Podcasts about New York Press

Bright on Buddhism - Episode 114 - What is the role of visions and dreams in Buddhism? What are some visions and dreams that Buddhists have had? How ought we understand them? (How are they different from imagining a thing?)References: Andrews, Allan A. The Teachings Essential for Rebirth: A study of Genshin's Ōjōyōshū. Monumenta Nipponica, Sophia University, 1973.; Horton, Sarah (2004). The Influence of the Ōjōyōshū in Late Tenth- and Early Eleventh-Century Japan, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 31 (1), 29-54; Rhodes, Robert F. (2007). Ōjōyōshū, Nihon Ōjō Gokuraku-ki, and the Construction of Pure Land Discourse in Heian Japan, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 34 (2), 249-270; Rhodes, Robert F. (2001). Some Problems concerning Genshin's Biographies, Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies (Indogaku Bukkyogaku Kenkyu) 50 (1), 514-511; Rhodes, Robert F. (2017). Genshin's Ōjōyōshū and the Construction of Pure Land Discourse in Heian Japan (Pure Land Buddhist Studies). University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0824872489.; Ishida, Mizumaro (1970). Nihon Shisō Taikei 6: Genshin (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4000700065.; Kubota, Jun (2007). Iwanami Nihon Koten Bungaku Jiten [Iwanami Dictionary of Japanese Classical Literature] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 978-4-00-080310-6. OCLC 122941872.; Muller, A. Charles (1998). "East Asian Apocryphal Scriptures: Their Origin and Role in the Development of Sinitic Buddhism". Bulletin of Toyo Gakuen University. 6: 63–76. Archived from the original on 2013-03-17.; Silk, Jonathan A. (April 1997). "The Composition of the 'Guanwuliangshoufo-jing': Some Buddhist and Jaina Parallels to its Narrative Frame". Journal of Indian Philosophy. 25 (2): 181–256. doi:10.1023/A:1004291223455. JSTOR 23448579. S2CID 169187184.; Buswell, Robert Jr; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2013). Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691157863.; Hakeda, Yoshito S., trans. (1967), Awakening of Faith—Attributed to Aśvaghoṣa, with commentary by Yoshito S. Hakeda, New York, NY: Columbia University Press, ISBN 0-231-08336-X; Jorgensen, John; Lusthaus, Dan; Makeham, John; Strange, Mark, trans. (2019), Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780190297718; King, Sally B. (1991), Buddha nature, State University of New York Press, ISBN 0585068313; Muller, Charles (1998). "East Asian Apocryphal Scriptures: Their Origin and Role in the Development of Sinitic Buddhism". Bulletin of Toyo Gakuen University. 6: 63–76.; Suzuki, Daisetz T. (1900). Açvaghosha's Discourse on the awakening of faith in the Mahâyâna. Chicago: Open Court Pub. Co.; Tarocco, Franceska (2008). "Lost in Translation? The Treatise on the Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith (Dasheng qixin lun) and its modern readings". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 71 (2): 323–343. doi:10.1017/S0041977X08000566. hdl:10278/3684313.Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com.Credits:Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-HostProven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

Verse 1- From this episode:श्रीभगवानुवाचइदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते ।एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहु: क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विद: ॥00:00 Introduction & Invocation00:10 verses 1- 708:02 verses 8 - 1419:59 verses 15 - 2129:45 verses 22-2826:08 verse 29- 34Tune in every Sunday for a new episode of the philological and philosophical analysis of the Bhagavad Gita!Texts referenced in the series:1.⁠ ⁠Gītā Rahasya by Lokmanya Tilak2.⁠ ⁠Gītā Discourses by Osho3.⁠ ⁠Gītā Discourses by Rev. Athavale Dadaji4.⁠ ⁠Gītā interpretation by Mahatma Gandhi5.⁠ ⁠Gītā commentary by Adi Shankaracharya6.⁠ ⁠Sargeant Winthrop and Christopher Key Chapple. The Bhagavad Gītā. State University of New York Press 2009.7.⁠ ⁠Goldman Robert P and Sally J Sutherland. Devavāṇīpraveśikā : An Introduction to the Sanskrit Language. 3rd ed. Center for South Asia Studies University of California: 1999. Press, 2009.8.⁠ ⁠The Bhagavad Gītā - Selected Shlokas set to Music (2-CD Set), sung by Ravindra Sathe and team, music by Vanraj Bhatia, album by Music Today, 2009.Gita app based on Sri Aurobindo's commentary:Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.org.bhagavadgita&hl=en_US&gl=US&pli=1iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/bhagavad-gita-sri-aurobindo/id1143882659

In this episode, we dive deep into the esoteric teachings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society and one of the most influential occult thinkers of the nineteenth century. Focusing on her mature doctrine of reincarnation as outlined in The Secret Doctrine (1888), we explore how Blavatsky moved away from earlier notions of metempsychosis to formulate a complex cosmology in which the soul—or monad—undergoes countless rebirths across vast spans of cosmic time.Drawing on Theosophical anthropology, planetary evolution, and the doctrine of karma, this episode unpacks Blavatsky's concept of the saptaparna, the sevenfold human constitution, and the soul's gradual progression through root races, planetary rounds, and astral realms. We examine how Blavatsky's vision was both impersonal and democratic, placing individual suffering within a broader metaphysical narrative of spiritual evolution and cosmic justice.CONNECT & SUPPORT

Find me and my music here:https://linktr.ee/filipholmSupport Let's Talk Religion on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/letstalkreligion Or through a one-time donation: https://paypal.me/talkreligiondonateSources/Recomended Reading:Clarke, Abdussamad (translated by) (2021). "The Kitab al-Athar of Abu Hanifah". Turath Publishing.El Shamsy, Ahmed (2013). "The Canonization of Islamic Law: A Social and Intellectual History". Cambridge University Press.Gohlman, William E. (translated by) (1974). "The Life of Ibn Sina: A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation". State University of New York Press.Haider, Najam (2012). "The Origins of the Shi'a: Identity, Ritual and Sacred Space in Eighth Century Kufa". Cambridge University Press.Haider, Najam (2013). "Contesting Intoxication: Early Juristic Debates over the Lawfulness of Alcoholic Beverages". In Islamic Law and Society 20 (2013) 48-89. Brill. Hallaq, Wael (2004). "The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law". Cambridge University Press. Hallaq, Wael (2009). "Sharia: Theory, Practice, Transformations". Cambridge University Press. Wyman-Landgraf, Umar F. Abd-Allah (2013). "Malik and Medina: Islamic Reasoning in the Formative Period". Brill.al-Tahawi's "al-Mukhtasar". Arabic version. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Verse 20 - From this episode:ये तु धर्मामृतमिदं यथोक्तं पर्युपासते ।श्रद्दधाना मत्परमा भक्तास्तेऽतीव मे प्रिया: ॥Tune in every Sunday for a new episode of the philological and philosophical analysis of the Bhagavad Gita!Texts referenced in the series:1. Gītā Rahasya by Lokmanya Tilak2. Gītā Discourses by Osho3. Gītā Discourses by Rev. Athavale Dadaji4. Gītā interpretation by Mahatma Gandhi5. Gītā commentary by Adi Shankaracharya6. Sargeant Winthrop and Christopher Key Chapple. The Bhagavad Gītā. State University of New York Press 2009.7. Goldman Robert P and Sally J Sutherland. Devavāṇīpraveśikā : An Introduction to the Sanskrit Language. 3rd ed. Center for South Asia Studies University of California: 1999.Press, 2009.8. The Bhagavad Gītā - Selected Shlokas set to Music (2-CD Set), sung by Ravindra Sathe and team, music by Vanraj Bhatia, album by Music Today, 2009.Gita app based on Sri Aurobindo's commentary:Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.org.bhagavadgita&hl=en_US&gl=US&pli=1iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/bhagavad-gita-sri-aurobindo/id1143882659

Verse 1 - From this Chapter:अर्जुन उवाचमदनुग्रहाय परमं गुह्यमध्यात्मसंज्ञितम् ।यत्त्वयोक्तं वचस्तेन मोहोऽयं विगतो मम ॥Tune in every Sunday for a new episode of the philological and philosophical analysis of the Bhagavad Gita!Texts referenced in the series:1. Gītā Rahasya by Lokmanya Tilak2. Gītā Discourses by Osho3. Gītā Discourses by Rev. Athavale Dadaji4. Gītā interpretation by Mahatma Gandhi5. Gītā commentary by Adi Shankaracharya6. Sargeant Winthrop and Christopher Key Chapple. The Bhagavad Gītā. State University of New York Press 2009.7. Goldman Robert P and Sally J Sutherland. Devavāṇīpraveśikā : An Introduction to the Sanskrit Language. 3rd ed. Center for South Asia Studies University of California: 1999.Press, 2009.8. The Bhagavad Gītā - Selected Shlokas set to Music (2-CD Set), sung by Ravindra Sathe and team, music by Vanraj Bhatia, album by Music Today, 2009.Gita app based on Sri Aurobindo's commentary:Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.org.bhagavadgita&hl=en_US&gl=US&pli=1iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/bhagavad-gita-sri-aurobindo/id1143882659

Verse 2 - From this episode:न मे विदु: सुरगणा: प्रभवं न महर्षय: ।अहमादिर्हि देवानां महर्षीणां च सर्वश: ॥Tune in every Sunday for a new episode of the philological and philosophical analysis of the Bhagavad Gita!Texts referenced in the series:1. Gītā Rahasya by Lokmanya Tilak2. Gītā Discourses by Osho3. Gītā Discourses by Rev. Athavale Dadaji4. Gītā interpretation by Mahatma Gandhi5. Gītā commentary by Adi Shankaracharya6. Sargeant Winthrop and Christopher Key Chapple. The Bhagavad Gītā. State University of New York Press 2009.7. Goldman Robert P and Sally J Sutherland. Devavāṇīpraveśikā : An Introduction to the Sanskrit Language. 3rd ed. Center for South Asia Studies University of California: 1999.Press, 2009.8. The Bhagavad Gītā - Selected Shlokas set to Music (2-CD Set), sung by Ravindra Sathe and team, music by Vanraj Bhatia, album by Music Today, 2009.Gita app based on Sri Aurobindo's commentary:Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.org.bhagavadgita&hl=en_US&gl=US&pli=1iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/bhagavad-gita-sri-aurobindo/id1143882659

We Are Nature. Focusing and Ecotherapy with guest Adrian Harris and host Greg Madison. Episode 31In this episode, Adrian and I share an intriguing conversation about how the body is our connection to the other-than-human and how this embodiment can lead to a deep form of eco-appreciation and activism. Adrian describes what he means by ecopaganism, ecopsychology and lists the 3 keys to ecotherapy self-practice. We also touch on the question of how therapy might expand if it is practiced in nature rather than within four walls. Adrian's work compliments Gendlin's statement, ‘In sensing ourselves, our bodies sense our physical environment and our inter-human situations' (Gendlin, 2003. p.101).Episode 31 with Adrian Harris: https://youtu.be/0xu6x9u0bl4?si=ruRtFeGq9iQ1m_lSThe Living Process - all episodes and podcast links:https://www.londonfocusing.com/the-living-process/TLP YouTube video channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC0TgN6iVu3n9d9q2l43z1xBMYY3p9FQLThe Living Process on the FOT Youtube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx3FqA70kQWuHCHmEiZnkn1VcrRIPbcvkDr Adrian Harris is based in Exeter, UK, and works as a person-centred, FOT and Ecotherapist in person and online. He also has a blog, Bodymind Place and the podcast Embodied Pathways. He has worked as a psychedelic retreat facilitator, lead editor of The European Journal of Ecopsychology and has published numerous academic and popular articles. His PhD research was on The Wisdom of the Body: Embodied Knowing in Eco-Paganism and the Embodiment Resources website has more information on his academic work and his website below has information on courses and offerings. https://adrianharris.orgHarris, Adrian. 2013. ‘Gendlin and ecopsychology: focusing in nature' in Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies Volume 12, Issue 4, 2013.Fisher, A., 2002. 'Radical Ecopsychology: Psychology in the Service of Life'. State University of New York Press, Albany.Ecopsychology: restoring the earth, healing the mind, 1995, edited by Theodore Roszak, Mary E. Gomes, and Allen D. Kanner. Sierra Club Books. San Francisco, CA.This book includes Robert Greenway's chapter: 'The Wilderness Effect and Ecopsychology'  and Chellis Glendinning on 'Technology trauma and the wild'.Ollagnier-Beldame, M., (2025) 'Experiencing life and belonging to nature with Focusing', European Journal of Ecopsychology:https://ecopsychology-journal.eu/v9/EJE_v9_Ollagnier-Beldame.pdf'The Embodied Pathways of Connection' is Adrian's ongoing overview project:https://embodiedpathways.org/

Bright on Buddhism - Episode 107 - What are some Brahmanical perspectives on Buddhism from the Buddha's lifetime or thereabouts? What are the doctrinal roots of those perspectives? What is the historical relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism like?Resources: Cousins, L.S. (2010), "Buddhism", The Penguin Handbook of the World's Living Religions, Penguin, ISBN 978-0-14-195504-9; Flood, Gavin D. (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0; Fuller, C. J. (2004), The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-12048-5; Gethin, Rupert (2008), Sayings of the Buddha, Oxford University Press; Ghurye, Govind Sadashiv (1980), The Scheduled Tribes of India, Transaction Publishers, ISBN 978-1-4128-3885-6; Gombrich, Richard F. (1988), Theravāda Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo, London: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-07585-5; Gombrich, Richard F. (1996), Theravāda Buddhism. A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo, London: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-07585-5; Gombrich, Richard (1997). How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. ISBN 81-215-0812-6.; Gomez, Luis O. (2013), Buddhism in India. In: Joseph Kitagawa, "The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture", Routledge, ISBN 978-1-136-87590-8; Halbfass, Wilhelm (1991), Tradition and Reflection, SUNY Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-0361-7; Hiltebeitel, Alf (2002), Hinduism. In: Joseph Kitagawa, "The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture", Routledge, ISBN 978-1-136-87597-7; Hiltebeitel, Alf (2007), Hinduism. In: Joseph Kitagawa, "The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture". Digital printing 2007, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-136-87590-8; Hopfe, Lewis M.; Jaini, Padmanabh S. (2001), Collected Paper on Buddhist Studies, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-1776-0; Johnson, W.J. (2009), A Dictionary of Hinduism, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-861025-0; Jones, Constance; Ryan, James D. (2006), Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Infobase Publishing, ISBN 978-0-8160-7564-5; Larson, Gerald (1995), India's Agony Over Religion, SUNY Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-2411-7; Larson, Gerald James (2009), Hinduism. In: "World Religions in America: An Introduction", pp. 179-198, Westminster John Knox Press, ISBN 978-1-61164-047-2; Lockard, Craig A. (2007), Societies, Networks, and Transitions. Volume I: to 1500, Cengage Learning, ISBN 978-0-618-38612-3; Michaels, Axel (2004), Hinduism. Past and present, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press; Nath, Vijay (2001), "From 'Brahmanism' to 'Hinduism': Negotiating the Myth of the Great Tradition", Social Scientist, 29 (3/4): 19–50, doi:10.2307/3518337, JSTOR 3518337; Queen, Christopher S.; King, Sallie B., eds. (1996). Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-2844-3.; Raju, P. T. (1992), The Philosophical Traditions of India, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers; Robinson, Richard; Johnson, Willard; Thanissaro, Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff) (2005). Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction. Belmont, California: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. ISBN 0-534-55858-5.; Samuel, Geoffrey (2010), The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century, Cambridge University Press; Shults, Brett (2014), "On the Buddha's Use of Some Brahmanical Motifs in Pali Texts", Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, 6: 121–129.Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by finding us on email or social media! https://linktr.ee/brightonbuddhismCredits:Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-HostProven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

