacle that offers a rare glimpse of the dizzying variety of Indian spiritualism.
"Our biggest wish is that there is peace and that people should look after each other," one Naga Sadhu, a devout, fierce and famously nude sect of followers of the Hindu god Shiva, told AFP.
...
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/pilgrims-flock-to-the-ganges-for-kumbh-mela/articleshow/18014516.cms
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I heart data: iphoneeinstein.com: Movea calculates your indoor location with surprisingly few sensors
Movea showed off a way to use a phone's existing sensors to calculate your position indoors, a beast of a problem for mobile devices. Typical global-positioning system (GPS) satellite data works outdoors, with a line of sight to satellites in space. Wi-Fi triangulation helps improve accuracy. Those technologies aren't as useful inside buildings where signals don't reach.
But Movea demonstrated accurate indoor navigation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. Movea's indoor navigation systems uses signals from an accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, pressure sensor, Wi-Fi, GPS, and matching against known maps. The first thing Movea's mobile app does is ask you for your height. From that, it can estimate your step length. When you move, the accelerometer in your phone registers the step, and the app then figures out that you've moved. The magnetometer, used for a compass, determines which way you are facing...
http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/13/movea-calculates-your-indoor-location-with-surprisingly-few-sensors/
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Photoxels: How Would Van Gogh Have Looked In A Photo?
The paintings of Vincent Van Gogh with their impressionist swirls are among my favorites. His own famous self-portrait has now been digitally deconstructed into a photo by Lithuanian architect-turned-photographer Tadao Cern.
Revealing The Truth from Tadao Cern on Vimeo.
Revealing The Truth:
Long long time ago a stranger asked me to make his portrait… So I did.
I sent him the image and I never heard back from him again since that moment.
Than I saw one painting and I felt that it was very familiar to me: http://www.tadaocern.com/VincentVanGogh/VVGP.jpg
And then I got it – It was a copy of my photo!
I did a little research on that and it seem that the guy who draw(copied) it is quite well known around…
His name is Vincent Van Gogh and I was lucky enough to make his portrait.
Pity that he never mentioned me and I can't find his contact now…
This video is a comparison of both images.
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Photo and Video © 2013 Tadao Cern
www.tadaocern.com
www.facebook.com/tadaocern
www.behance.net/tadaocern
www.instagram.com/tadaocern
Music by music genius Chilly Gonzales 'White Keys'
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Explanation for people who got confused: text above is just a joke. This image is a digital recreation of the artist's most iconic self-portraits using photography and digital retouching. The video is a comparison of a painting and my image.
via theatlantic
http://www.photoxels.com/van-gogh-photo/
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Article: What are the most surreal places one can ever visit?
I'd break this question into two parts, (1) naturally surreal places, and (2) man made surreal places.
(1) NATURALLY SURREAL PLACES
On the natural list, I'd include the following. As a quick note, although some of these have man-made elements, I feel the natural element is the more ...
http://www.quora.com/Travel/What-are-the-most-surreal-places-one-can-ever-visit/answer/Colin-Suttles
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Saturday, January 12, 2013
Cat on Calvin's jacket
Sorry Snopes, proof of life.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Otago Daily Times: Franciscan friars enter digital age
The largest group of Franciscan friars in the United States is offering the faithful a new way to pray in the digital age by accepting prayer requests via text messages.
The Friars of Holy Name Province, who staff 40 parishes and have colleges, soup kitchens and food centres along the eastern seaboard, as well as groups in Peru and Tokyo, are among a few religious groups offering this type of digital service.
Its "Text a Prayer Intention to a Franciscan Friar" initiative, which is described as faith at your fingertips, is a novel way for Roman Catholics to connect.
"People are always saying to friars, "Can you say a prayer for me?" Or "Can you remember my mother who has cancer?"" Father David Convertino, the New York-based executive director of development for the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Name Province, said in an interview...
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/technology/241982/franciscan-friars-enter-digital-age
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Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
Love it: "Promissary materialism" Why Consciousness is Not the Brain
Why Consciousness is Not the Brain
http://www.superconsciousness.com/topics/science/why-consciousness-not-brainSent via Flipboard
http://www.superconsciousness.com/topics/science/why-consciousness-not-brainSent via Flipboard
At least the good Sherrif likes dogs
Armed Guards Sent to Patrol Schools in Los Angeles, Phoenix
http://abcnews.go.com/US/armed-guards-positions-schools-los-angeles-phoenix/story?id=18152089
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Article: The saddest graph you’ll see today
The saddest graph you’ll see today
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/07/the-saddest-graph-youll-see-today/Sent via Flipboard
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/07/the-saddest-graph-youll-see-today/Sent via Flipboard
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
Today, I am...
I am endless curiosity, questioning itself. Then wondering about that. #delightedintrovert
Thursday, January 3, 2013
globalpossibilities.org: The New Bodhisattva Path
David Loy
Zen Teacher
Posted: 11/26/2012 10:54 am
Unless you’re on long retreat in a Himalayan cave, it’s becoming more difficult to overlook the fact that our world is beset by interacting ecological, economic and social crises. Climate breakdown, species extinction, a dysfunctional economic system, corporate domination of government, overpopulation –it’s a critical time in human history, and the collective decisions we have to make during the next few years will set the course of events for generations to come.
Yet the more we learn about our situation, the more overwhelmed and discouraged many of us become. The problems are so enormous and intimidating that we don’t know where to start. We end up feeling powerless, even paralyzed.
For those inspired by Buddhist teachings, an important issue is whether Buddhism can help us respond to these crises. As Paul Hawken points out in “Blessed Unrest,” there are already a vast number of large and small organizations working for peace, social justice and sustainability — at least a million and perhaps more than 2 million, he estimates. The question is whether a Buddhist perspective has something distinctive to offer this movement.
