THE FORGE

apropos

YouTube - New Evidence for Out-of-Body Experiences & Perennial Wisdom, with Neuroscientist Marjorie Woollacott PhD and the Essentia Foundation

…Professor Marjorie Woollacott draws remarkable parallels between 9th-10th century Kashmiri Shaivism and modern idealism, pointing to the fundamental and irreducible nature of consciousness

Modernity as an Age of Transition, by Benjamin Schewel

The Bahá’í writings describe the modern period as an age of transition toward a future world civilization that manifests the oneness and essential diversity of humankind

Erraticus – How Deconstructing Anxiety Makes Transcendence Possible, by Todd Pressman

YouTube - James Lovelock Explains Gaia Hypothesis on The Sacred Balance, with David Suzuki.

"If you were a Martian astronomer, so to speak, looking at the Earth to detect signs of life by atmospheric analysis, it would shout back at you, 'WE'RE A LIVING PLANET!'"

Physics – Model Suggests Link between Intelligence and Entropy, by Don Monroe

BBC - Iniskim Umaapi, Is This Canda’s ‘Stonehenge’? , by Debbie Olsen

Built by ancient Indigenous People and long considered to be sacred, the Iniskim Umaapi medicine wheel in Alberta is one of the oldest religious monuments in the world

Science Alert – Quantum Search For Time's Source Finds No Difference Between Past And Future – by Mike McRae

No matter how hard we try, we can't remember tomorrow. And physicists have no idea why.

Explore Psychology – The Pratfall Effect:

Why Little Mistakes Make You More Likable - Discover the psychology behind this phenomenon and how it influences perception

God and Nature – Reflection of a Christian on Identity and Quantum Particles, by Ranjit A. Thuraisingham

In this communication, I reflect on the question of identity after death. Does science provide any insight for what is expressed in the Bible?

Science and Nonduality – New Theory Says We Are All Multiple Personalities of a Cosmic Consciousness, by Shawn Radcliffe

From the comfortable seat of our bodies (and built-in brains), it’s easy to think that consciousness is a unique property of humans. But some philosophers argue that the entire universe is conscious, or to put it more broadly: that there is only cosmic consciousness.

Economics – The effect of house prices on fertility: evidence from Canada, by Jeremy Clark and Ana Ferrer

Persistent house price increases are a likely candidate for consideration in fertility decisions

Awaken – What Is An Awakened Mind?, by Jurgen Ziewe

The term Awakening has been widely used lately to describe the phenomenon of a spontaneous change of consciousness

THE ANVIL

prelude

Prelude - A Personal Introduction

I have a problem. There’s two parts to my problem, and I imagine that’s the general status of most problems.

The first part… my resume… the person I am by the means of my parents’ genes and my less than glorious past. I’m a skeptic, a cynic, a pragmatist, a rationalist, and all-around empiricist who doesn’t like to take anything for granted and views taking anything on faith as a quick road to human malfeasance.

I imagine few would regard my list of personality traits as a big problem. With the First World society moving so fast these days, a balanced diet of skepticism, cynicism, pragmatism, and empiricism – slathered with buttery rationale – would be a sensible resume or goal for most people who aren’t blessed or burdened with what we call talent. ...continue reading.

THE FORGE

apropos

YouTube - Quantum Fields: The Real Building Blocks of the Universe - with David Tong

According to our best theories of physics, the fundamental building blocks of matter are not particles, but continuous fluid-like substances known as 'quantum fields'. David Tong explains what we know about these fields, and how they fit into our understanding of the Universe.

Tricycle - The Thukdam Project, by Daniel Burke

Erraticus – How Deconstructing Anxiety Makes Transcendence Possible, by Todd Pressman

Science News – How Particle Detectors capture Matter’s Hidden, Beautiful Reality, by Emily Conover

Aeon – Is the Earth an Organism?, by W. Ford Doolittle

The Gaia hypothesis states that our biosphere is evolving. Once sceptical, some prominent biologists are beginning to agree.

ID the Future – Hungarian Philosopher Philip Goff Partly Right: The Universe Reflects a Mind, Host Sarah Chaffee with Michael Egnor

Aeon – Is the Universe a Conscious Mind?, by Philip Goff. Cosmopsychism might seem crazy, but it provides a robust explanatory model for how the Universe became fine-tuned for life.

Beshara Magazine – Panpsychism and the Problem of Consciousness, by Richard Gault. The idea that everything in the world has some form of consciousness is ancient and ubiquitous.

Erraticus – Sentience, Not Consciousness, Is Key to the Cosmos, by Michael Jawer.

But let us recognize that sentience — the ability to feel — underlies consciousness, indeed that consciousness could not exist without the ability to feel.

The Conversation – Is Reality a Game of Quantum Mirrors?, by Tom Warren. A new theory suggests it might be.