Boxing Podcast - Sports -

Dr. Gary Null provides a commentary on "Universal  Healthcare"       Universal Healthcare is the Solution to a Broken Medical System Gary Null, PhD Progressive Radio Network, March 3, 2025 For over 50 years, there has been no concerted or successful effort to bring down medical costs in the American healthcare system. Nor are the federal health agencies making disease prevention a priority. Regardless whether the political left or right sponsors proposals for reform, such measures are repeatedly defeated by both parties in Congress. As a result, the nation's healthcare system remains one of the most expensive and least efficient in the developed world. For the past 30 years, medical bills contributing to personal debt regularly rank among the top three causes of personal bankruptcy. This is a reality that reflects not only the financial strain on ordinary Americans but the systemic failure of the healthcare system itself. The urgent question is: If President Trump and his administration are truly seeking to reduce the nation's $36 trillion deficit, why is there no serious effort to reform the most bloated and corrupt sector of the economy? A key obstacle is the widespread misinformation campaign that falsely claims universal health care would cost an additional $2 trillion annually and further balloon the national debt. However, a more honest assessment reveals the opposite. If the US adopted a universal single-payer system, the nation could actually save up to $20 trillion over the next 10 years rather than add to the deficit. Even with the most ambitious efforts by people like Elon Musk to rein in federal spending or optimize government efficiency, the estimated savings would only amount to $500 billion. This is only a fraction of what could be achieved through comprehensive healthcare reform alone. Healthcare is the largest single expenditure of the federal budget. A careful examination of where the $5 trillion spent annually on healthcare actually goes reveals massive systemic fraud and inefficiency. Aside from emergency medicine, which accounts for only 10-12 percent of total healthcare expenditures, the bulk of this spending does not deliver better health outcomes nor reduce trends in physical and mental illness. Applying Ockham's Razor, the principle that the simplest solution is often the best, the obvious conclusion is that America's astronomical healthcare costs are the direct result of price gouging on an unimaginable scale. For example, in most small businesses, profit margins range between 1.6 and 2.5 percent, such as in grocery retail. Yet the pharmaceutical industrial complex routinely operates on markup rates as high as 150,000 percent for many prescription drugs. The chart below highlights the astronomical gap between the retail price of some top-selling patented pharmaceutical medications and their generic equivalents. Drug Condition Patent Price (per unit) Generic Price Estimated Manufacture Cost Markup Source Insulin (Humalog) Diabetes $300 $30 $3 10,000% Rand (2021) EpiPen Allergic reactions $600 $30 $10 6,000% BMJ (2022) Daraprim Toxoplasmosis $750/pill $2 $0.50 150,000% JAMA (2019) Harvoni Hepatitis C $94,500 (12 weeks) $30,000 $200 47,000% WHO Report (2018) Lipitor Cholesterol $150 $10 $0.50 29,900% Health Affairs (2020) Xarelto Blood Thinner $450 $25 $1.50 30,000% NEJM (2020) Abilify Schizophrenia $800 (30 tablets) $15 $2 39,900% AJMC (2019) Revlimid Cancer $16,000/mo $450 $150 10,500% Kaiser Health News (2021) Humira Arthritis $2,984/dose $400 $50 5,868% Rand (2021) Sovaldi Hepatitis C $1,000/pill $10 $2 49,900% JAMA (2021) Xolair Asthma $2,400/dose $300 $50 4,800% NEJM (2020) Gleevec Leukemia $10,000/mo $350 $200 4,900% Harvard Public Health Review (2020) OxyContin Pain Relief $600 (30 tablets) $15 $0.50 119,900% BMJ (2022) Remdesivir Covid-19 $3,120 (5 doses) N/A $10 31,100% The Lancet (2020) The corruption extends far beyond price gouging. Many pharmaceutical companies convince federal health agencies to fund their basic research and drug development with taxpayer dollars. Yet when these companies bring successful products to market, the profits are kept entirely by the corporations or shared with the agencies or groups of government scientists. On the other hand, the public, who funded the research, receives no financial return. This amounts to a systemic betrayal of the public trust on a scale of hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Another significant contributor to rising healthcare costs is the widespread practice of defensive medicine that is driven by the constant threat of litigation. Over the past 40 years, defensive medicine has become a cottage industry. Physicians order excessive diagnostic tests and unnecessary treatments simply to protect themselves from lawsuits. Study after study has shown that these over-performed procedures not only inflate costs but lead to iatrogenesis or medical injury and death caused by the medical  system and practices itself. The solution is simple: adopting no-fault healthcare coverage for everyone where patients receive care without needing to sue and thereby freeing doctors from the burden of excessive malpractice insurance. A single-payer universal healthcare system could fundamentally transform the entire industry by capping profits at every level — from drug manufacturers to hospitals to medical equipment suppliers. The Department of Health and Human Services would have the authority to set profit margins for medical procedures. This would ensure that healthcare is determined by outcomes, not profits. Additionally, the growing influence of private equity firms and vulture capitalists buying up hospitals and medical clinics across America must be reined in. These equity firms prioritize profit extraction over improving the quality of care. They often slash staff, raise prices, and dictate medical procedures based on what will yield the highest returns. Another vital reform would be to provide free medical education for doctors and nurses in exchange for five years of service under the universal system. Medical professionals would earn a realistic salary cap to prevent them from being lured into equity partnerships or charging exorbitant rates. The biggest single expense in the current system, however, is the private health insurance industry, which consumes 33 percent of the $5 trillion healthcare budget. Health insurance CEOs consistently rank among the highest-paid executives in the country. Their companies, who are nothing more than bean counters, decide what procedures and drugs will be covered, partially covered, or denied altogether. This entire industry is designed to place profits above patients' lives. If the US dismantled its existing insurance-based system and replaced it with a fully reformed national healthcare model, the country could save $2.7 trillion annually while simultaneously improving health outcomes. Over the course of 10 years, those savings would amount to $27 trillion. This could wipe out nearly the entire national debt in a short time. This solution has been available for decades but has been systematically blocked by corporate lobbying and bipartisan corruption in Washington. The path forward is clear but only if American citizens demand a system where healthcare is valued as a public service and not a commodity. The national healthcare crisis is not just a fiscal issue. It is a crucial moral failure of the highest order. With the right reforms, the nation could simultaneously restore its financial health and deliver the kind of healthcare system its citizens have long deserved. American Healthcare: Corrupt, Broken and Lethal Richard Gale and Gary Null Progressive Radio Network, March 3, 2025 For a nation that prides itself on being the world's wealthiest, most innovative and technologically advanced, the US' healthcare system is nothing less than a disaster and disgrace. Not only are Americans the least healthy among the most developed nations, but the US' health system ranks dead last among high-income countries. Despite rising costs and our unshakeable faith in American medical exceptionalism, average life expectancy in the US has remained lower than other OECD nations for many years and continues to decline. The United Nations recognizes healthcare as a human right. In 2018, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced the American healthcare system as "politically and morally wrong." During the pandemic it is estimated that two to three years was lost on average life expectancy. On the other hand, before the Covid-19 pandemic, countries with universal healthcare coverage found their average life expectancy stable or slowly increasing. The fundamental problem in the U.S. is that politics have been far too beholden to the pharmaceutical, HMO and private insurance industries. Neither party has made any concerted effort to reign in the corruption of corporate campaign funding and do what is sensible, financially feasible and morally correct to improve Americans' quality of health and well-being.   The fact that our healthcare system is horribly broken is proof that moneyed interests have become so powerful to keep single-payer debate out of the media spotlight and censored. Poll after poll shows that the American public favors the expansion of public health coverage. Other incremental proposals, including Medicare and Medicaid buy-in plans, are also widely preferred to the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare mess we are currently stuck with.   It is not difficult to understand how the dismal state of American medicine is the result of a system that has been sold out to the free-market and the bottom line interests of drug makers and an inflated private insurance industry. How advanced and ethically sound can a healthcare system be if tens of millions of people have no access to medical care because it is financially out of their reach?  The figures speak for themselves. The U.S. is burdened with a $41 trillion Medicare liability. The number of uninsured has declined during the past several years but still lingers around 25 million. An additional 30-35 million are underinsured. There are currently 65 million Medicare enrollees and 89 million Medicaid recipients. This is an extremely unhealthy snapshot of the country's ability to provide affordable healthcare and it is certainly unsustainable. The system is a public economic failure, benefiting no one except the large and increasingly consolidated insurance and pharmaceutical firms at the top that supervise the racket.   Our political parties have wrestled with single-payer or universal healthcare for decades. Obama ran his first 2008 presidential campaign on a single-payer platform. Since 1985, his campaign health adviser, the late Dr. Quentin Young from the University of Illinois Medical School, was one of the nation's leading voices calling for universal health coverage.  During a private conversation with Dr. Young shortly before his passing in 2016, he conveyed his sense of betrayal at the hands of the Obama administration. Dr. Young was in his 80s when he joined the Obama campaign team to help lead the young Senator to victory on a promise that America would finally catch up with other nations. The doctor sounded defeated. He shared how he was manipulated, and that Obama held no sincere intention to make universal healthcare a part of his administration's agenda. During the closed-door negotiations, which spawned the weak and compromised Affordable Care Act, Dr. Young was neither consulted nor invited to participate. In fact, he told us that he never heard from Obama again after his White House victory.   Past efforts to even raise the issue have been viciously attacked. A huge army of private interests is determined to keep the public enslaved to private insurers and high medical costs. The failure of our healthcare is in no small measure due to it being a fully for-profit operation. Last year, private health insurance accounted for 65 percent of coverage. Consider that there are over 900 private insurance companies in the US. National Health Expenditures (NHE) grew to $4.5 trillion in 2022, which was 17.3 percent of GDP. Older corporate rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans argue that a single-payer or socialized medical program is unaffordable. However, not only is single-payer affordable, it will end bankruptcies due to unpayable medical debt. In addition, universal healthcare, structured on a preventative model, will reduce disease rates at the outset.    Corporate Democrats argue that Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA) was a positive step inching the country towards complete public coverage. However, aside from providing coverage to the poorest of Americans, Obamacare turned into another financial anchor around the necks of millions more. According to the health policy research group KFF, the average annual health insurance premium for single coverage is $8,400 and almost $24,000 for a family. In addition, patient out-of-pocket costs continue to increase, a 6.6% increase to $471 billion in 2022. Rather than healthcare spending falling, it has exploded, and the Trump and Biden administrations made matters worse.    Clearly, a universal healthcare program will require flipping the script on the entire private insurance industry, which employed over half a million people last year.  Obviously, the most volatile debate concerning a national universal healthcare system concerns cost. Although there is already a socialized healthcare system in place -- every federal legislator, bureaucrat, government employee and veteran benefits from it -- fiscal Republican conservatives and groups such as the Koch Brothers network are single-mindedly dedicated to preventing the expansion of Medicare and Medicaid. A Koch-funded Mercatus analysis made the outrageous claim that a single-payer system would increase federal health spending by $32 trillion in ten years. However, analyses and reviews by the Congressional Budget Office in the early 1990s concluded that such a system would only increase spending at the start; enormous savings would quickly offset it as the years pass. In one analysis, "the savings in administrative costs [10 percent of health spending] would be more than enough to offset the expense of universal coverage."    Defenders of those advocating for funding a National Health Program argue this can primarily be accomplished by raising taxes to levels comparable to other developed nations. This was a platform Senator Bernie Sanders and some of the younger progressive Democrats in the House campaigned on. The strategy was to tax the highest multimillion-dollar earners 60-70 percent. Despite the outrage of its critics, including old rank-and-file multi-millionaire Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, this is still far less than in the past. During the Korean War, the top tax rate was 91 percent; it declined to 70 percent in the late 1960s. Throughout most of the 1970s, those in the lowest income bracket were taxed at 14 percent. We are not advocating for this strategy because it ignores where the funding is going, and the corruption in the system that is contributing to exorbitant waste.    But Democratic supporters of the ACA who oppose a universal healthcare plan ignore the additional taxes Obama levied to pay for the program. These included surtaxes on investment income, Medicare taxes from those earning over $200,000, taxes on tanning services, an excise tax on medical equipment, and a 40 percent tax on health coverage for costs over the designated cap that applied to flexible savings and health savings accounts. The entire ACA was reckless, sloppy and unnecessarily complicated from the start.    The fact that Obamacare further strengthened the distinctions between two parallel systems -- federal and private -- with entirely different economic structures created a labyrinth of red tape, rules, and wasteful bureaucracy. Since the ACA went into effect, over 150 new boards, agencies and programs have had to be established to monitor its 2,700 pages of gibberish. A federal single-payer system would easily eliminate this bureaucracy and waste.    A medical New Deal to establish universal healthcare coverage is a decisive step in the correct direction. But we must look at the crisis holistically and in a systematic way. Simply shuffling private insurance into a federal Medicare-for-all or buy-in program, funded by taxing the wealthiest of citizens, would only temporarily reduce costs. It will neither curtail nor slash escalating disease rates e. Any effective healthcare reform must also tackle the underlying reasons for Americans' poor state of health. We cannot shy away from examining the social illnesses infecting our entire free-market capitalist culture and its addiction to deregulation. A viable healthcare model would have to structurally transform how the medical economy operates. Finally, a successful medical New Deal must honestly evaluate the best and most reliable scientific evidence in order to effectively redirect public health spending.    For example, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a former Obama healthcare adviser, observed that AIDS-HIV measures consume the most public health spending, even though the disease "ranked 75th on the list of diseases by personal health expenditures." On the other hand, according to the American Medical Association, a large percentage of the nation's $3.4 trillion healthcare spending goes towards treating preventable diseases, notably diabetes, common forms of heart disease, and back and neck pain conditions. In 2016, these three conditions were the most costly and accounted for approximately $277 billion in spending. Last year, the CDC announced the autism rate is now 1 in 36 children compared to 1 in 44 two years ago. A retracted study by Mark Blaxill, an autism activist at the Holland Center and a friend of the authors, estimates that ASD costs will reach $589 billion annually by 2030. There are no signs that this alarming trend will reverse and decline; and yet, our entire federal health system has failed to conscientiously investigate the underlying causes of this epidemic. All explanations that might interfere with the pharmaceutical industry's unchecked growth, such as over-vaccination, are ignored and viciously discredited without any sound scientific evidence. Therefore, a proper medical New Deal will require a systemic overhaul and reform of our federal health agencies, especially the HHS, CDC and FDA. Only the Robert Kennedy Jr presidential campaign is even addressing the crisis and has an inexpensive and comprehensive plan to deal with it. For any medical revolution to succeed in advancing universal healthcare, the plan must prioritize spending in a manner that serves public health and not private interests. It will also require reshuffling private corporate interests and their lobbyists to the sidelines, away from any strategic planning, in order to break up the private interests' control over federal agencies and its revolving door policies. Aside from those who benefit from this medical corruption, the overwhelming majority of Americans would agree with this criticism. However, there is a complete lack of national trust that our legislators, including the so-called progressives, would be willing to undertake such actions.    In addition, America's healthcare system ignores the single most critical initiative to reduce costs - that is, preventative efforts and programs instead of deregulation and closing loopholes designed to protect the drug and insurance industries' bottom line. Prevention can begin with banning toxic chemicals that are proven health hazards associated with current disease epidemics, and it can begin by removing a 1,000-plus toxins already banned in Europe. This should be a no-brainer for any legislator who cares for public health. For example, Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, notes that "the policy approach in the US and Europe is dramatically different" when it comes to chemical allowances in cosmetic products. Whereas the EU has banned 1,328 toxic substances from the cosmetic industry alone, the US has banned only 11. The US continues to allow carcinogenic formaldehyde, petroleum, forever chemicals, many parabens (an estrogen mimicker and endocrine hormone destroyer), the highly allergenic p-phenylenediamine or PBD, triclosan, which has been associated with the rise in antibiotic resistant bacteria, avobenzone, and many others to be used in cosmetics, sunscreens, shampoo and hair dyes.   Next, the food Americans consume can be reevaluated for its health benefits. There should be no hesitation to tax the unhealthiest foods, such as commercial junk food, sodas and candy relying on high fructose corn syrup, products that contain ingredients proven to be toxic, and meat products laden with dangerous chemicals including growth hormones and antibiotics. The scientific evidence that the average American diet is contributing to rising disease trends is indisputable. We could also implement additional taxes on the public advertising of these demonstrably unhealthy products. All such tax revenue would accrue to a national universal health program to offset medical expenditures associated with the very illnesses linked to these products. Although such tax measures would help pay for a new medical New Deal, it may be combined with programs to educate the public about healthy nutrition if it is to produce a reduction in the most common preventable diseases. In fact, comprehensive nutrition courses in medical schools should be mandatory because the average physician receives no education in this crucial subject.  In addition, preventative health education should be mandatory throughout public school systems.   Private insurers force hospitals, clinics and private physicians into financial corners, and this is contributing to prodigious waste in money and resources. Annually, healthcare spending towards medical liability insurance costs tens of billions of dollars. In particular, this economic burden has taxed small clinics and physicians. It is well past the time that physician liability insurance is replaced with no-fault options. Today's doctors are spending an inordinate amount of money to protect themselves. Legions of liability and trial lawyers seek big paydays for themselves stemming from physician error. This has created a culture of fear among doctors and hospitals, resulting in the overly cautious practice of defensive medicine, driving up costs and insurance premiums just to avoid lawsuits. Doctors are forced to order unnecessary tests and prescribe more medications and medical procedures just to cover their backsides. No-fault insurance is a common-sense plan that enables physicians to pursue their profession in a manner that will reduce iatrogenic injuries and costs. Individual cases requiring additional medical intervention and loss of income would still be compensated. This would generate huge savings.    No other nation suffers from the scourge of excessive drug price gouging like the US. After many years of haggling to lower prices and increase access to generic drugs, only a minute amount of progress has been made in recent years. A 60 Minutes feature about the Affordable Care Act reported an "orgy of lobbying and backroom deals in which just about everyone with a stake in the $3-trillion-a-year health industry came out ahead—except the taxpayers.” For example, Life Extension magazine reported that an antiviral cream (acyclovir), which had lost its patent protection, "was being sold to pharmacies for 7,500% over the active ingredient cost. The active ingredient (acyclovir) costs only 8 pennies, yet pharmacies are paying a generic maker $600 for this drug and selling it to consumers for around $700." Other examples include the antibiotic Doxycycline. The price per pill averages 7 cents to $3.36 but has a 5,300 percent markup when it reaches the consumer. The antidepressant Clomipramine is marked up 3,780 percent, and the anti-hypertensive drug Captopril's mark-up is 2,850 percent. And these are generic drugs!    Medication costs need to be dramatically cut to allow drug manufacturers a reasonable but not obscene profit margin. By capping profits approximately 100 percent above all costs, we would save our system hundreds of billions of dollars. Such a measure would also extirpate the growing corporate misdemeanors of pricing fraud, which forces patients to pay out-of-pocket in order to make up for the costs insurers are unwilling to pay.    Finally, we can acknowledge that our healthcare is fundamentally a despotic rationing system based upon high insurance costs vis-a-vis a toss of the dice to determine where a person sits on the economic ladder. For the past three decades it has contributed to inequality. The present insurance-based economic metrics cast millions of Americans out of coverage because private insurance costs are beyond their means. Uwe Reinhardt, a Princeton University political economist, has called our system "brutal" because it "rations [people] out of the system." He defined rationing as "withholding something from someone that is beneficial." Discriminatory healthcare rationing now affects upwards to 60 million people who have been either priced out of the system or under insured. They make too much to qualify for Medicare under Obamacare, yet earn far too little to afford private insurance costs and premiums. In the final analysis, the entire system is discriminatory and predatory.    However, we must be realistic. Almost every member of Congress has benefited from Big Pharma and private insurance lobbyists. The only way to begin to bring our healthcare program up to the level of a truly developed nation is to remove the drug industry's rampant and unnecessary profiteering from the equation.     How did Fauci memory-hole a cure for AIDS and get away with it?   By Helen Buyniski   Over 700,000 Americans have died of AIDS since 1981, with the disease claiming some 42.3 million victims worldwide. While an HIV diagnosis is no longer considered a certain death sentence, the disease looms large in the public imagination and in public health funding, with contemporary treatments running into thousands of dollars per patient annually.   But was there a cure for AIDS all this time - an affordable and safe treatment that was ruthlessly suppressed and attacked by the US public health bureaucracy and its agents? Could this have saved millions of lives and billions of dollars spent on AZT, ddI and failed HIV vaccine trials? What could possibly justify the decision to disappear a safe and effective approach down the memory hole?   The inventor of the cure, Gary Null, already had several decades of experience creating healing protocols for physicians to help patients not responding well to conventional treatments by the time AIDS was officially defined in 1981. Null, a registered dietitian and board-certified nutritionist with a PhD in human nutrition and public health science, was a senior research fellow and Director of Anti-Aging Medicine at the Institute of Applied Biology for 36 years and has published over 950 papers, conducting groundbreaking experiments in reversing biological aging as confirmed with DNA methylation testing. Additionally, Null is a multi-award-winning documentary filmmaker, bestselling author, and investigative journalist whose work exposing crimes against humanity over the last 50 years has highlighted abuses by Big Pharma, the military-industrial complex, the financial industry, and the permanent government stay-behind networks that have come to be known as the Deep State.   Null was contacted in 1974 by Dr. Stephen Caiazza, a physician working with a subculture of gay men in New York living the so-called “fast track” lifestyle, an extreme manifestation of the gay liberation movement that began with the Stonewall riots. Defined by rampant sexual promiscuity and copious use of illegal and prescription drugs, including heavy antibiotic use for a cornucopia of sexually-transmitted diseases, the fast-track never included more than about two percent of gay men, though these dominated many of the bathhouses and clubs that defined gay nightlife in the era. These patients had become seriously ill as a result of their indulgence, generally arriving at the clinic with multiple STDs including cytomegalovirus and several types of herpes and hepatitis, along with candida overgrowth, nutritional deficiencies, gut issues, and recurring pneumonia. Every week for the next 10 years, Null would counsel two or three of these men - a total of 800 patients - on how to detoxify their bodies and de-stress their lives, tracking their progress with Caiazza and the other providers at weekly feedback meetings that he credits with allowing the team to quickly evaluate which treatments were most effective. He observed that it only took about two years on the “fast track” for a healthy young person to begin seeing muscle loss and the recurrent, lingering opportunistic infections that would later come to be associated with AIDS - while those willing to commit to a healthier lifestyle could regain their health in about a year.    It was with this background that Null established the Tri-State Healing Center in Manhattan in 1980, staffing the facility with what would eventually run to 22 certified health professionals to offer safe, natural, and effective low- and no-cost treatments to thousands of patients with HIV and AIDS-defining conditions. Null and his staff used variations of the protocols he had perfected with Caiazza's patients, a multifactorial patient-tailored approach that included high-dose vitamin C drips, intravenous ozone therapy, juicing and nutritional improvements and supplementation, aspects of homeopathy and naturopathy with some Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic practices. Additional services offered on-site included acupuncture and holistic dentistry, while peer support groups were also held at the facility so that patients could find community and a positive environment, healing their minds and spirits while they healed their bodies.   “Instead of trying to kill the virus with antiretroviral pharmaceuticals designed to stop viral replication before it kills patients, we focused on what benefits could be gained by building up the patients' natural immunity and restoring biochemical integrity so the body could fight for itself,” Null wrote in a 2014 article describing the philosophy behind the Center's approach, which was wholly at odds with the pharmaceutical model.1   Patients were comprehensively tested every week, with any “recovery” defined solely by the labs, which documented AIDS patient after patient - 1,200 of them - returning to good health and reversing their debilitating conditions. Null claims to have never lost an AIDS patient in the Center's care, even as the death toll for the disease - and its pharmaceutical standard of care AZT - reached an all-time high in the early 1990s. Eight patients who had opted for a more intensive course of treatment - visiting the Center six days a week rather than one - actually sero-deconverted, with repeated subsequent testing showing no trace of HIV in their bodies.   As an experienced clinical researcher himself, Null recognized that any claims made by the Center would be massively scrutinized, challenging as they did the prevailing scientific consensus that AIDS was an incurable, terminal illness. He freely gave his protocols to any medical practitioner who asked, understanding that his own work could be considered scientifically valid only if others could replicate it under the same conditions. After weeks of daily observational visits to the Center, Dr. Robert Cathcart took the protocols back to San Francisco, where he excitedly reported that patients were no longer dying in his care.    