By Train Take New Jersey Transit to Harriman, NY (with change over in Secaucus, NJ). Train Schedule. Then take a taxi to Ananda Ashram.

Local Taxi

Monroe Taxi 845.782.8141 Village Taxi 845.783.6112 Beam's Taxi 845.783.4444

BY CAR

From New York City: Take George Washington Bridge (45 miles from Ananda Ashram), go north on Palisades Parkway. Take exit 18 (on left) onto Rte 6 going west. Continue to Suffern/Newburgh exit. At the end of ramp turn left onto South 17. See Local Directions.

Or, go North on NY State Thruway (I-87 N) to Exit 16, Harriman. Take first right after toll booth, following the sign to Harriman, and at the end of ramp turn left onto South 17. See Local Directions.

From New Jersey: North on Rte. 17 to 17M (near Harriman, NY). After 1/2 mile, turn left at traffic light (at gas station) onto Harriman Heights Road. Continue with Local Directions.

From the North South on NY State Thruway (I-87) to Exit 16, Harriman. Take first right after toll booth following the sign to Harriman. At the end of ramp turn left onto South 17. See Local Directions.

From the East West on I-84; south on NY State Thruway ( I-87) to Exit 16, Harriman. Take first right after toll booth, following the sign to Harriman. At the end of ramp turn left onto South 17. See Local Directions.

From the West East on I-84 or Rte. 6, then east on Rte. 17 & 6 to Exit 131. Turn right onto South 17 at light. See Local Directions.

Local Directions South on Rte. 17. Drive approximately 1/2 mile, go under railway overpass (second overpass) and take immediate right onto Grove Street. Drive straight through village of Harriman to traffic light at gas station and Rte 17M. Go straight ahead, up the hill, continuing on Harriman Heights Road for 1.3 miles, past Sapphire Elementary School on your right. Take next left onto Sapphire Road. Turn into second driveway on left, Ananda Ashram's main entrance. Ahead is our Main House and reception.

By Plane Several airlines go to Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, NY, 30 minutes from Ananda Ashram. (No public transportation is available to and from the airport.)

From LaGuardia and JF Kennedy Airports, take Express Bus to Manhattan: to Port Authority for Short Line Bus to Monroe, NY, or to Penn Station for NJ Transit train to Harriman, NY.

From Newark Int'l Airport, take NJ Transit train to Harriman, NY.

Ananda Ashram / Yoga Society of New York: 13 Sapphire Road, Monroe NY 10950 phone: 845.782.5575

email: ananda@anandaashram.org

Visit link:
Travel Directions | Ananda Ashram

Anandaashram Regular Weekend Schedule Friday

Ananda Ashram New York weekend yoga package include room and board. Ananda Ashram Monroe has three guesthouses that provides accommodation to their guests, participants, and/or students. These three guesthouses provide simple rooms with approximately fifty beds. Dormitories have bunk beds, accommodating up to six people per room. Semiprivate rooms have two beds. Bathrooms are shared.

Anandaashram serves lacto-vegetarian and vegan meals three times daily in a variety of cuisines, incorporating fresh and natural foods wherever possible. In season, much of the produce is supplied by the Ashram's bio-dynamic garden. Water comes directly from Ananda Ashram Monroes spring-fed wells.

4 p.m.

Before 2 p.m.

Ground transportation

Rates vary depending on the peak and off peak season. Peak season is on May 1 to October 31. Off peak season is from November 1 to April 30.

Bring comfortable clothing for meditation and yoga or other exercise, warm clothing and firm shoes for outdoors, flashlight, alarm clock, toiletries, notebook and a mat or blanket for outdoor use. Also bring an extra towel if you require more than one per week. We do supply yoga mats and yoga props for use in our classes.

Possession or use of alcohol and illegal drugs is not permitted on the Ananda Ashram property. Please refrain from bringing and/or consuming non-vegetarian food. Additional policies and regulations are communicated upon arrival. (You may inquire beforehand when calling to reserve your room.)

For more information ask your questions directly to Ananda Ashram who will be happy to assist you. Simply click on the Contact Organizer button to send a message.

Reservations are accepted by phone only. Call as early as possible, especially if you prefer a semiprivate room.

A 50 USD non-refundable, non-transferable deposit on guest rooms, per person, is due at the time of reservation.

Balance is due upon arrival. If payment has not been received in the office before departure, we will charge your card accordingly.

Credit card

United States Dollar

Overnight accommodations for families with children may be limited. Please call to inquire and reserve in advance. Parents are fully responsible for supervising their children at all times. (Daycare is not available.)

No pets are to be brought to Ananda Ashram New York.

10% Discount for students, seniors & couples (may not apply for certain retreats)

Special Student Discount

Children under 14, half of parent's rate / under 3 no charge

For more information please contact the organizer by clicking the contact organizer button.

Review by Kristina from US:

9 out of 10

"I came to Ananda Ashram with uncertain aims but felt drawn to a calm, yoga filled weekend. I walked away wholly transformed and plan to return again. It is a very "vibey" place. You can make your own experience and stay as busy as you like. there is a general weekend schedule + special workshops that cost extra. I'm not a vegetarian but enjoyed going veg for the weekend.

Tips:

I'd highly suggest taking a walk around the lake - it's beautiful! I brought an additional pillow after reading the ones they had were bad. They were fine but I appreciated having an extra.

Accommodations were clean and simple. I did not come here for a "luxury" yoga retreat. The simplicity of it all paired well with the general mind clearing the weekend provided.

I came alone and would recommend that for other first timers. Great way to get out of your comfort zone and detach. People were friendly and I left with new friends."

June 6, 2015. BookYogaRetreats website, edited

Review by a Traveler from USA:

8 out of 10

If you are just looking for a place to get some peace and quiet, this is the spot for you! The living quarters are a little cramped (no single rooms), but the property is beautiful, and the staff is very nice and accommodating.

May 26, 2016. BookYogaRetreats website, edited

Review by Emeline Nsingi Nkosi from UK:

7 out of 10

"I really enjoyed my stay at Ananda Ashram and I am happy to give feedback and writer a review. I arrived at Ananda in the evening after the reception had closed and was extremely grateful to have a pack left out with instructions although I feel instructions on times of meditation would have also helped as I hadnt realised that I arrived during a meditation time and therefore was not conscientious of this.

The Ashram is beautiful and amazing and I would highly recommend all of the yoga classes, I made sure I went to everything to make my experience worth while but you are welcome and encouraged to follow your own journey, if you do not want to participate you are more than welcome to do your own thing. I fell in love with the food, it was healthy and nutritious.

Plenty of vegetables, you could add Maca and seeds to your food and I slightly over ate because of this, make sure you dont before a yoga class. All in all I would love to re-visit the Ashram, this time in the spring or summer, it was beautiful under snow and calming but I can only imagine the rejuvenation of the spring.

