Showing posts with label sickness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sickness. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Edgar Cayce/Hinduism: Origin of Soul


It's maya, an illusion, but it follows rules this samsara, wheel of life and death, rebirth and suffering. It is as real as a dream. Are we the divine play of Brahman, GOD, 

Monday, July 7, 2025

Clingy love is doomed to disappoint


Mystic Knights "I'm Afraid"
"Peace of mind, peace of mind, hard to keep, hard to find" sings Danny Elfman

How to gain peace of mind, Dalai Lama?
The 14th Dalai Lama explains how one might gain peace of mind

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Science: How bad could one beer be?


How dangerous could one beer be?
(Howtown) Welcome to HOWTOWN! A small but mighty team of two (Joss Fong and Adam Cole) digs into the evidence behind commonly held "facts" and claims in the news.

CHAPTERS
  • 00:00 Intro
  • 01:22 Drinking appears beneficial
  • 03:54 The first mistake
  • 05:00 Hank's Razor
  • 07:34 Rethinking drinking
  • 08:53 A failed trial
  • 10:43 A new genetic tool
  • 13:04 How risky is drinking?
  • 14:50 How dangerous is alcohol?
SELECTED SOURCES
Howtown is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (sloan.org), in association with IMI (theimi.co), and is grateful for the generous support of the Patreon Town Council.*

The two images of televisions marked with an asterisk (*) during the Australia and Canada news montage were generated using MidJourney. To keep Howtown going and get bonus content: Join PATREON: howtown.

Stay in touch
SPONSOR: Go to ground.news/howtown to unlock perspectives beyond media bias and stay informed with the facts. Subscribe through this link for 40% off unlimited access.

*Patreon Town Council: Bev Fong Chris Wubbels Sean Barrett Mike Purvis Ziver Imren Jim Jon Hewett Albychen Hernando Garcia Vladimir Khalimovskiy Sean Talon Evan Hass Mark Tinker Julian Mayorga L.A. O’Connor Hoang Anh Ky Mikey Limotta Marcos Huerta Joaquim Salles Sam Gaty Verner Sääsk Jason Dunlap Parag Mallick Paul Monaghan Edgar Sutawika.
  • Joss Fong, Adam Cole, Howtown, Jan. 10, 2025; Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Sunday, August 4, 2024

'As You Like It' FREE Shakespeare in Park, LA

2024 Festival — Independent Shakespeare Company in Griffith Park, LA (iscla.org)

Edward de Vere is 'Shakespeare'
Shakespeare in the Park is a long tradition in American theatre. Los Angeles, being a cultural hub of the, well, West Coast, has the Independent Shakespeare Company. This summer As You Like It is running most nights, FREE, from July 10 to September 1.

As You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. It offers a powerful choice: natural order as experienced by the banished Duke and his followers in the forest versus a selfish, superficial consumer society represented by the usurping Duke Frederick.

Those who go on this adventure in the Forest of Arden find that with class and gender boundaries shattered, they discover themselves and a tolerance for others.

ISCLA is serving up a heartfelt screwball romantic comedy with songs inspired by Al Bowlly (a crooner popular in 1930’s Britain) to evoke an atmosphere of falling in love.

Performances run from Wednesday to Sunday @ 7:00 pm. The Immersive Prologue begins @ 6:00 pm. 2024 Calendar — Independent Shakespeare Co. (iscla.org)

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Cannibal Corpse live in Baltimore (video)

Chris EEEE Barnes is the Dave Mustaine of Cannibal Corpse: his parting was for the best. Just look

Cannibal Corpse "Stripped, Raped and Strangled" and "Hammer Smashed Face" (5/27/23) Hell in the Harbor
(LORDOFTHE80S) May 29, 2023: BALTIMORE SOUNDSTAGE. Live from Hell in the Harbor (Baltimore, Maryland, East Coast, USA). The West Coast may be all about Hollywood pop music, rural country music, and urban rap and hip hop.

