ewphysics

recipes

2006-12-14T11:51:00.000-08:00

I haven't looked yet, but I am hoping to find the recipes for all the magical food we had last night! Thank you everyone for an interesting and enjoyable semester!

If you have time this is a great place to take family and friends for a day trip: http://www.copia.org/content/node/972

All month long …celebrate the spirit of the holidays at COPIA

The holiday season brings a special magic to COPIA. Scents of gingerbread and spices fill the air as our chefs create holiday confections, rare vintages and festive sparkling wines flow and the gardens glow with pomegranates and persimmons. This is the time to put your busy life on simmer for a few hours, and come to COPIA. Create a wreath to welcome guests to your home, catch up with friends and family at our Holiday Teas, learn to make latkes or shop Cornucopia for the best in unique holiday gifts. Slow down, enjoy, indulge. This is our holiday gift to you.

Every Day in December
Pomegranates: Nutritious and Delicious
Learn why this amazing and beautiful fruit is becoming so popular—as well as a few easy ways to enjoy it at home.

Children’s Tea with Mrs. Claus
Saturday, December 16 and Sunday, December 17, 1:00 - 2:30 pm
Mrs. Claus presides over an old-fashioned holiday tea the whole family will love! We’ll serve a delicious assortment of child-friendly baked goodies and tea sandwiches, as well as a choice of tea, hot cider or hot chocolate. Keep the memory warm with a family holiday photo in Santa’s sleigh. (Photos available for purchase separately.) $35 per adult, $20 per child (incls admission)/Members: $25 per adult, $15 per child. Teas sell out quickly; please call 707.259.1600 for reservations.
Why not make it an afternoon with the family and stay for the VOENA children’s choir concerts? See below (ticketed separately).

Tempting Hanukkah Treats
Wednesday, December 20 and Saturday, December 23, 1:00 - 2:00 pm
Learn about luscious latkes, decadent donuts and other traditional Hanukkah treats with Culinary Instructor Jill Hough. Trade stories, share holiday memories and have a nosh! Included with admission.

Concerts
VOENA Holiday Concert
Saturday, December 16 and Sunday, December 17 – 3:00 pm (two matinees)
VOENA (Voices of Eve & Angels) is the internationally acclaimed, multi-ethnic children’s choir that combines inventive a cappella vocal arrangements with percussion, dance and theatrical elements. The choir is a joy for the eyes, ears and heart, and one you won’t want to miss. $25 (incls admission)/$22.50 member.

The Kinsey Sicks: Oy Vey in a Manger
Thursday, December 21, 8:00 pm
For the fourth “straight” year, The Kinsey Sicks—America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet—turn their considerable talents to revamping holiday cheer at COPIA. Come see what all the fuss is about!
$25 general/$22.50 member. This program contains adult material and is not recommended for children.

Sumptuous Meals at Julia’s Kitchen - Celebrate the holidays with sumptuous prix fixe menus created for the Twelve Nights of Christmas and annual New Year’s Eve fête. Check the website for details: www.juliaskitchen.org. Reservations: 707.265.5700 or www.opentable.com.

H O P E

2006-12-12T19:26:00.000-08:00

At MUSC, we teach the HOPE method of taking a spiritual history because of its ease of use and the way it smoothly transitions from social support to spiritual topics (Anandarajah and Hight, Amer Fam Phys 2001). The HOPE questions, can be seen at on the web at www.aafp.org/afp/20010101/81.html, or summarized below:
H addresses the person’s basic spiritual resources, such as sources of Hope, without immediately focusing on religion or spirituality. Using this method allows for meaningful dialogue with patients of diverse backgrounds, including those whose spirituality lies outside the boundaries of traditional religion or those who have been alienated in some way from their religion. It also allows those for whom religion, God or prayer is important to volunteer this information.
O focuses on the importance of Organized religion in patients' lives.
P focuses on the specific aspects of their personal spirituality and personal religious practices. If patients relate meaningful experiences at this point, then the interviewer can proceed with more specific questions regarding religion and personal spirituality. If not, then one can ask open-ended follow-up questions to open the door for patients to discuss important spiritual concerns they may have.
E focuses on the Effects of a patient's spiritual and religious beliefs on medical care and end-of-life issues. These questions help re-direct the discussion back onto clinical issues and medical-decision-making.

Spirituality and Medicine

2006-12-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

Why is it important to attend to spirituality in medicine?

Regardless of their own belief system, physicians should not allow their own bias to blind them to the appreciation of the possibility that religion and spiritual beliefs play an important role for many of their patients. When illness threatens the health, and possibly the life of an individual, that person is likely to come to the physician with both physical symptoms and spiritual issues in mind. An article in the Journal of Religion and Health claims that through these two channels, medicine and religion, humans grapple with common issues of infirmity, suffering, loneliness, despair, and death, while searching for hope, meaning, and personal value in the crisis of illness.[6]

Persons may hold powerful spiritual beliefs, and may or may not be active in any institutional religion. Spirituality can be defined as ". . . a belief system focusing on intangible elements that impart vitality and meaning to life's events."[7] Many physicians and nurses have intuitive and anecdotal impressions that the beliefs and religious practices of patients have a profound affect upon their experiences with illness and the threat of dying. It is generally accepted that religious affiliation is correlated with a reduction in the incidence of some diseases such as cancer and coronary artery disease. For patients facing a terminal illness, religious and spiritual factors often figure into important decisions such as the employment of advance directives such as the living will and the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. Considerations of the meaning, purpose and value of human life are used to make choices about the desirability of CPR and aggressive life-support, or whether and when to fore-go life support and accept death as appropriate and natural under the circumstances.
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How should I take a "spiritual history"?
In courses such as the "Introduction to Clinical Medicine," medical students learn the various components of the doctor-patient interview, often beginning with a history of the present illness, a psycho-social history, and a review of systems. Students-in-training are often hesitant to ask questions regarded as intrusive into the personal life of the patient until they understand there are valid reasons for asking about sexual practices, alcohol use, the use of tobacco or non-prescription drugs. Religious belief and practice falls into that "personal" category that students-in-training often avoid, yet when valid reasons are offered by teachers and mentors for obtaining a spiritual history, students can learn to incorporate this line of questioning into the patient interview.

Often, the spiritual history can be incorporated into what we may now want to call the "psycho-social-spiritual" patient history. Students are taught to make a transition by simply stating something like the following: "As physicians, (or, as physicians-in-training,) we have discovered that many of our patients have strong spiritual or religious beliefs that have a bearing on their perceptions of illness and their preferred modes of treatment. If you are comfortable discussing this with me, I would like to hear from you about any beliefs or practices that you would want me to know as your care giver." If the patient responds affirmatively, follow-up questions can be used to elicit the information. If the patient says "no" or "none" it is a clear signal to move on to the next topic.

In my experience as a tutor, students learning the patient interview have returned from a patient interview on many occasions with a sense of excitement and gratification in discovering that this line of questioning opened a discussion with the patient that disclosed the patient's faith in God as a major comforting factor in the face of a life-threatening illness. Some patients have described their gratitude to their church community for bringing meals to their family while at least one parent was at the hospital with a sick child. Others spoke of a visit from a priest, a rabbi, or a minister during their hospitalization as a major source of comfort and reassurance. One patient, self-described as a "non-church-goer," described his initial surprise at a visit from the hospital chaplain which turned into gratitude as he found in the chaplain a skilled listener with a deep sense of caring to whom he could pour out his feelings about being sick, away from home, separated from his family, frightened by the prospect of invasive diagnostic procedures and the possibility of a painful treatment regimen.

Todd Maugans offered a mnemonic in the Archives of Family Medicine as a technique to assist students in framing an approach to spiritual history taking:

S Spiritual Belief System
P Personal Spirituality
I Integration and Involvement in a Spiritual Community
R Ritualized Practices and Restrictions
I Implications for Medical Care
T Terminal Events Planning (advance directives)

The mnemonic is of course suggestive of a broader line of questioning that may follow from open ended questions organized around the topics identified above.
How can respect for persons involve a spiritual perspective?
The emphasis on listening to the patient and learning of the patient's beliefs and values as well as the signs and symptoms of illness is timely. A variety of features related to cost containment seem to work adversely against the patient's needs. The typical office visit grows shorter and more curtailed as physicians are pressured to see more patients within a working day. In managed care organizations the physician is responsible for a pool of patients, not just the individual patient who is standing before the physician at this particular moment. Increasingly, the physician is the "gatekeeper" in terms of referral to specialists and to expensive diagnostic procedures or hospitalization decisions. These pressures toward economy have been created by the upward spiraling of health care costs. However, they must not come at the sacrifice of respect for persons, a fundamental moral obligation in the profession of medicine.

The principle of respect for persons leads to actions designed to safeguard the autonomy of the patient, to limit the risks of harm while providing a medical benefit, and to treat persons fairly in the allocation of health care resources. Such respect for persons is a guiding principle of the healing profession and flows from the professions fundamental ethical commitment in serving the sick and injured. This principle is reinforced for the physician with a religious perspective, who in most religions, views the patient as a part of the creation of God. Likewise, it is reinforced in religious hospitals where the mission is to care for persons individually and equally as "children of God."
How should I work with hospital chaplains?
It is heartening to know that the physician is not alone in relating to the spiritual needs of the patient, but enjoys the team work of well trained hospital chaplains who are prepared to help when the needs of the patient are outside the competence of the physician. Consultation frequently may involve clergy serving the patient and his family. The onset of serious illness often induces spiritual reflection as patients wonder, "what is the meaning of my life now?". Others ponder questions of causation, or "why did this happen to me?". Still others are concerned as to whether the physician's recommendations for treatment are permissible within the faith community of the patient. Practical questions concerning the permissibility of procedures such as in vitro fertilization, pregnancy termination, blood transfusion, organ donation, or the removal of life supports such as ventilators, dialysis, or artificially administered nutrition and hydration, arise regularly for persons of faith. In many cases, the chaplain will have specialized knowledge of how medical procedures are viewed by various religious bodies. In each case, the chaplain will first attempt to elicit the patient's current understanding or belief about the permissibility of the procedure in question.

The chaplain is also a helpful resource in providing or arranging for certain rituals that are important for patients under particular circumstances. Some patients may wish to hear the assurances of Scripture, others may want the chaplain to lead them in prayer, and still others may wish for the sacrament of communion, baptism, anointing, or the last rites, depending upon their faith system. The chaplain may provide these direct services for the patient, or may act as liaison with the patient's clergy person. In one case, the surgeon called for the chaplain to consult with a patient who was inexplicably refusing a life-saving surgical procedure. The chaplain gently probed the patient's story in an empathic manner, leading the patient to "confess" to a belief that her current illness was God's punishment for a previous sin. The ensuing discussion revolved around notions of God's forgiveness and the patient's request for prayer. In this case, the chaplain became the "embodiment" of God's forgiveness as he heard the patient's confession, provided reassurance of God's forgiving nature, and offered a prayer acknowledging her penitence and desire for forgiveness and healing. In another case, the neonatologist summoned the chaplain to the NICU when it became apparent that a premature infant was not going to live and the parents were distraught at the notion that their baby would die without the sacrament of baptism. In this case, the chaplain was able to discuss the parents beliefs, to reassure them that their needs could be met, and to provide an infant baptism service with the parents, the neonatologist and the primary nurse all in attendance. The chaplain also notified their home town pastor and helped make arrangements for the parents to be followed back home in their grieving process.
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What role should my personal beliefs play in the physician-patient relationship?
Whether you are religious, or areligious, your beliefs may affect the doctor-patient relationship. Care must be taken that the nonreligious physician not underestimate the importance of the patient's belief system. Care must be taken that the religious physician who believes differently than the patient, not impose his or her beliefs onto the patient at this time of special vulnerability. In both cases, the principle of respect for the patient should transcend the ideology of the physician.

It is clear that religious beliefs are important to the lives of many physicians. Some physicians attest to a sense of being "called" by God to the profession of medicine, a definite sense of vocation in the religious sense of a calling. In fact, in a much earlier time in the history of the world, the priest and the medicine man were one and the same in most cultures, until the development of scientific medicine led to a division between the professions. Modern physicians wonder whether, when and how to express themselves to patients regarding their own faith.

In one study reported in the Southern Medical Journal in 1995, physicians from a variety of religious backgrounds reported they would be comfortable discussing their beliefs if asked about them by patients.[8] The study shows that physicians with spiritual beliefs that are important to them integrate their beliefs into their interactions with patients in a variety of ways. Some devout physicians shared their beliefs with patients, discussed the patients beliefs, and prayed either with or for the patient. These interactions were more likely in the face of a serious or life-threatening illness and religious discussions did not take place with the majority of their patients.

Four guidelines are offered for physicians regarding religious issues:

* physicians may enter such a dialogue, but they are not obligated to do so.
* the dialogue must be at the invitation of the patient, not imposed by the physician.
* physicians must be open and nonjudgmental in claiming that their beliefs are personally helpful, without claiming ultimate truth
* the guiding principle should be "do no harm," the purpose of the dialogue should be burden-lifting, not burden-producing.[9]

Some physicians find a number of reasons to avoid discussions revolving around the spiritual beliefs, needs and interests of their patients. Reasons for not opening this subject include the scarcity of time in office visits, fear of imposing upon the patient, lack of familiarity with the subject matter of spirituality, or the lack of knowledge and experience with the varieties of religious expressions in our pluralistic culture. On the other hand, some physicians do incorporate spiritual history taking into the bio-psycho-social-spiritual interview, and others find opportunities where sharing their own beliefs or praying with a particular patient in special circumstances has a unique value to that patient. Certainly issues in modern medicine raise a host of questions such as whether or not to prolong life through artificial means, whether it is licit to shorten life through the use of pain medications, or what duty one has to a new born with fatal genetic anomalies. These and a myriad of other questions have religious and spiritual significance for a wide spectrum of our society and deserve a sensitive dialogue with physicians attending to patients facing these troubling issues.
How can I approach spirituality in medicine with physicians-in-training?
In one approach at the University of Washington School of Medicine, the course "Spirituality in Medicine" goes beyond teaching the spiritual history taking. The purpose of the course is to provide an opportunity for interactive learning about relationships between spirituality and the practices in medicine and health care. Some of the goals of the class are as follows:

* To heighten student awareness of ways in which their own faith system provides resources for encounters with illness, suffering and death.
* To foster student understanding, respect and appreciation for the individuality and diversity of patients' beliefs, values, spirituality and culture regarding illness, its meaning, cause, treatment, and outcome.
* To strengthen students in their commitment to relationship-centered medicine that emphasizes care of the suffering person rather than attention simply to the pathophysiology of disease, and recognizes the physician as a dynamic component of that relationship.
* To facilitate students in recognizing the role of the hospital chaplain and the patient's clergy as partners in the health care team in providing care for the patient.
* To encourage students in developing and maintaining a program of physical, emotional and spiritual self-care which includes attention to the purpose and meaning of their lives and work.

Until recently, there were all too few medical schools that offered a formal forum to discuss humanistic aspects of medicine for medical students and residents. This situation is changing. Like the University of Washington, some thirty medical schools around the country have recently added new courses addressing spirituality in medicine. Increasingly, residency programs, particularly those with a primary care focus, are also incorporating this view in the training of residents. In addition, CME has been offered to practicing physicians through three annual conferences on "Spirituality in Medicine," the first of which was hosted by Harvard Medical School with Herbert Benson, MD, as facilitator.

http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/spirit.html

Auras and Discharges

2006-12-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the most specific model for the bioenergetic field is some special form of electromagnetism. Advocates claim that measurable electromagnetic waves are emitted by humans. In the Journal of Advanced Nursing, Patterson relates "spiritual healing" to the belief that "we are all part of the natural harmonious energy of the universe." Within this universal energy field is a human energy field "that is intimately involved with human life, often called the 'aura.' " [13]

Some self-described psychics claim that they can "see" a human aura. The claim has not been substantiated. [14]

Indeed, humans have auras that can be photographed with infrared-sensitive film. However, this can be trivially identified as "black body" electromagnetic radiation. Everyday objects that reflect very little light will appear black. These bodies emit invisible infrared light that is the statistical result of the random thermal movements of all the charged particles in the body. The wavelength spectrum has a characteristic smooth shape completely specified by the body's absolute temperature. As that temperature rises, the spectrum moves into the visible. The sun, for example, radiates largely as a "black body" of temperature 6,000 K, with a broad peak at the center of the visible spectrum in the yellow. At their much lower body temperatures, humans radiate mostly in the infrared region of the spectrum that is invisible to the naked eye but easily seen with infrared detection equipment.

The inability of the wave theory of light to explain the black body spectrum led, in 1900, to Planck's conjecture that light comes in bundles of energy called "quanta," thus triggering the quantum revolution. These quanta are now recognized as material photons. It is somewhat ironic that holists find such comfort in quantum mechanics, which replaced etherial waves with material particles.

Surely black body radiation is not a candidate for the bioenergetic field, for then even the cosmic microwave background, 2.7K radiation left over from the big bang, would be "alive." Black body radiation lacks any of the complexity we associate with life. It is as featureless as it can be and still be consistent with the laws of physics. Any fanciful shapes seen in photographed auras emanating from humans can be attributed to optical and photographic effects, uncorrelated with any property of the body that one might identify as "live" rather than "dead," and the tendency for people to see patterns where none exist.

Stefanatos [15] tells us that the "electromagnetic fields (EMF) emanating from bacteria, viruses, and toxic substances affect the cells of the body and weaken its constitution." So the vital force is identified quite explicitly with electromagnetic fields and is said to be the cause of disease. But somehow the life energies of the body are balanced by bioenergetic therapies. "No antibiotic or drug, no matter how powerful, will save an animal if the vital force of healing is suppressed or lacking." [16] So health or sickness is determined by who wins the battle between good and bad electromagnetic waves in the body.

Now it would seem that all these effects of electromagnetic fields in living things would be easily detectable, given the great precision with which electromagnetic phenomena can be measured in the laboratory. Physicists have measured the magnetic dipole moment of the electron (a measure of the strength of the electron's magnetic field) to one part in ten billion, and calculated it with the same accuracy. They surely should be able to detect any electromagnetic effects in the body powerful enough to move atoms around or do whatever happens in causing or curing disease. But neither physics nor any other science has seen anything that demands we go beyond established physical theories. No elementary particle or field has been found that is uniquely biological. None is even hinted at in our most powerful detectors.

Besides the infrared black body radiation already mentioned, electromagnetic waves at other frequencies are detected from the brain and other organs. As mentioned, these are often claimed as "evidence" for the bioenergetic field. In medicine, they provide powerful diagnostic information. But these electromagnetic waves show no special characteristics that differentiate them from the electromagnetic waves produced by moving charges in any electronic system. Indeed, they can be simulated with a computer. No marker has been found that uniquely labels the waves from organisms "live" rather than "dead."

Kirlian photography is often cited as evidence for the existence of fields unique to living things. For example, Patterson [17] claims that the "seven or more layers within an aura, each with its own colour," have been recorded using Kirlian photography.

Semyon Davidovich Kirlian was an Armenian electrician who discovered in 1937 that photographs of live objects placed in a pulsed high electromagnetic will show remarkable surrounding "aura." In the typical Kirlian experiment, an object, such as a freshly-cut leaf, is placed on a piece of photographic film that is electrically isolated from a flat aluminum electrode with a piece of dielectric material. A pulsed high voltage is then applied between another electrode placed in contact with the object and the aluminum electrode. The film is then developed.

The resulting photographs indicate dynamic, changing patterns, with multicolored sparks, twinkles, and flares. [18] Dead objects do not have such lively patterns! In the case of a leaf, the pattern is seen to gradually go away as the leaf dies, emitting cries of agony during its death throes. Ostrander and Schroeder described what Kirlian and his wife observed: "As they watched, the leaf seemed to be dying before their very eyes, and the death was reflected in the picture of the energy impulses." The Kirlians reported that "We appeared to be seeing the very life activity of the leaf itself." [19]

As has been amply demonstrated, the Kirlian aura is nothing but corona discharge, reported as far back as 1777 and completely understood in physical terms. Controlled experiments have demonstrated that claimed effects, such as the cries of agony of a dying leaf, are dependent on the amount of moisture present. As the leaf dies, it dries out, lowering its electrical conductivity. The same effect can be seen with a long dead but initially wet piece of wood. [20]

Once again, like the infrared aura, we have a well-known electromagnetic phenomenon being paraded in front of innocent lay people, unfamiliar with basic physics, as "evidence" for a living force. It is nothing of the sort. Proponents of alternative medicine would have far fewer critics among conventional scientists if they did not resort to this kind of dishonesty and foolishness. [21]

THE AFRICAN ROOTS OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

2006-12-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

http://www.blackherbals.com/african_roots_of_traditional_chinese_med.htm

TARIQ SAWANDI, M.H.

Before discussing the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine, I think it would be interesting to the readers and students of African holistic medicine to know of the African influence of ancient Chinese healing theory.

The African role in early Asian civilization has been submerged and distorted for centuries. Asia's African roots are well summarized in "African Presence in Early Asia" by Ivan Van Sertima/Runoko Rashidi, and "African Presence in Early China" by James Brunson. The original oriental people were Black and many of them still are Black - in southern China and Asia. The earliest occupants of Asia were "small black (pygmies)" who came to the region as early as 50,000 years ago. In "The Children of the Sun", George Parker writes "....it appears that the entire continent of Asia was originally the home of many black races and that theses races were the pioneers in establishing the wonderful civilizations that have flourished throughout this vast continent." Reports of major kingdoms ruled by Blacks are frequent in Chinese documents. Chinese historians described the Fou Nanese people of China as "small and black". The Ainus, Japan's oldest known inhabitants have traditions which tell of a race of dark dwarfs which inhabited Japan before they did. Historians Cheikh Anta Diop and Albert Churchward saw the Ainus as originating in Egypt! There is archaeological support for this. In addition, ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia records the "Anu" (Ainu). The Anu are the same people who occupied Egypt for thousands of years. These same people are recorded to have made large migrations to the Asian continent taking with them thousands of years of African-Egyptian knowledge and influence.

This explains the existence of man-made pyramids in China and Japan! China's pyramids are located near Siang Fu city in the Shensi province. The Chinese do not know how they got there, but it is believed that Africans of the Nile Valley were the builders. (J. Perry: The Growth of Civilization, p. 106, 107).

African Development of Ancient Chinese Medicine

Ancient Chinese medicine dates back to the Shang Dynasty founded by the African-Mongolian King T'ang, or Ta. (1500-1000 B.C.). The Shang (or Chiang) and Chou dynasties were credited with bringing together the elements of Chinese medical theory. The Shang were given the name of Nakhi (Na-Black, Khi-man). Under this Black dynasty, the Chinese established the basic forms of a graceful calligraphy that has lasted to the present day. The first Chinese emperor, the legendary Fu-Hsi (2953-2838 B.C.) was a woolly haired Black man. He is said to have originated the I Ching, or The Book of Change, which is the oldest most revered system of prophecy. It is known to have influenced the most distinguished philosophers of Chinese medicine and thought.

Many of the great concepts of Chinese medical science which was compiled during the Shang period were later developed during the Han Dynasty (168 B.C. to 8 A.D.). During this period, medicine reflected the philosophical ideas associated in the earlier Chou and Shang period. The Han began to fuse Shang medical concepts with outlooks from the philosophical ideas of Confucius (551-479 B.C.). Toward that end, they generated a scheme which explained all phenomena in relation to the whole. Under this system, all natural phenomena including the human body and the organs were organized within the system of "Yin" and Yang" and the "five elements", or what is also called the "five phases" theory.

Han Dynasty physicians created great classic works, such as the Pen-ts'ao and the Nei Ching, or Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine (3rd Century B.C.), drawing its inspiration from more ancient sources rooted in Afro-centric thought. (See Diagram 1.)

DIAGRAM 1.

The Nei Ching, The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, a medical book reportedly written in the second century, B.C. before the birth of Hippocrates, the co-called father of Western medicine. According to Chinese legend, the Nei Ching was created through a dialogue between the legendary ruler Huang-Ti and his court physician, Chi Po. From the Nei Ching, thousands of books have been written about Chinese medicine.

Given these considerations, Chinese medicine echoes the logic of the Ancient Egyptians, which viewed the universe as process-oriented in which there are no boundaries between rest and motion, time and space, mind and matter, sickness and health. The Chinese looked at reality as a unified field, an interwoven pattern of inseparable links in a circular chain called the Tao. From the Tao flowed all things and events in nature: seasons, color, sound, organs, tissue, emotion, climate, matter and energy. (See Diagram 2.)

DIAGRAM 2

According to the Tao Te Ching, out of the One came the duality of Yin and Yang, and the immaterial breath (Chi), from which all physical matter and energy was created. This idea by Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu was borrowed from the earlier ancient Egyptian concept of "Nu" (formless water)", the duality of Shu and Tefnut, and the Nahab Kau (Tree of Life).

Yin/Yang Theory and the Concept of Chi

Chinese medicine places primary emphasis on the balance of "Chi" (Qi, or Ki), or Life energy constantly flowing throughout the body. There are 12 major meridians, or pathways for chi, and each is associated with a major vital organ or vital function. These meridians form an invisible network that carries chi to every tissue in the body. In health, it is properly balanced, but if it becomes unbalanced, the result is disease. It is the job of the Chinese doctor to restore the balance using diet, acupuncture, and herbal formulas.

