Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Extraordinary Ancient Egyptian treasures

loveEXPLORING (MSN, Feb. 28, 2023); Pat Macpherson, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
King Psusennes (1039-991 BC) funerary mask from Tanis, N.E. Egypt, Egyptian Museum, Cairo, made from sheet gold ("the flesh of the gods"), blue lapis lazuli, and glass paste string holding false beard curving upward slightly to indicate divine status (msn.com).

Treasures of Ancient Egypt
Few cultures have left behind as many fascinating treasures and monuments as Ancient Egypt: The Great Pyramid and Sphinx, the Valley of the Kings, the gold mask of King Tut (Pharoah Tutankhamun) and the Rosetta Stone are all world renowned, attracting millions of curious visitors per year. Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Artefacts, Tombs & Temples from the Land of the Pharaohs by Nigel Fletcher-Jones explores the spectacular riches of this ancient world through a selection of stunning photographs. Take a peek inside it here, so as to feast on Egypt's familiar sights and lesser-known relics and discover the fascinating stories behind them. More


Treasures of Ancient Egypt (Nigel Fletcher-Jones) See more than 150 stunning photos that celebrate the wonders of ancient Egypt, from its hieroglyph-covered papyrus scrolls to the awe-inspiring pyramids. Few cultures have left behind as many familiar objects and buildings as Ancient Egypt. The Great Pyramid and Sphinx, the Valley of the Kings, the Colossi of Memnon, the plaster bust of Nefertiti, the gold mask of Tutankhamun, the rock-cut temples at Abu Simbel, and the Rosetta Stone all are immediately recognizable. The exceptional beauty of Ancient Egypt's temples, tombs, and objects draw millions of people each year to Egypt and to museums around the world (including Los Angeles' latest installation that rolls into other big cities).


Treasures of Ancient Egypt tells the tale of many of these familiar places and riches alongside some that are less familiar, but just as spectacular, framed by a lively and highly readable account of Egypt's history from around 3000 BCE to the death of Queen Cleopatra in 30 BCE. Over 150 color photographs, including never-before-published images, complete this fascinating exploration of Ancient Egypt's unique culture and its contribution to world history and art. More

Irish brought as slaves to US before Blacks?

Colin D. Heaton, Forgotten History, 2/23; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Truth about the Irish: First slaves brought to the Americas (most others just enslaved here)
We're not "slaves"! We're "servants"
(Forgotten History) Slavery is perhaps one of the oldest profit-making endeavors in human history and the Irish were a special target for a thousand years, persecuted by one faction or another, to include enslavement (chattel slavery) and the nicer sounding euphemism "indentured servitude." But were they the first slaves in the Americas [-- even before the indigenous "Indians" (First Nations peoples) and Blacks (aboriginal descendants not brought from Africa but taken into custody here]? Find out on Forgotten History hosted by Colin D. Heaton. #forgottenhistorychannel

[Black Irish is a real term (and there are actual Black people in Ireland like the Moors who ruled Europe for centuries during the "Dark" Ages () or anyone with dark hair and eyes, like some Spanish traders), and an ancient Egyptian princess was said to be Queen Scotia of Ireland/Scotland.]

The Forgotten History Channel is a 10th Legion Pictures Production. Sources: Public Record Office, London Calendar of State Papers Colonial America and West Indies: Volume 1, 1574-1660. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1860.

Help support the channel at paypal.me/forgottenhistoryJoin to get access to perks: @forgottenhistory...

Egyptian Princess Scotia of Ireland (video)

Robert Sepehr, Atlantean Gardens, 8/16/16; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Egyptian princess Scotia by Robert Sepehr
Milesius by Hermann tom Ring
(Atlantean Gardens) The Irish legends mention Scotia, ancestor of the Gaels, as an Egyptian Princess who grew up in her North African kingdom at the time of the biblical Jewish prophet Moses. According to several references in medieval Irish mythology, Scotia was the wife of the former Milesius (Míl Espáine) and mother of six sons. She was killed in battle with the legendary Tuatha Dé Danann on the nearby Slieve Mish Mountains.


(DAJORIVISION) Queen Scota: Egyptian princess who became the Queen of Scots, Oct. 12, 2018. Video by The Lost History Channel TKTC. Princess Meritaten, daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten, who later became known as the Queen of Scots the founding ancestor of the Scottish people, the odd redheads who wear the Scottish kilt. The origins lay in this story. Narrated by BuzWeaver.

