Feature Article of Thursday, 24 July 2014

Columnist: Kwarteng, Francis

Citizenship; social equality; accountability; mass quality (critical thinking) education; probity; gender equality; tolerance; transparency; social justice; mutual respectability; strategic planning; and patriotism capture the idiomatic essence of nation-building. Thus, Chinua Achebe, an antagonistic hero of the so-called The Biafran War (The Nigerian Civil War) realizing clear-cut instantiation of ideological tendency toward gradual Afghanistization of The Country if care is not duly taken to arrest or reverse it, reminds the yechy unrecognized self-styled poet and writer, a bastardized ideological scion of The Brethren, writing:

The fiction which imaginative literature offers usdoes not enslave; it liberates the mind of man. Its truth is not like the canons of an orthodoxy or the irrationality of prejudice and superstition. It begins as an adventure in self-discovery and ends in wisdom and human conscience.

Question: How dare he, Achebe? Everyone knows it for sure! It? About what? Moral, spiritual, and intellectual decadence in the body politic, The Country! Well, everyone is fully aware it is not beyond the bounds of decorum to acknowledge Achebes advisory agency as a timely gesture of agreeable community, for the yechy unrecognized self-styled poet and writer, so-called, stands intolerably short as a hopelessly irretrievable national disgrace in the pageantry of civilizational sentience. Everything he supposedly poetizes about emanates from his schizophrenic, scrappy persona. Yet he sees himself essentially a scholar in his self-contrived wasteland of deranged consciousness. As a matter of principle, the scholarly community lacks a critical scope of accommodation with regard to his shallow, shoddy scholarship, hence his euthanasic narcissism, hence his manic persona.

That kind of scholar, a fetishistic victim of penile atresia, is the bane of civilizational de-colonialism, the proverbial spoke in the wheel of intra-national coherence. Even of his own mental integrity. Importantly, his viscous relationship with citizens whose progressive sense of community is not in question usurps the aristocratic conscience of national discourse, whence comes Chinua Achebes intercessory wisdom. In consequence, the moral caliber of the fiction, Achebes phraseology, is all there is to it, no doubt, though it resists the textural candor of George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Even of George Orwells Animal Farm. Realpolitik. DoublespeakThe poetic realpolitik of the scholar. The poetic doublespeak of the scholar. Achebe said it in the nebulous archeology of Yesterday. In the substantial space-shuttle of Today. And in the nebulous time-warp of the Future. That what? That the poetic realpolitik of the scholar, that the poetic doublespeak of the scholar, that he, the scholar, has no patriotic interest in the compromising unity of The People, in the positive development of The Country. Stoking the embers of disunity, of ethnocentrism, of ethnic nationalism, is his thing, his patriotic duty! The scholars yechy poetry, the scholars yechy writings, O Great People of the World, are merely leprotic expressions of yellow journalism; no more, no less. The scholar intimately knows all about the dialects of the anatomy of lies!

Piecemeal Somaliazation of The Country. In one sense, therefore, the phraseologic aesthetics of Achebes the fiction beggars his, Achebes, advisory largesse. Surprising? Not essentially! In another sense, however, Achebes the fiction is the kind of national ethos whose cultural and philosophical actuation The Scarab Beetle strove to graft onto African PersonalityThrough The Scarab Beetles conscious replacement of old-fashioned colonialism with progressive instruments of de-colonialism, of poetic consciencismUntil The Brethren subverted it. The Scarab Beetles consciencism; Chinua Achebes imaginative literature. With The Janus-faced scholar being literarily antipodal to Achebes imaginative literature, his popularly despised yellow journalism scholarship, to The Scarab Beetles consciencism! The sick scholar and his well-known bounded rationality!

Oh, the Sisyphean weight of guilt will forever intrude upon The Brethrens splintered conscience even as it denies them a scintilla of sleep in the agoraphobic graveyard of moral accountability. This is the kind of heavy moral burden, of spectral introspection, those who hate men and women of conscience without justifiable grounds bear. The scorching guilt of immorality, of indiscretions! As a matter of fact Maya Angelou recalls this physiologic-moral catch-22, Wole Soyinkas operations of homeopathy, in one of her famous poetic formulae Insomniac:

There are some nights when sleep plays coy, aloof and disdainful. And all the wiles that I employ to win its service to my side are useless as wounded pride, and much more painful.

