Eye on Faith

Friday, January 28, 2011

Mind control: From LSD to LCD

Liquid Crystal Nematic Phase (By: Minutemen)

Whether it’s with LSD or LCD, seeking to control the mind (and with it the body) by any material means is like dancing on the razor’s edge.

Such type mind-control is no longer (if it ever were) just the stuff that science-fiction is made of. Elisabeth

Armstrong Moore recently reported on CNET that Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have figured out ways to control the muscles and brains of worms and other small organisms via the use of “inexpensive components” from liquid crystal display (LCD) projectors.

After genetically engineering light-sensitive proteins into these organisms, researchers were able to manipulate

neurons and muscles by projecting red, green and blue lights at them. When the lights were selectively aimed at a nematode worm’s head or tail, it was then stimulated to move either backwards or forwards.

One of the researchers, Hang Lu, concluded: This illumination instrument significantly enhances our ability to control, alter, observe, and investigate how neurons, muscles, and circuits ultimately produce behavior in animals. Is this supposed to be good news? The “observe” and “investigate” parts sound innocent enough. But how about the “control” and “alter” components?

Bottom line: Do humans have the moral and spiritual fibers to go along with the optic ones?

And worse yet: Will this just be opening up another can of worms?

Richard Alpert, a one-time leading proponent of mind-altering LSD, came to realize that spiritual practices

were far more trustworthy when delving into such territory. For him, it might have been a matter of

discovering God versus playing God.

Resources

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20028687-247.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematic#Nematic_phase

Thursday, January 27, 2011

One man's meat is another man's best friend

Photo by John Haslam

Once upon a time (9,400 years ago, to be exact) – a man chomped down upon a dog, and afterwards excreted a fingernail-sized piece of its skull.

The proof of this might have (tastefully) remained forever buried within the depths of a southwest Texas cave had archaeologist types not dug it up in 1974, and FedEx types not shipped it off to Maine in 2011. Even so, this ancient pile of you-know-what might still have gone unnoticed but for the nagging curiosity of one University of Maine graduate student, Mr. Samuel Belknap III.

Belknap claims that he wasn’t thinking dogs as he began poking into the matter. (He was likely doing what most might do during a harsh Maine winter – he was daydreaming about the sunny Southwest, and wondering what they might have eaten there thousands of years ago.) According to the Christian Science Monitor, when the orange-brown skull fragment surfaced from its mucky surroundings, Belknap had an “Aha!” moment. He afterwards explained: It just so happens this person who lived 9,400 years ago was eating dog.

Holy cow! How could that possibly be?

Think hamburger. This obscenely popular cow sandwich is a far cry from the sacred cows of Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, and a number of other religions. Ancient Egyptians would not sacrifice cows because cows were revered by the goddess, Hathor. Audomilla was a ancient Scandinavian holy

cow that suckled the gods. Cows cannot be legally slaughtered in many areas of India today. The Zoroastrian Avesta declares even the urine of cows to be “a panacea for all bodily and moral evils.”

So what’s a hungry soul to do?

Think lettuce and carrots…

Resources

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0119/9-400-year-old-dog-found-earliest-found-in-Americas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_in_religion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Jack LaLanne: Preaching carrots

Jack LaLanne (circa 1950)

Some say that Jack LaLanne was the world’s greatest fitness expert. However, they might not have known this if he weren’t also one of the world’s greatest preachers.

What he was preaching wasn’t religion per se. Or was it?

According to LaLanne’s Los Angeles Times obituary, Jack felt that it most certainly was. When talking about his fitness crusade with an interviewer from What Is Enlightenment magazine, LaLanne explained: It is a religion with me… It’s a way of life. A religion is a way of life, isn’t it?

WWWS? (What would Webster say?)

According to Merriam-Webster, one of the main definitions of religion is this: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.

Hmmm…

And preaching? Merriam-Webster offers this emphasis within the “preaching” definition: to urge acceptance or abandonment of an idea or course of action.

By these yardsticks, excerpts from LaLanne’s many “sermons” sound downright scriptural in nature. Slip some into “Proverbs”or “Sutras,” and it might be tough to discern them from the rest of the text. Some “LaLanneisms” from his website are these: Make haste slowly. Do – don’t stew. Don’t exceed the feed limit. Anything in life is possible if you make it happen.

