The recent Ontario ban on cell-phone use while driving intends to lessen
distractions and thereby accidents. Evidence from independent studies, however,
suggests that there are also other not-so-easily-observed health hazards.
Reports show cell-phone use being linked to brain ageing, brain damage,
early-onset Alzheimer's, senility and DNA damage.
These findings call into question the use of one of our most loved and used
technologies. Is it that we don't care or because much of the comfort of our
modern lives depends on not caring? Or can it be that information is suppressed
by an industry whose interests are other than that of human health?
Human beings are part of the electrical nature of the universe, and in part a
complex organization of electrical fields often measured by electrocardiograms
and electroencephalograms.
The brain which is the nerve/electrical control centre needs a stable
environment. As shown by neuroscientist Alan Frey in animal studies, microwaves
pulsed in at certain modulations induced “leakage” between the circulatory
system and the brain, seriously breaching the blood-brain barrier. Frey, who had
been doing radar work funded for fifteen years by the Office of Naval Research
(US), was reportedly told to conceal his blood-brain-barrier work or have his
contract cancelled. Another scientist funded by Motorola replicated earlier
studies on DNA damage, but the company put him under such pressure not to
publish that he quit microwave research altogether.
The proliferation of cell/microwave towers and Wi-Fi networks in homes, offices,
libraries and parks add to harmful electro-magnetic exposure, particularly with
the frequencies used.
For example, in 2006, a super-Wi-Fi was tested in a small rural village in
Sweden. Without villagers’ knowledge that the transmitters were turned on, the
residents were overcome by headaches, difficulty breathing and blurred vision,
two hospitalized with heart arrhythmia. As soon as the system was shut down the
symptoms disappeared.
The National Library of France shut its Wi-Fi citing possible genotoxic effects.
Several European countries have taken steps to remove Wi-Fi from libraries,
universities and government buildings. The Austrian Medical Association is
lobbying for a ban on all Wi-Fi in schools, citing danger to children's thinner
skulls and developing nervous systems.
Information about ourselves, our cell-phones and the electromagnetic spectrum
may, with the influence of rational and intelligent thought, dictate that we
take actions that accord with our knowledge, rather than our comforts and
fashions.
The rapid decline of biodiversity, including human cultural diversity, has
repercussions on the vitality of life. It is not an issue of which we are well
aware. One common historic view is that humans are separate from Nature and
nature exists to serve man's needs.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature in a 155-page report
states that the last five years has been a losing battle to protect species,
natural habitats and geographical regions from the devastating effects of man.
We are in danger of losing half the world's coral reef species, a third of
amphibians and a quarter of mammals. Jean-Christopher Vie, the report's senior
editor, noted that while world leaders are preoccupied by economic recession and
financial instability, animal extinction is an irreversible element of today's
“wildlife crisis”.
In recognition of the interdependence of life, the UN passed the Declaration of
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007 highlighting the “fundamental and moral
authoritative principles about the links between indigenous peoples and their
lands, cultures and languages.” The Earth was their temple and their heaven was
here on Earth.
We can relate to the Earth either as tourists or pilgrims. Tourists value the
earth and her natural riches in terms of usefulness to themselves. Earth
Pilgrims treat the Earth with reverence and gratitude, regard the Earth as
sacred and recognize the intrinsic value of life.
Often, we act not only as tourists, but as predators and plunderers. Such
actions include the destruction of mountains to extract coal, mining tar sands,
polluting landscapes and waters, placing garbage dumps on pristine aquifers, and
destroying precious archaeological sites containing pieces of the rich heritage
of mankind.
In our individual and collective lives as citizens of the Planet Earth, let's
learn to act like pilgrims, seeing other beings as subjects and not objects,
respecting nature and the wisdom of mountains, rivers, forests, plants, animals
and humans, and their interconnectedness. If not, there is a price to be paid.
What we sow, we harvest.
During a recent episode of his show “Last Call” on CBC radio, David Suzuki
interviewed James Lovelock, a renowned British atmospheric science specialist,
biologist and author of the book The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning.