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The Source Of The Nile Decoded 2

Mike Cahill's audacious I Origins touches on a number of Big Subjects, such as reason versus spirituality, scientific hubris, and the perils of hooking up with supermodels. It's probably going to end up on an equal number of "Best of" and "Worst of" end-of-year lists.

Protagonist ("hero," not so much) Ian Gray (Michael Pitt) is a scientist obsessed with eyes. In addition to taking close-up pictures of the peepers of anyone who doesn't find the request creepy, his work is to make colorblind mice see colors, with the goal of eventually bringing sight to species that never evolved eyes. It's your typical tampering-in-God's-domain kind of stuff, but since he says he doesn't believe in God, he willfully chooses to miss the point of the metaphor. Indeed, he hopes to end the whole Intelligent Design/"a watch needs a watchmaker" debate, which is a perfectly noble goal but, as atheistic scientists tend to be stereotyped in movies these days, he's a smug, charmless nozzle.

I Origins is by no means the same kind of overt anti-scientist propaganda as God's Not Dead, but since it plays its themes and emotions in broad, operatic strokes, Ian lacks the sense of joy and wonder found in, say, avowed atheists (and past and present Cosmos hosts) Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson. (That I Origins comes on the heels of Pitt's truly disturbing performance as Mason Verger on Hannibal only ups the creep factor.)

The working title was Sex Peepers.

Ian is also a floppy-haired New York hipster, and at a Halloween party he meets Sofi (Astrid Bergs-Frisbey), a fashion model who quite reasonably decides to flee Ian when he says a dumb thing during impromptu sex in a tastefully squalid closet. Thanks to a series of coincidences at 11:11 a.m. on 11/11 hey, ever notice how the numeral 1 looks not unlike the letter I, which itself is a homophone for "eye," and when you put two 1s together they look like a pair of eyes, especially if you're watching a movie that will probably inspire several academic papers on eyeball imagery in the cinema? Ian successfully stalks Sofi, and they pick up where they left off.

Unlike Ian, Sofi believes in souls and reincarnation and has reasonable ethical objections to mutating eyeless worms to make them grow eyes. She's the classic Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and while it's typically the MPDG's job in these movies to teach the boy how to lighten up, I Origins is playing a longer game than that. When a bizarre accident at the end of the first act cleaves Sofi from Ian on what was supposed to be their (ill-considered) wedding day, the picture jumps forward seven years and starts playing the cards it's dealt, moving into the realm of spiritual science fiction.

Though it moves at a brisk pace and is gorgeous to look at it, I Origins is a frequently confounding movie, one that will anger as many people as it will enchant. It's a film about not just the male gaze, but the reciprocal gaze it would make a wonderfully abstract double feature with Godfrey Reggio's Visitors but the gender politics are still troubling, particularly the character of Karen (Brit Marling). She's Ian's lab assistant turned wife and mother of his child, and writer/director Cahill gives her a Stepford-level tolerance for Ian's occasionally literal masturbation over that one hot girl he was involved with years ago.

Still, few recent films so motivated by the leading man's boner have such deep thematic ambitions, or are likely to inspire such heated post-viewing conversations.

