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Archive for the ‘Scientific Spirituality’ Category

Michio Kaku – Is God a Mathematician – Video

Posted: February 8, 2015 at 12:45 am


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Michio Kaku - Is God a Mathematician

By: Scientific Spirituality

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Michio Kaku - Is God a Mathematician - Video

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February 8th, 2015 at 12:45 am

Morning Star :: Victorian values return

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Londons Guildhall Art Gallery has just carried out a radical rehang of its Victorian collection. Its principal curator Julia Dudkiewicz explains why it reveals some striking connections between past and present

HOW is historic art of relevance to lives in the 21st century? What do Victorian pictures have to offer on contemporary social, economic and even existential issues?

When I was given the chance to rehang the Guildhall Art Gallery in the heart of the City of London, it became clear we would have to tackle these questions.

Art on the walls in the Square Mile in the public Guildhall complex needs to stand up to tough scrutiny but, more than that, it also needs to help open peoples minds as well as providing aesthetic satisfaction and historical authenticity.

Our collections centrepieces are the late Victorians and the amazing works we have in the Guildhall Art Gallery demonstrate in vibrant and exciting detail how the fine arts fundamentally changed in the 19th century.

Our modern forebears the Victorians were, like us, living through technological and social upheaval and artists turned to the reality of modern life as a main inspiration, departing from the long-standing tradition of representing scenes from history, mythology and the Bible.

So when we set about the first rehang since the gallery opened in 1999 we focused on everyday subjects such as work, leisure, love and the home, as well as beauty and image, faith and imagination.

Using these themes we aim to actively engage 21st-century visitors and challenge preconceptions about Victorian art being dated. To do so we changed 70 per cent of the roster of paintings, bringing many out of store.

The canvases highlight phenomena that form an integral part of life today, which many would not think originated in Victorian times. Examples are the concept of leisure and outdoor recreation, compulsory education, affordable fashion and home decoration or the advent of office work and clerical professions.

The Victorian period was dominated by the previous industrial revolution which started in Britain around 1760 and continued until the 1840s, making it then the strongest economy in the world. This particular revolution marked the transition to new and more efficient manufacturing processes from manual labour to machine production relying on water and steam power.

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Morning Star :: Victorian values return

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February 8th, 2015 at 12:45 am

When Superintelligent AI Arrives, Will Religions Try to Convert It?

Posted: February 5, 2015 at 4:51 am


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Like it or not, we are nearing the age of humans creating autonomous, self-aware super intelligences. Those intelligences will be part of our culture, and we will inevitably try to control AI and teach it our ways, for better or worse.

AI with intelligence equal to or beyond human beings is often referred to as "strong AI" or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Experts disagree as to when such an intelligence will arrive into the world, but many are betting it will happen sometime in the next two decades. The idea of a thinking machine being able to rival our own intellectin fact, one that could quickly become far smarter than usis both a reason for serious concern and a reason to cheer about what scientific advances it might teach us. Those worries and benefits have not escaped religious.

Some faith-bound Americans want to make sure any superintelligence we create knows about God. And if you think the idea of preaching God to autonomous machines sounds crazy, you may be overlooking key statistics of U.S. demographics: roughly 75 percent of adult Americans identify themselves as some denomination of Christianity. In the U.S. Congress, 92 percent of our highest politicians belong to a Christian faith.

As artificial intelligence advances, religious questions and concerns globally are bound to come up, and they're starting too: Some theologians and futurists are already considering whether AI can also know God.

"I don't see Christ's redemption limited to human beings," Reverend Dr. Christopher J. Benek told me in a recent interview. Benek is an Associate Pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church in Florida and holds masters degrees in divinity and theology from Princeton University.

"It's redemption to all of creation, even AI," he said. "If AI is autonomous, then we have should encourage it to participate in Christ's redemptive purposes in the world."