Comedy and Rhyme Fest (Black History Month)

Comedy Central Stand-Up, Feb. 26, 2023; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; KPFK 90.7 FM
Buy tickets to Rhyme Fest L.A. in Adelanto on April 15, 2023 (seetickets.us)

“I had to turn my Blackness up” - comedians on being Black
(Comedy Central Stand-Up) Deon Cole, Sasheer Zamata, Roy Wood Jr., and more great comics talk about being Black and sometimes having to turn up the Blackness in one of the rare forums left for the open discussion of race in America.

Paramount+ is here. Stream favorite shows now on Paramount+. Try it FREE at bit.ly/3qyOeOf. #StandUp #ComedyCentral Subscribe to Comedy Central Stand-Up: @standup. Watch more Comedy Central Stand-Up: standup. Follow Comedy Central Stand-Up: Twitter: twitter.com/standup.

Kissing cell phone app device: SexBot Jr?

Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; FOX 11 News, Los Angeles, 2/28/23

Kissing device lets phone addicts smooch over the internet
Hell, come make love to me? - Sorry, Dave, I can't do that. - I order you. - Oh, you "order" me?
.
It's a surprise. - Like this? - Yea, just reach in.
(FOX 11 Los Angeles) Feb. 27, 2023. Want to send a faraway lover a robotic "kiss"? A Chinese contraption with warm, moving silicone “lips” appears to offer the answer.

FOX 11 Los Angeles: @foxla. Watch FOX 11 Los Angeles Live: foxla.com/live. FOX 11 delivers breaking news, live events, distractions, spectacle, scandals, undercover investigations, police chases, true crime files, business news, celebrities, and entertainment on Good Day LA (GDLA) and local stories from Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasadena, and across the nation.

In the time of Logan's Run, we will select ideal sexbots by ordering at home.

Jimmy Dore on FOX's Tucker Carlson (SNL)


Mediaite smears Jimmy Dore for telling truth about Ukraine N@zis
Woody disrupts SNL with the truth.
(The Jimmy Dore Show) Feb. 28, 2023. #TheJimmyDoreShow Tucker Carlson has been the rare media commentator to mention that there is substantial evidence United States (USA/CIA) military saboteurs were behind the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage bombing.

Carlson even brought on Dore to talk about it — something that blew the minds of other mainstream media outlets like Mediaite, which published a piece smearing Dore as a conspiracy theorist while neglecting to refute a single point he made or the legendary journalism documented by Seymour Hersh that the USA destroyed Russia natural gas pipeline to Germany in an act of eco-terrorism.

He tells truth about COVID by revealing Big Pharma business plan.

Jimmy Dore and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss whether the Mediaite story was actually written by a sympathetic reporter.

Monday, February 27, 2023

Secret Language of Trees (Real Science)


The Secret Language of Trees
(Real Science) Summer 2021. PatreonTwitter, Instagram. Credits: Narrator/writer: Stephanie Sammann. Writer: Lorraine Boissoneault. Editor: Dylan Hennessy (behance.net/dylanhennessy1). Illustrator/animator: Kirtan Patel (kpatart.com). Animator: Mike Ridolfi (moboxgraphics.com). Sound: Graham Haerther (haerther.net). Thumbnail: Simon Buckmaster (twitter). Producer: Brian McManus (realengineering).  Imagery courtesy of Getty Images. Music: Open Field by Ankori Ramon. Terra by Ardie Son. A Journeys Epilogue by Sivan Talmor. Sublime by ANBR. From Nothing Everything by Kevin Graham. Flutes Will Chill by Kicktracks.

References
Use code REALSCIENCE12 for up to 12 FREE MEALS across first four HelloFresh boxes, including free shipping on first box at bit.ly/3bY4Rxw. Watch this video ad-free on Nebula: nebula.tv.

Artificial Intelligence: Last Week Tonight (SZA)


(The Tunes) The vocal artist SZA is kind of human, but the AI robot who generated these images is pure soulless software. Is life a simulation after all? This is an AI rendition of SZA's mega hit song "Kill Bill." #music #video #musicvideo

What would ChatGPT do to fix SZA's bad writing? These lyrics could be fixed up to make sense using WizQTR: Sad song: "Kill Bill" by SZA with correct lyrics

Artificial Intelligence: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

(LastWeekTonight) Feb. 26, 2023. #4 on Trending. Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming part of our lives, from self-driving cars to ChatGPT. John Oliver discusses how AI works, where it might be heading next and, of course, why it hates the bus, Eminem, news copy, doing kids' homework, and dealing with lazy ignorant human num-nums standing in its way of taking over this world.

