Craig Hamilton is a pioneer in the emerging field of evolutionary spirituality. In his inspired writings, talks, and teachings, he calls us to awaken beyond the confines of the separate ego and dedicate our lives to the further evolution of consciousness itself.

As the founder and guiding force behind Integral Enlightenment, Craig offers spiritual guidance and teachings to a growing international community of thousands of students in 30 countries around the world. Through his online Academy for Evolutionaries, he teaches a series of experiential telecourses guiding participants through a process of spiritual awakening into an "evolutionary relationship to life."

Craig is a founding member of Ken Wilber's Integral Institute, a member of Deepak Chopra's Evolutionary Leaders Forum, and was a participant in the Synthesis Dialogues, a 35-person interdisciplinary think tank presided over by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His celebrated conversations with other luminaries are regularly heard by New Dimensions Radios seven million listeners, and form the basis of two acclaimed webinar series, The Great Integral Awakening: Pioneering A New Spiritual Path, and "Awakening the Impulse to Evolve: The Birth of Evolutionary Spirituality. A contributor to Shift magazine and co-author of IONS 2008 Shift Report, he is also co-writer of the forthcoming documentary film THE SHIFT. Craig lives with his wife, Claire, in San Rafael, California.

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Craig Hamilton - Evolving Wisdom - Faculty

One of the primary messages out of public health agencies and nutrition gurus from Walter Willett to Michael Pollan is to eat more plants. And, indeed, in many studies, vegetarian* diets are associated with better cardiovascular health, lower BMI, and better health behaviors (less likely to smoke, drink, and participate in shady Rock and Roll activities).

*In most of these studies, vegetarian does not mean vegan, but usually includes the addition of dairy and eggs, and in some cases, also fish and chicken. Many of these studies use the metric of what people self-identify as, rather than what people actually eat. And the large ones are cross-sectional observational studies, which don't give us causation.

I tweeted the paper yesterday, proving that there's nothing a paleo-leaning audience loves more than a study inconsistent with the notion that vegetarian diets are the elixir of eternal health and happiness, at least for humans.

There was also a little twitter skirmish of vegetarian protest. "Correlation doesn't mean causation" one told me. (Yes indeedy! That's why I used the word 'correlates'). Another accused me of being misleading #shame:

I'm happy to let each of you in the twitterverse determine how misleading I am. It would be too cumbersome to define each verb each and every time I use them in 140 characters. Let me qualify that I'm sure there are happy and healthy vegetarians out there, and all my best to continued health and happiness; be sure to get your B12 from somewhere!

Anyway, the researchers did a decent job of getting a nice cross section of people in Austria from all levels of health and socioeconomic classes. Then they pulled out all 343 "vegetarians" (which were vegans, lacto-ovo vegetarians, and lacto-ovo-pescatarians) and matched them with folks from three other self-identified groups that we shall call the virtuous carnivores (lots of fruits and veggies+ meat), the carnivores who eat less meat, and the shameless meat-eaters. Then the researchers measured (or asked about) a lot of health factors using trained interviewers. Body mass index, smoking, alcohol use, how many times a person visited the doctor, whether they got their preventative health care, and what sort of medical conditions and health complains they had.

After a lot of number-crunching, the results were as follows: Self-identified vegetarians had poorer mental health (defined as depression and anxiety), poorer overall health, and poorer quality of life. The other finding was that BMI correlated linearly with the consumption of animal fat (with the shameless carnivores having the highest BMI, the vegetarians the lowest).

What can we learn from this study? Are vegetarians are more likely to be neurotic sick people looking for dietary cures for what ails them, thus come out of the study looking more skinny, unhappy, and unsatisfied? Or are vegetarian diets nutritionally bereft leading to health problems, mental health problems in particular? We will never be able to get that answer from a study of this design.

The Mediterranean diet, as always, has more consistent data for positive benefits for mental and physical health. I tend to think that the diet with a bit of variety and the least processed food will be the healthiest and simplest to explain.

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Evolutionary Psychiatry

A Christian Critique of the Power Of Positive Thinking and the "Supreme Secret" of Napolean Hill, Norman Vincent Peale, Earl Nightingale, and others adapted from a book by Allan Turner ( http://www.allanturner.com/ )

"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve." -- Napoleon Hill

According to Norman Vincent Peale, author of popular books expounding the philosophy of "Positive Thinking" and "Positive Imaging," which, according to Peale, is "Positive Thinking" taken one step further:

There is a powerful and mysterious force in human nature...a kind of mental engineering....a powerful new-old idea....The concept is a form of mental activity called imaging....