He sold his soul for rock 'n roll w/ Black Sabbath
But back East, metal lives. Aggro Chris Barnes replacement George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher antagonizes the crowd, stirring them up for a particularly vicious mosh pit and slamfest. Careful, kids, you might spill your drinks.

It isn't just Coachella and Stagecoach that California is famous for. There are also big mega shows and a kind of hard rock almost metal show on the same Polo Grounds in Indio.

Slipknot took the mantle from Ozzy.
Knotfest and OzzFest used to come through Southern California every year out in a dusty field surrounded by hills next to the 15 Freeway. Is metal making enough money for the Devil to still be interested?

If rock 'n roll is the great Satan, or at least the sort of music the Dark Lord prefers, why would so much more progress be made using Taylor Swift, Beyonce, weird Billie Eilish, sexy Dua Lipa, and all the flash-in-the-pan pop singers, particularly those from Korea (K-Pop) and manufactured in Hollywood public relations offices?

Ozzy loves California so much, he lives here and has for years. He's close to Hollywood.
Metal gal crowd surfs over the mosh pit as the band pounds out "Hammer Smashed Face"
  • Cannibal Corpse; Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, Crystal. CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

Friday, March 29, 2024

Ajahn Brahm: What's right? Complaint danger


The Dangers of Complaining | Ajahn Brahm | March 1st

Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung (Ajahn Brahm)
Why do we complain? [Perfection is the enemy of the good.] Theoretical physicist Ajahn Brahm explains the dangers of cultivating a fault-finding mind and the benefits of praise and looking for the positive.

Ajahn encourages us to put our energy into positive things. Outlook is everything. If we have a choice what to look for, praise will pay off much more than complaints.

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon: buddhistsocietywa. Recorded at Dhammaloka Buddhist Centre, Perth, Western Australia.

Buddhist Society of Western Australia’s teaching's page: bswa.org/teachings. To find the full playlist visit: buddhistsocietywa, or click on 'Playlists' in the top menu bar.

Copyright Buddhist Society of Western Australia bswa.org
  • Pat Macpherson, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Celebrities who dated lucky normal people

Starsinsider.com; Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

These celebrities have dated regular people
Lesbian Cynthia Nixon
We all probably have a celebrity crush, but the chances of actually ending up with one of them are one in a million [or more like one in 330 million, the approximate population of the country, now that the planet is supporting more than 8 billion]. Well, there's hope. Click through this gallery for a look at just who those lucky few are who have dated the stars. That's right, there are totally ordinary people out there who fell into the Hollywood limelight because of the person they are dating or married to—an A-list celeb! More
Best chance: be a groupie

Friday, October 6, 2023

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Dotard: Joe Biden is licensed to fall (video)

Sheldon S., Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
A strong case can be made for body doubles, plastic surgery, hair pieces, and then there's...
.
Who's moving in, Esther? - My name's Kamala
Cackling Kamala Harris is starting to look pretty good right about now. Even the Trumpet says he'd end the U.S. Proxy War in Ukraine right away if given a chance to refuse to step down again in a repeat of Jan. 6th. But this Biden, yikes, a dotard in his dotage. And there's more than one of them, but the looks of it, so what excuse does he have really?

‘License to fall’: Joe Biden mocked in James Bond parody
Actor Struan Rodgers impersonates Biden
(Sky News Australia) Sept 12, 2023: Sky News Host Rita Panahi has questioned why the oldest U.S. president is being “treated like a baby” and brought his age into question. Concerns have been raised about enfeebled U.S. Pres. Biden’s age after a series of his blunders and pratfalls were mocked in a James Bond parody trailer. “We’ve had a glimpse into the … routine the Biden White House has been running with,” Ms. Panahi said. “Who is commander in chief? Because it ain’t this guy. Nowadays, his staff don’t even let him finish before they abruptly end a press conference.”