March 25, 2014. BookYogaRetreats, edited

Review by Susanna C. from Manhattan, NY:

9 out of 10

"I spent Labor Day weekend here for their regular retreat. Excellent yoga classes, lovely grounds around a pretty lake and delicious vegetarian food were the highlights. Meditation was good but I am not a fan of the fire ceremony due to the fumes.

We stayed in a semiprivate room, which was quiet the first night but the next day, two toddlers arrived with their mothers, who did not respect the quiet rules and let their kids run down the halls and make noise early in the morning. Now that summer is over, it should be quieter but I do recommend that you ask if young children will be there if you book a semiprivate room as your stay may not be altogether peaceful. "

September 5, 2012. Yelp website, edited

Review by a traveler from Albany, NY:

10 out of 10

"I've been practicing yoga and meditation for 25 years and have had the good fortune to travel to ashrams around the world. This ashram is the real thing. Yoga in all of its limbs and levels is taught and practiced by seasoned practitioners. Outstanding asanas, Sanskrit classes, Truly transformative."

May 2, 2012. Trip Advisor website, edited

Review by a traveler from Los Angeles, California:

10 out of 10

"Spiritual seekers can find India's true, tried depth only an hour outside of New York. Those who are looking for a cheap hotel or a spa should look elsewhere. Ananda is an Ashram - which means a spiritual retreat center. If anyone is on any sort of spiritual path, this means looking deep into your self - including low tolerance of amenities that are not at all spa-like, but heavenly as in one with nature. yes, you will share dorm space, yes, you might have to camp and yes, there will be lots of people there with you whom you may or may not like. Spiritual centers are about seeing one's own judgments, criticisms and constantly wavering mind stuff in the light of a Guru's wisdom. If you want the Guru's light, you've got to sit next to the fire. And the fire is at Ananda Ashram."

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3 Days Yoga Weekend in Ananda Ashram, New York ...

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B&E, since i make baseless accusations on the dark ages and christians slaughtering thousands in the name of god. I will let history talk for me: Listed are only events that solely occurred on command of church authorities or were committed in the name of Christianity. (List incomplete)

Ancient Pagans As soon as Christianity was legal (315), more and more pagan temples were destroyed by Christian mob. Pagan priests were killed. Between 315 and 6th century thousands of pagan believers were slain. Examples of destroyed Temples: the Sanctuary of Aesculap in Aegaea, the Temple of Aphrodite in Golgatha, Aphaka in Lebanon, the Heliopolis. Christian priests such as Mark of Arethusa or Cyrill of Heliopolis were famous as temple destroyer. [DA468] Pagan services became punishable by death in 356. [DA468] Christian Emperor Theodosius (408-450) even had children executed, because they had been playing with remains of pagan statues. [DA469] According to Christian chroniclers he followed meticulously all Christian teachings In 6th century pagans were declared void of all rights. In the early fourth century the philosopher Sopatros was executed on demand of Christian authorities. [DA466] The world famous female philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria was torn to pieces with glass fragments by a hysterical Christian mob led by a Christian minister named Peter, in a church, in 415. [DO19-25]

Mission Emperor Karl (Charlemagne) in 782 had 4500 Saxons, unwilling to convert to Christianity, beheaded. [DO30] Peasants of Steding (Germany) unwilling to pay suffocating church taxes: between 5,000 and 11,000 men, women and children slain 5/27/1234 near Altenesch/Germany. [WW223] Battle of Belgrad 1456: 80,000 Turks slaughtered. [DO235] 15th century Poland: 1019 churches and 17987 villages plundered by Knights of the Order. Victims unknown. [DO30] 16th and 17th century Ireland. English troops pacified and civilized Ireland, where only Gaelic wild Irish, unreasonable beasts lived without any knowledge of God or good manners, in common of their goods, cattle, women, children and every other thing. One of the more successful soldiers, a certain Humphrey Gilbert, half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, ordered that the heddes of all those (of what sort soever thei were) which were killed in the daie, should be cutte off from their bodies and should bee laied on the ground by eche side of the waie, which effort to civilize the Irish indeed caused greate terrour to the people when thei sawe the heddes of their dedde fathers, brothers, children, kinsfolke, and freinds on the grounde. Tens of thousands of Gaelic Irish fell victim to the carnage. [SH99, 225]

Crusades (1095-1291) First Crusade: 1095 on command of pope Urban II. [WW11-41] Semlin/Hungary 6/24/96 thousands slain. Wieselburg/Hungary 6/12/96 thousands. [WW23] 9/9/96-9/26/96 Nikaia, Xerigordon (then turkish), thousands respectively. [WW25-27] Until Jan 1098 a total of 40 capital cities and 200 castles conquered (number of slain unknown) [WW30] after 6/3/98 Antiochia (then turkish) conquered, between 10,000 and 60,000 slain. 6/28/98 100,000 Turks (incl. women & children) killed. [WW32-35] Here the Christians did no other harm to the women found in [the enemys] tentssave that they ran their lances through their bellies, according to Christian chronicler Fulcher of Chartres. [EC60] Marra (Maraat an-numan) 12/11/98 thousands killed. Because of the subsequent famine the already stinking corpses of the enemies were eaten by the Christians said chronicler Albert Aquensis. [WW36] Jerusalem conquered 7/15/1099 more than 60,000 victims (jewish, muslim, men, women, children). [WW37-40] (In the words of one witness: there [in front of Solomons temple] was such a carnage that our people were wading ankle-deep in the blood of our foes, and after that happily and crying for joy our people marched to our Saviours tomb, to honour it and to pay off our debt of gratitude) The Archbishop of Tyre, eye-witness, wrote: It was impossible to look upon the vast numbers of the slain without horror; everywhere lay fragments of human bodies, and the very ground was covered with the blood of the slain. It was not alone the spectacle of headless bodies and mutilated limbs strewn in all directions that roused the horror of all who looked upon them. Still more dreadful was it to gaze upon the victors themselves, dripping with blood from head to foot, an ominous sight which brought terror to all who met them. It is reported that within the Temple enclosure alone about ten thousand infidels perished. [TG79] Christian chronicler Eckehard of Aura noted that even the following summer in all of palestine the air was polluted by the stench of decomposition. One million victims of the first crusade alone. [WW41] Battle of Askalon, 8/12/1099. 200,000 heathens slaughtered in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. [WW45] Fourth crusade: 4/12/1204 Constantinople sacked, number of victims unknown, numerous thousands, many of them Christian. [WW141-148] Rest of Crusades in less detail: until the fall of Akkon 1291 probably 20 million victims (in the Holy land and Arab/Turkish areas alone). [WW224] Note: All figures according to contemporary (Christian) chroniclers.

