New research at Michael Pollan's laboratory at UC Berkeley confirms what Cambridge scientist J.C. Bose, Paramahamsa Yogananda, Peter Tompkins, Christopher Bird, Tel Aviv University researchers, dryads, sensitives, empaths like Dr. Doreen Virtue and Dr. Caroline Myss and gardeners everywhere have known and been telling us for a long time.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) was found to be as effective as the antidepressant escitalopram in reducing agoraphobia, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder symptoms.
The muti-institution study, led by the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, suggests that mindfulness (sati) practices may offer a viable alternative to medication for treating anxiety disorders, with significantly fewer side effects.
Anxiety disorders affect millions of people and are frequently treated with medications like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Ketamine and psychedelics may also work better than toxic antidepressants.
. While SSRIs can be an effective tool in countering the symptoms of anxiety disorders, they also come with side effects that can negatively impact a patient's quality of life in other ways.
In the case of escitalopram (sold as Lexapro and Cipralex), these adverse effects include nausea, headaches, dry mouth, excessive sweating, insomnia, and fatigue.
The research team previously demonstrated that eight weeks of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) was non-inferior to escitalopram in providing stress relief and emotional regulation without having the additional drawbacks (avoiding the side effects of synthetic allopathic drugs).
In a new research letter, "Mindfulness Meditation vs Escitalopram for Treatment of Anxiety Disorders: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial," published in JAMA Network Open, the team presents the secondary outcomes of patient-reported anxiety, depression, and quality of life from the previous study.
Related video: Healing from Depression and Navigating Obsession (Francesca Tighinean) This is one of the darkest manipulation techniques that people...
The study
Drugs disrupt enzyme processes like magic.
The study involved 276 adults diagnosed with various anxiety disorders (including agoraphobia, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder). Participants were randomly assigned to either the MBSR program or escitalopram treatment. The MBSR group attended weekly sessions focused on mindfulness meditation techniques, while the escitalopram group received dosages ranging from 10 to 20 mg per day with regular clinical follow-ups. Researchers used multiple standardized scales to measure anxiety, depression, and quality of life, both from patient and clinician perspectives. Blinded evaluators conducted assessments using tools like the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the PROMIS Anxiety Short Form.
Findings revealed that both groups experienced similar reductions in anxiety symptoms over the study period. No significant differences were detected between MBSR and escitalopram in overall anxiety reduction by Week 8, the study's primary endpoint.
Escitalopram showed a slight edge in symptom reduction at the mid-treatment point (Week 4), but these improvements were not sustained by the end of the study.
Adverse event rates were the only significant difference between the two treatments. Nearly 79% of escitalopram recipients reported at least one study-related side effect, compared to just 15% of those in the mindfulness group.
The beginning of stories is not the real first point
The curious mistaken assumption about "creation" as understood in the West and in the Abrahamic faiths is that it is treated as absolute when it is no such thing. Any creation is The Creation, when it is just a story, a myth meant to explain current things. These narratives do not reveal existential questions. For example, say the God "created" Adam and Eve. They were not the first. They are just the current generation, the latest Adama (a group, not an individual). Eve was not the first woman in that story; Lilith was, but she's erased and divorced and sent away. What happened to the God's wife, Asherah? She was widely venerated as the Queen of Heaven in the past, but then all her temples were wiped out and her votive totem pole statues were smashed. They are found all the time, so widespread was devotion to her. That God, the God of the Bible, had a wife? He/It sure did.
Even if one could show that the Elohim, the gods, created humankind in their image, as is written, it was not the first creation of those means, merely this earthly vehicle, this generation of body (or bodies, koshas), not a "first creation" at all. It may be those gods think they did create something out of nothing, or bodies out of dust, and that may be. They are/were very advanced extraterrestrials/extradimensionals. But the us we imagine existing now existed before. There was karma in the past, and those old deeds have more to do with what happens to us now, what we experience seemingly by chance or fate.
Ven. Dr. Suwanda H. J. Sugunasiri, Ph.D.
The Buddha told a creation myth, not of a "first creation" but of humanoid life on earth. That "Genesis" is called the Agganna Sutta, the Discourse on Beginnings. The tale is wrapped in the power of karma because the Buddha, rather than being Buddhist, was a Karmavadin, a "Teacher of the Efficacy of Karma" or action. (One monk even reads into this tale an allegory about energy, photonic light, and its impact on matter here; see Dhamma Aboard Evolution, putting Buddhism right in line with science. Buddhism should not be put in line with mere materialistic science because it is metaphysical. That is, it goes beyond materialism to explain things).
