Showing posts with label knowledge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label knowledge. Show all posts

Thursday, July 10, 2025

First 40 days after death; Bardo Thodol



Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?
Edgar Cayce was once America's "Sleeping Prophet," a healer who channeled many healers, guides, and a mysterious consortium of helpful beings trying to give a message to humanity and those who came seeking cures and answers as to why they were sick. The cures were provided in many case studies preserved by the A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment) in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The reason for strange illnesses that didn't seem to have a cause was often found to be past karma from past lives. Cayce was a Protestant Christian. He didn't believe in past lives, as that did not seem biblical nor in line with the belief system of the official church. He, however, studied the Bible and saw that it did teach that there were past lives and it certainly taught that karma (sowing what we reap) was real and an official position of the church today. His psychic abilities were present from childhood, but his greatest power came when he stepped out of the way in a trance like state (mistaken for sleeping) when he channeled information for those seeking it for themselves or others. He worked on much more than health and wellness. He predicted wars, discoveries, stock market trends, and even engineering through remote viewing, once going through a bridge to find defects in its construction. Cayce, who live a century ago, is alive and well today, reborn as David Wilcock (divinecosmos.com). You or anyone can talk to him and ask him questions about that life or this, as he is glad to answer. We almost traveled to Egypt with him to see the pyramids. He is now very busy with his ongoing research and his show on Gaia.com TV. (How can we know Cayce was reborn as Wilcock? Author Wynn Free proved it in his book on the subject, The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?: Interdimensional Communication and Global Transformation).

The Tibetan Book of the Dead: Bardo Thodol
(ReligionForBreakfast) What is the "Tibetan Book of the Dead"? The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or the Bardo Thodol, is arguably the most popular Vajrayana Buddhist text in Europe and the United States. Freud's protege Carl Jung loved it. So did Beatle John Lennon. But why? What is this text all about?

Sources
  • Lopez, Donald S. Jr. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011.
  • Coleman, Graham, and Thupten Jinpa, eds. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation. Translated by Gyurme Dorje. New York: Penguin Random House, 2005.
Sponsor
Edgar Cayce via AI; Religion for Breakfast, March 23, 2023; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Thursday, May 29, 2025

Spelling Bee 100 (Monty Python, Ananda)

Mmm, is it S-U-P-E-R-C-A-L-A-F-R-A-G-E-L-I-S-T-I-C-E-X-P-I-A-L-I-D-O-C-I-O-U-S?
(Scripps National Spelling Bee) 2025: 100 YEARS OF THE BEE
Monty Python's Flying Circus competitive mass spectacle sport of Novel Writing (The Final Rip Off)
.
A century of spelling keeps going strong

A field of 243 top young spellers will converge on National Harbor, Maryland, from [today] May 27 to May 29, 2025, to compete in a historic Scripps National Spelling Bee.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the iconic American competition, which was first held on June 17, 1925, with just nine participants.

“Reaching 100 years is more than a milestone — it’s a testament to the enduring power of words, learning and the human spirit,” said Corrie Loeffler, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.


I always knew I'd do it! Yes! Thanks, Saraswati!
“For a century, this competition has brought people together through eras of profound change — from world wars to the digital age — and still, the Bee continues to inspire excellence, curiosity, and connection. It’s a living piece of American history, and we’re honored to celebrate its legacy.”

This year’s 243 national qualifiers advanced through local and regional bees that took place through the end of March. All rounds of this year’s national competition — preliminaries, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals — will take place at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Maryland.


Highlights of 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee field

Yes, well, it comes as no surprise really. *Yawn*
The spellers range in age from 8 to 14. Only 53 spellers return from the 2024 field, and 178 spellers – 73% – are competing in their first Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Only one 2024 finalist advanced to the 2025 national competition: Faizan Zaki, who finished second last year behind Bruhat Soma, following his record-breaking spell-off.

Tarini Nandakumar is competing in her fifth consecutive Scripps National Spelling Bee. She was a finalist and finished ninth in 2023.

