TONY ON UFOs AT 60 AND OTHER NEWS

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: UFOs celebrate their 60th anniversary … PLUS …
Why is Britain flooded? What’s all this about middleclass crooks?
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UFOs AT 60

Sixty years ago this week the modern UFO epoch began. It was on 24 June 1947 that Kenneth Arnold saw a group of UFOs from his light aircraft, referring to their motion as you’d take a saucer and skip it across water.
The result was the term ‘flying saucer’, filling the headlines of the world. And the entire planet got down to the serious game of UFO spotting from that moment on. So how has it faired, the UFO?

Theory Upon Theory

It has kept us entertained, kept an army of Ufologists fed, and sent thinkers into the depths of the mind to bring up all kinds of theories. From visiting ETs to ‘it’s all in the mind,’ we have remained on the edge of our seat with laughter or wonder.
The media has kept the reports going, filling many a ‘silly season’ with everything from animal mutilation to crop circles, and it is now being crowned with the beginning of UFO theme parks, Roswell being the most obvious.
Yet below the media frenzy, serious research and mind-numbing reports have continued to come, showing that, if the media plays an essential part, it is nonetheless just a part. Indeed, there are more reports and ideas than hybrid alien children.

Will It Ever End?

From alien abduction to Men in Black, the UFO epoch has produced spin-off after spin-off. And the variety of new stories and themes may never dry up. Much of it is fraudulent, some is pure showmanship, but so what.
Indeed, to many the biggest showmen of all were the CIA. In order to hide secret aircraft research, they invented the UFO themselves as the cleverest piece of dis-information they’ve ever done.
Whether true or false, one thing is certain. It is unlikely the UFO epoch will end soon. And why should it? As a force for cultural change, it has been astounding; and as a source of inspiration for thinking, it has been prolific. Indeed, you could say that if the UFO didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it.
So here’s to the next 60 years.

© Anthony North, June 2007

MIDDLECLASS CROOKS

The middleclass in the UK are the most crooked area of society. According to a Keele University report two thirds admitted offences such as tax evasion and inflating insurance claims …
… read more …

FLOODED BRITAIN

Large parts of the UK are underwater again as rivers burst their banks. Even a reservoir is in fear of breaking, threatening to send water flowing down a valley, deluging villages and a power station …
… read more …

Click Tony On for more current affairs.
While you’re here, why not have a look around? Check out the pages - you’ll also find sub-domains on the Blogroll. Beyond the Blog is the site that has everything.
Inde-Pol

THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Rome is a city first built on 7 low hills by the Tiber in Italy. Legend says the first settlement was built on the Palatine Hill by the wolf-raised twins, Romulus and Remus about 753BC.
The region was inhabited by Latini tribes, thought to have migrated from Asia Minor. By the 7th century BC an Etruscan culture had become dominant, headed by the tyrant- kings, the Tarquins.

THE REPUBLIC

The last of these, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was expelled in 510BC, Rome becoming a Republic lasting 400 years under the aristocratic Patricians. Electing 2 consuls accountable to a Senate, below the patricians were the citizens, or plebeians who struggled to widen the franchise, gaining the right to sit on the Senate in 367BC.
This represented the rise of a significant middleclass. Below the citizenry was, of course, a large slave class. History records this in the 73BC slave revolt by the Thracian slave Spartacus raising a slave army, finally crushed in 71BC by Crassus.
The Romans always dreamt of expansion, going on to dominate Italy and expanding its trade in the Mediterranean. This brought them into conflict with the Carthaginians from the North African city of Carthage, colonised in the 9th century BC by Phoenicians from Tyre.

PUNIC WARS AND EXPANSION

This clash was known as the Punic Wars, the first war commencing in 264BC with Rome taking control of Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia. A naval war, the Carthaginians were defeated in 3 years.
The second war began in 218BC with Hannibal leading a force north from Spain, across the Alps, and taking the Romans by surprise. The Roman general Fabius began attacking the enemy’s supply lines, weakening Hannibal so that in 207BC, Scipio was able to expel him from Italy.
By 203BC, Rome was threatening Carthage, the city forced into humiliating peace terms. A third war from 149-146BC led to the Roman destruction of Carthage itself, Spain and Africa being taken by the Romans.
Conflict then began with the Hellenic world, Rome adding the eastern Mediterranean lands in l90BC, Macedonia in 146BC and Egypt in 30BC. In 89BC all Italy was granted Roman citizenship and Julius Caesar soon began his conquest of Trans-Alpine Gaul, southern Gaul already being added by 120BC.
Finally, in 43AD, Claudius added Britain to the empire. But due to the successes of the generals, the process weakened the Republic, the generals seen as greater than the statesmen.