Null's own colleague at the Institute of Applied Biology, senior research fellow Elana Avram, set up IV drip rooms at the Institute and used his intensive protocols to sero-deconvert 10 patients over a two-year period. While the experiment had been conducted in secret, as the Institute had been funded by Big Pharma since its inception half a century earlier, Avram had hoped she would be able to publish a journal article to further publicize Null's protocols and potentially help AIDS patients, who were still dying at incredibly high rates thanks to Burroughs Wellcome's noxious but profitable AZT. But as she would later explain in a 2019 letter to Null, their groundbreaking research never made it into print - despite meticulous documentation of their successes - because the Institute's director and board feared their pharmaceutical benefactors would withdraw the funding on which they depended, given that Null's protocols did not involve any patentable or otherwise profitable drugs. When Avram approached them about publication, the board vetoed the idea, arguing that it would “draw negative attention because [the work] was contrary to standard drug treatments.” With no real point in continuing experiments along those lines without institutional support and no hope of obtaining funding from elsewhere, the department she had created specifically for these experiments shut down after a two-year followup with her test subjects - all of whom remained alive and healthy - was completed.2   While the Center was receiving regular visits by this time from medical professionals and, increasingly, black celebrities like Stokely Carmichael and Isaac Hayes, who would occasionally perform for the patients, the news was spreading by word of mouth alone - not a single media outlet had dared to document the clinic that was curing AIDS patients for free. Instead, they gave airtime to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, who had for years been spreading baseless, hysteria-fueling claims about HIV and AIDS to any news outlet that would put him on. His claim that children could contract the virus from “ordinary household conduct” with an infected relative proved so outrageous he had to walk it back,3 and he never really stopped insisting the deadly plague associated with gays and drug users was about to explode like a nuclear bomb among the law-abiding heterosexual population. Fauci by this time controlled all government science funding through NIAID, and his zero-tolerance approach to dissent on the HIV/AIDS front had already seen prominent scientists like virologist Peter Duesberg stripped of the resources they needed for their work because they had dared to question his commandment: There is no cause of AIDS but HIV, and AZT is its treatment. Even the AIDS activist groups, which by then had been coopted by Big Pharma and essentially reduced to astroturfing for the toxic failed chemotherapy drug AZT backed by the institutional might of Fauci's NIAID,4 didn't seem to want to hear that there was a cure. Unconcerned with the irrationality of denouncing the man touting his free AIDS cure as an  “AIDS denier,” they warned journalists that platforming Null or anyone else rejecting the mainstream medical line would be met with organized demands for their firing.    Determined to breach the institutional iron curtain and get his message to the masses, Null and his team staged a press conference in New York, inviting scientists and doctors from around the world to share their research on alternative approaches to HIV and AIDS in 1993. To emphasize the sound scientific basis of the Center's protocols and encourage guests to adopt them into their own practices, Null printed out thousands of abstracts in support of each nutrient and treatment being used. However, despite over 7,000 invitations sent three times to major media, government figures, scientists, and activists, almost none of the intended audience members showed up. Over 100 AIDS patients and their doctors, whose charts exhaustively documented their improvements using natural and nontoxic modalities over the preceding 12 months, gave filmed testimonials, declaring that the feared disease was no longer a death sentence, but the conference had effectively been silenced. Bill Tatum, publisher of the Amsterdam News, suggested Null and his patients would find a more welcoming audience in his home neighborhood of Harlem - specifically, its iconic Apollo Theatre. For three nights, the theater was packed to capacity. Hit especially hard by the epidemic and distrustful of a medical system that had only recently stopped being openly racist (the Tuskegee syphilis experiment only ended in 1972), black Americans, at least, did not seem to care what Anthony Fauci would do if he found out they were investigating alternatives to AZT and death.    PBS journalist Tony Brown, having obtained a copy of the video of patient testimonials from the failed press conference, was among a handful of black journalists who began visiting the Center to investigate the legitimacy of Null's claims. Satisfied they had something significant to offer his audience, Brown invited eight patients - along with Null himself - onto his program over the course of several episodes to discuss the work. It was the first time these protocols had received any attention in the media, despite Null having released nearly two dozen articles and multiple documentaries on the subject by that time. A typical patient on one program, Al, a recovered IV drug user who was diagnosed with AIDS at age 32, described how he “panicked,” saw a doctor and started taking AZT despite his misgivings - only to be forced to discontinue the drug after just a few weeks due to his condition deteriorating rapidly. Researching alternatives brought him to Null, and after six months of “detoxing [his] lifestyle,” he observed his initial symptoms - swollen lymph nodes and weight loss - begin to reverse, culminating with sero-deconversion. On Bill McCreary's Channel 5 program, a married couple diagnosed with HIV described how they watched their T-cell counts increase as they cut out sugar, caffeine, smoking, and drinking and began eating a healthy diet. They also saw the virus leave their bodies.   For HIV-positive viewers surrounded by fear and negativity, watching healthy-looking, cheerful “AIDS patients” detail their recovery while Null backed up their claims with charts must have been balm for the soul. But the TV programs were also a form of outreach to the medical community, with patients' charts always on hand to convince skeptics the cure was scientifically valid. Null brought patients' charts to every program, urging them to keep an open mind: “Other physicians and public health officials should know that there's good science in the alternative perspective. It may not be a therapy that they're familiar with, because they're just not trained in it, but if the results are positive, and you can document them…” He challenged doubters to send in charts from their own sero-deconverted patients on AZT, and volunteered to debate proponents of the orthodox treatment paradigm - though the NIH and WHO both refused to participate in such a debate on Tony Brown's Journal, following Fauci's directive prohibiting engagement with forbidden ideas.    Aside from those few TV programs and Null's own films, suppression of Null's AIDS cure beyond word of mouth was total. The 2021 documentary The Cost of Denial, produced by the Society for Independent Journalists, tells the story of the Tri-State Healing Center and the medical paradigm that sought to destroy it, lamenting the loss of the lives that might have been saved in a more enlightened society. Nurse practitioner Luanne Pennesi, who treated many of the AIDS patients at the Center, speculated in the film that the refusal by the scientific establishment and AIDS activists to accept their successes was financially motivated. “It was as if they didn't want this information to get out. Understand that our healthcare system as we know it is a corporation, it's a corporate model, and it's about generating revenue. My concern was that maybe they couldn't generate enough revenue from these natural approaches.”5   Funding was certainly the main disciplinary tool Fauci's NIAID used to keep the scientific community in line. Despite the massive community interest in the work being done at the Center, no foundation or institution would defy Fauci and risk getting itself blacklisted, leaving Null to continue funding the operation out of his pocket with the profits from book sales. After 15 years, he left the Center in 1995, convinced the mainstream model had so thoroughly been institutionalized that there was no chance of overthrowing it. He has continued to counsel patients and advocate for a reappraisal of the HIV=AIDS hypothesis and its pharmaceutical treatments, highlighting the deeply flawed science underpinning the model of the disease espoused by the scientific establishment in 39 articles, six documentaries and a 700-page textbook on AIDS, but the Center's achievements have been effectively memory-holed by Fauci's multi-billion-dollar propaganda apparatus.     FRUIT OF THE POISONOUS TREE   To understand just how much of a threat Null's work was to the HIV/AIDS establishment, it is instructive to revisit the 1984 paper, published by Dr. Robert Gallo of the National Cancer Institute, that established HIV as the sole cause of AIDS. The CDC's official recognition of AIDS in 1981 had done little to quell the mounting public panic over the mysterious illness afflicting gay men in the US, as the agency had effectively admitted it had no idea what was causing them to sicken and die. As years passed with no progress determining the causative agent of the plague, activist groups like Gay Men's Health Crisis disrupted public events and threatened further mass civil disobedience as they excoriated the NIH for its sluggish allocation of government science funding to uncovering the cause of the “gay cancer.”6 When Gallo published his paper declaring that the retrovirus we now know as HIV was the sole “probable” cause of AIDS, its simple, single-factor hypothesis was the answer to the scientific establishment's prayers. This was particularly true for Fauci, as the NIAID chief was able to claim the hot new disease as his agency's own domain in what has been described as a “dramatic confrontation” with his rival Sam Broder at the National Cancer Institute. After all, Fauci pointed out, Gallo's findings - presented by Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler as if they were gospel truth before any other scientists had had a chance to inspect them, never mind conduct a full peer review - clearly classified AIDS as an infectious disease, and not a cancer like the Kaposi's sarcoma which was at the time its most visible manifestation. Money and media attention began pouring in, even as funding for the investigation of other potential causes of AIDS dried up. Having already patented a diagnostic test for “his” retrovirus before introducing it to the world, Gallo was poised for a financial windfall, while Fauci was busily leveraging the discovery into full bureaucratic empire of the US scientific apparatus.   While it would serve as the sole basis for all US government-backed AIDS research to follow - quickly turning Gallo into the most-cited scientist in the world during the 1980s,7 Gallo's “discovery” of HIV was deeply problematic. The sample that yielded the momentous discovery actually belonged to Prof. Luc Montagnier of the French Institut Pasteur, a fact Gallo finally admitted in 1991, four years after a lawsuit from the French government challenged his patent on the HIV antibody test, forcing the US government to negotiate a hasty profit-sharing agreement between Gallo's and Montagnier's labs. That lawsuit triggered a cascade of official investigations into scientific misconduct by Gallo, and evidence submitted during one of these probes, unearthed in 2008 by journalist Janine Roberts, revealed a much deeper problem with the seminal “discovery.” While Gallo's co-author, Mikulas Popovic, had concluded after numerous experiments with the French samples that the virus they contained was not the cause of AIDS, Gallo had drastically altered the paper's conclusion, scribbling his notes in the margins, and submitted it for publication to the journal Science without informing his co-author.   After Roberts shared her discovery with contacts in the scientific community, 37 scientific experts wrote to the journal demanding that Gallo's career-defining HIV paper be retracted from Science for lacking scientific integrity.8 Their call, backed by an endorsement from the 2,600-member scientific organization Rethinking AIDS, was ignored by the publication and by the rest of mainstream science despite - or perhaps because of - its profound implications.   That 2008 letter, addressed to Science editor-in-chief Bruce Alberts and copied to American Association for the Advancement of Science CEO Alan Leshner, is worth reproducing here in its entirety, as it utterly dismantles Gallo's hypothesis - and with them the entire HIV is the sole cause of AIDS dogma upon which the contemporary medical model of the disease rests:   On May 4, 1984 your journal published four papers by a group led by Dr. Robert Gallo. We are writing to express our serious concerns with regard to the integrity and veracity of the lead paper among these four of which Dr. Mikulas Popovic is the lead author.[1] The other three are also of concern because they rely upon the conclusions of the lead paper .[2][3][4]  In the early 1990s, several highly critical reports on the research underlying these papers were produced as a result of governmental inquiries working under the supervision of scientists nominated by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. The Office of Research Integrity of the US Department of Health and Human Services concluded that the lead paper was “fraught with false and erroneous statements,” and that the “ORI believes that the careless and unacceptable keeping of research records...reflects irresponsible laboratory management that has permanently impaired the ability to retrace the important steps taken.”[5] Further, a Congressional Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations led by US Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan produced a staff report on the papers which contains scathing criticisms of their integrity.[6]  Despite the publically available record of challenges to their veracity, these papers have remained uncorrected and continue to be part of the scientific record.  What prompts our communication today is the recent revelation of an astonishing number of previously unreported deletions and unjustified alterations made by Gallo to the lead paper. There are several documents originating from Gallo's laboratory that, while available for some time, have only recently been fully analyzed. These include a draft of the lead paper typewritten by Popovic which contains handwritten changes made to it by Gallo.[7] This draft was the key evidence used in the above described inquiries to establish that Gallo had concealed his laboratory's use of a cell culture sample (known as LAV) which it received from the Institut Pasteur.  These earlier inquiries verified that the typed manuscript draft was produced by Popovic who had carried out the recorded experiment while his laboratory chief, Gallo, was in Europe and that, upon his return, Gallo changed the document by hand a few days before it was submitted to Science on March 30, 1984. According to the ORI investigation, “Dr. Gallo systematically rewrote the manuscript for what would become a renowned LTCB [Gallo's laboratory at the National Cancer Institute] paper.”[5]  This document provided the important evidence that established the basis for awarding Dr. Luc Montagnier and Dr. Francoise Barré-Sinoussi the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of the AIDS virus by proving it was their samples of LAV that Popovic used in his key experiment. The draft reveals that Popovic had forthrightly admitted using the French samples of LAV renamed as Gallo's virus, HTLV-III, and that Gallo had deleted this admission, concealing their use of LAV.  However, it has not been previously reported that on page three of this same document Gallo had also deleted Popovic's unambiguous statement that, "Despite intensive research efforts, the causative agent of AIDS has not yet been identified,” replacing it in the published paper with a statement that said practically the opposite, namely, “That a retrovirus of the HTLV family might be an etiologic agent of AIDS was suggested by the findings.”  It is clear that the rest of Popovic's typed paper is entirely consistent with his statement that the cause of AIDS had not been found, despite his use of the French LAV. Popovic's final conclusion was that the culture he produced “provides the possibility” for detailed studies. He claimed to have achieved nothing more. At no point in his paper did Popovic attempt to prove that any virus caused AIDS, and it is evident that Gallo concealed these key elements in Popovic's experimental findings.  It is astonishing now to discover these unreported changes to such a seminal document. We can only assume that Gallo's alterations of Popovic's conclusions were not highlighted by earlier inquiries because the focus at the time was on establishing that the sample used by Gallo's lab came from Montagnier and was not independently collected by Gallo. In fact, the only attention paid to the deletions made by Gallo pertains to his effort to hide the identity of the sample. The questions of whether Gallo and Popovic's research proved that LAV or any other virus was the cause of AIDS were clearly not considered.  Related to these questions are other long overlooked documents that merit your attention. One of these is a letter from Dr. Matthew A. Gonda, then Head of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory at the National Cancer Institute, which is addressed to Popovic, copied to Gallo and dated just four days prior to Gallo's submission to Science.[8] In this letter, Gonda remarks on samples he had been sent for imaging because “Dr Gallo wanted these micrographs for publication because they contain HTLV.” He states, “I do not believe any of the particles photographed are of HTLV-I, II or III.” According to Gonda, one sample contained cellular debris, while another had no particles near the size of a retrovirus. Despite Gonda's clearly worded statement, Science published on May 4, 1984 papers attributed to Gallo et al with micrographs attributed to Gonda and described unequivocally as HTLV-III.  In another letter by Gallo, dated one day before he submitted his papers to Science, Gallo states, “It's extremely rare to find fresh cells [from AIDS patients] expressing the virus... cell culture seems to be necessary to induce virus,” a statement which raises the possibility he was working with a laboratory artifact. [9]  Included here are copies of these documents and links to the same. The very serious flaws they reveal in the preparation of the lead paper published in your journal in 1984 prompts our request that this paper be withdrawn. It appears that key experimental findings have been concealed. We further request that the three associated papers published on the same date also be withdrawn as they depend on the accuracy of this paper.  For the scientific record to be reliable, it is vital that papers shown to be flawed, or falsified be retracted. Because a very public record now exists showing that the Gallo papers drew unjustified conclusions, their withdrawal from Science is all the more important to maintain integrity. Future researchers must also understand they cannot rely on the 1984 Gallo papers for statements about HIV and AIDS, and all authors of papers that previously relied on this set of four papers should have the opportunity to consider whether their own conclusions are weakened by these revelations.      Gallo's handwritten revision, submitted without his colleague's knowledge despite multiple experiments that failed to support the new conclusion, was the sole foundation for the HIV=AIDS hypothesis. Had Science published the manuscript the way Popovic had typed it, there would be no AIDS “pandemic” - merely small clusters of people with AIDS. Without a viral hypothesis backing the development of expensive and deadly pharmaceuticals, would Fauci have allowed these patients to learn about the cure that existed all along?   Faced with a potential rebellion, Fauci marshaled the full resources under his control to squelch the publication of the investigations into Gallo and restrict any discussion of competing hypotheses in the scientific and mainstream press, which had been running virus-scare stories full-time since 1984. The effect was total, according to biochemist Dr. Kary Mullis, inventor of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure. In a 2009 interview, Mullis recalled his own shock when he attempted to unearth the experimental basis for the HIV=AIDS hypothesis. Despite his extensive inquiry into the literature, “there wasn't a scientific reference…[that] said ‘here's how come we know that HIV is the probable cause of AIDS.' There was nothing out there like that.”9 This yawning void at the core of HIV/AIDS “science" turned him into a strident critic of AIDS dogma - and those views made him persona non grata where the scientific press was concerned, suddenly unable to publish a single paper despite having won the Nobel Prize for his invention of the PCR test just weeks before.  10   DISSENT BECOMES “DENIAL”   While many of those who dissent from the orthodox HIV=AIDS view believe HIV plays a role in the development of AIDS, they point to lifestyle and other co-factors as being equally if not more important. Individuals who test positive for HIV can live for decades in perfect health - so long as they don't take AZT or the other toxic antivirals fast-tracked by Fauci's NIAID - but those who developed full-blown AIDS generally engaged in highly risky behaviors like extreme promiscuity and prodigious drug abuse, contracting STDs they took large quantities of antibiotics to treat, further running down their immune systems. While AIDS was largely portrayed as a “gay disease,” it was only the “fast track” gays, hooking up with dozens of partners nightly in sex marathons fueled by “poppers” (nitrate inhalants notorious for their own devastating effects on the immune system), who became sick. Kaposi's sarcoma, one of the original AIDS-defining conditions, was widespread among poppers-using gay men, but never appeared among IV drug users or hemophiliacs, the other two main risk groups during the early years of the epidemic. Even Robert Gallo himself, at a 1994 conference on poppers held by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, would admit that the previously-rare form of skin cancer surging among gay men was not primarily caused by HIV - and that it was immune stimulation, rather than suppression, that was likely responsible.11 Similarly, IV drug users are often riddled with opportunistic infections as their habit depresses the immune system and their focus on maintaining their addiction means that healthier habits - like good nutrition and even basic hygiene - fall by the wayside.    Supporting the call for revising the HIV=AIDS hypothesis to include co-factors is the fact that the mass heterosexual outbreaks long predicted by Fauci and his ilk in seemingly every country on Earth have failed to materialize, except - supposedly - in Africa, where the diagnostic standard for AIDS differs dramatically from those of the West. Given the prohibitively high cost of HIV testing for poor African nations, the WHO in 1985 crafted a diagnostic loophole that became known as the “Bangui definition,” allowing medical professionals to diagnose AIDS in the absence of a test using just clinical symptoms: high fever, persistent cough, at least 30 days of diarrhea, and the loss of 10% of one's body weight within two months. Often suffering from malnutrition and without access to clean drinking water, many of the inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa fit the bill, especially when the WHO added tuberculosis to the list of AIDS-defining illnesses in 1993 - a move which may be responsible for as many as one half of African “AIDS” cases, according to journalist Christine Johnson. The WHO's former Chief of Global HIV Surveillance, James Chin, acknowledged their manipulation of statistics, but stressed that it was the entire AIDS industry - not just his organization - perpetrating the fraud. “There's the saying that, if you knew what sausages are made of, most people would hesitate to sort of eat them, because they wouldn't like what's in it. And if you knew how HIV/AIDS numbers are cooked, or made up, you would use them with extreme caution,” Chin told an interviewer in 2009.12   With infected numbers stubbornly remaining constant in the US despite Fauci's fearmongering projections of the looming heterosexually-transmitted plague, the CDC in 1993 broadened its definition of AIDS to include asymptomatic (that is, healthy) HIV-positive people with low T-cell counts - an absurd criteria given that an individual's T-cell count can fluctuate by hundreds within a single day. As a result, the number of “AIDS cases” in the US immediately doubled. Supervised by Fauci, the NIAID had been quietly piling on diseases into the “AIDS-related” category for years, bloating the list from just two conditions - pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and Kaposi's sarcoma - to 30 so fast it raised eyebrows among some of science's leading lights. Deeming the entire process “bizarre” and unprecedented, Kary Mullis wondered aloud why no one had called the AIDS establishment out: “There's something wrong here. And it's got to be financial.”13   Indeed, an early CDC public relations campaign was exposed by the Wall Street Journal in 1987 as having deliberately mischaracterized AIDS as a threat to the entire population so as to garner increased public and private funding for what was very much a niche issue, with the risk to average heterosexuals from a single act of sex “smaller than the risk of ever getting hit by lightning.” Ironically, the ads, which sought to humanize AIDS patients in an era when few Americans knew anyone with the disease and more than half the adult population thought infected people should be forced to carry cards warning of their status, could be seen as a reaction to the fear tactics deployed by Fauci early on.14   It's hard to tell where fraud ends and incompetence begins with Gallo's HIV antibody test. Much like Covid-19 would become a “pandemic of testing,” with murder victims and motorcycle crashes lumped into “Covid deaths” thanks to over-sensitized PCR tests that yielded as many as 90% false positives,15 HIV testing is fraught with false positives - and unlike with Covid-19, most people who hear they are HIV-positive still believe they are receiving a death sentence. Due to the difficulty of isolating HIV itself from human samples, the most common diagnostic tests, ELISA and the Western Blot, are designed to detect not the virus but antibodies to it, upending the traditional medical understanding that the presence of antibodies indicates only exposure - and often that the body has actually vanquished the pathogen. Patients are known to test positive for HIV antibodies in the absence of the virus due to at least 70 other conditions, including hepatitis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, syphilis, recent vaccination or even pregnancy. (https://www.chcfl.org/diseases-that-can-cause-a-false-positive-hiv-test/) Positive results are often followed up with a PCR “viral load” test, even though the inventor of the PCR technique Kary Mullis famously condemned its misuse as a tool for diagnosing infection. Packaging inserts for all three tests warn the user that they cannot be reliably used to diagnose HIV.16 The ELISA HIV antibody test explicitly states: “At present there is no recognized standard for establishing the presence and absence of HIV antibody in human blood.”17   That the public remains largely unaware of these and other massive holes in the supposedly airtight HIV=AIDS=DEATH paradigm is a testament to Fauci's multi-layered control of the press. Like the writers of the Great Barrington Declaration and other Covid-19 dissidents, scientists who question HIV/AIDS dogma have been brutally punished for their heresy, no matter how prestigious their prior standing in the field and no matter how much evidence they have for their own claims. In 1987, the year the FDA's approval of AZT made AIDS the most profitable epidemic yet (a dubious designation Covid-19 has since surpassed), Fauci made it clearer than ever that scientific inquiry and debate - the basis of the scientific method - would no longer be welcome in the American public health sector, eliminating retrovirologist Peter Duesberg, then one of the most prominent opponents of the HIV=AIDS hypothesis, from the scientific conversation with a professional disemboweling that would make a cartel hitman blush. Duesberg had just eviscerated Gallo's 1984 HIV paper with an article of his own in the journal Cancer Research, pointing out that retroviruses had never before been found to cause a single disease in humans - let alone 30 AIDS-defining diseases. Rather than allow Gallo or any of the other scientists in his camp to respond to the challenge, Fauci waged a scorched-earth campaign against Duesberg, who had until then been one of the most highly regarded researchers in his field. Every research grant he requested was denied; every media appearance was canceled or preempted. The University of California at Berkeley, unable to fully fire him due to tenure, took away his lab, his graduate students, and the rest of his funding. The few colleagues who dared speak up for him in public were also attacked, while enemies and opportunists were encouraged to slander Duesberg at the conferences he was barred from attending and in the journals that would no longer publish his replies. When Duesberg was summoned to the White House later that year by then-President Ronald Reagan to debate Fauci on the origins of AIDS, Fauci convinced the president to cancel, allegedly pulling rank on the Commander-in-Chief with an accusation that the “White House was interfering in scientific matters that belonged to the NIH and the Office of Science and Technology Assessment.” After seven years of this treatment, Duesberg was contacted by NIH official Stephen O'Brien and offered an escape from professional purgatory. He could have “everything back,” he was told, and shown a manuscript of a scientific paper - apparently commissioned by the editor of the journal Nature - “HIV Causes AIDS: Koch's Postulates Fulfilled” with his own name listed alongside O'Brien's as an author.18 His refusal to take the bribe effectively guaranteed the epithet “AIDS denier” will appear on his tombstone. The character assassination of Duesberg became a template that would be deployed to great effectiveness wherever Fauci encountered dissent - never debate, only demonize, deplatform and destroy.    Even Luc Montagnier, the real discoverer of HIV, soon found himself on the wrong side of the Fauci machine. With his 1990 declaration that “the HIV virus [by itself] is harmless and passive, a benign virus,” Montagnier began distancing himself from Gallo's fraud, effectively placing a target on his own back. In a 1995 interview, he elaborated: “four factors that have come together to account for the sudden epidemic [of AIDS]: HIV presence, immune hyper-activation, increased sexually transmitted disease incidence, sexual behavior changes and other behavioral changes” such as drug use, poor nutrition and stress - all of which he said had to occur “essentially simultaneously” for HIV to be transmitted, creating the modern epidemic. Like the professionals at the Tri-State Healing Center, Montagnier advocated for the use of antioxidants like vitamin C and N-acetyl cysteine, naming oxidative stress as a critical factor in the progression from HIV to AIDS.19 When Montagnier died in 2022, Fauci's media mouthpieces sneered that the scientist (who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2008 for his discovery of HIV, despite his flagging faith in that discovery's significance) “started espousing views devoid of a scientific basis” in the late 2000s, leading him to be “shunned by the scientific community.”20 In a particularly egregious jab, the Washington Post's obit sings the praises of Robert Gallo, implying it was the American scientist who really should have won the Nobel for HIV, while dismissing as “