Navtaj Singh, Micah Sterling and Avinav Prem Anand are competing in their fourth straight national competition. Harini Murali is in her fourth Bee overall, as is Zaki.

There are spellers from all 50 states and the [ruling imperial seat of power known as the] District of Columbia [Columbia being the original name of "America," after the titular goddess who was buried and erased from U.S. history, as if Amerigo Vespucci gave the Americas their name].

Texas has the largest representation with 22 national competitors. California is next with 20, followed by Ohio with 15, and Illinois with 13. Florida and New York have 12 each. There are 13 competitors from outside the 50 United States, representing the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Guam, Kuwait, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More

Celebrating a 100-year tradition...
2025: 100 YEARS OF THE BEE
(Scripps National Spelling Bee) 2025 - For a century, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been much more than a competition. It has become a symbol of perseverance, intellect, and community. From its humble beginnings to becoming a cornerstone of American culture, the Bee has empowered millions of students, fostered lifelong friendships, and united communities in the love of language and learning. Through the words we spell, we tell stories — stories of personal triumph, academic achievement, and the diverse fabric of the American experience. As we honor this incredible milestone, we celebrate not just 100 years of history but 100 years of making an impact on generations of learners and the communities they inspire. Join us in commemorating this momentous occasion, as we reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and look forward to an even brighter future.

What is spelling but memory? Memory, like most things, is due to karma: Ananda
Ananda recounting all the suttas, beginning each with, "Thus have I heard." (First Council)
.
This is the Middle Way avoiding extremes
Among all the disciples of the Buddha, foremost in memorization was his personal assistant [and possibly one of his sons with a dancing girl named Mriga, according to some traditions, which would make him Ven. Rahula's half-brother] Venerable Ananda.
  • [It makes sense that Ananda would also be the Buddha's son but that this would have been suppressed or discarded in most traditions. One shining piece of evidence is when Ven. Rahula (whom the Buddha had ordained at age 7) was 18, he was getting very frisky and overwhelmed by sensual craving, presumably due to hormones at that age and the luxurious life he had left behind in the palace in his former kingdom of Kapilavatthu. He was walking with the Buddha and Ananda, if memory serves, making comments about how at that moment there were in the world only three people with the past karma to become "world monarchs" (cakkavati or chakravartin rulers).
  • Ven. Rahula, the Buddha, and Ven. Ananda
    Prince Siddhartha had turned his back on that possibility, forecast by soothsayers when he was a child, much to his father King Suddhodana's delight. Ananda was already a monk for a long time. And there was him. If Rahula disrobed, returned to the palace, and let nature take its course, he could become king of this world. Such talk worried the Buddha, who instructed a monk that -- after 11 years in the robe learning the basics -- Ven. Rahula was now ready to intensively put the Teachings into practice. He did and thereby attained arahantship. If the other person there was Ananda, it would be among these three close relatives that the karma existed to attain to the status of a world-monarch.] Was Ananda the Buddha's son?
Ananda lived one kappa = 120 years
It is only because of Ananda that we have "Buddhism" as we do. When the Buddha passed into final nirvana, having established the Sangha (the Buddhist Monastic Community) and left in place the Noble Sangha (the community of enlightened disciples in any of the four stages of awakening), Ven. Maha Kassapa took it upon himself to begin a religion. He did this by calling together the First Buddhist Council of fully enlightened disciples (theras and, presumably, theris). The texts say 500 arahants (fully enlightened beings) attended, but this number simply means "a large number." It was almost 499, as it were, because Ananda was the most important person to be invited, but he did not qualify to attend. He was needed to recount the suttas (sutras, sermons, narrated teachings, the Buddha's "discourses").

Another monk was put in charge of the Vinaya (Monastic Disciplinary Code rules). But Ananda was only a stream enterer at the first stage of awakening. So he made a strenuous effort to put into practice all that he knew, had heard directly from the Buddha, and committed to memory. It was no use. He failed. This path cannot be accomplished simply by a "sense of urgency" (samvega), which is important to recognize the meaning of the Buddha's last words to be a lamp unto oneself and work out one's own salvation with diligence (to mindfully put into practice the theory of the Teaching in so consistent a manner that one makes an end of all suffering in no long time). Because he tried so hard, Ananda failed. He had slacked off for years, so he never attained arahantship, full realization.

