Posts In Category Philosophy and Spirituality
Liberals, Atheists Are More Highly Evolved?
on 08/03/2010 (2 days ago) by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments (0)
Smarter people are more inclined to nontraditional values, a study suggests, reported by National Geographic:
Your apelike ancestors probably aren’t top of mind when you enter the polling booth. But a new study suggests that human evolution may have a big influence on whether you’re liberal or conservative—not to mention how smart you are, whether you believe in God, or whether you’ve got a cheatin’ heart.
It’s all linked to the evolution of intelligence, says author Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Kanazawa’s theory is that intelligence—particularly our ability for on-the-spot problem solving and reasoning—arose as an adaptation to deal with the unusual and unexpected, such as a sudden forest fire.
Since disasters like that are rare in daily life, responding to them wouldn’t likely be…
Demonic Battle Within The Vatican
on 05/03/2010 (5 days ago) by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments (0)
timesonline – Rome is riven by battling exorcists. Well, two to be precise, both priests, both experts on demonic possession, yet currently clashing over the possible existence of Satan worshippers within the Vatican.The splendidly named Fr Gabriele Am…
Rare Buddhist Flower Found Under Nun’s Washing Machine
on 02/03/2010 (2 weeks ago) by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Science and Technology, Comments (0)
From the Telegraph:
A rarely seen Buddhist flower, which blossoms every 3,000 years, has been discovered under a nun’s washing machine.
The Udumbara flower was found in the home of a Chinese nun in Lushan Mountain, Jiangxi province, China.
The rare Youtan Poluo or Udumbara flower, which, according to Buddhist legend, only blooms every 3,000 years, measures just 1mm in diametre.
[Read more at the Telegraph]
Zen May Thicken Brain, Thwart Pain
on 28/02/2010 (2 weeks ago) by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments (0)
From Bloomberg.com:
Meditation appears to build up cortex, MRI scans find
If you’re trying to reduce your sensitivity to pain, Zen meditation may help by actually thickening your brain, new research suggests.The authors of a new study, published in a special issue of the journal Emotion, reached their conclusions after comparing brain thickness in 17 Zen meditators and a control group of 18 people who didn’t meditate and hadn’t practiced yoga or suffered from chronic pain, brain disease or mental illness.
The researchers applied heat to the participants’ calves and used MRI scans to study how their brains reacted to the pain.
“Through training, Zen meditators appear to thicken certain areas of their cortex, and this appears to underlie their lower sensitivity to pain,” study author Joshua A. Grant, a doctoral student in the…
Baby ‘Starved to Death’ Because He Did Not Say Amen
on by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, World News, Comments (0)
On the AP via the Sydney Morning Herald:
(Left) Ria Ramkissoon and her son Javon Thompson, (top right) Queen Antoinette and (bottom right) Trevia Williams.
For more than a week, Ria Ramkissoon watched passively as her one-year-old son wasted away, denied food and water because the older woman she lived with said it was God’s will. Javon Thompson was possessed by an evil spirit, Ramkissoon was told, because he didn’t say “Amen” during a mealtime prayer. Javon didn’t talk much, given his age, but he had said “Amen” before, Ramkissoon testified in a US court in Baltimore.
On the day Javon died, Ramkissoon was told to “nurture him back to life”. She mashed up some carrots and tried to feed the boy, but he was no longer able to swallow. Ramkissoon put her…
Why ‘Everything Has a Cause’ Is a Terrible Justification for God’s Existence
on by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments (0)
From Alternet:
“If there’s no God, then where did all this come from?”
I’ve written a fair amount about some of the more painfully bad arguments for religion and against atheism. I’ve written about the argument that religion is just a story, not meant to be taken literally…a story that still somehow makes people get very bent out of shape when atheists point out that it isn’t true.
I’ve written about an assortment of arguments from wishful thinking, from the insulting (and irrelevant) argument that atheists don’t stay atheists when faced with death, to the baffling (and irrelevant) argument that religion gives us a needed feeling of mystery.
I’ve written about the arguments that essentially tell atheists to just shut up. And I’ve written about the ways that, when asked what evidence they have…
Malachi Martin — Satan Enthroned in Vatican?
on 27/02/2010 (2 weeks ago) by NW0.eu in Historical Myths and Conspiracies, Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments (0)
‘Former vatican insider Malachi Martin’s asserted that a “Satanic Enthronement ceremony” took place in the Vatican in 1963. The result of this ritual meant the Vatican manifested what clerics referred to as the ‘Superforce.” Martin had first made reference to a diabolic rite held in Rome in his 1990 non-fiction best-seller about geopolitics and the Vatican, The Keys of This Blood, p 632 where he wrote:
“Most frighteningly for [Pope] John Paul [II], he had come up against the irremovable presence of a malign strength in his own Vatican and in certain bishops’ chancelleries. It was what knowledgeable Churchmen called the ’superforce.’ Rumors, always difficult to verify, tied its installation to the beginning of Pope Paul VI’s reign in 1963. Indeed Paul had alluded somberly to ‘the smoke of Satan, which has entered the Sanctuary’… an oblique reference to an enthronement ceremony by Satanists in the Vatican.