JULIUS CAESAR

A shock was coming, heralded by Sulla who, becoming a consul in 88BC, had his power curtailed by the Senate. In answer, he temporarily occupied Rome with his army. In 65BC, the Cataline Conspiracy, where Catalina attempted to organise young nobles to sack the city, was only just discovered in time.
The Republic finally fell in 63BC, and the First Triumvirate, Caesar, Pompey and Crassus becoming dictators. By 52BC Pompey was made sole consul, but Caesar was determined to rule himself.
Following a campaign, he refused to relinquish command of his armies and he took Rome in 49BC. The following year he and Pompey fought each other at Pharsalus, Pompey being defeated.
Caesar went off to Asia Minor and Egypt, returning in 45BC, instituting the Julian Calendar and declaring himself dictator for life. The republican Brutus didn’t like this and organised Caesar’s murder in March 44BC. Caesar’s designated heir, Octavian took over, but Mark Antony felt he should rule.

THE DICTATORS

Eventually a Second Triumvirate was formed between Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus. Together, they defeated Brutus and declared Republicanism dead. Mark Antony went off to Egypt, having an affair with Cleopatra, who had a son.
In 34BC Mark Antony declared this child to be Caesar’s, with whom she had also had an affair. Octavian led an army against Mark Antony, defeating him in 31BC. In 27BC he declared himself Augustus, or absolute dictator, of the newly named Roman Empire. Although the Senate was restored as an administrative body to run the empire, dictators ruled until the empire’s collapse in 476AD.
The nature of these dictators varied from those who allowed the empire to run itself, to others who were tyrants. Typical of the latter was the quite mad Nero, emperor from 54-68AD.
A sadist and megalomaniac, he was the first ‘persecutor’ of Christians, and is thought to have set fire to Rome in 64AD so he could rebuild it in absolute splendour. Following a revolt in Palestine, he committed suicide, his general Vespasian taking over.
The first of the Flavians, he began building the Colosseum, finished by his son, Titus, who also razed Jerusalem in 70AD, ending the Palestinian revolt. He is also remembered for his civil emergency measures when Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, destroying Pompeii and other towns.

INFRA-STRUCTURE

These and future emperors ran a different form of empire. Caesar, Pompey and Octavian ruled an expanding empire, the others ran a static entity. As such, the emperor had little to do but indulge himself whilst the Senate ran things.
In 117AD Hadrian became emperor and travelled throughout it trying to decide what it was. He recognised its static nature and that it would never change. Hence, he began the construction of defensive walls, creating a massive fortified civilisation. This spread from Hadrian’s Wall in Britain, stretched along the Rhine and Danube, through Syria and south into North Africa.
Roman cities were built throughout the occupied lands, connected by Roman roads, allowing a co-ordinated transport and communication system for Legions positioned throughout the empire; and also to fascilitate a massive trading system, where specific regions produced specific goods for transportation to all four corners of the Roman world.
In the Mediterranean a large navy protected merchant fleets and Latin became the universal language of trade and administration. In 2l2AD Caracalla granted Roman citizenship to all inhabitants and a rich class rose, luxuriating in their baths and villas. Roman Law also came into being to solve disputes, Justinian I bringing it together in his 6th century AD ‘Corpus Juris Civillis’, laying the foundations of European law. But although the empire was mighty, it was lacking in many areas.

CULTURE

This is seen in Roman religion. The Roman supernatural world was indistinguishable from the Greek other than names. For instance, Zeus was renamed Jupiter, Poseidon became Neptune, etc.
This was because religion was used politically, taking vanquished people’s gods to pacify them. If religion was taken seriously it was to increase a cult of the emperor, or revolved around personal gods and shrines known as the ‘spirits of the household.’
This is because the Romans were essentially pragmatists. Building had civil purposes rather than to venerate gods, their only intellectual interests being to solve problems. Hence, their building skills never advanced past Greek styles, and although they had great poets such as Virgil, Ovid and Horace, they never made inspired advances in style. Perhaps the only inspired mind was Plutarch, but he was Greek.
This lack of inspiration continued in commerce and social status. Outside Rome, only the landed aristocracy were wealthy. Poor farmers provided most wealth in the empire, but no measures were taken to radically increase production.
Trade should have provided most wealth through a strong merchant middleclass, but they were never allowed to flower, production remaining a craft industry and the aristocrats squandering what profits were made.
Hence, below a great frontage of empire, the nature of the Roman world guaranteed its slow decline, for once expansion was complete, there was nothing for it to do in terms of advancement.

