In anticipation of a summer touring the Great Plains, I took some time off from the blog to immerse myself in a surprisingly rich literature on the subject, which of course has nothing to do with religion. I will say, however, that anyone who has yet to discover this richness or is thinking about exploring the Plains should consider reading some of the books listed at the end of this post. Having just read each in succession, the immersive effect is pronounced and Im ready to go but the weather is not yet cooperating. While waiting, and in anticipation of the anthropology of religion course I will be teaching in the middle of the summer, its time to round back toward religion.

The good news is that in doing so, I wont run the risk of being brutally murdered. For the third time this year, a secular Bangladeshi blogger has been hacked to death by irate religionists. These three blasphemous bloggers were writing on subjects and topics similar to those that appear here, but were doing so knowing they would be targeted. Talk about courage.

Here in the United States, we fortunately do not have to confront this sort of thing, though we do have young earth Creationists who are relatively harmless. While I have never paid them much mind because arguing with them is futile, a geology professor thinks that the rocks disprove creationism. He apparently does not know that young earth Creationists have considered his argument and flatly rejected it. They are not interested in science and accept it only when it suits their psychological needs or religious purposes. But having said this, I was a bit shocked to encounter the following sentence in the professors piece:

Embracing young Earth creationism means you have to abandon faith in the story told by the rocks themselves.

This is an unfortunate choice of words. Why should we have faith in a story told by rocks? Rocks dont tell stories. Geologists provide us with theory and data based narratives about rocks. These stories are subject to challenge, revision, and reversal. This method has nothing to do with faith.

From rocks to the cosmos, which is timely for anyone who has recently seen Interstellar, a movie with some brilliant science marred by metaphysical speculations about trans-dimensional love tunnels. It was marred even further by Matthew McConaugheys overwrought acting, but that is another story. The main story here is the science based on Kip Thornes work and book, Black Holes and Time Warps: Einsteins Outrageous Legacy. Though I am only about halfway through and not sure I understand everything, it is great for bending the mind. The cosmos is stranger than fiction and perhaps even myth.

Finally, the cosmos and cosmological theories are the subject of this dense piece by Ross Andersen over at Aeon. Cosmology, it appears, is in crisis and may stay that way for quite some time, perhaps forever. While this may unsettle some, I find it invigorating. When it comes to large and perhaps intractable subjects like this, I always find it helpful to read a good history of the field, so thanks to Andersen for recommending Helge Kraghs Conceptions of Cosmos: From Myths to the Accelerating Universe: A History of Cosmology. Its next on my list.

And speaking of lists, here is the one I promised at the beginning of this post, for all lovers of the Great Plains:

Great Plains by Ian Frazier The Great Plains by Walter Prescott Webb Love Song to the Plains by Mari Sandoz Prehistoric Man on the Great Plains by Waldo Wedel The Last Prairie: A Sandhills Journal by Stephen R. Jones Ogallala Blue: Water and Life on the Great Plains by William Ashworth Imagining Head-Smashed-In: Aboriginal Buffalo Hunting on the Northern Plains by Jack Brink

Did you like this? Share it:

Read the rest here:
Genealogy of Religion | Explorations in Evolution ...

An Exploration into Esoterica, Spiritual Science,

EDITORIAL

Feel responsible for every thought, feeling and action. Every moment that we experience in this way brings us forward a little. What would I be without other human beings? Helpless. Streets are paved by others. When I get up in the morning people have already worked for me. My karma is connected with that of other men. I may have been an accomplice to a murderer because I didn't improve him in a previous life. One man's gain is someone else's loss. Teachers taught me. People worked for me from the moment I was born. So do good for all mankind. By Rudolf Steiner Esoteric Lessons Part III: Berlin, 12-21-1904

...By its very progress, science will increasingly drive conceptions about the supersensible world out of the world of the senses. If human beings failed to take in any supersensible, spiritual concepts, this would eventually exclude them entirely from the spiritual world; they would be condemning themselves to becoming after death totally bound up with the physical earth alone, and with what the physical earth will one day become.

Since the physical earth will become a corpse in the future, human beings would thus be facing the frightful prospect of condemning themselves to inhabiting a corpse in the guise of its soul if they failed to decide that they must learn how to live in the spiritual world and take root there....

