(The Unknown Void) Early human mating was more savage than thought. [Still this way today?]
Niccolo, does she love me? I need to know!
Showing posts with label social factors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social factors. Show all posts
Thursday, June 18, 2026
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Wild chimps share alcohol, get drunk
 |
| Let's get fruit, Jane. - Without Tarzan? |
SUMMARY: The use of fermented foods and drinks by humans is so widespread as to be considered ubiquitous, with their use largely linked to dietary benefits and social bonding [123].
The discovery of a molecular adaptation in an alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme that greatly increased ethanol metabolism in the common ancestor of African apes suggests that the incorporation of fermented fruit in the human diet [such as kombucha and fermented relishes and foods] has ancient origins [4].
However, little is known about the inclusion of ethanolic foods in the diet of nonhuman great apes. Here [at Science Direct], we document for the first time the repeated ingestion and sharing of naturally fermented African breadfruit (Treculia africana) with confirmed ethanol (alcohol), by wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) [humans' last common ancestor] in Cantanhez [Forests] National Park, [Southern] Guinea-Bissau.
Widespread plant food sharing in great apes and the recent confirmation of ethanol presence in diverse fruit species [5] suggest the sharing, and dietary incorporation, of ethanol-containing foods is extensive and may have played a long-standing role in hominoid societies.
- Current Biology, Wild chimpanzees share fermented fruits (ScienceDirect), April 21, 2025; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Rise of ‘Female Loneliness’ (Dukkha Girl)
 |
| This sucks so friggin bad and I'm all alone. |
We miss our beloved, adopted (Shanghai victim) correspondent Dukkha Girl. She was on, she was gone, she came back, and now who knows where she is? So here's a replacement, Shoe0nHead, a clever allusion to that time someone asked the Zen master a koan and he "answered" by putting a sandal on his head and walking out. Ha.
But in a serious vein, if people only knew what dukkha is, they would have much more respect for what the Buddha found. What he taught, which made him so famous, is how to bring all suffering to an end. "Impossible!," people say, but it is possible, and a fraction of beings have already done it, giving the world the Noble Sangha, the community of those on the stages of awakening.
We would like to leave the term dukkha untranslated -- and nowadays not attempt to define "girl" either because of the libcon rancor and feminist hypocrisy that tends to engender -- because it's a multivalent Sanskrit word, having a range of meanings, with many shades and intensities.
 |
| Does the Buddha have advice for worldlings? |
It is not getting what we want, getting what we don't want, and all forms of ill and unease. It is pain, it is sadness, it is loss, it is ultimately that lack of fulfillment that drives us on to keep hoping and searching (craving) even though it continuously leaves us dissatisfied and off kilter and out of sorts.
 |
| No one gets me, except Grumpy Cats. He does. |
 |
| We ignore the danger of suffering, the misfortune others meet, until the S gets real (bad touch) |
.
It is completely wrong to interpret Buddhism as saying there is no pleasure. If there were no pleasure, the Buddha explains, no one would stay in samsara. Of course, there's pleasure. It is our relationship to pleasure that is problematic. We crave, grasp at, and cling to the pleasant; we exhibit aversion and fear toward the unpleasant; we get bored or confused and fall asleep with the neutral, the neither-pleasant-nor-unpleasant. |
| F all y'all! Maybe pleasure's the solution |
Females can get lonely? But they're always going to the bathroom together, going out in packs, being friends on the phone and on social media with their filters and clique parties, accompanying each other to venues, talking to everyone, and acting like the whole world is a popularity contest in high school!
Of course girls get lonely, and women have it even worse. Everything that happens on the HS social scene is temporary, even in college, but IRL? Whoa, suddenly it's all forevermore.