Now the opposite problem was impeding him -- to much efforting, too much strain, too much craving and grasping. He needed santosha ("contentment") to ease his mind so it could blossom. The night before the Council was to meet, he practiced intensive meditation deep into the night. Finally, he recognized his failure with frustration and exhaustion, so he gave up and decided to go to sleep.

Laying off the pressure (surrendering, giving up, letting go of craving it and needing it), he began to lie down. He was going from the extreme of too much to the other extreme of too little, at one moment achieving balance between the two, the Middle Way that avoids extremes of austerity and luxury. He became the only disciple to achieve awakening outside of one of the "four bodily positions" (lying down, sitting, standing, or walking). He attained, because he let go, between sitting and lying down.

He sat right up and experienced the paths-and-fruits of self-realization (magga-phala). He was welcomed into the Council by the other fully enlightened beings and recited all the discourses he had heard over the preceding 25 years as the Buddha's chief assistant. This is why all sutras begin not with "once upon a time" but rather "thus have I heard" (Evam me sutam).
  • Buddhist tradition maintains that the disciple Ānanda used the formula for the first time, as a form of personal testimony... [to say that he himself was attesting that this is what the Buddha had said]. Scholars may rightly doubt that this could be true for all sutras, certainly not applying to later apocryphal Mahayana inventions, which have become some of the most famous "sutras" [sutured together sermons with a single throughline or thread] of all, namely, The Heart Sutra, The Diamond Sutra, The Lotus Sutra... More
Nevertheless, it is undisputed that Ananda had a tremendous memory like a spelling bee champion. And one is forced to wondered what it is about India (ancient Maha Bharat, Jambudvipa, Asoka's Empire) that produces to many remarkable memory banks in little boys and girls of Indian origin.
  • Is it Goddess Saraswati's doing?
  • Is it the clean vegetarian (ahimsa) diet?
  • Is it past study of the Vedas (in previous lives) as Brahmins memorizing countless slokas?
  • Is it genetically handed down?
  • Is it training and the way the Indian system chose to educate its children?
  • Is it rich minerals in the soil coming down from the Himalayas nourishing the babies?
  • Is it Hinduism (or Islam or Jainism or Sikhism)?
  • Is it yogic magic?
  • Is it British colonial rule, forcing everyone into a Western model of learning and punishment and stealing Indian and Islamic innovations (in mathematics and sciences, like the invention of "zero" and the Ayurveda or "health sciences") and calling them British?
No, it's not likely this last one, but possibly any of the previous ones.

The Buddha praises Ananda
“The foremost of my monastic disciples who are very learned is Ānanda… with a good memory is Ānanda. ...with an extensive range is Ānanda. ...[foremost] in retention [memory] is Ānanda. ...[foremost] as a personal attendant is Ānanda.” Source: AN 1.219–234: Catuttha Vagga—Ven. Sujato (trans)
  • Scripps National Spelling Bee; Monty Python; Ven. Sujata (suttacentral.net); memory and the story of Ananda explained by Dhr. Seven; Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Monday, April 28, 2025

Jesus was Black? Ethiopian Bible banned


Forbidden Knowledge: Why the Ethiopian Bible was banned and its connection to Black people
Ethiopian Bible, Orthodox Tewahedo canon
(Whispers of Wisdom Within) April 10, 2025: Jesus, who was from Africa (Aramaic-speaking Judea, Bethlehem, Israel, Egypt), was technically BLACK? 🔥 The Hidden Truth: Ancient Bible Stories That Unlock Lost Mysteries of Jesus Christ. Whispers of Wisdom Within