Friday, August 5, 2022

Dangerous Personality Type: Damaged Empath

Empath Help, YouTube, July 18, 2020; Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

(Empath Help) This video is about damaged empaths and how they can heal. Not every relationship is between empaths and narcissists, but one might think so by learning about these personality types on a superficial level. Nevertheless, there's something to learn from the extremes. If it quacks like a duck, acts like a duck, and looks like a duck, treat it like a duck whether it's a real duck or not. We know a duck, and it calls the other duck a narcissist. Even her family knows she has the tendency to be codependent and save others, spare them their feelings, is needy and yearning to be needed and never abandoned. Check out the Empowered Empath Course at empath.help/empowered-empath. If anyone wants to learn emotional skills, enroll at dougnoll.com/lp/listen-others... Join at empath.help.
Other videos:

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

7 dimensions of depression explained (video)

Various speakers, Big Think, 2/14/21; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

7 dimensions of depression, explained: Dr. Daniel Goleman, Johann Hari, Pete Holmes, more
(Big Think) According to the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), more than 264 million people suffer from depression. It is the leading cause of disability and, at its worst, can lead to suicide. Unfortunately, depression is often misunderstood or ignored until it is too late.
  • Psychologist Dr. Daniel Goleman
  • Researcher Johann Hari
  • Dr. Julie Holland, MD
  • Comedian Pete Holmes
  • Neuroscientist Dr. Emeran Mayer
  • Psychiatrist Dr. Drew Ramsey, and more
outline several of the social, chemical, and neurological factors that may contribute to the complex disorder and explain why there is not a singular solution or universal "cure" that can alleviate the symptoms.

From gaining insight into how the brain-gut connection [where most neurons reside] works and adopting something closer to the Mediterranean Diet, to seeking help from medical or spiritual practitioners, depression is a personal battle that requires a personalized strategy to keep it at bay, as well as more research and understanding.


TRANSCRIPT
JOHANN HARI: When I feel depressed, like loads of people, I say I feel down, right? And as I was learning about the causes of depression and anxiety for my book, "Lost Connections," I started to realize, I don't think that's a metaphor. There is this amazing professor at Stanford called Robert Sapolsky who in his early 20s went to live with a troop baboons in Kenya. And it was his job to figure out when are baboons most stressed out. So his job was to hit them with little tranquilizer darts and then take a blood test and measure something called cortisol, which is a hormone that baboons and us release when we're stressed. And baboons live in this hierarchy, so the females don't interestingly but the men live in a very strict hierarchy. So if there's 30 men, number one knows he's above number two, number two knows he's above number three, number 12 knows he's above number 13. And that really determines a lot. It determines who you get to have sex with, it determines what you get to eat, it determines whether you get to sit in the shade or you're pushed out into the heat. Yeah, it's a really, really significant where you are in the hierarchy. And what Professor Sapolsky found is baboons are most stressed in two situations. One is when their status is insecure. So if you're the top guy and someone's circling which comes for you, you will be massively stressed. And the other situation is when you feel you're at the bottom of a hierarchy, you've been kind of humiliated. And what Professor Sapolsky found is when you feel you've been pushed to the bottom, what you do is you show something called submission gesture. Baboon will put its body down physically or put its head down, it will put its bottom in the air and it will cover its head. So it clearly seems to be communicating, "Just leave me alone, you've beaten me. Okay, you've beaten me." And what lots of scientists, people like Professor Paul Gilbert in Britain and Professor Kate Pickett and Professor Richard Wilkinson also in Britain have really developed is this idea that actually what human depression is in part, not entirely, but in part, is a form of a submission gesture. It's a way of saying, I can't cope with this anymore, right? Particularly people who feel they've been pushed to the bottom of hierarchies or who feel remember the other stressful situations when you feel your status is insecure it's a way of just going, "Okay, can I retreat?" "I don't want this fight anymore." "You've beaten me." It's a kind of very strong evolutionary impulse where you feel you're under attack to just submit in the hope that the stress and anxiety will then go away. The sources of the stress and anxiety will then go away. And one thing that is so important, Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson really developed this, is they've shown so as inequality grows, depression and anxiety grow. They've shown, this is very robust effect, right? This helps us to explain it. One in five Americans will take a psychiatric drug, one in four middle-aged women in the United States is taking a chemical antidepressant in any given year. And I began to think, could it really be that just so many people are just mysteriously lacking a specific chemical in their brain? Why does it seem to be rising so much if that's the cause? If you live in Norway, your status is relatively secure, right? No one's that high, no one's that low, movement between where you are is not so extreme. If you live in the United States, especially today which is...