Females are pitted against each other by the society, treated in curious and crappy ways by males, misunderstood by a male-dominated medical field, psychologized, medicated (with most of them being put on antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs), and told to smile to make viewers feel better as if it were their job to make us feel good. Dating/mating in particular is a problem. Anyhow, who knows? Let's ask a woman. Dukkha Girl! Oh, she's not here. Um, Shoe0nHead, take it away:
The Rise of ‘Female Loneliness’ (How to Fix It)
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| Am I the problem because I feel like the victim in all of this, wahhhhh. Everyone hates me! |
.
- 00:00 Happy International Women’s Day
- 02:27 All the single ladies [don't have the money or looks of Beyonce]
- 06:03 Why aren’t men approaching women anymore?!
- 08:51 129 Ways to Get a Husband
- 23:54 What have we learned?
♥ Sources used in this video ♥
- Full "129 Ways to Get a Husband" list: inside.sfuhs.org/dept/history...
- Men do not approach women study: datepsychology.com/risk-aversion...
- Women being single article: eviemagazine.com/post/45-...
- Shoe0nHead, 3/14/24; Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; the original Dukkha Girl came back at ThisIsZen.com
Sunday, January 28, 2024
I want to be a rich, married TradWife (video)
Jessica Burbank, Rising (The Hill); CC Liu, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Girl Boss-OUT, Trad Wife-IN, new trend among Gen Z sees return to traditional gender roles
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| I'm a totally unbiased girlboss wannabe at Rising |
Thursday, December 28, 2023
Are Jews "white"? Comic Sarah Silverman
Sarah Silverman (Jimmy Kimmel Live!, 8/11/21); Laugh Tracks Legends of Comedy; Jewish Unpacked, 5/31/23; Shauna Schwartz, Sheldon S., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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| If anyone thought it was only Amber Heard who S's on herself, meet sassy Sarah Silverman. |
Are Jews white?
Sarah Silverman looks like a white, enjoys the privileges of being a white,
quacks like a white, so she must be whatever conservatives say she is.
Is she a racist pro-Semite complicit in Israel's racism and war crimes?
Is she a racist pro-Semite complicit in Israel's racism and war crimes?
Historically, Jews were considered a separate and inferior race and yet, over time, antisemitism, assimilation efforts, and rising socioeconomic status [getting rich] have influenced the perception of “Jewish whiteness.”
However, this categorization overlooks the experiences of Jews of color and non-Ashkenazim and further perpetuates the ongoing antisemitism Jews face today.
CHAPTERS
- 00:00 Intro
- 00:33 Global Jewish communities
- 00:44 Do Ashkenazi Jews identify as white?
- 01:03 What does it mean to be white?
- 01:25 Origin of whiteness
- 02:06 Definitions of whiteness
- 02:56 European Jews were not white
- 03:14 Racial discrimination against Jews in America
- 04:46 Antisemitism and Jewish racial ambiguity
- 05:33 Failed attempts by Jews to be accepted as white
- 06:27 Jewish-black interracial tensions
- 06:50 GI Bill benefits and white collar jobs
- 07:09 American Jews achieve "whiteness"
- 07:20 Jews (and non-Jews) reject Jewish white identity
- 07:58 Jews don't fit into a racial box
- 08:35 Conditional whiteness is oppressive
ABOUT Explainers: From ancient Jewish traditions to the modern state of Israel, Explainers explains it all. Diving into anything and everything related to Jewish culture, history, and even religion. It used to be a religion, right? No it's an identity. Understand Jewish holidays, Israeli politics, Jewish diasporic communities, and more. Learn about Judaism in pop culture, debunking myths about Jews, and explore obscure Israeli landmarks. It’s about asking questions as basic as “What is the Talmud?” and as obscure as “How did hip-hop boost Kosher wine sales?” and everything in between.
ABOUT Unpacked: Unpacked provides nuanced insights by unpacking all things Jewish. People are complex and complicated — yet we’re constantly being pushed to oversimplify our world. At Unpacked we know that being complex makes us more interesting. Because of this, we break the world down with nuance and insight to drive your curiosity and challenge your thinking.