"Secret Brotherhoods and the Mystery of the Human Double" pg 48-49 By Rudolf Steiner

Yesterday we got to the point in our esoteric training where we place our doppelganger outside us. It's verily not a pleasant feeling when we see all of what we previously had in us unconsciously objectively before us, which then accompanies us wherever we go. We heard that it's a Luciferic being, Samael, with his hosts who brings the doppelganger out of us. From this, one sees that Luciferic beings also do good things and not always bad ones. If we always carried our defects in us unconsciously, we could never become aware of the destructive, ruinous things that they do in our body and in the whole cosmic substance. As long as Samael hasn't brought our defects out from within us, as long as we don't see them objectively before us as our doppelganger, so long the Gods graciously keep us from seeing the ruinous, destructive force of jealousy, hate, envy and other passions and emotions that we stream out into our environment. A clairvoyant sees that these passions tear something down in our physical body and in the cosmos' substance, whereas the good stimulates upbuilding forces. So basically Samael is a blessing for development. He shows us our inner nature all the more accurately the more seriously we take our training in hand. We then see defects objectively which we hadn't paid any attention to previously.....

By Rudolf Steiner Esoteric Lesson: Hannover, 1-1-1912

The Temptation of St. Anthony By Mathias Gruenwald

Follow this link:
Esoterica, Spiritual Science, Anthroposophy and Human ...

In the interest of Universal Peace and Harmony we offer over 2000 Workshops for Spiritual Attainment, Self-Realization, Life Enhancement and healing of the Physical, Emotional and Mental Bodies.

We Specialize in Advanced Energy Work, Attunements, Shatipat, Initiations and Empowerments, many unique to the Spiritual Awakening Network.

Some of our classes include, Dragon Reiki, Golden Shakti, Maha Golden Shakti, Kundalini Reiki Advanced, Extasis, Zakara, Chakra Tantra, DNA Rainbow Boosters, Eye Of Horus, Shamballa's Diamond Light, Pleiadian Jewels and Krishna's Wish are not found anywhere else!

Importantly, our goal is to aid people in reclaiming their Loving Light energies so they may awaken to a state of wholeness, inner security and total health.

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery--even if mixed with fear-- that engendered religion." -Albert Einstein

We offer Free Attunements, Healing Mandalas, Prayer Cloths and strive to alleviate suffering by our Healing Request program.

Our large library of free study material provides wonderful opportunities for personal and spiritual growth for you.

Since 1994, our Powerful Workshops have made us the best option as your source for unique instructions, and powerful Initiation ceremonies.

Our mission is to actively research new information as it surfaces and develop new Attunements, Empowerments, training programs and healing tools that promote Spiritual Consciousness and Happiness on earth.

Facilitating the Ascension of your Higher Self energies into your day-to-day experience is of paramount importance.

See the original post:
Index Page, Spiritual Awakening Network

Terms and Conditions By providing your mobile number, you agree to receive text messages from Colorado Tech via its mobile text message provider. You may opt out of receiving messages by texting the word STOP to 94576, or simply reply with the word STOP to any text message you receive from Colorado Tech. While CEC or its mobile text message provider will not charge end users for receiving/responding to promotional messages, depending on the terms of your mobile phone plan, you may incur a cost from your mobile service carrier to receive and respond to any promotional text messages (standard messaging and data rates/fees and other charges may apply). Charges will appear on your mobile phone bill or will be deducted from pre-paid amounts. Current participating/supported carriers are: Alltel, AT&T, Boost, Cellcom, Cellular One, Cellular South, Cincinnati Bell, Cricket, Element Wireless, Golden State Cellular, iWireless, Metro PCS, Nextel, nTelos, Plateau Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Verizon Wireless, Viaero Wireless, Virgin, and more.