Heretics Already in 385 C.E. the first Christians, the Spanish Priscillianus and six followers, were beheaded for heresy in Trier/Germany [DO26] Manichaean heresy: a crypto-Christian sect decent enough to practice birth control (and thus not as irresponsible as faithful Catholics) was exterminated in huge campaigns all over the Roman empire between 372 C.E. and 444 C.E. Numerous thousands of victims. [NC] Albigensians: the first Crusade intended to slay other Christians. [DO29] The Albigensiansviewed themselves as good Christians, but would not accept roman Catholic rule, and taxes, and prohibition of birth control. [NC] Begin of violence: on command of pope Innocent III (greatest single pre-nazi mass murderer) in 1209. Bezirs (today France) 7/22/1209 destroyed, all the inhabitants were slaughtered. Victims (including Catholics refusing to turn over their heretic neighbours and friends) 20,000-70,000. [WW179-181] Carcassonne 8/15/1209, thousands slain. Other cities followed. [WW181] subsequent 20 years of war until nearly all Cathars (probably half the population of the Languedoc, today southern France) were exterminated. [WW183] After the war ended (1229) the Inquisition was founded 1232 to search and destroy surviving/hiding heretics. Last Cathars burned at the stake 1324. [WW183] Estimated one million victims (cathar heresy alone), [WW183] Other heresies: Waldensians, Paulikians, Runcarians, Josephites, and many others. Most of these sects exterminated, (I believe some Waldensians live today, yet they had to endure 600 years of persecution) I estimate at least hundred thousand victims (including the Spanish inquisition but excluding victims in the New World). Spanish Inquisitor Torquemada alone allegedly responsible for 10,220 burnings. [DO28] John Huss, a critic of papal infallibility and indulgences, was burned at the stake in 1415. [LI475-522] University professor B.Hubmaier burned at the stake 1538 in Vienna. [DO59] Giordano Bruno, Dominican monk, after having been incarcerated for seven years, was burned at the stake for heresy on the Campo dei Fiori (Rome) on 2/17/1600.

Witches from the beginning of Christianity to 1484 probably more than several thousand. in the era of witch hunting (1484-1750) according to modern scholars several hundred thousand (about 80% female) burned at the stake or hanged. [WV] incomplete list of documented cases: The Burning of Witches A Chronicle of the Burning Times. Religious Wars

15th century: Crusades against Hussites, thousands slain. [DO30] 1538 pope Paul III declared Crusade against apostate England and all English as slaves of Church (fortunately had not power to go into action). [DO31] 1568 Spanish Inquisition Tribunal ordered extermination of 3 million rebels in (then Spanish) Netherlands. Thousands were actually slain. [DO31] 1572 In France about 20,000 Huguenots were killed on command of pope Pius V. Until 17th century 200,000 flee. [DO31] 17th century: Catholics slay Gaspard de Coligny, a Protestant leader. After murdering him, the Catholic mob mutilated his body, cutting off his head, his hands, and his genitals and then dumped him into the river [but] then, deciding that it was not worthy of being food for the fish, they hauled it out again [ and] dragged what was left to the gallows of Montfaulcon, to be meat and carrion for maggots and crows. [SH191] 17th century: Catholics sack the city of Magdeburg/Germany: roughly 30,000 Protestants were slain. In a single church fifty women were found beheaded, reported poet Friedrich Schiller, and infants still sucking the breasts of their lifeless mothers. [SH191] 17th century 30 years war (Catholic vs. Protestant): at least 40% of population decimated, mostly in Germany. [DO31-32] Jews

Already in the 4th and 5th centuries synagogues were burned by Christians. Number of Jews slain unknown. In the middle of the fourth century the first synagogue was destroyed on command of bishop Innocentius of Dertona in Northern Italy. The first synagogue known to have been burned down was near the river Euphrat, on command of the bishop of Kallinikon in the year 388. [DA450] 17. Council of Toledo 694: Jews were enslaved, their property confiscated, and their children forcibly baptized. [DA454] The Bishop of Limoges (France) in 1010 had the cities Jews, who would not convert to Christianity, expelled or killed. [DA453] First Crusade: Thousands of Jews slaughtered 1096, maybe 12.000 total. Places: Worms 5/18/1096, Mainz 5/27/1096 (1100 persons), Cologne, Neuss, Altenahr, Wevelinghoven, Xanten, Moers, Dortmund, Kerpen, Trier, Metz, Regensburg, Prag and others (All locations Germany except Metz/France, Prag/Czech) [EJ] Second Crusade: 1147. Several hundred Jews were slain in Ham, Sully, Carentan, and Rameru (all locations in France). [WW57] Third Crusade: English Jewish communities sacked 1189/90. [DO40] Fulda/Germany 1235: 34 Jewish men and women slain. [DO41] 1257, 1267: Jewish communities of London, Canterbury, Northampton, Lincoln, Cambridge, and others exterminated. [DO41] 1290 in Bohemian (Poland) allegedly 10,000 Jews killed. [DO41] 1337 Starting in Deggendorf/Germany a Jew-killing craze reaches 51 towns in Bavaria, Austria, Poland. [DO41] 1348 All Jews of Basel/Switzerland and Strasbourg/France (two thousand) burned. [DO41] 1349 In more than 350 towns in Germany all Jews murdered, mostly burned alive (in this one year more Jews were killed than Christians in 200 years of ancient Roman persecution of Christians). [DO42] 1389 In Prag 3,000 Jews were slaughtered. [DO42] 1391 Sevilles Jews killed (Archbishop Martinez leading). 4,000 were slain, 25,000 sold as slaves. [DA454] Their identification was made easy by the brightly colored badges of shame that all jews above the age of ten had been forced to wear. 1492: In the year Columbus set sail to conquer a New World, more than 150,000 Jews were expelled from Spain, many died on their way: 6/30/1492. [MM470-476] 1648 Chmielnitzki massacres: In Poland about 200,000 Jews were slain. [DO43] (I feel sick ) this goes on and on, century after century, right into the kilns of Auschwitz.