#Jewish #antisemitism #conspiracy
Subscribe and turn on your notifications so you don’t miss future uploads! https://www.youtube.com/UNPACKED?sub_... Recommended video: Are Israelis White? | Zionism Revisted. Merch: shop.jewishunpacked.com Connect: Website https://www.jewishunpacked.com Instagram jewishunpacked Twitter jewishunpacked TikTok jewishunpacked Facebook jewishunpacked. Image and footage credits: Thomas E. Watson United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Executive producer: Barry Skolnick. Co-Executive Producer: Shmuel Katz. Silver Level: Sephardic Community Alliance.
Sunday, August 27, 2023
Has comedian gone too far? (video)
Dave Chappelle, Trevor Noah, Jon Stewart; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
Who in the hades does Dave Chappelle think he is not jumping on the Anti-Trump bandwagon? There are reasons why Blacks and other non-whites might vote against their own apparent interests? The Democrats are bunch of backstabbers, so it's no crime to dump the largest political party in the country. But going for the explicitly racist and implicitly biased Grand Old Party (GOP)? No way. Still, backing a Honest Liar like Trump is not the worst thing, given how much Barry and Hillary lied, lied, lied about so many things. Trump lies more but is capable of telling the naked truth, too, unlike those two establishment candidates. Enough with our single party system (the Money Party, with its two wings, right and left). We need a SECOND party, and a Third Party wouldn't hurt either.
Daily Show's Jon Stewart finally gets it decades later
When beauty goes evil, it's more ugly than funny
Friday, July 21, 2023
Friday, July 7, 2023
We love feminism, but Bill Burr (comedy)
Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Space alien confused as Earth leaders try to explain all the human genders
Pre-order The Babylon Bee Guide To Gender: amazon.com/Babylon-Bee-Guide...
Become a premium subscriber: babylonbee.com.
Subscribe to podcast channel: thebabylonbeepodcast. The official The Babylon Bee Store: shop.babylonbee.com. Follow The Babylon Bee:
Website: babylonbee.com
Bill Burr feminist jokes: Michael Knowles reacts
Female reacts to stand up comedian Bill Burr pooping on women
► Feel free to send love to MoMo: P.O. Box 10571, Burke, VA 22009
#billburr #funny #trynottolaugh #burr #joerogan #jre #comedyvideos #haha #hilarious #reactioncomedy #standupcomedy #entertainment #podcast #davechappelle #standup #mmpc #mondaymorningpodcast
Friday, February 24, 2012
Epigenetics: Controlling our Health (video)
(NOVA) Once nurture seemed clearly distinct from nature. Now it appears that our diets[, environmental toxins,] and lifestyles can change the expression of our genes. How? By influencing a network of chemical switches within our cells collectively known as the epigenome.
This new understanding may lead us to potent new medical therapies [and manipulated genetic disasters, particularly in the realm of modified foods and deadly pesticides that kill off bees, frogs, and most of us]. Epigenetic cancer therapy, for one, already seems to be yielding promising results.
(LINK) Dr. Joseph Mercola.com interviews Dr. Bruce Lipton, who explains how the New Biology will take us from a world of crisis and illness management to health and self-control.
Epi-genetics means above-genetics. What is beyond, what controls, what gives expression to our genetic codes? (The mind, our beliefs, and external factors do). Genes do not express themselves. They have to be turned on and off, and that is usually not a genetic function or even a necessity. It is environmental interaction, a response.
This new understanding may lead us to potent new medical therapies [and manipulated genetic disasters, particularly in the realm of modified foods and deadly pesticides that kill off bees, frogs, and most of us]. Epigenetic cancer therapy, for one, already seems to be yielding promising results.
(LINK) Dr. Joseph Mercola.com interviews Dr. Bruce Lipton, who explains how the New Biology will take us from a world of crisis and illness management to health and self-control.