DECLINE

Psychologically, the empire was a static, insular monolith. By 235AD the civilian administration collapsed as armies set up their own commanders as emperor. In 284AD Diocletian brought temporary stability in his Tetrarchy.
Declaring himself Augustus of the eastern part of the empire, Maximian ruled the western, the empire split into 4 prefectura and 12 dioceses. Christians were rising as a source of influence so he persecuted them and declared himself a god.
But he failed to hold back decline. In 324 Constantine declared himself emperor in Eboracum (York) and fought his way to Rome. He split the empire into East and West, taking the West, with Licinius taking the East.
In 314AD they fought, Constantine being the victor, creating a new capital at Byzantium, renamed Constantinople. Determined to bring stability back to the empire, he realised how powerful Christians had become so in his Edict of Milan he granted toleration to Christians, being baptised on his deathbed.
This could, possibly, have saved the empire, but by now Germanic migrations were battering at the walls. In 410AD the Visigoths sacked Rome. In 455AD Carthage fell to the Vandals.
In 476AD the last emperor of the Western Empire, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed and an Ostrogothic kingdom created in Italy in 493AD. The Eastern Empire was saved by Justinian and it survived right up to 1453. But for the west, the might and splendour of Rome was gone, an empire in ruins.

© Anthony North, June 2007

Click Tony On for my current affairs blog.
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For more posts in this series, see History of Man on Blogroll.

TONY ON AFTERLIFE BET AND OTHER NEWS

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: Brown is UK PM; Glastonbury, a marvelous muddy success … PLUS … Happy, healthy pills; Will the bookies pay out on afterlife?
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PROOF OF AFTERLIFE?

Ross Hemsworth from Glastonbury has placed a £100 bet with William Hill that he will provide evidence of an afterworld, beyond reasonable doubt. If successful, the odds of 10,000/1 will give him a cool million.
Is he likely to win the cash, or is he on a fool’s errand? The decision will be up to the bookies. But if the pay-out comes, will Mr Hemsworth also be in line to receive James Randi’s £1 million, on offer for absolute proof of paranormality?

Reasonable Doubt

Much of the issue lies in the wording. ‘Beyond reasonable doubt’ is, infact, a legal term, employed in criminal court cases in the UK. A jury must only convict a person if the evidence proves he ‘did it’ in the minds of the jury.
This is a totally different thing to ‘absolute proof.’ Such a thing cannot be achieved in a court of law, for human fallibility can always get in the way. Which prompts the question, which version of ‘proof’ would the bookies opt for?
I don’t think they need to ponder too long on the answer. Absolute proof would be the safer option, with ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ leaving too much to chance. After all, a bookie never really wants to pay out. And with ‘absolute proof’, they’re onto a winner.

Scientific Proof

This is so because there is no such thing as ‘absolute proof’ of anything. Scientific methodology works on a simple system. A theory is offered for a phenomenon, whereupon data is collected, and experiment devised, to prove or deny the theory.
For as long as data and experiment upholds the theory, it stands. But there is always the possibility that something will arise to make the scientists think again. And in such a practice, even science cannot provide ‘absolute proof’ of anything.
This is why Mr Randi’s million will never be won, and I suspect it is why William Hill are not worried about a pay-out. For if evolution and Big Bang cannot be absolutely proved, then an afterlife has no chance.
Still, there may be a book on the issue. Bet it sells. And good luck.