It could be said that, on the eve of his 90th birthday, James Lovelock is one of
the scientists in the world who best harmonizes analysis and intuition. At once
a scientist and a philosopher, he is also the inventor of the electron capture
detector, which allowed us, in the 1950s, to begin identifying minute doses of
man-made chemical substances. The detector enabled us, among other things, to
measure traces of CFCs in the atmosphere and to perceive the threat to the ozone
layer.
In his most recent book, Lovelock takes up the Gaia Theory once again and
proposes a scientific understanding of the earth as a living organism capable of
self-regulation. As an independent scientist, he demonstrates that the climate
change forecasts accepted by the international scientific community are still
quite a long way off when compared with measurable effects, which are
accelerating much more quickly than 2007 forecasts indicate. According to
Lovelock, the blind desire to perpetuate a lifestyle of consumption as if
nothing was wrong — despite the many warnings from researchers — exacerbates the
dangers threatening our own survival.
According to the author, we have already moved beyond the point of no return
regarding the impact of human activity on the environment. And if we must
drastically transform our way of life, we must also devote our energy to
adapting the best we can in order to survive the consequences of the climate
change we have set in motion.
“Gaia will survive,” he says. The question is whether the human race will
survive as well. Lovelock explains that, over the past few million years,
humanity has gone through significant episodes of depopulation, from which we
all then emerged today.
For the scientist, hope and the future reside in the ability of Gaia — Mother
Earth — to regenerate itself and in the ability of humanity to rediscover paths
that will enable us to evolve in harmony with others and the natural
environment.
What we feed our body, mind and soul has a dramatic effect on our well-being and
ability to be a positive force in the world. The food can be life-giving or
contaminated and toxic.
A toxic “food additive”, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), is a cause of the world's
growing affliction, obesity. It enhances flavour and appetite and appears under
pseudonyms such as Accent, Natural Flavouring, Natural Meat Tenderizer and
Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein.
For at least 3 decades MSG has been injected into rats to make them obese and
objects of the study of bodily functions. “It (MSG) is known (for 30 years) to
result in central nervous system lesions, the development of obesity (and
diabetes), pituitary atrophy and diminished loco-motor activity” to quote from
one of 167 studies on the subject reported in PubMed, a service of the US
National Library of Medicine.
A study of healthy Chinese adults randomly sampled in three villages found that
“prevalence of overweight was significantly higher in MSG users than non-users.”
Brazilian scientists have found that MSG induced obesity in rats was transmitted
from the first generation to the second.
Since its introduction into the food supply 50 years ago to make people eat
more, it has been poisoning Mankind by producing heart problems, diabetes,
blindness, joint replacements, amputations, as well as impaired emotional and
psychological states.
It's in the coffee from Tim's or 'Bucks, Campbell's soups, Kraft salad dressing,
McDonald's, Wendy's, Heinz canned gravy, Lay's flavoured potato chips, and the
finger-licking good KFC.
And why? To addict us, to win us over with the “taste” that makes one eat more
of a product to enhance a company's bottom line but caring not about the
collateral carnage. Let us confront the truth, weigh the risks and reduce the
use of MSG, protein-rich diets, pre-packaged meals, snacks, dried soups and fast
foods to which we may be unknowingly (or knowingly) addicted.
In a dark age, confusion trumps clarity. Use of MSG relates to the former, but
the building of a better world demands that we turn the tables with knowledge,
consciousness and action.
A few months ago, Captain Sullenberger of USAir performed an emergency landing
of a USAir flight into the Hudson River. Previously, Sullenberger had been
involved in the implementation of Crew Resource Management (CRM) at USAir. CRM
has been credited with dramatic improvements in aviation safety and according to
aviation safety guru Robert Helmreich, is essentially “social psychology” – “the
study of how humans interact with each other and machinery…” Two keys of the
safe emergency landing of Sullenberger’s flight according to Helmreich were
communication – with the passengers – and the pilot’s “old-fashioned stick and
rudder skills”.
Data from Line Operations Safety Audit – a systematic observation of crew
practices – show that 98 percent of flights face at least one threat, with an
average of four per flight. A “threat” in this case is defined as anything that
decreases the safety margin and requires the attention of the crew. Errors per
flight were slightly less.