Native Peoples

Beginning with Columbus (a former slave trader and would-be Holy Crusader) the conquest of the New World began, as usual understood as a means to propagate Christianity. Within hours of landfall on the first inhabited island he encountered in the Caribbean, Columbus seized and carried off six native people who, he said, ought to be good servants [and] would easily be made Christians, because it seemed to me that they belonged to no religion. [SH200] While Columbus described the Indians as idolators and slaves, as many as [the Crown] shall order, his pal Michele de Cuneo, Italian nobleman, referred to the natives as beasts because they eat when they are hungry, and made love openly whenever they feel like it. [SH204-205] On every island he set foot on, Columbus planted a cross, making the declarations that are required the requerimiento to claim the ownership for his Catholic patrons in Spain. And nobody objected. If the Indians refused or delayed their acceptance (or understanding), the requerimiento continued: I certify to you that, with the help of God, we shall powerfully enter in your country and shall make war against you and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and shall do you all mischief that we can, as to vassals who do not obey and refuse to receive their lord and resist and contradict him. [SH66]

Likewise in the words of John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony: justifieinge the undertakeres of the intended Plantation in New England to carry the Gospell into those parts of the world, and to raise a Bulworke against the kingdome of the Ante-Christ. [SH235] In average two thirds of the native population were killed by colonist-imported smallpox before violence began. This was a great sign of the marvelous goodness and providence of God to the Christians of course, e.g. the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony wrote in 1634, as for the natives, they are near all dead of the smallpox, so as the Lord hath cleared our title to what we possess. [SH109,238] On Hispaniola alone, on Columbus visits, the native population (Arawak), a rather harmless and happy people living on an island of abundant natural resources, a literal paradise, soon mourned 50,000 dead. [SH204] The surviving Indians fell victim to rape, murder, enslavement and spanish raids. As one of the culprits wrote: So many Indians died that they could not be counted, all through the land the Indians lay dead everywhere. The stench was very great and pestiferous. [SH69] The indian chief Hatuey fled with his people but was captured and burned alive. As they were tying him to the stake a Franciscan friar urged him to take Jesus to his heart so that his soul might go to heaven, rather than descend into hell. Hatuey replied that if heaven was where the Christians went, he would rather go to hell. [SH70] What happened to his people was described by an eyewitness: The Spaniards found pleasure in inventing all kinds of odd cruelties They built a long gibbet, long enough for the toes to touch the ground to prevent strangling, and hanged thirteen [natives] at a time in honor of Christ Our Saviour and the twelve Apostles then, straw was wrapped around their torn bodies and they were burned alive. [SH72] Or, on another occasion: The Spaniards cut off the arm of one, the leg or hip of another, and from some their heads at one stroke, like butchers cutting up beef and mutton for market. Six hundred, including the cacique, were thus slain like brute beastsVasco [de Balboa] ordered forty of them to be torn to pieces by dogs. [SH83] The islands population of about eight million people at the time of Columbuss arrival in 1492 already had declined by a third to a half before the year 1496 was out. Eventually all the islands natives were exterminated, so the Spaniards were forced to import slaves from other caribbean islands, who soon suffered the same fate. Thus the Caribbeans millions of native people [were] thereby effectively liquidated in barely a quarter of a century. [SH72-73] In less than the normal lifetime of a single human being, an entire culture of millions of people, thousands of years resident in their homeland, had been exterminated. [SH75] And then the Spanish turned their attention to the mainland of Mexico and Central America. The slaughter had barely begun. The exquisite city of Tenochtitln [Mexico city] was next. [SH75] Cortez, Pizarro, De Soto and hundreds of other spanish conquistadors likewise sacked southern and mesoamerican civilizations in the name of Christ (De Soto also sacked Florida). When the 16th century ended, some 200,000 Spaniards had moved to the Americas. By that time probably more than 60,000,000 natives were dead. [SH95] Of course no different were the founders of what today is the US of Amerikkka.

Although none of the settlers would have survived winter without native help, they soon set out to expel and exterminate the Indians. Warfare among (north American) Indians was rather harmless, in comparison to European standards, and was meant to avenge insults rather than conquer land. In the words of some of the pilgrim fathers: Their Warres are farre less bloudy, so that there usually was no great slawter of nether side. Indeed, they might fight seven yeares and not kill seven men. What is more, the Indians usually spared women and children. [SH111] In the spring of 1612 some English colonists found life among the (generally friendly and generous) natives attractive enough to leave Jamestown being idell did runne away unto the Indyans, to live among them (that probably solved a sex problem). Governor Thomas Dale had them hunted down and executed: Some he apointed (sic) to be hanged Some burned Some to be broken upon wheles, others to be staked and some shott to deathe. [SH105] Of course these elegant measures were restricted for fellow englishmen: This was the treatment for those who wished to act like Indians. For those who had no choice in the matter, because they were the native people of Virginia methods were different: when an Indian was accused by an Englishman of stealing a cup and failing to return it, the English response was to attack the natives in force, burning the entire community down. [SH105] On the territory that is now Massachusetts the founding fathers of the colonies were committing genocide, in what has become known as the Peqout War. The killers were New England Puritan Christians, refugees from persecution in their own home country England. When however, a dead colonist was found, apparently killed by Narragansett Indians, the Puritan colonists wanted revenge. Despite the Indian chiefs pledge they attacked. Somehow they seem to have lost the idea of what they were after, because when they were greeted by Pequot Indians (long-time foes of the Narragansetts) the troops nevertheless made war on the Pequots and burned their villages. The puritan commander-in-charge John Mason after one massacre wrote: And indeed such a dreadful Terror did the Almighty let fall upon their Spirits, that they would fly from us and run into the very Flames, where many of them perished God was above them, who laughed his Enemies and the Enemies of his People to Scorn, making them as a fiery Oven Thus did the Lord judge among the Heathen, filling the Place with dead Bodies: men, women, children. [SH113-114] So the Lord was pleased to smite our Enemies in the hinder Parts, and to give us their land for an inheritance. [SH111]. Because of his readers assumed knowledge of Deuteronomy, there was no need for Mason to quote the words that immediately follow: Thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth. But thou shalt utterly destroy them (Deut 20) Masons comrade Underhill recalled how great and doleful was the bloody sight to the view of the young soldiers yet reassured his readers that sometimes the Scripture declareth women and children must perish with their parents. [SH114] Other Indians were killed in successful plots of poisoning. The colonists even had dogs especially trained to kill Indians and to devour children from their mothers breasts, in the colonists own words: blood Hounds to draw after them, and Mastives to seaze them. (This was inspired by spanish methods of the time) In this way they continued until the extermination of the Pequots was near. [SH107-119] The surviving handful of Indians were parceled out to live in servitude. John Endicott and his pastor wrote to the governor asking for a share of the captives, specifically a young woman or girle and a boy if you thinke good. [SH115] Other tribes were to follow the same path. Comment the Christian exterminators: Gods Will, which will at last give us cause to say: How Great is His Goodness! and How Great is his Beauty! Thus doth the Lord Jesus make them to bow before him, and to lick the Dust! [TA] Like today, lying was OK to Christians then. Peace treaties were signed with every intention to violate them: when the Indians grow secure uppon (sic) the treatie, advised the Council of State in Virginia, we shall have the better Advantage both to surprise them, & cutt downe theire Corne. [SH106] In 1624 sixty heavily armed Englishmen cut down 800 defenseless Indian men, women and children. [SH107] In a single massacre in King Philips War of 1675 and 1676 some 600 Indians were destroyed. A delighted Cotton Mather, revered pastor of the Second Church in Boston, later referred to the slaughter as a barbeque. [SH115] To summarize: Before the arrival of the English, the western Abenaki people in New Hampshire and Vermont had numbered 12,000. Less than half a century later about 250 remained alive a destruction rate of 98%. The Pocumtuck people had numbered more than 18,000, fifty years later they were down to 920 95% destroyed. The Quiripi-Unquachog people had numbered about 30,000, fifty years later they were down to 1500 95% destroyed. The Massachusetts people had numbered at least 44,000, fifty years later barely 6000 were alive 81% destroyed. [SH118] These are only a few examples of the multitude of tribes living before Christian colonists set their foot on the New World. All this was before the smallpox epidemics of 1677 and 1678 had occurred. And the carnage was not over then. All the above was only the beginning of the European colonization, it was before the frontier age actually had begun. A total of maybe more than 150 million Indians (of both Americas) were destroyed in the period of 1500 to 1900, as an average two thirds by smallpox and other epidemics, that leaves some 50 million killed directly by violence, bad treatment and slavery. In many countries, such as Brazil, and Guatemala, this continues even today. More Glorious events in US history