© Anthony North, June 2007

WE’RE ALL DRUGGED UP

The UK government is toying with the idea of screening 40 – 70 year olds with the aim of giving anti-cholesterol wonder drugs to anyone with the slightest possibility of heart problems in the future. This madness could see some 14 million new junkies …
… read more …

A DARK BROWN SHADOW

Okay, it’s here - the time many have been dreading. A dark shadow has descended on British politics as Gordon Brownski becomes unelected Prime Minister. Once upon a time in democracy it wouldn’t be like this …
… read more …

GLASTONBURY

So it has been and gone again. Glastonbury, that marvelous festival of mud and fortitude. I only watched it on TV – I like my comforts these days. But I felt I was there – in a clean sort of way. And as the wife freaked out to Kaiser Chiefs, the spirit lived on …
… read more …

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Inde-Pol

THE GRAIL AND OTHER STORIES

The most powerful influence in storytelling has been the application of mythology, giving a society meaning through a supernatural connection. And as well as providing cohesion in society, it also permitted severe superstitious punishment against immoral behaviour.
Consider, for instance, Dante’s version of Hell. Appearing in the 14th century, it narrated his spiritual journey through Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, depicting Hell as an evil, firey place of eternal torment.

CHRISTIAN DEVILRY

Dante’s vision was a powerful restatement of ideas of Hell built up by the Christian hierarchy in stories in order to terrify the people into Christian ways of life. And a similar use of storytelling had been applied to the Devil.
In the Bible the Devil is hardly mentioned except for his tempting of Job and Christ. The stereotypical Devil with cloven hoofs and scaly skin comes from a re-adaptation of the Greek god Pan – yet another pagan deity to be demonized.
The genius of storytelling to reshape society by using old themes is exemplified in tales of King Arthur. If he existed, he was most likely a Celtic chieftain or Roman general who remained in Britain to fight the Saxon migrations.

KING ARTHUR

Stories began to appear of Arthur in ballads written during the Dark Ages. Essentially pagan, in the 12th century, Christian writers began to take note of the tales.
Typical was Chretien de Troyes, a French poet who was fascinated by tales of the Holy Grail. Could such a powerful symbol of purity be used to define Christian society? Chretien began a tradition of writing romances based on the Grail and Knighthood.
By the 15th century it had metamorphosed into Sir Thomas Malory’s ‘Morte d’Arthur,’ where we find King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table going on quests to find the Holy Grail.

THE STORY TAKES HOLD

The essence of the story was a restatement of the Culture Hero of mythology, used to define Medieval courtly life, replete with chivalry and romance. At the beginning of the tale, Merlin, the pagan, is predominant.
But as the story unfolds, Merlin is trapped by his own magic, the Grail taking prominence. In effect, it is a story of the fall of paganism and supremacy of the Christian virtues of duty, chastity and spirituality.
The romances of King Arthur tied politics, religion, duty and morality into a single package. Previous to their appearance, storytelling was carried out, outside the Christian ethic, in the ballad.
How old the ballad is we do not know. Originally the words of songs, by Medieval times they were distributed at fairs on sheets of paper known as ‘broadsheets.’ With pagan themes, or as protests against tyranny, perhaps the most famous subject of a ballad was Robin Hood, a pagan hero fighting oppression.
But with the arrival of the Grail romances, a new literary tradition had begun in the formalized story – a tradition that was to propel storytelling into the modern world.

© Anthony North, June 2007

For more posts on the Story of the Story, see History Page, above.
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KASPAR HAUSER

Known popularly as the ‘Nuremberg Enigma’, Kaspar Hauser stepped into history on 26 May 1828. An incoherent boy of approximately sixteen years of age, he was found staggering about in Unschlitt Square in Nuremberg. Wearing expensive but tatty clothing, he had an envelope addressed to: ‘The Captain of the 4th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment.’
Local cobbler George Weichmann took him to the local army guardroom, and from there a sergeant took him to the home of the captain to whom the letters was addressed - one Captain Wessenig.

WHAT A LIFE

Opening the envelope, he found two letters. From them, a picture of Kaspar’s life emerged. Apparently he had spent his entire life in a small darkened cell, attended to by persons he had never seen. Now, it seemed, he was to be trained as a cavalryman, like his father, whoever he was.
Taken to the local police, he was dismissed as a simpleton and placed in a cell. However, given pen and paper, he wrote his name - Kaspar Hauser - and when they attempted to teach him to read and write, it was discovered he could pick it up remarkably quickly. Indeed, Kaspar proved to be a bit of a genius.

