Medley

Negative spiritual beliefs associated with more pain and worse physical, mental health

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Published: Monday, 30 November 2015 18:08

Individuals who blame karma for their poor health have more pain and worse physical and mental health, according to a new study from University of Missouri researchers. Targeted interventions to counteract negative spiritual beliefs could help some individuals decrease pain and improve their overall health, the researchers said.

“In general, the more religious or spiritual you are, the healthier you are, which makes sense,” said Brick Johnstone, a neuropsychologist and professor of health psychology in the MU School of Health Professions. “

“But for some individuals, even if they have even the smallest degree of negative spirituality – l basically, when individuals believe they're ill because they've done something wrong and God is punishing them – their health is worse.”

Read more: Negative spiritual beliefs associated with more pain and worse physical, mental health

A cosmic sackful of black coal - Part of the Coalsack Nebula in close-up

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Published: Monday, 30 November 2015 18:07

Coalsack Nebula

The Coalsack Nebula is located about 600 light-years away in the constellation of Crux. This huge, dusky object forms a conspicuous silhouette against the bright, starry band of the Milky Way and for this reason the nebula has been known to people in the southern hemisphere for as long as our species has existed.

The Spanish explorer Vicente Yáñez Pinzón first reported the existence of the Coalsack Nebula to Europe in 1499. The Coalsack later garnered the nickname of the Black Magellanic Cloud, a play on its dark appearance compared to the bright glow of the two Magellanic Clouds, which are in fact satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. These two bright galaxies are clearly visible in the southern sky and came to the attention of Europeans during Ferdinand Magellan's explorations in the 16th century. However, the Coalsack is not a galaxy. Like other dark nebulae, it is actually an interstellar cloud of dust so thick that it prevents most of the background starlight from reaching observers.

Read more: A cosmic sackful of black coal - Part of the Coalsack Nebula in close-up

What Constitutes a Cure?

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Published: Thursday, 17 September 2015 16:57

Richard Hiltner – USA

As Dr. Samuel Hahnemann explains, the term “cure” or health occurs when:

“…the spirit-like vital force [dynamis] animating the material human organism reigns in supreme sovereignty. It maintains the sensations and the activities of all the parts of the living organism in a harmony that obliges wonderment. The reasoning spirit who inhabits the organism can thus freely use this healthy living instrument to reach the lofty goal of human existence.”¹

Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann was a German physician, best known for creating a system of alternative medicine called homeopathy

Read more: What Constitutes a Cure?

Why do we remember the past but not the future?

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Published: Thursday, 17 September 2015 16:53

Theoretical physicists at the Université libre de Bruxelles have developed a fully-symmetric formulation of quantum theory which establishes an exact link between asymmetry and the fact that we can remember the past but not the future.

The laws of classical mechanics are independent of the direction of time, but whether the same is true in quantum mechanics has been a subject of debate. While it is agreed that the laws that govern isolated quantum systems are time-symmetric, measurement changes the state of a system according to rules that only appear to hold forward in time, and there is difference in opinion about the interpretation of this effect.

Read more: Why do we remember the past but not the future?

Genetic studies link indigenous peoples in the Amazon and Australasia

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Published: Thursday, 17 September 2015 16:52

Aboriginal man

Native Americans living in the Amazon bear an unexpected genetic connection to indigenous people in Australasia

Native Americans living in the Amazon bear an unexpected genetic connection to indigenous people in Australasia, suggesting a previously unknown wave of migration to the Americas thousands of years ago, a new study has found.

Read more: Genetic studies link indigenous peoples in the Amazon and Australasia

Focus

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Published: Thursday, 17 September 2015 16:51

Leo Babauta – USA

A simplicity manifesto in the Age of Distraction: Part 12

Creating an uncluttered environment

“If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things,

then this is the best season of your life.”

Wumen Huikai (1183 -1260) is a Song period Chán master most famous as the compiler of and commentator on the 48-koan collection The Gateless Gate. Wumen was at that time the head monk of Longxiang monastery

Imagine you’re trying to create your masterpiece — a work that will change your life and perhaps make the world a better place in some small way. You’re at your computer, making it happen, at a desk piled with clutter, surrounded by clutter on the floor and walls, in the middle of a noisy workplace, phones ringing. A notification pops up — you have a new email — so you open your email program to read it and respond. You get back to work but then another notification pops up — someone wants to chat with you, so you go on IM for a little bit. Then your Twitter client notifies you of some new replies, and you check those. Then you see some paperwork on your desk you need to file, so you start doing those.

Read more: Focus

Is the Brain Just a ‘Wet Computer’? – Part three (conclusion)

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Published: Thursday, 18 June 2015 13:00

Edi Bilimoria – UK

 The author is a gifted pianist and lecturer

Summary and a Possible Way Forwards

What then is the remedy? The great poet Keats talks about negative capability – the capacity to sit with the unknown but with an inner conviction that something truly precious will come out of the unknown. In other words, to trust the process and have faith that there is a greater consciousness that we can tune into. But being with the unknown is something that the predominantly left brain orientated scientific community finds very frightening. It again underscores the deterministic drive of the left brain to strive for precision, certainty and objectification, eschewing uncertainty, the unknown and the unknowable (by science). But the right brain, preferring to deal with wholes rather than parts has no problem with subjective experience or waiting patiently in silence attuning to a higher power. So this is the kind of holistic approach used by the luminaries of science and as Leonardo and Newton that we need to face the complex problems we face today. It is highly significant that Leonardo was as much a genius of science as of art. Moreover, Newton’s alchemical writings and drawings reveal great sensitivity and poetry.

Read more: Is the Brain Just a ‘Wet Computer’? – Part three (conclusion)