But, once errors or threats occur, the important thing to focus on is not the
error or threat in itself, but how to handle it. One of Helmreich’s lingering
concerns for years has been the automation of aviation. Sullenberger,
approaching the mandatory retirement age for pilots in the U.S. (60), had years
of experience and opportunities to hone his skills with “the stick and rudder
stuff”. Many younger pilots have only flown completely automated aircraft do not
get the chance to consciously engage and hone these skills. “I’ve always
advocated that pilots disengage the automation…for a while,” says Helmreich.
In life, as in aviation, we can also coast along with our own automation, be it
an education that tells us what to think, a corporation that feeds us our needs
or a society that encourages a certain behavioural norm. Sometimes there is a
call from within to move in a direction that accords not with expected norms and
as in aviation, there will be benefits to consciously charting our own
direction, even if it is more difficult than coasting along.
Recent scientific discoveries in astronomy, astrophysics and, more specifically,
modern cosmology are turning our understanding of reality on its head.
This research, which has a major impact not only on the entire scientific
community, but also on artists and philosophers, demonstrates that 95% of the
universe is invisible to the eye and to the most advanced observation devices.
This discovery, which is to say the least exciting, can only engender an
attitude of profound humility in the face of our limited knowledge of the
universe in which we live, while also raising some fundamental questions.
What is this invisible matter? What are the dark matter and dark energy that
make up the universe? In their complexity and depth, these two great questions
have inspired many artists and scientists and will be the subject of an
“invisible universe” event to be held at UNESCO headquarters in summer 2009.
The “Exploring the Invisible Universe” exhibit will be one of three components
of this event. According to the organizers, this exhibit will provide a broad
overview of the history of astronomy, physics and the importance of the
philosophical ideas and works of art that have fashioned the cultural landscape
over the last 400 years.
The intent behind this exhibit is to demonstrate how astronomy and, more
generally, modern science have converged toward a vision of our reality that is
essentially based on the invisible.
In our Western materialistic socio-cultural context, in which the definition and
value of reality are based almost exclusively on the notion of visible,
measurable matter, this is a revolutionary perspective.
But, who knows? Maybe this understanding of the invisible dimension of the
universe will teach us to once again see with the heart.
Twenty-three years ago, a nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded, unleashing tons
of radioactive dust into the air, contaminating countries such as Poland,
Romania, Sweden, France, Great Britain, Turkey, China and India.
The spew from this one explosion was 200 times greater than the atomic bomb at
Hiroshima. Sixty-five million people were contaminated and nearly half a million
were forced to leave their homes, possessions, jobs and family ties. The hidden
costs are still unknown except to say that it will be 100,000 years before an
area the size of Italy returns to habitable radioactive levels.
Information about the extent of the catastrophe and the long term consequences
were covered up by authorities. Workers engaged to “contain” the crisis toiled
in an environment thousands of times above safe levels. Countless died as a
result of radiation poisoning.
The 9 million people in the general area (Belarus, Ukraine, Western Russia) live
in an area of chaos, ingesting contaminated water and radioactive food, and
suffering various pathologies and genetic mutations. One can only imagine the
chaos in the event of an accident in a more densely populated centre.
Christian Parenti, writing in the Nation, says “that nuclear power is too
expensive and risky to attract the necessary commercial investors”. Even with
large government subsidies, it is almost impossible to get proper financing and
insurance. Inputs are greater than outputs, without even taking into
consideration the cost disposing of spent rods and liquids with a radioactive
life of thousands of years, the decommissioning of outdated reactors and
liability in event of malfunction.
Storage of waste in barrels, ponds or underground caverns presents looming
accidents. Ontario with 22 reactors already has 30,000 tonnes of such waste.
To build a better world we need to understand the full cost of nuclear
technology and exercise vigilance so as not be lulled into a false sense of
security by partisan propaganda. The dangers are real, not just to human beings,
but to all beings and to the earth itself. There are, however, opportunities to
alter levels of energy consumption and to engage our own latent energy and
consciousness in exploring different and more potentially viable modes of
living.
Water crises today are unsettling in two of the world's largest cities. Mexico
City is in the midst of a 36 hour cutoff and rationing affecting 5 million
people or 25% of its population, the result of a leaky supply system and the
draining of the lakes that flooded the city 40 years ago. Half of the city's
water supply is lost through crumbling infrastructure.