THE CELEBRITY

The local town council decided it was their responsibility to look after him and appointed a guardian, a scientist called Georg Friedrich Daumer. Under his wing, Kaspar became quite a celebrity, with people coming from far and wide to meet him.
He even wrote an autobiography in 1829, but it contained no clues to his identity. However, Kaspar’s life was to be short lived. On 7 October 1829 he claimed to have been attacked by a man with a blackened face who gave him a wound to the brow. This was the first of two attacks.
The second occurred on 14 December 1833, following a couple of years touring Europe in the company of eccentric English aristocrat Lord Stanhope. On this day Kaspar stumbled into the home of a Dr Meyer near Nuremberg with a stab wound in his chest. On 17 December he died, ending a life that was both tragic and deeply mysterious.

WAS HE PARANORMAL?

Several further enigmas exist concerning Kaspar Hauser, other than his seventeen years incarceration in a place unknown by people undisclosed. One such mystery concerns his attackers.
Who were they? Indeed, did they exist, or was Kaspar a sufferer of Munchenhausen Syndrome, which involves self-injury in order to gain attention? Considering his life, such an illness can be forgiven. However, if a Kaspar Hauser suddenly appeared today, science would no doubt take an interest in the youth, for he seemed to have some uncanny powers.
These powers mainly concerned his senses. For instance, if coffee or beer were placed in the same room, he would vomit. The mere smell of wine made him drunk. His hearing was exceptionally acute. But most remarkable was his eyesight.
He could see in the dark. Indeed, he was observed reading from the Bible in a totally darkened room. If nothing else, Kaspar Hauser seemed to have indicated that our accepted limits of the senses are not exact, but merely habit due to the way we are brought up, and the sensory experiences we have.
Living most of his life in a dark room, hearing only noises from afar, Kaspar honed his senses to such an extent that we would today class them as almost paranormal.

(c) Anthony North, June 2007

While you’re here, why not have a look around? Check out the pages - you’ll also find sub-domains on the Blogroll. Beyond the Blog is the site that has everything.

DIGI-MAN

We are becoming increasingly intolerant as a society. With everyone having rights and an opinion, disagreement is being seen as a personal affront. In this way, true debate is
cancelled out through fear of being ‘insulting’, and we all become little tin pot dictators of our own space.
However, the situation is slowly going to get worse. To date, the reason for this problem has been anchored in sociological factors - the rights and opinions we have allowed ourselves - but the divide between man and man is now becoming technological.

TV TERROR

In digital television a new, malign force is being instigated. Old style television offered a balance of programming to give a society a total overview of the world and entertainment. Watched by the majority, it was a solidifying medium, with most people identifying with the programmes on offer. But the new wave of digital channels breaks this uniting influence.
Digital television allows people to immerse themselves in their own psyche and obsessions. Viewers will become nerd, shopper, lout, or whatever they want to be. The time is here when you can design your own viewing.

BYE BYE SOCIETY

It is inevitable that the programmes a person chooses will be those that enforce the particular character. In such a way, counter-arguments will be even further from the radar of the average individual. And not only will we not take other opinions from others, but we soon wont even understand others, for they will not feature in our lives.
I can think of no more malign influence to further fragment society. Soon, we will not just think of ourselves as individuals with our own rights and opinions. We will think of others as non-entities. And then, the argument that there is no such thing as society will be a truth.

© Anthony North, June 2007

Click Tony On for my current affairs blog.
While you’re here, why not have a look around? Check out the pages - you’ll also find sub-domains on the Blogroll. Beyond the Blog is the site that has everything.

AFTERLIFE

We all know about it, whether it exists or not. We know of ghosts and reincarnated entities, and we all have some knowledge of the idea that we might experience afterlife upon death.
Philosophers and priests have thought about it for as long as thinking man has existed. Alternatively, scientists have tried their best to sweep it under a thread-bare carpet. So what is the reality of afterlife?

POLITICS AND MORALITY

The first thing to realize about afterlife is that it has been quite useful in the life we class as ‘living.’ Medieval Christendom split Afterlife into Heaven and Hell, and applied transgressing The Ten Commandments to eternal redemption.
This was a means of social and moral control, using superstition to scare people into obedience. A similar concept exists in the east, where karma is a moral imperative towards good so as not to be reincarnated in a lower status next time.
Christianity went so far as to debar mere mortals from experiencing evidence of afterlife in life. To do so was to be Christ-like, and only Jesus was such. Hence, those who claimed communion with entities in life were classed as ‘evil’, dealing with the Devil. In this way, Christianity attempted to banish paganism and the occult.