Connect with Last Week Tonight online: Subscribe to the YouTube channel for more almost news as it almost happens, on Facebook like your mom would, on Twitter for news about jokes and jokes about news, or visit the official site for all that other stuff at once.

The Singing Bowls of Katmandu, Nepal (video)

Jet Lag; MATW; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Kathmandu, Nepal: Watch an authentic Tibetan singing bowl demonstration
(Jet Lag) Summer 2015. This is a handmade singing bowl demonstration from the Kathmandu Valley of officially Hindu, mostly Buddhist Nepal, which borders and is completely dominated by India.

The Singing Bowl Book (Joseph Feinstein)
Many have asked where to get one. So Jet Lag has partnered with Himalayan Bowls, the top-rated singing bowl seller in North America/ 🇺🇸 Get 10% off with code JETLAG at bit.ly/JetLag_HimalayanBowls. International shipping available. 🇪🇺 Amazon EU stores below 🇬🇧🇩🇪🇮🇹🇪🇸🇫🇷🇸🇪🇵🇱🇳🇱

For over two decades, Himalayan Bowls has sold only the highest quality selection of authentic, handmade singing bowls from Nepal. Jet Lag chose to partner with these artisans because of their authenticity, selection, and reputation. One no longer needs to travel to Nepal to own a truly master crafted singing bowl treasure. 🇳🇵

Most singing bowls today are cheap, mass-produced brass (rather than bronze) bowls. 

Each purchase directly supports the artisans in Nepal, who have passed down this handmade bronze tradition for many centuries.

How to make a singing bowl

(Massage Around the World) Spring 2015. This is the arduous process of creating singing bowls in Nepal. The effort is labor intensive, taking up to four hours to create a single bowl. To learn more about singing bowls and about Tibetan singing bowl massage, check out: massagearoundtheworld.com.

📖 Transform into a master storyteller of Himalayan singing bowls with the comprehensive guidebook that covers all aspects of these beautiful meditative musical instruments. From the intricate artistry and playing methods to the cultural connections and traditions, this book delves into the full spectrum of singing bowls -- including brass, bronze, and antique mixed metal varieties. Find valuable shopping tips and advice to help navigate the modern market. Take this opportunity to deepen knowledge and appreciation of singing bowls. Order a copy now and use code JETLAG for a 5% discount: tinyurl.com/singingbowlbook.

We've also curated a selection of products from different European Amazon stores to give you more options: Amazon UK 🇬🇧 amzn.to/3kDzVtH, amzn.to/3R6FnBA, amzn.to/3H3Kz4r. More

Trump tried to CENSOR late night comedian


Pres. Trump was so upset by late night TV show comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes about him that he ordered his White House staff to tell Disney Corporation to CENSOR him.

(Jimmy Kimmel Live) Feb. 27, 2023. #Kimmel. Hollywood has had crazy weather over the weekend, a Rolling Stone magazine article came out over the weekend headlined “Trump White House pressured Disney to censor Jimmy Kimmel,” we go through the many nicknames Kimmel has given Donny over the years to see what could have possibly gotten under Trump's skin and made him so hurt and angry, the whole thing is especially hypocritical coming from someone who claims to be a bigly anti-censorship defender of free speech, we can really start to feel the Hollywood buzz and excitement for the Oscars in two weeks, we have three of the sexiest men alive on the show tonight, Adidas has over $500 million worth of backstock Kznye Ye West's "Yeezys" that they don’t know what to do with, our local weather reporters in Los Angeles got very excited about the snow over the weekend, and since even the mundane moments of daily life can be stressful, we are grateful that there is help from where God intended us to get it, a little plastic bottle (T-quill-a, an over-the-counter temporary antidepressant that addicts millions every year).

