Concentrating on "Lack"

I realize there is considerable skepticism ~ even mockery ~ regarding the so-called "law of attraction," as popularized by "The Secret" and similar books and DVDs. I openly admit that I think there's something to this "law," even if based only on my own life experiences and observations. I've known too many people who exist in a cloud of unhappiness and despair, for whom life only seems to continue its spiral downward. I've also known people who are positive and optimistic ~ often against all odds ~ whose lives appear to be charmed. We do, in fact, seem to get more of what we concentrate on, more of what we believe in.

But trying to enact the law of attraction for personal gain ~ be it to achieve happiness, peace, love, health or wealth ~ is more complex than simply wanting it to be so. It's too easy, while concentrating on obtaining something, to actually be focused on the lack of it.

This 9-minute video of Esther Hicks "translating" the group of energies collectively known as "Abraham," provides what I consider to be an excellent description of the finer points of how this "law" operates.

Not-knowing is true knowledge.
Presuming to know is a disease.
First realize that you are sick;
then you can move toward health.

The Master is her own physician.
She has healed herself of all knowing.
Thus she is truly whole.

A Question Answered

On July 14, 2009, I wrote:

Rethinking This Blog

Quantum Spirit is changing. I'm not certain exactly how, or what form these changes eventually will take. Ultimately I'd like this blog to be more inspirational and spiritually intriguing for my visitors ~ someplace that prompts you to contemplate, and makes you more appreciative of the complexity and beauty of life.

Please bear with me while I figure this out. In the meantime, my posts will be shorter, with some video placeholders and the like.

"I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think." ~ Rumi

My Decision ~ July 27, 2009

The same day I posted the note about "rethinking," I also posted a video of Coleman Barks reading the poem "Love Dogs" by the 13th century Persian poet Rumi. This was in addition to closing the "rethinking" post with the Rumi quote.

The Rumi video generated ~ for Quantum Spirit anyway ~ quite a few comments. Among them was one from a first-time visitor, a woman poet from Tehran, Iran, who goes by "Human Being" and who wrote of Quantum Spirit:

"and now i see i cannot leave here before becoming a follower... it's like when you are in a bookstore and you open a book by chance and read some lines and then you feel if you leave there without the book, there will be something missing in you life!"

It took a few more days, but I eventually realized Human Being ~ a native of Rumi's own land ~ had given me the answer I sought.

I will continue "Quantum Spirit" in much the same way as before. There will be an assortment of items that fascinate me: Spiritual messages, scientific discoveries, psychological studies, in-depth astrology, astronomy, and the occasional posts related to ancient wisdom from the I Ching, the Tao te Ching, and the Bible, even fables from Aesop. I now believe no large change is necessary, as long as I can capture the sense of awe with the world that surrounds us all.

So, Human Being, I thank you. I'm happy to keep the bookstore open.

Number 34 ~ The Power of the Great

Thunder in heaven above:
The image of The Power of the Great.
Thus the superior man does not tread upon paths
That do not accord with established order.

Thunder ~ electrical energy ~ mounts upward in the spring. The direction of this movement is in harmony with that of the movement of heaven. It is therefore a movement in accord with heaven, producing great power. However, true greatness depends on being in harmony with what is right. Therefore in times of great power, the superior man avoids doing anything that is not in harmony with the established order.

The Most Profound Question

For 20 years, Esther Hicks has been "translating" ~ she prefers that word to "channeling" ~ a group of non-physical energies collectively known as "Abraham." I've read a couple of the Esther and Jerry Hicks "Abraham" books and find them fascinating and good guides for living.

I particularly like this short video, where a smart-alecky fellow poses a seemingly stupid question to Abraham ~ almost in the form of a heckle ~ and the answer he receives is incredibly wise.

Please take the three minutes to watch this video to the end. It's worth it.

Materialism and Change

As longtime Quantum Spirit visitors probably know, I have great respect for visionary Peter Russell. He's an excellent physicist and spiritually-sound thinker. He's recently put together some short videos with themes from his "White Hole in Time" book and DVD. This 4-minute clip is thought-provoking on materialism, happiness and change.

Click here to see Peter's array of additional video clips.

Tonight's 'Secret Moon' Solar Eclipse Holds Power

Tonight's eclipse occurs at 10:35 p.m. EDT.

[Here's part of a post from Lynn Hayes's Astrological Musings blog ~ one of the best for those of us fascinated by the practice of in-depth astrology yet who are not actual astrologers. Her blog in recent days has focused on tonight's eclipse and its astrological implications.]

From the beginning of the use of astrology, somewhere over 2,000 years ago, eclipses have been used to time significant events. In a typical year there are two pairs of eclipses, but this year there are an astonishing six, indicating that this is a significant year for change.

The upcoming New Moon is not only an eclipse but also the second New Moon in Cancer, a phenomenon also known as the "Secret Moon." Because Cancer rules the Moon, it is particularly powerful in Cancer and because this is an eclipse of the Sun, the lunar influence is even more powerful.

The Moon presides over all issues of emotion, but also our emotional connections to each other and to our ancestral history. Cancer is known for its concern with family matters but that sense of family extends beyond the nuclear family, and even the extended family, to the entire tribe of which we are a part. Some of us have strong family ties; others of us create our own tribes that serve the family role.

