November meeting

First of all we watched "Tony Robbins motivates you in 20 minutes: TEDTalks" a very inspired speaker but seemed rather hyper for us and then we read and discussed the following. (Shortened)

The Fountain of Youth

Jesus answered and said unto her, (the woman at the well)
Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again:
But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be
in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 4:13-14

Look first for the Kingdom of Heaven. And all things will be provided for you. Mathew 6 the kingdom of Heaven is within You Luke 17:21
Yes it's always been INSIDE YOU!
Youth it has been said is a "state of awe or bliss"
Among those who had lost their youth it was imagined that there was such a thing as a "Fountain of Youth" which had magical waters which sprung up from a special spring that would give those who drank from it or bathed in it healing and rejuvenation. In effect it would reverse age and return those who drank of its waters back to his youth. Well, many people set out to look for it; sadly, none ever could find it. Why not? Because it was always inside of themselves. What they had of the Fountain of Youth-its healing and rejuvenating powers were inside of them. Then why could they not reach it if it was inside themselves? Because they had abandoned themselves in pursuit of things outside of themselves and found sadness instead. To set out looking for romances, people, power and material possessions to make us happy is to set out on a voyage to nowhere. It is like leaving your house to look for your bedroom.
The important point is that because it is a state of mind, it can be accessed in our minds.
Youth is a feeling of wonder, innocence, freshness; the opposite of cynical and worn out. So in that case younger in age or older in age it doesn't matter, we can be cynical and worn out at 25 years old and we can be full of wonder at 75 years old. Youth is a state of mind that can be found or lost at any age. Youth is a spiritual state! Youth is alive and full of feeling. Youth is vibrant and unafraid. Youth is very much a part of living, changing, discovering and yes, actually staying physically young without the help of cosmetics, fad diets, and work-out regiments. Youth has nothing to do with acting juvenile, crazy, arrogant, irresponsible, or aloof. Youth is child-like - fun, spontaneous, alive, energetic, emotionally responsive, in touch with reality, intelligent, creative and adaptive. Youth is full of wonder and surprise. And above all youth is very much in the "present"!
Pleasures outside of ourselves are seductive powers. They get us hooked and because they can never fulfill us, we drain our life energy pursuing them. We've plugged into a power drainage rather than a Power source. And the source of all Power is within ourselves! So when we hook into pleasures outside of ourselves, we direct that Power from within us to something outside of ourselves. And because those things outside of ourselves need our Power to keep them alive, they can not give us any Power back to replenish the power they have taken from us.
They take our Youth, our innocence, our wonder. They disappoint us and constantly let us down. We become miserable, diseased, insatiable, lonely, bitter. Because our energy is draining, we do not have enough energy to sustain our health. Thus, we become ill, stressed, depressed (drained), diseased, physically aged and inevitably dead.
So, to help with their illness and depression, these people look for cures to replenish their energy and restore them to well-being and health. Or even try moving to a new place, or having a new romance, or maybe it will be a new job, more money, a new project, a new relationship, a brand new drug, a new vacation spot, a new car, a new face lift. more vitamins, a vacation to a spa, a new exercise, a new look-change of clothes, a new house or a remodeling! And as we all know, these things don't last and furthermore, do not give us what we think they should be giving us. We get let down. Does that stop some of us? NO! Pursue and consume and pursue and consume, ad infinitum.
They get "high" on the new, on the pursuit, on consuming, and so forth. And all the while they can not understand why they are getting depressed and why their doctors tell them they have high blood pressure or anxiety disorder or manic depression, or panic attacks, and insecurities or hypertension. And still some of them keep trying to change the outer body to cause a change within themselves. So these people get hooked on plastic surgery, exercise regimens, cosmetic treatments, and so on. In actuality, the more money you have to spend on something to make you happy or to look good, it isn't going to work. That's why it's expensive! Because most of us know that the best things in life are free or minimally priced! It's the spending, the hype, the idea that they can afford it, the status and all the "mind games" If they believe in the "hype" (hypnotic) enough it will cause them to feel a certain way! And for how long? Until the newest invention comes along!
And like the powers they depend on for happiness and health and youth, they become just like them: short lived, worn out, unreliable, dependent, moody, unstable, used and abused, and discarded. An object! The saying "you are what you eat" is the same as you are what you touch, what you consume, etc...Depend on objects become like objects! Depend on the people you depend upon and you become like them. The same is true about ideas, depend on those ideas and you become like those ideas.