One of the key mandates of Christianity is to spread the Gospel and get nonbelievers to accept that Jesus Christ died for the world's sins. Whether AI has any sins, or whether it can and should be saved at all may end up being a bizarre but important question believers face in the 21st century. Even Pope Francis recently sounded off on the possibility of aliens being converted when he affirmed that the Holy Spirit blows where it will.

The metaphysical questions surrounding faith and AI are like tumbling down Alice's rabbit hole. Does AI have a soul? Can it be saved? There is one school of thought that figures, if humans can be forgiven for our sins, why not superintelligences with human qualities? "The real question is whether humans are able to be savedif so, then there is no reason why thinking and feeling AIs shouldn't be able to be saved. Once human-like AI exist, they will be persons just like us," futurist Giulio Prisco, founder of the transhumanist Turing Church, told me in an email.

But there is an opposing school of thought that insists that AI is a machine and therefore doesn't have a soul. In Think Christian, scientist and Christian scribe Dr. Jason E. Summers writes, "Christians often reject Strong AI on the theological ground of the special anthropological status of human beings as the bearers of Imago Dei." Imago Dei is Latin for the Christian concept that humans were created in the image of God.

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When Superintelligent AI Arrives, Will Religions Try to Convert It?

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February 5th, 2015 at 4:51 am

Dr. Kofi Dompere On Nkrumahs Scientific Thinking 9

Posted: January 31, 2015 at 1:54 am


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Feature Article of Saturday, 31 January 2015

Columnist: Kwarteng, Francis

On the topic of the utility of reading to personal growth, intellectual development, moral refinement, and development economics, K.B. Asante recalls of Nkrumah, of his reading habits, writing accordingly: He was an avid reader and enjoyed the company of intellectuals and men of ideas, especially those whose views were similar to his own. Nkrumah was therefore aware of the trends of development economics (See Asantes essay Nkrumah and State Enterprises). This type of constructive collaboration is what we previously referred to as spatial, an interactive configuration that has contributed to the success of the so-called Rwandan Model (Rwandan Economic Miracle, or Rwandan Experiment) as well as to the praxis of Kagames enlightenment and knowledgeability about development questions, innovative strategies for political maneuverability of his opponents, and intellectual cosmopolitanism.

The irony of Kagames exemplary reading posture, nonetheless, is that while Britain is Rwandas biggest donor, whose contributions to Rwandas GDP amounts to about 70%, Kagames intellectual and ideational sympathies lie with Singapore, not Britain, to which he looks for innovative praxes of development strategies, tactics of political pragmatism as it relates to the particularity of Rwandas recent history, and useful models of technocracy. In that case, then, the proposition of spatial constructive collaboration, experimental as it may be in its underpinnings of philosophical temperament, collaterally carries with it a portmanteau of implications for converting functional knowledge acquired through ones quality reading, travels, and strategic association with knowledgeable persons into intelligence. This process of conversion requires the operational variables of imagination, intuition, vision, and personal, or collective, initiative for effectuation of material success. It may also entail huge costs of emotional and physical exertion.

Accordingly as a matter of further emphasis, going back to one of our primordial remarks we should want to state categorically that, Prof. Domperes timely advice was in direct response to those Ghanaian university students and professors who had complained to him about the inability of some major ideas imported from the West to solve African problems, if effectively. This is a controversial supposition as a matter of principle. On the one hand not all of these questionable drab ideas are, in and of themselves, foreign in philosophical content or in cultural texture. Many of these ideas are actually originated in the partisan political manufactories of Ghanas winner-takes-all capitalism, a system largely borrowed idea from America and which a cross-section of the American electorate wants to see radically revised, somewhat molded on a standard potters wheel of Gandhian economics.

