Psi Phenomena vs. Conventional Wisdom
March 19, 2013
“Metaphysically speaking, Clive’s statement that ‘There is but one life’ is absolutely true - but not quite in the sense in which he means it.”
Certainly there is room for vastly divergent opinion in the world. From TMI's perspective one of the most stimulating debates is between the conventional and the frontier sciences. A couple of recent letters published in the Cyprus Mail represent the "frontier" side of the debate with particular lucidity. Canadian ex-pat John Knowles writes from his home in Pegeia, Paphos, Cyprus. John, along with his wife Linda Leblanc, are long-standing members of The Monroe Institute Professional Division and facilitators of human consciousness exploration.
In the interest of brevity we include here only John’s responses, but you may see the cited article by Clive Turner here: There is but one life and we should make the most of it, by Clive Turner
From the Letters page of the CyprusMail.com, "The sun does not rise and set independently either". By John Knowles.
I never saw Clive Turner’s letter as it appeared (Sunday Mail 17 February.), as I was in Virginia to attend a meeting of the Professional Division of The Monroe Institute, famous for the Out-of-Body experience. The Professional Division largely consists of people with advanced degrees. Our 60-odd attendees from 9 countries included 11 Ph.Ds (many in Physics), 7 MDs and numerous MAs and MScs. These are serious researchers, not gullible fools.
With respect, I suggest that while Clive’s proclamation that “There is but one life and we should make the most of it” reflects strongly his personal prejudice, it completely fails to address the issues raised in my letter headed “Conventional scientists never stop to ask themselves what they really know” (Cyprus Mail 9 February). For one, he far too easily dismisses OBEs and NDEs as due to “rogue electrical manifestations in the brain”, an opinion no longer as widely held by neuroscientists as it once was.
Clive asserts that “countless millions” share his belief. Aside from the fact that numbers are irrelevant (millions once believed the earth to be flat, and even today billions naively assume that the sun independently rises and sets every day), he fails to note that other “countless millions” do accept reincarnation.
He ignores the work of Dr. Ian Stevenson, whose 2600 cases fully-documented in accord with the strictest scientific protocols and very convincing Reincarnation and Biology medical monograph, as well as Jenny Cockell’s remarkable story. I can only say to Clive what I said to Dr. Dickenson: read the literature!
As for Clive’s airy condemnation of Extra-Sensory Perception, I suggest that he read “Mind Trek”, or other books by my very close friend, former US Army Chief Warrant Officer Joseph McMoneagle. Joe was Remote Viewer 001 in the US Army’s Stargate Program, based at Fort Meade, Maryland. He was decorated with the Legion of Merit for his “remote viewing” ability to “see” events and gain information from far away in space (and time!). Although the 20-year, $20 million Stargate program ended in 1995, following the end of the Cold War, most of Joe’s “psychic spy” work is still classified.
As for Clive’s comments on magic, no one questions that suitably-equipped magicians can simulate many if not most ESP phenomena, but that proves nothing. The fact that people can now fly in airplanes does not mean that there is no such thing as a bird! Moreover, serious ESP researchers ignore those phony “prize” offers by deniers. On investigation, these always prove to be so hedged about with craftily contrived conditions as to make it virtually impossible ever to win them. The deniers then proudly announce that “the prize has yet to be claimed”!
Metaphysically speaking, Clive’s statement that “There is but one life” is absolutely true - but not quite in the sense in which he means it.
Event Boundaries for the Mind
March 16, 2013
Moving through physical portals seemingly diminished memory, possibly serving as an event boundary in the mind, researchers found.
From TheNeuronProject.com. "Physical Doorways are Event Boundaries for the Mind"
By Nathan Fried.
A recent study published in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology by Dr. Gabriel Radvansky at University of Notre Dame showed how walking through doorways seemingly diminished memory, possibly serving as an event boundary in the mind.