CHAPTERS
  • 00:00 - Intro: Forbidden Knowledge: Why the Ethiopian Bible was banned! What connection with Black people
  • 01:23 - Part 1: The mystery of the missing books (Ancient Bible, Ethiopian Bible)
  • 04:07 - Part 2: The revolutionary content of the banned books (Why the Ethiopian Bible got banned)
  • 07:52 - Part 3: The African roots of Jesus revealed (Jesus, Christianity origins)
  • 10:36 - Part 4: The divine conspiracy (Ethiopian Orthodox Church)
  • 14:16 - Part 5: The revolutionary truth unlocked (Ethiopian Bible mystery)
  • 18:00 - Part 6: The personal journey - What it means for white Christians (Christianity origins)
Hidden Truth: Bible unlocks lost mysteries
Keywords are placed where they make the most logical sense in the video's outline, ensuring they appear naturally while supporting the progression of the narrative. The placement aligns with the content of each section while incorporating all key search terms.

Israel is also in Africa of course
ABOUT: Whispers of Wisdom Within — endless inspiration from ancient lessons to transform life. This ancient teaching bends reality. WoWW is a dedicated group passionate about sharing knowledge and researching historical documents. Its mission is to distill ancient lessons from history and those who contribute to society. By incorporating AI, it recreates historical events and documents, giving a fresh perspective to timeless stories, driven by a love of learning and creativity. WoWW's meticulous research will enrich experience, offering fresh perspectives. WoWW produces and creates inspirational videos that benefit people around the world. Let the channel inspire and transform life. 
IMPORTANT: Like Elon Musk's extensive use of AI across his companies, WoWW also incorporates AI in producing some videos. WoWW ensures that all music, images, and assets are either licensed or follow the rules of Fair Use. Content spans documentary, factual information, rumors, and fiction. Please note that nothing on this channel constitutes medical or financial advice. #biblestories #biblestudy #god #bible #WhispersofWisdomWithin #1775bible #the1775bible
  • Whispers of Wisdom Within, April 10, 2025; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Is science on verge of 'consciousness'?

The Origins and History of Consciousness (Erich Neumann)

Is science slowly stumbling on the fact that "consciousness" is impersonal and continues after death? We wouldn't like to think so because that does not accord with what is comfortable, and science doesn't ask big questions with easy answers.

It instead proceeds in tiny increments as it develops theories to explain larger data sets. A recent study on consciousness brings up the suggestion that human consciousness could be a side effect of entropy (sciencealert.com).

*Sarcasm* What? It's not the pinnacle of evolution and existence, the greatest thing in the universe, the end all be all proving that souls exist and are invincible and immortal?

Cosmic Consciousness (R.M. Bucke)
Dr. Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.
The shocking truth (anatta) is too much to handle for most people, who invariably misinterpret it to mean that things are eternal or things are annihilated, and there's no other possibility. Imagine if both extremes in view were wrong. They are. We neither carry on through death forever, nor are we annihilated at death. Spiritists and materialists both have it wrong.

Hidden Spring (Mark Solms)
Things are dependently originated. What arises does so dependent on conditions (so they do not really arise except as an illusion with the illusory marks of permanence, fulfillment, and personality).

In fact, we find, the three opposite Marks of Existence (ti-lakkhana) are present. Ultimately, "things" that arise dependent on causes and conditions are impermanent, disappointing, and impersonal.

Brain is not base of consciousness, which pervades all things we are conscious of. Anencephaly
.
Physics of Expanded Consciousness
But will science ever come to that conclusion? Not likely. The goal of science is not enlightenment and liberation from the round of rebirth and suffering. (How can something even be said to be "reborn" if it cannot, like a moving river, be said to persist unchanged for two consecutive moments? It can).

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Funny Christian atheist (We're non-theists)

Seth Andrews, Imagine 7 Conference, 6/3/17 (The Thinking Atheist, YouTube, 6/20/17); Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Christianity made me talk like an idiot
Would a Jewish leader really be so arrogant and elitist as to say, "You shouldn't be worshipping one Jew [Jesus Christ], you should be worshipping all of us"? (Israeli Rabbi Chaim Richman/rense.com)
This meme could serve as a poster for Christianity's current mission in the world.
Don't judge Christianity based on these easy targets. There's no need to. Judge it by its best.
.
It's all in your head, Christians.
(TheThinkingAtheist) Former self-described "idiot" sounding Christian, Seth Andrews became an atheist and gave this very funny speech in the summer of 2017 in Toronto at the Imagine 7 Conference.