- Epi-genetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the DNA sequence itself. The word is composed of the root -genetics modified by epi- (Greek for "over, above, or outer"). It refers to relevant modifications to the genome that do not involve a change in the genes or nucleotide sequence.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Buddhism plays role in China's battle
(Nov. 29, 2011)
Buddhist monks are raising awareness about HIV [and AIDS, which are not the same thing] prevention and supporting people living with the virus in the Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture in southwest China's Yunnan province.
Buddhist monks are raising awareness about HIV [and AIDS, which are not the same thing] prevention and supporting people living with the virus in the Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture in southwest China's Yunnan province.Launched in 2003 with support from UNICEF and a local Buddhist association, the "Home of Buddha Glory" program (HBG) offers a regular gathering place at ["Hinayana"] Zongfo Monastery where hundreds of HIV/AIDS patients of any faith talk to each other and listen to the monks preach.
"The place really feels like a home," noted one HIV-positive non-Buddhist, who said she has learned from the monks how to live a positive life.
HIV can cause societal burdens, leave families poorer, and rob children of their parents' care, said Du Hanting, deputy abbot of the monastery. The monks' roles include helping those affected reduce stress, anxiety, and anguish. A lack of HIV/AIDS knowledge has led some patients' families to shun them or turn them out of the house.
"Monks serve as people's spiritual leaders and should guide them through hardship," Du said. "We often talk and have dinner with patients in front of their family members to show that the virus won't be transmitted through daily behavior." More
Friday, May 13, 2011
World Today: Girls Become Sex Abusers
Wisdom Quarterly
The truth about cats and dogs: "The hurt hurt." Those abused often become abusive.
In another sign of the impending apocalypse (that on the one hand shortens human lifespan but on the other hand "lifts the veil"), females are increasing on the abuser end of sexual misconduct. Long the domain of those in power, as females gain in status and privilege, they are increasingly prone to the pitfalls of social power.
It is not that males are more abusive by nature. They are filled with ideas of privilege, given a sense that they have a birthright by virtue of our sex, the right to exercise power and control, which usually stems from fear or insecurity. What are we afraid of? Intimacy, loss of control... What are females trying to gain through abuse? Safety, control, satisfaction...
It is not that males are more abusive by nature. They are filled with ideas of privilege, given a sense that they have a birthright by virtue of our sex, the right to exercise power and control, which usually stems from fear or insecurity. What are we afraid of? Intimacy, loss of control... What are females trying to gain through abuse? Safety, control, satisfaction...
The truth about cats and dogs: "The hurt hurt." Those abused often become abusive.
Sex differences are not fixed traits. They are mutable states. Even if one is a certain way from birth, the cause may be traced back to prior lives and habits. We condition our future in the same way. Those actions we will and carry out become habits and character traits, not by nature but by careless repetition.
How else would one explain the choices made by these young Midwestern teens?
Teen Girls Accused of Sexually Abusing Special Needs Boy
VALPARAISO, Indiana (KTLA.com) - A 16-year old girl will be tried as an adult after she and another teenager allegedly held a special needs boy against his will and sexually assaulted him.
The prosecutor's office filed four felony charges against 16-year-old April Kuchta including criminal confinement, sexual battery, and intimidation in connection with the attack.
The second suspect, a 14-year old girl, will be tried as a juvenile.
Investigators say Kuchta and the other teenager lured a developmentally disabled 17-year-old to come to Kuchta's home where they handcuffed him and jabbed him repeatedly with a knife.
According to court records, the victim told police that they recorded him on a cell phone doing and saying things against his will and Kuchta touched him sexually.
After leaving him handcuffed and covered with a blanket for two hours, the girls allegedly invited others over to witness the incident, according to local TV station WBBM. Kuchta is being held in Porter County Jail without bond. Source
Politician’s Wife Jailed for Mother-Daughter “Sex Triangle” with 13-Year-Old Boy
Wishididntknow.com
(Daily Mail, April 10, 2011) The middle-aged wife of an Arizona politician has been jailed for 13 years for a three year affair with a teenage boy.
Susan Brock began grooming the boy with presents such as an Xbox when he was just 11 years old.