The Life energy comes in two, but complementary parts: Yin and Yang. The Yin nature includes the earth, moon, night, fall and winter, cold, wetness, the feet, the female sex, tissue growth and a passive temperament. The Yang counterparts are the heavens, the sun, day, spring and summer, heat, dryness, light, the head, the male sex, tissue breakdown, and an aggressive temperament. All individuals have both male and female polarities which consist of the combinations of Yin and Yang, requiring the Chinese doctor to tailor treatments to the individual's needs. (See Diagram 3.)

DIAGRAM 3.

The Chinese Five-element system was heavily influenced by the ancient Egyptian's four-element conception. Each element relates to one season, one color and two organ systems, and they interact in subtle, and complicated ways through the energy of chi.

An important part of the Chinese doctor's evaluation is the overall relationship between the Yin and Yang balance in the patient's body. This is "Chi". Furthermore, we must bear in mind that Yin and Yang are complementary and not contradictory. There is no such thing as "good" and the other "bad". Rather, one seeks to find a harmony between the two energies. The ancient Egyptians first put forward this idea, explained in terms of "Shu" and "Tefnut", the dual complementary energy that flows in the universe. It was later adopted by the founders of Chinese medicine to distinguish between the Yin and Yang qualities of a person's character, or the constitution of one's illness.

The application of Yin and Yang is an important step in the process of making a traditional diagnosis and treatment.

Treating Conditions Through Chinese Medicine

Based on the assessment of Yin and Yang energy imbalance, the Chinese herbalist looks for patterns of distress in the patient's pulse, as well as tongue, face, and physical characteristics. The pulse system is highly developed in Chinese medicine, and consist of six positions on each wrist, and various pulse beats can be determined by the trained practitioner. According to Traditional Chinese medical text, the pulse corresponds to different organ networks, areas of the body, meridians or energy channels, and physiological processes like breathing, digestion and elimination. These are thought to function in phase with Yin and Yang principles and also the energies represented by the five elements: Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, and Fire. Some general diagnostic correspondence are:

YIN

YANG

Interior

Exterior

Front

Back

Lower section

Upper section

Bones

Skin

Inner organs

Outer organs

Blood

Chi (Life energy)

Chronic

Acute

Deficiency

Excess

In general, the basic treatment principles are to tonify or stimulate in a case of deficient Yin or Yang energy, and to sedate or disperse when the energy pattern is one of excess. Herbal formulas are then tailored to fit the individual's need, or designed to fit the overall condition of the patient.

Special herbal formulas have been traditionally used for thousands of years by Chinese herbalists for such ailments as fever, colds and flu, headaches, infections, menstrual problems, ulcers, high blood pressure, cancer, infertility, and diabetes to name a few.

For example, "Gan Mao Ling", a two thousand year old formula, has been traditionally used for symptoms such as runny nose and scratchy throat. By taking six tablets of this formula every three hours, one can stop a cold in its tracts before it can take root. Chinese remedies are very effective and versatile. You can purchase Chinese herb formulas in many forms such as pills, tablets, extracts, or bulk to overcome numerous conditions and diseases.

Today more than ever, Western doctors are bearing witness to the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine and are just beginning to realize that the Chinese masters understood profound aspects of the human mind and body without the aid of technology or sophisticated medical devices. China is heir to the secret healing arts which has been passed down by ancient Khemit. I feel that it is time that the Afrocentric roots of Chinese medicine be made public which has been ignored for too long. This and future articles seek to correct this oversight.

References

1. The Destruction of Black Civilizations, Chancellor Williams.

2. The Missing Pages of History, Indus Khamit Kush

3. The Five Lost Books of Africa, Dr. Khallid Al-Mansour.

4. The Children of the Sun, George Parker.

5. African Presence in Early Asia, Ivan Van Sertima/Runoko Rashidi

6. The Way of Herbs, Michael Tierra

7. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, Dan Bensky and Randall Barolet.

8. African Medicine: A guide to Yoruba divination and Herbal Medicine:, Tariq M. Sawandi

(in press).

9. Chinese-Planetary Herbal Diagnosis, Michael and Lesley Tierra.

interesting to know the other side - but what bitterness.....

2006-12-11T14:33:00.000-08:00

Why Health Professionals Become Quacks

William T. Jarvis, Ph.D.

It is especially disappointing when an individual trained in the health sciences turns to promoting quackery. Friends and colleagues often wonder how this can happen. Some reasons appear to be:

Boredom. Daily practice can become humdrum. Pseudoscientific ideas can be exciting. The late Carl Sagan believed that the qualities that make pseudoscience appealing are the same that make scientific enterprises so fascinating. He said, "I make a distinction between those who perpetuate and promote borderline belief systems and those who accept them. The latter are often taken by the novelty of the systems, and the feeling of insight and grandeur they provide" [1] Sagan lamented the fact that so many are willing to settle for pseudoscience when true science offers so much to those willing to work at it.

Low professional esteem. Nonphysicians who don't believe their professions is sufficiently appreciated sometimes compensate by making extravagant claims. Dental renegades have said "All diseases can be seen in a patient's mouth." Fringe podiatrists may claim to be able to judge health entirely by examining the feet. Iridologists point to the eye, chiropractors the spine, auriculotherapists the ear, Registered Nurses an alleged "human energy field," and so on. Even physicians are not immune from raising their personal status by pretension. By claiming to cure cancer or to reverse heart disease without bypass surgery, general physicians can elevate themselves above the highly trained specialists in oncology or cardiology. By claiming to heal diseases that doctors cannot, faith healers advance above physicians on the social status chart (physicians are normally at the top of the chart while preachers have been slipping in modern times). Psychologists, physicians, actors, or others who become health gurus often become darlings of the popular press.

Paranormal tendencies. Many health systems are actually hygienic religions with deeply-held, emotionally significant beliefs about the nature of reality, salvation, and proper lifestyles. Vegetarianism, chiropractic, naturopathy, homeopathy, energy medicine, therapeutic touch, crystal healing, and many more are rooted in vitalism, which has been defined as "a doctrine that the functions of a living organism are due to a vital principle ["life force"] distinct from physicochemical forces" and "the theory that biological activities are directed by a supernatural force." [2,3] Vitalists are not just nonscientific, they are antiscientific because they abhor the reductionism, materialism, and mechanistic causal processes of science. They prefer subjective experience to objective testing, and place intuitiveness above reason and logic. Vitalism is linked to the concept of an immortal human soul, which also links it to religious ideologies [4].

Paranoid mental state. Some people are prone to seeing conspiracies everywhere. Such people may readily believe that fluoridation is a conspiracy to poison America, that AIDS was invented and spread to destroy Africans or homosexuals, and that organized medicine is withholding the cure for cancer. Whereas individuals who complain about conspiracies directed toward themselves are likely to be regarded as mentally ill, those who perceive them as directed against a nation, culture, or way of life may seem more rational. Perceiving their political passions are unselfish and patriotic intensifies their feelings of righteousness and moral indignation [5]. Many such people belong to the world of American fascism, Holocaust deniers, tax rebels, the radical militia movement, and other anti-government extremists who would eliminate the FDA and other regulatory agencies that help protect consumers from health fraud. Liberty Lobby's newspaper The Spotlight champions such causes and also promotes quack cancer cures and attacks fluoridation.

Reality shock. Everyone is vulnerable to death anxiety. Health personnel who regularly deal with terminally ill patients must make psychological adjustments. Some are simply not up to it. Investigation of quack cancer clinics have found physicians, nurses, and others who became disillusioned with standard care because of the harsh realities of the side effects or acknowledged limitations of proven therapies.

Beliefs encroachment. Science is limited to dealing with observable, measurable, and repeatable phenomena. Beliefs that transcend science fall into the realms of philosophy and religion. Some people allow such beliefs to encroach upon their practices. While one may exercise religious or philosophical values of compassion, generosity, mercy and integrity (which is the foundation of the scientific method's search for objective truth), it is not appropriate for a health professional to permit metaphysical (supernatural) notions to displace or distort scientific diagnostic, prescriptive or therapeutic procedures. Individuals who wish to work in the area of religious belief should pursue a different career.

The profit motive. Quackery can be extremely lucrative. Claiming to have a "better mousetrap" can cause the world to beat a path to one's door. Greed can motivate entrepreneurial practitioners to set ethical principles aside.

The prophet motive. Just as Old Testament prophets called for conversion and repentance, doctors have to "convert" patients away from smoking, obesity, stress, alcohol and other indulgences [6]. As prognosticators, doctors foretell what is going to happen if patients don't change their way of life. The prophet role provides power over people. Some doctors consciously avoid it. They encourage patients to be self-reliant rather than dependent, but in doing so they may fail to meet important emotional needs. Quacks, on the other hand, revel in, encourage, and exploit this power. Egomania is commonly found among quacks. They enjoy the adulation and discipleship their pretense of superiority evokes.

Psychopathic tendencies. Studies of the psychopathic personality provide insight into the psychodynamics of quackery. Dr. Robert Hare who investigated for more than twenty years, states, "You find psychopaths in all professions. . . the shyster lawyer, the physician always on the verge of losing his license, the businessman with a string of deals where his partners always lost out." [7] Hare describes psychopaths as lacking a capacity to feel compassion or pangs of conscience, and as exhibiting glibness, superficial charm, grandiosity, pathological lying, conning/manipulative behavior, lack of guilt, proneness to boredom, lack of empathy, and other traits often seen in quacks. According to Hare, such people suffer from a cognitive defect that prevents them from experiencing sympathy or remorse.

The conversion phenomenon. The "brainwashing" that North Koreans used on American prisoners of war involved stress to the point that it produced protective inhibition and dysfunction. In some cases, positive conditioning causes the victim to love what he had previously hated, and vice-versa; and in other cases, the brain stops computing critically the impressions received. Many individuals who become quacks undergo a midlife crisis, painful divorce, life-threatening disease, or another severely stressful experience. The conversion theory is supported by a study of why physicians had taken up "holistic" practices. By far the greatest reason given (51.7%) was "spiritual or religious experiences." [8]

Many people -- including far too many health professionals, law enforcement officials, and judges -- exhibit a cavalier attitude toward quackery. Although most reject the idea that quackery is "worth a try" for a sick person [9], it is important to reinforce and mobilize those who understand quackery's harmful potential.

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/quackpro.html

SCIENCE AND PSEUDOSCIENCE

2006-12-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

http://biochemistry.louisville.edu/education/CAMover.htm

A SCIENTIFIC LOOK AT ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

OVERVIEW; SCIENCE AND PSEUDOSCIENCE;

HEALTH FRAUD AND QUACKERY

* Barnes, P.M. et al. (2004) “Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Adults: United States, 2002.” CDC Advance Data, No. 343, May 27 [pdf file]

Druss, B.G. and Rosenheck, R.A. (1999) “Association Between Use of Unconventional Therapies and Conventional Medical Services” JAMA 282, 651-656 [abstract]

Barrett, S. (2004) "Be Wary of 'Alternative' Health Methods"

Barrett, S. (2004) “Miniglossary of ‘Alternative’ Methods”

Raso, J. (1998 "Dictionary of Metaphysical Healthcare: Alternative Medicine, Paranormal Healing, and Related Methods" (130-page dictionary describing 1169 methods)

Bandolier, “Complementary and Alternative Therapies”

Vogel, R.A. et al. (2005) “Integrating Complementary Medicine Into Cardiovascular Medicine.”J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 46, 184-221. pdf file (38 page document) [contains reviews of many methods as applied to cardiovascular medicine]

Berman, J.D. and Straus, S.E. (2004) “Implementing a Research Agenda for Complementary and Alternative Medicine” Annu. Rev. Med. 55, 239-254 [abstract]

United States Senate Special Committee on Aging: Hearing on Swindlers, Hucksters and Snake Oil Salesmen: The Hype and Hope of Marketing Anti-Aging Products to Seniors, Sept. 10, 2001:

• Testimony of Robert Baratz

• Testimony of Timothy Gorski

(critiques of trends in alternative medicine and dietary supplements)

Mooney, C. (2002) “Science Fiction” Washington Monthly, April (“After spending half a billion taxpayer dollars, alternative medicine gurus still can’t prove their methods work...”)

Sampson, W.I. (1998) “The Braid of the ‘Alternative Medicine’ Movement”

Walker, L. (1999) “Mysticism and/or Rigor: Can Science and Alternative Medicine Shake Hands?” 21stC, issue 3.4

Astin, J.A. (1998) "Why Patients Use Alternative Medicine: Results of a National Survey" JAMA 279, 1548-1553 [abstract]

American Academy of Pediatrics (2001) “Counseling Families Who Choose Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Their Child With Chronic Illness or Disability” Pediatrics 107, 598-601 [abstract]

Eisenberg, D.M. et al. (1993) "Unconventional Medicine in the United States: Prevalence, Costs, and Patterns of Use" New Eng. J. Med. 328, 246-252 [abstract] (see critique, next item)

Gorski, T. (1999) “The Eisenberg Data: Flawed and Deceptive” [critique of 1993 study]

Eisenberg, D.M., Davis, R.B., Ettner, S.L. et al. (1998) “Trends in Alternative Medicine Use in the United States, 1990-1997. Results of a Follow-up National Survey” JAMA 280, 1569-1575l [abstract]

Wolsko, P.M., Eisenberg, D.M., Davis, R.B., Ettner, S.L., Phillips, R.S. (2002) “Insurance Coverage, Medical Conditions, and Visits to Alternative Medicine Providers” Arch. Intern. Med. 162, 282-287 [abstract]

Astin, J.A., Pelletier, K.R., Marie, A. and Haskell, W.L. (2000) “Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Elderly Persons: One-Year Analysis of a Blue Shield Medicare Supplement” J. Gerontol. 55A, M4-M9 [abstract]

Overview - sympathetic to alternative methods

Kaptchuk, T.J. and Eisenberg, D.M. (2001) “Varieties of Healing. 1: Medical Pluralism in the United States” Arch. Intern. Med. 135, 189-195 [abstract with link to pdf file of full text]; “Varieties of Healing: 2. A Taxonomy of Unconventional Healing Practices” Arch. Intern. Med. 135, 195-204 [abstract with link to pdf file of full text]

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

NCCAM web site

• “Expanding Horizons of Health Care: Strategic Plan 2005-2009"

• Video Lectures (registration required)

Atwood, K.C. (2003) “The Ongoing Problem with the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine” Skeptical Inquirer, Sept/Oct, 23-29

Chesney, M.A. and Straus, S.E. (2004) “Complementary and Alternative Medicine: the Convergence of Public Interest and Science in the United States” MJA 181, 335-33

Education

Gabriel, B. (2001) “To Teach or Not to Teach: The Role of Alternative Medicine in Medical School Curricula” AAMC Reporter, July

Marcus, D. (2001) “How Should Alternative Medicine Be Taught to Medical Students and Physicians?” Acad. Med. 76, 224-229 [abstract]

Kligler, B. et al. (2004) “Core Competencies in Integrative Medicine for Medical School Curricula: A Proposal” Acad. Med. 79, 521-531 [abstract]

Science and pseudoscience, critical thinking

* Barrett, S. and Herbert, V. (2002) "More Ploys That May Fool You"

* Beyerstein, B. (2003) "Why Bogus Therapies Often Seem to Work"

Lett, J. (1990) “A Field Guide to Critical Thinking” Skeptical Inquirer, Winter

Schwartz, J. and Barrett, S. (2001) “Some Notes on the Nature of Science”

Imrie, R. and Ramey, D.W. (2000) “The Evidence for Evidence-Based Medicine”

Complementary Therapies Med. 8, 123-126 (refutes the myth that only 10-20% of medical procedures are evidence-based)

Coker, R. (2001) “Distinguishing Science and Pseudoscience”

Alcock, J. (2001) “‘Alternative Medicine’ and the Psychology of Belief”

Nahin, R. and Straus, S. (2001) “Research into Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Problems and Potential” BMJ 322, 161-164

Sterne, J.A.C., Egger, M., and Smith, G.D. (2001) “Investigating and Dealing with Publication and Other Biases in Meta-Analysis” BMJ 323, 101-105

Smith, G.L. (1997) "Common Questions About Science and 'Alternative' Health Methods"

Stenger, V.J. "'Postmodern' Attacks on Science and Reality"

Stalker, D.F. (1995) "Evidence and Alternative Medicine" Mt. Sinai J. Med. 62, 132-143 [abstract] [Discusses prior probabilities of hypotheses being correct]

Ioannadis, J.P.A. (2005) “Contradicted and Initially Stronger Effects in Highly Cited Clinical Research” JAMA 294, 218-228 [abstract] [found that in about one-third of highly cited studies showing effectiveness of an intervention, subsequent studies found no effect or weaker effects]

Sense About Science (2005) “I Don’t Know What to Believe...: Making Sense of Science Stories” article with link to pdf file [aimed at the lay person, explaining the peer review process]

Health fraud and quackery - general

Polevoy, T. Healthwatcher site Focus is on developments in Canada, but contains many general articles and links.

Lee, P. The Quack-Files “‘Alternative’ Medicine, Quackery, Health Fraud: The Other Side of the Coin”

Anti-Quackery Ring Contains links to many sites

Kurtzweil, P. (1999) “How to Spot Health Fraud” FDA Consumer 33(6), 22-26

“Top Health Frauds” (based on FDA listing, 1989; updated by S. Barrett, 1999)

Barrett, S. "Quackery: How Should It Be Defined?"

Jarvis, W.T. "How Quackery Harms Cancer Patients"

Jarvis, W.T. and Barrett, S. (2005) "How Quackery Sells"

Barrett, S. (2005) “Promoters of Questionable Methods”

Media

FTC Press Release (June 14, 2001) “‘Operation Cure.All’ Wages New Battle in Ongoing War Against Internet Health Fraud”

Barrett, S. (2003) "Web Site Evaluation Index"

Walji, M. et al. (2004) “Efficacy of Quality Criteria to Identify Potentially Harmful Information: A Cross-sectional Survey of Complementary and Alternative Web Sites” J. Med. Internet Research 6(2), e2

Barrett, S. (2004) "Nonrecommended Periodicals"

Barrett, S. (2004) “Nonrecommended Books”

Organizations

National Council Against Health Fraud

Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine

American Association for Health Freedom (formerly “American Preventive Medical Association”; promotes alternative methods and "health freedom" legislation)

Barrett, S. (2005) "Questionable Organizations: An Overview"

Legal issues

Barrett, S. (2001) "Strengths and Weaknesses in Our Laws"

Barrett, S. (2001) “Pro-Quackery Legislation”

Cohen, M.H. and Eisenberg, D.M. (2002) “Potential Physician Malpractice Liability Associated with Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies” Ann. Intern. Med. 136, 596-603[abstract with link to pdf file of full text]

Cohen, M.H. et al. (2005) “Emerging Credentialing Practices, Malpractice Liability Policies, and Guidelines Governing Complementary and Alternative Medical Practices and Dietary Supplement Recommendations” Ann. Intern. Med. 165, 289-295 [abstract]

Cohen, M.H. and Kemper, K.J. (2005) “Complementary Therapies in Pediatrics: A Legal Perspective” Pediatrics 115, 774-780 [abstract]

Ethical issues

Adams, K.E., Cohen, M.H., Eisenberg, D. and Jonsen, A.R. (2002) “Ethical Considerations of Complementary and Alternative Medical Therapies in Conventional Medical Settings” Ann. Intern. Med. 137, 660-664 [abstract with link to pdf file of full text]

Miller, F.G., Emanuel, E.J., Rosenstein, D.L. and Straus, S.E. (2004) “Ethical Issues Concerning Research in Complementary and Alternative Medicine” JAMA 291, 599-604[abstract]

Cohen, M.H. et al. (2005) “Pediatric Use of Complementary Therapies: Ethical and Policy Choices” Pediatrics 116, e568

Science versus Vitalism

2006-12-11T14:26:00.000-08:00

Many "alternative" approaches are rooted in vitalism, the concept that bodily functions are due to a vital principle or "life force" distinct from the physical forces explainable by the laws of physics and chemistry and detectable by scientific instrumentation. Practitioners whose methods are based on vitalistic philosophy maintain that diseases should be treated by "stimulating the body's ability to heal itself" rather than by "treating symptoms." Homeopaths, for example, claim that illness is due to a disturbance of the body's "vital force," which they can correct with special remedies, while many acupuncturists claim that disease is due to imbalance in the flow of "life energy" (chi or Qi), which they can balance by twirling needles in the skin. Many chiropractors claim to assist the body's "Innate Intelligence" by adjusting the patient's spine. Naturopaths speak of "Vis Medicatrix Naturae." Ayurvedic physicians refer to "prana." And so on. The "energies" postulated by vitalists cannot be measured by scientific methods.

Although vitalists often pretend to be scientific, they really reject the scientific method with its basic assumptions of material reality, mechanisms of cause and effect, and testability of hypotheses. They regard personal experience, subjective judgment, and emotional satisfaction as preferable to objectivity and hard evidence.

Some "alternative" proponents are physicians who have strayed from scientific thought. The factors that motivate them can include delusional thinking, misinterpretation of personal experience, financial considerations, and pleasure derived from notoriety and/or patient adulation.

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/altwary.html

this is pure comedy by the way......

"Postmodern" Attacks on Science and Reality

2006-12-11T14:19:00.000-08:00

Victor J. Stenger, Ph.D.

Recent trends in some academic circles have called into question conventional notions of truth and reality. The claim is made in these circles that all statements, whether in science or literature, are simply narratives -- stories and myths that do nothing more than articulate the cultural prejudices of the narrator. In this view, one narrative is as good as another, since each is expressed in the language of its particular culture and thus contains all the assumptions about truth and reality embedded in that culture. Texts have no intrinsic meaning. Rather, their meanings are created by the reader. The conclusions are then drawn that no narrative can have universal validity and that "Western" science is no exception..

Today's college students, in the United States and elsewhere, hear this line of reasoning from many of their social science and humanities professors. "Alternative medicine" proponents often use similar arguments to reject science as a method of determining health-related truths.

The assertion that "Western" science is unexceptional begins with a plausible, though ultimately misleading, notion that we humans lack access to any mechanism by which we can learn the truth about an objective reality that exists independent of human thought processes. Certainly, science relies on thought processes and does not always follow a clear, logical path to the conclusions it makes about reality. True, it never proves the correctness of these conclusions. Science knows nothing for certain about the world and must always couch its results in terms of probabilities or likelihoods. Often the choice between competitive scientific theories is based on taste, fashion, or subjective notions of simplicity or aesthetic appeal.

Agreed. Scientists can never be certain of the "truth" of their theories. Nevertheless, the predictions of scientific theories are very often sufficiently close to certainty that we all bet our life on them, such as when we are in an airliner or on an operating table. When predictions are that reliable, we can rationally conclude, if not prove, that the concepts on which they are based must have some universal validity. That is, they must somehow be connected to the way things really are.

For example, we cannot predict with complete certainty what will happen if we jump off a tall building. It is always possible that we might land in a crate of feathers that, by luck, just happens to protrude from a window on the floor below. However, based on the law of gravity, we can predict with high likelihood that we will pass that floor and hit the ground with an unhealthy splat. The law of gravity has been tested with enough experiments to safely conclude that the concept of gravity is "real."

Reality acts to constrain our observations about the world, preventing at least some of those observations from being completely random, arbitrary, or what we might simply like them to be. Although much of what we do in fact observe is random -- far more than most people realize -- not everything is. And while we humans can exert a certain amount of control over reality, that reality is not merely the creation of our thought processes. In a dream about jumping off a building, we might float to the ground unharmed. In thinking about jumping off the building, we can imagine whatever we want about the outcome. Superman can fly by and rescue us, in our fantasies. An airplane with a mattress on its wings can appear just in time. But, in reality, we fall to the ground no matter how we might wish otherwise.

Without getting too pedantic about defining reality, let me just say that our own observations in everyday life make it quite clear that we and the objects around us are subject to externally imposed constraints that neither we nor those objects can completely control. If I could control reality with my thoughts, I would look like I did when I was twenty and still be as smart as I am now. I don't. In science, we use our observations about what happens when we are not dreaming or fantasizing to make reasonable inferences about the nature of what supplies the impetus for the constraints we record with our measuring apparatus.

Modern physics strongly suggests a surprisingly uncomplicated, non-mysterious "ultimate reality" that may not be what we wish it to be, but is supported by all known data. Furthermore, this reality is very much like what was inferred by some remarkable thinkers in the ancient world: a universe composed of elementary objects that move around in an otherwise empty void. I call this atomic reality.

This proposal flies in the face of current fashion. That fashion repudiates all attempts, within science and without, to describe a universal, objective reality. I repudiate that fashion. Where the validity of certain ancient and modern concepts of truth and reality are denied, I affirm them. Where arguments are made that Western science tells us nothing of deep significance, I assert that it remains our foremost tool for the discovery of fundamental truth.

Many natural science professors, with their heads buried mainly in research, have ignored the attacks on science and rational thought. When they happen to hear assertions that science is just another tall tale, they typically dismiss the notion as nonsense. Instead, they should be speaking out.

_____________________

Dr. Stenger is professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii. He received doctoral degree from UCLA in 1963 and has had an active research career in elementary particle physics and astrophysics. His projects have included elaborating the properties of quarks, gluons, neutrinos, CP violation, and the weak neutral current. He has worked on high-energy gamma ray andneutrino astronomy. He is currently a collaborator on Super-Kamiokande, an experiment in a mine in Japan that recently confirmed the solar neutrino anomaly and is expected to be the decade's most definitive experiment on solar neutrinos, proton decay, and neutrino oscillations. His writings include many articles for skeptical publications and three books published by Prometheus Books: Not By Design: The Origin of the Universe Physics (1988); Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses (1990); and The Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology (1995), which the Times Literary Supplement described as "an interesting, provocative, informative and impassioned attempt to rescue physics from the contemporary unscientific or anti-scientific appropriations of its softer-edged theoretical self-description."