Bright on Buddhism - Episode 105 - Who is Amitabha? What are some stories about him? How ought we understand him?Resources: Karashima, Seishi (2009), JSTOR 24049429 On Amitābha, Amitāyu(s), Sukhāvatī and the Amitābhavyūha], Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, 23, 121–130Charles Muller, "Buddha of Immeasurable Life 無量壽佛" Digital Dictionary of Buddhism,http://www.buddhism-dict.net/cgi-bin/xpr-ddb.pl?71.xml+id(%27b7121-91cf-58fd-4f5b%27)Tanaka, Kenneth K. 1990. The Dawn of Chinese Pure Land Buddhist Doctrine: Ching-ying Hui-yüanʼs Commentary on the Visualization Sutra, p. 12. Albany: State University of New York Press.The Three Pure Land Sutras (PDF), translated by Inagaki, Hisao, Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2003, ISBN 1-886439-18-4,Georgios T. Halkias, Luminous Bliss: A Religious History of Pure Land Literature in Tibet Pure LandJones, Charles B. (2019). Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, Understanding a Tradition of Practice. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.Jones, Charles B. (2021). Pure Land: History, Tradition, and Practice. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 978-1-61180-890-2.Amstutz, Galen (1998). The Politics of Pure Land Buddhism in India, Numen 45 (1), 69–96 JSTOR 3270334 (subscription required)Inagaki, Hisao, trans. (2003), The Three Pure Land Sutras (PDF), Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, ISBN 1-886439-18-4, archived from the original (PDF) on May 12, 2014.Müller, F. Max (trans) Buddhist Mahâyâna texts Vol. 2: The larger Sukhâvatî-vyûha, the smaller Sukhâvatî-vyûha, the Vagrakkedikâ, the larger Pragñâ-pâramitâ-hridaya-sûtra, the smaller Pragñâ-pâramitâ-hridaya-sûtra. The Amitâyur dhyâna-sûtra, translated by J. Takakusu. Oxford, Clarendon Press 1894. Pure Land Sutras.Shi Wuling: In one Lifetime: Pure Land Buddhism, Amitabha Publications, Chicago 2006. ISBN 978-1-59975-357-7.Halkias, Georgios and Richard Payne. Pure Lands in Asian Texts and Contexts: An Anthology. University of Hawaii Press, 2019.Halkias, Georgios. Luminous Bliss: A Religious History of Pure Land Literature in Tibet, with an annotated English translation and critical edition of the Orgyan-gling Gold manuscript of the short Sukhāvatīvyūha-sūtra. Hawaii: University of Hawai‘i Press 2013. [1]Johnson, Peter, trans. (2020). The Land of Pure Bliss, On the Nature of Faith & Practice in Greater Vehicle (Mahāyāna) Buddhism, Including a Full Translation of Shàndǎo's Commentary in Four Parts Explaining The Scripture About Meditation on the Buddha 'Of Infinite Life' (Amitāyur Buddha Dhyāna Sūtra, 觀無量壽佛經), ISBN 978-1-7923-4208-0.Kenneth Tanaka (1989). Bibliography of English-language Works on Pure land Buddhism: Primarily 1983–1989, Pacific World Journal, New Series, Number 5, 85–99.Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!Credits:Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-HostProven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