More:
Online University: Earn an Accredited Degree | Colorado Tech

Education & Research Government & Public Sector Business Deans, Directors and Researchers from Schools and the Higher Education Sector Senior Staff from National, International, Regional and European Agencies and Government Departments Leaders of Professional Associations, Expertise Centres, Trade Unions and Continuing Education Centres Directors and Managers,Programme Managers and Education Administrators,Chief Learning Officers (CLO),Organisational Development Directors Organisational Development Directors Corporate University Managers,Corporate Training & Development Executives,Business Development Professionals,Organisational Development Directors Teachers and Researchers Chief Learning Officers (CLO) Performance & Talent Management Officers,HR Directors/Managers,Chief Learning Officers (CLO) Educational Technologists, Instructional Designers, Content Providers, E-Learning Developers,Curriculum Designers HR Directors/Managers, IT Professionals Software and Hardware Developers and Providers, Game Developers, User Experience Designers,Technology and Service Providers HR Directors/Managers, IT Professionals Policy Advisors Training Consultants, Educational Entrepreneurs In the past three years, OEB welcomed participants from such institutions as Red Ilumno - Sistema Universitario de las Americas, Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Paraguay Governments of Algeria, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Botswana, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Gambia, Germany, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of Congo, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, The Netherlands, Turkey, Uganda, UK, United Arab Emirates Adidas Group, Germany Swinburne University of Technology, Australia African Development Bank Air Canada Medical University Graz, Austria African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), Kenya Airbus, France Qafqaz University, Baku, Azerbaijan Aga Khan Foundation Amazon University of Botswana, Botswana Air Forces, Guinea, West Africa ArcelorMittal, Luxembourg Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Association Initiatives pour le Dveloppement Durable et Prospectives (IDDP), Togo Bayer AG, Germany Canadian Education Association (CEA), Canada BIBB: Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Germany BBC Worldwide, UK University of Chile British Council, UK Bertelsmann, Germany The Open University of China CEDEP (European Centre for Executive Development), France Bombardier Transportation, Canada University of Zagreb, Croatia Charit, Germany CaixaBank, Spain Masaryk University, Czech Republic Correos, Spain Casio Europe GmbH, Germany University of Copenhagen, Denmark CoZa Cares Foundation, South Africa Chevrolet Europe GmbH, Switzerland Cairo University, Egypt ECOWAS Commission Cisco, USA University of the South Pacific, Fiji EDEN (European Distance Education and E-Learning Network), Hungary Coca-Cola, USA Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Finland EFQUEL (European Foundation for Quality in e-Learning), Belgium Confederation of Danish Industries (DI ITEK), Denmark Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France ELIG (European Learning Industry Group) Credit Suisse, Switzerland HEC Paris, France Estonian Defence Forces, Estonia Daimler AG, Germany Universit Omar Bongo, Gabon European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Sweden Deutsche Welle, Germany Georgian Technical University, Georgia European Central Bank eBay, USA Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Germany European Commission European Patent Office (EPO) ECCO, Denmark Goethe-Institut, Germany European Parliament Ericsson, Sweden Centre for Research and Technology Thessaly (CE.RE.TE.TH), Greece Flemish Association for Development Cooperation and Technical Assistance (VVOB), Belgium Euronews The Open University of Hong Kong GDLN Regional Association for Africa: Association of African Distance Learning Centers - AADLC Finnish Broadcasting Company, Finland University of Mumbai, India GESCI (Global E-Schools and Communities Initiative), Kenya GNSE Group, Egypt Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia Ghana Water Company Limited, Ghana Goodyear, USA Islamic Azad University of Iran, Iran GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Internationale Zusammenarbeit), Germany Google National University of Ireland, Galway Good Health Organisation (goho), Nigeria H&M, Sweden Tel Aviv University, Israel Information Technology Industry Development Agency - ITIDA, Egypt IKEA, Sweden Fondazione Politecnico di Milano (METID), Italy Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium Kaspersky Lab, Russia Reitaku University, Japan International Labour Organization KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, The Netherlands Kazakh National Medical University, Kazachstan INTERPOL LEGO Education, Denmark Strathmore University, Kenya KISA (Korea Internet & Security Agency), South Korea Lufthansa AG, Germany University of Latvia Medical Research Council, UK Mazda Motor Europe GmbH, Germany University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Macedonia Ministry of Defence, Singapore Novartis International AG, Switzerland University of Namibia National Defence Ministry, Romania Philip Morris International Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria NCeL (National Center for E-Learning & Distance Learning), Saudi Arabia Porsche AG, Germany Norwegian Digital Learning Arena (NDLA), Norway NHS Education for Scotland, UK Qatar Airways University of Warsaw, Poland Norwegian Armed Forces, Norway Raiffeisen Bank International AG, Austria University of Porto, Portugal Omar Dengo Foundation, Costa Rica RFI - Radio France Internationale, France Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics (MESI), Russia Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, France Samsung Electronics GmbH, Germany National University of Rwanda Portuguese Army, Portugal CODA AUTO, Czech Republic King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia Red Cross Royal Air Force, UK SHARP Electronics GmbH, Germany Hybrid Reality Institute, Singapore Royal Oman Police, Oman Shell, The Netherlands Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia Swedish Armed Forces, Sweden Siemens AG, Germany University of South Africa (UNISA) Swedish Customs, Sweden SIVECO, Romania Open University of Catalonia (UOC) Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute, Switzerland Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAGorg), Jordan Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre, Tanzania Telecom Italia, Italy Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands Tanzanian Training Centre for International Health, Tanzania Tetra Pak, Sweden International Baccalaureate, The Netherlands The Finnish Defence Forces, Finland Thomson Reuters, USA Koc University, Turkey United Nations Toyota Motor Europe, Belgium Makerere University, Uganda World Bank Vodafone Group Services, UK Oxford University, UK World Health Organization (WHO) Volkswagen AG, Germany Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University, United Arab Emirates WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) Volvo Car Group, Belgium