Link:
"I Origins": Science, Religion, Sex & Eyeballs

Last week, I discussed the latest scientific research on fasting and its effects on the body, brain, and health in general. Fasting was found to have multiple benefits such as promoting fat loss; detoxifying the organs and systems; eliminating toxins; causing the body to heal itself; repairing damaged cells and organs; generating new white blood cells; balancing hormones; producing Human Growth Hormone (HGH) and an anti-aging hormone; relieving and energizing the digestive system; boosting the immune system; enhancing insulin sensitivity; reducing blood sugar count; breaking up plaque build-up in the arteries; enhancing the memory and mental activity; intensifying spirituality; and revitalizing energy. Such positive body responses invariably lead to healthier body systems and brain functions, which eventually result in good health, energy, and longevity. Detoxification through fasting gets rid of cumulative body fat and concealed toxic residue (synthetic chemicals, heavy metals) that can trigger autoimmune disorders (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia) or lead to cancer. Fasting has yet more benefits than improving mental and physical fitness. The lack of eating sheds the excess fat and toxin, relieves the intestinal tract, cleanses the brain, and clears the mind, intensifying spirituality and concentration for the long night prayers of taraweeh and qiyam. Worships when done with awareness and conviction clarify the spirit and improve the temperament; strengthen the character; increase endurance; temper anger; and teach humility, and other virtues like righteousness, altruism, and ethics. Such characteristics should make us better people, not only during the Holy Month of Ramadan, but all the time. Today, I will discuss what to eat and drink after breaking the fast, iftar until sahoor, abstinence before morning prayers. The health threat in our styles of Ramadan fasting does not come from food and water deprivation for fourteen or fifteen hours, but more from overconsumption and low quality food. We tend to rush and wolf down whatever is in sight, as if we have been starved for weeks. And look what foods and beverages we eat: fries, syrupy desserts, starches, creams, trans fats, and sugar-laden beverages, the most harmful foods possible. Can you imagine the shock our systems get when fatty, sugary, and fried foods enter the digestive tract and race to our bloodstream, body, and brains? Blood glucose spikes, triggering the pancreas to release insulin to break down the pervading sugar. Once sugar enters the body, energy kicks in, but when insulin breaks it down rapidly energy goes flat, leaving the consumer depleted and fatigued. Nutrient-empty foods and overconsumption defeat the purpose of fasting by inflicting harm on the brain, body, health, and spirit. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) warned against overindulgence and recommended breaking fast in a healthier manner: starting with dates (1, 3, or 5) and water. Dates are nourishing fruits rich in a plethora of nutrients like vitamins (A, Bs, C), minerals (iron, sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, copper, fluoride, manganese, boron, selenium), carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, sucrose), some proteins (important amino acids), very little good fats (omega fatty acids), prebiotics and fiber (pectin). The fruit is also rich in antioxidants, phytosterols (to control cholesterol), and protective phytochemicals (carotenoids, lutein, zeaxanthin, polyphenols, quercetin). Dates are a wholesome nutrition for the body, brain, and nervous system, especially against malnourishment and famine in children, adults, and the elderly. To benefit from their bioavailability, dates are best consumed alone, but in reasonable amounts. They should be eaten on an empty stomach or with other fruits, but never after a heavy meal. They increase weight and fat gain. Dates make a healthy snack for both children and adults when combined with raw or roasted nuts. The fruit has multiple medicinal effects on the organs and systems, but I will limit the article to fasting this time (read my article The Date The Superfruit from the Arabian Desert, published Aug. 8, 2010). Because dates are not available everywhere, fresh fruits make good and nourishing substitutes. They are replenishing and hydrating. Plenty of water is necessary after a long hot day of fasting. Water is essential for the body, its systems, and functions. The body consists of seventy percent water and the brain eighty percent. When the body fluids are reduced, the volume of blood is decreased and becomes less fluid to transport nutrients through the body, organs, cells, systems, heart, and brain. The urinary tract and kidneys require sufficient water; otherwise, infections and kidney failure occur. Mild dehydration can lead to acid reflux, constipation, and digestive problems. Dehydration is a dangerous condition. In order to practice fasting both hygienically and successfully, you require to eat good portions of lean and quality protein (meat, fish, poultry, eggs, legumes, nuts) and have non-starchy vegetables (leafy greens, cabbage family, carrots, tomatoes) and fruits in order to prevent deficiencies and weight gain. Lean protein should be emphasized to prevent muscle wasting. Quality fats are required for the brain, heart, and health like olive and nut oils, and fish oils (in supplements), avocadoes, and others. When nutrients are insufficient or calories are heavily restricted for too long, the body begins to waste and dysfunctions (thyroids) and imbalances (hormones) appear. It is important to cut down on pure sugar, refined carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice), and fried foods. It is hard to resist temptation of the array of desserts on the modern iftar table. If you wish to eat fries or carbs, have them after the salad and proteins. Desserts in tiny portions should be left to the very end of the meal, but not to be eaten daily to avoid overindulgence and corpulence. Keep away from heavy snacks between iftar and sahoor as well as soda and sweetened beverages. Herbal infusions are digestive and detoxifying, but without sugar, sugar substitutes, or corn sugar. Green tea and a little Arabic coffee are good, but they are negative water; they make you lose lots of body fluids. Fruit juices are concentrated in sugar. Whole fruits are healthier to eat with a couple of nuts or a glass of yogurt drink with mint can be refreshing. Drink plenty of water in between meals. Fasting properly eliminates body fat, and cleanses and renews the systems, organs, brain, cells, and the blood. Moreover, it is the perfect time to quit smoking, alcohol, and caffeine habits. It is an opportunity to restore and boost your immune system; detoxify your body from fat, toxic chemicals, and addictions; and energize your brain in order to prevent disease symptoms, disorders, and illnesses, provided bad habits and addictions are not taken up again and weight is maintained in a healthy manner. There is no safeguard from toxic habits, except quitting them to regain mental and physical health, energy, and wellness. I personally witnessed a ninety-five-year-old fasting against her physicians advice. Her physical and mental health was energized; her immunity was boosted; and her mental clarity was heightened. It was so obvious, which astounded her treating doctors. Of course she could not fast the entire month; there were days she had to miss, fearing dehydration and urinary tract infections, but the benefits were noticeable to her family and doctors. People wonder whether it is possible or advisable to exercise while fasting. The two practises do not conflict. Fitness experts believe both can be combined successfully. Exercising when fas
ting not only preserves the working muscles, but also sheds unwanted fat. The working muscle or muscles is prevented from wasting while other tissues and fat are broken down instead. However, long-term food deprivation along with heavy exercising wastes the muscles. I wish you a rewarding end of Ramadan and good health after fasting. I will resume writing after the Haj season. Happy Eid and remember to refrain from overindulgence during the holiday.