Proponents of Gandhian economics, not dissimilar to proponents of Nkrumahs mixed economy, the Nordic Model, Beijing Consensus (market socialism), or Keynesian economics, arguably prefer Keynesian economics to the classical model where, as in the latter case shadow forces purportedly regulate and steer supernatural engines of economic activities under oversights of theoretical designations of transcendental mystery and under jolts of revisional impenetrability, as though the greedy calculus of human intentions does not matter in the dynamics of market economy. The Chinese, who are under no illusions as to the realistic caliber of Adam Smiths invisible hand successfully shaping and directing economic activities, have realized the moral weaknesses of unfettered capitalism and, accordingly, restructured the theory and praxis of market economy to fit a model the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) calls socialist market economy, or socialist-oriented market economy in line with the political economy of Vietnam.

Either system falls under the rubric of state capitalism. It does mean, on the one hand, that state capitalism intrinsically provides adsorptive and absorptive capacity for the failures of unrestricted capitalism, and on the other hand against the shortcomings of human predictive power and greed. Among other things, the Asian Tigers did not blindly copy Western capitalism. Rather, they adapted Western capitalism to the particularities of their cultural, geographical, spiritual, material, and historical experiences, a path Nkrumah tried pursuing for the most part. Aside that, humanism or general concerns for the quality and dignity of human life are accommodated in the critical compartments of Gandhian economics! Nkrumahs mixed economy substantially shares a practical and theoretical overlap with the spirit of Gandhian economics.

What is more, teleology, human spirituality, preservation of human dignity, and community are subtle connotations or, even overt corollaries, of Gandhian economics as of Nkrumahs mixed economy. On the other hand state capitalism does not share an internecine habitation with individual, or collective, initiative as regards greed and destructive competitiveness of unfettered capitalism. State capitalism merely offers a tempering or moderating visible hand of corrective intrusiveness at the moment capitalism undergoes internal episodes of derailment and of haywire, as well as of creative and timely management oversight in regulatory mechanism. State capitalism can also run currently with the private sector and public or social ownership of the means of production. Unfortunately for Ghana today, the spate of corruption scandals, namely the winner-takes-all capitalism, bad judgment debts, lack of competitive tendering and procurement protocols, extreme partisan politics, weak institutions, bribery, lack of patriotism and of respect for laws, underdevelopment, cronyism and nepotism and ethnocentrism, technocratic blindness, kleptomania, and the like, rocking the state and the private sector renders any prospect for implementing genuine mixed economy in the contemporary dispensation of Ghanaian political economy gloomy.

It is worth mentioning that the predominant mode of political economies in the modern era is mixed economy or Keynesian economics.

The question we should all be thinking of is this: Which model of economic proposition fits the contemporary challenges of Africas political economy, of Ghanas especially, as capitalism has demonstrated debilitating instances of internal unsustainability in many a situation across the world? That is a standing inquiry our political economists, politicians, sociologists, political scientists, scholars, and policy makers are struggling with. Moreover, granted that state capitalism worked so well for Nkrumah at least, recalling that Nkrumahs state capitalism predated Chinas late 1970s economic reforms and sequent optimization of Chinas contemporary political economy, is there a rational argument to be made weighing the comparative strengths of state capitalism against unfettered capitalism, the latter of which Africas clueless leadership is vigorously pushing?

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Dr. Kofi Dompere On Nkrumahs Scientific Thinking 9

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January 31st, 2015 at 1:54 am

Spiritual-Path.com – Numerology. A guide to the science of …

Posted: January 30, 2015 at 2:48 am


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Numerology

Numerology is the study of numbers, and the occult manner in which they reflect certain aptitudes and character tendencies, as an integral part of the cosmic plan. Each letter has a numeric value that provides a related cosmic vibration. The sum of the numbers in your birth date and the sum of value derived from the letters in the name provide an interrelation of vibrations. These numbers show a great deal about character, purpose in life, what motivates, and where talents may lie. Experts in numerology use the numbers to determine the best time for major moves and activities in life. Numerology is used to decide when to invest, when to marry, when to travel, when to change jobs, or relocate.

Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician who lived from 569-470 B.C., is said by many to be the originator of much of what we call numerology today. The actual origins of numerology predate Pythagoras, the most popular being from the Hindu Vedas. In the twentieth century, the old science seems to magically reappear in the form of a series of books published from 1911-1917 by L. Dow Balliett and it was helped along in the 30's by Florence Campbell, and within the next few decades a wealth of literature was available to the public. Indeed, if you look at the past 90 years, it would seem that the science has moved very rapidly. But perhaps all of this was known at a much earlier time, and it was just hiding from us for a while.

What the Numbers Mean

Different numbers are considered to define different characteristics. Numbers can change for us throughout our lives but the numbers we were born with influence our character, behaviour, strengths and weaknesses. Below is a list of the most common interpretation of these characteristics:

Number 0 - Limitless, Unity, Nothingness, Boundless, Truth, Purity, Love, All, Alpha and Omega, Possibility, First Cause, Unmanifest, Breath of God, Unified Field, Source, Space, Consciousness, Cosmic Egg, God.

Number 1 - Beginning, New, Focused concentration, Goal-striving, Action, Independence, Originality, Courage, Invention, Leader, Self-reliant, Ambition, Pioneer, Will, Conscious Mind, Positive.

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January 30th, 2015 at 2:48 am

Science of Wholeness – Connect To Spirit Using Today’s …

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When we remove all of Earth's boundaries, we see only continents and lands that merge together. Nature is completely unaware of all the artificial designations and regions that governments create such as zip codes, cites, counties, states and nations. For example, birds migrate over vast distances sometimes crossing entire hemispheres of the planet. The wind, rain clouds and storms exhibit no sense whatsoever of the lines that separate countries and peoples. Earth's atmosphere is shared by all, and in no way can be sectioned off to various different lands, etc.

Imagine the entire planet without any of the geographic markings, countries, belts, regions, longitude and latitude lines. What we then perceive is the actual, underlying reality seen from space thousands of miles away: a cosmic blue marble with white flecks, multiple shades of blue, browns and greens floating in a boundless cosmic ocean.

Even nature has her own borders, such as the coast lines that mark the edges of continents and the circumferences of all islands. Also there is the border between night and day where the sun is either always rising or setting. The planet's immense terminator between night and day crosses all human created boundaries without the slightest hesitation.

All the "boundaries" of nature's elegance seems to mark only a vastly greater unity or design of wholeness, and therefore underlining a far greater purpose than any human or artificially created separation can ever achieve.

The removal of all artificial separations, artificial definitions, boundaries, barriers, etc. is like removing an illusory mask from a vision of wholeness so perfect and so complete, and so unique, it cannot be duplicated or perceived in any other way.

Consciousness can shift into any neighboring parallel universe that coresponds to its own state of being! Nothing ever actually changes except the perspective of consciousness within any of an infinite number of parallel universes (or Earths) according to the vibration of one's state of being. That is why Bashar states, "State of being matters, not the situation." What really happens is simply a change in perspective or location of one's consciousness in the five-dimensional realm of infinite possibilities. For example, while praying for world peace with the positive vibration of sincere faith and love, the perspective of that consciouness or individual praying will start to shift to a parallel Earth where there is in fact world peace. This process is just SIMPLE PHYSICS in action or an effect created by a change in the observer.

Jesus knew this fact quite well, He just used different words to describe it: "According to your faith be it unto you." (Matthew 9:29) And in the Old Testament someone wrote: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7) which clearly describes how consistently powerful throught really is.

What you end up seeing within your self is an amazing simplicity or oneness of consciousness. All borders, lines, designations and edges no longer exist in your visual field after you close your eyes. There may be patterns of energy and fields of color as afterimages gradually dissolve into subtler shades of darkness. Another amazing thing you might realize is that your inner vision has no actual edges to it!

However, you still may not be completely free of boundaries as long as your thoughts continue to dominate your consciousness. Therefore also try to remove all your thought boundaries and definitions as well. Your mind will also tend to create an afterimage of the world around you. Try to also eliminate those edges, directions and angles as well.

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Science of Wholeness - Connect To Spirit Using Today's ...