God and Nature – Panpsychism, The Microbiome, and a New Christian Approach to Consciousness, by John F. Pohl

Axios – Nanotechnology Allows Chemical Signals from Spinach to Send Emails, by Bryan Walsh

Nautilus – Electrons May Very Well Be Conscious, posted by Tam Hunt. Last year, the cover of New Scientist ran the headline, “Is the Universe Conscious?” Mathematician and physicist Johannes Kleiner, at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy in Germany, told author Michael Brooks that a mathematically precise definition of consciousness could mean that the cosmos is suffused with subjective experience. “This could be the beginning of a scientific revolution,” Kleiner said, referring to research he and others have been conducting.

Be Awake – Quantum Physics and Consciousness, by Jeanne Mayeux

Is it possible that the laws of physics hold the secret to creating the life you want? What is reality? According to quantum physics, nothing fully exists until it is observed—and the act of observation changes what is observed.

Physics and God – Quantum Coherence and the Hidden Secret Behind Our Bodies, by Joseph Selbie

In an adult human body, there are fifty-quadrillion coordinated biochemical events taking place each and every second. Every second, each of our fifty trillion cells generates fifty thousand biochemical events in a near-perfectly coordinated dance of atoms and molecules that make possible everything from voluntary movement to the continuous complex processes of circulation, digestion, assimilation, elimination, respiration, growth, and healing.

THE ANVIL

prelude

Scarcity - Our Metaphysical Existence

Today, there are many long-standing natures of the human being that have been, in the western, modern world, universally accepted as fact, and the world’s teleology and success hangs on their presence. Some are bred in forever, while others are more susceptible to the redefinition of their meanings, so as to nestle comfortably and efficiently into our evolving society. In some cases, a few human metaphysical concepts of being are facing dramatic upheavals in their definition and use. ...continue reading.

Evil - A Matter of Context

There’re just those times when we all have had that sense of dread; with a shudder, our reasoning seems to escape us, time slows, and our heart races. Our vision closes in on us, darkening at its edges, and the hairs rise on the back of our necks as we lose our sense of reality. Something approaches with an ominous presence.

We’ve all had this experience; typically, in some unfamiliar, dark place in which, what is best described as our soul, finds itself cornered by a thing unknown, yet seemingly deadly. It is of little wonder that evil is more considered a supernatural being of reckoning and wreckage, than a diacritic event in one’s life. ...continue reading.

THE CRUCIBLE

crucible

foundry

Eyes Wide Open
Tony Anderson

Pie Jesu
Sissel

Moths
RY X

Countryside of Portomarin, Spain - Day 28

Where Far Eyes See

I have walked where far eyes see.
I have tasked and overcome.
Yet have I found my Lord,
Where His grace and Word are one
With all that I am,
And hope to soon become?

This journey’s long, these days unnumbered.
Morning is a new sun that
Buds from foreign soil,
And uncurls its golden petals.
Yet it colors me not the early hours
As I walk in solitude; no warmth, just nettles.

This rock is rugged, this world blows cold
In contest with my Lord.
And I find myself a struggling soul
Of unknown depth and breadth;
One that obscures my mission,
And would give my cause to Death.

And with each evening, my time secure
With pilgrims of human strength and wisdom,
I share my life with theirs,
And come away short on vision.
For who am I who’s come so far
Yet cannot escape his own prison?

L Reese Cumming

THE FORGE

apropos

YouTube - Animal Farm
George Orwell's alegorical novel about the rebellion of farm animals against the tyranny of human oppression. The film version of this novel illustrates the cyclical nature of the self, who in need of throwing off the oppression of others for the beauty of freedom and equality, when confronted with a newfound sense of self-possessed authority, one becomes the tryannical oppressor.

CATO INSTITUTE - Key Concepts of Libertarianism, by David Boaz.

PERC - How Personal Technology is Democratizing Environmental Action

YouTube - The Libertarian Mind, by the CATO Institute, with David Boaz.
Libertarianism — the philosophy of personal and economic freedom — has deep roots in Western civilization and in American history, and it's growing stronger.

World Economics - Lords of Poverty, by Lionel Stanbrook.

Scientific American - Why Life Does Not Really Exist, by Ferris Jabr.
I have been fascinated with living things since childhood. Growing up in northern California, I spent a lot of time playing outdoors among plants and animals.

America, The Jesuit Review - This is Your Soul on Mysticism, by Kaya Oakes.

Adam Smith Institute - Ten Books Every Libertarian Should Read, by Madsen Pirie.
Most lists of the books which contribute to or reinforce libertarian ideas might contain most of the following top ten:

Mindful - How Are You Seeing the World?, by Heather Shayne Blakeslee.
The art of unhooking from your stories allows you to see what’s in front of you rather than seeing what you’re looking to see.

Aeon - The Joy of Being Animal, by Melanie Challenger. Human exceptionalism is dead: for the sake of our own happiness and the planet we should embrace our true animal nature.

Scientific American - Our Brain Typically Overlooks This Brilliant Problem-Solving Strategy, by Diana Kwon.

PERC - Property Rights are Fundamental to a Free Society and to Conservation, by Jonathan Wood and Brian Yablonski. They enable each of us to live according to our personal values and to pursue happiness in our own way, provided we don’t violate anyone else’s rights.