Reverend Solomon Stoddard, one of New Englands most esteemed religious leaders, in 1703 formally proposed to the Massachusetts Governor that the colonists be given the financial wherewithal to purchase and train large packs of dogs to hunt Indians as they do bears. [SH241] Massacre of Sand Creek, Colorado 11/29/1864. Colonel John Chivington, a former Methodist minister and still elder in the church (I long to be wading in gore) had a Cheyenne village of about 600, mostly women and children, gunned down despite the chiefs waving with a white flag: 400-500 killed. From an eye-witness account: There were some thirty or forty squaws collected in a hole for protection; they sent out a little girl about six years old with a white flag on a stick; she had not proceeded but a few steps when she was shot and killed. All the squaws in that hole were afterwards killed [SH131] More gory details. By the 1860s, in Hawaii the Reverend Rufus Anderson surveyed the carnage that by then had reduced those islands native population by 90 percent or more, and he declined to see it as tragedy; the expected total die-off of the Hawaiian population was only natural, this missionary said, somewhat equivalent to the amputation of diseased members of the body. [SH244]

20th Century Church Atrocities Catholic extermination camps Surpisingly few know that Nazi extermination camps in World War II were by no means the only ones in Europe at the time. In the years 1942-1943 also in Croatia existed numerous extermination camps, run by Catholic Ustasha under their dictator Ante Paveli, a practising Catholic and regular visitor to the then pope. There were even concentration camps exclusively for children!

In these camps the most notorious was Jasenovac, headed by a Franciscan friar orthodox-Christian serbians (and a substantial number of Jews) were murdered. Like the Nazis the Catholic Ustasha burned their victims in kilns, alive (the Nazis were decent enough to have their victims gassed first). But most of the victims were simply stabbed, slain or shot to death, the number of them being estimated between 300,000 and 600,000, in a rather tiny country. Many of the killers were Franciscan friars. The atrocities were appalling enough to induce bystanders of the Nazi Sicherheitsdient der SS, watching, to complain about them to Hitler (who did not listen). The pope knew about these events and did nothing to prevent them. [MV] Catholic terror in Vietnam In 1954 Vietnamese freedom fighters the Viet Minh had finally defeated the French colonial government in North Vietnam, which by then had been supported by U.S. funds amounting to more than $2 billion. Although the victorious assured religious freedom to all (most non-buddhist Vietnamese were Catholics), due to huge anticommunist propaganda campaigns many Catholics fled to the South. With the help of Catholic lobbies in Washington and Cardinal Spellman, the Vaticans spokesman in U.S. politics, who later on would call the U.S. forces in Vietnam Soldiers of Christ, a scheme was concocted to prevent democratic elections which could have brought the communist Viet Minh to power in the South as well, and the fanatic Catholic Ngo Dinh Diem was made president of South Vietnam. [MW16ff]

Diem saw to it that U.S. aid, food, technical and general assistance was given to Catholics alone, Buddhist individuals and villages were ignored or had to pay for the food aids which were given to Catholics for free. The only religious denomination to be supported was Roman Catholicism.

The Vietnamese McCarthyism turned even more vicious than its American counterpart. By 1956 Diem promulgated a presidential order which read: Individuals considered dangerous to the national defense and common security may be confined by executive order, to a concentration camp. Supposedly to fight communism, thousands of buddhist protesters and monks were imprisoned in detention camps. Out of protest dozens of buddhist teachers male and female and monks poured gasoline over themselves and burned themselves. (Note that Buddhists burned themselves: in comparison Christians tend to burn others). Meanwhile some of the prison camps, which in the meantime were filled with Protestant and even Catholic protesters as well, had turned into no-nonsense death camps. It is estimated that during this period of terror (1955-1960) at least 24,000 were wounded mostly in street riots 80,000 people were executed, 275,000 had been detained or tortured, and about 500,000 were sent to concentration or detention camps. [MW76-89].

To support this kind of government in the next decade thousands of American GIs lost their life.

Rwanda Massacres In 1994 in the small african country of Rwanda in just a few months several hundred thousand civilians were butchered, apparently a conflict of the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups. For quite some time I heard only rumours about Catholic clergy actively involved in the 1994 Rwanda massacres. Odd denials of involvement were printed in Catholic church journals, before even anybody had openly accused members of the church.

Then, 10/10/96, in the newscast of S2 Aktuell, Germany a station not at all critical to Christianity the following was stated:

Anglican as well as Catholic priests and nuns are suspect of having actively participated in murders. Especially the conduct of a certain Catholic priest has been occupying the public mind in Rwandas capital Kigali for months. He was minister of the church of the Holy Family and allegedly murdered Tutsis in the most brutal manner. He is reported to have accompanied marauding Hutu militia with a gun in his cowl. In fact there has been a bloody slaughter of Tutsis seeking shelter in his parish. Even two years after the massacres many Catholics refuse to set foot on the threshold of their church, because to them the participation of a certain part of the clergy in the slaughter is well established. There is almost no church in Rwanda that has not seen refugees women, children, old being brutally butchered facing the crucifix.

According to eyewitnesses clergymen gave away hiding Tutsis and turned them over to the machetes of the Hutu militia.

In connection with these events again and again two Benedictine nuns are mentioned, both of whom have fled into a Belgian monastery in the meantime to avoid prosecution. According to survivors one of them called the Hutu killers and led them to several thousand people who had sought shelter in her monastery. By force the doomed were driven out of the churchyard and were murdered in the presence of the nun right in front of the gate. The other one is also reported to have directly cooperated with the murderers of the Hutu militia. In her case again witnesses report that she watched the slaughtering of people in cold blood and without showing response. She is even accused of having procured some petrol used by the killers to set on fire and burn their victims alive [S2]

As can be seen from these events, to Christianity the Dark Ages never come to an end.