Written by grays

January 30th, 2015 at 2:48 am

Driven by Science, Humanism and Service, Dan Lowenstein Joins UCSF Leadership Team

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A charismatic high school biology teacher named Brian Biemuller and a trip to Bolivia 38 years ago as a health care volunteer convinced Dan Lowenstein of his direction in life.

The path was obvious: I wanted to become a doctor, Lowenstein, MD, said in a 2013 talk about his lifes story. The mixture of science and humanism, the opportunity to serve others in such a fundamental way, the rawness, the poignancy, the intensity all lined up to become my dream.

Lowenstein, professor and vice chair of the Department of Neurology, has been devoted to his dream ever since. His distinguished career encompasses teaching, research and patient care from his arrival to UCSF in 1987 as an aspiring pediatrics intern to his appointment on Thursday as executive vice chancellor and provost.

Our singular focus on excellence in all three elements of our mission is what defines the unique greatness of UCSF, and I will do everything I can to help UCSF remain a world leader in life science discovery and innovation.

For his wealth of experience and passion for UCSF, Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS, tapped the physician-scientist to be second-in-command at the nearly $5 billion enterprise, effective February 1. He succeeds Jeff Bluestone, PhD, who stepped down to devote more time leading diabetes research for which he is internationally renowned.

Lowenstein will lead UCSFs robust research enterprise, and its highly ranked academic program, consisting of four professional schools and Graduate Division. He will work in close collaboration with the Chancellor and the leadership team to develop and implement campus priorities and vision, including advancing precision medicine, maintaining UCSFs status as an international leader in health sciences education, and overseeing external partnerships and representing UCSFs best interests across the University of California system and at the UC Office of the President.

Dan exemplifies excellence in each of our mission areas research, education and patient care and has a deep love for our public mission."

Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS

Dan exemplifies excellence in each of our mission areas research, education and patient care and has a deep love for our public mission, Hawgood said. His values very much reflect those of UCSF, and I am very pleased that he will join me in leading this great University.

For Lowenstein, the decision to join Hawgoods new administration came easily: Quite simply, I love our community and I welcome this opportunity to work in this new capacity with the phenomenal people here.

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Driven by Science, Humanism and Service, Dan Lowenstein Joins UCSF Leadership Team

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January 30th, 2015 at 2:48 am

THINGS TO DO: Bald eagle and wildlife art show opens Feb. 1 at arts center

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Thursday

Thursday bingo at San Marco Catholic Church Parish Center, doors open 5:30 p.m., special prizes, free food, instant winners, Coach bag given away every Thursday, sponsored by San Marco Knights of Columbus through May 7. call 389-5633.

Daily guided canoe trips, paddle in the mangroves, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., learn about unique state parks history and nature, $30 per person, Friends of Collier-Seminole State Park, 20200 Tamiami Trail E., Naples. Reservations, 394-3397.

Mindful Meditation in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition meets Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. in the small chapel at St. Marks Episcopal Church, 1101 N. Collier Blvd. Call 272-1349.

Mah-Jongg at Mackle Park, every Thursday, 12:30-3:30 p.m. Call 642-0575.

Friday

Duplicate bridge every Friday at Mackle Park, 12:30-4 p.m., reservations required. Call Gwen, 394-0675, for available spaces.

Saturday

Carly Fiorina, former Republican U.S. Senate candidate who challenged Sen. Barbara Boxer, D- Calif., speaks Jan. 31, 6 p.m., Golisano Childrens Museum of Naples, sponsored in part by Caxambas Republican Club and Collier County Republican Executive Committee. RSVP to 732-0885 or at colliergop.org/cmon by Jan. 25.

Isles of Capris 28th annual All Island Yard Sale, starts 8 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31, things for sale and lots of food.

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THINGS TO DO: Bald eagle and wildlife art show opens Feb. 1 at arts center

Written by grays

January 30th, 2015 at 2:48 am

Is An Identical Copy Of You, You?