And another reason why outer dependency brings disappointment: all things outside of ourselves to make us happy, including people, have to be there for us. That means we have to rely on them being there. That means we have to pay some kind of price to maintain those things or people to be there for us. Very expensive! In a way, we have become dependent or even enslaved or addicted to those things to be there for us to make us happy and healthy.
So when they are not there or are unreliable, they cause us distress. The person or object we depend on becomes the source of power now. They actually control us! Look at how much money and how much energy people waste on others and things they depend on.
If we had to truly depend on ourselves we would find an awakening within ourselves. Throughout history including our own country's Depression in the 1930's people actually got stronger, more creative. Many great statesman and creative geniuses came out of that period. WHY? Because they found their REAL POWER! And that inner Power we always have access to. And we can replenish our inner Power from within through spirituality. And we can draw from it at anytime. And it doesn't matter what is around us or where we are. It's not like a car on a road that runs out of gas 40 miles from the nearest gas station. Whenever, we run out of energy, we can go within and draw from our "fountain of youth" - our source of vitality, strength, wisdom, happiness, creativity, and joy!
No matter who you are or what has happened in your life; whether you are young or old, rich or poor, religious or not, unlucky or lucky, famous or not, youth can be found inside yourself. YES! Everybody! When you find it, you will definitely know it! You will have found YOU! Nothing more needs to be said. You will never need to be like someone or dependent on someone or something ever again!

17 October

Just the six of us met up again for perhaps the last time to discuss the final aim of what philosophy is all about, enlightenment. We looked at a video of Tony Parsons author of The Open Secret in which he chronicles his Awakening. None of us believed that it was truly the complete answer. Like previous claimants they seem to lose the sparkle of the intellect a price none of us thought right.
This is description of his nirvana.
The Hypnotic Dream of Separation
There is no me or you, no seeker, no enlightenment, no disciple and no guru. There is no better or worse, no path or purpose, and nothing that has to be achieved.
All appearance is source. All that apparently manifests in the hypnotic dream of separation – the world, the life story, the search for home, is one appearing as two, the nothing appearing as everything, the absolute appearing as the particular.

There is no separate intelligence weaving a destiny and no choice functioning at any level. Nothing is happening but this, as it is, invites the apparent seeker to rediscover that which is . . . the abiding, uncaused, unchanging, impersonal silence from which unconditional love overflows and celebrates. It is the wonderful mystery.

Septembers meeting

Another small group but not in enthusiasm, we went back to basics discussing how can Samsara be Nirvana. Despite the wisdom that he who says he knows doesn't, we tried to clarify the meaning by seeing the mind when attachment is withdrawn. The ordinary mind that is the container of all things is spotless when unattached. We then looked at a video of a brain specialist describing her experience when she had a stroke in the left side of the brain. Afterward we read a paper on being a slave or master

August

Only five of us again but we still had a good discussion after watching the sixth instalment of the Kabbala where he explained why we should appreciate all things as a gift and in doing so it gives enjoyment to the giver - God.

July meeting

Only four of us but again we all watched the fifth video from the kabbalah school of philosophy. This one was less appealing with too many names but we got the gist of it and next month we will be shown a tool to gain enlightenment. Should be interesting. We then discussed the paper that proposed the trend for people to get fatter is through trying to fill an emptiness of a spiritual yearning rather than a hunger for food.
Broke up at 12.30 so must have been enjoyed.

20th June

Only six of us but everybody seemed to enjoy the fourth video from the kabbalah school of philosophy. This time a great emphasis was placed on knowing the creator directly without an understanding or intellectual concept held in the mind.

17th May

As we had a guest today we reviewed the main points of philosophy we have discovered. One the world is not "real". More akin to a hologram than a solid "thing". The "world" is in our minds as all knowledge of reality is an inward awareness of incoming senses. We do not look "out". The ego is not our true self but the unknowable watcher is the same in all of us.
We then watched the third short film of the kabbalah. The instruction given is that we are all on the path to the return to the creator but it can be done the easy way or the hard way. We then had more discussions on on our opinion of this that we never got round to reading the prepared article.

18 th April

Not many today at today's meeting but still enjoyable. We once again continued with studying the Jewish Kabbalah by listening to a half hour film first then after a break we then read a written summary and maybe you too would like to read it.