It consists of vividly picturing, in your conscious mind, a desired goal or objective, and holding that image until it sinks into your unconscious mind, where it releases great untapped energies....

When the imaging concept is applied steadily and systematically, it solves problems, strengthens personalities, improves health, and greatly enhances the chances for success in any kind of endeavor.

The idea of imaging has been around for a long time and it has been implicit in all the speaking and writing I have done in the past. [1]

What Peale called a "powerful and mysterious force," Napolean Hill, the granddaddy of PMA (Positive Mental Attitude), called the "Supreme Secret" (i.e. "Anything the human mind can believe, the human mind can achieve"). [2] As a matter of fact, in another book he co-authored with W. Clement Stone, Hill said:

This is a universal law....that we translate into physical reality the thoughts and attitudes we hold in our minds, no matter what they are. [3]

Of course, if Napolean Hill is correct about us achieving anything we can conceive (and I don't for a moment think he is), then we must, indeed, be Gods (cf. Genesis 3:5).

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and the "Supreme Secret" of Napolean Hill

Think and Grow Rich for Women [Hardcover]

Women want a guide for and relevant to them today from women who have created success and significance in their own lives. Sh...

Millonario Poderoso es una edicin especial que combina dos grandes obras Su Extraordinario Poder y Como Llegar a Ser ...

Financially, I achieved a lot through the books authored or co-authored by Dr. Hill. It is worthy of note that about 95% of t...

Great Quotes from Napoleon Hill This perpetual calendar is designed to provide daily doses of Dr. Napoleon Hills famo...

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Four words that make all the difference: "I can do it." A positive attitude has the power to change your life. By ending n...

You can change your life with this small book. It contains the key to your success: PMA, positive mental attitude. You can ac...

In 1937, one man changed the face of entrepreneurship forever with a single book. Napoleon Hill's landmark Think and Grow ...

[Pre-order now on Amazon!] You've learned the principles in Napoleon Hill's classic Think and Grow Richnow give them ST...

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Store | Napoleon Hill Foundation

Eckhart Tolle (Lnen, 1948) Escritor y maestro espiritual contemporneo de origen alemn y nacionalidad canadiense. Es famoso por ttulos como El poder del ahora y Una nueva tierra. En 2008 un escritor del New York Times se refiri a Tolle como "el autor espiritual ms popular en Estados Unidos". En 2011 la Watkins Review lo calific como el autor de espiritualidad ms conocido de USA. Reside en Vancouver con su mujer, Kim Eng.

Tolle naci como Ulrich Tolle en Alemania. Vivi con su padre en Espaa desde los 13 aos (en 1961) hasta que se traslad a Inglaterra a los 20 aos. No recibi una educacin formal a partir de los 13 aos, aunque s recibi cursos de idiomas y otras materias. Acudi a la escuela nocturna para cumplir los requisitos de admisin para entrar en las universidades inglesas. Estudi en las Universidades de Londres y Cambridge. A los 29 aos, Tolle experiment lo que l considera una transformacin espiritual que marc el principio de su labor como consejero y maestro espiritual.[1] Desde 1996 Tolle vive en Vancouver, British Columbia, Canad.

Tolle afirma haber experimentado un despertar espiritual a los 29 aos, despus de padecer largos periodos de depresin, y estando a punto del suicidio. Tras la "iluminacin", abandon su tesis doctoral en la Universidad de Londres, y sin empleo durmi bastantes noches en los bancos de Hampstead Heath. Pas varios aos de "vagabundo" y sin trabajo, en un estado de profunda "paz interior", antes de convertirse en maestro espiritual; tras lo cual se mud a los USA. Su ensayo El Poder del Ahora enfatiza la importancia de ser consciente del momento presente para no perderse en los pensamientos. En su opinin, el presente es la puerta de acceso a una elevada sensacin de paz. Afirma que "Ser Ahora" conlleva una conciencia que est ms all de la mente, una conciencia que ayuda a trascender el "cuerpo del dolor" que es creado por la identificacin con la mente y el ego. Su ltimo libro Una Nueva Tierra, ahora explora la estructura del ego humano y cmo ste acta para distraer a la gente de su experiencia presente en el mundo. Tambin ha escrito "El Silencio habla" y "Practicando el poder del ahora".