La protagonista della puntata numero 7 è una sostanza illecita destinata a liberarsi dallo stigma dell'immoralità che le aleggia intorno da 40 anni. Una sostanza popolarissima che ha molti soprannomi. In origine era Adam, poi Ecstasy, Molly, XTC, X, o MD. Qualcuno si è spinto a definirla la “penicillina dell'anima”, per noi sarà sempre e solo MDMA. Testo, voce e editing audio: Stefania BonanLetture e contributi liberamente tratti da:“PIHKAL, a chemical love story” di Alexander e Ann Shulgin. Transform Press, Berkeley California 2022. Traduzione di SB“Through the gateway of the heart - Accounts of experiences with MDMA and other empathogenic substances” a cura di Sophia Adamson. Four Trees Publications, San Francisco 1985. Traduzione di SB.“Pursuit of ecstasy, the MDMA experience” di Jerome Beck e Marsha Rosenbaum. State University of New York Press, Albany, 1994 Traduzione di SB. Frammenti interpretati da DV.“The history of MDMA” di Torsten Passie. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2023. Traduzione di SB . Frammenti interpretati da DV.Comunicazioni dirette interpretate da DV.Da aporee.org:Different birds, dove, wind on leaves content_copy P.André • 04.06.2024 12:00 Europe/Lisbon • 1:36min. • PUBLIC-DOMAIN Mining bees - small colony burrowing into gravel track content_copy Peter Cusack • 18.07.2024 14:58 Europe/London • 6:53min. • PUBLIC-DOMAINSolar farm at day break - the hum, wood pigeon song, close chattering song thrush, distant crows and gulls content_copy Peter Cusack • 28.07.2024 05:51 Europe/London • 8:45min. • PUBLIC-DOMAINIl ringraziamento per il supporto va a OEJ Agency, Portogruaro - Italia.Diventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sostanze--5350496/support.

Explore the enigmatic world of Giuliano Kremmerz, one of Italy's most influential Hermeticists, and his esoteric order, the Fratellanza Terapeutica Magica di Miriam. This video delves into Kremmerz's philosophy, the role of the divine feminine symbolised by Miriam, and the blend of ancient Hermetic wisdom with therapeutic magic. Discover his key texts, including La Scienza dei Magi and La Medicina Ermetica, and uncover how his teachings continue to inspire scholars and practitioners of Western esotericism today. CONNECT & SUPPORT

Bright on Buddhism - Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra - Chapter 2 Part 4 Join us as we read and discuss Chapter 2 of DT Suzuki's translation of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra! Resources: Lindtner, Christian (1992). The Lankavatarasutra in Early Indian Madhyamaka Literature, Copenhagen. Asiatische Studien, XLV, 1, pp. 244–279.; Nanjio, Bunyiu. ed. (1923). The Laṅkāvatāra sūtra, Kyoto: Otani University Press, pp. VIII-IX (Skt. edition); Sutton, Florin G. (1991). Existence and enlightenment in the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra: a study in the ontology and epistemology of the Yogācāra school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Albany, NY : State Univ. of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-0172-3; Suzuki, D. T. (1930). Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra. Reprint: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi 1998, ISBN 81-215-0833-9; Suzuki, D. T. (2003). The Lankavatara Sutra, An Epitomized Version, Consortium Book Sales & Dist, ISBN 0-9726357-4-2 Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

In this episode, Megan and Frank examine astrology. What is astrology, and why do people practice it? What are the strongest objections to astrology? Should astrology count as a science? If not, why not? What can the case of astrology teach us about the role of science in a democratic society? And why does the ancient practice of reading the stars prompt us to ponder the deepest aspects of human experience? Thinkers discussed include: Aristotle, Cicero, Ptolemy, Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Imre Lakatos, Paul Feyerabend, Carl Sagan, Ian James Kidd, and Massimo Pigliucci.-----------------------Hosts' Websites:Megan J Fritts (google.com)Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com-----------------------Bibliography:Philosophy of Science and the Occult | State University of New York Press (first section is an invaluable resource, containing the 1975 manifesto, Feyerabend's critique, and articles summarizing statistical studies disconfirming astrology)Cabrera - Evidence and explanation in Cicero's On DivinationLacusCurtius • Ptolemy — TetrabiblosLacusCurtius • Cicero — De Divinatione: Book IA double-blind test of astrology | NatureReadings in the Philosophy of Science: From Positivism to Postmodernism (See for short selections from Popper, Kuhn, and Lakatos)Ian James Kidd - Why did Feyerabend Defend Astrology? Integrity, Virtue, and the Authority of Science (An excellent paper that very much informed our discussion of the science & society question)M. Pigliucci - Was Feyerabend Right in Defending Astrology? A Commentary on Kidd-----------------------Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts-------------------------Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signsLicense code: YYRPW29K1IDMU76F

 This episode explores the fascinating world of servitors—mystical constructs intentionally created to perform specific tasks, bridging the realms of magic, psychology, and spirituality. From their origins in ancient traditions like the Jewish golem and Tibetan tulpa to their evolution in Chaos Magic, servitors have captivated practitioners across cultures for centuries. We'll explore how these "artificial" entities are brought to life through focused intention, ritual practices, and symbolic frameworks. What makes servitors so intriguing is their dual nature: are they metaphysical tools harnessing unseen energies or psychological projections manifesting from the depths of our subconscious? Along the way, we'll uncover lesser-known historical practices, the influence of modern thinkers like Carl Jung, and how servitors are used today—not only for magical purposes but also for self-development and creative empowerment. CONNECT & SUPPORT

Bright on Buddhism - Episode 98 - Who is Vasubandhu? What were some of his views? How did he affect Buddhism in East Asia? Resources: David J. Kalupahana, The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1987, pp 173–192.; Francis H. Cook, Three Texts on Consciousness Only, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Berkeley, 1999, pp 371–383 ("Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only") and pp 385–408 ("Twenty Verses on Consciousness Only"); Erich Frauwallner, The Philosophy of Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 2010 [1956].; Li Rongxi, Albert A. Dalia (2002). The Lives of Great Monks and Nuns, Berkeley CA: Numata Center for Translation and Research; Thich Nhat Hanh Transformation at the Base (subtitle) Fifty Verses on the Nature of Consciousness, Parallax Press, Berkeley, 2001; inspired in part by Vasubandhu and his Twenty Verses and Thirty Verses texts; Kochumuttom, Thomas (1982). A Buddhist Doctrine of Experience: A New Translation and Interpretation of the Works of Vasubandhu the Yogacarin. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by finding us on email or social media! https://linktr.ee/brightonbuddhism Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

Bright on Buddhism - Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra - Chapter 2 Part 3 Join us as we read and discuss Chapter 2 of DT Suzuki's translation of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra! Resources: Lindtner, Christian (1992). The Lankavatarasutra in Early Indian Madhyamaka Literature, Copenhagen. Asiatische Studien, XLV, 1, pp. 244–279.; Nanjio, Bunyiu. ed. (1923). The Laṅkāvatāra sūtra, Kyoto: Otani University Press, pp. VIII-IX (Skt. edition); Sutton, Florin G. (1991). Existence and enlightenment in the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra: a study in the ontology and epistemology of the Yogācāra school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Albany, NY : State Univ. of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-0172-3; Suzuki, D. T. (1930). Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra. Reprint: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi 1998, ISBN 81-215-0833-9; Suzuki, D. T. (2003). The Lankavatara Sutra, An Epitomized Version, Consortium Book Sales & Dist, ISBN 0-9726357-4-2 Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

Bright on Buddhism - Join us as we read and discuss 3 Very Short Sutras: the Ñanamoli Thera translation of the Anatta-lakkhana Sutta, then the Thanissaro Bhikku translation of the Kaccānagotta Sutta, and then finally, the a-sutra. Resources: Kalupahana, David J. (1986). Nāgārjuna: The Philosophy of the Middle Way. State University of New York Press.; Mendis, N.K.G. (tr., ed.) (1979). On the No-self Characteristic: The Anatta-lakkhana Sutta (The Wheel No. 268). Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. Retrieved 2007-10-03 from "Access to Insight" (2007) at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/mendis/wheel268.html.; Ñanamoli Thera (tr., ed.) (1981). Three Cardinal Discourses of the Buddha (The Wheel No. 17). Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. Retrieved 2007-10-03 from "Access to Insight" (1995) at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/wheel017.html. Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our Patreon: patreon.com/brightonbuddhism Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

Susanna Styron is a writer and director for film and television, and a documentary filmmaker.  Her latest documentary short, MY FATHER'S NAME, won Best Documentary in the NYWIFT Online Shorts Festival and is on the 2024-25 festival circuit. Susanna's documentary feature, OUT OF MY HEAD, premiered in MoMA's Doc Fortnight and went on to win Best International Documentary at the Melbourne Documentary Film festival. Her other documentary credits as writer/director include 9/12: FROM CHAOS TO COMMUNITY; IN OUR OWN BACKYARDS; and SUSPENDED SENTENCE. She began her documentary career as an Associate Producer for ABC-TV's documentary division, Close-Up. Susanna's debut feature, Sony Pictures' SHADRACH, starring Harvey Keitel and Andie MacDowell, which she directed and co-wrote, premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was one of New York Press critic Armond White's top ten films of the year. She wrote and directed for Sidney Lumet's TV series 100 CENTRE STREET, and wrote for Tom Fontana's BORGIA. Susanna co-authored several TV movies for Hallmark Hall of Fame and Lifetime, including an adaptation of Ann Tyler's BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWN-UPS, with Blythe Danner, Peter Fonda and Faye Dunaway; and the award-winning TAKING BACK OUR TOWN, with Ruby Dee. Her dramatic short, HOUSE OF TEETH, which she wrote and directed, won numerous awards on the festival circuit, aired on Shorts TV, and is available on Amazon. She directed several episodes of Brooke Adams and Lynne Adams' web series ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE. Susanna's personal essays have appeared in The Yale Revue, SPIN Magazine, The New York Times and Real Simple magazine. She serves on the Special Projects Committee of the Directors Guild of America, and the Executive Committee of the Writers Guild Initiative, where she conducts writing workshops with underserved communities such as caregivers of wounded veterans, undocumented immigrant youth and LGBTQ asylum seekers, among others. She currently has projects in development with The Levinson/Fontana Company, Cinetic Media, and EP/Showrunner Carol Barbee.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bright on Buddhism - Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra - Chapter 2 Part 2 Join us as we read and discuss Chapter 2 of DT Suzuki's translation of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra! Resources: Lindtner, Christian (1992). The Lankavatarasutra in Early Indian Madhyamaka Literature, Copenhagen. Asiatische Studien, XLV, 1, pp. 244–279.; Nanjio, Bunyiu. ed. (1923). The Laṅkāvatāra sūtra, Kyoto: Otani University Press, pp. VIII-IX (Skt. edition); Sutton, Florin G. (1991). Existence and enlightenment in the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra: a study in the ontology and epistemology of the Yogācāra school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Albany, NY : State Univ. of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-0172-3; Suzuki, D. T. (1930). Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra. Reprint: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi 1998, ISBN 81-215-0833-9; Suzuki, D. T. (2003). The Lankavatara Sutra, An Epitomized Version, Consortium Book Sales & Dist, ISBN 0-9726357-4-2 Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