It's a humorous (and perhaps therapeutic) romp through Andrews's religious past and the often-bizarre words and attitudes that reflected his fundamentalist Christian faith.
Religion sucks, so we're Buddhist nontheists

If atheism is good enough for Professor of Religion Bart D. Ehrman, it's good enough for me. Buddhism is not atheists. Some Buddhists are, but Buddhism isn't.

Buddhism is nontheistic. That means the world may be polytheistic or pantheistic, but that does not have much bearing on my awakening (bodhi, "enlightenment").

If there is a god, a God, or a GOD (deva, brahma, or Brahman), that's fine and that's great, but that being is not awake, not enlightened, not even on the path to making an end of illusion and suffering.

Can we be believers, be Christians, be agnostics (unknowers), be Hindus, be anything AND also be Buddhists? YES. In Buddhism, no one has to believe; moreover, no one is precluded from believing. What one must do, eventually, is KNOW. This is a path to direct knowing-and-seeing. That is the highest thing, what anyone tired of mere "faith" and "belief" would wish for.

Meditators, this is a Teaching (Dharma) for the wise, diligent, inquisitive, ready to investigate
  • The Buddha not only made known the Truth. He did something better: He made known the PATH leading to knowledge-and-vision of the Truth for oneself. It's personally verifiable and, if not verified, it's not of much use. To just believe on account of it (the Dharma) would be like using a smart phone as a hammer or paperweight.
Confession of a Buddhist Atheist (S. Batchelor)
And it still wouldn't make "God" important to what's ultimately true or necessary in this cyclic existence (samsara). In other religions, God is the very reason for religion. But in Buddhism (and to an extent also in Jainism), God isn't what it's all about.

So there are Buddhist atheists. It would be better to be pantheistic or polytheistic. There is no necessity of worshiping, regarding, or devoting oneself to these beings. That's not what's important. It may be helpful. It might be harmful. Be that as it may, being nontheistic is better than being atheistic.

There is No God...and He is Always with You
In nontheism, it doesn't matter if there is or isn't a god/God. Let there be. Let there not be. It's all the same. We still have play and work to do. We must still work out our own liberation. Reality is still the same reality.

Too often the world atheism has come to mean "not believing in any religion" or anything higher than self-will. That's a mistake. It's fine not to believe any religion. We need freedom from religion to be sure. But something that limits me from believing what is not yet seen, not yet tested, not yet experienced?

Our quest is our spirituality, and we believe in
  • the historical Buddha's great awakening,
  • karma,
  • the need for kindness and compassion,
  • knowledge and wisdom,
  • real magic,
  • sciences and experimentation,
  • visions,
  • entheogens (psychedelic mind-expanding natural substances),
  • rebirth,
  • yoga,
  • visions,
  • ghosts,
  • the unseen,
  • devas,
  • psychic phenomena,
  • the paranormal,
  • Edgar Cayce's abilities,
  • limitless human potential,
  • Sasquatch,
  • UFOs (and not just when the government says it's okay to),
  • ancient advanced civilizations,
  • lycanthropy,
  • the possibility that all of this is a simulation,
  • and lots of "crazy" stuff.
Not all Christians stay in Christianity?
And we investigate. And we meditate. And we're called "New Age." And we're laughed at for now and regarded as normal later. Does that mean we can't be atheists? To some, depending on how they're misdefining the term.

Buddhism (as well as the Dharmic religions in general, the non-Abrahamic faiths, New Age cults and religions, and Eastern Philosophies are more science-friendly.