Because of the intensity of the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune which is still tighly in alignment, many of us are more sensitive and more highly reactive than usual. Under the eclipse the influence of the solar conscious mind is diminished, and the emotional power of the Moon stands raw and undiluted. The Triple Conjunction is already stripping away the veneer that we have built to protect us from ourselves; the eclipse may accelerate the process of unmasking the vulnerability (Moon/Cancer) that reveals our true heart.

Click here for Lynn's complete blog post.

Mysterious Clouds Spotted Around Earth

Noctilucent clouds over Omaha on July 14.

Glowing clouds previously seen almost exclusively in Earth’s polar regions have appeared in the skies over the United States and Europe during the past several days.

Sky watchers in Omaha, Paris and Seattle plus several other locations have photographed what scientists call noctilucent ~ or ”night shining” ~ clouds. Formed by ice literally at the boundary where the earth’s atmosphere meets space 50 miles up, they shine because they remain lit by the sun even after the sun is below the horizon. According to Wired magazine:

The clouds might be beautiful, but they could portend global changes caused by global warming. Noctilucent clouds are a fundamentally new phenomenon in the temperate mid-latitude sky, and it’s not clear why they’ve migrated down from the poles. Or why, over the last 25 years, more of them are appearing in the polar regions, too, and shining more brightly.

“That’s a real concern and question,” said James Russell, an atmospheric scientist at Hampton University and the principal investigator of an ongoing NASA satellite mission to study the clouds. “Why are they getting more numerous? Why are they getting brighter? Why are they appearing at lower latitudes?”

Nobody knows for sure, but most of the answers seem to point to human-caused global atmospheric change.

Click here for the complete Wired Science article.

Thinking About Change

Having recently come through a very difficult time physically, mentally and spiritually ~ emerging, I’m happy to say, stronger in all three areas than before ~ I’ve been thinking about “change.” We toss the word around, but seldom deeply explore the implications of this process affecting us every moment of our days and nights.

Something to ponder:

• I’ve had instances throughout my life where I would meet another person and have an instant aversion. In all of these instances, as far as I can recall, it was not a true dislike, but rather a sense of discomfort. I didn’t at first really want to be around these people. Several of them soon became friends. A few of them became good and true friends who have helped me on the journey.

• When I first saw this old Victorian house I’m now sitting in, I regarded it as “the vortex to Hell” and told several people so, including my wife, who loved the house. That was in 1999. As fate would have it, we bought this very house in 2005 and have been wonderfully happy with it ever since.

There have been many other cases such as these, where I felt an instant aversion to a person, place or thing. And later that same person, place or thing became a source of good in my life.

I now believe these contrasting judgements are related to change and the fact that, on some unconscious level, we know what our lives hold in store for us. When we first encounter these things, deep down we know they will influence and alter our fate. The Law of Intertia says we will resist such change. And we do, for a while.

Then ~ consistent with our destinies ~ we come to embrace these particular people, places and things, and our lives are better for it. We have changed.

"One Night a Man was Crying, 'Allah, Allah' . . ."

The 13th century Persian poet known as Rumi (1207-1273) was an Islamic jurist, theologian and mystic. He remains widely read throughout the Middle East and for several years now his translated works have had huge popularity in America. Following his death, his followers and his son Sultan Walad founded the Mawlawīyah Sufi Order, also known as the Order of the Whirling Dervishes.

Here, Coleman Barks ~ one of Rumi’s foremost translators and interpreters ~ performs Rumi’s poem “Love Dogs” to musical accompaniment at a Mythic Journeys conference.

Listen, enjoy.

A Well-Documented Reincarnation

Here's an astonishing story of reincarnation. In fact, some are calling it the most fully documented case of reincarnation on record. It's the account of 11-year-old James Leninger, who recalls in detail his previous life as a World War II pilot, his death near Iwo Jima, and even his former friends and relatives. You have to see this to appreciate the impact of the boy's story.

The same story is told in the 8-minute video below from ABC News, though I recommend the video above as a more complete account.



ABC, of course, trots out the typical cranky skeptic to poo-poo the boy's story, all in the network's attempts at "balance," but it only weakens their report and, in my opinion, doesn't begin to dent young James Leninger's astounding recollections.

Amish Suffer for Straying into Mainstream

Many Amish who sought work in factories are now among the jobless.

I haven’t posted much on our current Great Recession except a few predictions from leading astrologers. But an article this week in the Wall Street Journal grabbed my attention because it deals with the downturn’s impact on the Old Order Amish community in northern Indiana.

I suppose there are lessons to be learned from witnessing what's happening to the "plain people" drawn to the enticements of mainstream society.

The northern Indiana Amish are a community my wife and I have been well-acquainted with, going back nearly thirty years. Well before the Amish became so popularized in American culture, I spent time as a young newspaper reporter with several Amish families. The result was a series of articles that won a number of major newswriting awards in Michigan. Being with these people was an experience I’ll never forget.