References: Fasting for three days renews entire immune system, protects cancer patients, remarkable new study finds, by Sarah Knapton, The Daily Telegraph, National Post Wires Services Science Discover that Fasting Triggers Stem Cell Regeneration & Fights Cancer by Arjun Walia Fasting at least Twice a week Seen as Alzheimers Hedge, by Makiko Kitamura, Oct 29, 2013 N.B.: Individuals with medical conditions or on medication should consult their physicians when they decide to introduce anything new in their diet even if it is natural. The previous Health Solutions articles are located at www. arabnews.com Email: [emailprotected]

See the original post:
What is the point of fasting? (Part 4)

Feature Article of Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Columnist: Kwarteng, Francis

Thus, Chinua Achebe, an antagonistic hero of the so-called Biafran Secession War, reminds the yechy unrecognized self-styled poet and writer, a bastardized ideological scion of The Brethren, writing:

The fiction which imaginative literature offers usdoes not enslave; it liberates the mind of man. Its truth is not like the canons of an orthodoxy or the irrationality of prejudice and superstition. It begins as an adventure in self-discovery and ends in wisdom and human conscience.

Question: How dare he, Achebe? Everyone knows it for sure! It? About what? Moral, spiritual, and intellectual decadence in the body politic, The Country! Well, everyone is fully aware it is not beyond the bounds of decorum to acknowledge Achebes advisory agency as a timely gesture of agreeable community, for the yechy unrecognized self-styled poet and writer, so-called, stands intolerably short as a hopelessly irretrievable national disgrace in the pageantry of civilizational sentience. Everything he supposedly poetizes about emanates from his schizophrenic, scrappy persona. Yet he sees himself essentially a scholar in his self-contrived wasteland of deranged consciousness. As a matter of principle, the scholarly community lacks a critical scope of accommodation with regard to his shallow, shoddy scholarship, hence his euthanasic narcissism, hence his manic persona.