Quackwatch Home Page ||| Be Wary of "Alternative" Methods

Acupuncture as effective energy medicine

2006-12-11T14:14:00.000-08:00

Be Wary of "Alternative" Health Methods

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/altwary.html

Stephen Barrett, M.D.

"Alternative medicine" has become the politically correct term for questionable practices formerly labeled quack and fraudulent. During the past few years, most media reports have contained no critical evaluation and have featured the views of proponents and their satisfied clients.

Loose Definitions Cause Confusion

To avoid confusion, "alternative" methods should be classified as genuine, experimental, or questionable. Genuine alternatives are comparable methods that have met science-based criteria for safety and effectiveness. Experimental alternatives are unproven but have a plausible rationale and are undergoing responsible investigation. The most noteworthy is use of a 10%-fat diet for treating coronary heart disease. Questionable alternatives are groundless and lack a scientifically plausible rationale. The archetype is homeopathy, which claims that "remedies" so dilute that they contain no active ingredient can exert powerful therapeutic effects. Some methods fit into more than one category, depending on the claims made for them. Blurring these distinctions enables promoters of quackery to argue that because some practices labeled "alternative" have merit, the rest deserve equal consideration and respect. Enough is known, however, to conclude that most questionable "alternatives" are worthless.<

An even better way to avoid confusion is sort methods into three groups: (1) those that work, (2) those that don't work, and (3) those we are not sure about. Most methods described as "alternative" fall into the second group. A 1998 editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association made the same point in another way:

There is no alternative medicine. There is only scientifically proven, evidence-based medicine supported by solid data or unproven medicine, for which scientific evidence is lacking. Whether a therapeutic practice is "Eastern" or "Western," is unconventional or mainstream, or involves mind-body techniques or molecular genetics is largely irrelevant except for historical purposes and cultural interest. We recognize that there are vastly different types of practitioners and proponents of the various forms of alternative medicine and conventional medicine, and that there are vast differences in the skills, capabilities, and beliefs of individuals within them and the nature of their actual practices. Moreover, the economic and political forces in these fields are large and increasingly complex and have the capability for being highly contentious. Nonetheless, as believers in science and evidence, we must focus on fundamental issues -- namely, the patient, the target disease or condition, the proposed or practiced treatment, and the need for convincing data on safety and therapeutic efficacy [1].

Arnold Relman, M.D. former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, has expressed similar thoughts:

There are not two kinds of medicine, one conventional and the other unconventional, that can be practiced jointly in a new kind of "integrative medicine." Nor, as Andrew Weil and his friends also would have us believe, are there two kinds of thinking, or two ways to find out which treatments work and which do not. In the best kind of medical practice, all proposed treatments must be tested objectively. In the end, there will only be treatments that pass that test and those that do not, those that are proven worthwhile and those that are not [2].

John Farley, Ph.D., professor of physics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has commented:

"Integrative" medicine is purportedly combining alternative and mainstream approaches to medicine. The claim is that integrative medicine provides the best of both approaches. This may sound reasonable, but actually it is not. Suppose that the "integrative" approach were to spread beyond medicine, and were to be more broadly adopted by other disciplines in the sciences. The biologists would "integrate" creationism with Darwinian evolution, while the chemists would integrate alchemy into modern scientific chemistry. The geologists would integrate the belief that the world is only 6000 years old (and flat) with modern dating of rocks. Physicists would integrate perpetual motion machines with the conservation of energy and the laws of thermodynamics. And the astronomers would integrate astrology and astronomy. Of course, this is ridiculous. It's not a good idea to integrate nonsense with valid scientic knowledge [3].

The "alternative movement" is part of a general societal trend toward rejection of science as a method of determining truths. This movement embraces the postmodernist doctrine that science is not necessarily more valid than pseudoscience [4]. In line with this philosophy, "alternative" proponents assert that scientific medicine (which they mislabel as allopathic, conventional, or traditional medicine) is but one of a vast array of health-care options. "Alternative" promoters often gain public sympathy by portraying themselves as a beleaguered minority fighting a self-serving, monolithic "Establishment."

The Rules of Science

Under the rules of science, people who make the claims bear the burden of proof. It is their responsibility to conduct suitable studies and report them in sufficient detail to permit evaluation and confirmation by others. Instead of subjecting their work to scientific standards, promoters of questionable "alternatives" would like to change the rules by which they are judged and regulated. "Alternative" promoters may give lip service to these standards. However, they regard personal experience, subjective judgment, and emotional satisfaction as preferable to objectivity and hard evidence. Instead of conducting scientific studies, they use anecdotes and testimonials to promote their practices and political maneuvering to keep regulatory agencies at bay. As noted in a recent New England Journal of Medicine editorial:

What most sets alternative medicine apart . . . is that it has not been scientifically tested and its advocates largely deny the need for such testing. By testing, we mean the marshaling of rigorous evidence of safety and efficacy, as required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the approval of drugs and by the best peer-reviewed medical journals for the publication of research reports. Of course, many treatments used in conventional medicine have not been rigorously tested, either, but the scientific community generally acknowledges that this is a failing that needs to be remedied. Many advocates of alternative medicine, in contrast, believe the scientific method is simply not applicable to their remedies. . . .

Alternative medicine also distinguishes itself by an ideology that largely ignores biologic mechanisms, often disparage modern science, and relies on what are purported to be ancient practices and natural remedies (which are seen as somehow being simultaneously more potent and less toxic than conventional medicine). Accordingly, herbs or mixtures of herbs are considered superior to the active compounds isolated in the laboratory. And healing methods such as homeopathy and therapeutic touch are fervently promoted despite not only the lack of good clinical evidence of effectiveness, but the presence of a rationale that violates fundamental scientific laws -- surely a circumstance that requires more, rather than less, evidence [5].

The AMA Archives of Dermatology recently published the parallel views of a German physician:

When deliberating on the essence of alternative medicine we should simultaneously reflect on the intellectual and moral basis of regular medicine. . . . (1) alternative and regular medicine are speaking different languages; (2) alternative medicine is not unconventional medicine; (3) the paradigm of regular medicine is rational thinking; (4) the paradigm of alternative medicine is irrational thinking; (5) the present popularity of alternative medicine can be explained by romanticism; (6) some concepts of alternative medicine are falsifiable and others are not; (7) alternative medicine and evidence-based medicine are mutually exclusive; (8) the placebo effect is an important factor in regular medicine and the exclusive therapeutic principle of alternative medicine; (9) regular and alternative medicine have different aims: coming of age vs faithfulness; (10) alternative medicine is not always safe; (11) alternative medicine is not economic; and (12) alternative medicine will always exist. The fact that alternative methods are presently an integral part of medicine as taught at German universities, as well as of the physician's fee schedule, represents a collective aberration of mind that hopefully will last for only a short time [6].

When someone feels better after having used a product or procedure, it is natural to credit whatever was done. This is unwise, however, because most ailments resolve by themselves and those that persist can have variable symptoms. Even serious conditions can have sufficient day-to-day variation to enable useless methods to gain large followings. In addition, taking action often produces temporary relief of symptoms due to a placebo effect. This effect is a beneficial change in a person's condition that occurs in response to a treatment but is not due to the pharmacologic or physical aspects of the treatment. Belief in the treatment is not essential, but the placebo effect may be enhanced by such factors as faith, sympathetic attention, sensational claims, testimonials, and the use of scientific-looking charts, devices, and terminology. Another drawback of individual success stories is that they don't indicate how many failures might occur for each success. People who are not aware of these facts tend to give undeserved credit to "alternative" methods.

The fact that an "alternative" method may exert a placebo effect that relieves symptoms is not sufficient reason to justify its use. Therapy should be based on the ability to alter abnormal physiology and not on the ability to elicit a less predictable placebo effect. Placebo therapy is inherently misleading and can make patients believe something is effective when it is not. Without controlled clinical trials, any treatment that is used could receive credit for the body's natural recuperative ability.

Medical "facts" are determined through a process in which hundreds of thousands of scientists share their observations and beliefs. Editors and editorial boards of scientific journals play an important role by screening out invalid findings and enabling significant ones to be published. Expert panels convened by government agencies, professional groups, voluntary health agencies, and other organizations also contribute to this effort. When controversies arise, further research can be devised to settle them. Gradually, a shared set of beliefs is developed that is considered scientifically accurate.

Science versus Vitalism

Science assumes that in order to develop a coherent body of knowledge, it is necessary to assume that supernatural powers do not exist or, if they do exist, they do not interfere. If such interference were possible, then all attempts at controlled experimentation would be either impossible or pointless.

Overclaim and Puffery

"Alternative" promoters often claim that their approach promotes general health and is cost-effective against chronic health problems. In a recent article, for example, the American Holistic Association's president claimed that various "basic healthy habits" would "tap a well-spring of physical energy experienced as a state of relaxed vitality." [7] In addition to exercising, eating a nutritious diet, and getting sufficient sleep, the list includes abdominal breathing; taking "a full complement of antioxidants and supplements; and "enhancing the body's ability to receive and generate bioenergy" through regular acupuncture treatments, acupressure, healing touch, craniosacral therapy, qigong, and several other nonstandard modalities. As far as I know, there is no published evidence that "alternative" practitioners are more effective than mainstream physicians in persuading their patients to improve their lifestyle. Nor have any vitalistic approaches been proven effective or cost-effective against any disease.

National Council Against Health Fraud president William T. Jarvis, Ph.D., has noted:

Some techniques referred to as "alternative" may be appropriately used as part of the art of patient care. Relaxation techniques and massage are examples. But procedures linked to belief systems that reject science itself have no place in responsible medicine. Useless procedures don't add to the outcome, just to the overhead.

Rosemary Jacobs, an consumer activist who operates a Web site that debunks colloidal silver, has made some penetrating observations with which I agree:

"Alternative therapy" is a marketing term that should not be permitted. All the public wants is safe, effective and efficient. They also want objective standards of measurement used to determine what is safe, effective and efficient. There is a general consensus as to what those standards are among scientists and rational people for most therapies. In other words, for most diseases and conditions, experts know what works, what doesn't work, what is unknown and what falls into a gray area - - what may work but the jury is still out.

Anyone wanting to practice engineering or architecture has to abide by objective standards. I think that anyone who wants to practice medicine professionally should have to so too. People who believe that personal experience is the best way to evaluate drugs and therapies should have to identify themselves as spiritualists or New Age religious practitioners but not as medical practitioners. They should be forced to admit to themselves and to the world that they reject science and objective standards, and they should never be allowed to sell the drugs they prescribe [8].

The NIH Debacle

Many news reports have exaggerated the significance of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM). Creation of this office was spearheaded by promoters of questionable cancer therapies who wanted more attention paid to their methods. Most of OAM's advisory panel members have been promoters of "alternative" methods, and none of its publications have criticized any method. In 1994, the OAM's first director resigned, charging that political interference had hampered his ability to carry out OAM's mission in a scientific manner [9]. In 1998, Congress upgraded OAM into an NIH center with an annual budget of $50 million. Today the agency is called the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and has an annual budget exceeding $100 million [10].

When OAM was created, I stated: "It remains to be seen whether such studies will yield useful results. Even if some do, their benefit is unlikely to outweigh the publicity bonanza given to questionable methods." In 2002, Wallace I. Sampson, M.D., editor of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine summed up what has happened:

It is time for Congress to defund the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. After ten years of existence and over $200 million in expenditures, it has not proved effectiveness for any "alternative" method. It has added evidence of ineffectiveness of some methods that we knew did not work before NCCAM was formed. NCCAM proposals for 2002 and 2003 promise no more. Its major accomplishment has been to ensure the positions of medical school faculty who might become otherwise employed -- in more productive pursuits [10].

References

Fontanarosa PB, Lundberg GD. Alternative medicine meets science. JAMA 280:1618-1619, 1998.
Relman AS. A trip to Stonesville. The New Republic, Dec 14, 1998.
Farley J. E-mail message to Stephen Barrett, M.D.,
Sampson W. Antiscience trends in the rise of the "alternative medicine" movement. In Gross PR, Levitt N, Lewis MW (editors). The Flight from Science and Reason. New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1996, pp 188-197.
Angell M, Kassirer J. Alternative Medicine -- The risks of untested and unregulated remedies. New England Journal of Medicine 339:839-841, 1998.
Happle R. The essence of alternative medicine A dermatologist's view from Germany. Archives of Dermatology 134:1455-1460, 1998.
Inker R. Basic training for holistic medical practice: Nurturing your body. Holistic Medicine Winter 1997, pp 4-5.
Jacobs R. E-mail message to a newsgroup, June 11, 2001.
Marshall E. The politics of alternative medicine. Science 265:2000-2002, 1994.
Why the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) should be defunded. Quackwatch, Dec 10, 2002.

For Additional Information

Water Found on Mars? 12/6/06

2006-12-08T15:51:00.000-08:00

New images released for the first time deplicts the existence of liquid water on Mars in recent years. NASA scientists are saying it is probable that water flows on Mars today, and water has definitely flowed in the past recent years!

Nasa's last Mars Water update concluded that there is proof water existed on Mars is the past, possibly hundreds of years ago. Now it is evident that water probably exists even today.

With the discovery of water and oxygen (which go hand in hand) it is almost inevitable to assume life did exist (or does exist) on the surface of Mars.

These photo's were captured earlier this year, but just released for the first time today (12/6/06). Previous pictures captured by the Mars Global Surveyor depicted possible evidence of water channels, but these new images show bright, light-coloured deposits in gullies which suggest there is mud, salt, or frost left behind.

I haven't heard yet if the evidence is 100% conclusive of water on Mars today, but if NASA announces it as a significant finding, I'm sure they feel positive about their findings.

Click the images beliw to view the full size images

NASA's Webpages states:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/images/pia09028.html

Two Martian southern mid-latitude craters have new light-toned deposits that formed in gully settings during the course of the Mars Global Surveyor mission. Images from the Mars Orbiter Camera documented one case in an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum, described in an accompanying release (click here: PIA09027). The second case, in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, east of the Hellas Basin, is described here.

Gullies were first described by Mars Orbiter Camera scientists in June 2000, and many examples were presented in our June 2000 web releases and in a paper published in the journal Science. Additional examples of these middle and high-latitude landforms can be seen among the other more than 1,600 web releases.

The new gully deposit in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region is located near 38.7 degrees south latitude, 263.3 degrees west longitude. Like the new gully deposit in Terra Sirenum, this one has a light tone relative to its surroundings. It is on an equator-facing slope on which numerous narrow gully channels occur. As this slope is always in sunlight during the afternoons when Mars Global Surveyor passes overhead, the gullies always appear somewhat "washed out," just as craters on a full Moon do when viewed from Earth with a telescope.

The new, light-toned flow was first noticed by the Mars Orbiter Camera science operations team in an image acquired on Sept. 10, 2005. Re-examination of other images of this crater showed that the new deposit had actually been present on Feb. 21, 2004, when the distal (down-slope) end of the deposit was captured in other images. In February 2004, the deposit had gone unnoticed because only a small portion of it was imaged. This location was first imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera on Aug. 30, 1999. The deposit was not present at that time. Thus, it formed between Aug. 30, 1999 and Feb. 21, 2004.

Roughly 20 percent brighter than the surface as it appeared before the flow occurred, the new deposit exhibits characteristics consistent with transport and deposition of a fluid that behaved like liquid water and likely transported some fine-grained sediment along with it. The distal end of the flow broke into several branches, or digits, and the material diverted and flowed around low obstacles. As with the example in Terra Sirenum, the depth of the flow is too thin to be measured in 1.5-meter-per-pixel (1.7-yard-per-pixel) images, so a very small volume of liquid and sediment was involved. While the material flowed and easily budded into several branches, it also must have moved slow enough to not topple over some of the low obstacles in its path.

Figure A: This figure shows the southeast wall of the unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, as it appeared in August 1999, and later in September 2005. No light-toned deposit was present in August 1999, but appeared by February 2004. The 300-meter scale bar represents 328 yards.

Figure B: This picture is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit, draped over a topographic image derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment.

Figure C: The third figure is a mosaic of several Mars Global Surveyor images, colorized using a table derived from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera color data and overlain on a sub-frame of a Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System image. The 1-kilometer scale bar represents about 0.62 miles.

Figure D: The fourth figure is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit as viewed from an oblique perspective, draped over topography derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera.

The new light-toned flow, by itself, does not prove that liquid water was involved in its genesis. However, this observation and the similar light-toned flow in Terra Sirenum together show that some gully sites are indeed changing today, providing tantalizing evidence there might be sources of liquid water beneath the surface of Mars right now. In both cases, these new flows may be indicating the locations of aquifers (subsurface rocks saturated with water) that could be detected by orbiting, ground-penetrating radar systems such as the Mars Express Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding or the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Shallow Subsurface Radar.

The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera.

For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html .

A Spiritual Sheilding Technique

2006-12-08T15:46:00.000-08:00

The physical body is surrounded with spiritual energy, the aura. The aura is a dynamic living entity, part of the physical self, yet separate to the extent in which it interacts invisibly with our surroundings and other energy forms. The aura is the energetic embodiment of the soul or spiritual self.

The physical mind can be taught to reshape spiritual energy form into a psychic shield, a protective bubble which does not allow harmful energy to reach the inner core of the soul where it can do the most damage.

The process is quite simple and is strengthened through practice. Begin with the simple meditation routine described on page ten of this book. During the course of your meditation visualize your aura as a vibrating field of light energy. The field of energy extends outward a few inches from the surface of your skin.

Your life energy vibrates and swirls around you at all times, coming into contact with all manner of other life energies, both positive and negative. Now imagine the energy of your aura forming the shape of a protective globe of brilliant light. Negative thought and intentions in the form of red light as well as dark energy attempt to corrupt your spiritual existence. Within the protection of your light energy globe, negative influences bounce off, are deflected and returned to their original source.

Make a practice of visualizing the creation of your protective energy shield at the start of every meditation session. With repetition the strength of your psychic shield is increased and can eventually be called up at will. Rely on your shield at any time that you feel under the influence of psychic assault. This technique for calling up a protective barrier against even the strongest of negative energies whenever it is needed, involves connecting the mind, body and spirit instantly to create a powerful protective energy barrier.

Once you have familiarized your self with the meditative technique of visualizing a protective bubble you should be able to summon this shield without the assistance of meditation. Simply focus your mind on the act of creating the shield. While your mind is focused on creating the shield, use your hands to close the energy conduit of your aura. In a very real sense, you and every other living creature are both a source and a conductor of energy. You are in constant and direct connection with the energy of all things.

The physical act of closing the hands has the effect of closing a circuit. You are closing the circuit of your life energy while still remaining connected to the energy of the universe. The combination of closing the life energy circuit and creating a protective aura shield is the most powerful tool available for combating a psychic attack. This maneuver not only defends the spiritual self, it sends the negative energy of an attack directly back to its origin. The attacker sees his own negative energy returned only with more momentum and force than was originally created. Practice visualizing the instant creation of an aura shield; imagine with as much detail as possible the protective energy of your spirit blossoming outward to form an impenetrable barrier.

Now combine this visualization with the act of closing the hands. Hold your hands a few inches apart, as if you were about to clap or begin a prayer. Try to feel the energy of your aura between your hands. Many people report feeing a slightly warm sensation when performing this procedure. Pay attention to whatever sensations you may be feeling at this moment. Now, press your hands together, and as you do visualize the energy of your aura being compressed between your hands. As you compress the aura it forms a globe which surrounds your entire body.

The physical act of clasping the hands to temporarily close your life energy circuit and visualizing the protective aura are instantaneous. Practice this technique until it feels completely natural. One of the greatest advantages of this psychic defense technique is that it can be used discretely. This seemingly simple hand gesture can be used in almost any public situation without drawing attention to the fact that you are combating negative psychic energy. When confronted with any form of threatening energy, this technique offers an incredibly powerful and stealthy defense.

Don't forget to turn off your protective shield when it is no longer needed, use it when feeling confronted or overwhelmed by negative energy and rely on the strength of your spirit for day to day protection.

Jeffry R. Palmer is the well known author of several books dealing with the subjects of metaphysics, paranormal phenomena and psychic development. His articles and columns have been featured in several popular international magazines. His accurate and detailed psychic predictions, including Hurricane Katrina and the Indonesian tsunami have captured the attention of an international audience.

Personal psychic readings by Mr. Palmer are available through the http://the-psychic-detective.com web site. These psychic readings are kept in strict confidence, cover all aspects of life, are extremely accurate and detailed and are very simple to purchase. Mr. Palmer even offers a 100% money back guarantee to clients if they aren't completely satisfied with their readings.

http://the-psychic-detective.com/Psychic-Readings.htm

The psychic chakra: pinoline

2006-12-08T04:18:00.000-08:00

There is a large body of neurochemical and anthropological evidence which suggests that the pineal gland may produce a neuro-modulator that enhances a psi-conducive state of consciousness. An abstract of this research was presented at the Parapsychological Association Convention in 1985 (Roney-Dougal, 1986). For full details of this research please see Roney-Dougal (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993). In brief, the pineal gland has been found to synthesize various beta-carbolines and peptides, and to contain enzymes that produce psycho-active compounds such as 5-methoxy dimethyltryptamine (5MeODMT). “The two precursors that are most likely to be involved in the synthesis of such compounds are serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5HT) and tryptamine” (Strassman, 1990). These have wide-ranging effects throughout our brain and body, affecting the gonads, adrenals, pancreas, thyroid, and other emotional and endocrine activities.

Of most interest here are the neuromodulators called beta-carbolines which are MAO inhibitors that prevent the breakdown of serotonin. This results in an accumulation of physiologically active amines within the neuronal synapses which may lead to hallucinations, depression or mania depending on the amines being affected (Strassman, 1990). Beta-carbolines are also found in the retina of the eyes, in the adrenal glands and in the gut. The pineal contains the greatest concentration of serotonin in the brain, this being accentuated in those who suffer from psychoses. The pineal also contains enzymes that inhibit synthesis of these compounds, thus suggesting a regulating mechanism within this gland. There is a suggestion that it is the action of the pineal beta-carbolines, in particular 6-Methoxytetrahydrobetacarboline (6MeOTHBC, now being called pinoline), on serotonin that triggers dreaming (Callaway, 1988). Spontaneous case collection studies (e.g. Rhine, 1969) have found that many spontaneous psi experiences occur during the sleeping and dreaming state of consciousness, which suggests that dreaming is a state of consciousness whereby we are likely to have psi experiences. This has been confirmed experimentally (Ullman, Krippner & Vaughan, 1973). Pinoline is suggested to be the neurochemical that triggers this particular state of consciousness.

Anthropological data also suggest that these beta-carbolines are psi-conducive because their chemical structure is very similar to a naturally occurring group of chemicals called harmala alkaloids which occur in an Amazonian vine, Banisteriopsis caapi, used by Amazonian tribes for psychic purposes (Roney-Dougal, 1986 & 1989) (See Figure 2). The Amazon has a huge variety of psychotropic plants, yet all the tribes throughout that vast area use this same vine mixed with Psychotria viridis (Nai kawa) which contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT) (Ott, 1993 & 1994), for healing, out-of-body experiences, clairvoyance and precognition. It is traditionally used only when psi experiences are desired, though nowadays it is also used for general initiatory purposes. Thus the tribal people make a mixture of harmala alkaloids and DMT which mimics the tryptamine-pinoline mixture ascribed to the night time output of the pineal gland. My speculation is that when the pineal gland is stimulated to produce pinoline we are more likely to enter an altered state of consciousness which is psi-conducive.

In the 1960s a Chilean psychotherapist, Claudio Naranjo (1973, 1978) used a variety of hallucinogens including harmaline (one of the harmala alkaloids) in the psychotherapeutic setting, and came to the conclusion that: “Harmaline may be said to be more hallucinogenic than mescaline. . .both in terms of the number of images reported and their realistic quality. In fact some subjects felt that certain scenes which they saw had really happened and that they had been as disembodied witnesses of them in a different time and space. This matches the experience of South American shamans.” (Naranjo, 1967). Ott (1993) considers that the harmala alkaloids are not actually hallucinogenic in their own right, but that they permit the DMT in the ayahuasca mixture to be absorbed into the blood stream so that these create the entheogenic effects. This is still a matter of debate. There is extensive evidence from many anthropologists which suggests that the Banisteriopsis vine together with Psychotria Viridis is a psi-conducive drug, particularly with regard to remote viewing, clairvoyance and precognition but so far there has been no experimental test of these claims (Kensinger, 1973). Ayahuasca has recently been investigated by Don et al (1996) who suggested that its action is consistent with their other research into brain function and psi experience.

Thus, the anthropological evidence suggests that harmala alkaloids mixed with DMT stimulate a psi-conducive state of consciousness; the neurochemical evidence suggests that the harmala alkaloids are an analogue of pinoline which is produced in the pineal gland, noting that in the comparison between the action of the harmala alkaloids and pinoline it must be remembered that a one-position change in methoxy grouping can be profound in its action. The yogic and occult teachings and common folk lore all say that the pineal gland is the psychic centre and I suggest that the pinoline made by the pineal gland at night time, through its action on seratonin, stimulates a dream type state of consciousness which is psi-conducive.

http://www.yogamag.net/archives/2000/3may00/chakra1.shtml

2006-12-08T04:02:00.000-08:00

About Positive Music
by Don Robertson

The Plant Experiments

In 1973, a woman named Dorothy Retallack published a small book called The Sound of Music and Plants. Her book detailed experiments that she had been conducting at the Colorado Woman’s College in Denver using the school’s three Biotronic Control Chambers. Mrs. Retallack placed plants in each chamber and speakers through which she played sounds and particular styles of music. She watched the plants and recorded their progress daily. She was astounded at what she discovered.