The Agganna Sutta perhaps does not actually qualify as a creation myth because it does not say, "There was nothing and then there was this." Rather, no first point is asserted, discerned, or claimed. The Buddha may have seen one, but he did not state that. What he did state was that this plane was in such a way, and beings alighted on it. They came as they were, having (pre)existed elsewhere, and they began to devolve here. Surely there is evolution in Buddhism, but it is cyclical, bound up with devolution.
Having eaten, it's time to start making art.
So as for the "second moment" of creation, after they arrived, this happened. Then this happened. And on account of this, things became like that. Things were dependently originated. The cause, ultimately, was karma (deeds). Things devolved. Later, they will evolve again. And after that, they will devolve. This goes on and on. It is as if there were a garden called Earth, a great and beautiful place. Who made it? Did anyone make it? Others might have, or it might have just been.
Being can terraform platforms and places, bring life and set it a'rolling. Things might even originate on their own when circumstances permit -- such as when stardust, full of amino acids, crashes on suitable ground for organic things to arise. Or space traveling beings may have set up countless worlds.
Whatever the case, those organic "beings" who come to be are not beginning out of nothing. They have been, and they will be again, cyclically. Thiis is samsara, the endless round of rebirth. It is not the same being being reborn, but it is not quite right to say it is another as that does violence to the language. Ultimately, they are not the same. But conventionally, one having given rise to the other, they may be said to be the same string, the same line, the reappearing of the former version.
Then, having arrived, having devolved, beings became humanoid earthlings, and in the second moment, they did stuff -- art, civilization, farming, survival...karma, giving us what we have now. What we do matters. It will give future earthlings what they will have.
Proto-India: Indus Valley Civilization (IVC)
Reality is strange, much different than what it seems. We are seeing a tiny fraction and attempting to form whole theories. It is like looking through a pinhole into a mostly dark room and spinning an entire narrative from that fragment of data. It is like looking through a glass darkly.
It would be far better to first purify the mind/heart, see things with the third eye (pineal gland), and understand things in context. And most of that context extends long before this slice of life and goes on long after. In this way, undertaking "science" with a cleansed instrument of understanding, we will not be misled by our six senses or jump to conclusions or favor certain answers. And when we see things as they really are, we can be set free. The delusion entraps one, whereas the Truth sets one free.
The Second Moment of Creation | Civilizations | Episode 1 | PBS
(PBS) PBS is an American public broadcast service. Aug. 2, 2024: Watch more of this series with PBS Passport. Examine the formative role of art and the creative imagination in the forging of humanity itself.
Images and artifacts found in South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia testify to the urge to develop civilizations. Liev Schreiber narrates. (Originally aired in 2018).
This program is made possible by viewers. Support local PBS station: pbs.org/donate. Subscribe to the PBS channel for more clips: pbs. Enjoy full episodes of favorite PBS shows anytime, anywhere with the free PBS App.
Civilizations: Survey the history of art from antiquity to the present on a global scale. Civilizations reveals the role art and creative imagination have played in forging humanity and introduces viewers to works of beauty, ingenuity, and illumination across cultures. Download. #ancienthistory #worldhistory #anthropology #CivilizationsPBS
However, there is ample evidence that significant information regarding our Moon and the Apollo landings have been withheld from the public.
In fact, the "Moon Express" mining operation being planned raises questions about all of this as well. Research by David Icke states many baffling things about our moon, Luna or Chandra. Who can say if Icke (pronounced ike) is right about all of his assertions, but it is enough to know that we do not know.
(David Icke, May 22, 2016) The Moon is not what you think it is -- The Moon Matrix. What is the Moon? Icke's new book now available here: DavidIckeStore.com
Buddhist cosmology: 31 Planes of Existence
Cātu-mahā-rājika deva loka(Tibetan rgyal chen bzhi, Japanese 四大王衆天 Shidaiōshu-ten) or "The world of the Four Great [Space] Kings" is found on the lower slopes of Mt. Sumeru, though some of its inhabitants live in the air/space around this axis mundi or axial "world mountain" thought in Tibet to be Mt. Kailash. Its rulers are the four great kings named: Virūḍhaka, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virūpākṣa, and their leader Vaiśravaṇa. The devaswho guide the Sun and Moon are also part of this world... More David Icke: Who built the Moon?
The Lion Sleeps No More, Jan. 22, 2017 live presentation
What did Nostradamus predict for the coming year 2017? (express.co.uk/news)
(Russianvids) Buzz Aldrin in Antarctica: Moon confession hoax, wearing two watches, archeology...
Widower or cheating on Mrs. Eva Braun-Hitler?
Adolf Hitler lived to 95 with dark Brazilian lover This picture that proves Adolf Hitler did not die in his bunker and escaped to Brazil where he lived to the ripe old age of 95, a Nazi-hunting author claims.