Cracking the Happiness Code
In Kabbalah—the science of happiness—happiness stops being a mystery. This elusive notion can be broken down into component parts and understood. And just like e=mc2, there's a formula for lasting happiness
"Quick: think about what would make you really, really happy."
This was the opening line of the cover story in the May, 2007 issue of Newsweek, dedicated to the subject of happiness. Top international psychologists, sociologists, biologists and economists tried to answer the eternal question: "What is the secret of happiness?" or more precisely, "What would it take to make us happy?"
The Dollar Is Always Greener on the Other Side
"Maybe money?" the researchers asked. "If I had the money," claims the typical happiness fantasizer, "I could have, or do, anything I want: travel around the world, buy anything I please, be independent, and take charge of my life... In short, money is bound to make me happy, isn't it?"
Surprisingly (or not), many recent studies show that once we have enough to meet our basic needs, money ceases to make us happier. One famous study showed that even lottery winners who were very, very happy when they won soon lost their euphoria. After a while, their moods were exactly the same as they had been before their big win.
In fact, once we have more money than we need for our basic needs, our ability to enjoy it becomes overshadowed by questions like, "Am I keeping up with the Joneses?" because no matter how much we earn, it always seems as if our neighbor's dollar is a shade or two greener.
Happiness Economics
What about free time? If we worked less and rested more, would we have our longed for happiness?
The happiness researchers flatly dismiss this hypothesis as well. On the "World Map of Happiness," recently published by the school of psychology at England's Leicester University, the hard-working USA takes a whooping 23rd place, while vacationing France staggers behind in 62nd place.
One by one, the happiness researchers revoked the most common theories about the road to happiness. They concluded that in the long run, things like a successful career, a happy marriage, and even good health will not make us happy.
So what would make us happy? That's precisely the question that leaves researchers dumbfounded. Somehow, it's easier to identify the factors that do not make us happy, than to offer a practical formula for true happiness.
"Happiness is everywhere—on the best-seller lists, in the minds of policymakers, and front and center for economists—yet it remains elusive," concludes Rana Foroohar, Newsweek's senior economics writer.
So how do we grab hold of that fleeting happiness?

The Mechanics of Happiness
To crack the happiness code, we must start by realizing who we really are, what our nature is. And that is something very simple: we are the desire to be happy. In other words, we all want to receive pleasure, to enjoy, or as Kabbalah calls it, we are "the will to receive."
"... The will to receive pleasure constitutes the entire matter of Creation, from its beginning to its end. … all the myriad types of creatures and their varieties are but rates and modified values of the will to receive."
Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal Hasulam),
"Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah"
Perhaps this sounds like something you already knew. But our nature, the will to receive, is more sophisticated than what we might think. It's not just a constant desire that's always nudging us to find happiness. This will to receive actually motivates everything we do, down to the smallest actions we make, and even every thought we have.
The will to receive seeks satisfaction every at moment and makes sure that we don't rest until we fulfill its demands. It also constantly determines how we feel: if we satisfy it, we're happy, we feel good, life's a song; if we don't, we become frustrated, angry, depressed, and even violent or suicidal.
Perhaps you also guessed this. But the thing that so often escapes our notice—and the key to cracking the happiness code—is the fact that once our "will to receive" is fulfilled, the pleasure we feel disappears.
The great Irish author, Oscar Wilde, certainly knew about this when he wrote, "In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. The last is much the worst; the last is a real tragedy."
Kabbalah explains the mechanics of this process: initially, we want something and make efforts to acquire it. The moment we get what we fervently desired, we feel pleasure, joy and delight. Or, in Kabbalah's language, the first encounter between the desire and its filling is the peak of the pleasure.
So far so good—but the process isn't finished yet. The moment we get the thing we wanted, the desire abates. In other words, we gradually stop wanting what we attained, and as a result, our pleasure starts fading… until it disappears completely.
For example, you know what it's like when you're really hungry: you could eat a steak so big it needs its own area code (vegetarians: consider that a tofu loaf). But what happens when you start eating?
The first bite is pure ecstasy, and the next bite is wonderful. The next bite is good, and the next bite is… okay, and the next is whatever it is. And the next one is: "not another bite, I'm gonna be sick..."
This happens with everything, not just food. We can spend years dreaming about a fancy sports car and when we finally get it, we're thrilled—well, at least for a few moments or days. But soon we find ourselves enjoying it less and less until it stops giving us any pleasure. And then every time we look at the car, the only thing we feel is the weight of the gigantic loan we have to pay back for the next ten years!
Economics Professor Richard Easterlin of the University of Southern California, a pioneer of happiness research, calls this phenomenon "hedonic adaptation," which means, "We get a new car, and we get used to it. We get new clothes, and we get used to it again... We adjust very quickly to the pleasure we get..."
But that can't be the end of the story, can it? After all, even as we describe this, we all long for lasting pleasure. Did Nature place us in this vicious circle to remain forever unhappy? Could happiness be just a fairy tale, a Santa Claus story that will never come true?