Her first experiment was to simply play a constant tone. In the first of the three chambers, she played a steady tone continuously for eight hours. In the second, she played the tone for three hours intermittently, and in the third chamber, she played no tone at all. The plants in the first chamber, with the constant tone, died within fourteen days. The plants in the second chamber grew abundantly and were extremely healthy, even more so than the plants in the third chamber. This was a very interesting outcome, very similar to the results that were obtained from experiments performed by the Muzak Corporation in the early 1940s to determine the effect of "background music" on factory workers. When music was played continuously, the workers were more fatigued and less productive, when played for several hours only, several times a day, the workers were more productive, and more alert and attentive than when no music was played.

Dorothy Retallack and Professor Broman working with the plants used in music experiments.

For her next experiment, Mrs. Retallack used two chambers (and fresh plants). She placed radios in each chamber. In one chamber, the radio was tuned to a local rock station, and in the other the radio played a station that featured soothing "middle-of-the-road" music. Only three hours of music was played in each chamber. On the fifth day, she began noticing drastic changes. In the chamber with the soothing music, the plants were growing healthily and their stems were starting to bend towards the radio! In the rock chamber, half the plants had small leaves and had grown gangly, while the others were stunted. After two weeks, the plants in the soothing-music chamber were uniform in size, lush and green, and were leaning between 15 and 20 degrees toward the radio. The plants in the rock chamber had grown extremely tall and were drooping, the blooms had faded and the stems were bending away from the radio. On the sixteenth day, all but a few plants in the rock chamber were in the last stages of dying. In the other chamber, the plants were alive, beautiful, and growing abundantly.

"Chaos, pure chaos": plants subjected to Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix didn't survive

Mrs. Retallack’s next experiment was to create a tape of rock music by Jimi Hendrix, Vanilla Fudge, and Led Zeppelin. Again, the plants turned away from the music. Thinking maybe it was the percussion in the rock music that was causing the plants to lean away from the speakers, she performed an experiment playing a song that was performed on steel drums. The plants in this experiment leaned just slightly away from the speaker; however not as extremely as did the plants in the rock chambers. When she performed the experiment again, this time with the same song played by strings, the plants bent towards the speaker.

Next Mrs. Retallack tried another experiment again using the three chambers. In one chamber she played North Indian classical music performed by sitar and tabla, in another she played Bach organ music, and in the third, no music was played. The plants "liked" the North Indian classical music the best. In both the Bach and sitar chambers, the plants leaned toward the speakers, but he plants in the Indian music chamber leaned toward the speakers the most.

She went on to experiment with other types of music. The plants showed no reaction at all to country and western music, similarly to those in silent chambers. However, the plants "liked" the jazz that she played them. She tried an experiment using rock in one chamber, and "modern" (dischordant) classical music of negative composers Arnold Schönberg and Anton Webern in another. The plants in the rock chamber leaned 30 to 70 degrees away from the speakers and the plants in the modern classical chamber leaned 10 to 15 degrees away.

I spoke with Mrs. Retallack about her experiments a few years after her book was published, and at that time I began performing my own experiments with plants using a wood-frame and clear-plastic-covered structure that I had built in my back yard. For one month, I played three-hours-a-day of music from Arnold Schönberg’s negative opera Moses and Aaron, and for another month I played three-hours-a-day of the positive music of Palestrina. The effects were clear. The plants subjected to Schönberg died. The plants that listened to Palestrina flourished.

In these experiments, albeit basic and not fully scientific, we have the genesis of a theory of positive and negative music. What is it that causes the plants to thrive or die, to grow bending toward a source of sound or away from it?

2006-12-08T03:49:00.000-08:00

Join the Tens of Thousands Who Now Use Their Cell Phones and Electronic Devices with Confidence and Peace of Mind

http://www.emfhealthsolutions.com/index.htm

Understanding how the Shield Works

2006-12-08T03:41:00.000-08:00

The Shield is a configuration of quartz and other crystals that resonate at a very balanced human frequency band. When you put on a shield, it puts a "cocoon" of this energy around you. Inside the cocoon, it blends with your energy, finding your exact frequency within the human frequency band. It balances and strengthens every aspect of your energy field: (See Figure A)

physical

mental

emotional

spiritual

After 24 hours, at the outer edge of the cocoon, it patterns your energy in a spinning vortex. (Figure B) This spinning vortex is at your exact frequency so that any energy that is not compatible with you-be it from a person, place, or thing (computer, cell phone)-is forced to go around you. Physicists have shown that energy has to take the path of least resistance. The Shield's energy field, in combination with yours, is so strong that when an energy that is not compatible with you, it hits the vortex and goes around you, much like water going around a rock in a stream. (Figure C) Can you see how this could help you?!

Figure C

http://www.advancedliving.com/shieldwork.ivnu

botox lips

2006-12-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Conscious Media Network

Free video interviews on consciousness, enlightenment and human potential.
From the practical to the mystical.

http://www.consciousmedianetwork.com

2006-12-06T14:29:00.000-08:00

BODY WORK AND NEUROPEPTIDES-THE MOLECULES OF HEALING
http://www.healtouch.com/csft/bodywork.html

by Donald J G1assey, D.C., L.M.T.

The title for this article is a take off on Dr. Candace Pert’s groundbreaking book on neuropeptides entitled Molecules of Emotion. (Dr. Pert’s book is a must read for anyone working with the human body.) Vitalistically speaking, healing involves a closer connection between mind, body, heart and Spirit. And neuropeptides are the molecular language that allows mind, body and emotions to communicate. From a vitalistic perspective, healing and feeling are synonymous terms, as in order for one to heal they must first get in touch with the healing feeling.

The basic principle of vitalism states that there is an inherent or in-born intelligence that animates, motivates, heals, coordinates and inspires living beings. (Since the body is organized in such a varied and complex manner it must be “intelligent”.) Vitalism assumes that life is self-determining and self-evolving. Healing is seen as a process of personal evolution, growth, self-development and self-discovery. Growth and development need mutual support, and that support is a feeling state, an emotion.

Feelings are just information, (just as touch is information), that needs to be listened to and not “manipulated”. When the feeling state is experienced, the body can make a physiological shift. For example, a “gut feeling” is a visceral response to one’s external environment. The feeling state then is a response to internal and external life conditions, which are recorded when information is received by the nervous system. The memory of the information is related to the feeling at that time, and a biochemical condition correlates to the healing process.

According to Dr. Ida Rolf (Structural Integration, aka Rolfing), Dr. Janet Travell (Trigger Point Therapy), John Barnes (Myofascial Release), Dr. John Upledger (Cranial Sacral Therapy) and others, muscular patterns are formed in psychological arrangements. The chemical of emotion intersects with the muscular patterns, and muscles respond to psychological states. Feelings and motor patterns develop together where the feelings are “fluid” born chemicals whose emotional chemistry and muscular behavior are linked.

Neuropeptides (nerve proteins) are biochemicals that regulate almost all life processes on a cellular level, and thereby link all body systems. They are produced primarily in the brain, although almost every tissue in the body produces and exchanges neuropeptides. Scientists like Dr.Pert have discovered almost one hundred different neuropeptides, the first of which were hormones because they are larger molecules. Neuropeptides are one of three types of the most powerful biochemicals in the body, categorized as ligands from the Latin “ligare”, that which binds. Neurotransmitters and steroids are the other types of ligands, however, neuropeptides constitute ninety-five percent of all ligands.

Neuropeptides circulate throughout the body in the blood, lymph and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). (It is interesting to note that if the formed elements are removed from these body fluids; blood plasma, lymph and CSF are all a similar chemical composition- the same as sea water.) Neuropeptides are called messenger molecules because they send chemical messages from the brain to receptor sites on cell membranes throughout the entire body. It is like a “lock” and “key” mechanism where the neuropeptide is the “key” that opens the “lock’ on the cell membrane to cause complex and fundamental changes in the cells they lock onto. However, Dr. Pert feels the standard scientific "key fitting into a lock" analogy is too static an image for this dynamic process. She uses the description of two voices, ligand and receptor site, hitting the same note, and resulting in a resonance that rings the doorbell of the cell to open it.

The information message of the neuropeptide enters the cell membrane and goes through a lattice work of glycoproteins in the cell membrane and cytoplasm. These glycoproteins are linked by extra cellular collagen fibers to the larger fiber arrays of the myofascial system around the cell by a framework of fibronectins. This information readies the nucleus of the cell, and selects a DNA template to make a protein to “export” to surrounding cells to bring about a physiological change in tissues, glands, organs and systems of the body.

An example of this mechanism is angiotensin, a neuropeptide that responds to thirst. Angiotensin is formed from renin, which is released from glomerular cells in the kidneys, and effects the following receptor sites; the brain (hypothalamus area) “feels” thirsty and causes the person to drink water, the lungs decrease the amount of water which is exhaled, and the kidneys decrease urine production.

All systems of the body exchange neuropeptide information, and it is the internal feeling state that elicits the neuropeptide response. This is the mind/body connection in which every change in the mental-emotional state (conscious or unconscious) causes a change in the body physiology. Likewise, every change in the body physiology causes a change in the mental-emotional state (conscious or unconscious).

Neuropeptides, above and beyond their specific responses in cells and tissues, are generally mood specific. In fact, the structures of the limbic system, (the seat of the emotions) which include the thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala and parts of the basal ganglia, are concentration areas for neuropeptides called nodal points. For example, serotonin, which is responsible for our mood and feelings of well being, is produced in the basal ganglia and projected into the hypothalamus from the brain stem where it is also produced. Thus, the emotions we feel may facilitate the biochemical process that occurs between neuropeptides and receptor sites on cell membranes.

Current research in cell biology has discovered that the “brain” of the cell is the cell mem-brane, and that the DNA is just a storehouse of programmed memory, which environmental signals “turn on or off”. According to this new research, each cell has the potential to develop alternative gene programs in response to the external environment. Feelings are seen as just waves of information (molecules of emotion) (messenger molecules) moving through the body that can alter our perception of the environment.

The literal “key” to the entire neuropeptide mechanism may be the connective tissues of the body. It is suggested that connective tissue collagen fibrils may be the primary pathway by which neuropeptides enter cell membranes. In fact, one past researcher has theorized that the microtubules of collagen fibrils are filled with a component of CSF! This finding and current research suggests that the connective tissue network is formed of liquid crystal proteins that may conduct information. This research correlates with recent neurophysiologist claims that neuroglial cells, the connective tissue of the nervous system, form a communication network of their own.

Neuropeptides could then be seen as “informational connective tissue” that unite and coordinate all the cells, tissues, glands, organs and systems of the body. According to a well-known author and physician, Deepak Chopra, the significance of the discovery of neuropeptides is that it has shown that the body is fluid enough to match the mind. Dr. Chopra asserts that neuropeptides serve as a point of transformation between thoughts and bodily reactions, i.e. a transformation of non-matter into matter.

The implication of the neuropeptide mechanism for body work practitioners is enormous! It may be that the connective tissue framework of muscle fascia, tendons and ligaments also provide a supportive network to transport neuropeptides along with neuroglial cells (the connective tissue of the nervous system), and thus help to form the body’s biochemical message system. The information communicated by touch might then elicit the flow of the neuropeptide messenger molecules to facilitate healing. Healing in the sense of getting in “touch” with the feeling state phenomenologicalIy. Feelings that then cause and create neuropeptide shifts and their subsequent dramatic physiological effects.

The emotions we feel may facilitate the mechanism of the biochemical message patterns on every cell mem-brane. However, if the cells keep experiencing the same habitual behavior patterns, these patterns don’t allow changes in the receptor site/neuropeptide connections. Said differently, if we do what we’ve always done, we will be what we’ve always been, and get what we’ve always gotten. Do we want to stay the way we are or do we want to be set free?

The aforementioned statement purports the far-reaching implications of body work as a tool to promote healing. Body work is such a powerful healing art that it can facilitate a process whereby the recipient can get in touch with their feelings, and bring about a healing of mind, body, heart and Spirit- to be set free!

Bibliography

Chopra, Deepak, M.D., Quantum Healing, Bantam Books, NY, 1989

Pert, Candace, PH.D., Molecules of Emotion, Scribner, NY, 1997

Juhan, Dean, Job’s Body- A Handbook for Body Work, expanded edition, Station Hill, Tarrytown, NY, 1998

Restak, R.M., M.D., The Brain- The Last Frontier, Warner Books, NY, 1979

Lipton, B.H., Ph.D. ,“Consciousness and the New Biology”, Journal of the ASK_Us, 1999 conference

Erlingheuser, R.F., D.O., “The Circulation of Cerebrospinal Fluid Through the Connective Tissue System”, Academy of Applied Osteopathy Yearbook, 1959

Oschman, J.L., “Readings on the Scientific Basis of Bodywork”, Nature’s Own Research Association, Dover, NH, 1993

http://www.healtouch.com/csft/bodywork.html

The rochester center for mind-body research (rcmbr)

2006-12-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

In August of 2004, Drs. Jan Moynihan and Paul Duberstein received R21 funding from the National Institute on Aging to create the Rochester Center for Mind-Body Research. (RCMBR). The RCMBR has built an infrastructure bringing together faculty with diverse backgrounds, creating an environment that generates inquiry about mind-body interactions in middle-aged and older adults. RCMBR research is organized around three health outcomes of considerable public health significance, each having central immunological components: cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases (psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis), and vaccine responses (such as the response to influenza vaccine).

The overarching goal of the RCMBR is to support infrastructure and research designed to enhance the quality and quantity of mind-body and health research. Building on the pioneering work done by Dr. Robert Ader and his collegues in the field of psychoneuroimmunology research, the vision and mission of the RCMBR is driven by the long standing history of collaborative research in psychoneuroimmunology and developmental health psychology, with special emphasis on the idea that mind-body relationships are moderated by age.

The RCMBR facilitates collaboration among biologists, social scientists, and practicing physicians from academic units within the University of Rochester Medical Center and the College of Arts and Sciences. Researchers from the University of Rochester serve on our Internal Advisory Board (IAB) as well as nine additional collaborating institutions that serve on our External Advisory Board (EAB). They all contribute to the RCMBR’s efforts, either as investigators, members of the board, or as mentors for junior faculty pursuing K awards or other funding mechanisms.

For more information or to contact us: mindbody@urmc.rochester.edu

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/psych/research/psychoneuroimmunology.cfm

Hippocrates says:

2006-12-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

"For this is the great error of our day that the physicians separate the soul from the body"

Introduction:

A traditional view, still held by many scientists, is that the immune system is autonomous. That is to say that it is self-regulatory and functions separate and independent from the rest of the body. With the increasing focus on the relatively new science of Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) these old views are becoming less legitimate.

The name Psychoneuroimmunology was provided in 1975, by Dr. Robert Ader, director of the division of behavioural and psychosocial medicine at New York's University of Rochester. Dr. Ader believes that there is a link between what we think (our state of mind) and our health and our ability to heal ourselves. In particular, this was borne out in a study conducted by Dr. Ader and his colleagues which showed that it is possible to classically condition the immune system. The experiment that caused this development consisted of feeding mice with saccharin while simultaneously injecting a drug that caused upset stomach. By association, the mice learned to avoid the saccharin. An additional side affect of the drug used was that it suppressed the immune system. When the experiment was repeated without the drug to reverse the aversion Dr. Ader found a high proportion of the mice formally injected died when receiving saccharin alone.

Dr. Ader hypothesised that the conditioning had been so successful that saccharin alone suppressed the immune system enough to kill the mice. It is possible then, that when there is stress on the organism, mental or physical, that there is a corresponding link between the two. That is to say, if a person has a mental state of depression, this state can be interpreted by the body to produce lethargy and other corresponding ailments. Conversely, if the body is diagnosed as ailing from a serious disease, i.e. cancer, a negative mental state may ensue. By conditioning the immune system through mental processes a connection in communication has been made. Providing the patient with some feeling of control over their circumstances may create a positive outlook and attitude. Some believe that this may, "Inoculate against disease and act as a valuable supplement to conventional medical care."

Psychoneuroimmunology then is the scientific field of study investigating the link between bi-directional communications among the nervous system, the endocrine (hormone) system, and the immune system and the implications of these linkages for physical health.

This article will look at the history behind Psychoneuroimmunology, and the different sciences that make up Psychoneuroimmunology. It will also look at the research behind these sciences and the different therapies, including hypnosis that compliment these studies. In addition, the notion that all non-allopathic medicine is placebo response will be discussed.

A Brief History of Mind-Body Medicine:

There is, and has always been, much controversy over the mind and body connection. It is interesting how the history affected medical philosophies causing the dichotomy between eastern and western medical cultures.

Looking at the ancients, one can see a strong connection in their beliefs that the mind and the body should be treated as the whole. Hippocrates, often referred to as the father of medicine, would caution against not including all of the possibilities in healing. In Chinese medicine the belief is held that certain organs of the body represent various mental or emotional conditions. In addition, a lot of connections are made to nature, through energy meridian lines and hands on manipulation (accupressure). The practitioner will take the time to look into the person's life and see what is happening that may cause a change in the 'balance of the organism within their environment'. Knowing what psychological situations are going on in someone's life becomes important when deciding upon what course of treatment to follow.

In the present day western system, the doctor spends only as much time as needed to generally inquire about the symptoms of the ailment, and then to prescribe a particular medicine. This system is derived from the philosophies of Rene Descartes in the seventeenth century. Descartes believed 'there are two distinct and separate substances in the world: matter, which behaved according to physical laws, and spirit, which was dimensionless and immaterial'. A belief that these were the differences of spirit and body and that the two were totally unrelated became the philosophy of the day. And so it became that the western culture accepted that pathogens were the cause of all disease. This theory was substantiated in the late nineteenth century by a study of Robert Koch, a German doctor who injected the disease anthrax into healthy sheep and noticed they too contracted the disease and died. From this, 'Koch theorised that every disease had a simple, specific cause: germs'.

In the 1920's, Dr. Walter Cannon, a professor of physiology at Harvard University, looked at the need for mental and physical balance throughout the organism and coined the term, "Homeostasis", from the Greek word homoios, meaning similar, and stasis, meaning position. It was his studies into the relationship between the effects of emotions and perceptions on the autonomic nervous system, namely the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses that initiated the recognition of the 'fight or flight response'. Following on Cannon's work was that of Hans Selye. Selye experimented with animals putting them under different physical and mental adverse conditions and noted that under these conditions the body consistently adapted to heal and recover. He referred to this as the general adaptation syndrome. Selye also noticed during this adaptation the thymus and other major organs of the immune system shrank. In these studies it was found if the stress of the environment was continued then the immune system reduced and the animal would be overwhelmed and die. These studies validated the path for the connection between emotional states affecting physiological behaviour and states.

Current Research in the Field:

Research continued in the area of molecular communication between the mind and the body, this however was often seen as unwelcome by the existing science community. Research over the past twenty years has seen the development of Psychoneuroimmunology, which is based primarily upon the neuro sciences of the central nervous systems, the neuroendocrine system and the immune system and their inter-relationships. The central nervous system is a huge array of connections throughout the body incorporating sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. It allows the brain to send information throughout the body via chemicals generally referred to as information substances (IS). It was once thought that the brain sent out these information substances to respond to the various problems in the body and that the communication was that of a one way direction. What has become clear is that the central nervous system virtually controls the body's defence mechanisms. This being said, "Every thought, emotion, idea or belief has a neurochemical consequence".

These natural chemical messengers, called Neuropeptides, were at one time thought to be found in the brain alone. Pioneering research by neuropharmacologist, Candice Pert, revealed that these neuropeptides are present on both the cell walls of the brain and in the immune system. These information substances affect our emotions as well as our physiology. These cells of the body have their own receptors on the surface that act like satellite dishes. These receptors receive the chemical information substances being released by the brain and sometimes return messages at the appropriate times. Pert believes that peptides probably provide solutions to every medical problem. As these complex messengers travel throughout the body they provide vital information and sometimes almost instant physical feedback. If you have ever encountered something unpleasant, possibly by surprise, you may have found yourself instantly shivering, then literally shaking off the feeling produced. This is a simple example of how fast the information can be transmitted from thought to physiology. The emotions we create are just that, created. This requires input from the brain. The centre for the brain that deals with emotional issues is the limbic system and in particular the hypothalamus. The discovery by Candice Pert, that neuropeptides and neurotransmitters are also on cell walls of the immune system shows a close association with emotions and suggests that emotions and health are deeply interdependent. Showing that the immune and endocrine systems are modulated not only by the brain but by the central nervous system itself has had an impact on how we see disease and how its created. For its part, the endocrine system is a series of hormone secreting glands that themselves moderate the function and balance of the body. Primarily the pituitary, thyroid and adrenal glands send these hormonal chemicals to regulate the function of other organs. Using this network of transmitters and receivers the body is in constant adjustment to ensure balance.

The balance is kept as long as the immune system is functioning optimally. The immune system is literally on patrol throughout the body and is a complex surveillance system. The immune cells, called Lymphocytes (white blood cells) are the keys to the immune system. Produced initially in the bone marrow of long bones, some of these cells known as stem cells will migrate to the thymus where they multiply and are known as T cells. Those cells that remain in the bone marrow mature to become B cells. Each attacks the enemy in different ways. Circulating the body, when these antigens are discovered an army of appropriate cells (antibodies) is produced to attack the invader. To prevent this army of cells taking over, they in turn are suppressed and attacked. On this continuous patrol, natural killer (NK) cells attack and destroy cells that are produced by the organism which are mutated or abnormal. It is this action which prevents most people contracting cancers or other immune deficient problems such as A.I.D.S.

Research has indicated that an inextricable chemical link exists between our emotions, which includes all stress in our lives, both good and bad, and the regulatory systems of the endocrine and immune systems through the central nervous system. This research emphasises the importance of expressing our emotions both verbally and physically in an appropriate way. When strong emotions generate fear, anger or rage and these are not expressed in a healthy way then the body's natural response is that of the sympathetic nervous system as demonstrated in Cannon's research on homeostasis and the fight or flight syndrome. At this point, inappropriate storing of these stressful emotions produces an excess of epinephrine. This excess of epinephrine causes a chemical breakdown, resulting in internal weakening of the immune system and an increased potential for disease.

For all of the research that has been conducted and continues to be conducted, this new research is not without its detractors. In 1985, Marcia Angell published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine on the new science of Psychoneuroimmunology in which she labelled the science "folklore". She stated that, "No one had unequivocally shown a state of mind can cause or cure a disease".

Imagination is more important than knowledge, for while knowledge points to all there is, imagination points to all there will be.

Albert Einstein

Mind-Body Therapies:

The application of this field is truly cross-disciplinary and is readily available to the public. There are many techniques and they may be used by a variety of professionals. These professionals include: medical doctors nurses, naturopaths, osteopaths, Chinese medicine and Chiropractors for the body model and psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, hypnotherapists and counsellors for the mind model. It now becomes a choice for the individual as to whether they attend these mind-body therapies used by a traditional medical person or a practitioner from one of the complimentary systems. While the systems purporting to deliver mind-body therapies are many, this paper will restrict itself to an overview of some of the most popular and those with recorded successes.

Guided Imagery:

Guided Imagery or visualisation, is a process that involves the use of symbols to imagine the changes the individual desires takes place. Patients who enter this therapy are encouraged to relax and imagine a journey described by the practitioner. This may include having the patient imagine that their problem is like many other things that they know to be true but curable. An example of this would be relating the body's abilities to send the appropriate healing to a cut on the hand. No thought is required for this to happen, it happens naturally and therefore those learning's from that natural state can be transferred to the presenting problem. In fact, while visualisation has been used for many centuries, it gained a lot of attention in the early 1970s when cancer patients were encouraged to use it to fight cancer cells in their bodies. A direct approach could be to have the patient imagine the cells of their immune system attacking the active problem or cancer cells and watching the cancer cells being subdued. Scientific research has looked into guided imagery. Dr. Richard Smith, a psychiatrist at the University of Arkansas, conducted one such study, for Medical Sciences. In this study a woman who had had the virus chickenpox and had a natural defence mechanism to it, was injected under the arm with the virus. The resulting swelling at the site of injection and its later disappearance was the expected result of someone whose immune system was working well against the virus. This was confirmed by blood work showing an increase in her white blood cells responding to the virus. Over each of the next three weeks she was injected again and each time she was instructed to use imagery to reduce the size of the swelling. The result was a smaller swelling with each subsequent injection and a corresponding reduction in the white blood cell count required to deal with the virus. In the final analysis, the woman was instructed to return her immune system to normal. Further injections resulted in the original response. This experiment showed that guided imagery could have an affect on the immune system. Researchers believe that visualisation may reduce stress, thereby boosting the immune system and helping the body fight disease. It may give people a more positive outlook, an important benefit on its own.

Biofeedback

The word "biofeedback" was coined in the late 1960s to describe laboratory procedures then being used to train experimental research subjects to alter brain activity, blood pressure, heart rate, and other bodily functions that are not normally controlled voluntarily. The most common forms of biofeedback today are the electromyographic (EMG) and the electrodermal (EDR). These sensors allow the person to monitor their own muscle relaxation, heart rate, breathing patterns and perspiration and concentrate on changing it through either the visual or auditory information provided by the equipment.