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The Lucy Film: Transhumanism's False Promise To Become A ...

In 2013, national GDP growth in the U.S. was 1.8 percent. Texas's economic growth during the same time frame was 3.7 percent, a strong showing compared to many other states. Its growth during the fourth quarter of 2013 was 4.3 percent. This is perhaps due in part to the fact that the Lone Star State is the second most populous in the U.S., behind only California. These factors make Texas and online schools in TX an attractive option for individuals seeking a post-secondary education.

Here's a roundup of five spotlight careers in Texas based on total employment and median annual salary according to 2013 numbers for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

According to the National Center for Education Statistics' IPEDS database, the top major in Texas during 2012-2013, based on total Fall enrollment numbers, were as follows:

Online schools in Texas offering these majors may help students prepare for a wide variety of careers.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) divides the state's 35 public institutions into three tiers: four national research universities in Tier 1, six emerging research universities in Tier 2, and 25 comprehensive universities in tier three. According to the THECB, as of Fall 2013 enrollments in institutions of higher education were as follows:

In all, over 1.4 million individuals are currently being served by Texas's various institutions of higher education. The five largest cities in Texas are Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth. There are many colleges and universities in or near these cities. However, the rapid growth of online education means that students do not necessarily have to live in a major metropolitan area to pursue a degree.

In 2013-2014, tuition and fees costs in Texas averaged the following by institution type according to the College Board:

Individual institutions may charge more or less than average compared to their category. For those hoping to support their higher education with financial aid, Texas supports a variety of programs including:

Eligible students should also file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Texas is a member of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and its affiliate organization, the Southern Association of Community, Junior and Technical Colleges. It's important for students to make an institution's accreditation status an important factor during their college or university selection process. Not only do schools operating without accreditation potentially fail to provide students with the skills necessary to obtain a job in today's competitive market, Texas-based financial aid is contingent on attending an accredited institution.

Sources

"May 2013 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates Texas," Occupational Employment Statistics, October 31, 2014, http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tx.htm

"IPEDS Data Center," National Center for Education Statistics, December 17, 2014, http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/Default.aspx

"Tuition and Fees by Sector and State over Time," Collegeboard, October 31, 2014, http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/tuition-and-fees-sector-and-state-over-time

"Widespread But Slower Growth in 2013," U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis, October 31, 2014, http://bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_state/gsp_newsrelease.htm

"Quarterly Gross Domestic Product by State, 2005-2013 (Prototype Statistics)," U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis, October 31, 2014, http://bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_state/qgsp_newsrelease.htm

"State of Texas Financial Aid," Every Chance Every Texan, October 31, 2014, http://www.everychanceeverytexan.org/funding/aid/aidtx.php

"Texas Higher Ed Enrollments," Texas Higher Education Data, October 31, 2014, http://www.txhighereddata.org/

"The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges," The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, October 31, 2014, http://www.sacscoc.org/

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Online Schools in Texas - Online-Education.net

BRIXTON OPEN HOUSE

How to Register:

Step 1:

Click here andcreate a new member account. If you have a current account, log in with your existing details. You will receive an email confirmation for each of the classes that you reserved for. The Open House classes are available for first time Urban Ashram Manlia practitioners or those who havent practiced with us within the last 6 months.

Step 2:

Reserve up to4 FREEOpen House classes for the whole month of May by clickinghere. Classes available areFNR every Thursday at 9:00AM and Vinyasa Open Level every Sunday at 10:00AM.

Please arrive at least 15 minutes before class. If you do not show up for your reserved spot, then it may be given to a standby student. Should you not be able to go, we would appreciate if you would let us know as well.

For your first visit, you will need to present your valid photo ID. Mats and props are already provided, but dont forget to bring: 1. Water Bottle 2. Towel/Mat Towel 3. Change of clothes

Clickhereto learn more about starting your yoga practice.

- Take the MRT to Shangri-la Plaza Mall

- Take a cab or jeepney from Shaw Boulevard heading to C-5 and turn right into Pioneer St.

- From Pioneer, make a left at United St., then turn right into Brixton St.

FROM MAKATI CITY

Option 1

- From EDSA going North, turn right into Pioneer Street

- From Pioneer Street, turn right into Reliance Street (McDonalds)

- From Reliance Street, turn left into Brixton Street

- From Greenhills / Mandaluyong / San Juan

- From Shaw Blvd., cross EDSA while still on Shaw Blvd.

- From Shaw Blvd., turn right into Pioneer Street

- From Pioneer Street, first left into United Avenue

- From United Avenue, first right into Brixton Street

- From Ortigas Center, Pasig

Option 2

- From Meralco Avenue, turn right into Shaw Blvd.

- From Shaw Blvd., turn left into Pioneer Street

- From Pioneer Street, first left into United Avenue

- From United Avenue, first left into Brixton Street

Option 3

- From C-5 going to Makati, turn right into Lanuza Avenue

- From Lanuza Avenue, turn left into St. Martin Street

- From St. Martin Street, turn left into Capt. Henry Javier Avenue

- From Capt. Henry Javier Avenue, turn right into Oranbo Drive

- From Oranbo Drive, turn right into Shaw Blvd. around the Rotunda to Kapitolyo Drive

- From Kapitolyo Drive, turn right into United Avenue

FROM EDSA QUEZON CITY

Option 1

- From White Plains Avenue to Greenmeadows Avenue, turn left into Ortigas Avenue

- From Ortigas Avenue, turn left into Lanuza Avenue

- From Lanuza Avenue cross Julia Vargas into to Lanuza Avenue

- Turn left to St. Martin Street going up into ULTRA

- From Capt. Henry Javier Avenue, turn right into Oranbo Drive

- From Oranbo Drive, turn right on Shaw Blvd. around the Rotunda into Kapitolyo Drive

- From Kapitolyo Drive, turn right into United Avenue

- Turn left into Brixton Street

Option 2

- From EDSA to Makati Shaw Blvd., cross EDSA while still on Shaw Blvd.

- From Shaw Blvd., turn right into Pioneer Street

- From Pioneer Street, first left into United Avenue

- From United Avenue, first right into Brixton Street

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Yoga Philippines | Meditation Classes - Urban Ashram Manila

Some 2,500 years ago, an Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, sat quietly in a place known as Deer Park at Sarnath and began to offer simple teachings, based on his own experience. These teachings, referred to as the dharma, meaning simply truth, were practical instructions on how to free oneself from suffering by relating to the everyday experience of life and mind.