That kind of scholar, a fetishistic victim of penile atresia, is the bane of civilizational de-colonialism, the proverbial spoke in the wheel of intra-national coherence. Even of his own mental integrity. Importantly, his viscous relationship with citizens whose progressive sense of community is not in question usurps the aristocratic conscience of national discourse, whence comes Chinua Achebes intercessory wisdom. In consequence, the moral caliber of the fiction, Achebes phraseology, is all there is to it, no doubt, though it resists the textural candor of George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Even of George Orwells Animal Farm. Realpolitik. DoublespeakThe poetic realpolitik of the scholar. The poetic doublespeak of the scholar. Achebe said it in the nebulous archeology of Yesterday. In the substantial space-shuttle of Today. And in the nebulous time-warp of the Future. That the poetic realpolitik of the scholar, that the poetic doublespeak of the scholar, that he, the scholar, has no verifiable interest in the unity of The People, in the positive development of The Country. Stoking the embers of disunity, of ethnocentrism, of ethnic nationalism is his thing, his patriotic duty! In one sense, therefore, the phraseologic aesthetics of Achebes the fiction beggars his, Achebes, advisory largesse. Surprising? Not necessarily! In another sense, however, Achebes the fiction is the kind of national ethos whose cultural and philosophical actuation The Scarab Beetle had wanted to graft onto African PersonalityThrough The Scarab Beetles conscious replacement of old-fashioned colonialism with progressive instruments of de-colonialism, of poetic consciencismUntil The Brethren subverted it.

Oh, the Sisyphean weight of guilt will forever intrude upon The Brethrens splintered conscience even as it denies them a scintilla of sleep in the agoraphobic graveyard of moral accountability. This is the kind of heavy moral burden those who hate men and women of conscience without justifiable grounds bear. The scorching guilt of immorality, of indiscretions! Maya Angelou actually recalls this physiologic-moral dilemma in Insomniac:

There are some nights when sleep plays coy, aloof and disdainful. And all the wiles that I employ to win its service to my side are useless as wounded pride, and much more painful.

Obviously a creative response to Maya Angelous physiologic-moral dilemma is The Voice, Achebes the fiction. Let the world be told in black and white that the yechy unrecognized self-appointed poet and writer, the dregs of human civilization, has neither natural intelligence nor artificial intelligence. Where is the whereabouts of the poets apperception? The Earth, a polluted earth. Oh, The Voice, O Great People of the World, of The Earth. Indeed, that ostensibly authoritatively nebulous-voice, The Voice, The Scarab Beetles, arguably, O Great People of the World, imbues the auctorial, cognitive ballpen-voice of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Teju Cole. Doreen Baingana. Taiye Selasi. NoViolet Bulawayo. Dinaw Mengestu. Helen Oyeyemi. Ogochukwu Promise (Founder of The Lumina Foundation). Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor. Aminatta Forna. Vronique Tadjo. Antjie Krog. Ishmeal Beah. Sarah L. Manyika. Okey Ndibe. Mukoma wa Thiongo. Nnedi Okarafor. Adaobi Tricia Nwaubaniliterary disciples of Achebes the fiction:

View post:
Fate Of A Misguided Scholar 1

Rolling her eyes, my neighbor described a health breakthrough shed read about. She was mirroring the same attitude of hope with reservations that many have when they hear those ads promoting the latest treatment for diseases.

Of course the draw to breakthroughs is great. Everyone wants to be well.

Attempts to find health solutions often start with less invasive methods restrictive diets, lifestyle changes, mindfulness meditation. Others hope in a prescribed regimen of meds or in a new technology. The need to be well keeps us looking.

Yet, instead of bringing assurance, physicians critiques of current practices are increasingly causing tremors. For example, a recent article, Heralded Treatments Often Fail to Live up to their Promise, concludes that the verdict is still out on many new drugs and procedures. And an article by Luis Collar, MD, critiques with a breathtaking some might say bewilderingly honest view of current allopathic practices. He cites the need for more rigorous, scientific thinking, unaffected by economic demands or status-quo positions. A Business Insider article cites research proving that gluten sensitivity, the concern that propels 30 percent of Americans to buy gluten-free foods, actually doesnt exist. Maybe in a bid to allay dismay, that article opened and closed with a cheer for science: It works.

But cheer or not, the fact remains that the scientific thought process that impels researchers does work.

It is producing more voices in biological, neurological, psychological, and other types of research, all looking at thought processes that govern the body in more depth than ever before, including expanded use of mind-body, and even spiritual, techniques.

Humanity has always individually explored spiritual methods, but research into how spiritual thinking offers added health value is a relatively new phenomenon. And considering spirituality and science together in the same context is even more cutting edge.

But that focus isnt new. When Mary Baker Eddy published that Jesus was the most scientific man, she explained and proved in healing outcomes that his cures were based on the power of God as the divine Principle or Cause. She concluded: He plunged beneath the material surface of things, and found the spiritual cause (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 313).