In initial studies, some scientists believed that a day might come when biofeedback would provide a major degree of control over our bodies. With people exerting their "will" they thought it might be possible to change the patterns of our brainwaves to create healing without drugs which produce often unpleasant side affects for patients with high blood pressure.

It is recognised by most scientists that eliminating the need for drugs by this method is unrealistic. Research has demonstrated that biofeedback can help in the treatment of many diseases and painful conditions. Most patients who benefit from biofeedback are trained to relax and modify their behaviour. Most scientists believe that relaxation is a key component in biofeedback treatment of many disorders, particularly those disorders induced or aggravated by stress. Disorders that have been successfully controlled with biofeedback, include anxiety, migraines and Raynauds disease and syndrome.

Hypnotherapy or Therapeutic Hypnosis

The use of hypnosis to assist individuals in their own healing is not a new concept. Franz Anton Mesmer, in the 1700's believed in animal magnetism and through his practises the term, Mesmerism and its therapy came into being. Mesmer had a successful practise. A Royal Commission later discredited him in France, this commission included Benjamin Franklin and Joseph Guillotine. They found no scientific evidence to support his claims and believed the successes were a result of expectation and suggestion. It is interesting that they thought he was a charlatan, and yet, their conclusions found the basis of hypnosis. It was much later in 1843 that the British surgeon, James Braid, utilised Mesmerism to operate without anaesthetic. Due to the similar appearance of sleep, Braid named this state Hypnosis from the Greek hypno, to sleep. Today the medical community sometimes uses hypnosis but more often specialised hypnotherapists, who fall within the increasing field of complimentary health, utilise these processes.

Hypnosis is probably one of the most researched modalities and yet because much of its success cannot always be repeated in the laboratory, the scientific community has seen its use as merely a placebo irritant. Recent breakthroughs in Psychoneuroimmunology studies now give increasing evidence of the connection between mind-body communication and the rationale as to how hypnosis plays a factor in this. There are as many different definitions of hypnosis as there are beliefs about how it works. The previous examples of 'Guided Imagery' and Biofeedback' are inclusive in the hypnotic process. It is interesting to note that many people have a misconstrued idea about hypnosis and it is this that promotes fear and mistrust about being controlled. A simple description offered by Dr. Karen Olness M.D., of Case Western Reserve University, is, "A form of self-induced, focused attention that can make it easier for you to relax or control your body's functions."

It is generally known that our bodies require two states during a twenty four hour period, that of wakefulness and that of sleep. This is called our Circadian rhythms. Recently, research has indicated our bodies naturally go through rhythms during the day, which create a 'break response stimulus'. These rhythms are referred to as "Ultradian rhythms" and generally are about ninety minutes to two hours in length. During this period the mind-body pauses and turns inward to focus on its healing. Modern Hypnotherapists utilise these natural Ultradian rhythms to assist the patient to create a mental link between their required goal and natural physical abilities to heal. To achieve this the patient is guided by the therapist to a relaxed state, which allows for a communication to the unconscious mind. It is at the unconscious level that many conditions and thoughts exist, which are out of reach to the conscious mind or that the conscious mind is ill equipped to deal with. What Psychoneuroimmunology provides us is a blue print of cellular and molecular communication between mind, body and gene which takes hypnotherapy out of the realm of magic and into a psychobiological reason for success.

Non-Allopathic Process are all Placebo:

Placebo, from the Latin, meaning, "to please" is now commonly recognised as a false medicine. The medical community have for years prescribed placebo to people they feel are considered hypochondriacs. It is interesting that three elements need to be in place for a placebo to be effective: 1. A positive expectation by the patient. 2. A positive expectation by the health care provider. 3. A trusting relationship between care provider and patient. Based upon what has already been discussed, it appears that this basic criterion is the foundation of proven Psychoneuroimmunology.

"Some doctors now believe that the placebo effect is due to a response within the mind and body that strengthens the immune system and speeds healing."

Rather than writing off non-allopathic processes, the scientific community is indicating to the medical community that the thoughts and emotions of the patient can be in and of themselves, enough to generate good health. With this in mind, all methods of complimentary health can be looked at with a different and more open viewpoint. While some modalities certainly appear to have no scientific or logical reason for their success, it is too easy to condemn them as fringe or charlatan practises without research.

Conclusion:

The purpose of this article has shown that the new science of Psychoneuroimmunology presents solid information about the communication link that exists between the mind-brain and body. Certainly evidence has been established that supports the idea of some illnesses being contractible or aggravated by psychosocial pressure which induces stress in the organism. It is too simplistic to believe that all diseases have their basis in emotions but a growing number of experts believe that some diseases are emotional, as opposed to organic in origin. A sense of loss of control over ones situation can lead to a loss of normal homeostasis. When this happens, our immune system is weakened making it easier to contract disease. While it is certain that the biological, allopathic approach has made amazing advances, its limitations lay in not capitalising on the patients emotional well being from a humanistic approach. A complimentary approach would appear to be best for the patients well being. This would require a huge paradigm shift for the present way in which the medical community completes its business.

There are some associated dangers in the Psychoneuroimmunological approach. Regardless of which modality is selected by a patient one thing becomes clear. A strong trust and expectation develops between the patient and the therapist. This leads to suggestions from the therapist being excepted readily, and without in some cases, examination by the patient. This is especially true if the modality used is hypnosis, which is working with the unconscious (non-analytical) mind. Regardless of the modality it seems for some people the view of a person in authority is accepted without question and therefore their word becomes very powerful. While this is what makes positive changes and healing possible for some, a misplaced or ill-conceived statement could have an equally negative response for others. In this respect, while caution should be placed upon overly optimistic comments, negative truths can result in a helplessness, which can cause vagal death in some seriously traumatised patients.

As discussed, there is not a therapy as such called Psychoneuroimmunology but rather the science itself. The applications are within other therapies that fit the concepts and beliefs associated with Psychoneuroimmunology. For those who wish to explore a career in the sciences that make up Psychoneuroimmunology, it is now a part of many universities curriculum. One of the leaders in this field is the Centre for Psychoneuroimmunology at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester, New York. These courses are under the directorship of Dr. Robert Ader, founder of the science of Psychoneuroimmunology. Others who wish to practise in the field with patients need to assess which modality they first wish to train in. Most of the modalities can be trained from within and from outside of the medical community. People who wish to train as therapists have to be vigilant to ensure their training is both appropriate and accredited by recognised organisations.

It has been said, "The human body can be conceived as a five million year old healer, with a pharmacopoeia of neuropeptides, neuroendocrine secretions and immunological restoratives that maintain and enhance health."

If that is so, then Psychoneuroimmunology is a science that truly has laid the groundwork for many complimentary health care approaches, especially hypnosis and Neuro Linguistic Programming, to have a validated scientific support. The benefits are many as it supports the premise of a health care without always turning to drugs. All of the modalities which utilise the science of Psychoneuroimmunology are non-invasive and return an element of control to the patient for their own health and welfare, in a world where the individual often feels a loss of that very control over their own lives.

Psychoneuroimmunology is a new field and requires more research. In 1985, there were no Psychoneuroimmunology listings cited in Medline, the worlds largest medical database. Between 1995 and 1997 over one hundred publications were posted. Despite this increase, further research needs to be conducted in the laboratory and in the field. Unfortunately, there are too few researchers who have interdisciplinary training and experience to make the connections between psychology, immunology, and endocrinology. The challenge that lies ahead is to further substantiate that the immune system can indeed be enhanced through thoughts, belief, emotions and behaviour.

http://www.nfnlp.com/psychoneuroimmunology_quinlan.htm

2006-12-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

Psychoneuroimmunology:
What Is It and Can It Help Me?

by Marilyn McGregor

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is the scientific study of the interaction among emotions the brain, and the immune system, some of th~ body's most complex systems. It springs from healing traditions that are both ancient and modem, Eastern and Western. The emotions (the psyche), the neurological system (the brain, spinal cord, and other nervous system organs), the immensely complex immune system and the various interactions of these systems offer much that, when understood, can prove fascinating and useful to people with cancer.

The immune system is composed of the thymus, spleen, lymph nodes, lymphatic vessels, tonsils and adenoids, and—most important—the bone marrow, which manufactures all the cells that eventually develop into T cells, B cells, phagocytes, macrophages, Natural Killer (NK) cells, etc. Early immunologists thought that the immune system operated independently with little or no interaction with other organ systems. Then as PNI developed as a field of study rather than the isolated work of individual researchers, that assumption was dropped and researchers began to focus on the interrelatedness of the systems.

During the past two decades, a growing number of popular authors have written on the intimate "mind-body" connection. Recently, however, scientific researchers in PNI have begun using the classical methods of Western scientific medicine to explore a variety of phenomena that are interlinked, interdependent, and capable of bidirectional effects (effects that work both ways).

While the lay person can believe in a mindbody connection, the PNI researcher is looking for the exact mechanisms by which specific brainimmunity effects are achieved. To better understand the potential of PNI research, let's look at the results of studies reported at a conference on "Brain and Immunity" held in Naples, Italy in March 1991. Several studies showed that Natural Killer (NK) activity was reduced in those persons who had the highest levels of overall life stress. After a number of such studies, researcher's began to suspect that the NK depression resulted from the person's response to the stress, rather than an overall depression of the immune system.

One now famous study tested medical students during examination time. Their NK activity was reduced during exam time but returned to normal after exams. In another study, animals were injected with tumor cells. Those animals subjected to shocks over which they had no control developed tumors which grew more rapidly and death occurred more quickly. Those rats who were able to control the shock grew tumors at a lesser rate.

Further studies, using the UCLA Loneliness Scale showed that people with higher loneliness scores had lower NK cell activity. Researchers then began to ask: Now that we know that stress Gan affect the immune system, we need to ask how it can produce a specific disease if, indeed, central nervous system-induced immunomodulation (immune system changes) can influence the course and development or recurrence of a disease.

European researchers began to look seriously at stress, cancer, and immunity and came up with some general theories, based on their laboratory, animal, or human studies. Depleting life events (such as divorce, loss of spouse, unemployment, loneliness) were not sole predictors for disease but the particular coping style of the person seemed to be a predictor of development of disease. Other researchers began to generalize about persons who develop cancer, finding that those persons showed exaggerated niceness, pleasantness, perfectionism, social conformism, repression of feelings and emotions, and rigid defensiveness and avoidance of conflicts.

Some investigators tried to develop a schema to find a "Type C" or Cancer-prone personality. Their findings indicated that suppression of feelings, especially anger, and "pathological niceness" seemed to be predictors of cancer development. They also found that "pathological niceness" worked as a useful defense for these individuals as long as their personal world held together but not when things took a turn for the worse.

One researcher identified three predictors of worsening disease prognosis in breast cancer patients: patient's adjustment, lack of social support, and fatigue/depression. NK cell activity was increased when breast cancer patients felt they were getting social support from a spouse, close friend, or the treatment staff. Breast cancer patients who looked for social support as a way to cope with the disease also did better. The now famous study by Dr. David Spiegel of Stanford University reported that metastatic breast cancer patients who were in a support group that used self-hypnosis as well as other mind-body techniques lived some 18 months longer than the control group (who did not use these techniques). Another study showed that melanoma patients who had six weeks of group therapy had higher levels of immune enhancing cells.

In a recent Italian study, cancer patients frequently were found to have thymic atrophy (the thymus, located behind the breastbone, is where T-Cells develop). Patients also had low levels of a thymulin, a thymic hormone. Low thymulin levels are associated with reduced levels of biologically active zinc. When patients were given zinc as well as a commercial amino acid (arginine and lysine), both their thymus efficiency and their T-cell efficiency improved. These researchers concluded that "the present study provides clear-cut evidence that cancer is associated with thymic failure and that such a failure can be corrected by a nutritional-pharmacological intervention, based on an amino acid preparation."

Another amino acid, adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, is creating excitement among researchers, based on new analysis of this substance. More than 30 years ago, pioneer ATP researcher, Dr. Geoffrey Burnstock, theorized that the major cells of the immune system had receptors for ATP, receptors that can alter the effects of ATP on the brain. Long the object of ridicule by his peers, Burnstock's theory and research findings have since been validated by the work of others. Some researchers are using ATP in treatment of metastatic cancer. Very early studies showed that injected ATP appeared to increase the amount of adenosine in the blood, which appeared to act against metastatic cancer cells for several hours.

The new field of PNI is exciting and dynamic, with a variety of ongoing studies ranging from in vitro techniques, to laboratory animals, and human subjects. While it is safe to say that brain and immunity are interconnected and interrelated, it is too soon to say precisely what the research means to the individual who has survived cancer or who is having a recurrence. Given the usual rate of scientific research and the requirement for reproducible studies, it may be a long time before PNI therapy is seen as a standard of care, reimbursable by insurance.

Meanwhile, individuals with cancer can develop their own personal PNI therapy using the traditional methods of calming, meditation, and support. Visualization may work best for some people; others may find Chi Gong most effective (Chi Gong is the breathing and exercise system widely used in China to treat cancer). Some may find a loving environment and support system, plus prayer and their old time religion their best PNI. Others may choose to "rage, rage, against the dying of the light," and become involved in activism either individually or in a group.

People with cancer are familiar with The Patient's Bill of Rights that hangs on hospital walls. But there are other rights just as important to effective treatment: the right to loving, respectful compassion on the part of your treatment team or doctor for the particular way you choose to start your own PNI program; the right to hope and loving kindness. Dr. Susan Love exemplifies a physician with Western training who nevertheless shows respect and compassion for the various means that people with cancer use to help themselves.

Many activists and physicians have been concerned with the way some of the "mind-body" material has been used in a cruel, blaming way against the person with cancer or other lifethreatening disease. The most notorious of some of these mind-body gurus have been quoted as saying "What have you done to bring back your cancer?" The fact that the brain influences immunity does not mean that you "caused" your cancer; before you start blaming yourself, remember the world holds more than enough other culprits, such as pollutants and other environmental factors, that can influence the immune system. PNI researchers recognize the multitude of environmental influences on the immune system, a related field of study which they term "ecological immunoneurology.

PNI can be the physiology of hope manifest in the body's immune system. It has been reported that for those patients who have developed their own program that not only was their quality of life enhanced, but their longevity as well.

Note: Reference citations are available on request. An update of Psychoneuroimmunology by Ader et al was published by Academic Press, New York, in 1991. For more information on laboratory tests, see Basic & Clinical Immunology, 7th edition, edited by Stites & Terr (Appleton & Lange,1992)

http://www.bcaction.org/Pages/SearchablePages/1992Newsletters/Newsletter014C.html

http://www.pnirs.org/

2006-12-06T13:52:00.000-08:00

The Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society is an international organization for researchers in a number of scientific and medical disciplines including psychology, neurosciences, immunology, pharmacology, psychiatry, behavioral medicine, infectious diseases, endocrinology and rheumatology, who are interested in interactions between the nervous system and the immune system, and the relationship between behavior and health.

Mission Statement

The PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society is an international organization for researchers in a number of scientific and medical disciplines, including psychology, neurosciences, immunology, physiology, pharmacology, psychiatry, behavioral medicine, infectious diseases, endocrinology and rheumatology, who are interested in interactions between the nervous and immune systems, and the relationship between behavior and health. An important goal is to conduct basic research that can be translated into clinically relevant health applications. The purpose of the Society is to promote the study of interrelationships among behavioral, neural, endocrine and immune processes and to encourage collaborations among immunologists, neuroscientists, clinicians, health psychologists and behavioral neuroscientists.

Baby Chardonnay

2006-12-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

spirits of the vine

2006-12-06T13:36:00.000-08:00

as a career

2006-12-06T13:08:00.000-08:00

Scientifically, biophysicists are in heavy demand and there are millions of dollars in support for biophysical science, pure and applied, but there are almost no biophysicists.

Because every biophysicist worth his salt can qualify as an engineer, a physicist, or a doctor, all well paid and respectable occupations, there is heavy pressure to divert young scientists from discovering biophysics.

A graduate student faced with the option of taking an engineering job now at $6000 or spending four more years of graduate work with a $l500 assistantship in order to qualify for a $5000 biophysics position has to want very badly to work in this field. Some of this is slowly being rectified but there is a tradition of poor pay and poor facilities in biological science which has first to be destroyed.

Biophysics, in order to preserve its birthright of symmetry between physics and biology, medicine and engineering, must not come under the domination of one discipline to the exclusion of another.

Traditionally these four scientific areas lie in at least three different and highly competitive university administrative domains, yet any educational or research activity must normally be housed and financed by one or the other.

Only extraordinary wisdom on the part of academic administrators can save biophysics from becoming lopsided or else falling between three stools.

crossover

2006-12-06T13:03:00.000-08:00

Natural Philosophy, covering all the natural sciences, separated into chemistry + physics + biology; chemistry into organic and inorganic, analytic and electro chemistry, etc. Areas of specialization like physical chemistry, chemical physics (which is different), astro physics, geophysics, etc. have only recently begun to assume prominence.

So far there has been relatively little recondensation of major areas because within our lifetime science as a whole has been expanding almost exponentially.

There has been mainly splintering, subdivision, and specialization. Knowing the habits of exponentials with fifteen year time constants, you must realize that this process cannot continue very long. Some sciences must die and some must recombine. To date biochemistry is the biggest single area of recombination unless we admit that applied and theoretical physics are once again exchanging subject matter.

Now it is time to ask when we come to biophysics and what it is. Biophysics is not so much subject matter as it is a point of view. It is an approach to problems of biological science utilizing the theory and technology of the physical science. Conversely, biophysics is also a biologist's approach to problems of physical science and engineering although this aspect has largely been neglected.

Biochemistry, the sister science to biophysics, was the first major example of a reconvergence of science after a few decade sojourn apart. As the science that uses chemical thinking in biological science and possibly a little of the inverse process, it began to grow to prominence in Liebig's time around the middle of last century and is now well established. It has departments in every major school, it has its societies, its financial supports, and its record of achievement.

Biophysics is just starting to blossom even though its growth started some years ago. We must expect it to expand much as biochemistry did, but I suspect it has even a larger destiny.

Three centuries ago there were biophysicists at work but they didn't know that their field of experimentation would later be dignified by a special name. Stephen Hales, who lived from 1679 to 1761, performed the experiment of tying down a horse, attaching a long manometer of brass and glass tube to its blood vessels using a goose windpipe as flexible tubing, and then measuring the height of the blood column as he drained one pint of blood after another out of the horse. http://www.otto-schmitt.org/OttoPagesFinalForm/Sounds/Speeches/BiophysicsEmerges.htm

Biophysics and me

2006-12-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

Most cultures understand the universe as conscious, and this cosmic consciousness, by various names, as the source of Creation. Now science itself is coming close to these views, through the quantum physicists' recognition that consciousness is essential to reality and somehow a deep feature of the ZPE field or an even deeper non-timespace.

Thus, our scientific cosmovision is shifting 180 degrees from the view of consciousness as a late product of material and biological evolution to the view of consciousness as the very source of material and biological evolution.

In molecular genetic biology this shift is supported by fifty years of research evidence that DNA reorganizes itself intelligently when organisms are environmentally stressed, and that the required information transfer often seems to obey some form of non-locality rather than slower chemical or electromagnetic transmission. Rather than being the sources of variation and evolution, errors known to occur in DNA during reproduction and by cosmic radiation or other accidents, are recognized at the molecular level and fixed by repair genes. Thus we see intelligence at work not only in higher brains, but in the lowliest of bacteria and cellular components. We are thus moving toward a post-Darwinian era in evolution biology.

The earliest creatures of Earth, Archean bacteria, invented complex and diverse lifestyles, rearranged the planet's crust to produce patches of oxides (rusted earth) and pure streams of metals we mine today, including copper and uranium. They created an entirely new atmosphere from their waste gases, especially oxygen and created huge continental shelf formations. By evolving ways to exchange DNA information among themselves around the world, we can rightly say they invented the first worldwide web of information exchange. The importance this astoundingly flexible gene pool, which exists to this day, cannot be underestimated. It is still as active as in Archean times and is related, for example, to rapid bacterial resistance to our antibiotics.

Information exchange gave bacteria close relationships that facilitated both competition and cooperation in communal living. We have known of their communal lives for some time, but only now are we able to investigate their amazing urban complexes in real detail and understand how surprisingly like our own their history was.

In what seems to us the almost unthinkably ancient past, the first half of Earth's four and a half billion year life, when bacteria still had the world to themselves, they not only discovered the advantages of communal living but even evolved sophisticated cityscapes. We can see their huge urban complexes today as slimy films -- in wetlands, in dank closets, in the stomachs of cows, in kitchen drains. Scientists call them biofilms or mucilages, as they look like slimy brown or greenish patches to the unaided eye. Only now can we discover their inner structure and functions with the newest microscopy techniques that magnify them sufficiently without destroying them (for example, confocal scanning laser microscopy).

Looking closely for the first time at intact bacterial microcities, scientists are amazed to see them packed as tightly as our own urban centers, but with a decidedly futuristic look. Towers of spheres and cone- or mushroom-shaped skyscrapers soar 100 to 200 micrometers upward from a base of dense sticky sugars, other big molecules and water, all collectively produced by the bacterial inhabitants. In these cities, different strains of bacteria with different enzymes help each other exploit food supplies that no one strain can break down alone, and all of them together build the city's infrastructure. The cities are laced with intricate channels connecting the buildings to circulate water, nutrients, enzymes, oxygen and recyclable wastes. Their diverse inhabitants live in different microneighborhoods and glide, motor or swim along roadways and canals. The more food is available, the denser the populations become. Researcher Bill Keevil in England, making videos of these cityscapes, says of one, "It looks like Manhattan when you fly over it."

Microbiologist Bill Costerton in Montana observes: "All of a sudden, instead of individual organisms, you have communication, cell cooperation, cell specialization, and a basic circulatory system, as in plants or animals.... It's a big intellectual break." Researchers are coming to see colonial bacteria or even all bacteria now as multicelled creatures despite their separate bodies.

In addition to rearranging Earth's crust, creating an atmosphere, devising urban lifestyles and creating the first worldwide web, bacteria invented other amazing technologies. Some produced polyester, though biodegradable; others harnessed solar energy as photosynthesis, permitting the making of food when it became scarce; still others invented the electric motor for locomotion -- -a disk with flagellum attached, rotating in a magnetic field, complete with ball bearings, not to mention the atomic pile, probably to raise local temperatures. Seeing these startling parallels to human lifestyles and inventions makes us see evolution fractally. In fact, when I fly over human cities, making them appear small, I see them as cells spread over a substrate, or as bacterial colonies.

Some bacterial colonies, as we know, cause infections, diseases and deteriorate our teeth, our buildings and bridges. But most bacterial cooperatives are harmless or indeed cooperative with other creatures, many living inside their guts, as in termites and cows, helping with digestion. They maintain our worldwide habitats by renewing and chemically balancing atmosphere, seas and soils; they work for our health by the billions in our guts and have evolved into the organelles inside our cells.

http://www.ratical.org/LifeWeb/Articles/capetown.html

I know I'm a living system because

2006-12-06T12:46:00.000-08:00

Every culture present and past has, or has had, its worldview or cosmovision. Western science has evolved a cosmovision very different from all other human cultures, though it has become the one most influential in all the world now. Its most obvious divergences from other cosmovisions lie in its seeing life and consciousness only in Earth's biological creatures, and in its narrowing of "reality" to what can be tested and measured scientifically. This excludes from its reality gods, soul, spirit, dream experience, thoughts, feelings, values, passions, enlightenment experiences and many other aspects of consciousness beyond their physiological correlates.

Given that no one, neither scientist nor anyone else, has ever had any experience outside of consciousness, these omissions seem gravely limiting and unrealistic.

Nevertheless, Western science has defined the universe as an array of non-living matter and non-conscious energy -- a universe in which changes over time are due to random or accidental processes that assemble material particles, atoms and molecules into patterns within the constraints of a few physical laws. Thus random events account for life, which is seen as arising from non-life on the surface of one non-living planet, and possibly on others yet undiscovered, evolving by Darwinian random mutations and 'blind' natural selection. The origin of the universe is seen as a Big Bang and its end envisioned as the gradual wearing out of the Big Bang's spreading energy in "heat death" -- the ultimate coldness in which no further change takes place.

I simply "believe"

my e prime moment

2006-12-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

this encounter reminded me about what you were saying in class about the nicest people - until whatever trips them and they become so aweful and weird - you can't even believe it........

why were you yelling? what on earth is going on?

I was NOT YELLING...

i could hear you from the fourth floor waiting for the elevator.......that's pretty far away

i was NOT YELLING, i was trying to find out what was wrong with him (still yelling)
(not a very good method of inquiry but that's not mentioned at the time)

if someone could hear you from four flights away, someone might say you were yelling...
(is that eprime or maybe it's not - anyone?)

there's no need for yelling no matter what....can you please just calm down and try to be a more peaceful person - so we can talk about exactly what is happening?

I AM A PEACEFUL PERSON!
(still yelling and flailing about)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ordinarily I might have yelled (STOP YELLING!!!!!)

you need to stop yelling - I can't talk to you when you're yelling
which only causes more yelling about that there is not any yelling going on
(oblivious to the yelling - what is that?)

≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠

This would be a perfect case for TCM treatment and searching for the root of the illness because I'm pretty sure it is not the actual event that triggers the reaction but something deeper that actually has nothing to do with the situation - and needs to be discovered in partnership - with both the patient and the practitioner working together to find the problem.