INDIVIDUAL PROBLEMS

In the above, we can see that Afterlife is a useful system of control, guaranteeing its survival as a concept within religious society. But today, science and individuality has banished the idea and classed it as nonsense.
Individuality has to ignore Afterlife, for it implies something above the individual. But individuals continue to form societies and cultures. Our place in a society is defined by cultural interpretation. Hence, there is something above the individual.
In light of this, could we argue that culture, or even our species, could be a continuing communal entity in its own right? If we are prepared to accept such a thing – and history itself shows a form of continuance above the individual – then we begin the philosophical step towards the idea of continuance after life.

WHAT WE KNOW SURVIVES

We do actually know that much of ‘us’ does survive death. For instance, there are memories of us in other people’s minds. If naturally buried, our organic body decays and released nutrients for renewal of nature.
If we go even deeper into the ‘construction’ of life we are fundamentally an electrical vibration of the subatomic field – an astral body, as it were. Here, the particles that make up the ‘vibration’ are identical to similar particles throughout the universe. And guess what – they survive our death.
There are ideas in fringe physics that this field forms an ‘information universe’. In other words, the information available to the universe is within its construction, which would logically include its history. Does this constitute a form of ‘survival’?

WHERE IS CONSCIOUSNESS?

One of the great metaphysical debates revolves around the location of consciousness. It is said to reside in the brain, but if information is in the subatomic field, could what we class as the mind be simply an individual segment of this universal consciousness?
A materialist would class this as ridiculous. We can track certain brain functions, and are aware of their existence in the brain. To which I would ask: could the brain be simply analogous to a computer? If so, we haven’t yet found the software.
Many believe the Near Death Experience shows evidence of our personal consciousness going to the universal – in this case, down a dark tunnel where a light is met, and a decision taken whether you shall live or die.

DEATH AND REBIRTH

I’m not sure whether this is evidence of survival, but certainly a strange phenomenon occurs within the experience. Indeed, research has shown that even a deep faint can include imagery of what is culturally accepted as Afterlife.
This is particularly interesting as early tribal ritual revolved around hysterical ceremony, leading to the deep faint of a shaman-like individual. In the faint he is said to visit the Afterlife and return with knowledge thereof.
The shaman can be seen to have believed the faint involved a ‘death’, followed by rebirth upon awakening. This process actually formed the central proof of Afterlife within mythology. Yet realistically we can argue this is a symbolic, psychologically induced Afterlife rather than the real thing.

EVIDENCE OF SURVIVAL

In the above we can see the possibility of a ‘symbolic’ Afterlife, sculpted by impressions of a particular culture, which we went on to believe was ‘real.’ But nonetheless, it could have formed the basic proofs that led to religion and spirituality.
Other ‘proofs’ of Afterlife are said to include sightings of ghosts, mediumistic talents and evidence of reincarnation. However, again, we can argue that all this evidence can be found in the known psychological anomalies of the human mind.
Indeed cryptomnesia (the ability to remember obscure facts), multiple personality, hallucination and other mechanisms can adequately explain evidence of such survival. For further information on these mechanisms, posts can be found by clicking Paranormal UFO Occult at the bottom of this post.

TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING

This said, there are problems with our understanding of life and the universe that are not adequately addressed by science. For instance, it is known that the body exists as a co-ordinated lifeform, but it also exists as a congregation of cells, etc; and at its fundamental level, as an electrical vibration, as already mentioned.
Science accepts this, but is hazy when it comes to the relationship between each of these levels. But surely, if one leads to another, then interaction between the three levels must take place.
This logical assumption tells us that, if the information universe is a reality, then somehow it must connect to the conscious life form – i.e. us. Hence, if consciousness is in the information universe, we must ask: does it die upon death of the body? Or does it continue as some form of existence?

FUTURE SCIENCE

We are not at the stage of knowledge where we can answer. This is mainly because we are not asking the right questions, which should be: Do we live in an information universe or not? Is our ‘electrical vibration’ related to us or not?
A negative answer to either of these questions leaves us disconnected from the rest of existence, which is ridiculous. A positive answer leaves room for the tantalizing existence of an Afterlife of some kind.
And seeing that it would imply a connection between ‘us’ and the universe, then knowledge of this survival would be in the information universe. So therefore, somewhere, we would be aware of this.
So who knows, maybe SOME of those ghosts, communications and possessions are from somewhere else after all. Once we have discounted the fraudulent, spurious and delusional, of course.