Her research included spirituality and science in the same context. Many today have concluded that the spiritual qualities of compassion, tolerance, joy, gratitude are health-giving. Improved physical well-being is now widely recognized as linked to spiritual thinking and living. A pivotal question is, Is this linkage a provable science?

Years ago I was not looking for a linkage between physical well-being and spirituality but for spiritual meaning in my troubled life. Then in my early 20s, while in a hotel, I suddenly collapsed in paralysis and extreme pain. Without sight or speech in a condition later identified by a medical intern as imminently fatal, I could only listen as my husband held me and read from Science and Health, a book which hed recently found. What happened next stunned us both: I felt a deep peace, and all symptoms immediately stopped. Intuitively I felt that here was a dependable, unconditional Love that I wanted to understand. It was a science to learn and live (see Christian Science Sentinel, April 12, 2004).

Originally posted here:
The next health breakthrough: Where will it come from?

I guess you can call the movie sci-comma-fi as opposed to sci-dash-fi, writer-director Mike Cahill said of his new film, I Origins, which continues his exploration of science as an engine for emotional storytelling. Building from ideas involving iris biometrics eyes as a unique identifier Cahills new film exists at the intersection of the headier (some might say trippier) aspects of modern science with all-too-human issues of identity, spirituality and love.

In the film, Dr. Ian Gray (Michael Pitt) is a scientist determined to give sightless worms the ability to see, jump-starting the process of evolution and thereby disproving the existence of God or intelligent design. While working intensely with his assistant-turned-lab-partner Karen (Brit Marling),his head and heart are turned by Sofi (Astrid Berges-Frisbey), a bohemian free-spirit. A few years later, Ian is with Karen, committed to each other and their work. Then a database of human eyes turns up a match to Sophie somewhere in India a seeming impossibility that implies some divine intervention. Ian goes to India to find those mystery eyes.

As an artist, youre trying to transmit emotions to an audience, and the landscape, the frontiers, discovered by science are new lands to tell new stories in, said Cahill of the connection he sees between science and storytelling.

The film opened last weekend in Los Angeles and New York and will be platforming to more cities. As part of theL.A. Times Indie Focus Screening Series, Cahill, Pitt and Marling appeared for a Q&A after a showing of I Origins.

In the freewheeling conversation, the trio spoke of the creative process behind the film. Cahill recalled photographing exactly 273 pairs of eyes for the film its all on a hard drive, he said of the specific count while also noting more than 200 visual effects shots are in the film.

Marling and Pitt recounted how the trio went to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to spend time with researchers there, learning the basics of working in a laboratory.

I dropped somebodys thesis in a petri dish, and it shattered, Marling said. We broke some hearts at Johns Hopkins.

Joked Pitt: I saw his heart shatter. She took like seven years of his life.

But for a good cause. It was a good movie, right? countered Marling.

Marling and Cahill previously collaborated on Another Earth, directed by Cahill and co-written by the pair. That film supposed that a parallel planet just like ours existed elsewhere in the universe, an offshoot of the scientific ideas known as string theory.

See the rest here:
Mike Cahill, Brit Marling and Michael Pitt on science of 'I Origins'

Title - New Dimensions of Yoga; Author - Osho; Publisher - Penguin Ananda; Pages - 200; Price - Rs.299.

Title - Nowhere To Go But In; Author - Osho; Publisher - Penguin Ananda; Pages - 429; Price - Rs.499.

As he travelled across India in the 1960s speaking against politicians and institutionalised religion, Chandra Mohan Jain (born 1931) came to be known as Acharya Rajneesh and, later, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. He was one of the most controversial among Indian mystics and spiritual teachers. He accepted divinity but rejected god, angering many. (He called the Vedas and the Bible paper boats!)

The sprawling ashram Rajneesh set up in 1974 in Pune attracted hordes of foreigners as well as Indians but soon became notorious for its permissive climate, leading many to dub him a "sex guru". With tensions mounting vis-a-vis Pune residents and the Indian government, Rajneesh left for the U.S. where he set up a commune at Oregon in 1981.