Changing weather patterns and dwindling shared river waters have sounded alarm
bells in Los Angeles, population 10 million, where the city council sent a
rationing plan for further study. Higher water rates are under consideration as
well as the reclamation of sewage water for human consumption.
Surprisingly perhaps, 97% of the world's fresh water is in underground storage
areas called aquifers, many millions of years old. One aquifer in eastern China
provides drinking water to 160 million people. A huge aquifer in Midwest U.S.
that has irrigated most of the nation's fruit and vegetables production is now
in danger of being depleted from overuse.
Water tables are falling, often several metres a year, and pumps are drilled
often a kilometre or more to find water in food producing areas in China, India,
the US, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel and Mexico. The demands of growing global
population and the “needs” of industry and modern agriculture are enormous.
Contamination of water tables is a huge problem in some locales.
Few people in the industrialized world take the crisis seriously or understand
how directly it threatens them and other beings.
“The environment is part of every individual and each of us is part of the
environment.”
Water in its many forms, liquid, solid, gas – whether as clouds, rivers, lakes
or as invisible water vapour, sustains physical and inner life.
Our body is about 60% water; each of us is part of the world's water. Water is
not just a commodity like a teapot; it is life itself. Our attention to the
sources and wise use of this gift are crucial to our well-being. “The water
crisis is an expression of the environmental catastrophe of human
over-exploitation”, says Paul Crutzen, Nobel Prize winning chemist.
What we have is not a water crisis, per se, but a human crisis requiring the
application of both science and technology, and the virtues of caring,
simplicity, ethical and spiritual sensitivity, communal solidarity, intelligence
and persistence - qualities as great as economic security in a darkening age.
With every spring comes the great spectacle of bird
migrations. Who has never stopped to contemplate the majestic flight of snow
geese or Canada geese? Every year, migratory birds travel thousands of
kilometres, linking together different ecological systems. Their beauty, what
they inspire in us and their importance internationally make them excellent
ambassadors for biodiversity.
But the international scientific community is signalling a decline in migratory
birds worldwide due to the impacts of climate change. Higher temperatures that
lead to desertification in some areas and an increase in storms in different
parts of the world have a major effect on bird migrations. A new French study
conducted over 18 years and published recently in the British Proceedings of the
Royal Society indicates that the average temperature in France, for example, has
increased by 0.068 degrees Celsius per year, meaning that any given temperature
has moved 273 kilometres north.
The study continues by indicating that bird populations in France are moving
their habitats only 182 kilometres north. Birds are thus not migrating north as
rapidly as the earth is warming, and this phenomenon could be accompanied by “a
desynchronization of interactions between species,” states the study’s main
author, Vincent Devictor of the University of Montpellier, evoking the risk of
serious consequences for biodiversity.
All wisdom traditions have always spoken to us of the interrelationship between
all things. Without a profound, global understanding of the laws of life, humans
appear to be apprentice-sorcerers who cause disturbances that impact humanity
and all of the other kingdoms of Nature.
A study by a team of researchers at Cambridge University, the Medical Research
Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, recently provided new evidence that
the brain lives on the edge of chaos at a critical transition point between
order and disorder. This situation provides the brain, like other natural
systems, with the greatest zone of creativity and adaptability to its
environment.
The recently published research provides experimental data on this theory. In
fact, the scientists identify a phenomenon they call self-organized criticality,
which is characteristic of systems that spontaneously organize themselves to
operate at the borderline of order and chaos. This is found in many physical
systems, including avalanches, forest fires, earthquakes, heart rhythms and many
other natural systems that, on the surface, appear to be very different.
Computational networks demonstrate that these characteristics have also been
shown to have the best memory and information-processing capacity. According to
the researchers, critical systems can respond quickly and extensively to small
changes in their environments.
Dr. Manfred Kitzbichler of Cambridge indicates that “due to these
characteristics, self organized criticality is intuitively attractive as a model
for brain functions such as perception and action, because it would allow us to
switch quickly between mental states in order to respond to changing
environmental conditions.”