Besides, the incidence of Satanic pedophilia –rites and practices– was already documented among certain bishops and priests as widely dispersed as Turin, in Italy, and South Carolina, in the United States. The cultic acts of satanic pedophilia are considered by professionals to be the culmination of the Fallen Archangel’s rites.”..’
Save Watkins Books!
on 24/02/2010 (2 weeks ago) by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments (0)
For anyone interested in esoteric and occult books, one of the very finest shops in the world is London’s Watkins Books. For those of you with deep pockets, please dig deep and buy the business out of bankruptcy/administration. From The Bookseller:
London’s oldest esoteric bookshop and Cecil Court ‘institution’ Watkins Books has gone into administration with 11 members of staff losing their jobs.
The bookshop, which was founded in 1897 and moved to Cecil Court in 1901, closed down yesterday (23rd February), following the appointment of administrator Harris Lipman. A sign displayed on the shop’s window read: “Shop Closed Today”.
Tim Bryars, secretary of the Cecil Court Association, told The Bookseller that it had “taken everybody by surprise”. It is understood that trading had been slower than usual, for a number of reasons…
Holier Than Thou Missionaries Behaving Badly In Haiti
on by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments (0)
cnews – Angry crowds in a seaside slum attacked a group of Voodoo practitioners Tuesday, pelting them with rocks and halting a ceremony meant to honour victims of last month’s deadly earthquake.Voodooists gathered in Cite Soleil where thousands of quak…
Christians Want To Change Name Of Mt. Diablo
on by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments Off
A devout Christian wants to change the name of Mt. Diablo. Maria L. LaGanga writes all about it for the Los Angeles Times, below, but first BREAKING NEWS from Claycord.com,
Just seconds ago, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors decided against the requests to change the name of Mt. Diablo to Mt. Reagan, and also decided not to support a last minute request to change the mountain’s name to Mt. John Muir.
The Board doesn’t have the final say, however, so it could still happen…
Reporting from Mt. Diablo State Park – Arthur Mijares never saw it coming when he filed the federal paperwork to change the name of Contra Costa County’s most famous landmark from Mt. Diablo to Mt. Reagan.
It’s not that he’s such a big fan of the 40th president…
Kentucky Approves Bible Classes For Public Schools
on 23/02/2010 (3 weeks ago) by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments Off
LEX18.com via the AP reports:
FRANKFORT (AP) — Kentucky may follow the lead of Texas and a handful of other states in allowing Bible classes to be taught in public schools.
The Senate Education Committee on Thursday unanimously approved legislation that would effectively return the Bible to classrooms across Kentucky.
“The purpose is to allow the Bible to be used for its literature content as well as its art and cultural and social studies content,” said state Sen. David Boswell, D-Owensboro, chief sponsor of the bill that is modeled after a Texas measure.
Under the Kentucky proposal, Bible courses would be offered as electives, meaning schools could choose whether to offer them to students as a social studies credit and that students could decide whether to take them.
Boswell said he believes the legislation is constitutional…
Arlington Student’s ‘GOD IS DEAD’ Shirt Won’t Make Debate Club Photo in Yearbook
on 21/02/2010 (3 weeks ago) by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments Off
Remember kids, you can’t wear anything to school that might be considered ‘offensive.’ We can’t have the counterculture getting to our nice Christian boys. We’ve got to keep them in line so they can move on into that service industry job we’ve designed for them.
From The News Tribune:
As debate club president and a top student, Arlington High School senior Justin Surber has studied the constitutional rights of free speech.
Surber, 18, recently took a stand that will keep him from appearing in his club’s yearbook photo.
Once a week, Surber wears a black T-shirt featuring the 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s take on religion. In block letters, the shirt reads “GOD IS DEAD.”
Nobody has told him he can’t wear the shirt to school. He wears it to provoke debate, he says, and that’s…
Zimbabwe Displays ‘Ark of Covenant Replica’
on 20/02/2010 (3 weeks ago) by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments Off
From BBC News:
A wooden object claimed to be a replica of the Biblical Ark of the Covenant has gone on display at a Zimbabwe museum.
The “ngoma lungundu” belongs to the Lemba people – black Africans who claim Jewish ancestry.
They say the vessel was built almost 700 years ago from the remains of the original Ark, which the Bible says was used to store Moses’ 10 Commandments.
For decades the ancient vessel was thought to be lost, until it was found in a storeroom in Harare recently.
Tudor Parfitt, who rediscovered the artefact three years ago, told the BBC he believed it was the oldest wooden object ever found in sub-Saharan Africa.
“On each corner there is the remnants of a wooden ring, and obviously at one point, it was carried by inserting poles…
Pastor of Zombie Cult Wants to Kill Defectors
on by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments Off
observer – A Manzini pastor is alleged to have issued a hit list of former senior members of his church he accuses of having caused a mass exodus of followers by spreading unfounded allegations.Among these are men of the cloth who have been very popula…
Turin Shroud To Go On Display This Spring
on by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments Off
dailymail – Over two million visitors are expected to converge on a small chapel in a northern Italian city this spring when the Turin Shroud goes on display for only the sixth time in 100 years.It will be the first time the holy relic, which some beli…