Anthony Comstock (1844-1915) would be nothing more than a footnote from an ugly, retrograde, and bygone period of American history, except that Dobbs made the laws that bear his name suddenly relevant again. But who was Comstock? What made him such a woman-hating weirdo? Why did he hold sway for so long, and how was Comstockery defeated? Amy Sohn, the author of  “The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship & Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age,” talks to Greg Olear about all things Comstock: who he was; how he rose to power; what laws he enacted; how he's similar to Leonard Leo, Donald Trump, and other current weirdos; and the remarkable women who were his adversaries.Amy Sohn is the New York Times-bestselling author of 13 books, including the novels “Prospect Park West,” “Motherland,” and “The Actress”; the parodic parable “CBD!”; and “Brooklyn Bailey, the Missing Dog,” her first book for children. She has also written two screenplays, “Spin the Bottle” and “Pagans,” as well as “Avenue Amy,” one of the first original programs to air on Oxygen, in which she also starred. In 1996, a year after graduating from Brown University, she launched an autobiographical dating diary, “Female Trouble,” in the downtown weekly New York Press. She subsequently wrote a column at the New York Post and was a contributing editor at New York magazine. As a freelance journalist, she has written for the New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, Details, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Men's Journal, Playboy, and many others. Her latest book, “The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship & Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age,” was published July 6, 2021 with Farrar, Straus & Giroux.Follow Amy:https://x.com/amysohnBuy “The man Who Hated Women”:https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250174819/themanwhohatedwomenCheck out her other books:https://www.amazon.com/stores/Amy-Sohn/author/B004NA8V0EMore about Amy:https://www.amysohn.com/bio/ Prevail is sponsored by BetterHelp. Get 10% off your first month at http://betterhelp.com/greg Subscribe to The Five 8:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0BRnRwe7yDZXIaF-QZfvhACheck out ROUGH BEAST, Greg's new book:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D47CMX17ROUGH BEAST is now available as an audiobook:https://www.audible.com/pd/Rough-Beast-Audiobook/B0D8K41S3T Would you like to tell us more about you? http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=short

Bright on Buddhism - Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra - Chapter 2 Part 1 Join us as we read and discuss Chapter 1 of DT Suzuki's translation of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra! Resources: Lindtner, Christian (1992). The Lankavatarasutra in Early Indian Madhyamaka Literature, Copenhagen. Asiatische Studien, XLV, 1, pp. 244–279.; Nanjio, Bunyiu. ed. (1923). The Laṅkāvatāra sūtra, Kyoto: Otani University Press, pp. VIII-IX (Skt. edition); Sutton, Florin G. (1991). Existence and enlightenment in the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra: a study in the ontology and epistemology of the Yogācāra school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Albany, NY : State Univ. of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-0172-3; Suzuki, D. T. (1930). Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra. Reprint: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi 1998, ISBN 81-215-0833-9; Suzuki, D. T. (2003). The Lankavatara Sutra, An Epitomized Version, Consortium Book Sales & Dist, ISBN 0-9726357-4-2 Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

Explore the fascinating world of ritual and animism in psychology! This in-depth look covers the evolution of human consciousness, psychotic experiences, and therapeutic approaches. From James Frazer's "The Golden Bough" to Julian Jaynes' bicameral mind theory, discover how our understanding of the human psyche has evolved. Learn about the changing nature of psychosis in America and how it reflects societal shifts. Dive into the works of Jung, Edinger, and Neumann to understand the role of animism in psychological development. Perfect for psychology students, therapists, and anyone interested in the intersection of spirituality and mental health.   #PsychologyOfRitual #AnimismExplained #ConsciousnessEvolution #PsychologyOfRitual #AnimismExplained #ConsciousnessEvolution #JulianJaynes #BicameralMind #JamesFrazer #GoldenBough #PsychosisInAmerica #JungianPsychology #TherapeuticApproaches #SpiritualPsychology #MentalHealthAwareness #CollectiveTrauma #SymbolicThinking #RitualHealing   What is the Psychology of Ritual and Animism? Ritual and animism are distinct but related concepts that offer insights into the workings of the emotional and preconscious mind. While they are often associated with religious or spiritual practices, they can also be understood as psychological processes that serve important functions in human development and well-being (Edinger, 1972; Neumann, 1955). Animism can be defined as the attribution of consciousness, soul, or spirit to objects, plants, animals, and natural phenomena. From a psychological perspective, animism involves "turning down" one's cognitive functioning to "hear" the inner monologue of the world and treat it as alive. This process allows individuals to connect with the preconscious wisdom of their own psyche and the natural world (Tylor, 1871). Ritual, on the other hand, is a structured sequence of actions that are performed with the intention of achieving a specific psychological or social outcome. In depth psychology, ritual is understood as a process of projecting parts of one's psyche onto objects or actions, modifying them, and then withdrawing the projection to achieve a transformation in internal cognition (Moore & Gillette, 1990). It is important to note that animism and ritual are not merely primitive or outdated practices, but rather reflect a natural state of human consciousness that has been suppressed or "turned off" by cultural and environmental changes, rather than evolutionary ones. This natural state can still be accessed through various means, including psychosis, religious practices, and intentional ritualistic behaviors (Grof, 1975). In times of extreme stress or trauma, individuals may experience a breakdown of their normal cognitive functioning, leading to a resurgence of animistic or ritualistic thinking. This can be seen in the delusions and hallucinations associated with psychosis, which often involve a heightened sense of meaning and connection with the environment (Jaynes, 1976). Similarly, many religious and spiritual traditions incorporate practices that deliberately induce altered states of consciousness, such as meditation, chanting, or the use of psychoactive substances. These practices can help individuals access the preconscious wisdom of their own minds and connect with the living world around them (Eliade, 1959). Even in secular contexts, engaging in intentional ritualistic behaviors, such as art-making, dance, or storytelling, can serve a similar function of integrating the emotional and preconscious aspects of the psyche. By creating a safe, structured space for self-expression and exploration, these practices can promote psychological healing and growth (Turner, 1969). James Frazer and "The Golden Bough" James Frazer (1854-1941) was a Scottish anthropologist and folklorist who made significant contributions to the study of mythology, religion, and ritual. His most famous work, "The Golden Bough" (1890), was a comparative study of mythology and religion that identified common patterns and themes across cultures. Frazer's work was influenced by the concept of animism, which had been introduced by Edward Tylor (1832-1917) as a primitive form of religion. Frazer saw ritual as a means of controlling the supernatural world through sympathetic magic, which operated on the principles of homeopathic magic (the belief that like produces like) and contagious magic (the belief that things that have been in contact continue to influence each other) (Frazer, 1890). The title of Frazer's work, "The Golden Bough," was a reference to the mythical golden bough in the sacred grove at Nemi, Italy. According to the myth, the priest of the grove had to defend his position against challengers, and the successful challenger plucked the golden bough and replaced the priest. Frazer saw this story as a symbol of the cycle of death and rebirth in nature and in human society (Frazer, 1890). Frazer's work was significant in highlighting the prevalence of animistic thinking across cultures and throughout history. He observed that many cultures engaged in practices that attributed consciousness and agency to natural objects and phenomena, such as trees, rivers, and celestial bodies (Frazer, 1890). While Frazer's interpretations of these practices were shaped by the ethnocentric assumptions of his time, his work laid the foundation for later anthropological and psychological studies of animism and ritual. By identifying common patterns and themes across cultures, Frazer helped to establish the comparative study of religion as a legitimate field of inquiry. However, Frazer's work has also been criticized for its reliance on secondary sources and its lack of fieldwork, as well as for its oversimplification and overgeneralization of complex cultural phenomena. His evolutionary view of human thought, which posited a progression from magic through religion to science, has been challenged by later scholars who emphasize the coexistence and interplay of these different modes of thinking (Tylor, 1871). Despite these limitations, Frazer's work remains an important touchstone in the study of animism and ritual, and his insights continue to influence contemporary debates about the nature of religion and the evolution of human consciousness. Julian Jaynes and the Bicameral Mind Julian Jaynes (1920-1997) was an American psychologist and philosopher who proposed a controversial theory about the evolution of human consciousness in his book "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" (1976). Jaynes argued that the human mind had once operated in a state of bicameralism, where cognitive functions were divided between two chambers of the brain. In this state, the "speaking" right hemisphere issued commands, which were experienced as auditory hallucinations, while the "listening" left hemisphere obeyed. Jaynes proposed that the breakdown of this bicameral mind led to the development of consciousness and introspection (Jaynes, 1976). According to Jaynes, the bicameral mind was a normal and universal feature of human cognition until about 3,000 years ago, when a combination of social, environmental, and linguistic changes led to its breakdown. He argued that the development of written language, the rise of complex civilizations, and the increasing use of metaphorical language all contributed to the emergence of self-awareness and inner dialogue (Jaynes, 1976). Jaynes' theory has been criticized for its lack of direct archaeological or biological evidence, as well as for its reliance on literary interpretation rather than empirical data. Some scholars have argued that Jaynes' interpretation of ancient texts and artifacts is selective and biased, and that his theory oversimplifies the complex processes involved in the development of consciousness (Wilber, 1977). However, Jaynes' work has also been praised for its originality and its interdisciplinary approach, which draws on insights from psychology, anthropology, linguistics, and history. His theory has inspired a wide range of research and speculation about the nature of consciousness and the role of language in shaping human cognition (Huxley, 1945). From the perspective of animism and ritual, Jaynes' theory offers an interesting perspective on the experience of "hearing" the world speak. The bicameral mind can be seen as a metaphor for the animistic experience of perceiving the natural world as alive and conscious, and of receiving messages or commands from a higher power (Otto, 1917). Jaynes himself drew parallels between the bicameral experience and certain forms of religious or mystical experience, such as prophecy, possession, and divine inspiration. He argued that these experiences reflect a residual capacity for bicameral cognition, which can be triggered by certain environmental or psychological factors (Jaynes, 1976). However, Jaynes also emphasized the differences between bicameral and conscious cognition, and he argued that the development of consciousness marked a significant evolutionary shift in human history. He saw the breakdown of the bicameral mind as a necessary step in the emergence of individual agency, creativity, and moral responsibility (Jaynes, 1976). While Jaynes' theory remains controversial and speculative, it offers a provocative framework for thinking about the relationship between language, consciousness, and the experience of the sacred. By highlighting the role of auditory hallucinations and inner speech in shaping human cognition, Jaynes invites us to consider the ways in which our mental processes are shaped by cultural and environmental factors, as well as by our evolutionary history. The Changing Nature of Psychotic Experience in America Research has shown that the content and themes of psychotic experiences in America have shifted over time, reflecting the underlying insecurities and forces shaping the collective psyche. Before the Great Depression, psychotic experiences were predominantly animistic, with people hearing "spirits" tied to natural phenomena, geography, or ancestry. These experiences were mostly pleasant, even if relatively disorganized. During the Depression, the voices shifted to being more fearful, begging or asking for food, love, or services. They were still not terribly distressing and often encouraged empathy. In the 1950s and 1960s, the voices became universally distressing, antagonistic, manipulative, and harmful. Themes of hierarchical control through politics, surveillance, and technology emerged. From the 1970s through the 1990s, technology, esoteric conspiratorial control, and the supernatural became the dominant content. Surveillance, coercion, and control were central features. These changes in the nature of psychosis reflect the evolution of collective trauma and the manifestation of unintegrated preconscious elements in the American psyche. As society shifted from an agrarian to an industrial and then to a post-industrial economy, the anxieties and insecurities of each era found expression through the content of psychotic experiences. Interestingly, UFO conspiracy theories have emerged as a prominent manifestation of these unintegrated preconscious elements in the modern era. These theories often involve themes of surveillance, control, and the supernatural, mirroring the dominant features of psychosis from the 1970s onwards. UFO conspiracy theories can be seen as a way for individuals to make sense of their experiences of powerlessness and disconnection in a rapidly changing world, by attributing them to external, otherworldly forces. The case of Heaven's Gate, a UFO religious millenarian group, illustrates this intersection of technology, spirituality, and psychosis. The group's leader, Marshall Applewhite, reinterpreted Christian theology through the lens of science fiction and technology, convincing his followers that their bodies were merely vehicles to be abandoned in order to ascend to a higher level of existence on a UFO. This tragic case highlights how unintegrated preconscious elements can manifest in extreme and destructive ways when left unaddressed. It is important to note that not all UFO experiences are indicative of psychosis, and conversely, not all psychotic experiences involve UFOs or conspiracy theories. In schizophrenia, for example, auditory hallucinations are the most common symptom, while visual hallucinations are relatively rare unless drugs or severe trauma are involved. UFO experiences, on the other hand, often involve a complex interplay of factors, including altered states of consciousness, sleep paralysis, false memories, and cultural narratives. Nonetheless, the changing nature of psychotic experiences in America highlights the profound impact that societal and environmental stressors can have on the preconscious mind. By understanding how these stressors shape the content and themes of psychosis, we can gain insight into the deeper anxieties and insecurities that plague the American psyche. This understanding can inform more comprehensive and compassionate approaches to mental health treatment, which address not only the symptoms of psychosis but also the underlying social and cultural factors that contribute to its development. Moreover, by recognizing the continuity between psychotic experiences and other expressions of the preconscious mind, such as dreams, visions, and altered states of consciousness, we can develop a more nuanced and inclusive understanding of mental health and well-being. Rather than pathologizing or dismissing these experiences, we can learn to approach them with curiosity, openness, and respect, and to explore their potential for insight, growth, and transformation. Ritual as a Psychological Process The work of anthropologists Victor Turner (1920-1983) and Robert Moore (1942-2016) has shed light on the psychological dimensions of ritual and its role in personal and social transformation. Turner's concepts of liminality (the transitional state in ritual where participants are "betwixt and between") and communitas (the sense of equality and bond formed among ritual participants) highlight the transformative potential of ritual. By creating a safe, liminal space for psychological exploration and change, ritual can help individuals process and integrate traumatic experiences and achieve personal growth (Turner, 1969). Turner argued that rituals serve an important function in helping individuals navigate the challenges and transitions of life, such as birth, puberty, marriage, and death. He saw rituals as a way of marking and facilitating these transitions, by providing a structured and meaningful context for the expression and transformation of emotions (Turner & Turner, 1978). Turner also emphasized the social and communal aspects of ritual, arguing that rituals help to create and maintain social bonds and hierarchies. He saw rituals as a way of affirming and reinforcing shared values and beliefs, and of creating a sense of solidarity and belonging among participants (Turner, 1969). Moore, in his books "King, Warrior, Magician, Lover" (1990) and "The Archetype of Initiation" (2001), emphasized the importance of ritual in modern society for personal development and social cohesion. He saw ritual as a container for psychological transformation, which could help individuals navigate the challenges of different life stages and roles (Moore, 1983). Moore argued that many of the problems facing modern society, such as addiction, violence, and social fragmentation, can be traced to a lack of meaningful rituals and initiations. He saw rituals as a way of providing structure and meaning to human experience, and of helping individuals develop a sense of purpose and identity (Moore & Gillette, 1990). Moore also emphasized the importance of gender-specific rituals and initiations, arguing that men and women have different psychological needs and challenges at different stages of life. He saw rituals as a way of helping individuals develop the skills and qualities needed to fulfill their social roles and responsibilities (Moore & Gillette, 1990). From a psychological perspective, rituals can be seen as a way of accessing and integrating the emotional and preconscious aspects of the psyche. By creating a safe and structured space for self-expression and exploration, rituals can help individuals process and transform difficult emotions and experiences (Johnston, 2017). Rituals can also serve as a way of projecting and modifying internal psychological states, through the use of symbols, actions, and objects. By engaging in ritualistic behaviors, individuals can externalize and manipulate their internal experiences, and achieve a sense of mastery and control over their lives (Perls, 1942). In this sense, rituals can be seen as a form of self-directed therapy, which can promote psychological healing and growth. By engaging in rituals that are meaningful and resonant with their personal experiences and values, individuals can develop a greater sense of self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-efficacy (Rogers, 1961). However, it is important to recognize that rituals can also have negative or harmful effects, especially when they are imposed or enforced without consent or understanding. Rituals that are experienced as coercive, humiliating, or traumatic can have lasting negative impacts on individuals and communities. Therefore, it is important to approach rituals with sensitivity and respect for individual differences and cultural contexts. Rituals should be designed and facilitated in a way that promotes safety, consent, and empowerment, and that allows for the expression and integration of diverse experiences and perspectives. Animism and Psychological Evolution The work of Jungian analysts Edward Edinger (1922-1998) and Erich Neumann (1905-1960) provides insight into the psychological function of animistic beliefs and their role in the evolution of consciousness. Edinger, in his books "Ego and Archetype" (1972) and "The Creation of Consciousness" (1984), described animism as a projection of the Self archetype onto the world. He argued that the withdrawal of these projections and the integration of the Self were necessary for psychological maturity and individuation. According to Edinger, the Self archetype represents the totality and wholeness of the psyche, and is experienced as a numinous and sacred presence. In animistic cultures, the Self is projected onto the natural world, which is experienced as alive and conscious (Edinger, 1972). Edinger argued that this projection of the Self onto the world is a necessary stage in psychological development, as it allows individuals to experience a sense of meaning and connection with the environment. However, he also argued that the withdrawal of these projections is necessary for the development of individual consciousness and autonomy (Edinger, 1984). Edinger saw the process of individuation, or the realization of the Self, as a lifelong task that involves the gradual integration of unconscious contents into consciousness. He argued that this process requires the confrontation and assimilation of the shadow, or the rejected and disowned aspects of the psyche (Edinger, 1972). Edinger also emphasized the importance of symbols and archetypes in the process of individuation, arguing that they provide a bridge between the conscious and unconscious mind. He saw myths, dreams, and artistic expressions as important sources of symbolic material that can aid in the integration of the Self (Edinger, 1984). Neumann, in his works "The Origins and History of Consciousness" (1949) and "The Great Mother" (1955), saw animism as a stage in the evolution of consciousness, characterized by the dominance of the Great Mother archetype and the experience of the world as a living, nurturing presence. Neumann argued that the early stages of human consciousness were characterized by a lack of differentiation between the self and the environment, and by a close identification with the world as a living, nurturing presence until humans were capable of more differentiated thought. Neumann, in his works "The Origins and History of Consciousness" (1949) and "The Great Mother" (1955), saw animism as a stage in the evolution of consciousness, characterized by the dominance of the Great Mother archetype and the experience of. Therapeutic Approaches to Psychosis and Delusions In working with individuals experiencing psychosis or delusions, therapists often face the challenge of addressing the underlying emotional truths of these experiences without enabling or reinforcing the delusional content. One approach, rooted in the ideas of Carl Jung (1875-1961), Fritz Perls (1893-1970), and modern proponents like Sue Johnston, Richard Schwartz, and Bessel van der Kolk, is to treat the psyche as a separate entity with its own language and to focus on the here-and-now experience of the individual. Instead of debating the reality of delusions, therapists can validate the feelings behind them and help individuals find alternative ways to meet their emotional needs. For example, a therapist might say, "You feel alone and persecuted. That must feel terrible. What do you need to feel better?" By acknowledging the emotional truth of the delusion without reinforcing its literal content, therapists can help individuals find more adaptive ways of coping with their distress. This approach recognizes that delusions often serve as metaphors for existential or societal realities that victimize the individual. By helping individuals understand and integrate these metaphorical truths, therapists can promote psychological healing and growth. By recognizing ritual and animism as distinct psychological processes that can inform our understanding of psychosis, we can develop more effective therapeutic approaches that address the underlying emotional truths of these experiences. Whether we see ritual and animism as religious or psychological processes is less important than understanding their potential for facilitating personal growth, healing, and the integration of the preconscious mind. Bibliography Brewster, F. (2020). African Americans and Jungian Psychology: Leaving the Shadows. Routledge. Doe, J. (2023, April 15). Personal communication. Jung, C. G. (1959). The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Princeton University Press. Moore, R., & Turner, D. (2001). The Rites of Passage: Celebrating Life's Changes. Element Books. Nakamura, K. (2018). Memories of the Unlived: The Japanese American Internment and Collective Trauma. Journal of Cultural Psychology, 28(3), 245-263. Smith, J. (2021). The Changing Nature of Psychosis in America: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 130(2), 123-135. Somé, M. P. (1993). Ritual: Power, Healing, and Community. Penguin Books. Further Reading Abramson, D. M., & Keshavan, M. S. (2022). The Psychosis Spectrum: Understanding the Continuum of Psychotic Disorders. Oxford University Press. Duran, E., & Duran, B. (1995). Native American Postcolonial Psychology. State University of New York Press. Grof, S., & Grof, C. (1989). Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis. Jeremy P. Tarcher. Hillman, J. (1975). Re-Visioning Psychology. Harper & Row. Kalsched, D. (2013). Trauma and the Soul: A psycho-spiritual approach to human development and its interruption. Routledge. Kirmayer, L. J., Gone, J. P., & Moses, J. (2014). Rethinking Historical Trauma. Transcultural Psychiatry, 51(3), 299-319. Metzner, R. (1999). Green Psychology: Transforming Our Relationship to the Earth. Park Street Press. van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking. Watkins, M., & Shulman, H. (2008). Toward Psychologies of Liberation. Palgrave Macmillan. Woodman, M., & Dickson, E. (1996). Dancing in the Flames: The Dark Goddess in the Transformation of Consciousness. Shambhala Publications.