Continued here:
ONLINE EDUCA 2013 - OEB Audience

. Self-Improvement-eBooks.com

Choose from over 700 personal development ebooks and audios! Learn how you can become a member of Cornerstone Book Club. Claim your free prosperity ebook and email course . . .

Founder of The Science Of Success

"Whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve." - Napoleon Hill

American born Napoleon Hill is considered to have influenced more people into success than any other person in history. He has been perhaps the most influential man in the area of personal success technique development, primarily through his classic book Think and Grow Rich which has helped million of the people and has been important in the life of many successful people such as W. Clement Stone and Og Mandino.

Napoleon Hill was born into poverty in 1883 in a one-room cabin on the Pound River in Wise County, Virginia. At the age of 10 his mother died, and two years later his father remarried. He became a very rebellious boy, but grew up to be an incredible man. He began his writing career at age 13 as a "mountain reporter" for small town newspapers and went on to become America's most beloved motivational author. Fighting against all class of great disadvantages and pressures, he dedicated more than 25 years of his life to define the reasons by which so many people fail to achieve true financial success and happiness in their life.

During this time he achieved great success as an attorney and journalist. His early career as a reporter helped finance his way through law school. He was given an assignment to write a series of success stories of famous men, and his big break came when he was asked to interview steel-magnate Andrew Carnegie. Mr. Carnegie commissioned Hill to interview over 500 millionaires to find a success formula that could be used by the average person. These included Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Elmer Gates, Charles M. Schwab, Theodore Roosevelt, William Wrigley Jr, John Wanamaker, WIlliam Jennings Bryan, George Eastman, Woodrow Wilson, William H. Taft, John D. Rockefeller, F. W. Woolworth, Jennings Randolph, among others.

He became an advisor to Andrew Carnegie, and with Carnegie's help he formulated a philosophy of success, drawing on the thoughts and experience of a multitude of rags-to-riches tycoons. It took Hill over 20 years to produce his book, a classic in the Personal Development field called Think and Grow Rich. This book has sold over 7 million copies and has helped thousands achieve success. The secret to success is very simple but you'll have to read the book to find out what it is!

Napoleon Hill passed away in November 1970 after a long and successful career writing, teaching, and lecturing about the principles of success. His work stands as a monument to individual achievement and is the cornerstone of modern motivation. His book, Think and Grow Rich, is the all time best-seller in the field.

See the rest here:
A biography of Napoleon Hill (1883-1970) - Founder of The ...

In which John relates a condensed history of India, post-Indus Valley Civilization. John explores Hinduism and the origins of Buddhism. He also gets into the reign of Ashoka, the Buddhist emperor who, in spite of Buddhism's structural disapproval of violence, managed to win a bunch of battles.

Resources:

Awesome comic book about Ashoka by Anant Pai: http://dft.ba/-ashoka He did a huge series of comics about Indian history and religion: http://dft.ba/-AnantPai

India: A History by John Keay: http://dft.ba/-IndiaHistory

The Bhagavad Gita: http://dft.ba/-gita

The Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, and Rig Veda, all-in-one edition: http://dft.ba/-India

Credits:

Executive Producer: John Green Producer: Stan Muller Writer and historian: Raoul Meyer Script Supervisor: Danica Johnson Music: Jason Weidner

Thought Bubble is a product of the Smart Bubble Society: http://dft.ba/-smartbubble the Smart Bubble Society is: Suzanna Brusikiewicz Jonathon Corbiere Nick Counter Allan Levy James Tuer Adam Winnik

Set Design: Donna Sink Props: Brian McCutcheon

Continued here:
Buddha and Ashoka: Crash Course World History #6 - YouTube