No obligation to any government

Living on land deemed to be one “country” or another does not mean we owe any allegiance to the government of that country or its “laws”. “Countries” and “laws” are human fictions, created in an attempt to control people. They actually have no intrinsic or moral authority. We have no obligation to obey “laws” or to pay homage to any “government”.

It is true that such governments can use their self-created laws to justify the abuse of those it deems under its “jurisdiction”. But these things are purely fictions created by the government in its grab for power.

Truly, we are responsible only for ourselves and our impact on the world, not to some fictitious entity called “government”.

Sharka Todd

The boundary between science and pseudoscience

Star Wars Episode III

Article source: WIKIPEDIA

The boundary lines between the science and pseudoscience are disputed and difficult to determine analytically, even after more than a century of dialogue among philosophers of science and scientists in varied fields, and despite some basic agreements on the fundamentals of scientific methodology.

The concept of pseudoscience rests on an understanding that scientific methodology has been misrepresented or misapplied with respect to a given theory, but many philosophers of science maintain that different kinds of methods are held as appropriate across different fields and different eras of human history. Paul Feyerabend, for example, disputes whether any meaningful boundaries can be drawn between pseudoscience, "real" science, and what he calls "protoscience", especially where there is a significant cultural or historical distance.

If one cannot improve one's self-

then one can at least improve the company one keeps!

Sharka Todd

What is an old soul?

Source: Dolores Cannon- Between Life and Death - Conversations with a Spirit

Dolores: What about you? Are you a young soul or an old soul? In
other words, have you been around a long time or a short
time?

Spirit: All souls have been around for the same degree. Some of us
have chosen, for our own personal reasons, to incarnate into
the body more often than others. That is where they get the
term “old or young soul.” Some are young in terms of
Earthly experience. I have found that I like to do what I can
in a tangible way to help not only myself but others. Thus I
have had a tendency to keep coming back over and over.

D: Then a young soul would be one that has not had much
Earth experience?

S: Yes, or just experience in the other realms because Earth is
not the only realm of consciousness.

D: Are there any rules or regulations about how many lives you
have to live altogether?

S: Some may be able to complete their karma in one life if they
live a very exemplary life, and that is the end of it. Others
must go on and on for many, many lifetimes to work out
things that they have brought upon themselves and to learn
what they need to learn. There are some who are very new
in experience because they have perhaps just recently decided
to try out Earthly incarnations. Others have been around
since the beginning working on what they need to work on.
Others who, perhaps, started at the beginning with the others
but through long periods of rest in between lives or learning
through other means, perhaps have only had a few lifetimes.

Buddhism is the true science of psychology, not behaviorism

In science, the subjective element is minimized as it is seen as unreliable and subject to interpretation. In psychology, the field of study is the subjective realm (i.e. mental states). Therefore, one cannot minimize the subjective element. This is why psychology is generally not regarded as a science.

Science limits itself to external states observable by many. True psychology is concerned with internal states experienced only by the experiencer. To get around this problem the behaviorist school was developed which focuses on observable behaviors of sentient beings.

Many do not class behaviorism as a school of psychology (the study of the psyche) but instead as a separate discipline. While the study of behavior will reveal something about a person’s inner states it cannot reveal the inner states themselves.

In its aim to remain objective and subject to the scientific method behaviorism concerns itself only with those things that can be observed and agreed upon by many. So it is a study of behavior, not subjective states, and so is not a true study of the psyche.

Perhaps the school of thought that is most psychologically detailed is Buddhism.  This is based on thousands of years of observation by practitioners of meditation of their own mind.  This is the true psychology- for only by observing our own subjective states can we claim to be an expert on the mind.  Observing other people and animals behavior just doesn't do it.

So I would say that Buddhism is the true science of psychology and that behaviorism is some separate discipline.

Sharka Todd 

See also: Science of the mind: Buddhism v behaviourism

An argument in support of Homeopathy

Homeopathy has come under fire in recent times from people who call themselves “skeptics”. They claim that the methods used to create homeopathic medicines could not possibly result in an active ingredient being present in the medicines and therefore such medicines are worthless. It is claimed homeopathic medicines are no better than placebos.

Even if the preceding is true, there would still be value in homeopathic medicines. The reason for this is that homeopathics harness the power of belief (which gives rise to the placebo effect) in people who have faith in the efficiency of the medicine. In those with no such faith we would expect no effect, if the claims of the skeptics are true. Such people would not be drawn to homeopathic remedies. If it is believed homeopathic medicines will give the desired result with no negative side effects, then those who are able to harness the power of belief to heal their own body will receive a good result.