Would you say to this person - you need to talk to your doctor about your anger - it may result in an illness that could suprise you. Or how would you say this in an eprime way? How will the doctor know about this if it isn't called to his or her attention and the patient is unaware or in denial that there is a problem deep within? It will probably manifest in another form.

WALK-INS and WANDERERS

2006-12-05T10:06:00.000-08:00

Walk-in is an ancient concept first described in Hinduism whose modern name originated in the Spiritualist faith and was popularised by the related, but not identical New Age movements and beliefs. A walk-in is thought to be a person whose original soul has departed his or her body and been replaced with a new soul.

Walk-ins first appear in Hindu sacred literature. In Hindu belief, each person is comprised of several bodies, including the physical, astral, mental, refined, and so on. The only essence that is not a body, and therefore not tranferrable, is the Atman. So according to this belief system, a walk-in, as described in the book Merging with Siva by Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, can take one or many of these bodies.

WANDERERS

Scott Mandelker wrote a book called From Elsewhere describing the feeling of being from another planet who has wandered here at this time in Earth's planetary transition.

Wanderers are thought of as souls connected to another place, planet, or realm, who have come here on a mission, after which they will return home. That is true of all souls in this experiement, though Wanderers often to feel disassociated. They do not always remember what their mission is, as the 'mission feeling' is present in the DNA codes of all humans.

Sometimes Wanderers believe they have come here to prepare humanity for coming changes - perhaps a visit from ET's or moving into love and light, etc. All awakened souls ... moving through the healing process into balance and higher consciousness, move into this line of thought. It is not special, and becomes more common in the passages of time.

A wanderer who cannot find their mission will become depressed and can develop fear, panic and anxiety, attracting various negative paranormal experiences. Again ... it is important to determine if the person has a mental illness.

All souls are wanderers to this experiment, experiencing in many realities simultaneously. It will soon end at Zero Point when we leave the physical and return to higher consicounsess as soul sparks of light.

http://www.crystalinks.com/walk_ins.html

happy holidays!

2006-12-05T10:00:00.000-08:00

the third eye

2006-12-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

When I was in mexico I was bitten two different times/days between my eyes/eyebrows which made me wonder what is going on in that "third eye" area that would be so attractive to a mosquito?

http://www.crystalinks.com/thirdeyepineal.html

Third Eye - Pineal Gland

The pineal gland was the last endocrine gland to have its function discovered. Its location deep in the brain seemed to indicate its importance. This combination led to its being a "mystery" gland with myth, superstition and even metaphysical theories surrounding its perceived function.

The pineal gland is occasionally associated with the sixth chakra (also called Ajna or the third eye chakra in yoga). It is believed by some to be a dormant organ that can be awakened to enable "telepathic" communication.

In the physical body the eye views objects upside down. It sends the image of what it observes to the brain which interprets the image and makes it appear right side-up to us.

But the human body has another physical eye whose function has long been recognized by humanity. It is called the 'Third Eye' which in reality is the Pineal Gland. It is long thought to have mystical powers. Many consider it the Spiritual Third Eye, our Inner Vision.

It is located in the geometric center of the brain. This correlates to the location of the Great Pyramid in the center of the physical planet.

The Pineal Gland is about the size of a pea, and is in the center of the brain in a tiny cave behind and above the pituitary gland which lies a little behind the root of the nose. It is located directly behind the eyes, attached to the third ventricle.

The true function of this mysterious gland has long been contemplated by philosophers and Spiritual Adepts. Ancient Greeks believed the pineal gland to be our connection to the Realms of Thought.

Rene Descartes called it the Seat of the Soul, believing it is unique in the anatomy of the human brain in being a structure not duplicated on the right and left sides. This observation is not true, however; under a microscope one finds the pineal gland is divided into two fine hemispheres.

This gland is activated by Light, and it controls the various biorhythms of the body. It works in harmony with the hypothalamus gland which directs the body's thirst, hunger, sexual desire and the biological clock that determines our aging process.

When the pineal gland awakens one feels a pressure at the base of the brain. This pressure will often be experienced when connecting to higher frequency. A head injury can also activate the Third Eye - Pineal Gland.

While the physiological function of the pineal gland has been unknown until recent times, mystical traditions and esoteric schools have long known this area in the middle of the brain to be the connecting link between the physical and spiritual worlds. Considered the most powerful and highest source of ethereal energy available to humans, the pineal gland has always been important in initiating supernatural powers. Development of psychic talents has been closely associated with this organ of higher vision.

The third eye can see beyond the physical

as is looks out through the chakrasystem
when we meditate or look for answers from higher frequencies.

The pineal gland contains a complete map of the visual field of the eyes

and it plays several significant roles in human functioning.

There is a pathway from the retinas to the hypothalamus called the retinohypothalamic tract. It brings information about light and dark cycles to a region of the hypothalamus called the suprachiasmatic nucleus(SCN). From the SCN, nerve impulses travel via the pineal nerve (sympathetic nervous system) to the pineal gland. These impulses inhibit the production of melatonin. When these impulses stop (at night, when light no longer stimulates the hypothalamus), pineal inhibition ceases and melatonin is released. The pineal gland is therefore a photosensitive organ and an important timekeeper for the human body.

Retinal research done with hamsters demonstrates another center for melatonin production. Located in the retina, this center implies that the eyes have their own built in circadian timepiece. This retinal system is distinct from the brains body clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Biologists found that they could throw the retinal rhythms out of sync with other circadian cycles. They also found that they could set and reset the retinal clock even when the SCN was destroyed.

The retinal clock produces (stimulates the production of?) melatonin. Researchers are now looking for the exact location (s) of this clock in the human eye (and expect to find it). No one yet knows what the separate clock is for or how it relates to the SCN.

In some lower vertebrates the Epiphysis Cerebri - Pineal Gland - has a well-developed eye-like structure; in others though not organized as an eye, if functions as a light receptor. In lower vertebrates, the pineal gland has an eye like structure and it functions as a light receptor and is considered by some to be the evolutionary forerunner of the modern eye.

The gland weighs little more than 0.1 gram. The gland is large in children and begins to shrink with the onset of puberty. It appears to play a major role in sexual development, hibernation in animals, metabolism, and seasonal breeding. In humans it affects circadian rhythms, sleep patterns (melatonin levels increase at night), and is implicated in seasonal affective disorder. The abundant melatonin levels in children is believed to inhibit sexual development. When puberty arrives, melatonin production is reduced.

The pineal gland secretes melanin during times of relaxation and visualization. As we are created by electromagnetic energy - and react to EM energy stimuli around us - so does the pineal gland.

When activated, the pineal gland becomes the line of communication with the higher planes. The crown chakra reaches down until its vortex touches the pineal gland. Prana, or pure energy, is received through this energy center in the head. With Practice the vibration level of the astral body is raised, allowing it to separate from the physical.

To activate the 'third eye' and perceive higher dimensions, the pineal gland and the pituitary body must vibrate in unison, which is achieved through meditation and/or relaxation. When a correct relationship is established between personality, operating through the pituitary body, and the soul, operating through the pineal gland, a magnetic field is created. The negative and positive forces interact and become strong enough to create the 'light in the head.' With this 'light in the head' activated, astral projectors can withdraw themselves from the body, carrying the light with them.

Astral travel, and other occult abilities, are closely associated with the development of the 'light in the head'. After physical relaxation, concentration upon the pineal gland is achieved by staring at a point in the middle of the forehead. Without straining the muscles of the eye, this will activate the pineal gland and the 'third eye'. Beginning with the withdrawal of the senses and the physical consciousness, the consciousness is centered in the region of the pineal gland. The perceptive faculty and the point of realization are centralized in the area between the middle of the forehead and the pineal gland. The trick is to visualize, very intently, the subtle body escaping through the trap door of the brain. A popping sound may occur at the time separation of the astral body in the area of the pineal gland.

Visualization exercises are the first step in directing the energies in our inner systems to activate the 'third eye'. The magnetic field is created around the pineal gland, by focusing the mind on the midway point between the pineal gland and the pituitary body. The creative imagination visualizes something, and the thought energy of the mind gives life and direction to this form.

'Third eye' development, imagination, and visualization are important ingredients in many methods to separate from the physical form. Intuition is also achieved through 'third eye' development. Knowledge and memory of the astral plane are not registered in full waking consciousness until the intuition becomes strong enough. Flashes of intuition come with increasing consistency as the 'third eye' as activated to a greater degree, through practice.

The pineal gland corresponds with divine thought after being touched by the vibrating light of Kundalini. Kundalini starts its ascent towards the head center after responding to the vibrations from the 'light in the head.' The light is located at the top of the sutratma, or 'soul thread', which passes down from the highest plane of our being into the physical vehicle.

The 'third eye,' or 'eye of Siva,' the organ of spiritual vision, is intimately related to karma, as we become more spiritual in the natural course of evolution.

As human beings continue to evolve further out of matter, on the journey from spirit to matter back to spirit, the pineal gland will continue to rise from its state of age-long dormancy, bringing back to humanity astral capacities and spiritual abilities.

At certain brainwave frequencies, a sense of ego boundary vanishes. In the theta state, we are resting deeply and still conscious, at the threshold of drifting away from or back into conscious awareness. As the brain enters deeper states, our consciousness is less concerned with the physical state, our 'third eye' is active, and separation becomes natural. Many native traditions and mystical practices refer to the ability of 'seeing,' or being aware of energy fields at higher levels. This abstract awareness is much more subjective and does not involve the normal level of mundane consciousness, which is mostly concerned with self-identity. This 'seeing' refers to the sight of the 'third eye'.

Consciousness is raised from an emotional nature into an illumined awareness when the pineal gland is lifted from dormancy. If the pineal gland is not yet fully developed, it will be in the course of evolution. When our sense of ego and personality are set aside and we keep our mental energy intact, we can become conscious of the non-physical, our inner self, the subconscious, through different practices to activate the 'light in the head.'

The symbol of the All-Seeing-Eye has always been part of Earth's creational mythologies and mysteries.
As all of reality is a metaphor - there are many connected to the symbol of the eye.

BRAIN AND MEDITATION

REPTILIAN BRAIN

BRAIN INDEX

PSYCHIC AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT INDEX

ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ALL FILES

CRYSTALINKS MAIN PAGE

fractals

2006-11-18T22:59:00.000-08:00

be the change

somehow I happened upon this page while enjoying my spicy string beans:
http://www.bethechange.org.uk/

herbal boiling machine

2006-11-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

David - this is for you - please reveal the sky version secret to concocting the herbals.

The herbal medicine electric boiling machine is for sales by order at US 99 plus corrier service (charge transport). The boiler will stop boiling when the water inside goes down to about 200 ml. You start boiling the herbs with about 1,250 ml. of water. Then it will keep warm until you switch off the electric.

http://geocities.com/mastertole/

THE COURSE (Acupuncture Herbal Medicine)

THE TOLE Institute has been conducting complete courses of acupuncture and herbal medicine in English and have offered Internationally in Malaysia.

The Institute is being equiped with the most modern equipments, such as computer, channel detector, electro stimulator.

THE TOLE Institute of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine is located at The Specialist Centre in Menara Promet, at the Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur (Opposite K.L. Wisma Genting).

After Completion of assessment The Quilified acupuncturist will be able to handle more than 100's of different types of diseases, and will see in practise how Master treats all the uncureble diseases like diabetic, Slipped Disc, allzheimeirs etc,etc.

The top chinese acupuncture course and chinese herbal medicine in malaysia available for training acupuncture course chinese herbal medicine. Only for those who realy wants to cure patients and with a good heart.

Acupuncture Course- THE INSTITUTE

Acupuncture Course Programme - THE TOLE INSTITUTE has set programmes to promote development of acupuncture and herbal medicine. In order to achieve a high standard of practice, we have special courses designed for Chinese physicians, Acupuncture Practisional and students in kuala lumpur, malaysia.

Our centre has been officiated by Health Minister Y.A.B. Dato' Lee Kim Sai at the opening ceremony on 31st January 1993 (inpractise 145 years). Master Leong intended to share his forefather's expertise by conducting a formal training institute for those who interested to learn acupuncture skills and have a GOOD HEART.

http://geocities.com/mastertole/

Analysis of the Crisis and its Solution

2006-11-15T22:37:00.000-08:00

The planetary crisis exists because the dominant species (homo sapiens) is operating by artificial (mechanistic), irregular and erroneous timing standards about which it is unconscious. Operating unconsciously by these deviant timing standards, which it understands as “normal” and second nature, results in aberrant forms of species-wide behavior. This behavior causes an increasing dependence upon artificial factors that remove the species from the natural order (biosphere) through the creation of institutions and mental states that devalue natural intelligence while irrevocably consuming resources that produce forms of pollution that are intrinsically unmanageable. This is what is referred to as a biosphere-threatening disorder.

http://www.lawoftime.org/GRI/noosphere-two/engineering.html

Christian Science - Christian or Cult?*

2006-11-15T22:23:00.000-08:00

Healing became a major distinctive of Christian Science.

According to Eddy Baker, the central fact of the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power. The spiritual superiority is evident in other ways than healing. Telepathy is practiced in Christian Science treatment, and may be considered a form of psychic healing.

Christian Science claims to prove through the healing of disease and other difficulties that the understanding of God and his spiritual creation is as effective now as it was in Jesus' time. Its adherents, therefore, rely on "divine law" in times of sickness instead of resorting to medical and other material means. Christian Scientists do not use doctors, medicine, or immunizations.

Christian Science Practitioners are used to " help people through the false reality of illness." Instead, proper prayer and training are employed to battle the "non-reality" of illness.

http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Cults/science.htm

Swami Vivekananda said:

2006-11-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

"Religion deals with the truths of the metaphysical world, just as chemistry and the other natural sciences deal with the truth of the physical world. The book one must read to learn chemistry is the book of (external) nature. The book from which to learn religion is your own mind and heart. The sage is often ignorant of physical science, because he reads the wrong book - the book within and the scientist is too often is ignorant of religion, because he, too, reads the wrong book - the book without".

nice!

Micro-waved Water

2006-11-15T10:38:00.000-08:00

See What it does to Plants!

Our thanks to Marshall Dudley of Knoxville, TN for sharing his grand daughter, Arielle Reynolds’ experiment with us. Both Arielle’s mother, Christina, and Grandpa Have much to be proud of. Congratulations, Arielle, well done!

Below is a sience fair project that my granddaughter did for 2006. In it she took filered water and divided it into two parts. The first part she heated to boiling in a pan on the stove, and the second part she heated to boiling in a microwave. Then after cooling she used the water to water two identical plants to see if there would be any difference in the growth between the normal boiled water and the water boiled in a microwave. She was thinking that the structure or energy of the water may be compromised by microwave. As it turned out, even she was amazed at the difference.

The plants were genetically identical, they were produced from grafts from the same parent plant, so that variable can be eliminated.

One week old "clippings" Although both clippings are alive the Microwave water one is wilted and unhealthy, while the purified one is pecky and healthy

Here's a simple test I just read about which coincides with Walt's comments: Plant some seeds in 2 pots. Water one with the cooled water that was microwaved and one that's from the tap. The seeds watered from the microwaved water will not sprout. I tried this comparing microwaved water as compared to conventional heating and it's true - the microwaved water prevented the seeds from growing! There is something to this. After having used a microwave for 15 years religiously, I finally stopped 2 1/2 years ago after doing some research. There is a wealth of info on the net about how microwaved food is chemically altered, etc. I just figured why not err on the side of caution and use other means of cooking. I use a flashbake oven which uses halogen light technology. The seeds sprouted when using water from this oven.

- Posted by Gregory

Sounds

2006-11-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

Space has only one property. It is called sound.

Sounds – Seven Original (Musical) Notes

Sound inheres like the Supreme Being in all space though attached especially to drums and other instruments. Whatever sound is heard from drums small and large, and conchs, and clouds, and cars, and animate and inanimate creatures, are all included in these seven kinds of sound already enumerated. Thus, sound, which is the property of space, is of various kinds. The learned have said sound to be born of space. When raised by the different kinds of touch, which is the property of the wind, it may be heard. It cannot, however, be heard, when the different kinds of touch are inceptive. The elements, mingling with their counterparts in the body, increase and grow. Water, fire, wind are always awake in the bodies of living creatures. They are the roots of the body.

The Destructive Effects of Rock Music

From The Secret Life of Plants
by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird

Mrs. Rattallack ran a series of trials with sweet corn, squash, petunias, zinnias and marigolds. Under controlled experiments, playing of rock music caused some of the plants at first to grow either abnormally tall and put out excessively small leaves, or remain stunted. Within a fortnight all the marigolds had died, but only six feet away identical marigolds, enjoying the classical strains by Hayden, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert etc., were flowering. More interestingly, Mrs Rattallack found that, even during the first week, the rock music-stimulated plants were using much more water than classically entertained vegetation. Despite this an examination of the roots on the eighteenth day revealed that soil growth was sparse in the well watered group, averaging only about an inch, whereas in the second, it was thick, tangled and about four times as long.

Acid Rock Music

Further experiments in which Mrs. Rattallack submitted her plants to Acid Rock Music, a particularly raucous and percussive type of music that subordinates harmony to volume and tempo, revealed that all the plants leaned away from this cacophony. When she rotated all the pots 180 degrees, the plants leaned decidedly in the opposite direction. The plants were definitely reacting to the sounds of rock music. Mrs.Retallack guessed that it might be the percussive component in the music that so jarred her plants and she therefore started yet another experiment. Selecting the familiar Spanish tune, ‘La Paloma’ she played one version of it played on steel drums to one chamber of plants and another version played on strings to a second. The percussion caused a lean of ten degrees away from the vertical, which was very little in comparison with the rock; but the plants listening to the fiddles leaned fifteen degrees towards the source of the music. At eighteen day repeat of the same experiment using twenty five plants per chamber including squash from seed, and flowering and leafy type plants from green houses, produced largely similar results.

http://www.hinduism.co.za/trees.htm#Sounds%20%E2%80%93%20Seven%20Original%20(Musical)%20Notes

trees have vision

2006-11-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

Trees Have Life

From the Mahabharata
Santi Parva, Section CLXXXIV
Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Gaguli

Bhardwaja said: When the high-souled Brahman has created thousands of creatures, why is it that only these five elements which he created first, which pervade all the universe and which are great creatures, have come to have the name of creatures applied to them exclusively?

Brigu said: All things that belong to the category of the Infinite or the Vast receive the appellation of 'Great'. It is for this reason that these five elements have come to be called Great Creatures. Activity is wind. The sound that is heard is space. The heat that is within it is fire. The liquid juices occurring in it are water. The solidified matter, viz., flesh and bones, are earth. The bodies (of living creatures) are thus made of the five (primeval) elements. The five senses also of living creatures partake of the five elements. The ear partakes of the properties of space, the nose of earth the tongue of water touch of wind and the eyes of light (of fire).

Bharadwaj said: If all mobile and immobile objects be composed of these five elements, why is it that in all immobile objects those elements are not visible? Trees do not appear to have any heat. They do not seem to have any motion. They are again made up of dense particles. The five elements are not noticed in them. Trees do not hear, they do not see, they are not capable of perceptions of scent and taste. They have not also the perception of touch. How then can they be regarded as composed of the five (primeval) elements? It seems to me that in consequence of the absence of any liquid material in them, of any heat, of any earth, of any wind, and of any empty space, trees cannot be regarded as compounds of the five (primeval) elements.

Brigu said: Without doubt, though possessed of density, trees have space within them. The putting forth of flowers and fruits is always taking place in them. They have heat within them in consequence of which leaf, bark, fruit and flower, are seen to droop. They sicken and dry up. That shows they have perception of touch. Through sound of wind and fire and thunder, their fruits and flowers drop down. Sound is perceived through the ear. Trees have, therefore, ears and do hear. A creeper winds round a tree and goes about all its sides. A blind thing cannot find its way. For this reason it is evident that trees have vision. Then again trees recover vigour and put forth flowers in consequence of odours, good and bad, of the sacred perfume of diverse kinds of Dhupas (incense). It is plain that trees have scent.

They drink water by their roots. They catch diseases of diverse kinds. Those diseases again are cured by different operations. From this it is evident that trees have perceptions of taste. As one can suck up water through a bent lotus-stalk, trees also, with the aid of the wind, drink through their roots. They are susceptible to pleasure and pain, and grow when cut or lopped off. From these circumstances I see that trees have life. They are not inanimate. Fire and wind cause the water thus sucked up to be digested. According, again, to the quantity of the water taken up, the tree advances in growth and becomes humid.

http://www.hinduism.co.za/trees.htm#Sounds%20%E2%80%93%20Seven%20Original%20(Musical)%20Notes

life on mars

2006-11-15T09:52:00.000-08:00

3) System collapses at equilibrium

this makes me wonder - if we are balanced - will it all be over?
(similar to there being no life on Mars)

Distinguishing Features of Time's Arrow

Reversible Process	Irreversible Process
1) Time is not an important element	1) Time plays a central role
2) Stability and order are vital	2) Instability and order are vital
3) System attains perfection at equilibrium	3) System collapses at equilibrium
4) Reversible system is a closed system	4) Irreversible system is an open system
5) Reversible process is static	5) Irreversible process is dynamic
6) Reversible process is cyclic and repetitive	6) Irreversible process is non-cyclic and non-repetitive
7) Small inputs would give small outputs huge inputs would give huge outputs	7) Small inputs of change would bring about huge out puts of change.

order and chaos

2006-11-15T09:49:00.000-08:00

Psychological Arrow of Time

It is difficult to talk about the psychological arrow of time, because human brain is quite complicated and so far we have not understood its functions thoroughly and totally. However, some portions of thinking is understood in the light of functioning of human memory. The human memory recollects and stores past information but cannot remember the future. The past events are recorded in the mind but not the future ones. This is because of the time's directionality. The constraints imposed on the memory forbids us to peep into the future. It is time's arrow which permits memory to act in this particular way only. The computers are analogously built on the functioning of human memory. Memory is said to be remained in the chaotic form so far as it is unused but becomes orderly when it is put to use. This particular process is related with the nature of knowledge, so more will be said while considering the epistemological dimension of time's arrow.

arrow of time

2006-11-15T09:43:00.000-08:00

In short, in the reversible process all relevant parts of the universe must be capable of being put back to how they were!

Time is not so considered to be an important ingredient in this system.

The entire Newtonian Science is of this sort.

Newton's laws, Maxwell's equations, Einstein's general relativity and even quantum mechanics- all remain effectively unaltered if we reverse the direction of time.

energy

2006-11-14T21:03:00.000-08:00

In physics, the basic idea of energy is the capacity of a physical system to do "work." In physics, "work" is defined as the product of a force times the distance through which that force acts. "Energy" is a term to express the power to move things, either potential or actual. New Age spiritualism is all about empowerment. The New Age is about enhancing your energy, tapping into the energy of the universe, manipulating energy so that you can be happy, fulfilled, successful, and lovable, so life can be meaningful, significant, and endless. In short, the New Age is about becoming like God, an omnipotent, eternal being capable of magic, having the power to move things at will.

Of course, New Age energy has nothing to do with mechanics, electricity, or the nuclei of atoms. New Age energy has more to do with things like chi or prana. New Age Energy isn't measurable by any known scientific instrument and is believed to be not only the source of life, but of health as well. There are no ergs, joules, electron-volts, calories, or foot-pounds of New Age energy. This energy is outside the bounds of scientific control or study. Only healers with special powers at "unblocking," "harmonizing," "unifying," "tuning," aligning," "balancing," "channeling," or otherwise manipulating New Age energy, can measure this energy. How? They measure it by feeling it. Energy medicines are based upon variants of the metaphysical theory known as vitalism, a theory that has been dead in the West for over a century. New Age quackery often maintains that the older a theory is the more one should have faith in it.

Few things are more intimidating to the non-scientist than modern physics. Even an educated person has difficulty comprehending the most basic claims made about the entities and possible entities of the sub-atomic world, not to mention the exotic claims about entities and possible entities at the edges of the universe. Even the concepts of "sub-atomic" and "edge of the universe" boggle the mind. Perhaps it is because of the obscurity and inaccessibility of modern physics that many uneducated people scoff at science and find solace in fundamentalist religious interpretations of the origin and nature of the universe.

Another response to the seemingly transcendental nature of concepts in modern physics has been to interpret those concepts in terms of ancient metaphysical doctrines popular for thousands of years in exotic places (to the Western mind) such as India and China. This notion of a "harmony" between ancient metaphysics and modern physics is attractive to those who accept science and reject the Christian sects they were raised in, but still have spiritual longings. Believing in this notion of "harmony" between the ancient East and the modern West has the virtue of allowing one to avoid appearing to be an imbecile who rejects science in order to accept religion. As such, it shares in common at least once trait with "scientific creationism": it re-creates science in its own image for its own purposes. Science is the handmaiden of Religion and Metaphysics, as Philosophy had been for Theology in the Middle Ages.

Acting much like nuclear accelerators on atoms, the New Age theorists smash concepts into bits, only the bits are interfered with in ways Heisenberg never foresaw. We may as well talk about "alternative" physics; for, what they have done to the concepts of modern physics is to refashion them into a metaphysics with its own technology and product line. Nothing demonstrates this more clearly than the New Age conception of "energy."

In conclusion, 9-year old Emily Rosa tested 21 therapeutic touch (TT) practitioners to see if they could feel her life energy when they could not see its source. The test was very simple and seems to clearly indicate that the subjects could not detect the life energy of the little girl’s hands when placed near theirs. They had a 50% chance of being right in each test, yet they correctly located Emily's hand only 44% of the time in 280 trials. If they can’t detect the energy, how can they manipulate or transfer it? What are they detecting? Dr. Dolores Krieger, one of the creators of TT, has been offered $1,000,000 by James Randi to demonstrate that she, or anyone else for that matter, can detect the human energy field. So far, Dr. Krieger has not been tested.