The (Secret) Happiness Formula
Thankfully, Kabbalah explains that Nature is not cruel at all; in fact, its only desire is to bring us the happiness we seek. If our aspiration for happiness was not meant to be realized, we wouldn't have it to begin with. Nature's purpose is to let us independently attain a feeling of complete and total happiness—not "sort-of" happiness or "most of the time" kind of happiness, but the kind that is absolute, perfect, and eternal.
And we're actually closer to it than we think. In fact, the recent trend of happiness research and our growing realization that we are never satisfied have actually brought us closer to true happiness. We are beginning to identify the pattern: happiness has nothing to do with how much money we make or how good our marriage is—in fact, it has nothing to do with any other kind of pleasure we try to receive. We're starting to uncover the fundamental fact that happiness can only be felt using a different principle of enjoyment.
At this point, Kabbalah helps us solve the happiness problem at its root. We've already explained why we never feel lasting pleasure from anything: because the minute the pleasure meets the desire, the desire becomes neutralized. And since our desire is neutralized, we can no longer enjoy the pleasure.
So the secret of happiness, Kabbalah explains, is to add another ingredient to this process, the ingredient of "intention." This means that we keep wanting just like before, only we put a different spin on our desire: we direct it outward, as if we are giving to someone else. In other words, this intention turns our desire into a "passageway" for the pleasure. Thus, the pleasure we feel won't stop; it will keep going through our desire, following our intention. And our desire will be able to keep receiving continuously, without ever being quenched.
And that's the formula for endless pleasure, or lasting happiness. When a person applies this formula, he actually goes through a profound transition and begins to feel different kinds of pleasures. Kabbalah calls them "spiritual," and precisely they are endless.
In Conclusion—a Short Summary
What is happiness?
It's what we feel when we fulfill our "will to receive."
Why does it go away?
Because the pleasure neutralizes our desire, and without a desire, we can't feel pleasure.
What's the formula for feeling endless pleasure?
Adding an "intention of giving" to our "will to receive," so the pleasure will keep flowing through our desire, endlessly.
True happiness is just around the corner, waiting for us to learn how to feel it, how to add an intention to our desire. Studying Kabbalah, we naturally acquire this new, spiritual intention and start receiving the way Nature wants us to—perfectly. This is why "Kabbalah" is Hebrew for "reception"—it's the wisdom that teaches us how to receive.

21 march

Today we again looked at the Jewish Mystic philosophy of Kabbalah. First with a 30 minute film. It told us that since 1995 kabbalah became available for Gentiles to read and learn after a 4000 year hidden practice.
After a tea break we went on to read about practical Kabbalah from a woman's perspective.
I believe we all enjoyed the morning and intend to continue to learn more as there are 20 more films to continue the journey of discovery.

15 February

Down in numbers through an epidemic of colds but the five of us had a good meeting where we first looked at a short film about the Kabalah. According to this we are only aware of the 1% of reality which is physical the 99% is a hidden spiritual realm. Afterwards following a break for tea and biscuits we then read about this philosophy. (an extract below.)
The Freedom Blues
Did you ever wonder why you like going on vacation? What are you looking for in another place that you can't find at home? Kabbalah explains that what we're looking for is actually right in front of us, or rather, right inside of us.
Looking for a Getaway
Freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of information, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to create, freedom fighters, academic freedom, economic freedom, free time… In the 21st century, it appears that almost everyone can make up his own kind of freedom.
But is there such a thing as absolute, unconditional freedom? Not freedom of something, but simply limitless, unbounded freedom in every imaginable sense? Is there such a thing as simply, freedom?
Kabbalah says there is, but it's very different from what we usually imagine. For most of us, freedom means getting away from the daily grind and the troubles of day-to-day life. We want to be liberated from the worries, the pressures, the boss at work and the overdrawn bank account. In short, we'd like a bit of escape from real life so we can catch our breath.
So we work hard all year and save money, so as to finally get a few moments of mercy on a sandy beach.
And between you and me, something always doesn't work out quite the way we wanted. One time it's the hotel, another time it's the flight, and if it's nothing else, then the kids decide that now is the perfect time to get sick... Somehow or other, most vacations don't end up being exactly what we dreamed of.
And even when we get lucky and go on that perfect vacation, every passing moment reminds us that it will all be over soon and before we know it, we'll have to plunge back into "real life."
If you stop and ponder this for a moment, some interesting questions will pop up: Does getting away from the routine really make us freer? What if there were a way to live differently so we would not want to escape our lives in search of freedom? And is there such a thing as an endless, perfect dream vacation?