He who disbelieves gains poor results! (PIC)

Pic: Wesley Snipes, The Art of War (film)

A response to James Randi's call to ban psychics

 Watch a video of James Randi expressing his desire to outlaw the promotion of supernatural beliefs here.

Well known "skeptic" James Randi believes supernatural ideas are promoted by the media to please sponsors. But he fails to mention that the sponsors like having people watch their ads and that TV and radio are programmed to draw an audience to increase advertising revenue. In other words, psychic matters are discussed because people are interested in them and it therefore draws an audience with the resulting advertising revenue. This is democracy in action in the marketplace.

What Randi seems to be suggesting is some kind of elitist or totalitarian approach to remove from the media those things that a select "knowledgeable" few believes promotes untruths or "pseudoscience". But who gets to choose what is banned and what would this mean for a supposedly "free" society?

Randi seems unable to realize what he is promoting. He is certainly un-American in his thinking. Instead, he is more aligned with the Communist Chinese Government who seek to control what the public has access to, to protect the government's interests. Why any free society would wish to move closer to such a repressive regime remains unclear and highlights the shallowness of thought entertained by James Randi.

Sharka Todd

What is open-mindedness?

Banksy

For me being open-minded means allowing for the possibility of something existing which a person has not yet experienced.

It is not linked to any particular belief system, but rather refers to the stance of being willing to consider the possibility of something being true without any prior bias, even if we think that the potential of that something existing is very low.

Closed-mindedness, in contrast, is taking a pre-set position on a phenomenon, being rigid in our thinking towards it and being unable to reasonably consider evidence for its existence.

Sharka Todd

Physical form: a "camouflage" reality adopts- SETH

Bontecou

 Physical form is one of the camouflages that reality adopts. The camouflage is real, and yet there is a much greater reality within it - the vitality that gave it form.

Your physical senses then allow you to perceive this camouflage, for they are attuned to it in a highly specialized manner.

But to sense the reality within the form requires a different sort of attention, and more delicate manipulations than the physical senses provide.

Source: Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts, p.6

The universe "adjusts" to our viewpoint

Those who look for evidence of wrongdoing will find it; those who look for evidence of good deeds will find it.

Seth- “You get what you focus on.” 

Those who focus on the negative will receive a negative response; those who focus on the positive will find a positive response. The universe is really quite amenable to our viewpoint!

Sharka Todd

The fog of war (PIC)

Image edit by Sharka Todd

The Arcturians have arrived! (PIC)

Image by Sharka Todd

No denying purpose- AGENT SMITH

"There is no escaping reason; no denying purpose. Because as we both know, without purpose, we would not exist. It is purpose that created us. Purpose that connects us. Purpose that pulls us. That guides us. That drives us. It is purpose that defines us. Purpose that binds us."

Agent Smith, The Matrix Reloaded (film)

GENES: two differing interpretations

Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene:
[Genes] swarm in huge colonies, safe inside giant lumbering robots, sealed off from the outside world, communicating with it by tortuous indirect routes, manipulating it by remote control. They are in you and me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence.

Denis Noble:
Genes are trapped in huge colonies, locked inside highly intelligent beings, moulded by the outside world, communicating with it by complex processes, through which, blindly, as if by magic, function emerges. They are in you and me; we are the system that allows their code to be read; and their preservation is totally dependent on the joy we experience by reproducing ourselves. We are the ultimate rationale for their existence.

Source: The Dawkins Delusion by Alister McGrath

Do subatomic particles have free will?

“If the atoms never swerve so as to originate some new movement that will snap the bonds of fate, the everlasting sequence of cause and effect—what is the source of the free will possessed by living things throughout the earth?”—Titus Lucretius Carus, Roman philosopher and poet, 99–55 BC.

article here

The intellect and mental disintegration

When the intellect alone is used to understand reality without recourse to the intuition, insanity is often the result. This may explain the high rates of dementia among ex-engineers and university professors. Without the head and heart in harmony there is discord and unhappiness and ultimately, mental disintegration.

The intellect working alone just doesn't have the resources to deal with the mysteries of life. The intellect is removed from the bigger picture, whereas the feeling nature, specifically the intuition, is connected to the whole and feels much more secure with its place in the world.

It is this security, trust and sense of belonging in the universe that makes the intuition our greatest aid in connecting with and understanding the grand design of life! And when used in conjunction with the rational nature we become a more well-rounded and grounded human being.

Sharka Todd