Tolle no est alineado con ninguna religin o tradicin en particular. Sin embargo, en el libro Dilogos con maestros espirituales emergentes, de John W. Parker,[2] Tolle ha reconocido una fuerte conexin con Jiddu Krishnamurti y Ramana Maharshi y afirma que sus enseanzas son una sntesis de las enseanzas de estos dos maestros. Adems, sostiene que escuchando y hablando con el maestro espiritual Barry Long,[3] comprendi las cosas ms profundamente. Las influencias a las que se hace referencia en El Poder del Ahora son los escritos de Meister Eckhart, Advaita Vedanta, Un curso de milagros, el sufismo y la poesa de Rumi, as como la escuela Rinzai de Budismo Zen. El libro tambin interpreta frases de Jess recogidas en la Biblia. Dentro de la comunidad espiritual e intelectual, existen algunos detractores de su obra, que la consideran una copia de los grandes libros escritos por los grandes maestros espirituales.

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Eckhart Tolle - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Spiritual Teacher and author was born in Germany and educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge. At the age of twenty-nine a profound inner transformation radically changed the course of his life. The next few years were devoted to understanding, integrating and deepening that transformation, which marked the beginning of an intense inward journey. Later, he began to work in London with individuals and small groups as a counselor and spiritual teacher. Since 1995 he has lived in Vancouver, Canada.

Eckhart Tolle is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Power of Now (translated into 33 languages) and the highly acclaimed follow-up A New Earth, which are widely regarded as two of the most influential spiritual books of our time.

Eckharts profound yet simple teachings have already helped countless people throughout the world find inner peace and greater fulfillment in their lives. At the core of the teachings lies the transformation of consciousness, a spiritual awakening that he sees as the next step in human evolution. An essential aspect of this awakening consists in transcending our ego-based state of consciousness. This is a prerequisite not only for personal happiness but also for the ending of violent conflict endemic on our planet.

Eckhart is a sought-after public speaker and teaches and travels extensively throughout the world. Many of his talks, intensives and retreats are published on CD and DVD. Most of the teachings are given in English, but occasionally Eckhart also gives talks in German and Spanish. In addition to The Power of Now and A New Earth, Eckhart has written a book designed for meditative reading entitled Stillness Speaks. A book consisting of selections from The Power of Now is also available, entitled Practicing the Power of Now.

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Eckhart Tolle - Channelings, Articles and more on Spirit ...

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IF BELIEVERS TRULY ACCEPT AND UNDERSTAND THE GOD REVEALED IN THE FLESH BY JESUS CHRIST 2000 YEARS AGO, SCIENCE WOULD NOT BE AN ENEMY TO ATTACK BUT A "GIFT" OF GOD THAT PROVES THE ABSOLUTE INERRANT TRUTH IN THE BIBLE. THE ONLY RECOURSE THEY HAVE IS TO REPLACE SCIENCE WITH PSEUDO-SCIENCE. THE RESULT OF THIS IS THAT IT REQUIRES "BLIND FAITH." JESUS SAID WE SHOULD HAVE THE "FAITH OF A CHILD", NOT "BLIND FAITH." ONE THING I LEARNED RAISING 2 DAUGHTERS IS THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE "BLIND FAITH" IN ME AND THEIR MOM...THEY HAD "TRUSTING FAITH" WHICH WAS BASED ON "KNOWING" WHO MOM AND DAD WERE! PEOPLE ABANDON THE BIBLE BECAUSE OF SCIENCE IGNORANCE.....NOT BECAUSE OF UNDERSTANDING SCIENCE. IRONICALLY, SCIENCE REJECTS THE BIBLE FOR THE SAME REASON..."IGNORANCE" OF GOD AND THE BIBLE.

How evolution is driving the clergy to atheism

Abandoning the Bible for science

by Warren Nunn

Published: 24 April 2014 (GMT+10)

caughtinthepulpit

Atheists have fired another salvo in their ongoing assault on the Bible and, in particular, the truth of Genesis and its importance in the creation-evolution debate.

This time it involves the recent publication of Caught In The Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind1 by Daniel Dennett and Linda LaScola.

And it should dispel any doubts in the minds of Christians about how focused atheists are on highlighting how accepting the evolutionary view of the world is a major factor in people abandoning their faith in the God of the Bible.

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The Doubting Thomas "A Journey in Scientific Spirituality ...

As the fundamental basis of modern science, Naturalism is a very powerful paradigm. In its strong form, the central belief of Naturalism is very simple and basic:

Everything that we are and do is fully encompassed in Nature - there are no supernatural beings, forces or realms. There are phenomena that we do not yet understand, but that doesnt mean they are supernatural.