18th January

As we had two new members attending our meeting for the first time we summed up the main findings from our last years meetings. Then watched a short film of the enlightened Eckhart Tolle explaining the joy of being in the now. Although we are all in the now as that is all there is most of us are either thinking of the future or the past but Eckhart tells us to regard all events as transient and not to expend our mindfulness on what is not real.
After tea and a biscuit we read and discussed Reality and Consciousness: Turning the Superparadigm Inside Out, Peter Russell, an abridgement of Russell's book, From Science to God.
His main conclusion is that to ask how consciousness arose out of the physical is wrong. This is trying to account for consciousness in terms that are themselves manifestations of consciousness. Space, time, matter, and all the forms and structures we observe in the world, are aspects of the phenomenon arising in the mind; they are aspects of the image of reality appearing in consciousness.
The question we should be asking is the exact opposite. How is that consciousness, which seems so non-material, can take on the material forms that we experience? How do space, time, color, sound, texture, substance, and the many other qualities that we associate with the material world, emerge in consciousness? What is the process of manifestation within the mind?
But this is not a question that science may ever be able to answer. It is more in the domain of the mystic, and others in the more contemplative traditions, who have chosen to explore the nature of consciousness first hand.

21 December

This month we viewed a short film All You Need to Know about Angels, an Interview with Dr. Joy Philippou, President of Body, Mind & Soul International.
We do have an open mind and who is to say it is impossible, living is a miracle so why not another, although not persuaded that Angels exist we accepted that Joy is joyous through having the belief in Angels and a cosmic Christ who acts as a intermediary to God.
Her obvious health intelligence at an age that most of us are getting very tired she sparkles with a glow that is a testament to her faith.
We then went on to look at another person who claims to be enlightened A man, indeed, who was spiritually enlightened twenty years ago. Eckhart Tolle (pronounced Toll-ee) says that while “there are shifts in intensity”, he remains in the same state of “bliss and peace”. He no longer sits on a park bench but lives in a high-rise in Vancouver and teaches others how to attain enlightenment, among them Gillian Anderson of The X Files; Cher, who says he “has changed my life”; and Meg Ryan, who introduced Oprah Winfrey to Tolle’s first book, The Power of Now: A Spiritual Guide to Enlightenment. Last year, Winfrey chose the book for her Favourite Things show, saying she had read it eight times and keeps it on her bedside table. Sales skyrocketed: The Power of Now — with an original print run of 3000 — became No. 1 on Amazon.com and spent 20 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, selling more than one million copies in North America. Released in Australia in 2000, it was still on the top 10 list this year, and has been translated into more than two dozen languages.

Not having time to see a film of his we just discussed his philosophy of living in the "now" by letting go of the ego, where the world is enshrined with the light of God. We are not sure that this is the state we ought to live in constantly although it may be needed each day to help centre our being.
I have read A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle and found it very "enlightening." It is in the Totton library

Will look at this subject again.

November meeting

After settling down we watched a video of the Rev. Tom Honey on the subject of How could God have allowed the tsunami?


We then discussed the implications related to the video before our tea break afterwards we read two papers one short one on the Bushido way of life which although to be admired in some respects we were not that persuaded that it was a healthy philosophy. The second paper's topic, extracted from Farley Malorrus's show on July 20th 1987, discusses how we can all Expect a Miracle just by affirming this as thought within a Mantra. A cheerful note to end on

October meeting

For a light hearted but thoughtful introduction to today's meeting we watched Julia Sweeny recounting her presentation of Letting go of God. Chapter one "There is no Santa Claus"

After this we had a free ranging discussion before reading a collection of sayings from masters who have reputedly found enlightenment. We then discussed our views as to what enlightenment is. This topic engaged us even through our tea break.

21 September

Today we started by watching a short film about the origins of Christianity. The revelations that the three kings was a reference to the three stars pointing to the star of the east on the 25th December and the same virgin birth, twelve disciples and the cross story that date back far into the past long before the reputed time of Jesus. Even the Egyptian god Horus was born of a virgin all linked to the worship of the sun.

"Stories from the life of Horus had been circulating for centuries before Jesus birth (circa 4 to 7 BC). If any copying occurred by the writers of the Egyptian or Christian religions, it was the followers of Jesus who incorporated into his biography the myths and legends of Horus, not vice-versa.

