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Flash! New Mayan Calendar Discovery Doesn't End in 2012!
A recent discovery in Central America strongly suggests that all the hype and hoopla surrounding the "end" of the Mayan calendar this December was exactly that: hype and hoopla.
Archeologists have uncovered a small room that appears to have been the study of a Mayan scribe. It contains notations and numeric sequences that suggest that, at least in one view, the Mayans didn't foresee an end of time (end of the world or radical world transformation) in 2012. In fact, this particular calendar finding some of the dates extend to 3500 and perhaps even billions of years beyond that date.
Given the recency of the discovery and the preliminary nature of any conclusions drawn from it, I'm not sure that we shouldn't still find significance of some sort in the hundreds of examples of Mayan calendars found in Central and South America in the past decades, all of which appeared to end in 2012. It may be that the end of time doesn't happen this year (for those who were taking that extreme of the many available positions) but it still could point to a transformational event or experience.
The really important message here is simpler than any of that analysis, though. Transformation happens. For us to survive as a species, transformation of consciousness must continue. Spiritual evolution is not just important, it is essential. Whether there's something magic, mystical or important about December 2012 is less important than that we continue to be aware of the need for us to participate in the ever-progressing upward movement of life and consciousness.
Could Lunar Satellite Ring Power All of Earth?
An idea sparked by American scientist Peter Glaser in 1968 has captured the imagination of researchers in Japan who envision orbiting a ring of solar-gathering satellites around the moon and pumping their energy output to Earth.
The idea, most recently publicized on ABC News on Tuesday, is at least 25 years away from being ready to begin construction according to Shimizu Corp researcher Tetsuji Yoshida. Even that date is contingent on finding appropriate funding.
The idea of lunar-based solar power isn't new or unique to the LunaRing project.
Separately, two other Japan-based initiatives are already under way. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is partnering with Mitsubishi Electric and Kyoto University to launch a solar-power generating satellite into Earth orbit in the next 10 years. Mitsubishi Electric has also announced a project dubbed Solarbird which would use dozens of solar power generating satellites to produce the equivalent of a nuclear power plant's worth of energy.
The timing of these two more modest proposals is interesting given Japan's new interest in ridding itself of all nuclear plants as soon as possible in the wake of the earthquake-tsunami of March 11.
After Glaser's pioneering thinking in the late 60's, NASA took up the idea of the Luna Ring but has never made much progress with the concept.
Telepathy Is Easier Than You Think: Michio Kaku
Dr. Michio Kaku has a cool video response on BigThink.com to a question about using quantum entanglement for telepathic communication. He says that getting two minds entangled would be impossible, but I agree with my very good friend Laurence Rozier that angels and Divine Spiritual Beings have powers that transcend those we have or use or understand. For them, this may be even easier than what Dr. Kaku suggests. (Thanks, Laurence, for the pointer!)
No Surprise: 20% of "Atheist" Scientists Are Spiritual
A new study about to be published by Rice University says about 20% of scientists who describe themselves as atheists are also spiritual.
The study, which will be published in the June issue of Sociology of Religion, is based on interviews with 275 natural and social scientists at several elite universities.
With the constant barrage of news about discoveries and uncoverings in quantum physics that point increasingly clearly to a central force (often referred to as the Quantum Field), it is hardly surprising that many scientists would begin to see the convergence. Frankly, I'm surprised it's only 20% but it may be that the social scientists -- who would presumably be less aware of quantum developments than their natural science colleagues -- skew the totals. It is more difficult to see cohesion when your field of study is the messiness of the macro world of people, cultures and institutions than if you can confine your focus to interactions of simpler forms of matter and energy.
"These scientists see both science and spirituality as 'meaning-making without faith' and as an individual quest for meaning that can never be final. According to the research, they find spirituality congruent with science and separate from religion, because of that quest; where spirituality is open to a scientific journey, religion requires buying into an absolute 'absence of empirical evidence'."
Conservative and Lilberal Brains Differ Structurally But Which Comes First?
A study by a British team that is being published in a prestigious scientific journal says that scientists have discovered a key structural difference between the structures of the brains of people who are conservative and those who have a liberal political position. The article raises the chicken-egg question: does a different brain structure cause the political tendency or does the holding of a particular political viewpoint affect brain structure?
The answer has been known in the field of epigenetics for some time: our thoughts and beliefs change our DNA and, by implication, anything affected by DNA, which is to say almost everything about us. Bruce Lipton's seminal work The Biology of Belief details the research findings that lead to this conclusion.
Constantly reinforced thoughts -- or what metaphysicians informally call "thoughts held in mind" -- can in fact alter our physical bodies. It is not strange that deeply held political beliefs would have a similar effect. Interestingly, the study suggests that, "liberals are better able to cope with conflicting information and are more open to new experiences, while conservatives are better able to recognize a threat and more anxious when faced with uncertainty," This largely coincides with my decades of exposure to people of both ilk, though it is not 100% true, of course. These thought patterns describe foundational ideas in the two opposed ideologies.