According to the WSJ article, the Amish around Shipshewana, Indiana ~ where my wife and I enjoyed back-to-basics shopping and eating at Amish-operated restaurants ~ have in recent years drifted closer to conventional society. According to the WSJ:

Like Amish in other parts of the U.S., the Indiana community strayed from their traditional reliance on farming in recent decades as their numbers grew and land prices rose. Many opened family businesses, often in furniture and other wood crafts. By 2007, more than half of Amish men in these parts were working full time in manufacturing, and earning, on average, $30 an hour.

* * *

Some Amish bishops in Indiana weakened restrictions on the use of telephones. Fax machines became commonplace in Amish-owned businesses. Web sites marketing Amish furniture began to crop up. Although the sites were run by non-Amish third parties, they nevertheless intensified a feeling of competition.

* * *

Some Amish families had bought second homes on the west coast of Florida and expensive Dutch Harness Horses, with their distinctive, prancing gait. Others lined their carriages in dark velvet and illuminated them with battery-powered LED lighting.

Even the tradition of helping each other out began to unravel, Bishop Hochstetler says. Instead of asking neighbors for help, well-to-do Amish began hiring outsiders so they wouldn't have to reciprocate. "Factory work doesn't eliminate fellowship, but it does not encourage togetherness," the bishop says.

You know how this story unfolds. The Amish factory workers get laid off along with their “English” coworkers. Frightened Amish depositors withdraw their funds from their local bank and bring it to its knees. Some families continue to struggle as their men seek to find faraway construction jobs, and other families simply pack up and leave in hopes of finding greener pastures.

Click here for the full Wall Street Journal article.

More Wisdom from Louise Hay

I really like and admire Louise Hay. She's a true gift to all of us. Here's a nine-minute clip providing insight into her outlook on:

• Power of Your Thoughts
• Creating Your Life
• Doing Affirmations
• Good Will Happen

Any of you who know her background are aware that she speaks from experience, not just empty platitudes. So ... listen, enjoy, and learn.

Forget the Moon, Go To Mars Instead

Satellite photo of Mars.

Buzz Aldrin, the second human to walk on the moon, is openly questioning NASA’s priorities.

“As I approach my 80th birthday, I’m in no mood to keep my mouth shut any longer when I see NASA heading down the wrong path,” he recently told Popular Mechanics magazine. “And that’s exactly what I see today. The agency’s current Vision for Space Exploration will waste decades and hundreds of billions of dollars trying to reach the moon by 2020 ~ a glorified rehash of what we did 40 years ago. Instead of a steppingstone to Mars, NASA’s current lunar plan is a detour.”

He admits the moon is interesting scientifically, but believes Mars holds much more potential for a human colony.

“It’s much more terrestrial,” he tells the New York Times. “ It has a thin atmosphere and a day/night cycle that is very similar to ours. It has seasons. Russia perhaps is still entertaining the possibility that the moons of Mars might have access to ice or water.”

His comments come just as the Obama administration is reviewing NASA’s human spaceflight program. Aldrin hopes the review committee will heed him and other NASA critics and scrap the Ares rockets currently under development. He recommends NASA adapt existing satellite-launching rockets to carry a crew capsule so that NASA could spend its time, money, and energy establishing a Martian outpost.

Click here for the Discover magazine article.

Did Machu Picchu Symbolize Mythic Journey?

Was Peru’s famed Machu Picchu actually a destination for Incan pilgrimages, offering a scaled-down version of the mythological realm encountered by Incan ancestors?

That’s the contention of a new study that disputes the conventional view that Machu Picchu was a royal estate of the Inca ruler Pachacuti, who built it around A.D. 1460. According to National Geographic:

"I believe that much of the sacred space of the Incas has still to be recognized as such," says study author Giulio Magli, an astrophysicist at the Polytechnic Institute in Milan, Italy.

Perched on a mountain ridge some 8,000 feet above sea level, Machu Picchu was for years lost to history after the Spanish conquest. The site gained notoriety following a 1911 visit by U.S. explorer Hiram Bingham, whose Machu Picchu excavation was funded in part by the National Geographic Society.

According to Magli, Machu Picchu was conceived and built specifically as a pilgrimage site where worshippers could symbolically relive an important journey purportedly taken by their ancestors.

In Inca mythology, the first Inca were created on Bolivia's Island of the Sun on Lake Titicaca. From there, they undertook a harrowing journey beneath the Earth and emerged at a place called Tampu-tocco, close to the future site of the Inca capital Cusco.

Magli argues that certain structures at Machu Picchu symbolize important landmarks of this journey. For instance, a disorderly pile of stones represents the underground "void" that the first Inca traveled through.

"Pacha-Mama, or Mother Earth, was associated with disorder," Magli said. Similarly, a plaza at Machu Picchu represents Tampu-tocco, and a stone pyramid at the site doubles for the Huanacauri hill.

Click here for the complete National Geographic article.

This post originally appeared on my "Ancient Tides" blog.

More Money, Less Pain

According to new research, if you have ample money, you are more immune to physical pain and social slights than an impoverished person.

As reported in the June issue of the journal Psychological Science, psychologists recently explored the psychological meaning of money in the laboratory. They ran a series of experiments to examine the effects of earning or losing money, social acceptance or rejection and physical pain.