Because his realization was profound, he became known as the Buddha, which means the awakened one. The teachings he offered came to be known as the buddhadharma, and these form the core of Buddhism still today. The Buddhist teachings proclaim the possibility of awakening wisdom and compassion within every human being, and they provide a practical method for doing so. This practical method, passed down from generation to generation, consists of meditation that develops mindfulness and awareness.

Buddhism is a living tradition, passed from teacher to student, as a set of pragmatic instructions and techniques for cultivating sanity and brilliance in ourselves and our world. Its ancient wisdom is as relevant and useful today as over the centuries of its long history.

After several years studying with many spiritual teachers, Siddhartha realized that neither worldly pleasures nor strict asceticism could bring him fulfillment. He chose the middle way, accepting rice milk from a girl named Sujata in order to strengthen his body and mind. He then sat under a tree in what is now Bodh Gaya and vowed not to rise until he had discovered the truth about life and death. Through examining the nature of his body and mind, he attained enlightenmentcomplete awakening.

The Buddhas discovery cannot adequately be described as a religion, a philosophy, or a psychology. It is better described as a journey or way of life. This journey entails seeing things as they are, beyond the fixation of our ego and the agitation of negative emotions. Chgyam Trungpa called the Buddhist path a journey without goal, because waking up to the way things are occurs in the present moment, at any time, in any place, right now.

The Buddha taught several approaches to liberation from suffering at different times and places during his long teaching career. It is traditionally explained that he taught different topics to different groups depending on their inclinations and level of spiritual advancement. These developed into distinctive branches of Buddhism:

While it is said that the Buddha taught each of these approaches during his lifetime, historically Buddhist scriptures appeared over a period of centuries in India, allowing for new developments in philosophy and meditation techniques. Buddhism thrived in India until the twelfth century, when it was wiped out in military incursions by subsequent waves of Turko-Afgani invaders.

Over the centuries, Buddhism spread throughout most of Asia. The Theravada spread to Southeast Asia (Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand), the Mahayana to East Asia (China, Japan, Korea), and the Vajrayana northward to Nepal and across Himalaya to Tibet. Tibetan Buddhism is unique in its synthesis of all three approaches or vehicles as progressive stages on a comprehensive path of practice and study.

Buddhism came to Tibet in two waves. The first occurred in the 7th to 9th centuries during the height of its empire, when Tibet dominated vast tracts of central Asia. The Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo commissioned a script to be devised based on Sanskrit (the ancient language of India), and his successor Trisong Detsun presided over a massive translation effort to render the corpus of Buddhas teaching into Tibetan. After the collapse of empire, there was a dark period of political and cultural fragmentation.

There are now four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma (or old school) trace their origin to the first wave of Buddhisms propagation in Tibet and the Sarma (or new schools)which consolidated into the Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelukdeveloped out of the second wave. Some lineages, like the Sakya and Geluk, put special emphasis on an intellectual approach to the teachings, training students as scholars and logicians. Others, like the Kagyu and Nyingma, put special emphasis on the practice of meditation; they are often referred to as practice lineages. Within each of these four main schools are distinct teachings transmitted from master to disciple over subsequent generations in an unbroken succession.

The founder of the Shambhala community,Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche, was a holder of both Kagyu and Nyingma lineages as the abbot and 11th descendent in the line of Trungpa tulkus (incarnate lama) of Surmang Monastery in eastern Tibet. His eldest son and spiritual heir,Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, is the reincarnation of the renowned 19th century Nyingma master, Ju Mipham.

Since the 11th century, the revelation oftermais one way that Tibetans have continued to introduce innovative teachings in every generation, appropriate to the needs of the time. Terma literally means treasure and refers to a set of teachings hidden way until the time is ripe to propagate them.

Mosttertnsor treasure revealers trace their past lives back to the 8th century as direct disciples of the tantric master Padmasambhava. Terma are considered to be teachings originally given by Padmasambhava (or another comparable master) and later hidden away in the Tibetan landscape and in the mindstream of tertns. In eastern Tibet, many tertns also trace their past lives to the time of the legendary king Gesar as one of the generals in his army or ladies in his court.

The process of treasure revelation involves awakening a memory from the tertns past life and decoding arcane symbols that might appear in the landscape, on yellow scrolls, or in the mind of the tertn. It is the task of each tertn along with his or her students and lineage holders to further unravel the meaning of a terma into a coherent cycle of teachings and system that can be used for an individuals regime of meditation and in community practice.

Shambhala is a union of the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism with the Shambhala teachings introduced by Chgyam Trungpa in the 1970s, based on the warrior tradition of Tibets legendary king Gesar.

TheWay of Shambhala curriculumis comprised of a series of workshops (Shambhala Training Levels I-V) and courses providing an experiential overview of meditation practices, wisdom teachings, contemplative arts, and physical disciplines rooted in the ancient traditions of Shambhala and Tibetan vajrayana Buddhism.

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Buddhism - Shambhala

ETHICS & POLICY

Astronomical Waste: The Opportunity Cost of Delayed Technological Development Suns are illuminating and heating empty rooms, unused energy is being flushed down black holes, and our great common endowment of negentropy is being irreversibly degraded into entropy on a cosmic scale. These are resources that an advanced civilization could have used to create value-structures, such as sentient beings living worthwhile lives... [Utilitas, Vol. 15, No. 3 (2003): 308-314] [translation: Russian] [html] [pdf]

Human Enhancement Original essays by various prominent moral philosophers on the ethics of human enhancement. [Eds. Nick Bostrom & Julian Savulescu (Oxford University Press, 2009)].

Enhancement Ethics: The State of the Debate The introductory chapter from the book (w/ Julian Savulescu): 1-22 [pdf]

TRANSHUMANISM

Transhumanist Values Wonderful ways of being may be located in the "posthuman realm", but we can't reach them. If we enhance ourselves using technology, however, we can go out there and realize these values. This paper sketches a transhumanist axiology. [Ethical Issues for the 21st Century, ed. Frederick Adams, Philosophical Documentation Center Press, 2003; reprinted in Review of Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. 4, May (2005)] [translations: Polish, Portugese] [html] [pdf]

RISK & THE FUTURE

Global Catastrophic Risks Twenty-six leading experts look at the gravest risks facing humanity in the 21st century, including natural catastrophes, nuclear war, terrorism, global warming, biological weapons, totalitarianism, advanced nanotechnology, general artificial intelligence, and social collapse. The book also addresses over-arching issuespolicy responses and methods for predicting and managing catastrophes. Foreword by Lord Martin Rees. [Eds. Nick Bostrom & Milan Cirkovic (Oxford University Press, 2008)]. Introduction chapter free here [pdf]