Author and theologian Tom Harpur studied the works of three authors who have written about ancient Egyptian religion: Godfrey Higgins (1771-1834), Gerald Massey (1828-1907) and Alvin Boyd Kuhn (1880-1963). Harpur incorporated some of their findings into his book "Pagan Christ." He argued that all of the essential ideas of both Judaism and Christianity came primarily from Egyptian religion. "[Author Gerald] Massey discovered nearly two hundred instances of immediate correspondence between the mythical Egyptian material and the allegedly historical Christian writings about Jesus. Horus indeed was the archetypal Pagan Christ."

We went on to discuss many other ideas as to the right way to live including discussing "The tribe" where Bruce learned that suffering was caused through desire. Then further discussion on the permanence of the ego and the realization of the Self.

August Meeting

We studied a philosopher who died this year at the age of 98. He was still vigorous in manner and speech until the end. At the age of 30 he made a discovery that seems bizarre yet obvious to everybody when told. His Revelation gave him a life long crusade to pass on his discovery, helping people to discover a new richness to their lives. Curious? Come along to next month's meeting on the third Friday and I will tell you about him.

We had a shorter philosophical meeting as after a break we watched the DVD that Dave made of the general meeting's high spot listening to the U3A's own music group.

13th July

I did have a subject to discuss but we carried on with last month's discussion so we never got round to anything else. What we did discuss is the esoteric knowledge in this context meaning the "inner" (eso-), in the sense of the inner consciousness; the contemplative, gnostic, wisdom perspective, as opposed to the "outer" (exo-) or Exoteric, i.e. the outer or surface or everyday consciousness. Esoteric and Exoteric are the two basic ways of looking at reality - the intuitive and the rational.

Back to the 3rd Friday next month.

June

An amusing meeting today. AS Geoff joined us for the first time we started to review the previous year's monthly discussions. We agreed that philosophy is a life extending practice although this depended on it being a positive philosophy - that led to what is a negative philosophy.Then we covered Gnosis (Union with God) and the esoteric teachings in most world religions. The following month we read part of the "In tune with the infinite". The author Ralph Waldo Trine appears to see the world as the kingdom of God in his book. Where God is both transcendent and immanent. That led to what is the meaning of the words. We touched on Nietzsche's ideas - the complete antithesis. Nietzsche believed in nothing except the self in time and his loathing of those who believed in the timeless being.

Because of the time being limited we broke off to look at the film "The secret beyond matter" This led to a lively debate.
Next meeting on the second Friday of the month.

May meeting

Today's investigation as to reality was a touch hard to grasp. If science explains how our senses work in the objective world by receiving only electrical signals from all of our five senses then logically we live within our own brains. No sentient being now or ever in the future will know reality directly. But is science right?

April Meeting

Interesting discussion at today's meeting. We first reviewed the report in the new Scientist that confirms our feeling that there is a law of Karma.

ANTISOCIAL behaviour doesn't just harm society - it may also harm the perpetrators' health. That's the message of a 30-year study examining the hidden costs of petty crime to society.
The researchers, who monitored 500 children for 30 years. "It's the first study to demonstrate the link between children who engage in antisocial behaviour and deficits in physical health when they grow up," says study leader Candice Odgers of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London. As well as accounting for more than their share of crime in later life, "they also incur hitherto unrecognised medical costs", she says.
Although these individuals accounted for just 10 per cent of the sample, they were responsible for 18 per cent of traffic injuries, 29 per cent of the days spent in psychiatric hospitals, 72 per cent of the months spent in jail and 42 per cent of the total months where study members were homeless or taken in by others.
Persistent offenders also had three times the healthy blood level of C-reactive protein, a marker that indicates raised risk of heart attacks or stroke. It is surprising to see this marked risk for heart disease in such young men, Odgers says. "As we follow them to their 50s and 60s, the health burden will likely get even worse."

We then went on to learn about the emptiness of matter.

"Can anyone imagine this entire planet squeezed down to the size of a pearl? But that's what matter is without empty space between particles.
All this shows that matter is 99.99999 percent void - just an illusion of whirling electrical charges. If a c.c. of matter from a pulsar weighs 10 million tons, how much actual matter is in a 200-pound person like me? If the empty space were squeezed out, there wouldn't be enough to see with a microscope. We think we have substance, but we're composed of NOTHING."

After this it was easier to understand David Bohm, whose work inspired many people all over the world, his contributions to science and philosophy are profound. Bohm says that the universe is like a hologram.