Interestingly, this scientific theory of critical self-organization corresponds
with Buddhist wisdom when it speaks of the right tension necessary for
consciousness and without which evolution and self-mastery are impossible.
The same idea is found in Ancient Egypt: “Order born of the realization of Ma’at
(justice) is the fruit of an ongoing dynamic transmutation of nonsense into
sense, chaos into intelligent harmony, savagery into civility,” writes
anthropologist Fernand Schwarz.
In understanding our natural reality, order is never fixed. It integrates chaos
to transform it into a higher degree of order, that is, always closer to the
source. Recent scientific discoveries about the human brain reflect discoveries
regarding natural systems and reveal the intelligent laws of life — it is up to
us to understand the examples of these laws.
Scheduled to launch sometime after March 5, 2009, the
Kepler spacecraft is the latest telescope to look for exoplanets – planets
outside of our solar system. Since 1995, astronomers have detected about 330
exoplanets. Kepler’s mission, however, will be to find one particular type of
planet – Earth’s twin – one “with a similar size, orbit, and neighbouring star.”
Specifically, the planet should be small and rocky and be orbiting a sun-like
star. And because many scientists believe that liquid water is necessary for the
formation of life, the planet should be at a distance from its star where water
could be maintained on the surface.
The largest telescope to ever leave our orbit, Kepler will be “monitoring
100,000 stars along the Orion spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy continuously
and simultaneously.” For proper confirmation of the existence of planets, Kepler
will be spending 3½ years looking at that region of space. Most of the stars
being observed will be from 600 to 3000 light years from planet Earth, one light
year being about 10 trillion kilometers.
While it would be neat to imagine life (like us) on a planet just like ours
somewhere out there in the distances, we should not limit our searches or our
imagination when it comes to intelligent life. Looking at the staggering
diversity on our small planet alone, we have barely begun to imagine what
diversity our galaxy and the greater universe may hold. Nor should we limit life
or intelligence to the forms that we are used to in our tiny corner of the
galaxy. The truth is that we know little of what may exist beyond our solar
system, what forms it may take and what forms of subsistence – known or unknown
– may be requisite for its formation and subsequent continuation.
What will we find? Who knows? Before the discover of the 300 odd exoplanets
since 1995, not many people thought it possible to find the types of planets
that have been found so close to their stars. The only limits to possibilities,
it seems, are the limits in our minds.
War has many faces: wars on terror, drugs and cancer.
Some benefit while others suffer. While high motives are propagated,
obfuscation, secrecy and denial tend to be the tools of beneficiaries to cloud
the eyes of those who pay the costs.
Take the war on cancer. Citizens via governments and charities pay millions of
dollars “fighting cancer”.
Debra Davis, a leading researcher in environmental health and founder of the
Centre for Environmental Oncology in Pittsburgh states that the lies, blindness
and corruption have made it largely a war of smoke and mirrors.
We are led to believe that science will produce a drug to cure cancer. However,
ways to prevent cancer are being ignored, concealed and denied while detection
and treatment are promoted for profit.
Davis reveals “the dirty underbellies of industry, politics, medicine, science
and the tragic human consequences of what is almost institutional dishonesty”.
Examples include the medical support for tobacco companies and chemical
companies failing to provide basic protection for employees, young children
knowingly being exposed to carcinogens, whole communities being polluted and
cancer societies being infiltrated by people determined to protect organizations
rather than address the issues.
Imminent scientists are being funded by companies they should be exposing. This
corrupt research may enter the scientific literature to become “received wisdom”
forming the basis of far reaching political decisions affecting the lives of us
all.
Nor is the law on the side of justice when employees and neighbours of chemical
plants claim compensation for cancer. We are, it seems, responsible for a lot –
avoiding exposure to dangerous chemicals, nourishing our bodies with wholesome
food and our souls with ideals that can both prevent and cure illness. “There's
got to be a better way to build our world than waiting for enough bodies to drop
or sicken before we decide we've got it wrong,” says Dr. Davis.
When we fall sick, we appreciate even more good health that sometimes is taken
for granted. For the more disciplined ones, there are attempts to eat well and
do some exercises. But is health only limited to the physical reality?
