Medley

Too much positivity? (In the Light of Theosophy)

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It appears that excessive positivity is bad for one’s health and mental well-being. It is beneficial to have a positive mindset, but the idea that we should always look on the bright side has gone too far. People struggling with low self-esteem are being asked these days to repeat self-affirmations such as, “I am a lovable person,” which could boost a person’s moods and feelings of worth. Psychologists studying self-affirmation found that as the participants feeling low did not believe in what they were saying, they ended up feeling worse. It has been termed “toxic positivity.” It is “the idea that a forced optimistic interpretation of our experiences alongside the suppression of the negative emotions can do real damage.”

Crusades against Ugliness

Tim Wyatt – England

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Tim Wyatt, the storyteller

Just like you, I’m formulating my next life right here and now. Each one of us can choose to do this consciously as I’m trying to do. Or we can leave it to something we call chance or fate. But one way or another, what we’ve done in this life will shape subsequent appearances in human form anyway whether we like it or not. This is, of course, that unbreakable law of cause and effect – the law of karma – at work. This is a ubiquitous but deeply misunderstood principle.

Self-Compassion on the Spiritual Path

Barbara Hebert – USA

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Compassion for the personality is something that is rarely discussed in theosophical circles. As seekers on the spiritual path, the personality is typically ignored because of its temporality, yet the personality is the vehicle for traveling this path. It plays an essential role in our spiritual growth. We discuss compassion for all living beings, yet we are rarely compassionate with ourselves. It may be helpful to explore the concept of self-compassion, compassion for the vehicle through which we walk the spiritual path. It is useful to note that self-compassion does not preclude our constant self-examination and effort to walk this path; rather, self-compassion  supports our efforts as we undertake this difficult task. 

The Importance of Vegetarianism for the Practice of  Yoga

Marly Winckler – Brazil

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The word yoga (Yoga) comes from the Sanskrit Yuj, which means ‘to join’. According to Hindu philosophy, the human soul, or Jivatma, is a partial facet or expression of the Over-Soul, or Paramatma, the Divine Reality, the source of the manifested Universe. Although in essence the two are the same and indivisible, yet Jivatma has become subjectively separated from Paramatma and is destined, after going through an evolutionary cycle in the manifested Universe, to again unite with Him in consciousness. This state of unification of the two in consciousness as well as the mental process and discipline by means of which this union is reached, are both called Yoga1.

Patanjali was the great compiler of the ancient tradition of yoga - and did so masterly. The system outlined by Patanjali consists of eight parts, being called Ashtanga Yoga. The system contemplates eight angas or limbs, designed as stages that follow one another in a natural sequence. They are: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi.

Martian meteorites deliver a trove of information on Red Planet's structure

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Image © Michael S. Helfenbein

The nature of Mars' mantle and crust is revealed in its volcanic rocks 

Mars has a distinct structure in its mantle and crust with discernible reservoirs, and this is known thanks to meteorites that scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and colleagues have analyzed on Earth. 

Can animals count?

 

Neuroscientists resolve long-standing debate

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Some monkeys have shown the ability to count objects 

(Image credit: Michael Woodruff/Shutterstock)

Research co-led by neuroscientists Professor Yung Wing-ho from City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) and Professor Ke Ya from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Faculty of Medicine (CU Medicine) has made a groundbreaking discovery regarding number sense in animals by confirming the existence of discrete number sense in rats, offering a crucial animal model for investigating the neural basis of numerical ability and disability in humans.

TO DEBATE OR NOT TO DEBATE

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

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Just imagine two debaters ...

One of them, number 1, a sociopath. is operating influenced by egotism, narcissism and voracity thus representing a threatening dark force, acting like a mob boss, fully determined to obliterate everything his opponent is and stands for.

Newly found genetic variant defends against Alzheimer's disease

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Columbia researchers have discovered a genetic variant that reduces the odds of developing Alzheimer's disease by up to 70% and may be protecting thousands of people in the United States from the disease.

The discovery of the protective variant, which appears to allow toxic forms of amyloid out of the brain and through the blood-brain barrier, supports emerging evidence that the brain's blood vessels play a large role in Alzheimer's disease and could herald a new direction in therapeutic development.