See also magical thinking and the New Age page of links.

2012 - the movie!

2006-11-09T01:53:00.000-08:00

http://www.2012theodyssey.com/Trailer.html

Mayan Tzolkin 13 Moon Calendar

2006-11-09T01:05:00.000-08:00

We are now at the end of the Dreamspell of history and at the beginning of the Dreamspell of galactic culture. This means that we are coming to the end of the belief in the male dominant, warrior hero, fear and separation paradigm. And we are preparing to move into the love based, artist hero paradigm of natural time. All we have to do is change our view of time and open ourselves to the love that is inherent in us all.

There have been many dire predictions about this time in the history of the Earth. Most common is the prediction of the end of the world. This is a misconception. It is meant to be the end of Time. An end to the old, limiting, arbitrarily imposed, artificial time, the time of the male dominant, warrior hero, separation and fear based paradigm. This paradigm is held in place by the use of the 12 month calendar and the 60 minute hour, which we refer to as 12:60 time.

The end of artificial 12:60 time signals the beginning of the return to natural time, a time in harmony with the Earth and with the natural cycles coded into the human female biological cycle, the cycle of 13 moons and 28 days. It holds within it the potential to reinstate a balanced, positive, artist hero, love and unity based paradigm. The purpose of this calendar is to make available these codes of natural time.

Time is both spiritual and physical simultaneously. This is why it is the 4th dimension. It serves to bridge between the physical and spiritual because it operates within both.

This is a monumental time in the history of the Earth. We have the opportunity to shift one of our core beliefs, the belief in time as linear. It is the 12 month calendar that holds in place the belief in the past, present and future. Time is a cycle, not a line. Each time the cycle turns we have the opportunity to make our lives better.

Yes, this is the end of time. It is also the end of the world as we know it. But, that does not mean destruction. It simply means that we are preparing to birth a new world in which we can live and love in peace, harmony and goodwill for all.

http://home.earthlink.net/~cosmichand/dreamspell.story.html

find your galactic number:

http://dreamspellportal.net/portal/findkin/index.php

2006-11-09T00:38:00.000-08:00

what do you think about this?

How does the E Crystal work?
This technology simply accesses and amplifies the abundance of life supporting information all around us, but that is unfortunately found at very low levels. When amplified, this E technology cocoons us with a personal environment of ordered information that brings order to any chaos information entering from without or within. This could be compared to darkness coming into light. The two cannot co-exist. This is done by gateway technology in the quantum physics arena. This allows access to existing natural information without man having to intervene and program specific information into the stones. By eliminating man's intervention, we receive consistency of result available only from our Creator. If Chaos is not ordered, it drains our energy at the DNA or cellular level. This chaos source includes but is not limited to cell phones, computers, microwave, electrical wiring and lighting, negative thoughts, both others and our own. When ordered, the free radical nature of chaos appears to be removed, therefore allowing the body to process this information without fear of damage or loss of energy. The resulting absence of energy loss, combined with the energy resources provided by the E technology, make for an abundance of vitality missing in many people's lives. Dr. Paul Yanick, Jr., Ph.D., ND, CNC states, "This technology creates quantum coherence between bio-photons, DNA intelligence. It actually creates a reduction in oxidative stress. EMFs have no effect. The body reorganizes itself. The body is able to prioritize."

What is the E Crystal�s protection radius?
The E Crystal has a field about six feet in diameter, with a stronger inner three-foot diameter field. Placing the E Crystal directly on an appliance protects any who may come near. Placing the E Crystal in your pocket offers round the clock personal environmental protection. A shirt pocket is recommended if extended cell phone use is common, although you may place the E Crystal in the pants pocket instead with excellent results. The Bovis level, or bio photon activating potential, of the E technology is close to 3.3 million.

What is the E Crystal made of?
The clear E Crystal is a silicon dioxide base with a field that remains constant. It does not need to be cleared or cleaned. It does not lose the gateway unless the E Crystal is broken. It is not adversely affected by X-ray or microwave at any strength.

do you "believe"?
http://www.advancedliving.com/ecrystalfaqs.ivnu

The Galactic Research Institute

2006-11-09T00:09:00.000-08:00

We live in a time when separatist nation-centered approaches and corporate self-interest not only cannot solve but actually impede the solutions to the global problems and challenges that now face us. We are in need of a higher perspective. The human lens has to be enlarged. The intensity of the global situation is pushing us into cosmic consciousness. This is the next stage of our evolution. The basis of cosmic consciousness is rooted, first of all, in the perception of the galaxy as the whole order organizing principle of cosmic life.

The Galactic Research Institute (GRI) of the Foundation for the Law of Time is dedicated to exploring this perception through the interdisciplinary study and investigation of the nature of the galaxy, galactic consciousness, galactic culture, science and communication, and galactic citizenship and the future of Earth. No such research facility exists today on this planet. The need for it could not be greater.

Galactic citizenship and the Future of Earth

2006-11-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Coming Soon: Full review and Summary of the Second Planetary Congress of Biospheric Rights
...............

In the broad vision of this Second Planetary Congress of Biospheric Rights, the Earth is now in a state of hyperextended emergency. This whole system crisis defines a contextual environment referred to as the biosphere-noosphere transition. The critical deadline for facing reality and joining forces with the inevitable processes of transformation is 2012. For this reason, the Congress plans to implement an overall plan, The Thirteen Moon Operation Earth Rescue - Mission 2012. There are only six years until the deadline. It is up to us to put in motion an action peace plan, and convene our own systems of governance, asserting our biospheric rights in accord with the biosphere-noosphere transition which is now rapidly underway. >>Continue>>

http://www.lawoftime.org

The Quantum Awakening

2006-11-08T23:39:00.000-08:00

Everything on earth is defined by a numerical configuration. All life can be reduced and explained by numbers. The currents of these numerical sequences bring into alignment a series of new understandings that will help to adjust and balance every human. The numbers on all levels align the body so it will be able to handle the higher definitions of photon light that is making its self known. Each number infusion is personalized to fit the needs of each individual. Allowing them the necessary ratio of light particles to numerical particles. As the brain adjusts to these new energies a lifting occurs allowing the individual to exit the human/animal ratio and be lifted into the human/light equation

Numbers and humans go hand in hand. From the beginning of time known we have been defined by a numerical equation whether age, birth date, weight, or the numbers of camels we have in out dowry, numbers have always seemed to be our silent partners. Nowadays when a child is born the fist thing they are given is a number that will follow them for the rest of their lives until death at which time they will be given a new number to define them. The numbers on our clocks tell us when to go, when to stop when to drink coffee, when to sleep. Numbers are as much a part of us as our flesh. The numbers are optical downloading....the eyes are an extension of the brain and when the eyes see these numbers and encoding is activated in the brain, stop worrying and just enjoy it.

http://www.thequantumawakening.com

do you believe this fairy tail? see link below:

2006-11-08T23:25:00.000-08:00

http://www.n2012.com/n2012/lightweave_writings/Galactic_Fairy_Tale.htm

2006-11-08T22:59:00.000-08:00

The time/science of the Mayan Civilization seems to be on track. They say that by 2012 we will have moved through the 4th dimension into the 5th, regained our 12 strands of DNA (via "re-programming from the Supreme Intelligence" at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way), moved beyond duality (positive & negative) to pure light.

Thought forms are very important and affect our everyday life. We create our reality with thought forms. If we think negative thoughts of others this is what we attract. If we think positive thoughts we will attract positive people and events. So be aware of your thoughts and eliminate the unnecessary negative or judgmental ones.

http://www.2012.com.au/Site.A.html

WHEN WILL IT ALL END?

2006-11-08T22:53:00.000-08:00

The Mayans were highly civilised people with extraordinary skills in astronomy and mathematics. Yet, if you ask people what do they know about them, most people would answer ‘aren’t they the ones that said the world will end in 2012?‘

Sadly, that’s all most people know about them and it is a shame, for these highly civilised people invented the concept of ‘zero’ and they had names for numbers so large that we today don’t even have names for them.
The world will not end in 2012, only one of the cycles of time chartered by the Maya.

For they took notice not only of time here on earth, but they believed we were affected by galactic seasons as well.

We all accept that the solar system has a timetable and the planets all move predictably in a certain pattern. The Maya believed that beyond that were cycles of movement involving our whole galaxy as it speeds through our universe.

The count that ends in 2012, is a count that charts a galactic season over 5,000 years long. They saw the Planet Earth as being affected by this season and they believed we were going through a ‘beam’ where the centre of the universe ‘Hunab Ku’ was emitting a transmission via our sun.

This ‘transmission’ ends 2012.

The Hunab Ku symbol.

The end date is not agreed by leading experts because no one is exactly sure of when the calendar began. Some say it was Aug 11. 3,114 B.C and some say it was Aug 13. 3,114 B.C. This problem arose because of trying to translate the Mayan calendar to our calendar which changed along the way from
Julian to Gregorian. Therefore the great cycle of 5,125 years either ends Dec 21st 2012 or Dec 23rd 2012.

When they began this cycle of time back in August 3,114 B.C they wrote it like this : 13.0.0.0.0

In 2012, the date is again written 13.0.0.0.0 symbolising the end of the great cycle.

Furthermore leading expert Jose Arguelles suggest that the end date is more likely to be 2013.
This seems logical because the Mayan Calendar is based on the numbers 20 and 13 .

What the outcome will be is disputed but it is anticipated that there will be definite changes.The world will not end but our perception of the world will end and become something different. With world events being as dramatic as they are now it is not hard to imagine that in 2012 something big could happen.

The classical Maya period was between 300 A.D. and 800 A.D and during this time they built their impressive temples and pyramids and were charting solstices and calculating great numbers. Then they disappeared. No one knows for sure what happened to them. Some believe it was a natural disaster such as a drought that killed them all off. Some believe it was political upheaval and they all met a bloody end. Some believe they simply ‘beamed up’ en masse.

They were certainly a mysterious race and the calendar that is their legacy is the greatest mystery of all.
All we can do why we wait and see it through
to the end is to follow the calendar daily and hope it reveals their secrets.

In this section we take a look at 2012 prophecies including Jose Arguelles.

We also look at Nostradamus whose 2012 prophecy is uncanny.

The Celestine Prophecy also deserves a mention here because the 9 insights mentioned in the
story were supposedly written by the Maya.

The Hopi have their own vision of the future which is fascinating.

Terence McKenna came to his on conclusion about the great end date using a computer program and the i Ching.

In 2012 Miscellenous you can find out about all the other 2012 prophecies.

http://www.mayantimes.com

asymmetrical behavior

2006-11-08T22:28:00.000-08:00

The Universe contains matter but very little antimatter. It is thought likely that in the first moments after the big bang there were equal amounts of matter and antimatter produced.

[What happened to the antimatter?]

If they had stayed equal, then the Universe today would be very uninteresting because all the matter and antimatter would have disappeared by the process:

matter + matching antimatterradiation

so no galaxies, no stars, no planets, and no people would be around today!

http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/vvc/experiments/babar.html

FRACTAL CHAOS

2006-11-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

As Above, So Below

We are born and die, we wake up and fall asleep, the sun rises and sets, we breathe in and out. There are basic patterns and structure to time and space that provide a unifying coherence. As the mystic sages of long ago put it, "as above, so below."
http://www.fractalwisdom.com/FractalWisdom/index.html

order and chaos

2006-11-08T16:28:00.000-08:00

Chaos is all around us and within us. Chaos destroys and creates. Chaos is the spontaneous, unpredictable movement of the universe. Chaos is change, the only constant. As the essence of unpredictability, chaos scares many. Scientists, in their ongoing quest to rationalize, understand and Order the universe, have been reluctant for centuries to acknowledge the tides of Chaos. In this century they are finally doing so; the funny thing about this being that by acknowledging and trying to understand chaos, they are inadvertantly ordering it, fitting chaotic phenomena into their systems of analysis. And yet, is there not some kind of undefinable order inherent within the chaos of the universe anyway? And is not all order, no matter how scrupulously organized, still ultimately subject to the winds of change and the tides of chaos?

http://www.crossroads.wild.net.au/order.htm

2006-11-07T10:11:00.000-08:00

Energy Research Corp. has developed a product they believe can effect (heal), even to the cellular level, with no physical contact. It is based on quantum energy. The results of their beta test with 600 volunteers over 8 months is astonishing.

Understanding a Secret of the Universe

Below are three astonishing experiments with DNA which proves that DNA can heal itself according to the "feelings" of the individual as reported recently by Gregg Braden. In his recent program entitled Healing Hearts/Healing Nations: The Science of Peace and the Power of Prayer, Gregg Braden discussed how in the past we lost huge amounts of information from ancient spiritual traditions (when the library at Alexandria burned we lost at least 532,000 documents), and that there may be information in those traditions which could help us understand some of the mysteries of science. To this end he reported on three very interesting experiments. Gregg Braden started off as a scientist and engineer, before he began pursuing these larger questions.

EXPERIMENT #1

The first experiment reported was done by Dr.Vladimir Poponin, a quantum biologist. In this experiment, first a container was emptied (i.e. a vacuum was created within it), and then the only thing left photons (particles of light) they measured the distribution (ie the location) of the photons and found they were completely random inside the container. This was the expected result.

Then some DNA was placed inside the container and the distribution (location) of the photons was remeasured. This time the photons were LINED UP in an ORDERED way and aligned with the DNA. In other words the physical DNA had an effect on the non- physical photons.

After that, the DNA was removed from the container, and the distribution of the photons was measured again. The photons REMAINED ORDERED and lined up where the DNA had been. What are the light particles connected to?

Gregg Braden says we are forced to accept the possibility that some NEW field of energy, a web of energy, is there and the DNA is communicating with the photons through this energy.

EXPERIMENT #2

These were experiments done by the military. Leukocytes (white blood cells) were collected for DNA from donors and placed into chambers so they could measure electrical changes. In this experiment, the donor was placed in one room and subjected to "emotional stimulation" consisting of video clips, which generated different emotions in the donor. The DNA was placed in a different room in the same building. Both the donor and his DNA were monitored and as the donor exhibited emotional peaks or valleys (measured by electrical responses), the DNA exhibited the IDENTICAL RESPONSES AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. There was no lag time, no transmission time. The DNA peaks and valleys EXACTLY MATCHED the peaks and valleys of the donor in time.

The military wanted to see how far away they could separate the donor from his DNA and still get this effect. They stopped testing after they separated the DNA and the donor by 50 miles and STILL had the SAME result. No lag time; no transmission time.

The DNA and the donor had the same identical responses in time. What can this mean? Gregg Braden says it means that living cells communicate through a previously unrecognized form of energy. This energy is not affected by time and distance. This is a non- local form of energy, an energy that already exists everywhere, all the time.

EXPERIMENT #3

The third experiment was done by the Institute of Heart Math and the paper that was written about this was titled: Local and Non local Effects of Coherent Heart Frequencies on Conformational Changes of DNA. (Disregard the title! The info is incredible.)

This is the experiment that relates directly to the anthrax situation. In this experiment, some human placenta DNA (the most pristine form of DNA) was placed in a container from which they could measure changes in the DNA. Twenty-eight vials of DNA were given (one each) to 28 trained researchers. Each researcher had been trained how to generate and FEEL feelings, and they each had strong emotions.

What was discovered was that the DNA CHANGED ITS SHAPE according to the feelings of the researchers:
1. When the researchers FELT gratitude, love and appreciation, the DNA responded by RELAXING and the strands unwound. The length of the DNA became longer.

2. When the researchers FELT anger, fear, frustration, or stress, the DNA responded by TIGHTENING UP. It became shorter and SWITCHED OFF many of our DNA codes! If you've ever felt "shut down" by negative emotions, now you know why your body was equally shut down too. The shut down of the DNA codes was reversed and the codes were switched back on again when feelings of love, joy, gratitude and appreciation were felt by the researchers.

This experiment was later followed up by testing HIV positive patients. They discovered that feelings of love, gratitude and appreciation created 300,000 TIMES the RESISTANCE they had without those feelings. So here's the answer to what can help you stay well, no matter what dreadful virus or bacteria may be floating around. Stay in feelings of joy, love, gratitude and appreciation!

These emotional changes went beyond the effects of electro- magnetics. Individuals trained in deep love were able to change the shape of their DNA. Gregg Braden says this illustrates a new recognized form of energy that connects all of creation. This energy appears to be a TIGHTLY WOVEN WEB that connects all matter. Essentially we're able to influence this web of creation through our VIBRATION.

SUMMARY: What do the results of these experiments have to do with our present situation? This is the science behind how we can choose a timeline to stay safe, no matter what else is happening. As Gregg explains in The Isaiah Effect, basically time is not just linear (past, present and future), but it also has depth. The depth of time consists of all the possible prayers and timelines that could ever be prayed or exist. Essentially, all our prayers have already been answered. We just activate the one we're living through our FEELINGS.

THIS is how we create our reality - by choosing it with our feelings. Our feelings are activating the timeline via the web of creation, which connects all of the energy and matter of the Universe.

Remember that the law of the Universe is that we attract what we focus on. If you are focused on fearing whatever may come, you are sending a strong message to the Universe to send you whatever you fear. Instead if you can get yourself into feelings of joy, love, appreciation or gratitude, and focus on bringing more of that into your life, you are going to avoid the negative stuff automatically.

You will be choosing a different TIMELINE with your feelings. You can prevent getting anthrax or any other flu, virus, etc, by staying in these positive feelings, which maintains an incredibly strong immune system. So here's your protection for whatever comes: Find something to be happy about every day, and every hour if possible,moment-to- moment, even if only for a few minutes. This is the easiest and best protection you can have. If nothing else, be joyous that the criminals have "already been caught" by the Universe!

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wabi sabi

2006-11-07T00:22:00.000-08:00

A comparison between modernism and wabi-sabi.

Modernism

Wabi-Sabi

A logical, rational world-view

Absolute

Looks for universal,
prototypical solutions

Mass-produced/ modula

Expresses faith in progres

Future-oriented

Believes in the control of nature

Romanticizes technology

People adapting to machines

Geometric organization of form
(sharp, precise, and edges)

The box as metaphor
(rectilinear, precise, contained)

Artificial materials

Ostensibly slick

Needs to be well-maintained

Is intolerant of ambiguity and contradiction

Everlasting

An intuitive world-view

Relative

Looks for personal,
idiosyncratic solutions

One-of-a-kind/variable

There is no progress

Present-oriented

Believes in the fundamental uncontrollability of nature

Romanticizes nature

People adapting to nature

Organic organization of form
(soft, vague shapes and edges)

The bowl as metaphor
(free shape, open at top)

Natural materials

Ostensibly crude

Accommodates to degradation and attrition

Is comfortable with ambiguity and contradiction

To every thing there is a season

http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/wabisabis_simplicity.php

pretty fun!

2006-11-06T23:36:00.000-08:00

Legal note: this is supposed to be a joke. Don't ever stick a fork (or any other cutlery) in an electric outlet.

What is needed

One cat or a piece of something fuzzy (you don't have to use a cat; a Polarfleece jacket works nicely)
A carpeted floor

What to do

If your cat does not seem to mind being pushed around the floor (NOT by the tail!) get him/her. (Note: please don't do anything that upsets your cat! If the cat objects, STOP!)
Find a carpeted room with room to move the cat around that is also fairly dark.
Turn off the lights and find the cat in the dark.
Slowly begin to push/drag the cat slowly along the carpet on his/her side. What happens?
Try different speeds and see what happens.
If you did not have a cat, try the above steps with your something fuzzy.

What is happening

Cats, and other fuzzy objects, will build up static when drawn across a carpet. You might see sparks flashing between the two! Static forms because of this: when different materials (say, carpet and cat fur) are in contact, one might have a greater liking for electrons than the other. It will then pull electrons away. This means that one material will end up with too many electrons, and the other too little. By moving the cat across the carpet, you increase the area of fur exposed to the carpet, and so you increase the charge transferred until ZAP! Sparks fly!

2006-11-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

The probable medical origin of the single serpent around a rod: In ancient times infection by parasitic worms was common. The filarial worm Dracunculus medinensis aka "the fiery serpent", aka "the dragon of Medina" aka "the guinea worm" crawled around the victim's body, just under the skin. Physicians treated this infection by cutting a slit in the patient's skin, just in front of the worm's path. As the worm crawled out the cut, the physician carefully wound the pest around a stick until the entire animal had been removed. It is believed that because this type of infection was so common, physicians advertised their services by displaying a sign with the worm on a stick.

http://drblayney.com/Asclepius.html#AIM

I thought David might find this interesting - researching symbols

The hidden Power of Subtle Energy

2006-11-02T15:55:00.000-08:00

Everything is energy. Some energy can be seen, like the waves of heat rising from a desert highway in August. Some energy can be heard: Listen now for the sounds in your background; are there birds? traffic noises? the hum of an appliance? Other energies are felt (sensed)—the warmth of your lover sneaking up behind you or the biting cold of wind and sleet against your face.

What is the fragrance of a fresh young pine tree but its essence communicating with you on the air vibrating around you?

Why do women’s bodies release comforting oxytosins at the very sight of a baby?

Certain energies are easy to observe. Consider the quieting you feel when sitting by a babbling brook. You know energy is moving the water, even if it is as simple as the interaction of water and gravity.

Other energies–“solid” energies—interact more sharply with the water, energies in the forms of boulders, rocks and fallen trees. When the water hits the rocks, splashes and imperceptible mists are released—actions that deliver soothing sounds, humidification, and aeration for the living things in the water.

The total environment of the brook, including your sitting on a mossy rock beside it, is involved with the brook’s energy. You are receiving it, feeling it, being acted upon by it, and, science has proven this: You are also affecting the thing you observe, both by looking and by your presence.

"One of the fundamental laws of quantum physics says that an event in the subatomic world exists in all possible states until the act of observing or measuring it "freezes" it, or pins it down to a single state."

from The Field, by Lynne Mc Taggart, Award-winning journalist and author

You press the rock upon which you sit 1/1000th of a millimeter deeper into the ground. The ground presses against tree roots, other rocks, and the streambed itself. A millimeter of loosened mud is washed away by a drop of water, the drop moves inward and the bank is forever changed because you sat there today. And so are you.

2006-10-30T09:41:00.000-08:00

BioElectric Shield
http://www22.inetba.com/advancedliving/shieldwork.ivnu

HOW DOES THE SHIELD WORK?

The shield utilizes proven physics principles to help you cope
with and perform at higher levels despite energy drains, overload,
stress and electromagnetic field (EMF) pollution toxicity in your daily life.

For decades physicists have used crystals to refract EMF radiation. In 1912,
Max von Laue and his associates showed that x-rays could be reflected
and redirected with specific crystals in much the same way as mirrors are used to
reflect and redirect visible light. In 1914, their work earned them the
Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1915, two British physicists, Sir William H. Bragg
and Sir William L. Bragg, won a Nobel prize for their research demonstrating
that many crystals reflect and redirect electromagnetic energy.

The Shield contains a scientifically researched,
activated matrix of quartz and other crystals.

The BioElectric Shield works in 2 ways:

By deflecting and redirecting energies that impinge on you from your environment

(just as a mirror deflects light)

By reinforcing and balancing your own natural positive energies,

making you less susceptible to outside disturbances and

helping you cope with the energy overload

modern day living and the stresses of life.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

(NAN - you had axed me about my necklace)

Testing For Electromagnetic Field(EMF) Sensitivity

2006-10-30T09:34:00.000-08:00

The Shield company has performed 10 research studies over the years.They say: "In the past, we have written these up in rather technical language, yet most people reading about the Shield want to know the 'bottom line' plain english results. The following is a less technical, but informative summary of our studies."

For 5000 years the Chinese have used acupuncture point measurement as an accurate measure of a person's health. For this research we used a computerized acupuncture testing device which showed that after wearing a Shield for 3 weeks there were documented improvements in the immune system, kidney, liver, gall bladder, allergy points, stomach, allergy points, in summary, the body organs and systems.

In two controlled studies, the placebo effect was investigated by two doctors, one in Montana, and one in Pennsylvania. They both found that the authentic Shield strengthened 50 patients but the placebo shield did not strengthen anyone. This showed that the effects of the shield are NOT psychological!

There are many sources of electromagnetic radiation ranging from what we consider minor sources such as a battery, to a cell phone, or a computer, more significant radiation. These three devices all radiate 60 hertz frequency waves. In two studies using a battery operated watch, 50 patients were tested. When the watch was held in the heart area, 49 out of 50 people showed a drop in muscle strength. All 49 regained their original level of muscle strength after placing a Shield on their chest for only one minute.

Over 14,000 customers have been tested at trade shows in a similar manner. We pretest them for muscle strength and then they hold a cell phone as if they are making a call. 98% of the population is significantly weakened just by holding the cell phone! Once they add a Shield to their chest, their strength is restored, much to their amazement- but not ours. This means that of 14,000 people, the phone weakens 11,760, and of that group, 11,524 are strengthened. That's a large research sample!

The Company president is an Occupational Therapist. She wanted to test people using a finger strength device used in hospital OT departments. She pretested 50 people using a dynamometer. Then she post-tested them after they wore a Shield for only a minute. She noted that 2/3 of the people showed a 24% increase in dynamometer measured finger strength after this one minute wearing a Shield. She also wanted to test people who visualized stress, another area dealt with routinely by Occupational Therapists. She pretested the opponent's muscle in the hand of 50 volunteers. Then they were asked to visualize a stressful situation. Upon retesting she found that 47 of the 50 volunteers had significantly weakened hand strength. After wearing a Shield for only one minute, all 47 volunteers regained their strength while still visualizing the very same stressful situation that weakened them before! Conclusion: the Shield counteracted stress for these volunteers.

