The 8th century Indian philosopher and commentator on the Upanshads, Adi Shankara, was pretty much saying the same thing with his concept of the Mahashakti.

You could do a lot of damage with one of those chemistry sets from the '60s...

This aligns nicely with Shankara's Advaita Vedanta, which basically holds that our sense of ourselves as individual beings is quite illusory and unnecessary for us to function in the world. Many spiritual gurus who aren't flimflammers know this as an experiential fact. Bear in mind, Shankara said this all in the 8th century A.C.

While the article reveals that Sheldrake seems to be a well-adjusted human being, many of his ideas are still mostly bunkum.

Saying that we've been looking for proof of psychic phenomena for millennia to support your position is specious

I'm confident that shamans of various cultures have been trying to prove (or more accurately, fake) their powers for at least 5000 years, and I believe it's not far-fetched to say it has been for much longer than that.

There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt on in your philosophy

But there is still not a shred of evidence that psi as it is imagined exists at all outside the imaginations of its believers. What's important to remember is that folks have been trying to prove psi for centuries. Those things we haven't dreamt yet are things we have decidedly NOT being trying to prove.

@ Antinous: It's more like this: psi doesn't exist as anything near what its believers want it to be.

So....does that mean that microwaves didn't exist before 1888?

We weren't looking for microwaves before then, were we? We've been looking for hard evidence of psi for practically millennia. We still don't have it. There's a really good reason for that.

To automatically assume that these forces do not exist is as irrational as to automatically assume that some formulaic "death curse" possesses true force, energy or power.

To automatically assume that the contents of one's subjective perceptual envelope indicate anything other than the assumptions and beliefs of the subject's own mind is quite a bit more irrational than rejecting mythologically-based ideas that have never been proven in an acceptable experimental design. There's a really good reason parapsychology is a dead science.

have been working for a respected dark arts firm

What, you're an entertainment-industry lawyer?

I tried to make up a term that would have a more scientific ring to it.

Bwahahahahaha! Classic!

occult engineers

The oxymoron of the century!

I wrote about this a few days ago. Some commenters from India speculate that Sanal Edamaruku arranged it all as a PR stunt, as some folks in that country are wont to do when religion is involved.

Nick Philip did something similar, but way more clever and nearly 10 years ago:

http://nphilip.best.vwh.net/instal.htm

Too bad the thing sounds like an asthmatic lawnmower, not to mention it doesn't walk very fast.

perhaps you could email them and ask why

I already did.

Both the SFGate/Chronicle and LATimes are presently ignoring this story at 9:45 PM MDT.

Presently, the bleeding edge of tornado chasing involves flying UAVs close to and into tornados.

This is the first description of nondual realization that I've come across that appears to be completely biologically-mediated. The reason I'm convinced it was an authentic nondual realization is that it only occurred when the left side of her brain shut down momentarily. Also, just like most examples of nondual realization that I'm familiar with, once she knew herself as the limitless self, she was able to recall the same understanding in realtime, regardless of the state of her left brain or where she was weighting her individual identity.

Yo! It's Dramatic Prairie Dog!

Ski Mars!

There has been not one single apocalyptic forecast that has ever come true throughout human history that I'm aware of. The Harmonic Convergence, Y2K and a whole slew of end-of-the-world predictions by small-time wackadoo religious nuts have all been complete busts. The same will hold true for 2012 and the singularity. Those are some apocalyptic predictions I guarantee to be accurate.

Find me a Ren & Stimpy thermometer and I'll use it everyday.

The curator of this show should be commended for bringing modern street culture into this previously very conservative environment.

Except for the fact that he's brought in one tiny slice of the gigantic pie. That's maybe cool for a local gallery or coffee shop show, but a national gallery should be representing on a national level, imo. Arek and Con may be nationally-known graffiti writers, but they are in no way Basquiats, Warhols or Pollacks of graffiti art.

that doesn't mean it has somehow lost value or meaning.

I'm not saying it lacks meaning, but I can't agree it has value as a national representation of graffiti art as it has existed over the last 30 years in America. While Arek and Con are, at a minimum, highly skilled graffiti artists of perhaps some renown, they do not reflect the entire culture of graffiti art across time, just the current state of its mainstream.

In my opinion, a national exhibit and its viewers deserve a deeper presentation of the material.

A retraction of sorts: Con and Arek are in no way anything like Paris Hilton. I'm sorry for drawing that line.

Do you even write graffiti?