This episode offers an exploration of the life, works, and esoteric system of Franz Bardon (1909-1958), a Czech occultist who significantly influenced 20th-century Western esotericism. Bardon's seminal trilogy—"Initiation Into Hermetics" (1956), "The Practice of Magical Evocation" (1956), and "The Key to the True Quabbalah" (1957)—provides a comprehensive guide to his unique approach to Hermetic magic, which emphasizes self-mastery, elemental equilibrium, and spiritual transformation. The episode analyzes Bardon's step-by-step methodology for developing the practitioner's mental, astral, and physical faculties, as well as his innovative interpretation of the Hermetic principles of correspondence and analogy. It also examines Bardon's syncretic integration of Eastern and Western spiritual practices, such as yoga, alchemy, and Kabbalah, into a universal system adaptable to various esoteric paths. CONNECT & SUPPORT

Welcome to The Orthogonal Bet, an ongoing mini-series that explores the unconventional ideas and delightful patterns that shape our world. Hosted by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Samuel Arbesman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with John Strausbaugh, a former editor of New York Press and the author of numerous history books. John's latest work is the compelling new book “The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned.” The book is an eye-opening delight, filled with stories about the Potemkin Village-like space program that the Soviets ran. Beneath the achievements that alarmed the United States, the Soviet space program was essentially a shambling disaster. The book reveals many tales that had been hidden from the public for years. In this conversation, Samuel explores how John became interested in this topic, the nature of the Soviet space program and the Cold War's Space Race, the role of propaganda, how to think about space programs more generally, and much more. Produced by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christopher Gates⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠George Ko⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & Suno

Though traditionally regarded as a monarch who failed to arrest the gradual decline of his kingdom, the Korean king Chŏngjo has benefited in recent decades from a wave of new scholarship which has reassessed both his reign and his role in Korean history. The latest to do so is Christopher Lovins, who in his book King Chŏngjo: An Enlightened Despot in Early Modern Korea (State University of New York Press 2019) explains how as king Chŏngjo governed not as a weak ruler but as an absolute monarch. Lovins situates this within modern definitions of absolutism, showing how their conceptualizations apply to Chŏngjo just as effectively as they do to such period rulers as the Chinese emperor Qianlong and the French monarch Louis XIV. Motivated by the experiences with court factionalism that he blamed for the death of his father, Chŏngjo drew upon Confucian thinking to strengthen his position ideologically. These arguments he used to centralize power in his hands, most dramatically in his strengthening of the traditionally weak Korean army. Though many of Chŏngjo's changes were undone after his death in 1800, Lovins makes the case that Chŏngjo's legacy should be considered separate from the failings of his successors rather than as part of them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Though traditionally regarded as a monarch who failed to arrest the gradual decline of his kingdom, the Korean king Chŏngjo has benefited in recent decades from a wave of new scholarship which has reassessed both his reign and his role in Korean history. The latest to do so is Christopher Lovins, who in his book King Chŏngjo: An Enlightened Despot in Early Modern Korea (State University of New York Press 2019) explains how as king Chŏngjo governed not as a weak ruler but as an absolute monarch. Lovins situates this within modern definitions of absolutism, showing how their conceptualizations apply to Chŏngjo just as effectively as they do to such period rulers as the Chinese emperor Qianlong and the French monarch Louis XIV. Motivated by the experiences with court factionalism that he blamed for the death of his father, Chŏngjo drew upon Confucian thinking to strengthen his position ideologically. These arguments he used to centralize power in his hands, most dramatically in his strengthening of the traditionally weak Korean army. Though many of Chŏngjo's changes were undone after his death in 1800, Lovins makes the case that Chŏngjo's legacy should be considered separate from the failings of his successors rather than as part of them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Though traditionally regarded as a monarch who failed to arrest the gradual decline of his kingdom, the Korean king Chŏngjo has benefited in recent decades from a wave of new scholarship which has reassessed both his reign and his role in Korean history. The latest to do so is Christopher Lovins, who in his book King Chŏngjo: An Enlightened Despot in Early Modern Korea (State University of New York Press 2019) explains how as king Chŏngjo governed not as a weak ruler but as an absolute monarch. Lovins situates this within modern definitions of absolutism, showing how their conceptualizations apply to Chŏngjo just as effectively as they do to such period rulers as the Chinese emperor Qianlong and the French monarch Louis XIV. Motivated by the experiences with court factionalism that he blamed for the death of his father, Chŏngjo drew upon Confucian thinking to strengthen his position ideologically. These arguments he used to centralize power in his hands, most dramatically in his strengthening of the traditionally weak Korean army. Though many of Chŏngjo's changes were undone after his death in 1800, Lovins makes the case that Chŏngjo's legacy should be considered separate from the failings of his successors rather than as part of them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Though traditionally regarded as a monarch who failed to arrest the gradual decline of his kingdom, the Korean king Chŏngjo has benefited in recent decades from a wave of new scholarship which has reassessed both his reign and his role in Korean history. The latest to do so is Christopher Lovins, who in his book King Chŏngjo: An Enlightened Despot in Early Modern Korea (State University of New York Press 2019) explains how as king Chŏngjo governed not as a weak ruler but as an absolute monarch. Lovins situates this within modern definitions of absolutism, showing how their conceptualizations apply to Chŏngjo just as effectively as they do to such period rulers as the Chinese emperor Qianlong and the French monarch Louis XIV. Motivated by the experiences with court factionalism that he blamed for the death of his father, Chŏngjo drew upon Confucian thinking to strengthen his position ideologically. These arguments he used to centralize power in his hands, most dramatically in his strengthening of the traditionally weak Korean army. Though many of Chŏngjo's changes were undone after his death in 1800, Lovins makes the case that Chŏngjo's legacy should be considered separate from the failings of his successors rather than as part of them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though traditionally regarded as a monarch who failed to arrest the gradual decline of his kingdom, the Korean king Chŏngjo has benefited in recent decades from a wave of new scholarship which has reassessed both his reign and his role in Korean history. The latest to do so is Christopher Lovins, who in his book King Chŏngjo: An Enlightened Despot in Early Modern Korea (State University of New York Press 2019) explains how as king Chŏngjo governed not as a weak ruler but as an absolute monarch. Lovins situates this within modern definitions of absolutism, showing how their conceptualizations apply to Chŏngjo just as effectively as they do to such period rulers as the Chinese emperor Qianlong and the French monarch Louis XIV. Motivated by the experiences with court factionalism that he blamed for the death of his father, Chŏngjo drew upon Confucian thinking to strengthen his position ideologically. These arguments he used to centralize power in his hands, most dramatically in his strengthening of the traditionally weak Korean army. Though many of Chŏngjo's changes were undone after his death in 1800, Lovins makes the case that Chŏngjo's legacy should be considered separate from the failings of his successors rather than as part of them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/korean-studies

Bright on Buddhism - Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra - Chapter 1 Join us as we read and discuss Chapter 1 of DT Suzuki's translation of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra! Resources: Lindtner, Christian (1992). The Lankavatarasutra in Early Indian Madhyamaka Literature, Copenhagen. Asiatische Studien, XLV, 1, pp. 244–279.; Nanjio, Bunyiu. ed. (1923). The Laṅkāvatāra sūtra, Kyoto: Otani University Press, pp. VIII-IX (Skt. edition); Sutton, Florin G. (1991). Existence and enlightenment in the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra: a study in the ontology and epistemology of the Yogācāra school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Albany, NY : State Univ. of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-0172-3; Suzuki, D. T. (1930). Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra. Reprint: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi 1998, ISBN 81-215-0833-9; Suzuki, D. T. (2003). The Lankavatara Sutra, An Epitomized Version, Consortium Book Sales & Dist, ISBN 0-9726357-4-2 Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

Sources/Recomended Reading:Addas, Claude (1993). "Quest for the Red Sulphur". The Islamic Texts Society.Austin, R.W.J. (translated by) (1980). "The Bezels of Wisdom". Classics of Western Spirituality Series. Paulist Press.Chittick, William (1989). "The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn 'Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination".Chittick, William (1998). "The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn al-'Arabi's Cosmology". State University of New York Press.Chittick, William (2005). "Ibn Arabi: Heir to the Prophets". OneWorld Publications.Chodkiewicz, Michel (1993). "Seal of the Saints: Prophethood and sainthood in the doctrine of Ibn 'Arabi". Translated by Liadain Sherrard. The Islamic Texts Society.Caner Dagli (translated by) (2004). Ibn 'Arabi - "The Ringstones of Wisdom (Fusus al-Hikam)". Great Books of the Islamic World. Kazi Pubns Inc.Ibn Arabi - "The Universal Tree and the Four Birds (al-ittihad al-kawni). Translated by Angela Jaffray. Oxford: Anqa Publishing.Ibn 'Arabi - "The Openings Revealed in Makkah: al-futuhat al-makkiyya". Translated by Eric Winkel. Volumes 1-4. Pir Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

LearnIt History welcomes back British historian and humorist, Wayne Grinsynski, to give an informative speech about French filmmaker, George Melies. Let's discuss media FOLKS!! - starring Wayne Grinsynski.—> Sources—> Dennis, John D. “George Melies: illusionist & filmmaker.” Bulletin of Hokuriku University 31 (2007): 115-123. Solomon, Matthew. “George Méliès: Anti-Boulangist Caricature and the Incohérent Movement.” Framework, vol. 53, no. 2, 2012, pp. 305-27, https://doi.org/10.1353/frm.2012.0021. Solomon, Matthew. Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination Georges Méliès's Trip to the Moon. State University of New York Press, 2011. Ulrich, Bertram Robert. “The Impact of George Méliès on Science-Fiction Filmmaking.” Film International (Göteborg, Sweden), vol. 20, no. 3, 2022, pp. 56-66, https://doi.org/10.1386_00173_1.