Saturday, June 25, 2022

Hollywood starlets then and now (video)

I'm beautiful on the inside! Ask Raymond. Stunning 70s' stars then and now (livestly.com)
Madonna* who starred in Desperately Seeking Susan was like a virgin in the Big Apple.

Hi, Kelly, McGillis? We're doing a Top Gun sequel, you in? Old Tom needs a love interest.


1960-80s Hollywood actresses and their shocking look in 2021
(Big Star-X, June 9, 2021) Don't turn away. The Buddha was right. The definition of dukkha (disappointment, unsatisfactoriness, woe, ill, or suffering) includes aging, getting ill, and dying. It'll happen to us, too.
Bridgitt Bardot was the hottest piece of Hollywood property the studios ever had.
We know they say there's no Satanism in Hollywood, no devil worship, no soul selling, but...
.
*Madonna unfiltered, unedited image
These are not the only things encompassed by the term, but they are three none of us are likely to be able to outstrip or escape. They will catch up to us. And if we are not freed of samsara by then, we will rue the day we were born. This is not a problem only once. These three happen endlessly due to rebirth. It is not only in this life that we will lose everything. It is all hurtling toward destruction. The Buddha provided a perfect solution, but ordinary people want only more birth (and therefore by default more death) and rebirth in better places. Virtue (morality) is enough to get that. For higher, more superlative worlds, samadhi (jhana) is needed. To transcend rebirth altogether, wisdom is needed.

Behold, 30 uber-beautiful Hollywood starlets who have changed for the worse. See how they looked then, in the 1960-1980s, and what they look like now, circa 2021.
  1. [Marie Louise Veronica Ciccone or "Madonna"]
  2. Meg Foster
  3. Kelly McGillis
  4. Shelley Duvall
  5. Michael Learned
  6. Penny Marshall
  7. Sally Kirkland
  8. Kathy Coleman
  9. Sissy Spacek
  10. Cathy Silvers
  11. Diana Muldaur
  12. Rae Dawn Chong
  13. Sally Struthers
  14. Ali MacGraw
  15. Vanessa Redgrave
  16. Brigitte Bardot
  17. Diane Keaton
  18. Linda Hamilton
  19. Marlo Thomas
  20. Carol Burnett
  21. Kathleen Turner
  22. Betty White
  23. Victoria Jackson
  24. Amanda Bearse
  25. Teri Garr
  26. Joan Van Ark
  27. Faye Dunaway
  28. Lauren Tewes
  29. Lynda Day George
  30. Tina Louise
  31. Linda Evans
  32. Betty White
Copyright Disclaimer: This video made for educational and entertainment purposes. Footage used in this video is protected by the Fair Use Law, section 107 used for commentary, criticism, news reporting or education for transformative use.

NOTE: Nowhere does it claim the first photo is Madonna. Her photo is linked then shown unfilited then then used to illustrate the Mandela Effect, so laugh and relax..

**MADONNA: (Subreddit 64) /StBlaschek Feb 28 '20 edited Feb 28 '20) If it's any help, her Wikipedia page has been heavily edited, so I wouldn't take what it says too seriously.

I checked the edit history, and there are hundreds of edits, and most of them are silly. If I were you, and since it bothers you and your friend so much, I'd look through the edit history and see if her birth name has been changed.