According to Newsweek:

The psychologists used a ruse to prime volunteers' thoughts about money. The testgivers told subjects that they were taking part in a dexterity test, in which half of them counted pieces of paper and the other half counted a stack of $100 bills, a lab task well known to activate the idea of earning and having money.

Then they ran two experiments. In one, the volunteers all took part in a pain-tolerance test, which involved dipping the volunteers' fingers in very hot water. In another, they participated in a computerized ball-tossing game, which had been set up to shun certain players ~ much like kids are ostracized on the playground.The idea was to see if being flush with cash would lead to less painful feelings of rejection ~ and if it would salve actual physical suffering as well.

It did both, unmistakably. Those who had counted real C-notes reported less pain ~ both social and physical ~ than did those who had just counted paper.

So, why would this be the case?

The psychologists' theory is that social pain is merely a modern version of more basic physical pain. Our ancient brain evolved a pain detector to warn us away from peril, and as we became social animals, the emotional pain detector was piggy-backed on top. The modern brain mixes them up.

They further speculate that money is a social resource, interchangeable with popularity. Having money increases people's confidence in their ability to negotiate their social world. So having money bolsters self-esteem and defuses the pain of ostracism ~ and in the process diminishes actual pain.

Click here for the Newsweek article.

[One of my favorite astrology blogs is AstroTableTalk by a fellow calling himself Dharmaruci, out of Glastonbury, UK. Here’s part of a fascinating post from last week entitled simply "Iran." Here he examines the birth charts for Obama and Ahmadinejad. This is only the opening part of the post ~ click on the link if you want to read the rest.]

Ahmadinosaur was born 10/28/56, time unknown. He has Sun conjunct Neptune in Scorpio. At its best, this combination has passion, insight, loyalty, imagination and compassion. Maybe in private Ahmajihad does. Maybe, like Hitler, he is in private a vegetarian who likes children. But in public we see this combination at its worst, the snake (Scorpio) who can sway the crowds (Neptune). You cannot trust anything he says. He also has Moon in Leo/Virgo, conjunct Pluto. I think his Moon is more likely to be a grandiose, self-serving Leo, and the conjunction to Pluto ties in with his Sun in Pluto’s sign of Scorpio: he has a hunger for power, and knows how to get it and keep it.

It is interesting that Barack Obama, now his principal foreign opponent, has Sun square Neptune and Moon square Pluto. Their Moons square – possibly a bit widely – and their Suns square, again a bit widely. Their Mars’ oppose (7 degrees).

As with Bush and bin Laden/Saddam Hussein, the stage is set, astrologically at least, for a personal enmity. Obama and Ahmadinejad have a kind of similarity to their charts that clashes. With Obama’s own Sun-Neptune and Moon-Pluto challenges, Ahmadinejad is a reminder to him of his own shadow side. It is hard not to demonize Ahmadinejad, precisely because he is so demonic. When you demonize someone, you write them off as evil, and no longer see their individuality. It will be interesting to see how, over time, Obama deals with Ahmadinejad, now that he has been ‘re-elected’.

Click here for Dharmaruci's entire post.

Click here for his AstroTableTalk astrology blog.

Number 27 ~ THE CORNERS OF THE MOUTH

(Providing Nourishment)

The corners of the mouth.
Perseverance brings good fortune.
Pay heed to the providing of nourishment
And to what a man seeks
To fill his own mouth with.

In bestowing care and nourishment, it is important that the right people should be taken care of and that we should attend to our own nourishment in the right way. If we wish to know what anyone is like, we have only to observe on whom he bestows his care and what sides of his own nature he cultivates and nourishes. Nature nourishes all creatures. The great man fosters and takes care of superior men, in order to take care of all men through them. Mencius says about this:

"If we wish to know whether anyone is superior or not, we need only observe what part of his being he regards as especially important. The body has superior and inferior, important and unimportant parts. We must not injure important parts for the sake of the unimportant, nor must we injure the superior parts for the sake of the inferior. He who cultivates the inferior parts of his nature is an inferior man. He who cultivates the superior part of his nature is a superior man."

(Chinese philosopher Mencuis, or Meng-tzu, lived from 389 to 305 BC)

And Now For Something Completely Different ....

I don't even know what to think of this video, but it makes me happy. I would love to have been in this store at the time.

'Explosive Disorder' Fuels Road Rage

Scientists are finally putting a clinical name on road rage. They say much of the irrational fury shown on today’s highways is a symptom of “intermittent explosive disorder.”

According to researchers at the University of Chicago, people have stronger reactions to being slighted than to being treated with generosity, which is why traffic troubles can cause some people to detonate in anger.

"For instance in driving, if you are kind and let someone go in front of you, that driver may be considerate in response. But if you cut someone off, that person may react very aggressively, and this could escalate to road rage," said University of Chicago psychology professor Boaz Keysar. "Small slights could escalate to unbelievable, irrational feuds."

Intermittent explosive disorder is "characterized by recurrent episodes of angry and potentially violent outbursts ~ seen in cases of road rage or spousal abuse," wrote Ronald Kessler of Harvard Medical School and his colleagues.