TECHNOLOGY ISSUES

THE NEW BOOK

"I highly recommend this book."Bill Gates

"terribly important ... groundbreaking" "extraordinary sagacity and clarity, enabling him to combine his wide-ranging knowledge over an impressively broad spectrum of disciplinesengineering, natural sciences, medicine, social sciences and philosophyinto a comprehensible whole" "If this book gets the reception that it deserves, it may turn out the most important alarm bell since Rachel Carson's Silent Springfrom 1962, or ever."Olle Haggstrom, Professor of Mathematical Statistics

"Nick Bostrom makes a persuasive case that the future impact of AI is perhaps the most important issue the human race has ever faced. Instead of passively drifting, we need to steer a course. Superintelligence charts the submerged rocks of the future with unprecedented detail. It marks the beginning of a new era."Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science, University of California, Berkley

"Those disposed to dismiss an 'AI takeover' as science fiction may think again after reading this original and well-argued book." Martin Rees, Past President, Royal Society

"a magnificent conception ... it ought to be required reading on all philosophy undergraduate courses, by anyone attempting to build AIs and by physicists who think there is no point to philosophy." Brian Clegg, Popular Science

"There is no doubting the force of [Bostrom's] arguments...the problem is a research challenge worthy of the next generation's best mathematical talent. Human civilisation is at stake." Financial Times

"This superb analysis by one of the world's clearest thinkers tackles one of humanity's greatest challenges: if future superhuman artificial intelligence becomes the biggest event in human history, then how can we ensure that it doesn't become the last?" Professor Max Tegmark, MIT

"a damn hard read" The Telegraph

ANTHROPICS & PROBABILITY

Cars In the Other Lane Really Do Go Faster When driving on the motorway, have you ever wondered about (and cursed!) the fact that cars in the other lane seem to be getting ahead faster than you? One might be tempted to account for this by invoking Murphy's Law ("If anything can go wrong, it will", discovered by Edward A. Murphy, Jr, in 1949). But there is an alternative explanation, based on observational selection effects... [PLUS, No. 17 (2001)]

PHILOSOPHY OF MIND

DECISION THEORY

BIO

Bostrom has a background in physics, computational neuroscience, and mathematical logic as well as philosophy. He is the author of some 200 publications, including Anthropic Bias (Routledge, 2002), Global Catastrophic Risks (ed., OUP, 2008), Human Enhancement (ed., OUP, 2009), and the academic book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (OUP, 2014), which became a New York Times bestseller. He is best known for his work in five areas: (i) existential risk; (ii) the simulation argument; (iii) anthropics (developing the first mathematically explicit theory of observation selection effects); (iv) impacts of future technology; and (v) implications of consequentialism for global strategy.

He is recipient of a Eugene R. Gannon Award (one person selected annually worldwide from the fields of philosophy, mathematics, the arts and other humanities, and the natural sciences). He has been listed on Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers list; and he was included on Prospect magazines World Thinkers list, the youngest person in the top 15 from all fields and the highest-ranked analytic philosopher. His writings have been translated into 24 languages. There have been more than 100 translations and reprints of his works.

BACKGROUND

I was born in Helsingborg, Sweden, and grew up by the seashore. I was bored in school. At age fifteen or sixteen I had an intellectual awakening, and feeling that I had wasted the first one and a half decades of my life, I resolved to focus on what was important. Since I did not know what was important, and I did not know how to find out, I decided to start by trying to place myself in a better position to find out. So I began a project of intellectual self-development, which I pursued with great intensity for the next one and a half decades.

As an undergraduate, I studied many subjects in parallel, and I gather that my performance set a national record. I was once expelled for studying too much, after the head of Ume University psychology department discovered that I was concurrently following several other full-time programs of study (physics, philosophy, and mathematical logic), which he believed to be psychologically impossible.

For my postgraduate work, I went to London, where I studied physics and neuroscience at King's College, and obtained a PhD from the London School of Economics. For a while I did a little bit stand-up comedy on the vibrant London pub and theatre circuit.

During those years, I co-founded, with David Pearce, the World Transhumanist Association, a nonprofit grassroots organization. Later, I was involved in founding the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a nonprofit virtual think tank. The objective was to stimulate wider discussion about the implications of future technologies, in particular technologies that might lead to human enhancement. (These organizations have since developed on their own trajectories, and it is very much not the case that I agree with everything said by those who flock under the transhumanist flag.)

Since 2006, I've been the founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. This unique multidisciplinary research aims to enable a select set of intellects to apply careful thinking to big-picture question for humanity and global priorities. The Institute belongs to the Faculty of Philosophy and the Oxford Martin School. Since 2011, I also direct the Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology.

I am in a very fortunate position. I have no teaching duties. I am supported by a staff of assistants and brilliant research fellows. There are virtually no restrictions on what I can work on. I must try very hard to be worthy of this privilege and to cast some light on matters that matter.

CONTACT

For administrative matters, scheduling, and invitations, please contact my assistant, Lamprini Repouliou:

Email: fhiadmin[atsign]philosophy[dot]ox[dot]ac[dot]uk Phone: +44 (0)1865 286800

If you need to contact me directly (I regret I am unable to respond to all emails): nick[atsign]nickbostrom[dot]com.

VIRTUAL ESTATE

http://www.fhi.ox.ac.ukFuture of Humanity Institute

http://www.anthropic-principle.comPapers on observational selection effects

http://www.simulation-argument.comDevoted to the question, "Are you living in a computer simulation?"

http://www.existential-risk.orgHuman extinction scenarios and related concerns

On the bank at the end Of what was there before us Gazing over to the other side On what we can become Veiled in the mist of nave speculation We are busy here preparing Rafts to carry us across Before the light goes out leaving us In the eternal night of could-have-been

CRUCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

A thread that runs through my work is a concern with "crucial considerations". A crucial consideration is an idea or argument that might plausibly reveal the need for not just some minor course adjustment in our practical endeavours but a major change of direction or priority.

If we have overlooked even just one such consideration, then all our best efforts might be for naughtor less. When headed the wrong way, the last thing needed is progress. It is therefore important to pursue such lines of inquiry as might disclose an unnoticed crucial consideration.

Some of the relevant inquiries are about moral philosophy and values. Others have to do with rationality and reasoning under uncertainty. Still others pertain to specific issues and possibilities, such as existential risks, the simulation hypothesis, human enhancement, infinite utilities, anthropic reasoning, information hazards, the future of machine intelligence, or the singularity hypothesis.

High-leverage questions associated with crucial considerations deserve to be investigated. My research interests are quite wide-ranging; yet they all stem from the quest to understand the big picture for humanity, so that we can more wisely choose what to aim for and what to do. Embarking on this quest has seemed the best way to try to make a positive contribution to the world.

SOME VIDEOS AND LECTURES

SOME ADDITONAL (OLD, COBWEBBED) PAPERS

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