The mother-of-three began having sex with the teen when he was 13 years old, and their affair continued until he was 17 years as she attempted to mold him into her "toyboy" [boy-toy] lover.
At the same time as she was sleeping with the teenager, her 18 year old daughter was also having sex with the boy. ["Like mother like daughter," we'll someday be saying.]
Rachel Brock will go on trial later this year but is likely to get a lesser sentence on her underage sex charges.
The mother-daughter sex triangle was revealed as Brock, 49, was jailed after pleading guilty to three counts of attempted sexual conduct.
Brock wept in court as she apologized for her behavior, which is said to have left her victim, now aged 17, suffering from "inescapable depression."
Her husband Fulton, who filed for divorce after his wife’s arrest on sex charges, is Supervisor in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Prosecutors had said church-going Brock was a predatory mom who had picked out the son of a family friend to satisfy her sexual desires.
She began molesting the boy when he was 14 years old with encounters often taking place in her Lexus car and at her home in Chandler, Arizona.
The [formerly] dark-haired homemaker also helped the teen have sex with his girlfriend and even supplied them with a "sex kit" including condoms. Brock’s three year affair came to light after her teen lover’s girlfriend told his parents.
Brock had been charged with 15 counts of abusing the teen, but under a plea deal reached in January pleaded guilty to three lesser charges. More
How else would one explain the choices made by these young Midwestern teens?
Teen Girls Accused of Sexually Abusing Special Needs Boy
April Kutcha, 16, to be tried as adult
The prosecutor's office filed four felony charges against 16-year-old April Kuchta including criminal confinement, sexual battery, and intimidation in connection with the attack.
The second suspect, a 14-year old girl, will be tried as a juvenile.
Investigators say Kuchta and the other teenager lured a developmentally disabled 17-year-old to come to Kuchta's home where they handcuffed him and jabbed him repeatedly with a knife.
According to court records, the victim told police that they recorded him on a cell phone doing and saying things against his will and Kuchta touched him sexually.
After leaving him handcuffed and covered with a blanket for two hours, the girls allegedly invited others over to witness the incident, according to local TV station WBBM. Kuchta is being held in Porter County Jail without bond. Source
- Woman gives birth in hospital bathroom, dumps newborn in trash
- Teen girls charged with witness intimidation in murder
- Five Things You Need to Know About Girls
- Mother sentenced on torture charges for scalding toddler
- Mom given 10 years for playing Facebook game as baby drowned
- Arrest made in murder of coed attacked live on Webcam
- PHOTOS: the Faces of Meth, Before and After
- New Domestic Violence: Teen Relationship Abuse
- Abuse in dating relationships is common among teens. In the United States, 33% of teens report some kind of abuse, and 12% report physical abuse. Teen dating abuse is like domestic violence in adults in that it also is a pattern of abusive behavior used to control another person. Teen dating abuse can include emotional or mental abuse, sexual abuse, and physical abuse.
Politician’s Wife Jailed for Mother-Daughter “Sex Triangle” with 13-Year-Old Boy
Wishididntknow.com
(Daily Mail, April 10, 2011) The middle-aged wife of an Arizona politician has been jailed for 13 years for a three year affair with a teenage boy.
Susan Brock began grooming the boy with presents such as an Xbox when he was just 11 years old.
The mother-of-three began having sex with the teen when he was 13 years old, and their affair continued until he was 17 years as she attempted to mold him into her "toyboy" [boy-toy] lover.
At the same time as she was sleeping with the teenager, her 18 year old daughter was also having sex with the boy. ["Like mother like daughter," we'll someday be saying.]
Rachel Brock will go on trial later this year but is likely to get a lesser sentence on her underage sex charges.
The mother-daughter sex triangle was revealed as Brock, 49, was jailed after pleading guilty to three counts of attempted sexual conduct.
Brock wept in court as she apologized for her behavior, which is said to have left her victim, now aged 17, suffering from "inescapable depression."