All organisms have two basic forms of memory: short and long term. After a certain amount of time or number of experiences, short term memory is consolidated into long term memory for future retrieval. While much of the basic biochemistry is understood behind the long term potentiation of memories, less is known of the exact memory consolidation and storage circuitry. Radvansky’s team deciphered an interesting nuance—as the brain recognizes new environments it takes a moment to consolidate information from the previous environment and leaves out unimportant information. Doors being gateways to new environments, Radvansky found that as an individual passes through a doorway, the brain sees it as a new environment, performing this memory consolidation and stripping function.
They did this with three experiments. The first was held in a virtual world where a test subject would choose an object on a table, walk a certain distance to the other side of the room or the same distance through a doorway to a new room. When asked to remember the object, those who walked through a doorway had a more difficult time retrieving the information.
A similar experimental design was also conducted in the physical world with the same results. Finally, a control experiment was used to see if the reason the subject was forgetful after walking through a door is because they were in an obviously different room and not simply because they walked through a door....
Photo credit: Futurilla
End of the line for online passwords
March 11, 2013
“If you run into problems trying to remember a password...things could be about to get easier. The days of the lowly password are numbered.”
The end of passwords can't come soon enough for many Internet users, who need security and easy access without the frustration of dealing with multiple logins.
From BBC News, “End of the line for online passwords, says PayPal.” By Tim Bowler.
If you run into problems trying to remember a password on your mobile or computer when trying to buy something, then things could be about to get easier.
The days of the lowly password are numbered.
The fact is that the way we users typically deal with having multiple passwords for our online accounts makes us too vulnerable to spyware, phishing and identity theft.
Many of us rely on the same password, while many more of us only use three or four passwords.
Ideally, the best password would be something like Az1f6&jWz - but you'd never remember it. So the industry is looking to ditch passwords, and is turning to a variety of solutions, such as voice recognition, key stroke analysis and finger print identification.
Payments firm PayPal is one of those leading the changes, and president David Marcus says the aim is to make the whole process seamless. "Like magic, you'll be authenticated, and the payment will go through," he tells BBC World Service's Business Daily. "We want to move away from passwords, and get to embedded fingerprint scanners on mobile phones. "You're going to start seeing that type of experience later this year, with a mass roll-out in the year to come."
...The idea is that users will be able to select the type of authentication that suits them best - from fingerprint scanning to USB tokens.
"The best protection is the one you don't see - it's the one that happens in the background, that verifies your identity accessing your own data," says Mr Marcus.
...Of course, PayPal is not the only company working on solutions that don't require users racking their brains to remember passwords.
In Sweden, behavioural biometrics firm BehavioSec has developed a system, which is already in use in Swedish banks, that focuses on how we behave on our computer or mobile.
biometrics word cloud Biometric security systems monitor our behaviour, voice or fingerprints
"We can capture the rhythm of how users type - the speed between the keystrokes," says chief executive Neil Costigan.
...Meanwhile, US speech technology company Nuance has developed voice recognition software that is already in use with Barclays Bank in the UK and USAA Bank in the United States.
Nuance's "Nina" app allows companies to add a speech-enabled virtual personal assistant function to their existing smartphone apps.
"USAA Bank has been trialling the technology with a select group of customers, and is now launching the technology globally with a release in 38 languages," says Nuance.
"It is set to be adopted by banks, utilities and telecoms firms worldwide."
A customer can open the app and say "pay my mobile phone bill", and Nina will verify their identity through the sound of their voice and pay the bill, it adds.
Nuance insists that there is no way fraudsters will be able to circumvent this.
All of which should be welcome news for those of us who continually have to email our online retailers for new passwords, because we've forgotten the one we asked them for the last time we tried to buy something from them.
‘Psychic cells’: Scientists discover cells can communicate through physical barriers
March 08, 2013
“...cancer cells and dying cells communicate with nearby normal nerve cells without being physically connected to them.”
Dr. Keith Norris, senior author of the research and assistant dean for clinical and translational science at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said the study contributes to the understanding of cell communication, which until now was known to take place only through direct contact or direct stimulation of receptors in the cells of molecules known as ligands or in hormones, signaling factors, nerves and other pathways.
It now appears, the researchers say, that cells may be able to effectively communicate through physical barriers. Their study appears in the January 2013 issue of the peer-reviewed American Journal of Translational Research.
For the study, Norris and his colleagues reported on how normal nerve cells isolated in an enclosed chamber behave during a function known calcium signal processing. The team found that when these isolated nerve cells were surrounded by other normal nerve cells outside the barrier, they had the same calcium signaling properties.
However, when the normal isolated nerve cells were surrounded by cancer cells or dying cells, they processed the calcium signals differently, suggesting there was communication from the surrounding cells. The physical barrier between the cells prevented hormonal, ligand-receptor and other traditional forms of cell-to-cell communication....
Spontaneous Evolution: New Scientific Realities Are Bringing Spirit Back into Matter
March 04, 2013
“The upheavals that we presently see in our civilization represent a giant force of evolution that’s in motion.”
From the Institute of Noetic Sciences Journal.
By Bruce Lipton
...Although programmed to believe ourselves frail and vulnerable, we are learning instead that the power of healing has always been within us, for not only do our personal beliefs affect our personal lives but our collective beliefs physically manifest our collective reality.
The upheavals that we presently see in our civilization represent a giant force of evolution that’s in motion. When we focus on any one of the current crises alone, we run the unfortunate risk of missing the forest for the individual trees, failing to recognize that all these crises collectively represent the evolution of community, not of the individual. What we’re evolving now is a super organism called humanity and a reality in which all of us know ourselves to be cells in the body of one living organism, the planet.
...Civilizations have always come and gone. Our particular cycle is unique, however, because we’re not just ending a civilization, we’re also ending a complete stage of evolution. We also have the potential to jump into another stage of evolution, but I must emphasize that we have the potential. We cannot tell the outcome. We may or may not make it, and we must really own that. This doesn’t mean that we should stop trying to see how we might be able to survive but that we should be all the more active in trying to do so.
...The beliefs we have been living by are wrong. Fractal mathematics says: There is a pattern in the world, and there is a pattern to your evolution. Quantum physics says: Don’t focus on the material, focus on the immaterial realm. Energy is primal. The rule is that if a science on the lower part of the building changes its belief system, every science above that building block must incorporate it. Biology and psychology have not adopted the new understandings of mathematics and physics; they are out of scientific context and no longer scientific. Quantum biology, however, a new science, examines how energy affects biology, and consciousness is that energy. As for psychology, a material psychology based on chemistry and drugs needs to be replaced by energy psychology. We heal ourselves with our thoughts, our mind, our consciousness, which are more powerful than chemistry. It’s the invisible, immaterial realm that’s powerful....
...What we’re beginning to learn is that we are cells in a larger organism. At this moment – just like what’s happening in the bodies of many people on this planet – the earth is experiencing autoimmune disease, where the cells in the body are killing each other, and if we don’t learn fast enough, we are not going to make it. Those of us looking for new answers are the future of a new evolution. We are experimenting and investigating how we might create a better life. The only way out is an evolution, and an evolution means undoing the previous structure. So don’t be afraid of the current structure falling apart; it’s a necessary step to get us to the next level. Don’t go into the future with fear but with the promise and reality of fractal geometry. We are returning to the original condition of wedding spirit with matter, the immaterial and material planes, and we will live in this garden with peace and harmony.
Image credit: Blue Marble Earth from Suomi NPP, NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring
Mind, Genes, Neuroplasticity & Enlightenment
March 02, 2013
“The brain is a tool....We identify with our brain and everything it does to allow us to survive. But if
we step back and view the brain as a computer, now you say, ‘I’m going to control how my mind is going to work. I’m not going to be a servant.’ Now you have the free will, the choice. You can take advantage of neuroplasticity to turn genes on...to choose happiness...to choose how you want to live in the world.” ~Rudolph Tanzi, PhD
From HuffingtonPost.com, Blog —
Rudolph Tanzi and Deepak Chopra discuss brain functioning and neuroplasticity.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Image credit: new 1illuminati
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