© Anthony North, June 2007

Paranormal UFO Occult
For more paranormal see Mysteries page above
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TONY ON DRAGON, CHILD, NEWTON …

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: All our kids are mental; but not as bad as the EU … PLUS … Chinese Dragon puffs smoke; was Newton a Magician?
READ THE ULTIMATE MAGAZINE POST … from a real voice of Britain and the world.

THE TRUTH ABOUT NEWTON

Sir Isaac Newton was the greatest scientist, and one of the most influential men, ever. Not only did he give us gravity, etc, but his methodology birthed the modern world, including politics and much more.
Hence, the world appears surprised that a letter written by him in 1704, and residing in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, seems to predict the end of the world in 2060. And it does so in decidedly spiritual terms.

What Newton Really Was

This surprise lays bare one of the biggest cover-ups in history. Whilst not lying, or deliberately hiding evidence, the scientific community has nonetheless remained quiet about what Newton really was.
Newton devoted most of his life to reason, but he used his reason in order to try to unravel the ‘mystical’ nature of the universe. His scientific laws were part of this, but he learnt languages such as Hebrew in order to decode the Bible and other scriptures.

A Great Magician

In addition to this, he was an ardent alchemist. He understood that there was more to existence than the material. And in trying to cover this up, the scientific community has banished from science much of the mystery that remains to be disclosed.
The economist Keynes knew this only too well. Buying many of Newton’s manuscripts, his study of them led him to ask the question: was Newton the first great scientist, or the last great magician?
It is cliché to say so, but if Newton knew what science was doing in his name, he would be spinning in his grave.

THE EU IS AT IT AGAIN

Once we saw off the European Constitution, that should have been it. The UK does not want to give up more powers to the EU; and we certainly do not want to be a ‘state’ within a United States of Europe …
… read more …

CHINA AND THE POWER

Dragons and China go hand in hand. When China is quiet, the Dragon sleeps. But when the Dragon awakes, the world trembles. And as China continues to open two new power stations a week, the dragon’s fire certainly has a new slant …
… read more …

MENTAL CHILDHOOD

A million UK kids have mental problems including depression, anxiety, anorexia and delinquency. So say the experts. Reasons include family breakdown, junk food, drugs, etc, robbing them of their childhoods …
… read more …

© Anthony North, June 2007

Click Tony On for more current affairs.
While you’re here, why not have a look around? Check out the pages - you’ll also find sub-domains on the Blogroll. Beyond the Blog is the site that has everything.
Inde-Pol

REFINING THE NEW AGE

A conglomeration of fruitcakes. That’s what many people think of the New Age. And in many ways they’re right. The New Age seems a free-for-all of every spurious belief there is. Whatever takes your fancy, believe it.
One of the main reasons for this is a failure of much of the New Age to refine itself. On the borders of lifestyle and religion, the two don’t actually mix. Lifestyle is personal choice, whereas religion is being disciplined to a system of belief.

YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS

This is where much of the confusion with New Age comes. Dubbed ‘off-the-shelf’ religion, this is quite true. It cannot be a religion if it takes this and that and mixes it into a system of personal choice.
This leaves us with ‘lifestyle.’ And this seems to be the central influence behind New Age. But the very idea of lifestyle as a spiritual exercise is flawed. In choosing what you want to be, where is the real discipline that could make it fulfilling?
The only conclusion we can come to regarding New Age is that it is spiritual self-indulgence. Rather than being selfless – which is what religion is supposed to be about – New Age is a license to be selfish.

THE MASLOW ERROR

New Age is often said to be a rebirth of ancient wisdom and systems. In many ways this is quite true, but also vital to New Age is a new wave of psychoanalytical thought. Indeed, such ideas are fundamental to New Age happening in the first place.
One of the central thinkers in this was Jungian psychoanalyst Abraham Maslow. Realising that the study of healthy people was as important as studying the disturbed, Maslow liberated psychology from the shackles of illness.
Fundamental to his ideas was the concept of the ‘self-actualising’ man. He realized that man has certain wants that must be achieved in order for him to be fulfilled and successful.