Her husband Fulton, who filed for divorce after his wife’s arrest on sex charges, is Supervisor in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Prosecutors had said church-going Brock was a predatory mom who had picked out the son of a family friend to satisfy her sexual desires.
She began molesting the boy when he was 14 years old with encounters often taking place in her Lexus car and at her home in Chandler, Arizona.
The [formerly] dark-haired homemaker also helped the teen have sex with his girlfriend and even supplied them with a "sex kit" including condoms. Brock’s three year affair came to light after her teen lover’s girlfriend told his parents.
Brock had been charged with 15 counts of abusing the teen, but under a plea deal reached in January pleaded guilty to three lesser charges. More
- An apocalypse (Greek, apokálypsis, "lifting of the veil" or "revelation") is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of humankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, that is, the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the famous but apocryphal Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament or Christian "Bible."
Friday, April 15, 2011
How Gangs Began in Los Angeles (film)
April 15, 7:00 pm: (Ross Chapel, Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church, Pasadena) Reverend Hannah Petrie presents Bleecker Street Cinema’s film, "Bastards of the Party." This film is about the historical creation of gangs in Los Angeles. It deals with Malcolm X and other black leaders around the time of the Black Panthers and FBI fear of African-Americans and other sixties-era revolutionaries.
Apostle of Peace Wanted Guns for Indians
Yale Lab Student Dies in Accident Using Heavy Machinery
Catholic Teaching on Contraception is Lost in Translation
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Boomer Buddhism (Then and Now)
Stephen Prothero (Salon.com, 2001) 
American converts are taking a 2,600-year-old faith and making it over in their own image -- self-absorbed.
American converts are taking a 2,600-year-old faith and making it over in their own image -- self-absorbed.As anyone who hasn't spent the last few years meditating in a cave in Asia knows, American Buddhism is booming. The 1990s saw three Buddhist movies and a gaggle of celebrity Buddhist pitchmen, including Beastie Boy Adam Yauch and actor Richard Gere.
The United States is now home to at least a million not-so-famous Buddhists as well, most of them new immigrants from Asia. But Buddhism is also popular among hip Americans who have never attended a Zen center or visualized a Tibetan mandala.
Typically these sympathizers get their Buddhism, as beat author Jack Kerouac did, from books. Buddhist bestsellers used to come along once a decade: Kerouac's Dharma Bums in the '50s, Philip Kapleau's Three Pillars of Zen in the '60s, and Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind in the '70s.
Typically these sympathizers get their Buddhism, as beat author Jack Kerouac did, from books. Buddhist bestsellers used to come along once a decade: Kerouac's Dharma Bums in the '50s, Philip Kapleau's Three Pillars of Zen in the '60s, and Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind in the '70s.
American Buddhism is far more practical (meditative) and cerebral (study) than Asia's devotional and ceremonial customs. But even Asia has seen a great upsurge in lay meditation practice (Wisdom Quarterly).
Today they materialize monthly, along with more evanescent titles like Zen and the Art of Screenwriting (really). Demand for Buddhist books has turned many teachers into stand-alone brands with remarkable marketing muscle.
The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh are the Coke and Pepsi of this Buddhist generation. But homegrown brands such as Jack Kornfield and Lama Surya Das can also move 100,000 tomes without getting off their zafus.
James William Coleman is not a major brand, and his The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition is not destined for the bestseller list. It does shed light, however, on today's oddly bookish Buddhist vogue.
James William Coleman is not a major brand, and his The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition is not destined for the bestseller list. It does shed light, however, on today's oddly bookish Buddhist vogue.
Coleman is a sociologist and a Buddhist, so it's not surprising that he supports his sympathy for American Buddhism with a survey. His book focuses on a small minority of American-born converts and sympathizers rather than the immigrants and their children who make up three-quarters of American Buddhists.