Intermittent explosive disorder "has been found to be much more common than previously thought," they wrote in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Attacks resulting from the disorder "are out of proportion to the social stressors triggering them" and aren't related to other mental disorders, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

"People with this disorder overreact to situations with uncontrollable rage, feel a sense of relief during the angry outburst, and then feel remorseful about their actions," Kessler and colleagues wrote.

Click here for the LiveScience article.

You Can't Escape 2012 (the movie, that is)

A page from Sony's "2012" website about the IHC.

The commercialization of The End of the World is starting to heat up. Beginning this fall, I’m certain our television viewing will be peppered with graphic representations of tsunamis, earthquakes, colliding planets and all sort of apocalyptic scenarios ~ all courtesy of Sony Pictures.

There’ll simply be no excuse for not being aware that we all have only three more years to live.

Sony’s big movie “2012” ~ ostensibly about a researcher leading people in a battle against such events, directed by Roland Emmerich and starring John Cusack ~ is due out November 13.

Taking a lead from the ABC hit series “Lost,” Sony’s “2012” website features a fictitious scholarly organization called the Institute for Human Continuity (IHC), complete with mission statement, press releases, and made-up history.

“The Institute for Human Continuity is dedicated to scientific research and public preparedness. After more than two decades of rigorous research from the world’s top astronomers, mathematicians, geologists, physicists, anthropologists, engineers, futurists … we know in 2012 a series of cataclysmic forces will wreak havoc on our planet. The IHC has developed a number of initiatives to prepare the world for this inevitability.”

These “initiatives” include a lottery to win a place in an apocalypse-proof bunker or something of that sort.

As an offshoot of the movie's promotion, Woody Harrelson, one of the actors in “2012,” is starring in a series of of YouTube videos as Charlie Frost, commenting on the end of the world. According to the Great Ads blog: “The promo video was released on YouTube and had over a million views in just the first day ~ now that’s how you create a buzz, friends.”

Here’s one of my favorite Charlie Frost videos so far …

Search for Alien Life is Expanding

The search for life on other planets is ramping up, with the SETI Institute ~ the world's best-known organization dedicated to searching for alien life ~ now unveiling plans to scan a million stars over 10 billion communication channels.

And the big question is: If we do find another civilization, what do we say?

"Most conversations about this subject until now have been among academics," Douglas Vakoch, heading up the new effort at SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) told the Los Angeles Times. "We want to really expand the discussion."

So far, SETI has no plans to actually send the messages into space. Vakoch said that before anything like that is undertaken, it should be subject to international discussion.

According to the LA Times:

Over the last few years, a Russian group has sent greetings in Russian and English to targeted stars in our galactic neighborhood, generating a major dust-up in the small but passionate SETI community. Critics say the Russians are acting out of turn, without asking permission to open what would amount to diplomatic relations with another civilization. The problem is that nobody has the authority to grant permission.

Some observers say there is no need for us to broadcast a message. We're already doing that in the form of leakage into space of our radio and television signals. Those signals, however, are much too weak to travel far. A coordinated communications effort would require a powerful transmitter, a highly focused beam and a receiver pointed in the right direction.

The first serious effort to contact intelligent life outside Earth was made in 1974, using the big radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The three-minute transmission by a group at Cornell University attempted to describe Earth and its inhabitants in binary code.

Click here for the complete Los Angeles Times article.

Daydreaming Promotes Problem-Solving

New research indicates that when the brain wanders ~ as in daydreaming ~ it is working even harder to solve problems.

Scientists scanning the brains of people inside MRI machines found that a "default network" deep inside a human brain becomes more active during daydreaming. The scans also revealed intense activity in the executive network, the outlying region of the brain associated with complex problem-solving, said neuroscientist Kalina Christoff.

According to Cosmos Magazine:

"People assume that when the mind wanders away it just gets turned off ~ but we show the opposite, that when it wanders, it turns on," said Christoff, head of a neuroscience laboratory at the University of British Columbia.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest daydreaming might be a better way to solve problems than intense focusing.

"People who let themselves daydream might not think in the same focused way as when performing a goal-oriented task, but they bring in more mental and brain resources," said Christoff.

She argued that now people might change their attitudes towards daydreamers. "Within ourselves, we have absorbed that attitude that mind wandering is a bad thing. We're harsh on ourselves, if we catch ourselves mind wandering," she said. "A more playful attitude might allow you to call in more resources."

Some research indicates people typically spend a third of their waking time daydreaming. "It's a big part of our lives, but it's been largely ignored by science," Christoff said.

Click here for the complete Cosmos Magazine article.

Painting is "The Daydream" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1880.

Does Our DNA Pass Down Environmental Traits?

The discovery of epigenetics ~ hidden influences upon the genes ~ presents huge implications for what and how we inherit traits, including those passed down from ancestors.

At the heart of this new field is the idea that genes have a 'memory'. This means the lives of your grandparents ~ the air they breathed, the food they ate, even the things they saw ~ can directly affect you despite your never experiencing these things yourself. And that what you do in your lifetime could affect your grandchildren.

Scientists believe DNA carries all our heritable information and that nothing people do in their lifetimes will be biologically passed to their children. To many scientists, epigenetics amounts to a heresy, calling into question the accepted view of the DNA sequence.