Jack himself flirted with religious imagery. He described his initial change to a healthier lifestyle at age 15 as being “born again” and “like an exorcism, kicking the devil outta me!” This conversion sounded as if it could have taken place on the road to Damascus. Never once did LaLanne turn back to his former dietary decadence. Whatever couch potato was once in him was forever mashed.

When compared to Billy Graham in terms of preaching abilities, LaLanne had this to say: Billy Graham was for the hereafter. I’m for the here and now.

Baba Ram Dass couldn’t have said it better.

Resources

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jack-lalanne-20110124,0,5507436,full.story

http://www.jacklalanne.com/jacks-adventures/lalanneisms.php

http://mw4.m-w.com/dictionary/religion

http://mw4.m-w.com/dictionary/preach?show=0&t=1296006623

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_LaLanne

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Vsevolod Chaplin's remarkable remarks

It’s not every day that an official spokesperson for the Russian Orthodox Church makes international

headlines - but then again, it’s not every spokesperson that makes remarks as ear-catching as those of Father Vsevolod Chaplin.

Moscow Patriarchate (early 20th century)

The latest of the Archpriest’s controversial assertions critiques the dressed/undressed ratio of many modern-

day Russian women. Recent AFP headlines have shrieked that Chaplin accused some scantily-clad females of “dressing like strippers.” Even more attention-getting was his recent outcry that “women who wore mini-skirts and got drunk were to blame if they got raped…”

These remarkable statements should come as no surprise to those who have followed Chaplin’s announcements right along. Voices from Russia reports on a number of his more recent quotables.

In a December 2010 brawl between Russians and Caucasians, Ygor Sviridov was murdered. His death provoked a number of nationalist protests. At the funeral, Chaplin urged that people follow the laws of God and man rather than the law of the jungle. He added that seeking no revenge and coming together as a society “should be our prayer.”

Father Chaplin is all for speaking out about abortion, as well. He announced that - because of the “horrific” number of legal abortions that have taken place in post-revolutionary Russia – the number of unborn victims “is greater than the number of soldiers killed in all the wars of the twentieth century.”

It is clear - even if only by virtue of these recent headlines - that Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin is a master at getting his points across. Although some of these points may seem rather sharp around the edges, they are nonetheless more mellow than many biblical admonitions.

Resources

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110118/lf_afp/russiachurchfashionoffbeat

http://02varvara.wordpress.com/category/vsevolod-chaplin/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Egor_Sviridov

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church

Monday, January 24, 2011

Creed of Scott Stapp: Is it a Christian one?

Scott Stapp at a Navy Performance

Wolves might not want to stick around long enough to hear what Creed has to say, but humans often do. Some particularly want to know just what kind of a Christian Scott Stapp really is.

In Mark Moring’s Christianity Today International interview with Stapp, the Creed chief songwriter was specifically asked about his personal Christian faith. This interview had occurred at a tumultuous time in Stapp’s life. Creed had recently broken up – and Stapp had recently begun a solo career (which included his participation in The Passion of the Christ: Songs – an album made by artists that were inspired by Mel Gibson’s similarly-named movie).

Stapp’s contribution – the album’s first single, Relearn Love – is a combination plea/prayer to Jesus, somewhat reminiscent of King David’s Psalms in temperament. In it he begs Jesus for “shelter” from his personal storm - and for a “chance to relearn love.” As Stapp explained to Moring - these lyrics reflect the anguish of a divorce, plus the underbelly of fame.

This was Stapp’s “Doubting Thomas” phase in which he was earnestly questioning his past beliefs. His quest was to love God, rather than simply to fear God. Seeing Gibson’s Passion film was a turning point in this quest. The film helped to clarify Stapp’s concept of “relearned love” as being “giving without expecting anything in return.”

During this same interview, Stapp claimed that he had never been asked whether he were a Christian before - only whether Creed were a Christian band (which he said it wasn't). When then asked “the question” by Moring, Stapp replied that he definitely was a Christian, and had been one right along. However, he also freely admitted that – for much of his time as a Christian - his “life wasn’t right with God.”