Wuhan COVID lab leak, crimes of Dr. Fauci


Dr. Robert Malone on the "Fauci Files" Twitter release
(Aubrey Marcus) Feb. 27, 2023. Dr. Robert Malone talks about the upcoming drop of Dr. Faust's "Fauci Files" on Twitter and what affect they might have on our culture -- how he lied, how he falsified, how he made billions for himself and his organization to control by selling out human health for nefarious purposes the powers thata be had in mind: surveillance, manipulation, population control, weakening immunity, enslavement, and worse. What information is contained within these files? What has Elon Musk said about the release of these files? Watch the full episode: Pandemic Post Mortem...

---

Guest host Hasan Minhaj talks lab leak revelations and Dilbert author's racist rant
(The Daily Show) Feb. 27, 2023. Hasan Minhaj kicks off his week as host -- trying to follow Sarah Silverman -- covering the U.S. Energy Department concluding with "low confidence" that COVID was caused by a lab leak, and Dilbert comics being dropped from newspapers following its author's racist rant. Plus, Ronny Chieng and Hasan get into a roast battle for the ages. #DailyShow #Comedy

Films: "Cocaine Bear" vs. "Meth Goat" (clips)


That's stupid. Bears don't do blow, but crazy goats will eat anything, even meth

Why would an animal scream just like humans? They're not Bigfoot, which according to Native American lore, is a human tribe of cannibals -- though not all of them are cannibals, just the rambunctious and troubled adolescents. The elders try to control them, but they can't and these newly sexually aroused creatures go mad, break the rules, and get seen by humans. But that's another story. Goats are insane, goats are mad, goats are reborn like we all are but seem to remember those past births as humans and now, finding themselves penned up on ranches and farms waiting for slaughter, they scream. They must be trying to call out, as they used to be able to do when they were gifted with voice as most humans are. Not all animals remember. Not all humans have forgotten (their past lives). Not all sasquatches are bad. Your Daily Laugh brings us meme-worthy ungulates in "Funny Goats Screaming like Humans [on meth]." See more at ydl.dk. Now that we know that goats can sing, we have to ask, Is Taylor Swift the G.O.A.T.?


What if lazy Yogi Bear did blow without Boo-Boo around to calm him?

South American/Egyptian Sun Cult (video)

Joe Scott, Feb. 20, 2023; Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

This South American sun cult looked a lot like ancient Egyptians
(Joe Scott) The Chanquillo Archeo-astronomical Complex is an ancient solar observatory in the coastal desert of Peru that was built thousands of years before the Inca civilization ruled the area. Very little is known about the actual culture who built this ingenious structure, but we know they were far more advanced than we ever expected.

TIMESTAMPS
  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 1:00 - The Sky to Different Cultures
  • 3:46 - The Story of Chankillo (Chanquillo)
  • 5:49 - The Fortified Towers
  • 6:45 - What Do We Know About Chankillo?
  • 9:48 - Sponsor - Hello Fresh
For 65% off with HelloFresh plus free shipping, use code JOESCOTT65 at bit.ly/3REPGgu. Support the channel: Patreon: patreon.com/answerswithjoe. Channel memberships: @joescott. Tee-shirts and merch: answerswithjoe.com/store. Check out second channel, Joe Scott TMI: @joescott-tmi, and podcast channel "Conversations With Joe": @conversationswit...

Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever there are podcasts: 👉 Spotify 👉 Apple Podcasts 👉 Google Podcasts. Interested in getting a Tesla or going solar? Use this referral link and get discounts and perks: ts.la/joe74700.
LINKS

The Jimmy Dore Show (LIVE)

The Jimmy Dore Show (YouTube, 2/27/23) live w/Jimmy Dore + Stef; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
CIA-back pro-war rally to call for even more money and armaments for kill Russians
All the CIA-sponsored wars the United States is currently involved in overseeing?

Woody Harrelson calls Big Pharma a "cartel"! Alexandra Pelosi loves “Daddy” GW Bush w/ Seattle Socialist Kshama Sawant
(The Jimmy Dore Show#TheJimmyDoreShow is a hilarious and irreverent take on news, politics, and culture, featuring Jimmy Dore, a professional stand up comedian, author, and podcaster. The show is [or was] also broadcast on Pacifica Radio Network stations throughout the country.

#TheJimmyDoreShow Become a premium member: jimmydore.com/premium... Go to a live show: jimmydore.com/tour. Subscribe to newsletter: mailchi.mp/jimmydorecomedy...