VIDEO: Chemtrails full of happy drugs and viruses Secretive and corrupt world leaders are filling the skies with lingering chemicals to keep us in check, and sick, by blasting aerosols through so-called "chemtrails," persistent contrails in the skies over cities, it has astonishingly been claimed.
Afghan demonstrators protest against Ahmad Ghaws Zalmai (11/11/07), a man accused of insulting the Quran by misinterpreting the holy book, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. An appeals court hearing , Feb. 8, 2009 could decide the fate of Zalmai and five others involved in the reprinting of a Quran into one of Afghanistan's languages (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul).
Let this stand as a cautionary tale to Buddhists who would bicker as to what is and is not "orthodox." Afghanistan was once a seat of Buddhism dominated by Eastern philosophical ideals of ahimsa (non-harming and free inquiry). Like Christianity's severe history of persecution throughout Europe (think Spanish Inquistion) and America (think Salem witch trials) like so many tribal groups, even otherwise peaceful Hindus. (As previously reported in WQ, Indonesia and other Islamic countries already ban Muslims from participating in some yoga classes).
.
The Islamic onslaught that destroyed Greek, Middle Eastern, and Indian Buddhism was not satisfied to murder "infidels." Rather, any deviation from tradition, any attempt at interpretation, questioning, or reform seems susceptible to overwhelming force:
Death Penalty over Translation of Koran Heidi Vogt (AP)
KABUL, Afghanistan – No one knows who brought the book to the mosque, or at least no one dares say. The pocket-size translation of the Quran has already landed six men in prison in Afghanistan and left two of them begging judges to spare their lives. They're accused of modifying the Quran and their fate could be decided Sunday in court.
The trial illustrates what critics call the undue influence of hardline clerics in Afghanistan, a major hurdle as the country tries to establish a lawful society amid war and militant violence.
The book appeared among gifts left for the cleric at a major Kabul mosque after Friday prayers in September 2007. It was a translation of the Quran into one of Afghanistan's languages, with a note giving permission to reprint the text as long as it was distributed for free. More>>
Burning Man participants compete in the swimming leg of the annual Black Rock City triathalon at the Burning Man festival near Gerlach, Nevada, on Saturday, 8/30/08. Burning Man is an annual art event and temporary community based on radical self expression and self-reliance in the Black Rock Desert (AP Photo/Brad Horn).
Center Camp is seen from an experimental airplane during the Burning Man festival on Friday, 8/29/08 (AP Photo/Brad Horn).
An aerial view of Black Rock City during the Burning Man festival 8/ 29/08 (AP Photo/Brad Horn).
A camel powered by two men travels across the playa at the Black Rock Desert 8/29/08, during the Burning Man festival (AP Photo/Brad Horn).
A fire dancer performs on Wednesday morning, 8/27/08, on the playa of the Black Rock Desert during the Burning Man festival (AP Photo/Brad Horn).
Dust storm causes some to leave Burning Man early
Martin Griffith (AP)
RENO, Nevada -- A dust storm chased away some participants -- including the Buddha installation -- from the counterculture Burning Man festival before its traditional climax Saturday night on the northern Nevada desert, authorities said. Roger Farschon, incident commander for the federal Bureau of Land Management, said the dust storm on the Black Rock Desert about 110 miles north of Reno began early Saturday afternoon and continued into the evening.
"We are in (a) total whiteout," he wrote by e-mail. "A similar cold front caused a major dust event on Monday. The rest of the event has been relatively dust-free." The annual celebration of radical self-expression was scheduled to climax Saturday night with the torching of its 40-foot signature effigy.
The crowd on Saturday morning reached a record 49,599, up from 47,097 last year, authorities reported.
Farschon said he was unaware of any fatalities or major arrests during the weeklong event leading up to Labor Day. "Overall, the event is going smoothly with no major problems," he wrote. "Medical cases are very consistent with last year with daily patient loads of 0.5 to 0.7% of the population."
The BLM had made six arrests and issued 129 citations to participants through early Saturday morning, many for drug violations. Burning Man, an eclectic art, music and performance festival, began in 1986 at San Francisco's Baker Beach and was moved to the Black Rock Desert in 1990.
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(David Icke, May 22, 2016) The Moon is not what you think it is -- The Moon Matrix. What is the Moon? Icke's new book now available here: DavidIckeStore.com
VIDEO: Chemtrails full of happy drugs and viruses Secretive and corrupt world leaders are filling the skies with lingering chemicals to keep us in check, and sick, by blasting aerosols through so-called "chemtrails," persistent contrails in the skies over cities, it has astonishingly been claimed.