That doesn't have any bearing on what I'm saying.

Because for someone who wants to play graffiti armchair quarterback and kick dirt at these guys you obviously know that the Smithsonian stated in other articles they wanted local graffiti writers for the show.

I wasn't aware of that. I assumed, since the exhibition is in a national gallery, that the intent was to curate something representative of American hip-hop and graffiti in toto. Thus, I figure they should have dug a bit deeper and found more seminal works and artists.

I'm kicking dirt at the curator. Con and Arek are clearly skilled with the can, and I'm sure their mark is up all over their local metro area. However, not as much can be said for their content, which looks exactly like 99% of the burners produced in this country over the last 20 years. If there's one thing that graffiti isn't doing, it's evolving as an illustrative art form, at least in its mainstream.

You also know that these guys are cool with some of the other writers you were so quick to mention and you obviously know all about Arek and Con's graff careers.

Not to throw more dirt, but they've only been active since 2000, or maybe a few years before that. When I moved to Oakland/Berkeley in 1987, that shit was in full swing, and at least at the same level these guys are at. My point is that there's a whole lot more to the graffiti culture than a couple guys who get up in the D.C. area, and this particular exhibit seemingly ignores that.

I've clearly misunderstood the intent of the show. It's obviously something more small-scale and locally-based, rather than a true sampling of American hip hop culture across its history. A few writers from D.C./Baltimore and a photographer from Albuquerque reflect a rather small sample instead of something more nationally representative. I guess I was expecting something that went deeper and was more historical than what "Recognize!" is seeming to me.

Stay salty and hating and get that last word in, cause you're looking dumber than Paris Hilton.

Depending on who's doing the looking, sure.

that doesn't mean these artists are bad.

I wasn't saying they were bad. They're just another two mediocre examples of which there are probably hundreds of thousands now.

To put them in a national gallery representing graffiti is like giving an Oscar to Paris Hilton.

> you must not know much about arek, con or illegal graffiti.
*****
Perhaps not. But I do know there are much more widely-known and better regarded artists in the field besides these two. Barry McGee (Twist) comes to mind. Doze and Dug One from S.F, Crash, Daze and Lady Pink from NYC are also all more seminal and prominent than Arek or Con.

There are at least 100 graffiti artists who are WAY more deserving of the exposure than these two. Very poor curation which demos a complete lack of credibility as far as the graffiti world is concerned.

Saw the truth, was not impressed.

Trepanation is... still practiced today, for medical reasons and also voluntarily to achieve enlightenment.
"
The only "enlightenment" you'd get from putting a hole in your head is from the photons that might seep into your brain cavity.

Go Comcast! You're creating a great market for your competitors.

If it only ran on air.

"Power of place" = whatever expectations you bring with you.

According to my contacts on the rez at Pine Ridge in South Dakota, Russell Means means to further the agenda of Russell Means. The tribal governments (there are at least seven of them) are NOT on board.

The first lady – number 846 – has the hottest outfit, and she fills it out quite nicely, but most of the outfits are a bit, to a good deal hotter, than the ladies in them.

I think I understand the romance of steampunk, but I'll take Gore-Tex and Cordura over canvas and leather any day I'm out in the backcountry.

Donovan and David Lynch are dumb (and also fortunately for TM, rich) dupes for the most grandiose guru alive today, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Here is a man who honestly believes his cult will rule the world, and he's already appointed various rajas (kings) to administer it for him.

The fact is that TM has nothing over any other meditation practice, and that the "Maharishi Effect" is nothing more than one psychotically grandiose nincompoop's narcissism made manifest.

Nothing against you, Markji, but listening to Pinchbeck muse about his entirely subjective, DMT-addled "insights" on time is nothing but a waste of it.

2012 is going to be a big, fat bust. Remember the Harmonic Convergence of 1987?

We scanned the skies with rainbow eyes and saw machines of every shape and size
We talked with tall Venusians passing through
And Peter tried to climb aboard but the Captain shook his head
And away they soared
Climbing through the ivory vibrant cloud
Someone passed some bliss among the crowd
And We walked back to the road, unchained

David Bowie, Memory of a Free Festival - 1969

Slashdot has a bit about this today that references a Scientific American article on some researchers who already have something working which induces "religious feelings."

To G. Park regarding Paul: seeing as he's the one who butchered the message of Christ beyond all recognition, my money's on his having a pathological personality disorder along with his epilepsy.

Here is how I came to know of Casa Bonita.