Living the Illusion Posted on

Reality Versus Imagination and Illusion

By Remez Sasson The five senses make us feel that the world is real. Seeing the solidity of the objects around us, feeling the impact of the senses, it is hard to deny the validity of what we see. Everything looks real, and therfore, we never stop to question this reality. The mind is attached to the five senses and accepts everything as real without questioning. When we bump into a table or a wall, and we feel pain, it is difficult to say that we are imagining it. When we see with our eyes, hear sounds, smell, or when we feel heat or coldness, we accept these sense impressions as real. Some say that the world is an illusion, Maya in Eastern […] Read More

Dreams Posted on

1998: Dreams and Dreaming FAQ

“They have become lucid in the waking dream” -Infinite Player Link to Dream FAQ Table of Contents: 1. General 1.1. Does everybody dream ? 1.2. Why do we dream? 1.3. How can I increase my dream recall ? 1.4. How do external stimuli affect my dreams ? 1.5. Do substances like drugs, herbs and foods affect our dreams ? 1.6. Is it possible to control your dreams – lucid dreaming ? 1.7. Is sleep deprivation dangerous? 2. Dream interpretation and symbols 2.1. Can you interpret this dream for me? 2.2. What does this [symbol] mean? 2.3. Is this [dream scene] common? 2.4. Is there anything special about recurring dreams? 3. Sleep paralysis, walking and talking, night terrors, narcolepsy and nightmares 3.1. What causes sleep paralysis? […] Read More

Time Travel Posted on

Plausibility of Time Travel

This might seem like a subject of Science Fiction, but it encourages a lot of thought in matters both physical and philosophical. A recent paper in Scientific American discussed whether time travel is indeed feasible and why current physical and philosophical objections don’t preclude the possibility of time travel. I’ll attempt to describe how they deal with the objections here and explore the plausibility of time travel. First, relativity allows for time travel into the future: as I mentioned in a previous missive, journey at a very high acceleration and you’ll return to earth years into the future, aging only slightly. This, of course, ignores the fact that we can’t travel at such high speeds as of now; this issue will be addressed later. There is […] Read More

Consciousness Posted on

Intuition: Consciousness and the “Theory of Everything”

Connections Through Time,   Issue 6: January – March 2000 Can the reality of consciousness be included in a fundamental theory of our universe?   Physicists recognize that superstring theory is not intended to be a theory of “Everything” as often characterized in the popular press.   It is, however, a powerful unifying theory that might explain some very fundamental aspects of our universe in a deeper and potentially far-reaching manner.   For example, the idea that there are more “dimensions” than the 3-space and 1-time possibly opens the way for consciousness to be included in an expanded theory that accounts for the scientific measurements of precognition and other intuitive realities. The avenue is open for a truly unifying model that treats time in a very different fashion.   Here are some […] Read More

Time Travel Posted on

Traveling Through Time

What is time? Is time travel possible? For centuries, these questions have intrigued mystics, philosophers, and scientists. Much of ancient Greek philosophy was concerned with understanding the concept of eternity, and the subject of time is central to all the world’s religions and cultures. Can the flow of time be stopped? Certainly some mystics thought so. Angelus Silesius, a sixth-century philosopher and poet, thought the flow of time could be suspended by mental powers: Time is of your own making; its clock ticks in your head. The moment you stop thought time too stops dead. The line between science and mysticism sometimes grows thin. Today physicists would agree that time is one of the strangest properties of our universe. In fact, there is […] Read More

Space & Time Posted on

Are We the Galaxy’s Dumbest Civilization?

Jan. 31, 2002 by Seth Shostak – Senior Astronomer What does it mean to be intelligent? I get this question a lot, given the fact that “intelligence” is the last word of the SETI acronym. “Is there intelligence on Earth?” wags will ask (and by so doing, make their query relevant). What defines a species as intelligent, and how do SETI researchers decide? SETI folk are mostly interested in alien intelligence, not the brainpower of the local school kids. But investigating terrestrial IQs may help us estimate how often sentient beings evolve elsewhere. To test human intelligence is straightforward, if controversial. But how can we assess the brainpower of other critters? One approach taken by biologists is to compute an “encephalization quotient,” which […] Read More

Living the Illusion Posted on

2011: Junk DNA: An interdimensional doorway to transformation?

Posted on Wednesday, 5 October, 2011 Columnist: Brendan D. Murphy The placebo effect and mind-body connection are well-documented phenomena and well known in the public arena today. What isn?t so well known, however, is that since the 1990s, a genuine scientific framework for understanding the power of suggestion, intention and belief has been developing. In the 1990s, a team of Russian linguists lead by Dr. Peter Gariaev discovered that the genetic code in ‘junk’ (or ‘potential’) DNA—which accounts for a whopping 97-8% of our overall genome—follows uniform grammar and usage rules virtually identical to those of human language. It turns out that the ‘junk’ was laden with the intimations of intelligence, purpose and meaning. This ground-breaking research followed J. Delrow’s discovery in 1990 that […] Read More

Living the Illusion Posted on

Junk DNA: An interdimensional doorway to transformation?

Posted on Wednesday, 5 October, 2011 Columnist: Brendan D. Murphy The placebo effect and mind-body connection are well-documented phenomena and well known in the public arena today. What isn?t so well known, however, is that since the 1990s, a genuine scientific framework for understanding the power of suggestion, intention and belief has been developing. In the 1990s, a team of Russian linguists lead by Dr. Peter Gariaev discovered that the genetic code in ‘junk’ (or ‘potential’) DNA—which accounts for a whopping 97-8% of our overall genome—follows uniform grammar and usage rules virtually identical to those of human language. It turns out that the ‘junk’ was laden with the intimations of intelligence, purpose and meaning. This ground-breaking research followed J. Delrow’s discovery in 1990 that […] Read More

Living the Illusion Posted on

1973: Starseed

Transmitted from Folsom Prison by Dr. Timothy Leary “Kohoutek will have a pale blue and yellowtail stretching out for somewhere between 75,000,000 and 100,000,000 miles — the yellow portions of it in the shape of a scimitar. It will first be seen by the naked eye in mid-November and will look dull. But since it will be approaching the Sun at 250,000,000 miles an hour, it will brighten and from mid-December to Dec. 28 the peoples of the world will have the finest Christmas star ever.” How about that, Chump? Do you still believe everything out there “just happened by accident.”    —From a “memo to a friend who is an atheist” in Bob Considine‘s September 16 column in the San FranciscoExaminer & […] Read More

Living the Illusion Posted on

Starseed

Transmitted from Folsom Prison by Dr. Timothy Leary “Kohoutek will have a pale blue and yellow tail stretching out for somewhere between 75,000,000 and 100,000,000 miles — the yellow portions of it in the shape of a scimitar. It will first be seen by the naked eye in mid-November and will look dull. But since it will be approaching the Sun at 250,000,000 miles an hour, it will brighten and from mid-December to Dec. 28 the peoples of the world will have the finest Christmas star ever.” How about that, Chump? Do you still believe everything out there “just happened by accident.”    —From a “memo to a friend who is an atheist” in Bob Considine‘s September 16 column in the San FranciscoExaminer […] Read More