The UN World Health Organization has defined health as “a state of complete
physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity.” This view is similar to many traditional societies, which view human
beings as an integral part of nature and health involves physical, mental and
spiritual well-being. From these traditional teachings, there are valuable tips
for good health and well-being:
1. Express your feelings – Hidden and repressed emotions can degenerate into
illness. Learn to open our heart and to share with others. Dialogue is a
precious remedy.
2. Make decisions – An indecisive person constantly lives in doubt, anxiety and
anguish. Indecisiveness accumulates problems and makes us aggressive.
3. Seek solutions – Negative persons do not find solutions and prefer to whine
and criticize. Yet, negative thinking generates negative energy which turns into
illness.
4. Do not live by appearances – The one who hides reality puts up an image of
perfection, but this only adds weight to oneself which becomes heavy to carry.
Learn to be tranquil with ourselves.
5. Accept ourselves – A lack of self-esteem makes us turn our back to ourselves.
Integrity is the key to a healthy life. The one who does not accept oneself is
envious, competitive and destructive.
6. Trust – Connect with others and build profound relationships. Lack of trust
is lack of faith in oneself, in others and in the intelligence of nature.
7. Do not live being sad – Good humour, laughter and joy recuperate health and
bring a long life.
Traditional teachings have always taught that healthy body is linked to healthy
mind and healthy emotions. Good news: health is in our own hands and can be
cultivated. For the sceptics: these are very inexpensive tips that have no
side-effects!
In 1971, children started watching TV, on average, at age 4. Today, despite
warnings from the Canadian Paediatric Association and their American counterpart
that children under age 2 should not be watching television, the average
starting age is just over 4 months.
Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a Seattle paediatrician, armed with 25 years worth of
research, is again sounding the alarm on television and infants. "There is now
an obsession with having smart kids," says the doctor. But, ‘smart DVDs’ and
even award winning shows like Sesame Street can do more harm than good,
according to Christakis’ research, and may even be, in part, responsible for
some of the tenfold increase in cases of ADHD over the last two decades.
The strong evidence that too much TV too early is affecting infants’ brains has
caused France, for instance, “to curtail the broadcasting of shows aimed at
children under 3.” But with baby DVDs being a $500 million dollar business in
the US alone, and millions of marketing dollars being put behind the push, there
is a lot of interest in having parents believe, with no scientific proof, that
they are advancing their children by having them sit in front of the TV from a
very young age.
While not labelling TV an evil, at least one doctor is very eager to have us
hear beyond the loud boom of the marketing dollars. And as parents or anyone
with an interest in the generations of the future, we are obliged to consider
fact over rhetoric, developmental appropriateness over entertainment fetish. And
often children don’t want to be entertained; they simply want to explore. So let
us explore new ways together, letting our children’s sense of wonder be an
inspiration and a guide for us.
The recent Listeria contamination encourages us to reflect more deeply on the
necessary and vital control of the quality of the products we consume. If
controls exist, and judging from the authorities assigned to maintain them they
do, what about quality?
If we are truly looking for quality in the meat destined for our consumption, it
would be logical to assume that this quality would be found in the products used
to feed these very animals. However, the vast majority of animals in the food
chain destined to “nourish” us are themselves not nourished according to their
own nature.
To cite just one example, cattle, which are herbivores (that is, whose diet
consists naturally of only live plants), are required—in a logic dominated by
profit—to eat cereals, including corn, which is harmful to their system,
activating a breeding ground for bacteria, which then makes the use of
antibiotics indispensable.
This vicious circle stops when reflection begins. Philosophers are unique in
that they strive to ensure that what they consume (from food for the body to
food for the spirit) is in accordance with its profound nature, and enable it to
grow and gain elevation. It is essential for their very survival!
Messenger, a probe launched by NASA in August 2004, travelled close to the
planet Mercury for the first time this past January. Equipped with multiple
sensors, it collected its share of surprises for scientists.
One the one hand, the data have finally enabled scientists to resolve a debate
regarding the composition of the plains covering Mercury. The probe detected
volcanic activity. These plains are thus craters filled with lava.