But conflicts developed there too, both with the locals and the American authorities. The commune collapsed in 1985, Rajneesh was arrested after he admitted to crimes committed by his followers, and was deported. With no country ready to admit him, he returned to Pune, where he died in 1990.

Notwithstanding his notoriety, Rajneesh's teachings - he wrote hundreds of books and delivered hours of lectures - have commanded a huge following, their popularity seemingly soaring after his death. It is not clear if the two books under review are from unpublished question and answer sessions he had with his followers or have been published earlier.

Osho, as he became known, was a great votary of yoga and meditation and proud of their Indian roots. He himself believed strongly in Zen and meditative therapy. Underlining that yoga is a science and not a belief, Osho called the ancient Indian teaching "a systematic methodology of scientific experimentation in the search for the truth of life". He preached: "Meditation is a lifestyle, not an activity."

For all the criticism he faced, Osho was extremely well read and could talk on any subject with authority. His knowledge base was vast. In the volumes here, he dwells at length on body and mind, disease, death (a favourite subject for him), duality, sharing, family life, the Hindu mind, the Quran, mantras, godliness, sex and celibacy, and more.

One may not agree with everything Rajneesh says. That of course goes for any spiritual guru. Nevertheless, both books make for great reading, more so for those interested in spirituality or Osho.

(21.07.2014 - M.R. Narayan Swamy is Executive Editor at IANS. He can be reached on narayan.swamy@ians.in. The views expressed are personal.)

Continued here:
Osho on yoga and meditation (Book Review)

Wikimedia

Deepak Chopra

Leading alternative medicine advocate and physician, Deepak Chopra is offering $1 million to atheists who can define how human beings form ideas.

Chopra said the offer is not a joke, and he is looking for a scientific explanation of how an independent thought is formed.

"I'm revisiting my million dollar challenge to the 'Non-Amazing Randi' and his tribe of militant, new atheists," Chopra said in a YouTubevideo posted on Monday. Atheist and scientific skeptic James Randi is also known as "The Amazing Randi."

"Apparently my last offer my last million dollar challenge was a little intellectually challenging to the Non-Amazing Randi, and also to [famed evolutionary biologist and atheist] Richard Dawkins, and many others," Chopra continued. "So I'm revisiting it, and making it simpler."

His firstmillion dollar challenge, issued last month, offered the bounty to "any skeptic who could prove how electrochemical activity in the brain produces the appearance of a three-dimensional world," and was in response to the James Randi Educational Foundation's "One Million Dollar Paranomal Challenge."

Randi's challenge offers one million dollars to anyone who can demonstrate a paranormal ability, such as being psychic. Over 1,000 people have accepted the challenge since it was first issued in 1964, but none have succeeded.

Chopra's new challengespecifically names Randi, Dawkins, and atheist scientist and philosopher Daniel Dennett as proposed challengers. The contest is to find "the biological basis of first-person experience."

"I'll even make it more simple," Chopra said. "Can you offer a scientific understanding for the biological basis of an idea? A thought?

Continued here:
Deepak Chopra offers $1 million to atheists who can explain how a thought is formed [Video]

TIME Entertainment movies Why Movies Rely on Science to Get to Spirituality Top: I Origins, Bottom: Lucy Top: Fox Searchlight; Bottom: Universal Pictures I Origins and Lucy both use science to get to even deeper subjects

In 1985, the famous Afghan Girl photograph appeared on the cover of National Geographic. Her eyes captivated the world, but even the photographer, Steve McCurry, didnt know her name. Nearly two decades later, the magazine announced that they had made a discovery: they knew her name, and they were sure. The womans identity had been confirmed by comparing a scan of the eyes in the photograph to an iris scan of her grown-up self; irises are as unique as fingerprints, and a print can be taken from a high-resolution photograph if the eye in question is not available.

I thought this was a really beautiful story, says filmmaker Mike Cahill, best known for Another Earth. It felt like a great place to have the conversation between science and spirituality.

He liked the story so much that it became the inspiration behind his new movie, I Origins, in theaters today. Its a trippy tale of iris scans, love, genetics and though Cahill was extremely careful never to say the word during the movie, so that viewers could draw their own conclusions the possibility of reincarnation. In that, its an example of the way that movies can use science to get at the questions their creators care about.