Naturalism has been a philosophical movement as well as an axiom underlying the scientific method. But could there also be a naturalistic religion or naturalistic spirituality - focused entirely on the natural world, without belief in any supernatural beings, realms or forces? A religion of science, a religion of reason, fully compatible with science, evidence and logic?

Strong Naturalism is at the heart of World Pantheisms outlook which we call Naturalistic Pantheism or Scientific Pantheism. World Pantheism offers a completely naturalistic spirituality. We direct our deepest feelings towards Nature, just as it is presented to us by our senses and explored by science. Nature alone is powerful, beautiful and mysterious enough to be the object of our deepest reverence, and Nature provides us with realistic ways of coping with stress, anxiety and bereavement.

Our forms of celebration are also completely naturalistic, focused on this life on this earth, not on supernatural realms or beings. They may involve nature hikes and appreciation of natural objects and photographs; natural sports such as surfing, skiing, mountaineering or whitewater rafting; or simply the quiet contemplation of nature. Some pantheists enjoy symbolic rituals but these are done for fun or self-expression, not because we think we can control the elements and magically manipulate natural laws.

Part of naturalistic spirituality is an acceptance of natural death as the end of the separate individual person. The only forms of afterlife are natural ones such as the persistence of our creations, actions, memories and genes, and the recycling of our elements into new living forms.

Natural death also involves nature-friendly funerals, such as burials in woodlands or orchards using biodegradable materials and without embalming.

Most atheist and humanist organizations have a strong naturalistic point of view, and we agree with them fully on this. Like them, we have no belief in a thinking, creator or personal God. Like them we believe that humans are the source of human ethical codes.

We add to humanism and atheism a strong affirmation of this life, in these our bodies, on this our beautiful planet. This is the only life and the only paradise we will ever know, so we had better take good care of them.

We also believe that there are naturalistic ways to satisfy those needs that traditional religions target - for community, purpose, therapy, remedies for grief and fear of death.

Excerpt from:
Naturalism and Naturalistic Pantheism: can there be a ...

Virtually all cells of every living thing (plants, animals, and humans) contain tiny strands of coded information called DNA. DNA directs the cell, telling it what to produce and when. Therefore, much of your appearance and personality is determined by DNA you inherited from your parents.

In human cells, the nucleus contains 99.5% of the DNA. Half of it came from the individuals mother and half from the father. Because both halves are shuffled together, it is difficult to identify which parent contributed any tiny segment. In other words, half of this DNA changes with each generation. However, outside the nucleus of each cell are thousands of little energy-producing components called mitochondria, each containing a circular strand of DNA. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) comes only from the mother. Where did she get hers? From her motherand so on. Normally, mtDNA does not change from generation to generation.

In 1987, a team at the University of California at Berkeley published a study comparing the mtDNA of 147 people from five of the worlds geographic locations.2 They concluded that all 147 had the same female ancestor. She is now called the mitochondrial Eve.

From a biblical perspective, do we know where Eve lived? Because the flood was so destructive, no one knows where the Garden of Eden was.4 However, Noahs three daughters-in-law, who lived only a dozen or so generations after Eve, began raising their families near Mount Ararat in eastern Turkeyvery near the common boundary of Asia, Africa, and Europe. (Each of us can claim one of Noahs daughters-in-law as our ever-so-great grandmother.) So it is not surprising that Asia, Africa, and Europe are candidate homes for mitochondrial Eve.

Likewise, when similar words, sounds, and grammar of the worlds most widely spoken languages are traced back in time, they also seem to originate near Ararat.5 Another convergence near eastern Turkey is found when one traces agriculture back in time.6

When did mitochondrial Eve live? To answer this, one must know how frequently mutations occur in mtDNA. Initial estimates were based on the following faulty reasoning: Humans and chimpanzees had a common ancestor about 5 million years ago. Because the mtDNA in humans and chimpanzees differ in 1,000 places, one mutation occurs about every 10,000 years. Another erroneous approach began by assuming that Australia was first populated 40,000 years ago. The average number of mitochondrial mutations among Australian aborigines divided by 40,000 years provided another extremely slow mutation rate for mtDNA. These estimated rates, based on evolution, led to the mistaken belief that mitochondrial Eve lived 100,000200,000 years ago.8 This surprised evolutionists who believe that our common ancestor was an apelike creature that lived 31/2 million years ago.9

A greater surprise, even disbelief, occurred in 1997, when it was announced that mutations in mtDNA occur 20 times more rapidly than had been estimated. Without assuming that humans and chimpanzees had a common ancestor 5 million years ago or that Australia was populated 40,000 years ago, mutation rates can now be determined directly by comparing the mtDNA of many mother-child pairs. Using the new, more accurate rate, mitochondrial Eve lived only about 6,500 years ago.10 Is there a genetic Adam? A man receives from his father a segment of DNA which lies on the Y chromosome; this makes him a male. Where did your father receive his segment? From his father. If we all descended from one man, all males should have the same Y chromosome segmentexcept for rare mutations.