But epigenetics adds a whole new layer to genes beyond the DNA. It proposes a control system of 'switches' that turn genes on or off. It suggests that things people experience, like nutrition and stress, can control these switches and cause heritable effects in humans.

In a remote town in northern Sweden there is evidence for this radical idea. Lying in Överkalix's parish registries of births and deaths and its detailed harvest records is a secret that confounds traditional scientific thinking.

Marcus Pembrey, a Professor of Clinical Genetics at the Institute of Child Health in London, in collaboration with Swedish researcher Lars Olov Bygren, has found evidence in these records of an environmental effect being passed down the generations. They have shown that a famine at critical times in the lives of the grandparents can affect the life expectancy of the grandchildren.

This is the first evidence that an environmental effect can be inherited in humans.

In other independent groups around the world, the first hints that there is more to inheritance than just the genes are coming to light.

Click here for the complete BBC article.

An Unusually Profound Commencement Speech

I watched this video of Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs giving this year's commencement address at Stanford and have found myself repeatedly reflecting back on his words. In just 15 minutes, Jobs explains from personal experience how life's setbacks often contain phenomenal opportunity. And his comments about using our own mortality as the gauge for deciding our life's path bears much wisdom.

This is powerful stuff.

Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.

If you realize that you have enough,
you are truly rich.
If you stay in the center
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever.

Optimism Reigns!

A new survey of 150,000 adults in 140 countries concludes that 90 percent of people around the world expect the next five years to be as good or better than today.

"These results provide compelling evidence that optimism is a universal phenomenon," said Matthew Gallagher, a psychology doctoral candidate at the University of Kansas and lead researcher of the study.

Optimism was highest in Ireland, Brazil, Denmark and New Zealand. It was lowest in Zimbabwe, Egypt, Haiti and Bulgaria. The United States ranked 10th among the 140 countries.

In suggesting that humans are optimistic by nature, the new study from the University of Kansas reinforces previous studies that found optimism to be a common human trait. Optimism also tends to increase with age.

Click here for the LiveScience article.

A Stroke of Insight

Twenty minutes may be asking a lot, but this talk by brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor offers astounding spiritual insights about who we are.

Click here for a previous post on Dr. Taylor, with more information about her journey.

Not All Personal Goals Bring Satisfaction

New research shows that personal goals based on materialistic and image concerns, even when achieved, can bring about negative emotions and physical problems.

"Even though our culture puts a strong emphasis on attaining wealth and fame, pursuing these goals does not contribute to having a satisfying life,” says Edward Deci, professor of psychology and the Gowen Professor in the Social Sciences at the University of Rochester. “The things that make your life happy are growing as an individual, having loving relationships, and contributing to your community."

Researchers at the University of Rochester tracked 147 alumni from two universities during their second year after graduation. Using in-depth psychological surveys, the researchers assessed participants in key areas, including satisfaction with life, self-esteem, anxiety, physical signs of stress, and the experience of positive and negative emotions.

According to an article on ScienceDaily.com:

What's "striking and paradoxical" about this research, Deci says, is that it shows that reaching materialistic and image-related milestones actually contributes to ill-being; despite their accomplishments, individuals experience more negative emotions like shame and anger and more physical symptoms of anxiety such as headaches, stomachaches, and loss of energy. 

By contrast, individuals who value personal growth, close relationships, community involvement, and physical health are more satisfied as they meet success in those areas. They experience a deeper sense of well-being, more positive feelings toward themselves, richer connections with others, and fewer physical signs of stress.

Click here for the complete ScienceDaily article.

Some Calmer Voices Regarding 2012

Predictions of calamity in 2012 continue to broaden commercially, with more television shows and more new books dedicated to the apocalyptic prognostications rooted in the Mayan Long Count Calendar. After all, fear always has been good for business.

A recent article in the Houston Chronicle did a good job of capturing the controversy, especially interviewing some scholars and historians who tend to disavow the potential of apocalypse:

Most scholars discount the apocalyptic interpretation of the date. Indeed, Mayan prophecy about 2012 is hard to trace because evidence from original sources is limited. It exists in fragments and is often contradictory, said Mark Van Stone, an art history professor at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, Calif., and an expert on Mayan hieroglyphics. But Stone is convinced the Mayas did not consider 12/21/12 the end of time. “Nearly everything we read about 2012 is modern people projecting on the Maya their fantasies,” he said.

And:

The date Dec. 21, 2012, is important to the Maya in the way New Year’s Eve might be important to a reveler, said Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies in Florida. “It is not a doomsday; it is a party,” she said.

Of course the doomsday predictors have their say in the article as well ~ as they will for the next three years and seven months.

Click here for the Houston Chronicle article.

Number 39 ~ OBSTRUCTION

Obstruction. The southwest furthers.

The northeast does not further.

It furthers one to see the great man.

Perseverance brings good fortune.

The southwest is the region of retreat, the northeast that of advance. Here an individual is confronted by obstacles that cannot be overcome directly. In such a situation it is wise to pause in view of the danger and to retreat. However, this is merely a preparation for overcoming the obstructions. One must join forces with friends of like mind and put himself under the leadership of a man equal to the situation: then one will succeed in removing the obstacles. This requires the will to persevere just when one apparently must do something that leads away from his goal. This unswerving inner purpose brings good fortune in the end.