This can be said of many – Christian or not. However, few are honest enough to so publicly admit their ethical shortcomings.

Resources

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/21/creed-saves-a-norwegian-boy_n_812319.html?view=print

http://www.thefish.com/music/interviews/11617886/Stapp%3a-I-Am-a-Christian/

http://www.lyricsmania.com/relearn_love_lyrics_scott_stapp.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Stapp

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Animal rights in China: Galloping forward

Like the Eastern Han Dynasty’s Bronze Galloping Horse, China’s animal rights policy just took a flying leap forward. However, unlike this bronze horse (which is stepping on a swallow), China’s new policy is upholding the rights of defenseless animals.

According to The Huffington Post, this new policy went into effect on January 18, 2011. It includes the following zoo prohibitions: no more routine extractions of tiger-cub teeth; no more body-part hawking in the souvenir shops; no more exotic animals on the restaurant menus; no more throwing of live animals to the big cats for sport; no more inadequate animal housing; and no more monkey-fighting showmanship. Long-term lobbying by the Animals Asia Foundation has played a significant role in the adoption of this new policy.

Does this perhaps mean that the adoption of a significantly-improved Chinese human rights policy is not far behind?

Studies have long linked the treatment of animals to the treatment of humans. PAWS quotes famed anthropologist Margaret Mead as saying: One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a child is to kill or torture an animal and get away with it. It also reports on the AniCare Model of Treatment for Animal Abuse, which is based upon research linking cruelty to animals with all sorts of violent human-to-human behaviors. This treatment model shares some of the accountability aspects of China’s new policy.

If cruelty towards animals can lead to violence towards humans, perhaps a reduction of cruelty towards animals can also lead to a reduction of violence towards humans. In 2007, AP writer Dennis Passa reported that this public statement was made by the Dalai Lama during an hour-long visit to an Australian zoo: Taking care of animals is essential to developing more happiness in human beings.

Buddhism has long upheld the interconnectedness of all sentient beings. As one of the major official religions of China, it might therefore be instrumental in extending increased rights to humans also.

Resources

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/20/china-bans-animal-circuses_n_811664.html

http://www.animalsandsociety.org/resources/index.php?pid=23&tpid=7

http://www.paws.org/human-violence-connection.html

http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_curiosity/2003-09/25/content_43277.htm

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Baby twisting: Is this really yoga?

Bhakti Yoga (Photo: Kalyan Kumar)

The video-gone-viral of Russian “guru” Lena Fokina twisting, twirling and otherwise manipulating a two-week old infant is being billed as an example of “baby yoga.”

Naming this kind of theatrical display “yoga” seems about as accurate as naming subtler kinds of verbal gymnastics “prayer.”

The Parmath Niketan website explains: Yoga should never be mistaken for any other mode of exercise, which is operational only on a physical level. Instead, yoga is a spiritual means of attaining Moksha (liberation from all things transient and illusory). The very word “yoga” means “union” – not just between parent and baby – not just between mind and body – but ultimately between “the limited self and the Divine Self.” This is more a matter of realization than it is of obtaining anything that isn’t already present.

In a DadWagon exclusive interview with Lena Fokina, she at first defined “yoga” as “just life, whether you are an adult or a child.” She afterwards reiterated that “life invented it” - and that her teacher, Igor Borisovich Charkovsky - simply conveyed it. According to Haaretz, Charkovsky is an elderly, Siberian-born, non-medical practitioner whose methods of baby dunking, shaking, tossing, chilling, etc. (during his repeated visits to Israel) have elicited descriptions of him as being everything from a sacred healer to a dangerous charlatan.

Parmath Niketan reports that true yoga encompasses inquiry (Jnana), selfless service (Karma), devotion

(Bhakti), introspection (Raja), and balance of bodily forces (Hatha).

All that, it would seem, goes far beyond a blatant rendition of “Shake it up, Baby.”

Resources

http://www.dadwagon.com/2011/01/18/dadwagon-qa-exclusive-interview-with-baby-yogas-lena-fokina/

http://www.parmarth.com/yoga_def.html

http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/water-babies-1.216283