Second, scientists have noted with amazement that Mercury has a magnetic field
similar to that of the Earth. This implies that Mercury is a planet with an
active core, and not a “dead” planet whose magnetism is a relic of the past (as
has very often been claimed by the scientific community).
Another “surprise”: Messenger made the very first observations of charged
particles in Mercury’s exosphere. Intense activity was detected, caused in large
part by solar radiation and winds.
A scientist involved in the project stated, “…thanks to Messenger, we perceive
that Mercury is a complex system and not just a ball of rock and metal.”
The leading lights of planetary science had always defended a vision of the
planet Mercury as an ordinary inert and dead rock in space. It was believed to
be pure stupidity to imagine that this rock could have any other action in the
solar system and in relation to the Earth than that of turning and wandering
fruitlessly, and sometimes appearing as a small point of light in the sky.
It is not a “surprise” now to observe that Mercury does not fit the
pre-established mould, that it is a sphere with a living, active magnetism,
interacting with the solar wind and, from that point on, with the solar system
itself!
The many “surprises” of the scientific world are more than surprises. They are
strong invalidations of misleading interpretations of the Real and its
subtleties that feed materialism. The “surprises” of the scientific world should
be accompanied by a recognition of the misuses of negative interpretations of
visions that recognize the system in which we exist as alive. These same leading
lights of a materialistic vision should also offer their apologies for having
maintained a false position, and promise to quickly acquire a healthy humility
and reserve so as to not exalt themselves in hasty and misleading
interpretations when knowledge appears so fragile and uncertain.
The recent Listeria contamination encourages us to reflect more deeply on the
necessary and vital control of the quality of the products we consume. If
controls exist, and judging from the authorities assigned to maintain them they
do, what about quality?
If we are truly looking for quality in the meat destined for our consumption, it
would be logical to assume that this quality would be found in the products used
to feed these very animals. However, the vast majority of animals in the food
chain destined to “nourish” us are themselves not nourished according to their
own nature.
To cite just one example, cattle, which are herbivores (that is, whose diet
consists naturally of only live plants), are required—in a logic dominated by
profit—to eat cereals, including corn, which is harmful to their system,
activating a breeding ground for bacteria, which then makes the use of
antibiotics indispensable.
This vicious circle stops when reflection begins. Philosophers are unique in
that they strive to ensure that what they consume (from food for the body to
food for the spirit) is in accordance with its profound nature, and enable it to
grow and gain elevation. It is essential for their very survival!
The United Nations declared 2009 the International Year of Astronomy marking the
work of Galileo and the first astronomical telescope 400 years ago.
Galileo (1564-1642) promoted the views of Copernicus who theorized that the sun
was at the centre of the solar system, with the planets, including the earth,
orbiting around it. This was in contrast to the Ptolemaic system, adopted as
Christian doctrine for more than a thousand years, that the earth was the
stationary centre of the universe, with the planets moving in orbits within
concentric spheres.
His close observations of the moon and planets, and the moons of Jupiter with
the 20 power telescope he built confirmed his thinking. In 1632 he published
Dialogues concerning Two Great World Systems but the Inquisition process banned
its sale. In 1633 he was tried as a heretic, forced to recant, sentenced to life
imprisonment, later changed to house arrest, for promoting a theory dangerous to
organized religion.
He lived in Florence (Italy), the hotbed of the Renaissance in the 14th to 16th
centuries, the locus of the revival of interest in classical antiquity,
humanity, arts, sciences and philosophy. Some of the key players were Dante,
Botticelli, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. This amazing period of
vitality virtually ended with the new rules of the Council of Trent leading to
the condemnation in Rome in 1600 of Giordano Bruno, one the most original
philosophers.
The culture of ancients was the inspiration for the golden age
(Renaissance/Rebirth) bringing new life and light to the 1000 years of
intellectual and spiritual stagnation known as Europe's Middle or Dark age. Once
again the virtues of Beauty, Truth, Justice were pursued and fundamental freedom
and responsibility nurtured.
Today as we probe the depths of the material universe, we need again to reach
back to our philosophical and spiritual roots in antiquity, East and West, to
gain a second birth lest we slip into the abyss of a darker age oblivious of the
path to true happiness, dignity, serenity, and knowledge of ourselves.