Edit: I about drowned myself in wiki edits, but I found one from 2014 citing an article that discussed her legally changing her name to "Madonna Louise Ciccone" back in 2012. Why the heck would she legally change her name to "Madonna" if she was born Madonna?

Friday, June 19, 2020

Trump's possessed carcass, 74, weakens

Jimmy Kimmel; Jimmy Dore; Jimmy Corden; Jimmy Fallon; Editors, Wisdom Quarterly
Sunburnt lizard Trump attacks Twitter and social media in retaliation (Jimmy Dore).


Trump struggles at West Point, quickly declining at 74
Jimmy Kimmel talks about things opening up in California, Donald Trump's embarrassing commencement speech at West Point, where the aging president -- whose body is failing and seems to be possessed by extraterrestrial (lizard, reptilian) or demonic forces -- struggled to take a sip of water and walk down a ramp. What birthday cards might he have received?

(Late Late Show with James Corden) 3 Things: Trump can't walk, talk, drink

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Bill Gates knew epidemic was coming (video)

Bill Gates (TED Talk, Vox); Trevor Noah; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly


Microbes are "monsters," viruses are ghosts.
The world avoided a horrific global outbreak of Ebola in 2014. Thousands of health workers worked and we had good luck. In hindsight, we know what we should have done.

Bill Gates was told something was coming and to keep his money, he was onboard. He could help spread disease with contaminated vaccines or profitable force immunization regimes.

(Vox) How Bill Gates plans to make money from disease modeling.

There are many ways to make money from fear.
What scenario might make the most money for him and his foundation? Vaccine research is super profitable, as Big Pharma knows. It's right up there with arms sales. As he says, "There's no need to panic... BUT we need to get going." Money doesn't make itself.

The TED Talks channel features talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Talks are on Technology, Entertainment, and Design -- and science, money/business, global issues, the arts, and more.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Mysterious Manuscript: Voynich Code (video)

The Secrets of Nature; Pat Macpherson, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly


Voynich Code: The world's most mysterious manuscript
The Secrets of Nature, May 9, 2014 (updates 2026)

Sunday, June 7, 2015

The Buddhist millionaire's ENLIGHTENMENT

Hellmuth  Hecker (Anathapindika: The Great Benefactor); Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero, Amber Larson, CC Liu (editors), Wisdom Quarterly
Yearning for enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India (glosackmd/flickr)
.
6. When Anathapindika was sick and dying
The [multi-millionaire] householder Anathapindika [Sudatta the banker from prosperous Savatthi, who was called Anāthapindika, "giver of alms to the needy"] became sick a third time with very strong pains which were getting worse and not easing.

Again the multi-millionaire Anathapindika asked Venerable Sariputra and Ven. Ananda for assistance. When Ven. Sariputra -- the male disciple foremost in wisdom -- saw him, he knew that Anathapindika was nearing death, so he gave him in detail the following instructions (only outlined here):

Enlightenment instructions

  1. First, practice freeing yourself from clinging to the six sense faculties without attaching to them;
  2. Second, practice releasing yourself from dependence on the six [external sense] objects and do not attach to them either.
  3. Third, relinquish clinging to the connecting link between the six senses and the six sense objects, as well as to the six sense contacts, the six feelings, the six elements, the Five Aggregates, and the four formless [immaterial] realms, as well as to all that is seen, heard, thought, perceived, and investigated* in the mind.
  • *The expression "what is seen, heard, or otherwise sensed" is an expression famously found in the discourse to Bahiya of the Barkcloth (Daruciriya), who was quick to understand and was the fastest to ever become enlightened when being taught by the Buddha with the least amount of instruction: "Do not look long, do not look short. In the seen, let there be only the seen. In the heard, only the heard. In the otherwise sensed, only the otherwise sensed."
Knowledge cannot rival experience (Stivers).
Anathapindika must have followed these detailed instructions with his heart so that even as he was listening, he was already practicing in the way the wise and enlightened Ven. Sariputra had instructed him. At the end of the presentation, tears came from Anathapindika's eyes.