But belief in religion, its tenets and/or Gods, hasn't stopped many Christians, as Andrews points out, from practicing science, going to doctors, and taking safety precautions while praying or practicing their beliefs/faiths/cultural customs. They should be free to do that, and we should be free of them doing that to us. But being free means more than just not believing in God, a theos (dios, deus) or in the crazy dictates of someone's interpretation of a sacred text or book.

Buddhism is great because it has the Kalama Sutra, a discourse the Buddha gave to the Kalama people. In it he advises them not to believe, not to have mere faith, not to trust in some guru, not to take his word for anything. But rather, he tells them that it would be wise to see if they don't already agree with some basics. And is he, the Buddha, really saying anything different? He begins with the point at the heart of this question: Does greed arise for the benefit of a person, the people around that person, or everyone around? Does hate? Does delusion (wrong views)?

But why not? We all want these things. We want. We hate. We fancy this view as being right or wrong, obvious or foolish. Is that doing us good or harm? Well, obviously, the Kalamas can rightly say that from their own experience, from their own observation, when a person is greedy, that's not actually good for that person. It's surely not good for others around that person, nor is it good for society in general. (It would be better that they were unselfish and shared things).

I disbelieve in dinosaurs. I believe in Eric Dubay
The same with hate. It feels "good" (relief) to hate, to express anger, to seek revenge, to be self-righteous, to "even" the score, to retaliate... But is that actually good for a person? It's obviously not good for the people around that person nor for the greater society, everyone being teed off and attacking each other for how they've been slighted.

The same and more so with delusion (ignorance, wrong views, confusion). That's the root of all of our problems. So, yes, a Buddhist can be an atheist. And it would be better to be a nontheist and not trouble ourselves with making others wrong or making ourselves right in others' eyes.

Atheist evangelists proselytize church kids.
Obviously, religion has the power to make fools of people. And we'll sound like idiots. The same will be true when we worship at the altar of Science (Scientism), paying obeisance (and money) to the white-clad brotherhood of priests (scientists and lab workers) of the various votive orders (labs and universities). Just try having a new theory or taking a stand against the prevailing theory and see what happens.

Be free. Think. And don't forget this important message: There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way. So be happy.

May all living beings be well and happy. And, remember, you can still celebrate the holidays. Atheists are not having as much fun as we should be having, having rid ourselves of the wrong views of those poor unfortunate religionists. 😁😸🎃

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

The brain's perception deception (NOVA)

NOVA PBS Official, May 17, 2023; CC Liu, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Your Brain: Perception Deception | full documentary | NOVA | PBS
Buddha's Brain (Dr. Rick Hanson, Ph.D.)
(NOVA PBS Official) Is what we see real? Join neuroscientist Heather Berlin on a quest to understand how our brain shapes our reality, and why we can’t always trust what you perceive.

In the first hour of this two-part series, learn what the latest research shows about how our brain processes and shapes the world around us, and discover the surprising tricks and shortcuts our brain takes to help us survive.

CHAPTERS
  • 00:00 Introduction
  • 03:59 The Science of Optical Illusions and Blind Spots
  • 13:48 Is the Dress Blue and Black or White and Gold?
  • 21:06 Yanny or Laurel? Auditory Illusions
  • 24:46 Is Pain an Illusion?
  • 30:28 What is Consciousness? Blind Spots and Babies
  • 41:35 How is Consciousness Measured?
  • 45:32 How the Brain Affects Memories
  • 50:14 Conclusion
Official website: to.pbs.org/3Ic9dRS | #novapbs
© 2023 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved.  This program was produced by GBH, which is solely responsible for its content. This program is made possible by viewers like us. Support our local PBS station: pbs.org/donate. Enjoy full episodes of favorite PBS shows anytime, anywhere with the free PBS App: to.pbs.org/2QbtzhR. Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA's newsletter.

FOLLOW: NOVA YouTube: novaonline Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NOVApbs ​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/novapbs ​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novapbs/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@novapbs PBS Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PBS/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/PBS/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PBS/ YouTube: / pbs TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbs Shop: https://shop.pbs.org/ #brainscience #perception #neuroscience #illusion #illusionvideo #illusionvideo #opticalillusion #consciousness