WHAT WE WANT

First of all, we need food. This is essential to survival. Following this, we want shelter. Once this is achieved, we seek relationship and family, and then we require self-esteem – a need to be someone; to fulfill our desires.
Most successful people achieve these four wants, and upon achieving them, they feel fulfilled enough. However, this is not the case. The most successful of people then realize a lacking in their life, and do not understand what it is.
I feel the New Age also becomes stuck at this point in Maslow’s understanding of our wants. This is why the New Age is so often stuck in selfishness, never quite grasping the idea that religion and spirituality is more than satisfying the ‘self.’

SELF-ACTUALISATION

Maslow realized that the next stage of our ‘wants’ is to rise above the ‘self’ and take the feeling out to the rest of the world. In the self-actualised man selfishness is abandoned and the person becomes selfless and assists others.
This is the hardest thing to achieve, for it requires us to combat our ego. Yet the sad thing about this is that the New Age is the best hope we have of achieving this is a real way. They are so close, yet so far.
New Age even realizes this is what should be achieved. In the concept that you can only love others if you love yourself, they grasp the importance of Maslow’s wants, and what is needed for transition to the final stage.
The day they don’t just realize this, but do it, New Age may be seen in a different light.

© Anthony North, June 2007

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THE HELLENIC WORLD

To the north of what we think of as ancient Greece was the relatively backward country of Macedonia. In 382BC, Philip II became king and decided to expand into Greece proper. In 338BC he fought the Battle of Chaeronea, defeating the Greek armies, taking the entire country.
His dream was to go on to defeat the Persians, but he was assassinated in 336BC, the subjugated Greeks going on to revolt. However, Philip’s 20 year old son, Alexander, decided to carry on his father’s mission.

ALEXANDER’S CONQUESTS

Alexander put down the revolt and, in 334BC, crossed the Hellespont into Asia, intent on destroying the Persians once and for all. Defeating them at Codomannus and Issus, he swept south through Syria, capturing Tyre in 332BC after a siege, going on to take Egypt.
He then moved east through Mesopotamia and into Iran, continuing into the Hindu Kush, and finally into India. However, his army would go no further and he returned to Egypt where he founded the city of Alexandria.
These, then, were the successes of the weak and sickly young Alexander the Great, who died of fever in 323BC after conquering the entire known world and founding what became known as the Hellenistic world, from ‘hellene’, meaning all Greek.

A NEW WORLD

Once the conquests were over, the polis transformed into the ‘cosmo-polis’, or cosmopolitan, meaning an integrated, international culture free from national limitations. This had been the urge that drove Alexander.
Rather than subjugating, he spread Greek culture but also introduced new culture into his own. Conquered people went on to provide their own leaders and the Great Library of Alexandria was the seat of learning right up to the Islamic conquests.
At the heart of this new higher culture was trade, and the Hellenes traded as far as ancient Britain, Africa and China. But this cosmopolitan attitude didn’t extend as far as politics. For when Alexander died, some of his generals decided to take power for themselves.

DISINTEGRATION

The empire disintegrated into 3 distinct regions. This began when Macedonian general Antigonus declared himself Alexander’s heir, achieving some success by 306BC. However, the generals Seleucus and Ptolomy opposed him.
At the ‘battle of the kings’ at Ipsus, Antigonus was killed and anarchy reigned until Antigonus II created a separate Macedonia in 276BC, remaining intact until the Romans. However, Seleucus also wanted his own empire.
In 312BC he had proclaimed himself king of the Asian empire, centred on old Babylonia. Establishing the Seleucid dynasty which survived to 64BC, he founded Antioch in 300BC and took Syria and Asia Minor.

THE PTOLOMIES

Ptolomy also wanted his chunk. Appointed governor of Egypt, he proclaimed himself king in 304BC, beginning the dynasty of the Ptolomies that would rule until 30BC and the last Ptolomy Cleopatra VII.
The Ptolomies also ruled Cyprus and Palestine, regularly conflicting with the Seleucids over Syria. They had an oppressive regime which owned all land other than temples and held monopolies in all traded goods.
Perfecting taxation and banking, if they hadn’t been so greedy, they could have created the first great capitalist economy. However, whilst the Hellenic world survived for centuries, it became rich pickings for the new leaders of the world stage. The Romans.
We will deal with them in the next post.

© Anthony North, June 2007

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