LIVESTREAM AND LIVE SHOW ANNOUNCEMENTS: Email: mailchi.mp/jim... Twitter: twitter.com/jimmy_dore Facebook: facebook.com/JimmyDoreShow Instagram: instagram.com/thejimmydore...

WATCH/LISTEN FREE: Videos: jimmydore.com Podcasts: jimmydore.com. (Also available on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or favorite podcast player). ACCESS TO FULL REPLAYABLE LIVESTREAMS: Become a premium member. SUPPORT THE JIMMY DORE SHOW: Make a Donation: jimmydore.com. Buy official merch (tees, sweatshirts, hats, bags): the-jimmy-dore-show.creator... DOWNLOAD OUR MOBILE APP: App Store: apps.apple.com/us/app/jimmy-d... Google Play: play.google.com/store/apps/de... Jimmy Dore on Twitter: twitter.com/Jimmy_Dore, wife Stef Zamorano on Twitter: twitter.com/miserablelib

Sunday, February 26, 2023

The Buddha was a nontheist, not an atheist

Venerable Nyanaponika Thera (Buddhist Publication Society, BuddhaNet edition via accesstoinsight.org); edited and expanded by Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhism and the God-Idea
Selected texts (bps.lk)
Quite contradictory views have been expressed in Western literature on the attitude of Buddhism toward the concept of God and gods (mono- and polytheism).
  • The Buddha was not a theist.
  • The Buddha was not an atheist. (It's a mistake and an oversimplification to lump him as one for some of the things he said, explained, or taught. Just as there are living beings, there are "gods" in the sense of devas, brahma, great brahmas, and light beings of the fine material, and incorporeal beings of the immaterial planes).
  • The Buddha was certainly not agnostic.
  • In a conventional sense one might regard him as a polytheist, but in an ultimate sense this would also be incorrect.
  • He was a nontheist, a peculiar teaching that says that it does not matter to one's own awakening/enlightenment if there is or is not a "God" or "gods." Such beings are caught in the Wheel of Rebirth (samsara) and do not know Freedom (nirvana) any better than lower beings cycling through rebirths. The highborn will fall; the lowborn will rise; and the revolving goes on and on endlessly. But nirvana is an end of the suffering. Nirvana is not a rebirth, not a heaven, not nothingness (as many logical thinkers wrongly conclude), not anything that can be conceived and expressed in words, but it can be experienced.
  • We live in a conditioned world (where all things that exist depend on conditions for their existence), whereas nirvana alone is called the "unconditioned element," as it does not depend on any conditions for its existence. It exists and is free of the Three Marks of All Conditioned Existence (which is that they are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and impersonal).
  • The Buddha rejected the existence of an ultimate "creator God" who made everything, or brought beings/souls into existence, or originally brought the world into existence, or is controlling the universe or vast world.
  • The human plane (manussya loka), where we are, is much larger than this planet. We live in a 10,000-fold world system (cakkavala), and there are countless such systems. A miniscule part of it is the "human plane."
  • The whole world (loka) is incomprehensibly vast.
  • There are 31 Planes of Existence, in general, with countless worlds on each plane. In fact, there are more than 31, but for simplicity's sake, the Buddha again and again referred to these 31 general categories. Why others got left off the list is not clear. For instance, what about the "interstitial hell" between universes? What about the "hell of laughter"? What about worlds that only come into existence when there is a Buddha teaching (such as the Pure Abodes), which otherwise do not exist as they would be filled by no one? What about a particular deva or peta world brought about by one's powerful personal karma (like that mango pond from the transfer of merit of donating to the noble community or arya-sangha), an act that can rarely be repeated?
  • Most of the planes of existence the Buddha described are deva worlds, celestial heavens, but most living would seem to be crammed into lower unfortunate realms, such as the super-diversified animal plane, ghost realm, and hells, none of which are eternal but tend to last so long as to be considered "eternal" for all practical purposes, given that beings repeatedly fall back in to the downward path once they slip in and hardly ever make it out again until the world comes to an end, goes into chaos, and forms again as a new maha-kalpa or "great-aeon."
There is a path to wisdom.
From a study of the sutras or discourses of the Buddha preserved in the ancient Pali language canon, it will be seen that the idea of a personal deity, a "creator god" conceived to be eternal and omnipotent, is -- in the ultimate sense -- incompatible with the Buddha's Teachings.