Ven. Ananda turned to him compassionately and asked him to calm himself and to be at peace. Anathapindika replied: "I cannot calm myself and be at peace, O worthy Ananda. I have served the [Buddha] and the spiritually accomplished monastics (nuns and monks) for a long time, and yet I have never heard such a profound discourse."
 
Ven. Sariputra said: "Such profound talk, O householder, will not be clear enough for white-clad followers [lay Buddhists]; it is clear enough for ascetics."
 
Anathapindika answered: "Ven. Sariputra, let such talks on the Dharma be given to white-clad laypeople, too! There are those with just a little dust in their eyes [a small coating of delusion]. If they do not hear such teachings, they will be lost. If they do hear such teachings, some may be able to understand!"

The ultimate
The difference from the previously presented teaching of the Buddha is significant. Here we are concerned with ultimate questions, with the highest deliverance of mind/heart from all suffering, not just on a theoretical basis but as a practice.
 
Anathapindika, full of faith as a stream enterer, famously gives as many gold coins as it takes to cover the ground to buy Jeta Grove to donate it to the Buddha and the Sangha.
.
Anathapindika was aware, as a disciple who possessed the fruit of stream-entry (the first stage of enlightenment), of the transitory nature the Five Aggregates of Clinging, and he himself had expressed the fact that he knew the Three Characteristics of Existence: impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and not-self.

But there is a great difference as to whether one merely hears these things and ponders them, or whether one actually practices, directly perceives them, and applies their relevance. In this distinction lies the essential difference between the methods the Buddha used to teach householders and he used to teach monastics.
 
Laypeople vs. monastics
Enlightenment does not come about by clinging to mere rules or rituals, as Binky finds out after reading yoga books and saying om 108,000 times (Matt Groening/"Life in Hell").
 
For laypeople, insight into the true nature of existence was presented as a matter of knowledge, and this teaching was given at first to the monastics as well. But for the many monastics who had progressed further, the Buddha introduced the practice that would lead to complete liberation (full enlightenment) in this very life.

Only if one sees that Ven. Sariputra's exposition was a practical step-by-step approach to directly experiencing nirvana, can one understand that Anathapindika had never heard the core of the Teaching presented in quite such a manner.

Inner light (enlightenedbeings.com)
In his dying hour he was already far removed from his worldly concerns (about money, business, and craving all his enjoyments) and, while reflecting on the Dharma, he had renounced and abandoned attachment to worldly possessions and even to this decrepit body revealed as unstable and liable to disappoint. So he found himself in a situation comparable to that of the most advanced monastics.

Under these circumstances, Ven. Sariputra was able to effectively give him instructions that would have the most far-reaching effects.
 
After advising Anathapindika in this way, Ven. Sariputra and Ven. Ananda left. Shortly thereafter, the householder Anathapindika passed away and was reborn in Tusita, a blissful celestial world, where his youngest daughter had been reborn.

The Buddha's aura, colorful and streaming.
Yet he was so genuinely devoted to the Buddha and the [Noble] Sangha [the community of accomplished practitioners whether they be lay Buddhist householders or ordained monastics] that he appeared in the Jeta Grove as a deva [a shining one, a light being], filling the entire grove with his luminosity. He went to the Buddha and, after paying respects, spoke the following verses.

"O, blessed is this Jeta Grove,
frequented by the enlightened community,
Where the Dharma King resides,
the fount of all my happiness!
By deeds, by knowledge, by uprightness,
By virtue, by the sublimest life,
By these are mortals purified,
and not by lineage nor by wealth.
A wise person, therefore,
seeing one's own good,
Wisely will one choose the Dharma,
so that one may thus be purified.
in his virtue, and in highest peace,
At best an ascetic who has crossed
beyond, can only equal him."
(MN 143; SN 2.20) More