These "new Buddhists," as he calls them, patronize four types of Buddhist groups:
These "new Buddhists," as he calls them, patronize four types of Buddhist groups:
- Zen centers [Japanese Mahayana]
- Tibetan Buddhist centers [Vajrayana]
- Vipassana ("insight meditation") centers [Theravada]
- unaffiliated, nonsectarian centers
Most are baby boomers, almost all are white, and all practice meditation, which sets them apart from the members of Sokka Gakkai International-USA (a group that prefers chanting [Nam-myoho-renge-kyo] to meditation), the largest Buddhist organization in the United States and the only Buddhist group that attracts significant numbers of blacks and Hispanics. More>>
Boomer Buddhism Now
Dhr. Seven (Wisdom Quarterly, 2011)
A decade later, Buddhism in America continues to grow. Even if many Western practitioners are reluctant to label themselves "Buddhist" (or much of anything else), they have adopted the Dharma and tried to make the Buddha's teachings their own.
Meditation is on everyone's mind (although not necessarily on everyone's Day Planner). Brain research, yoga regimens, breathing lessons, workshops, CDs, and the "Zen" of everything motivates us to undertake The Quest in earnest.
What do we hope to achieve in our quest? Enlightenment, of course! But not so fast. The largest Buddhist movements are Mahayana (devotional Chinese, stripped down Japanese, ceremonial Tibetan). And their messianic message, awaiting the Maitreya, often discourage enlightenment and stress salvation -- saving others that is. We have socially engaged Buddhism, the cultivation of perfections
This is most poignantly seen in the Heart Sutra ("Perfection of Wisdom") and its continuing popularity. Next to no one studies the profound Doctrine of Anatta and the Five Aggregates to understand the meaning of the words most regard as just a mantra to chant).
That is not the self-sufficiency the historical Buddha emphasized (being a lamp unto oneself and seeking guidance not from teachers but from the Dharma directly). Even these oldest existing Buddhist school, Theravada, does little to promote lay meditation, presumably reserving it for monastics and retreatants.
Enormous lay-practitioner movements (Goenka and U Ba Khin in Burma and India, Dhammakaya and Buddhadasa in Thailand, and Ayya Khema and Bhikkhu Bodhi in Sri Lanka, etc.) have pushed meditation out of the abbeys and into people's living rooms and centers.
America's greatest contribution to the Dharma has not only been to continue the pioneering work of Western translators and publishers (like the Pali Text Society, Buddhist Publication Society, Wisdom Publications, and Pariyatti Press) but to restore women to their rightful position within the tradition. The Buddha included women early on and stated that his Dispensation would not be complete until women were ordained and practicing on par with men.
"This Week in God" (classic American spirituality videos)
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| This Week in God - Faith Off | ||||
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| This Week In God - Scientology | ||||
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Candy today, Crime tomorrow
Daily sweets "linked to violence"
Children who eat sweets and chocolate every day are more likely to be violent as adults, according to UK researchers. The Cardiff University study involving 17,500 people is the first into effects of childhood diet on adult violence.
Children who eat sweets and chocolate every day are more likely to be violent as adults, according to UK researchers. The Cardiff University study involving 17,500 people is the first into effects of childhood diet on adult violence. It found 10-year-olds who ate sweets daily were significantly more likely to have a violent conviction by age 34. Researchers suggested they had not learned to delay gratification, but other experts said already "difficult" children might be given [inadvertently "rewarded" with] more sweets. The researchers looked at data on around 17,500 people and found that 69% of the participants who were violent at the age of 34 had eaten sweets and chocolate nearly every day during childhood, compared to 42% who were non-violent.
Delinquents
This link between confectionery consumption and later aggression remained even after controlling for other factors such as parenting behavior, the area where the child lived, not having educational qualifications after the age of 16, and whether they had access to a car when they were 34. More>>
This link between confectionery consumption and later aggression remained even after controlling for other factors such as parenting behavior, the area where the child lived, not having educational qualifications after the age of 16, and whether they had access to a car when they were 34. More>>
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