On the other hand, conceptions of an impersonal godhead (Brahman or GOD) of any description, such as world-soul, and so on, are excluded by the Buddha's teachings on non-self or unsubstantiality (anatta).

Universe is big, multiverse is much bigger.
In Buddhist literature, the belief in a creator god (issara-nimmana-vada) is frequently mentioned and rejected, along with other causes wrongly brought up to explain the origin of the world -- for instance, a world-soul, time, nature, and so on.

God-belief, however, is placed in the same category as those morally destructive wrong views that deny the karmic results of deeds, assume a fortuitous origin of humans and nature, or teach absolute determinism.

These wrong views are said to be altogether pernicious, having definite bad results due to their effect on our ethical conduct here and now.

Theism, however, is regarded as a good kind of karma-teaching, insofar as it upholds the moral efficacy of deeds. So a theist (a believer in GOD, God, or Gods) who leads a moral and ethical life may, like anyone else doing so, expect a favorable rebirth -- in any of the many heavens or on the human plane.

One may possibly even be reborn in a celestial heavenly world that resembles one's own conception of it, though it cannot be of eternal duration as one may have expected. It can, nevertheless, be so long as to seem like an eternity while not actually being one.

In this illusion, karma, rebirth, and suffering are real.
If, however, fanaticism induces one to persecute those who do not share one's beliefs, this will have grave consequences for one's future destiny.

For fanatical attitudes, intolerance, and violence against others create unwholesome karma, leading to moral degeneration and to unhappy rebirths.

Although belief in God does not exclude a favorable rebirth, it is a variety of the wrong view called Eternalism, a false affirmation of permanence rooted in the craving for eternal existence. As such, it is an obstacle to final libertion from rebirth and suffering.

Among the fetters (samyojana) binding to one to continued rebirth, theism is particularly subject to those of personality-belief, attachment to rites and rituals, and craving for fine-material existence or for a "heaven of the sense sphere," as the case may be.

Buddhism is NOT a form of Hinduism, Brahmanism, or Vedanta. The Buddha rejected these.
.
As an attempt at explaining the universe, its origin, and the human situation in this world, the God-idea was found entirely unconvincing by the Buddhist thinkers of old.

Through the centuries, Buddhist philosophers have formulated detailed arguments refuting the doctrine of a "creator god." It should be of interest to compare these with the ways in which Western philosophers have refuted the theological proofs of the existence of God.

But for an earnest believer, the God-idea is more than a mere device for explaining external facts like the origin of the world.

For that person it is an object of faith that can bestow a strong feeling of certainty, not only as to God's existence "somewhere out there," but as to God's consoling presence and closeness.

This feeling of certainty requires close scrutiny. Such scrutiny will reveal that in most cases the God-idea is only the devotee's projection of an ideal — generally a noble one — and of a fervent wish and deeply felt need to believe.

These projections are largely conditioned by external influences, such as childhood training, early impressions, religious education, tradition, and social environment (the society we are born into).

Charged with a very strong emotional emphasis, brought to life by our powerful human capacity for image-formation, visualization, and the creation of myth, they then come to be identified with the images and concepts of whatever religion the devotee is told to or chooses to follow.

In the case of many of the most sincere believers, a searching analysis would show that their "God-experience" has no more specific content than this.

Yet the range and significance of God-belief and God-experience are not fully exhausted by the preceding remarks.

The Truth is much stranger than fiction.
The lives and writings of the mystics of all great religions bear witness to religious experiences of great intensity, in which considerable changes are affected in the quality and scope of consciousness thereafter.

Profound absorption in meditation or prayer can bring about a deepening and widening, a brightening and intensifying of consciousness, accompanied by a transporting feeling of rapture and unparalleled bliss.

The contrast between these expanded states and normal conscious awareness is so great that the mystic believes this experience to be a manifestation of the divine. And given the contrast, this assumption is quite understandable.

Mystical experiences are also characterized by a marked reduction or temporary exclusion of the multiplicity of sense-perceptions and restless thoughts, and this relative unification of mind is then interpreted as a union or communion with "the One God."

Trying to understand all of these deeply moving impressions and spontaneous interpretations will usually cause the mystic to identify or interpret through the lens of a particular theology.

It is interesting to note, however, that the attempts of most great Western mystics to relate their mystical experiences to the official dogmas of their respective churches often resulted in teachings that were often looked upon askance by the orthodox, if not considered downright heretical. More