Historically, churches and churchgoers have played an important part in many reform movements, for example, the anti-slavery and civil rights campaigns. But much, perhaps most, of the impetus in the West for deep structural change originates in socialist and other progressive movements, which traditionally have been suspicious of religion. Marx viewed religion as “the opiate of the people” because too often churches have been complicit with political oppression, using their doctrines to rationalize the power of exploitative rulers and diverting believers’ attention from their present condition to “the life to come.”
This critique applies to some Buddhist institutions as well — karma and rebirth teachings can be abused in this way — but at its best Buddhism offers an alternative approach. The Buddhist path is not about qualifying for heaven but living in a different way here and now. This focus supplements nicely the customary Western focus on social justice and social transformation. As Gary Snyder put it half a century ago, “The mercy of the West has been social revolution. The mercy of the East has been individual insight into the basic self/void. We need both.”
We need both because when we do not acknowledge the importance of individual transformation, social transformation is repeatedly subverted by powerful elites taking selfish advantage of their position. Democracy may be the best form of government, but it guarantees nothing if people are still motivated by greed, ill-will, and the delusion of a self whose well-being can be pursued indifferent to others’ well-being.
We need both personal and social transformation so we can respond fully to the Buddha’s concern to end suffering. The Buddha emphasized that all he had to teach was suffering and how to end it. This implies that social transformation is also necessary in order to address the structural and institutionalized suffering perpetuated by those who benefit from an inequitable social order.
Is there something specific within the Buddhist tradition that can bring these two types of transformation together in a new model of activism connecting inner and outer practice?
Enter the bodhisattva.
According to the traditional definition, the bodhisattva chooses not to enter the state of perfect peace, nirvana, but remains in samsara, cyclic existence, to help all sentient beings end their suffering and reach enlightenment. Instead of asking, “How can I get out of this situation?” the bodhisattva asks, “What can I contribute to make this situation better?” Today, more than ever, we need to understand the bodhisattva path as a spiritual archetype that offers a new vision of human possibility.
Wisdom and compassion are the two wings of the Buddhist path, and we need both to fly. “When I look inside and see that I am nothing, that’s wisdom. When I look outside and see that I am everything, that’s love. Between these two my life turns” (Nisargadatta). Wisdom is realizing that there is no “me” separate from the rest of the world, and compassion is putting that realization into practice.
The vision of socially engaged Buddhism is to help develop an awakened society that is socially just and ecologically sustainable. It seeks to open up new perspectives and possibilities that challenge us to transform ourselves and our societies more profoundly. This brings us to the bodhisattva’s path as a new archetype for social activism.
Bodhisattva activism has some distinctive characteristics. Buddhism emphasizes interdependence (“we’re all in this together”) and delusion (rather than evil). This implies not only nonviolence (violence is usually self-defeating anyway), but a politics based on love (more nondual) rather than reactive anger (which separates them from us).
The basic problem in our society is not rich and powerful bad people, but institutionalized structures of collective greed, aggression and delusion. The bodhisattva’s pragmatism and non-dogmatism can help to cut through the ideological quarrels that have weakened so many progressive groups. And Buddhism’s emphasis on skillful means cultivates the creative imagination, a necessary attribute if we are to construct a healthier way of living together on this earth, and work out a way to get there.
Yet those attributes do not get at the most important contribution of the bodhisattva in these difficult times, when we often feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the challenge and are tempted to despair. The bodhisattva’s response? To quote the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: “The difficult we do immediately. The impossible will take a little longer.” According to the classical formulation, the bodhisattva takes a vow to help liberate all living beings. Someone who has volunteered for such an unachievable task is not going to be intimidated by present crises, no matter how hopeless they may appear. That is because the bodhisattva practices on both levels — inner and outer — which enables one to engage in goal-directed behavior without attachment to results.
As T. S. Eliot put it, “Ours is in the trying. The rest is not our business.” The bodhisattva’s job is to do the best one can, without knowing what the consequences will be. Have we already passed ecological tipping-points and human civilization is doomed? We don’t know. Yet, rather than being intimidated, the bodhisattva embraces “don’t know mind,” because Buddhist practice opens us up to the awesome mystery of an impermanent world where everything is changing, whether or not we notice it. I grew up in a world defined by a “cold war” between the USA and the Soviet Union we all took for granted — until communism suddenly collapsed. The same thing occurred with South African apartheid. If we don’t really know what’s happening, how do we really know what’s possible, until we try?
The equanimity of the bodhisattva-activist comes from nonattachment to the fruits of one’s action, which is not detachment from the state of the world or the fate of the earth. What is the source of this non-attachment? That question points to the fruits of the bodhisattva’s inner work. The Diamond Sutra says that we cannot lead all living beings to liberation because there are no living beings to liberate. The bodhisattva realizes shunyata, emptiness — that dimension in which there is nothing to gain or lose, no getting better or worse — but is not attached to that realization. As the Heart Sutra emphasizes, forms are empty, and emptiness is form. Emptiness is not a place to dwell that is free from form; it is experienced only in the impermanent forms it takes, the forms that constitute our lives and our world.
For the Buddhist activist these are the two dimensions of practice — form and emptiness, personal transformation and social transformation, opposite sides of one coin. As Nisargadatta might put it, “Between these two the bodhisattva’s life turns.” Our world needs both.
David Loy advises the Ecobuddhism project. An earlier version of this blog appeared in Shambhala Sun magazine.
http://www.globalpossibilities.org/the-new-bodhisattva-path/
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Tuesday, January 1, 2013
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