And its not alone: Lucy, arriving in theaters next week, on July 25, takes a similar tack. Lucy, from writer/director Luc Besson, is an action-packed fable about a woman, played by Scarlett Johansson, who is, due to a series of unfortunate circumstances and a mysterious drug, able to harness the full power of her brain. Bessons film was also born of a real-life interaction, a conversation with a young scientist he happened to sit next to at a dinner party. Besson says that he had always wanted to do a film about the concept of intelligence and that this was his chance; he could use some of the ideas from the conversation about the way cells work to say what he wanted to say about how knowledge is power.

I like this combination, when the science leads to beauty or art or philosophy, Besson tells TIME. Its something very unique and very beautiful.

But where Cahill and Besson differ is in just how much actual science has to be in the scientific part.

Cahill stresses that the science of I Origins is all fact-based, from the particular genes mentioned to the international uses of iris biometrics to, he says, the theoretical possibility that we may have senses not yet detectable. He also wanted his scientist characters to be accurate representations, so he consulted with his brother, a molecular biologist, and brought the cast down to his brothers lab at Johns Hopkins to do character research. Bessons starting point, meanwhile, is famously nonfactual: the idea that humans walk around with 90% of their brains going unused so infuriates some neuroscience fans that theyve sworn off the movie preemptively. But, though Besson says he did a lot of research before starting, hes less concerned about those details. For him, the scientific part is less about facts than it is about a grounding in reality. For example, he objects to the characterization of Lucy, his heroine, as having super-strength or super powers; instead, he sees the film as a meditation on what might be possible if a person could make her mind and body do exactly what she wished. Staying away from a superhero-esque way of seeing it helps the movie make a point about something real, says Besson, who adds that at this point in his life hes too old to make an action movie that doesnt have a deeper meaning.

Half of the things in the film are true. The other half is not true. But if you mix everything together, everything looks real, he says. Its funny because today everybody knows that movies are fake, but in a way were in such a crisis that everyone is looking for a little piece of truth in it. Politicians are supposed to tell the truth and theyre lying all day long. Films are supposed to be fake and sometimes you get some truth.

That relationship between fact and fiction explains why, even though Besson and Cahill dont feel the same way about how factual their facts have to be, they both use science-y concepts to get at something that couldnt be examined in a lab. For Cahill, it was that mysteriously romantic feeling of looking in someones eyes and feeling like youve known her forever. For Besson, it was the more theoretical question of what a person who can know everything should do with that power. For both, it was the idea that human beings may be capable of more than we know. Thats an end goal that may easier for audiences to swallow if it comes from a world that feels like it might be real but, for Cahill and Besson, that doesnt make it any less fantastic.

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Why Movies Rely on Science to Get to Spirituality

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Deepak Chopra

Leading alternative medicine advocate and physician, Deepak Chopra is offering $1 million to atheists who can define how human beings form ideas.

Chopra said the offer is not a joke, and he is looking for a scientific explanation of how an independent thought is formed.

"I'm revisiting my million dollar challenge to the 'Non-Amazing Randi' and his tribe of militant, new atheists," Chopra said in a YouTubevideo posted on Monday. Atheist and scientific skeptic James Randi is also known as "The Amazing Randi."

"Apparently my last offer my last million dollar challenge was a little intellectually challenging to the Non-Amazing Randi, and also to [famed evolutionary biologist and atheist] Richard Dawkins, and many others," Chopra continued. "So I'm revisiting it, and making it simpler."

His firstmillion dollar challenge, issued last month, offered the bounty to "any skeptic who could prove how electrochemical activity in the brain produces the appearance of a three-dimensional world," and was in response to the James Randi Educational Foundation's "One Million Dollar Paranomal Challenge."

Randi's challenge offers one million dollars to anyone who can demonstrate a paranormal ability, such as being psychic. Over 1,000 people have accepted the challenge since it was first issued in 1964, but none have succeeded.

Chopra's new challengespecifically names Randi, Dawkins, and atheist scientist and philosopher Daniel Dennett as proposed challengers. The contest is to find "the biological basis of first-person experience."

"I'll even make it more simple," Chopra said. "Can you offer a scientific understanding for the biological basis of an idea? A thought?

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Deepak Chopra offers $1 million to atheists who can explain how a thought is formed