Posted: January 28, 2015 at 9:50 pm


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In the video below, Dr. Kenneth Hayworth, president and co-founder of the Brain Preservation Foundation, ponders the following possibility: Imagine that it would be possible to make an identical copy of yourself, including your memories and experiences. Is that copy of you, you? Meaning, if someone pointed a gun to your head, would you be comfortable dying, knowing that the other you, the copy, would still be alive?

Most of us would push the gun away, or hide, as quickly as possible. Hayworth, a senior scientist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus in Ashburn, Va., says that this instinctive reaction of preserving ourselves at all costs is what we are evolutionarily programmed to do. But should this make sense, now that a copy of you exists?

If being human means sharing the essential characteristic of having a consciousness, and if this consciousness is reproducible at least for the sake of argument we are all interconnected. Hayworth argues that even within this reductionist approach to consciousness in that it is reproducible from knowing how it springs from our brain's architecture and functionality there is a place for spirituality. Not out there, but through our interconnectedness and essential unity as a species. We may be far from such scientific achievements, but the ideas are worth debating. Would you let your copy live in your place?

Here is the video:

P.S.: I would not be comfortable dying for my "copy" for the simple reason that I find it impossible to construct an "identical" copy of myself. There are no such things as perfect measurements in science; there are always errors. As such, there won't be a perfect copy of ourselves, given the enormous amount of information required to achieve such a feat. As more information is extracted and stored, errors will pile up, unavoidably. So, a copy of you may be a good approximation of you, but it won't be a perfect you. Perfection is a guiding concept, not something that is achievable in reality.

Marcelo Gleiser is a theoretical physicist and cosmologist and professor of natural philosophy, physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College. He is the co-founder of 13.7, prolific author of papers and essays, and active promoter of science to the general public. His latest book is The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning. You can keep up with Marcelo on Facebook and Twitter: @mgleiser

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Is An Identical Copy Of You, You?

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January 28th, 2015 at 9:50 pm

See Indian marker trees documentary

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The premiere screening of the one hour documentary Mystery of the Trees will be presented in the sanctuary of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Family, 200 Griffith Road, Saturday, February 7, at 7 p.m. with reception following.

This first-ever glimpse into a part of Native American culture that has been mostly hidden from public knowledge is presented by the Mountain Stewards, a non-profit organization located in Jasper, who produced the film. The narration and participation of telling this story by Native

American actor Wes Studi (Dancing with Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, plus many other films) and interviews with tribal elders from the Cherokee, Muscogee-Creek, Comanche, Delaware, Ute, Osage, Quapaw and other tribes anchor the film

In a seven year journey, the Mountain Stewards, formed to build trails so that hikers could experience the beauty of the North Georgia mountains, moved from mere curiosity about oddly shaped trees they began to encounter to an in-depth research study of what many call Indian Marker Trees. In the best tradition of scientific exploration, probing the mystery first found in their own backyard raised many questions. As a result, in 2007, researchers from multiple states joined with the Mountain Stewards in exploring this fascinating but obscure story. As research continued, interviews with tribal elders provided glimpses into the understanding of the cultures which, after living close to nature for thousands of years, were almost destroyed.

The interviews with the elders not only resulted in a greater appreciation of the Indians use of trees but also instilled in the researchers a deeper respect for the spirituality and wisdom of those who were the first people on the land. It is hoped that the documentary will encourage the preservation of the story-telling trees as well as point the way to future areas of study about many other aspects of Indian culture that have been impacted.

The initial presentation of information on the Indian trees was offered in a book Mystery of the Trees published by the Mountain Stewards in December 2011 with a second printing in November 2012. The book offers an in-depth, world-wide look at the story of the trees. It can be purchased through the website at http://www.mysterytrees.org. Other information about the Mountain Stewards, a 501(c)(3) organization, can be found on its main web site, http://www.mountain stewards.org

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See Indian marker trees documentary

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January 28th, 2015 at 9:50 pm


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