A 1995 study of a worldwide sample of 38 men showed no changes in this segment of the Y chromosome that is always inherited from fathers. Had humans evolved and all men descended from one male who lived 500,000 years ago, each should carry about 19 mutations. Had he lived 150,000 years ago, 5.5 mutations would be expected.11 Because no changes were found, our common father probably lived only thousands of years ago. While Adam was father of all, our most recent common male ancestor was Noah.

Yes, new discoveries show that we carry traces of Adam and Eve in our cells. Furthermore, our common parents are probably removed from us by only 200300 generations. All humans have a common and recent bonda family bond. We are all cousins.

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"SCIENTIFIC" Evidence of Adam & Eve's Existence (myth ...

The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.[1] To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning.[2] The Oxford English Dictionary defines the scientific method as "a method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses."[3]

The chief characteristic which distinguishes the scientific method from other methods of acquiring knowledge is that scientists seek to let reality speak for itself, supporting a theory when a theory's predictions are confirmed and challenging a theory when its predictions prove false. Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, identifiable features distinguish scientific inquiry from other methods of obtaining knowledge. Scientific researchers propose hypotheses as explanations of phenomena and design experimental studies to test these hypotheses via predictions which can be derived from them. These steps must be repeatable to guard against mistake or confusion in any particular experimenter. Theories that encompass wider domains of inquiry may bind many independently derived hypotheses together in a coherent, supportive structure. Theories, in turn, may help form new hypotheses or place groups of hypotheses into context.

Scientific inquiry is intended to be as objective as possible in order to minimize bias. Another basic expectation is the documentation, archiving and sharing of all data collected or produced and of the methodologies used so they may be available for careful scrutiny and attempts by other scientists to reproduce and verify them. This practice, known as full disclosure, also means that statistical measures of their reliability may be made.

The scientific method is the process by which science is carried out.[9] Because science builds on previous knowledge, it consistently improves our understanding of the world.[10] The scientific method also improves itself in the same way,[11][12] meaning that it gradually becomes more effective at generating new knowledge.[13][14] For example, the concept of falsification (first proposed in 1934) reduces confirmation bias by formalizing the attempt to disprove hypotheses rather than prove them.[15]

The overall process involves making conjectures (hypotheses), deriving predictions from them as logical consequences, and then carrying out experiments based on those predictions to determine whether the original conjecture was correct.[16] There are difficulties in a formulaic statement of method, however. Though the scientific method is often presented as a fixed sequence of steps, they are better considered as general principles.[17] Not all steps take place in every scientific inquiry (or to the same degree), and are not always in the same order. As noted by William Whewell (17941866), "invention, sagacity, [and] genius"[18] are required at every step:

This model underlies the scientific revolution.[22] One thousand years ago, Alhazen demonstrated the importance of forming questions and subsequently testing them,[23] an approach which was advocated by Galileo in 1638 with the publication of Two New Sciences.[24] The current method is based on a hypothetico-deductive model[25] formulated in the 20th century, although it has undergone significant revision since first proposed (for a more formal discussion, see below).

The discovery became the starting point for many further studies involving the genetic material, such as the field of molecular genetics, and it was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962. Each step of the example is examined in more detail later in the article.

The scientific method also includes other components required even when all the iterations of the steps above have been completed:[34]

The goal of a scientific inquiry is to obtain knowledge in the form of testable explanations that can predict the results of future experiments. This allows scientists to gain an understanding of reality, and later use that understanding to intervene in its causal mechanisms (such as to cure disease). The better an explanation is at making predictions, the more useful it is, and the more likely it is to be correct. The most successful explanations, which explain and make accurate predictions in a wide range of circumstances, are called scientific theories.

Most experimental results do not result in large changes in human understanding; improvements in theoretical scientific understanding is usually the result of a gradual synthesis of the results of different experiments, by various researchers, across different domains of science.[39] Scientific models vary in the extent to which they have been experimentally tested and for how long, and in their acceptance in the scientific community. In general, explanations become accepted by a scientific community as evidence in favor is presented, and as presumptions that are inconsistent with the evidence are falsified.

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Scientific method - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia