2010-10-30

Max Heindel about Atlantis

Plato sure did gave us some things to talk about, among them is Atlantis. This city/state/continent, real or invented is used to describe something very familiar for us, decay, either social, moral, technological or whatever. The stories linked to it are in a very great number and no one can actually prove the veracity of them. We should keep an open mind to all possibilities, even if the stories are false, we still can learn a great deal from them.

I present to you something most people did not have the chance to read although the text is now in the public domain. Max Heindel was a great Rosicrucian mystic and Christian occultist. He was born in Denmark, on July 23, 1865 and died in the United States of America on January 6, 1919. The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, a book first published in 1909 is a fundamental book in the field of esoteric studies. My intention is not to comment on the fragment presented below, I only want to give the possibility for others to start on a very interesting journey.

Volcanic cataclysms destroyed the greater part of the Lemurian continent and in its stead rose the Atlantean continent, where the Atlantic Ocean now is.

Material scientists, impelled by the story of Plato to undertake researched regarding Atlantis, have demonstrated that there is ample foundation for the story that such a continent did exist. Occult scientists know that it existed and they also know that the conditions there were such as shall now be described.

Ancient Atlantis differed from our present world in many ways, but the greatest difference was in the constitution of the atmosphere and the water of that Epoch.

From the southern part of the planet came the hot, fiery breath of the volcanoes which were still abundantly active. From the north swept down the icy blasts of the Polar region. The continent of Atlantis was the meeting place of those two currents, consequently its atmosphere was always filled with a thick and murky fog. The water was not so dense as now, but contained a greater proportion of air. Much water was also held in suspension in the heavy, foggy Atlantean atmosphere.

Through this atmosphere the Sun never clearly shone. It appeared to be surrounded by an aura of light-mist, as do street-lamps when seen through a dense fog. It was then possible to see only a few feet in any direction and the outlines of all objects not close at hand appeared dim, hazy and uncertain. Man was guided more by internal perception than by external vision.

Not only the country, but also the man of that time was very different from anything existent on earth at the present time. He had a head, but scarcely any forehead; his brain had no frontal development; the head sloped almost abruptly back from a point just above the eyes. As compared with our present humanity; he was a giant; his arms and legs were much longer, in proportion to this body, than ours. Instead of walking, he progressed by a series of flying leaps, not unlike those of the kangaroo. He had small blinking eyes and his hair was round in section. The latter peculiarity, if no other, distinguishes the descendants of the Atlantean races who remain with us at the present day. Their hair was straight, glossy, black and round in section. That of the Aryan, thought it may differ in color, is always oval in section. The ears of the Atlantean sat much further back upon the head than do those of the Aryan.

The higher vehicles of the early Atlanteans were not drawn into a concentric position in relation to the dense body, as are ours. The spirit was not quite an indwelling spirit; it was partially outside, therefore could not control its vehicles with as great facility as though it dwelt entirely inside. The head of the vital body was outside of and held a position far above the physical head. There is a point between the eyebrows and about half an inch below the surface of the skin, which has a corresponding point in the vital body. This point is not the pituitary body, which lies much deeper in the head of the dense body. It might be called "the root of the nose." When these two points in the dense and the vital bodies come into correspondence, as they do in man today, the trained clairvoyant sees then as a black spot, or rather as a vacant space, like the invisible core of a gas flame. This is the seat of the indwelling spirit in the man--the Holy of Holies in the temple of the human body, barred to all but that indwelling human Ego whose home it is. The trained clairvoyant can see with more or less distinctness, according to his capacity and training, all the different bodies which form the aura of man. This spot alone is hidden from him. This is the "Isis" whose veil none may lift. Not even the highest evolved being on earth is capable of unveiling the Ego of the humblest and least developed creature. That, and that alone upon earth, is so sacred that it is absolutely safe from intrusion.

These two points just spoken of--the one in the dense body and its counterpart in the vital body--were far apart in the men of the early Atlanteans days, as they are in the animals of our day. The head of the horse's vital body is far outside the head of its dense body. The two points are closer together in the dog than in any other animal except, perhaps, the elephant. When they come into correspondence we have an animal prodigy, able to count, spell, etc.

On account of the distance between these two points, the Atlantean's power of perception or vision was much keener in the inner Worlds than in the dense Physical World, obscured by its atmosphere of thick, heavy fog. In the fullness of time, however, the atmosphere slowly became clearer; at the same time, the point spoken of in the vital body came closer and closer to the corresponding point in the dense body. As the two approached each other, man gradually lost touch with the inner Worlds. They became dimmer as the dense Physical World became clearer in outline. Finally, in the last third of the Atlantean Epoch, the point in the vital body was united to the corresponding point in the dense body. Not until then did man become fully awake in the dense Physical World; but at the same time that full sight and perception in the Physical World were gained, the capability of perceiving the inner Worlds were gradually lost to most of the people.

Source: HEINDEL, Max,  The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception

web: http://www.archive.org/details/rosicruciancosmo00heiniala
        http://www.rosicrucian.com/rcc/rcceng00.htm

2010-10-28

The First Space Port

Imagine the day when you will be able to fly to space, and to have where to fly to out there. The first space hotel will open in the next years (from Bigelow Aerospace), but the first space port is operational. The State of New Mexico is the owner of Spaceport America, the first of its kind and it works just like a normal airport. Virgin Galactic is the first real partner, or "ideal" as they say. I wrote some months ago an article, Next in Space, where I presented the possibility that beginning with 2011 people will be able, for a fee of 200 000 dollars, to travel to space and back. Things look to be on track, which is great news because this industry, space tourism, will be something special. We only have to work to create the infrastructure and technology needed to make this dream a reality and also to make it more affordable.

Spaceport America, New Mexico, and Virgin Galactic`s fleet.  Computer generated.

2010-10-25

Eldena Ruin by Caspar David Friedrich

Caspar David Friedrich is one of the most important European painters that was part of the Romanticist movement. He was born in Northern Germany in 1774, a region which greatly influenced his art. This is the case of the present work entitled "Eldena Ruin" which dates from 1825. He returned to recreating the ruin several times resulting in other examples with the same subject.

2010-10-11

Rungnado May Day Stadium

When talking about North Korea, architecture never comes to mind, there is no surprise, in fact it is something normal if you talk about such an isolated country. Let's forget about politics for now and stay on the realm of art, we will talk about the Rungnado May Day Stadium. It has a capacity of around 150 000, the largest in the world it seems, and it was completed in May 1st (obviously) 1989. It's main characteristic is the roof, consisting of 16 arches arranged in a ring in which 11,000 tons of structural steel were used. An impressive structure, let's admit it, God knows how many people died during the construction.




2010-10-10

What is Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism is an old religion, dating from around 1000 BC to 2000 BC, there is no exact date so approximations vary widely depending on what the writer wants to transmit. The name comes from the prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra). He was a priest of the existing religion of his time but he showed an original mind and he proved to be a bold reformer. That is why he began to preach a religion that survived till this day despite some hard moments in the lives of its believers.

One of the characteristics that made this religion differ from others of its time is monotheism. This one great and supreme God, named Ahura Mazda is a very important element in the development of the human civilization and I will try to explain in this article why I believe this.

Let's start with the basics, we have a number of source texts, first the Avesta, with the Old Avesta, containing the five Gathas and the Yasna Haptanghaiti and the Young Avesta comprising Yasna, Videvdad and Visperad. Second we have the Pahlavi texts, considered of secondary importance, not canonical. The Denkard and the Bundahishn (Creation) stand out to be veritable encyclopedias of the religion.

For the Avesta texts, the Avestan language was used and an interesting but out-of-date theory is given about the existence of this language. Noah had three sons, Shem who made the semitic civilization, Ham created the Hamitic and Japhet started the Japhetic (Indo-European). The Avestan language is part of the Japhetic tree so to speak, the Indo-Europeans, the Aryans. The reason why people felt this theory was appropriate is, in our case, among other things, the existence of a "destruction" story reminding people of the Great Flood described in the Bible.