An Astonishing Look at the Near Future

Here's a recent 6-minute video featuring futurist and inventor-par-excellence Ray Kurzweil, who, by the way, will head up the new Google University.

Kurzweil has numerous inventions to his name and a reputation for sold futuristic predictions, and what he explains in this video is, to me, simply mind-blowing. He sees 2045 as the year of the Singularity, when machine intelligence will be capable of merging with the human brain. Then there are the strides in nanotechnology that’ll let you send your friend a toaster … via email.

So, I invite you to spend 6 minutes and be astounded ~ for better or for worse ~ at the near-term possibilities of people and technology.

Click here for a recent feature on Kurzweil in Britain’s Guardian.

Click here for a list of oher Kurzweil videos on YouTube.

"Multitasking Is a Myth."

“Multitasking is a myth,” behavioral-science writer Winnifred Gallagher told the New York Times this week. “You cannot do two things at once. The mechanism of attention is selection: it’s either this or it’s that.”

It seems her new book, entitled Rapt, is getting some good press because it’s touched a nerve. In a world where we are bombarded with stimuli and demands from more and more sources, she contends that the quality of our lives depends on what we choose to pay attention to and how we choose those things.

Noting that the typical person’s brain can process 173 billion bits of information over the course of a lifetime, she adds:

“People don’t understand that attention is a finite resource, like money. Do you want to invest your cognitive cash on endless Twittering or Net surfing or couch potatoing? You’re constantly making choices, and your choices determine your experience, just as William James said.”

Here’s an interesting tip from the Times article: She recommends starting your work day concentrating on your most important task for 90 minutes. At that point your prefrontal cortex probably needs a rest, and you can answer e-mail, return phone calls and sip caffeine ~ which does help attention ~ before focusing again. But until that first break, don’t get distracted by anything else, because it can take the brain 20 minutes to do the equivalent of rebooting after an interruption.

Click here for the New York Times article.
Go to Amazon.com to check out Rapt.

Judge This Man in 1/10 of a Second!

We’ve all heard how physical appearance is becoming increasingly important in how candidates are elected. Yes, yes, and we’ve all heard how Abraham Lincoln wouldn’t stand a chance in our need-to-be-photogenic age.

It’s all true, folks ~ and to a degree barely imaginable.

A new study at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland found that ~ based on photographs alone ~ the winner in French parliamentary elections could be predicted with uncanny accuracy. And those doing the predicting were Swiss children as young as five!

The impressions required to make the assessment as to who is the more desirable candidate are formed in about one-tenth of a second. 

According to Scientific American Mind:

This finding contributes to a large and growing body of evidence, coming from many research groups, which shows that voters seem to be heavily influenced by a candidate’s appearance, and in particular the kinds of personality traits that a politician’s face projects. This result is strange considering the political stakes. We may agree that one candidate looks more approachable or intelligent than another, but why do we then allow these superficial impressions to guide our political preferences?

The field of cognitive psychology teaches us that, when faced with a data deluge, the human mind tends to simplify the decision-making process by relying on quick and easy strategies, or what many scientists refer to as “heuristics.” Given the complexity of voting—candidates hold many, subtle positions, and voters are bombarded with information—it should come as no surprise that voters take mental shortcuts to arrive at their final decisions. Although some of these strategies, such as voting along party lines, may be reasonable, others are harder to justify, and thus call into question the very notion of the rational voter.


A second study discussed in the article ~ this one conducted at MIT ~ proved that assessing a candidate based solely on appearance occurs most frequently among politically ignorant people and those who watch a lot of television.

Click here for the complete Scientific American Mind article.

Dalai Lama Sees East/West Mental Similarities

The Dalai Lama speaking at the Harvard conference.

The Dalai Lama was a star Friday at a Harvard symposium on psychology and mental health, where he responded to questions regarding recent research on mindfulness meditation and related topics.

According to an article on Time.com, the Dalai Lama ~ who has spent years in the company of western scientists on mind/body matters ~ accepted Harvard’s invitation “because he wanted a lively debate about the latest science on mental health. He wanted to play. What he got was an audience of earnest academic worshippers. He played anyway.”

When one Harvard psychologist suggested that Western cultures defy the biological imperative to connect with others and make it more challenging to be compassionate, the Dalai Lama paused for 20 seconds before answering. "Firstly," he said, "some people make a distinction between West and East. And there are some lifestyle differences ... but in the mental area, I don't think there are differences ... At the mental level, I don't think there's any sort of demarcation between East and West."

Click here for the complete Time.com article.
Click here for a Time photo essay on the Dalai Lama at home.

On Intuition, #2

[Here's another post from my dowsing journal.]

Medical intuitives are people who can diagnose ailments in trances ~ such as the renowned psychic Edgar Cayce and his thousands of medical readings ~ or even over the telephone as is sometimes done by people such as Mona Lisa Schultz, author of Awakening Intuition: Using Your Mind-Body Network for Insight and Healing.