One who is open to new experiences is far more likely to be spiritual but not religious, to trust the Universe/Spirit/God's ultimate benevolence, safety, and evolutionary nature, while one who is more focused on guarding against uncertainty will find more comfort in a Divine that is fiercely protective, exclusionary, and unchanging.
Millions of people have shifted from one perspective to the other, some of them many times. This information is not hard-wired into us; it is formed as a result of experience, including upbringing and our own interactions with the Divine.
When Galaxies Collide...Beauty Happens
The Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way Galaxy are moving towards each
other slowly. In billions of years, scientists expect them to collide. This simulation follows the collision of two spiral galaxies that
harbor giant black holes. The collision merges the black holes and
stirs up gas in both galaxies. The merged black hole gorges on the
feast and lights up, forming an active galactic nucleus called a
quasar and creating a "wind" that blows away much of the galaxy's gas. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=14100431
other slowly. In billions of years, scientists expect them to collide. This simulation follows the collision of two spiral galaxies that
harbor giant black holes. The collision merges the black holes and
stirs up gas in both galaxies. The merged black hole gorges on the
feast and lights up, forming an active galactic nucleus called a
quasar and creating a "wind" that blows away much of the galaxy's gas. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=14100431
You'll Be Amazed What Nothing Looks LIke
My friend and colleague Rick Moss shared this video from DeepAstronomy.com with his mailing list this morning. The still images are breath-taking. The commentary is remarkable. But wait until you get to the end and NASA puts the whole thing into 3D motion. If your chair has a seat belt, I respectfully suggest you fasten it. Tightly.
In his message, Rick said, "Nothing lasts forever." To which I can only say, "And so it is."
Light Bends Matter!
From my friend Elaine Bolduc comes a pointer to an article from LiveScience that scientists have proven that light can bend matter. I find this sort of thing absolutely fascinating and yet not the least unexpected. We've known for more than 100 years that the Universe is really made up only of energy, that what we call "matter" is nothing more than energy whose vibrations fall within the range of what we can detect with our senses or measure with instruments that are extensions of our senses. It is, in a phrase, energy all the way down (and up, for that matter). But this report of a series of experiments led by University of Michigan researcher Nicholas Kotov brings in another whole dimension defining the connection and intersection of these two seemingly disparate, cosmologically identical states of energy. The team were so surprised by their initial discovery that they spent the next three and one-half years confirming it and trying to understand it. "To be honest, it took us three and a half years to really figure out how photons of light can lead to such a remarkable change in rigid structures a thousand times bigger than molecules," Kotov said.Kotov and his team published their findings in the March 17 issue of the esteemed Journal Science. (You can read the original by going to Science and searching for Kotov. It requires a free registration to access the content but if you're interested in science, it's well worth it.)
Immortal Jellyfish
Now this is really intriguing. There is a species of jellyfish that, in certain situations, can regenerate all of its cells to their youngest state and return to its polyp stage and then begin growing and maturing all over again! Hard to believe, right? Check it out.
I found it almost as interesting that only under certain conditions -- including, apparently, "starvation, physical damage or another crisis" -- does this regenerative process occur. This implies that this jellyfish has cellular-level intelligence that somehow knows when its existence is threatened by a crisis of a specific kind. That is an evolutionary advantage to be envied.
Thanks to my good friend Harvey Kraft for the pointage.
We Truly Are Beings of Light: Biophotonics and Metaphysics
Today I presented the lesson at our church on the topic, "A Clean, Well-Lighted Life." I explored the metaphysical meaning of Light, talked about recent discoveries about the application of light to the biological sciences, and finished up with some discussion of the healing implications of Light. Much of my talk was built around the understanding that we as humans, in addition to absorbing light in many ways and for many purposes, also emit light in the form of ultra-low-energy light emissions called biophotons.
Among other things, I learned and discussed ways in which biophotons can provide clues to the early detection of cancer and other conditions and diseases that alter the output of the tiny light beams. I cited work done by John N. Ott and reported in his book Health and Light, and by modern optical doctors such as Jacob Liberman, whose LIGHT: Medicine of the Future provides an outstanding introduction to the field of light healing.
I found a 2009 paper by R. P. Bajpai particularly intriguing. Comprising for the most part a fairly comprehensive review and overview of the field, the essay ends with some speculation on the possibility of biophotons affecting the thinking, moods, and behaviours of human beings, linking philosophical visions of life with the physical world.
All in all, heady and (if you'll pardon the half-pun) enlightening stuff. If you're interested in this topic and want to discuss it further, please feel free to join my site and comment on it or email me at onemind at danshafer dot com.