22. And Ahura Mazda spake unto Yima, saying: 'O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat! Upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall bring the fierce, deadly frost; upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall make snow-flakes fall thick, even an aredvi deep on the highest tops of mountains.
23. 'And the beasts that live in the wilderness, and those that live on the tops of the mountains, and those that live in the bosom of the dale shall take shelter in underground abodes.
24. 'Before that winter, the country would bear plenty of grass for cattle, before the waters had flooded it. Now after the melting of the snow, O Yima, a place wherein the footprint of a sheep may be seen will be a wonder in the world.
25. 'Therefore make thee a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, and thither bring the seeds of sheep and oxen, of men, of dogs, of birds, and of red blazing fires. Therefore make thee a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, to be an abode for man; a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, for oxen and sheep.
26. 'There thou shalt make waters flow in a bed a hathra long; there thou shalt settle birds, on the green that never fades, with food that never fails. There thou shalt establish dwelling-places, consisting of a house with a balcony, a courtyard, and as gallery.
27. 'Thither thou shalt bring the seeds of men and women, of the greatest, best, and finest on this earth; thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of cattle, of the greatest, best, and finest on this earth.
28. 'Thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of tree, of the highest of size and sweetest of odour on this earth; thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of fruit, the best of savour and sweetest of odour. All those seeds shalt thou bring, two of every kind, to be kept inexhaustible there, so long as those men shall stay in the Vara.
29. 'There shall be no humpbacked, none bulged forward there; no impotent, no lunatic; no malicious, no liar; no one spiteful, none jealous; no one with decayed tooth, no leprous to be pent up, nor any of the brands wherewith Angra Mainyu stamps the bodies of mortals.
(Vendidad, Fargard 2 ; Source: Avesta.org)

Zoroastrianism introduced a dualism that can be seen in almost all the other religions, from the present or the past. There is an opposition between order and chaos, good and bad, truth and falsehood. Two forces battle one against the other, trying to take humanity on either side. All that is good belongs to Ahura Mazda, and all that is bad to Angra Manyu (or Ahriman in the Pahlavi texts). Unlike the Christian concept of God, Ahura Mazda does not have any power against evil except actual combat in which humans play an important role.

The full article will be available in
Awil-um Magazine 4/2010 (October - December)

2010-10-09

Liu Xiaobo and the Peace Prize

Nobel was of the opinion that the peace prize should go to a person who "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses". With all respect for dissidents, Liu's place is not in this category.

There is no reason aside of the political implications why a dissident won this award. This is just like last year when Obana was awarded the prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is composed of five members appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, this says much. Five politically elected people decided to honor an individual from another country that is acting against his country. Liu did not work for "fraternity between nations", not for "abolition or reduction of standing armies" and not for "the holding and promotion of peace congresses". He fights for human rights, but this "fighting for human rights" is something like "fighting against climate change" or "against terror", all of these are arbitrary.

There is a reason why Nobel gave that definition, not because he was stupid, but because he knew exactly who should be given the awards. If this would have been an award for "human rights fighters" then, yes, Liu Xiaobo is on the list, along with other thousands of free thinkers from the planet.

2010-10-07

Extraterrestrial Life


Scientist are getting close to finding Earth-like planets out there which could possibly be the home for other civilizations like us, or not. For our own good let's be optimist and think that they are not like us. The time that will pass between finding the planet, sending a robotic mission and hopefully tweeting with "them" will be great, but not this is what interests us.


In fact, forget the introduction and think of it this way, what would you ask an alien if you would have that possibility. I would go for the history to understand who/what they are. Learning their language would not be that bad. Another question that you should put yourself is how would you react when "he/her/it" would stand in front of you. Ugly or beautiful, it does not matter how they look, you realize that you take part at something historical and that there are possibilities for things to go wrong. Just remember how the Europeans colonized the New World, wouldn't want to be an Inca.

If you and I are rational people, what about the rest? This question alone could be on the lips and in the minds of those who now know about extraterrestrials, if the "conspiracy theories" are true. I am not so sure that "they" would be interested in forming with us an "intergalactic rugby cup competition" or start commerce with iPhones or cocaine. So what would average Joe have to do with "them"? They would probably say that we are not prepared, or less polite, that we are stupid.