Aside from her psychic abilities, she’s a neuropsychiatrist with a degree from Brown University, and her M.D. and a Ph.D. from Boston University of Science and Medicine. I read Awakening Intuition earlier this year and a few days ago went back to it for her thoughts on intuition in general. (I should mention that the book title is a bit misleading ~ there's a lot about mind/body medicine, but very little on how to awaken one's intuitive abilities.) Here’s one thing she wrote:

Some people are visual intuitives, receiving mental visual images. Some people are auditory intuitives; they hear thoughts, sounds, or message that carry intuitive information. Some people are somatic intuitives, receiving somato-sensory input, or body feelings about themselves or others. When people say to me, “I’m not intuitive. I can’t see things,” I ask them, “Then what do you hear?” or “What do you feel?” It’s important to discover your own particular strength and to use the connections you do have instead of becoming blocked by the thought of the ones you don’t have.

In getting in touch with their intuition network, people have to understand how they’re already using intuition, perhaps in very subtle ways. Once you recognize what you’re already doing without being fully aware of it, you can work to build that muscle by exercising it more.

That's as good a reason as any to keep dowsing … something, anything … every few days or even daily. Got to build up that muscle!

[Lynn Hayes of North Carolina has been a practicing astrologer for 25 years, plus being busy at the keyboard. She writes the frequent Astrological Musings column for Beliefnet.com and compiles her monthly Skywatch readings for subscribers. From the new Skywatch, here’s part of her astrological overview for May.]

The big news in May is the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron, and Neptune. We have been building up to this for quite some time – this is a tremendous force for healing and for realigning our inner sense of purpose to fit with our outer dharma and destiny. You can read more about this major cycle here. This planetary combination unlocks the longing of the soul to experience a life that has a deeper meaning (Neptune) combining with the necessity to work through any blocks and painful experiences that are standing in our way of that goal (Chiron).

The expansion of this process in a way that can be beneficial or simply more painful is facilitated by Jupiter. Jupiter is usually considered a positive influence, and because it provides an expansive force when combined with Chiron it can be a wonderful aide to the healing process. But that healing process when Chiron is involved requires that we revisit our wounds, and this can be extremely difficult too, depending upon the way that our individual charts are involved.

Click here for Astrological Musings.

Click here for Skywatch.

Guess Whose Brain Was Smaller Than Average?

It turns out Albert Einstein’s brain definitely was different than most. According to a 1999 anatomical study, it was smaller.

"One parameter that did not explain Einstein's mental prowess, however, was the size of his brain: At 1,230 grams, it fell at the low end of average for modern humans."

Thomas Harvey, a pathologist in Princeton, removed Einstein's brain upon his 1955 death and documented it. Currently, the brain is in 240 pieces, mounted on slides. A recent article on Physorg.com states:

The idea is that what made Einstein a genius has more to do with the structure of his brain, than its size. However, it is important to keep in mind that Einstein's brain in its totality can only be studied via photograph and compared to other photographs. And, of course, the brain is a complex and still-mysterious organ. But it may be that we can glean some additional insight from studying the structure of Einstein's brain.

To learn more about what scientists have determined about Einstein’s brain, click here for the Physorg.com article.

On Intuition, #1

[During the past year, I've been experimenting with dowsing and for awhile maintained a blog dedicated to my experiences. I've put that blog on hold, but would like from time to time to reprint some of its posts on Quantum Spirit.]

Devices such as dowsing rods behave as if they have some intrinsic power of their own. But this isn’t the Middle Ages and we know the rods react somehow to the musculature in our hands. Yet, the question remains: What’s controlling the musculature?

Without a doubt, intuition – the mind’s ability to sense information and subtly transmit it – has the leading role. Here’s what the late Indian mystic Osho says about it:

Intuition cannot be explained scientifically because the very phenomenon is unscientific and irrational. The very phenomenon of intuition is irrational. In language it looks okay to ask, “Can intuition be explained?” But it means, “Can intuition be reduced to intellect?” And intuition is something beyond the intellect, something not of the intellect, something coming from some place where intellect is totally unaware. So the intellect can feel it, but it cannot explain it.

Considering the role of the intellect in our culture, becoming more intuitive has some challenges, to say the least.

NASA Sees Potential Solar Problems in 2012

A group of NASA researchers have added startling reinforcement to the gathering concerns about the year 2012. In a report entitled Severe Space Weather Events: Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts, they describe consequences of solar flares unleashing waves of energy capable of disrupting Earth’s magnetic field, overwhelming high-voltage transformers with vast electrical currents and short-circuiting the planet’s energy grids.

According to the report, the next period of intense solar activity is expected in 2012, and coincides with the presence of an unusually large hole in Earth’s geomagnetic shield. But, according to Wired magazine, the report has received relatively little attention, perhaps because of 2012’s supernatural connotations. Mayan astronomers supposedly predicted that 2012 would mark the calamitous "birth of a new era."

Whether the Mayans were on to something won’t be known for several years. But Lawrence Joseph, author of Apocalypse 2012: A Scientific Investigation into Civilization’s End, told Wired magazine: "I’ve been following this topic for almost five years, and it wasn’t until the report came out that this really began to freak me out."

Click here for the complete Wired article.
Click here to purchase a copy of the Severe Space Weather Events report.