A pioneer in sound healing, Sharry Edwards, Ph.D., offered to test 3 of her patients without a shield, and then after wearing a shield for only 5 minutes. She found that all three of their voice patterns went into "perfect resonance" after only 5 minutes. She stated this was "unheard of, and most impressive, demonstrating the balancing and strengthening effect the Shield has on the human body".

Lastly, because we are committed to proving beyond the "shadow of a doubt" that the Shield strengthens the body, particularly against electromagnetic radiation, we purchased a testing device that is used in many hospitals and clinics. Computerized myography is used by physical therapists to assess muscle strength, accurate to two tenths of a pound.. We pretested 25 people. After sitting in front of a computer screen for only 5 minutes, myography showed an average loss of 17% strength- nearly 1/5 of a person's strength! Then after wearing a Shield for only 5 minutes, still with the person

In summary, research has shown that the Shield assists in handling stress as well as electromagnetic radiation. Customer comments also document the Shield effectively shields you from other people's energy as well...

would this be positive feedback?

2006-10-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

The notion of raising consciousness through reaching critical mass is being promoted by a number of New Age spiritualists. Ken Keyes, Jr. has published a book on the Internet that calls for an end to the nuclear menace and the mass destruction which surely awaits us all if we do not make a global breakthrough soon. The title of his treatise is The Hundredth Monkey. In his book he writes such things as "there is a point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness, a field is strengthened so that this awareness is picked up by almost everyone!"

GHOSTS!

2006-10-24T14:33:00.000-07:00

Ghost Kites,
Next Saturday the 28th at Ocean Beach
Kite flying with Noise accompaniment,
Kites begin at 1,
music at 2

field trip!

2006-10-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

Letter of Invitation to the 5th International Conference on Qigong

Dear Sir/ Madam,

The World Qigong Federation decides to hold the Fifth International Conference on Qigong on November 3-8 in 2006 in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. We sincerely invite you to attend this conference.

Thailand is a country renowned for its beauty and long history. As the capital of Thailand, Bangkok boasts numerous tourist attractions including the sparkling Buddhist temples and palaces, lively and colourful nightlife, rivers and canals that earn Bangkok the name of "Eastern Venice", and many large scale shopping malls where superior Thailand silk, cotton cloth, gems, bronze and a variety of internationally renowned handicrafts are offered.

With a history of more than five thousand years, Chinese Qigong is regarded as an ancient wisdom for today's lifestyles. Thanks to the Chinese Qigong Masters, this time-honoured treasure has been promoted worldwide. Today, Qigong is playing an important role in areas of medical treatment and health care, and has become increasingly popular as a new branch in the science of human body.

The Fifth International Conference on Qigong aims to contribute to peace, health, exploration and dedication. At the same time, it is to promote traditional Chinese culture and to explore the way ahead for the science of the human body. Contents include academic exchange on Qigong science, demonstration of Qigong, consultation on health care, forum (health/fitness/ longevity), exhibition (Qigong related products) and council meeting of World Qigong Federation. This event will be broadcast in both Chinese and English so as to present to the world the latest achievements in the scientific research of Qigong.

The registration fee is US$600.We offer a US$100 early bird registration discount as well as a conference information package which will include conference documents and dissertations, if you sign up and prepay US$200 before August 30, 2006, with the remaining amount being paid upon arrival. All other expenses including lodging and meals should be borne by participants themselves. Discount is offered to groups of 10 or more at regional or national level.

Additional lectures on medical Qigong treatment and health care will be available after the conference. We will then also be organising sightseeing tours for participants. All our services are designed to make your stay in Thailand a pleasant and memorable one.

Yours sincerely,

Chainnan Feng Lida
Organizing Committee of the Fifth International Conference on Qigong
October 8, 2005

Contact Person: Tan Teo Song
Mobile: 01186
Scorpion Holding Company Limited
10 Flr 253 Soi Asoke Sukhumvit l2 Road
Klongtoey Nua Wattana
Bangkok 10110 Thailand
www. scorpion-holding.com Tel:(66 2)260-9732-4 Fax:(662)261-9699
E-mail: scorpion@samart.co.th

The creation of Qi energy music

2006-10-24T01:19:00.000-07:00

MAY THE KNOWLEDGE OF QI ENERGY

SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

Introduction

Twenty years ago hardly anybody in Australia had heard of Qigong or Qi energy whereas today many throughout the world and in Australia are actually practicing Qigong and using the knowledge of Qi energy in healing and self healing.

The ancients in China came to the conclusion thousands of years ago that Qi (Life Force Vital Energy) is the essence of all things on earth, and that the whole universe is but movement or mutation of Qi, and so was it too with the human body. The body’s basic Qi is the Yuan Qi or Primary Qi There were other kinds of Qi: the Zangfu-organ Qi of the heart, lungs, liver etc), the Meridian Qi, the Ying-nutrient Qi, the Wei-defensive Qi, and the Zong-ancestral Qi. The strength or intensity of the Qi (especially the Primal Qi) the upflow, downflow, outflow and inflow of Qi determined the health of the body or even its life and death.

The entire system of Traditional Chinese Medicine is founded on the concept of Qi. Chinese herbal medicine considers whether a given herb is Yin or Yang in its energy; whether it is a tonic for deficiencies in Qi or whether it clears and creates an outflow, and what organ it effects etc. In acupuncture and tuina massage, the points selected and methods used are all based what effect it would have on the Qi energy flow and hence how it would benefit the body. The health problem is looked at in the context of the whole body, and so too the measures to achieve its healing. Emphasis is on the body regaining the free flow of Qi and regaining balance, and as a consequence all the organs and the whole body will function normally and diseases will be overcome.

Experience Qi energy through the practice of Qigong

Qigong, is an integral part of Chinese Traditional Medicine. The two characters in " Qigong" literally mean " Qi training" or "Working with Qi. The gentle movements, easy postures and simple meditation techniques bring about a balanced energy flow, the end result is optimum health of the body and mind. Qigong is not derived from martial arts such as Taichi which uses the slow movements mirroring combat to become health exercises. (When Taichi is practiced for health, it stresses Qi flow and harmony in movement, although the imaginary opponent is still the basis of all movements) Qigong is purely to nurture the energy flow with no opponent in mind, stressing harmony within and harmony with the universe.. There is movement Qigong and stillness Qigong, and one should do both. Qigong is not a religion and people of any religion may practice Qigong.

The Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and most other similar colleges and universities have a Faculty of Qigong. What better way for the students to learn about the Qi energy flow in the body than physically experiencing this. themselves through the practice of Qigong.. Through study in these halls of learning, some of the students become Qigong teachers and Qigong healers. Here research is also carried out on ancient documents, and modern hi-tech equipment is used in the quest to unravel the mystery of Qi.. Conclusions from such research is benefiting other disciplines. China’s famous nuclear physicist Professor Qian Xueshen once wrote: "Research into Qi energy will lead us to the last frontiers of man’s understanding of the human body."

Qigong is easy to learn

You will find learning Qigong just plain sailing. After all we really are all naturals!.. We are only allowing the body and mind only be itself, we are just taking off the brakes and roadblocks. Its is just a process of freeing oneself. The following guidelines should prove useful:

1. "Be as one with the Universe" ("Tian Ren He Yi")

Watching one practicing Qigong, it may look like a lone solitary soul doing movements deep in thought entirely by oneself. However, the person would have become a part of the world around, of the planet earth below and of the starry sky above, and of the mountains and rivers far, far away. As one develops in Qigong we may feel was are a universe ourselves within the greater universe. We may sense within us the micro-cosmic orbit, and the greater-cosmic orbit, the endless flow which mirrors the great circular flow of the galaxies and of the Universe. We blend our Qi with that of the rivers and oceans and the forests and mountains, and also draw upon their Qi to strengthen ourselves. As we progress to practicing serious self healing and to projecting the healing Qi to others, the concept of "being as one with the universe" becomes evidently crucial..

This is how we connect and be as one with the universe when we start practicing the Great Stork Qigong:..

We stand two feet shoulder apart, knees slightly bent, shoulders relaxed. The upper part of the body is light and floating but the lower part is solid as a rock and the feet are firmly planted on the ground. We stand in front of an ancient pine tree ( a real one, or an imaginary one) and our feet are just like the roots of the tree going deep into the ground. Our body is like the pine tree rising high into the sky. We are not just like the pine tree, we feel as if we have become the pine tree. Then our hands slowly rise reaching up upward towards the sky. and when the hands are coming down, we are showered with the radiance of the Universe……

Learning Qigong, you come to know where the Qi has been nurtured and is strong and naturally find a way to go to these places. One of these places would be the ancient Taoist mountain at Qingcheng Shan, Sichuan China where for thousands of years the Qi has been nurtured to be sent to the four corners of the earth for the benefit of others. Here one could sit down beside the Cleansing Heart Pool and let the crystal clear stream flow through heart and liver. Such is an experience of a lifetime, and having learnt Qigong, you would be able recall this healing in such a way as to take yourself there again and you may feel it happening again. There are many such places to visit in China, and many strong Qi energy places in Australia and the world await our discovery.

2 Remember "If one is sincere, one will be endowed with the power of the Qi" ("Cheng Ze Ling")

One enters the realm of Qigong with the heart, with humbleness and compassion.. Qigong is really not mastered by meticulously remembering the techniques and practicing the forms, or seeking out the methods which promise the most powerful flow of Qi. By being dedicated and content at letting things happen rather than. seeking a thrilling experience, the power of the Qi will be revealed.

3. Don’t try too hard.

We may be excused for being in a great haste to achieve, after all that is how we have been trained all our lives. In Qigong however, we must be prepared to be not worried about how long it will take, for natural progress is actually the fastest way. Haste may close the door on one. Of course one has to make an effort. The best way to think is: "As if one is trying and as if one is not trying". For instance in stillness Qigong, as one sits with back upright and shoulders relaxed, you think of the concepts " Relaxed and Quiet". Let the word " relaxed" come to mind, but don’t try too hard and set about physically relaxing the muscles; rather let the concept itself take over you. . The same with entering the quietude, just float into a world of stillness and silence without trying. .

4. Select one form of Qigong that is best suited to your situation

It is said that there are 80,000 different kinds of Qigong in China. So many methods have been developed in hundreds far away mountains and valleys, all bringing a particular benefit. Choose one that is both easy and enjoyable and suits your both physically and mentally. I always teach beginners the Great Stork Qigong because it includes the basic attitudes and stances all in one set. For instance, the standing stance before any movement is necessary for all forms: For people who need to deal with cancer, either from a preventive point of view or overcoming it, the unique walking form called Guolin Qigong is ideal. The President of the world Academic Society of Medical Qigong, Professor Feng Lida, a prominent immunologist, recommends this set on the basis of the successful experience of thousands of cancer patients in China.. Also, any form which pays special attention to the liver would be recommended at some stage, for the health and balance of the liver has a direct effect on the whole body in that only when the Qi in the liver is free flowing and smooth will the Qi in the whole body be balanced and free flowing. It is not wise to learn many kinds at once as the Qi flow can become erratic

5. Seek to meet the Qigong Masters of China.

One reads in the ancient scripts about the Master passing on new learning without teaching, without speaking, with the power of the Qi being passed on through the Qi. I believe this really happens. Many years ago I met Grand Master Yan Xin who had many special healing powers, using his voice, written words, or just a thought to effect healing, and I was invited to accompany him on his healing rounds. After a number of meetings with him and other Masters , I discovered later that gradually I would be sending out Qi not only through the hands as before, , but also through the voice, through the eyes, through a thought, and that distance was no obstacle.. To have the opportunity of further opening up to the Qi, sometime in your Qi journey may you should go to China to visit them.

Becoming a Qi Energy Healer

We are just like the other stars in the Universe. As our channels are more open and the Qi flows freely, and as we become more and more as one with the Universe, we become a star that has become brighter and we radiate more healing to those around us. Our positive thoughts become powered with Qi and may have a long lasting effect on others.

When one knows and sincerely believes in the power of the Qi, the ability to do Qi healing comes naturally without effort. Some people are born with this ability without understanding it; almost everybody can acquire this ability, . Following is one of the basic routines to follow to strengthen the Qi::

Stand with knees slightly bent, shoulders relaxed, facing a pine tree ( or a huge gum tree palms of the hands facing the tree, standing about 3 metres away from the trunk. There are rings of Qstrong Qi around the tree, so sense and select where the Qi is strongest to stand. Connect with the sky and mother earth and silently seek permission to share the Qi of the tree. Stand thus 20 minutes and close with hands one over the other below the navel ( men left hand first, ladies right hand first).

If you are so lucky as to visit the Taoist Qingcheng Shan Centre, stand before the 2000 year old Gingko tree where you will be so overwhelmed that tears may flow. If you take a photo, the photo will connect you with the real tree afar and you may practice using the photo.

When you have had such wonderful experiences similar to these you are ready to help others, that is doing the basic movement of the hands, bringing in Qi through the soles of the feet and cleansing with a downward stroke using the other hand, moving what was taken out to the bottom of the sea. From then onwards one needs to study the basics of the whole system of Chinese Traditional Medicine, especially the knowledge of Qi meridians and collateral’s. Before doing anything more than this in healing, one should be guided by a Master, as there are many things to avoid and many more things to learn.

The creation of Qi energy music

While I was involved in Qi energy healing, I began using recordings of my voice so that the patient could "take the healing home". I dawned on me that the Qi waves, the healing message, could be recorded.. This was what I had been searching for, for recording would make it possible for many more people to benefit from Qi energy healing. But a tape with just voice, or just Qi energy thought with no voice or sound would be difficult to accept. by anyone’s imagination. so I tried using music to carry the message first using the piano. I was encouraged as people could feel this quite easily. I am not a composer, and I wondered where the music would come from. Then the first piece of music came. "Inner Peace came to me 5 o’clock on a Sunday morning. I could hear it in my head and I had to get up to record it. Other recordings followed. While playing the music, my mind would go to different parts of the Universe, visualising different parts of the body being healed, bringing golden rays of light etc Three years later, at the 3^rd International Qigong Science Conference in Kyoto in 1993, I heard a report by professor Xia Shuangquan that he had evidence of Qi energy waves being recorded as sub-sonic waves. I think I was the person most interested in this observation.

When one enters the door of Qigong, before one is a bright beautiful road, endless in possibilities and enjoyment., I am forever experiencing this.

http://www.qi.org/articles/jack_lim.htm

Jack Lim

email: jacklim@primus.com.au
website: www.jacklim.com
www.relaxationmusic.com.au

West vs. East

2006-10-24T01:04:00.000-07:00

There has existed for quite some time the distinction between current western medicine and ancient eastern "alternative medicine." Western medicine has dealt primarily with the study of the nervous system, the visceral organs, and "observable" behavior, treating illness with drugs, designed to alter the body's chemistry. A western doctor looks for pathological conditions manifested through physical symptoms. While eastern medicine focuses on these aspects as well, it studies these symptoms through an understanding of Qi-energy (also called Ki-energy) that flows through invisible meridians throughout the body as well as the universe. This energy is the vital elemental life force of Asian medicine. Practically every method of healing involves some rendition of this vital energy-except, of course, for mainstream western medicine. Why is that modern medicine has virtually ignored this force that has been studied for centuries? What is happening as these two faces of medicine are colliding? Is there truth to the idea that our bodies are not merely neurons firing, but that our very life relies on a mysterious undetectable force surging through our bodies? Are these two seemingly conflicting ideas one and the same?

Qi-Energy and Qi Gong

Many westerners are familiar with the terms Yin and Yang. The balance between these two forces is the key to understanding Qi-energy. Yin refers to the passive/dark/inside aspects of the "body,i" while Yang is comprised of the active/light/outside of the "body".Western medicine, therefore, deals primarily with the treatment of Yin, while Eastern medicine focuses on the balance between the two, predominantly, however, the Yang or energy that charges the body. There are 14 meridians (through which Qi-energy flows) that run throughout the body. When the balance between the Yin and Yang is disrupted in these meridians, sickness occurs. One of the Eastern methods of rectifying this problem is through the practice of acupuncture-the insertion of needles into specific points located throughout the body.

Another, although less well known in Western culture, practice is that of Qi Gong (pronounced chee goong). "Witness a child running onto the warm sands of the beach sometime. Notice how deeply they breathe in the salty air or how their arms open wide to embrace all the fun that lies before them. This is Qi Gong in its purist form. Children have a natural relationship with the energy of their environment. Adults have to learn what comes naturally to our offspring. Any argument as to where Qi Gong was "invented" misses the reality of what Qi Gong really is.". Basically, Qi Gong is a discipline comprised of breathing and mental exercises, sometimes coupled with physical exercise. Qi Gong is designed to balance the Qi-energy system throughout the body. The way that Qi Gong works is by coordinated breathingthrough which one achieves a mental serenity ultimately leading to an increase in the body's resistance to disease. The methods involved in Qi Gong emphasize using the abdomen while breathing, rather than the chest. Involved, are three different kinds of abdominal breathing. The first is "normal sequence breathing" in which the abdomen expands during inhalation and contracts when the person exhales. "Reverse sequence breathing" involves the opposite. The third type of breathing is "latent breathing" in which the abdominal movement is insignificant while the breathing is slow and soft. This process of breathing strengthens both the internal Qi-energy flow as well as the circulation of blood along the meridians. After some time, the individual will feel a sensation of heat in the abdomen. The source of this heat is the Qi-energy. It may then be directed to the caudal end of the spine and on towards the spinal vertex and finally up to the head. Interestingly, the mind and body cannot be separated when one is practicing Qi Gong. The flow of Qi is directed by the mind, and without it, Qi-energy cannot be felt and reinforced. When one is practicing Qi Gong, one must think of not thinking about anything. However, ultimately, the individual must actually be thinking of nothing-not just thinking about not thinking. Ultimately, the three principles of practicing Qi Gong are physical and mental relaxation, coordination of the mind and Qi, and achieving a rhythm of practice.

The Neuron-Qi Connection

Another theory about the mechanisms of Qi Gong involves its relation to the field of psychoneuroimmunology, the idea that the immune system controls neural functioning, the central nervous system (CNS) controls the immune system, and the coordination of the two allows behavioral-psychological events to occur. If the pathways are ultimately connected, the field supposes that the brain can influence the immune system. Additionally, if this is true, then the pathways can be reversed and the immune system can influence the neuronal activity, therefore affecting such psychological aspects as emotion and thought (6).

The Thalamic Neuron Theory (TNT) has also been proposed as a possible explanation for the efficacy of Qi Gong practices. This theory is comparable to the psychoneuroimmunology theory in that it maintains that the CNS is involved in all disease processes. Disease, is a result of unbalanced central neural circuitries, reversible through physical means such as acupuncture (physical neuromodulation) or chemiconeuromodulation such as Chinese techniques aimed at mimicking the habituation process. These processes are described as five assertions:

"1. Every dysfunction arising from the periphery,...,will either immediately or eventually lead to an equivalent derangement in the equivalent neural circuitries within the CNS.

2. The CNS then responds by instituting corrective measures, resulting in the normalization of these neural circuits which then correct the deficiencies in the diseased part of the periphery to end the disease process.

3. If the normalization of the physiological programs embodied in the neural circuitries in the CNS is impaired, the initial derangement may remain status quo or can cause other neural circuits to go awry. Hence the disease either stays chronic or progresses.

4. Any event that can adversely affect any central circuitry is therefore capable of inducing pathological changes, resulting in diseases. Overly intense emotions such as anger, grief or fear can cause the central circuitries to malfunction. ...Likewise, devastatingly strong physical stresses such as excessive heat, cold, humidity, etc. are equally capable of setting up neurophysiological derangements within the CNS. These resultant malfunctions in the CNS can not only themselves cause physical illnesses, but can also set up such conditions as to increase the individual's susceptibility to other pathogenic processes.

5. The CNS itself can also malfunction due to aberrant biochemical reactions stemming from say, genetic diseases like manic depression, Huntington's, chorea, etc." (6).

Qi Gong and other techniques are thus explained by Western medicine. But is this the whole story?

The Mystery Continues

One factor that makes the concept of Qi-energy difficult to digest is that it exists throughout the universe. One can receive and give energy to a tree or rabbit, for example. Human beings are taught to understand themselves as superior beings, our mechanisms and intellect unlike, or at least more advanced, than that of other lower beings. How is it that what makes us tick, is essentially the same as the "vital energy" found in the earthworm, flower, or perhaps even bacteria?

What is it about the practice of Qi Gong that is able to cure diseases? Does the answer lie in the biological explanations proposed above, or is there something immeasurable that merely exists in the world? I find it difficult to fathom that we will never understand the mechanisms behind alternative medicinal practices, but we need to think beyond what we already know. Our minds have tremendous capabilities relating to our behavior. Undoubtedly, the mind's control of the energy within our bodies is more complicated than we yet understand. However, it is also intrinsically connected to the pathways connecting the vast system of "smallest boxes"-the neurons. Given this, it is not unreasonable to propose that the reason that a stimulus in the form of pressure placed on an acu-point in the foot results in the alleviation of stomach pains. Specifically how these exercises cure paralysis, however, remains a mystery.

It is fairly accepted that mental and physical exercise leads to a healthier life. But how can such dramatic results as curing paraplegia and cancer be explained in more "scientific" terms? Because Western medicine is so skeptical of the influences and mechanisms of Qi Gong, little research has been done on its biological correlates. It is clear that something is happening, but it does not appear scientific enough to be advocated by Western doctors. One of the main problems involved in this dilemma is the separation of mind, brain, and body. There are physicians who treat the body; there are psychotherapists who treat the mind; and there are psychiatrists who treat the brain. Eastern "alternative" medicine emphasizes the need for a non-dualistic standpoint. Not onlydoes brain=behavior, but mind=brain=body. This connection has such wide implications that it must be further explored. The key to fully understanding behavior may lay buried in the nuances of this centuries-old Eastern practice.

WWW Sources

1) Commentary about the East vs. West Question

2) Acupuncture.com, A chart of the 12 main meridians and their acu-points.

3) Explanation of Qi Gong

4) Shendong.com, A guide to Qi Gong techniques

5) Qigong.net, The Effect of Short and Long Range Qi Emission on Three Biochemical Processes: Nucleotide Polymerization, Protein (Fab Fragment) Crystallization and Enzyme (Phosphatidylinositol-3 Kinase) Activity (abstract and figures).

6) Aikido.com,

ewphysics

recipes

H O P E

Spirituality and Medicine

Auras and Discharges

THE AFRICAN ROOTS OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

interesting to know the other side - but what bitterness.....

Why Health Professionals Become Quacks

William T. Jarvis, Ph.D.

SCIENCE AND PSEUDOSCIENCE

Science versus Vitalism

"Postmodern" Attacks on Science and Reality

Victor J. Stenger, Ph.D.

Acupuncture as effective energy medicine

Be Wary of "Alternative" Health Methods

Stephen Barrett, M.D.

Loose Definitions Cause Confusion

The Rules of Science

Science versus Vitalism

Overclaim and Puffery

The NIH Debacle

References

For Additional Information

Water Found on Mars? 12/6/06

A Spiritual Sheilding Technique

The psychic chakra: pinoline

http://www.yogamag.net/archives/2000/3may00/chakra1.shtml

Understanding how the Shield Works

botox lips

The rochester center for mind-body research (rcmbr)

Hippocrates says:

Psychoneuroimmunology: What Is It and Can It Help Me?

http://www.pnirs.org/

Baby Chardonnay

spirits of the vine

as a career

crossover

Biophysics and me

I know I'm a living system because

my e prime moment

WALK-INS and WANDERERS

WANDERERS

happy holidays!

the third eye

When I was in mexico I was bitten two different times/days between my eyes/eyebrows which made me wonder what is going on in that "third eye" area that would be so attractive to a mosquito?

http://www.crystalinks.com/thirdeyepineal.html

Third Eye - Pineal Gland

fractals

herbal boiling machine

THE COURSE (Acupuncture Herbal Medicine)

After Completion of assessment The Quilified acupuncturist will be able to handle more than 100's of different types of diseases, and will see in practise how Master treats all the uncureble diseases like diabetic, Slipped Disc, allzheimeirs etc,etc.

Acupuncture Course- THE INSTITUTE

Analysis of the Crisis and its Solution

Christian Science - Christian or Cult?*

Swami Vivekananda said:

Micro-waved Water

Sounds

trees have vision

life on mars

order and chaos

arrow of time

energy

2012 - the movie!

Mayan Tzolkin 13 Moon Calendar

what do you think about this?

The Galactic Research Institute

Galactic citizenship and the Future of Earth

The Quantum Awakening

do you believe this fairy tail? see link below:

WHEN WILL IT ALL END?

asymmetrical behavior

FRACTAL CHAOS

order and chaos

Understanding a Secret of the Universe

wabi sabi

pretty fun!

The hidden Power of Subtle Energy

BioElectric Shieldhttp://www22.inetba.com/advancedliving/shieldwork.ivnu

HOW DOES THE SHIELD WORK?

Testing For Electromagnetic Field(EMF) Sensitivity

Psychoneuroimmunology:
What Is It and Can It Help Me?

BioElectric Shield
http://www22.inetba.com/advancedliving/shieldwork.ivnu