This leaves us with only one solution, hope they are peaceful and hope that we will evolve. Realizing our current situation, it's kind of useless to want disclosure if you are not interested in research about and with "them" and chances are that if you are any good in your field you are already part of a "team".

The truth is we have many more things to fix and we should concentrate on those while trying to find other forms of life. This idea of Extraterrestrial Life is important and will prove to be the beginning of a new era for the development of humanity. The novelty of it will pass after the "contacts", this I am convinced, and our eyes will be set on other, even greater tasks. 


Recommended reading:
MICHAUD, Michael, Contact with Alien Civilizations, Copernicus Books, 2001

And for fun,  Earth, a visitors guide to the human race, by Jon Stewart

2010-10-06

General Debate of 65th GA of UN

I was looking forward to see what the world leaders were planning to discuss at the 65th session of the General Assembly and I must admit, I was not impressed. First of all there are three main themes, peace (with discussions about war and terrorism), climate change, and the economy (global economy, financial crisis and things like this).

The first thing I noticed is that education was not a popular subject. Among the main speakers, Guido Westerwelle of Germany talks about the importance of educating our young for the way the future will look like and Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, talked about the role of humanity in exploring this world an activity that is encouraged by God. George Yeo, Foreign Minister of Singapore had the most convincing discussion about this subject saying that the key to development is education ("With education, individuals are able to acquire the information and knowledge they need to add value to the world"). A better understanding of the world will lead to responsibility from individuals. Also, increasing spending on research is mandatory is we want to continue our existence on this planet.
In present, the educational level of the average individual is below what we would expect. President Obama pledged for a free Internet, and George Yeo said that "by taking full advantage of globalisation and information technology, we can now spread education into remote corners of the world". We are still dominated by instincts and violence and in many cases these are preferred to things like dialogue and diplomacy because they offer quick solutions for the strong to dominate the weak. We need to reform the educational system in order to meet the demands of the future. This important subject is not very well addressed by the world leaders, even if it is goal number 2 of the MDGs. To say the truth, having a goal like "by 2015, all children can complete a full course of primary schooling, girls and boys" is something that should have been made (and it was possible) a few centuries ago.

About climate change, nearly all the leaders had something to say that sadly seemed copy/pasted from one to the other, it's all empty talk just to say "I done that". The island nations made public their concerns that if sea levels rise, they risk to cease to exist as states. The funny and also sad part is to see President Obama talking about this subject, knowing perfectly that his country did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol. I expected to see some projects started by different states for reducing the reliance on fossil fuels, things like this, practical things. I am sure most states started to adopt methods of producing clean energy, but none of the representatives gave examples.
Practically there is nothing said about the supposedly 2013 solar flares, leading me to think that all the talk about this event was for nothing. It is true that the directions our world will take are not decided at these debates, but talking a little more on the subject would do good.

We now arrive at one of the favorite themes of these talks, terrorism and war. The thing that caught my attention was something that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, "is it right to fight a classic war against terrorists"? As we all know, Iran faces some terrorist activities also, primarily sponsored by the CIA, but then again this kind of things are normal coming from America, just think of South America. We also have Islamic fundamentalists sponsored by Iran which again is normal considering the threat Israel poses and the distorted opinions of some high ranking Iranian leaders about the world. But what about Israel? It is believed that this state has nuclear weapons, they never did confirm or deny this, also, Israel is not a Party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty while Iran is a party to this. Ahmadinejad also, in his address at the 65th session of the General Debate rejected the need for nuclear weapons and pledged for a nuclear weapons free world.
Abdullah Gul, of Turkey talked about a weapons of mass destruction free zone in the Middle East as it was envisioned by the UN council resolution 687/1998.

(...)


Read the rest of the article in Awil-um Magazine (August-September 2010)

2010-10-01

Awil-um Magazine, 3/2010

Awil-um Magazine, August - September (3) / 2010 is online. We have two new writers, Michael Johnson and Dănilă Alexandra and as usual, more pages, now we have over 50. You will be able to read about about the 100 days of reform, an important moment in Chinese history, the 65th UN General Debate with fragments from four important leaders, "green" architecture, and much more. Enjoy the reading.