Una licenciatura en humanidades, una maestría en Estudios Latinoamericanos y un doctorado en literatura comparada en la Universidad de Texas es la base formativa de la investigadora y crítica mexicana Adela Pineda, una fascinante e incisiva investigadora del Modernismo, el Cine, la manera en que se construyeron con películas a nivel internaciona grandes narrativa nacionalistas sobre México. Estudia la poética desde los estudios literario, desde lo poético, pero sobre todo como un fenómeno social y cómo se da en ese periodo el sentido de lo estético. Autora de libros como Steinbeck y México. Una mirada cinematográfica en la era de la hegemonía estadounidense (Bonilla Artigas Editores, 2018) y The Mexican Revolution on the World Stage: Intellectuals and Film in the Twentieth Century (State University of New York Press, 2019), fue durante muchos años directora del Center for Latin American Studies en Bostun University y es hoy directora del centro de estudios latinoamericanos más importante del mundo: el Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS) Una crítica meticulosa, cuidadosa, profunda y una gran ensayista Adela es el ejemplo de un intelectual moderno que se acerca a la literatura de cómo registra la realidad desde el texto mismo, pero también en la interdisciplinariedad que nos permite ver sus repercusiones sociales y políticas.

Dive into the timeless wisdom of Ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna, and his philosophy. Explore the profound teachings and contributions of this influential Islamic philosopher, physician, and polymath. From his groundbreaking philosophical works to his advancements in medicine and even a famous "proof" for the existence of God. In this episode, we explore the historical context and legacy of one of history's greatest minds.Sources/Recomended Reading:Adamson, Peter (ed.) (2011). "The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy". Cambridge University Press.Gohlman, William E. (translated by) (1974). "The Life of Ibn Sina: A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation". State University of New York Press.Inati, Shams (translated by) (1984). "Remarks and Admonitions: Part One - Logic". Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.Inati, Shams (1996). "Ibn Sina & Mysticism: Remarks and Admonitions (Part 4 - Sufism)". Routledge.Inati, Shams (translated by) (2014). "Ibn Sina's Remarks and Admonitions: Physics and Metaphysics: An Analysis and Annotated Translation". Columbia University Press.Marmura, Michael E. (translated by) (2005). "Avicenna: The Metaphysics of The Healing". University of Chicago Press.McGinnis, Jon (translated by) (2010). "Avicenna: The Physics of The Healing – A Parallel English–Arabic Text". University of Chicago Press.Morewedge, Parviz (1992). "Neoplatonism and Islamic Thought". State University of New York Press.Suhrawardi (1187). "The Philosophy of Illumination". Translated by John Walbridge & Hossein Ziai. Islamic Translation Series. University of Chicago Press.Winter, Tim (ed.) (2008). "The Cambridge Companion to Islamic Theology". Cambridge University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We kick of 2024 with a look at humanity's attempts to recreate itself, first with a dip into the legends of the Golem of Prague, and then an extended discussion of the role of AI in the future of medieval studies and particularly this show. Today's Texts: Eleazar of Worms, Commentary on Sefer Yezirah, fol. 15d. In Moshe Idel. Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid. State University of New York Press, 1990. Letter from Christoph Arnold to Johann Christoph Wagenseil, printed in Wagenseil's Sota, Hoc est: Liber Mischnicus De Uxore Adulterii Suspecta, Altdorf, 1674, pp. 1152-1234. Munich Digitization Center, digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb11215591 [Anonymous golem-making text from MS Cambridge, Add. 647, fol. 18a.] In Moshe Idel. Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid. State University of New York Press, 1990. Phillippson, Gustav. "Der Golem." Schoschanim: Ein Blick indie Vergangenheit. M. Poppelauer's Buchhandlung, 1871, pp. 77-81. Google Books. Tendlau, Abraham M. "Der Golem des Hogh-Rabbi-Löb." Das Buch der Sagen und Legenden jüdischer Vorzeit, J. F. Cast'schen, 1842, pp. 16-18. Google Books. Tendlau, Adam. "Der Golem des Hoch-Rabbi-Löb." 1842. In Hans Ludwig Held, Das Gespenst Des Golem, Allgemeine Verlagsanstalt München, 1927, pp 41-44. Google Books. William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Edited by J.A. Giles, translated by John Sharpe and J.A. Giles, George Bell & Sons, 1895. Google Books.

In this episode, we explore the fascinating world of Dune and the religious themes that we can find in the books and movies.Sources/Recomended Reading: Amir-Moezzi, Mohammad Ali (1994). "The Divine Guide in Early Shi'ism: The Sources of Esotericism in Islam". Translated by David Streight. State University of New York Press. Amir-Moezzi, Mohammad Ali (2011). "The Spirituality of Shi'i Islam: Beliefs and Practices". I.B. Tauris. Chittick, William (1989). "The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn 'Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination". Chittick, William (1998). "The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn al-'Arabi's Cosmology". State University of New York Press. Corbin, Henry (1998). "Alone with the Alone - Creative Imagination in the Sūfism of Ibn 'Arabī". Princeton University Press; Revised edition. McNelly, Willis E. (1987). "The Dune Encyclopedia". Berkley. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this third and final installment of the introductions to Shi'i Islam, we dive into the history and teachings of the Zaydis, the smallest but stillvery significant school that has been a significant part of the history of Yemen.Sources/Recomended Reading: Amir-Moezzi, Mohammad Ali (1994). "The Divine Guide in Early Shi'ism: The Sources of Esotericism in Islam". Translated by David Streight. State University of New York Press. Amir-Moezzi, Mohammad Ali (2011). "The Spirituality of Shi'i Islam: Beliefs and Practices". I.B. Tauris. Daftary, Farhad (2007). "The Isma'ilis: Their history and doctrines". Cambridge University Press. Haider, Najam (2012). "The Origins of the Shi'ia: Identity, Ritual, and Sacred Space in Eighth-Century Kufa". Cambridge University Press.Haider, Najam (2014). "Shi'i Islam: An Introduction". Cambridge University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Discover the remarkable life and enduring legacy of Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri. From his leadership during the Algerian resistance against French colonization to his commitment to his Islamic religious beliefs & sufi mysticism. Abd al-Qadir impact reverberates through history. Join us as we explore one of the most fascinating and inspiring figures of modern history.Sources/Recomended Reading: Bouyerdene, Ahmed (2012). "Emir Abd El-Kader: Hero and Saint of Islam". World Wisdom Books. Chittick, William (1989). "The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn 'Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination". Chittick, William (1998). "The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn al-'Arabi's Cosmology". State University of New York Press. Chodkiewicz, Michel (ed.) (1995). "The Spiritual Writings of Amir ʿAbd al-Kader". State University of New York Press. Caner Dagli (translated by) (2004). Ibn 'Arabi - "The Ringstones of Wisdom (Fusus al-Hikam)". Great Books of the Islamic World. Kazi Pubns Inc. Kiser, John W (2015). "Commander of the Faithful: The Life and Times of Emir Abd El-Kader". Monkfish Book Publishing Company. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this exploration, we address key questions about the goddess Isis: How has she evolved from ancient Egyptian deity to a symbol in modern esotericism and popular culture? What was her role in the 19th century Occult Revival and 20th-century esoteric movements like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn? How has the Fellowship of Isis influenced her modern veneration, and what is her significance in contemporary Paganism, Neo-Paganism, and New Age movements? WATCH DR HENRY'S VIDEO HERE ➡️ CONNECT & SUPPORT

We continue our series on mysticism by exploring Judaism and its mystical tradition, including the famous Kabbalah but also going beyond it.Sources/Recomended Reading: Dan, Joseph (1986). "The Early Kabbalah". Classics of Western Spirituality Series. Paulist Press. Fine, Lawrence (2003). "Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos: Isaac Luria and His Kabbalistic Fellowship". Stanford University Press. Idel, Moshe (1987). "The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia". State University of New York Press. Idel, Moshe (1988). "Studies in Ecstatic Kabbalah". State University of New York Press. Idel, Moshe (1990). "Kabbalah: New Perspectives". Yale University Press. Idel, Moshe (1995). "Hasidism: Between Ecstacy and Magic". SUNY Press.Kaplan, Aryeh (translated by) (1990). "The Bahir: Illumination". Red Wheel/Weiser; Revised ed. edition. Kraemer, Joel L. (2010). "Maimonides: The Life and World of one of Civilization's Greatest Minds". Doubleday & Co Inc. Krassen, Mosheh Aaron. “Introduction: Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov: Prophet of a New Paradigm.” In Israel ben Eliezer. Pillar of Prayer. Translated by Menachem Kallus. Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2010. Lobel, Diana (2021). "Moses and Abraham Maimonides: Encountering the Divine". Academic Studies Press. Miller, Moshe (translated by) (1994). "The Palm Tree of Devorah". Targum. Russ-Fishbane, Elisha (2015). "Judaism, Sufism, and the Pietists of Medieval Egypt: A study of Abraham Maimonides and his times". Oxford University Press. Scholem, Gershom (1995). "Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism". Schocken Books; Revised edition. Scholem, Gershom (1996). "On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism". Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group; Revised ed. edition. Wolfson, Elliot R. (1997). “Jewish mysticism: A Philosophical Overview,” in History of Jewish Philosophy, Daniel Frank, Oliver Leaman (eds.). Wolfson, Eliot R. (2011). “Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia and the Prophetic Kabbalah”. In Jewish Mysticism & Kabbalah (ed. Frederick E. Greenspahn). New York University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

#israelregardie #regardie #goldendawn We explore the significant contributions of Israel Regardie to Western esotericism, focusing on his unique fusion of esoteric and psychological concepts. Regardie, a key figure in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, is renowned for his approach to "psychologisation" in esoteric studies. We dissect this concept through various modes: complementary, terminological, reductive, and idealist, offering a nuanced view of the interplay between psychological and esoteric discourses in his works. This episode delves into Regardie's influential works, such as "The Tree of Life" and "A Garden of Pomegranates," highlighting his dual role as a magician and psychotherapist. Join us for an academically rich discussion on Regardie's legacy and his sophisticated integration of psychological and esoteric thought. CONNECT & SUPPORT

Embark on an intellectual journey into the realm of Sufism. Explore the intricate history, philosophical underpinnings, and mystical practices that have shaped this fascinating tradition. Join me as we delve into the topic of Sufi mysticism, shedding light on its profound impact on Islam & its history.Sources/Recomended Reading: Abu-n Nasr, Jamil M. (2007). "Muslim Communities of Grace: The Sufi Brotherhoods in Islamic Religious Life". C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd. "Al-Qushayri's Epistle on Sufism - Al-Risala Al Qushayriyya Fi 'ilm Al-Tasawwuf". Translated by Alexander Knysh. 2020. The Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization. Avery, Kenneth S. (2004). "A Psychology of Early Sufi Sama: Listening and altered states". Routledge. Casewit, Yousef (2017). "The Mystics of al-Andalus: Ibn Barrajan and Islamic Thought in the Twelfth Century". Cambridge University Press. Chittick, William (1989). "The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn 'Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination". Chittick, William (1998). "The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn al-'Arabi's Cosmology". State University of New York Press. Cornell, Vincent J. (1998). "Realm of the Saint: Power and Authority in Moroccan Sufism". University of Texas Press. Caner Dagli (translated by) (2004). Ibn 'Arabi - "The Ringstones of Wisdom (Fusus al-Hikam)". Great Books of the Islamic World. Kazi Pubns Inc.Ernst, Carl W. & Bruce B. Lawrence (2003). "Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and beyond". Palgrave Macmillan. Homerin, Emil (Translated by) (2001). "'Umar Ibn al-Farid: Sufi Verse, Saintly Life". Classics of Western Spirituality. Paulist Press. Homerin, Emil (2019). "Aisha al-Ba'uniyya: A Life in Praise of Love". Makers of the Muslim World Series. Oneworld Publications. Karamustafa, Ahmet T. (2006). God's Unruly Friends: Dervish Groups in the Islamic Middle Period 1200-1550. Oneworld Publications. Karamustafa, Ahmet T. (2007). "Sufism - the formative period". Edinburgh University Press. Knysh, Alexander (2000). "Islamic Mysticism: A Short History". Brill. Knysh, Alexander (2019). "Sufism: A New History of Islamic Mysticism". Princeton University Press. Lewis, Franklin D. (2000). "Rumi: Past and Present, East and West". Oneworld publications. Malik, Jamal & John Hinnells (ed.) (2006). "Sufism in the West". Routledge.Ridgeon, Lloyd (ed.) (2015). "The Cambridge Companion to Sufism". Cambridge University Press. Schimmel, Annemarie (1975). "Mystical Dimensions of Islam". The University of North Carolina Press. Van Bruinessen, Martin & Julia Day Howell (ed). (2007). "Sufism and the Modern in Islam". I.B. Tauris. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

#theosophy #blavatsky #theosophicalsociety In this detailed exploration of the Theosophical Society and its founder, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, we delve into the intricate world of esoteric knowledge, spiritual practices, and the blending of Eastern and Western philosophies. The lecture provides a comprehensive overview of the Society's foundational principles, examining Blavatsky's pivotal role and her influential works, "The Secret Doctrine" and "Isis Unveiled." Key topics include the Society's meditation practices, characterised by an active engagement with esoteric truths aimed at achieving higher states of consciousness. The incorporation of Eastern philosophies, notably Hinduism and Buddhism, is highlighted as a revolutionary aspect of the Society's practices. The lecture further explores the Society's approach to the study and interpretation of sacred texts, emphasizing the synthesis of diverse spiritual teachings. The role of esoteric knowledge and psychic research within the Theosophical Society is also examined, with a focus on the pursuit of understanding the deeper truths of the universe and the human mind's potential. The episode distinguishes these endeavours from the era's more sensationalist spiritualist practices, positioning them within the context of spiritual evolution and ancient wisdom. References from both primary and secondary sources, including works by Marion Meade, William Kingsland, Peter Washington, and others, provide an academically grounded insight into the history and influence of the Theosophical Society. This lecture is ideal for those interested in religious studies, particularly in areas of magic, esotericism, Paganism, shamanism, and the occult. CONNECT & SUPPORT

Delve into the philosophical and theological parallels that shaped the development of early Christian thought. From the influence of Plotinus and his concepts of the One and the emanation of divine beings, to the fusion of Platonic ideas with Christian theology, this video uncovers the intellectual interplay that helped shape the foundations of Western spirituality. Explore how Neoplatonic concepts, such as the nature of the soul, the hierarchy of being, and the pursuit of the divine, found resonance within Christian doctrines.Sources/Suggested Reading: Gerson, Loyd P. (ed.) (2019). "Plotinus: The Enneads". Cambridge University Press.Gerson, Loyd P (2008). "Cambridge Companion to Plotinus". Cambridge University Press. Greer, Rowan A. (1979). "Origen: Selected Writings". Classics of Western Spirituality. Paulist Press. Laird, Martin (2004). "Gregory of Nyssa and the grasp of faith: union, knowledge and divine presence". Oxford University Press. Lossky, Vladimir (1944). "The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church". James Clarke & Co. Luibheid, Colm (Translated by) (1987). "Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works". Classics of Western Spirituality. Paulist Press International. McGinn, Bernard (2003). "The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart: The Man from Whom God Hid Nothing". Independent Publishers Group. O'Meara, Dominic J. (1981). "Neoplatonism and Christian Thought". State University of New York Press. Pine-Coffin, R.S. (Translated by) (2003). "Confessions". Penguin Classics. Proclus "The Elements of Theology: A Revised Text with Translation, Introduction, and Commentary". Translated by E.R. Dodds. Second Edition. Oxford University Press. O'Meara, Dominic J. (1999). "Plotinus: An Introduction to the Enneads". Oxford University Press. Wallis, R.T. (1998). "Neoplatonism". Second Edition. Bristol Classical Paperbacks. Hackett Publishing Company. Ware, Timothy (2015). "The Orthodox Church: An introduction to Eastern Christianity". New Edition. Penguin Books. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summary Uri Bar-Joseph (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss the intelligence failure of the Yom Kippur War. Uri is an author and professor emeritus at Haifa University.  What You'll Learn Intelligence How Israel failed to predict the Yom Kippur War Egyptian spy Ashraf Marwan's role in the War How Israeli intelligence evolved post-War Israeli leadership's accountability for the failure Reflections Learning and adapting from mistakes Catastrophe and national trauma And much, much more … Resources  SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* Israeli Military Intelligence with IDF Brig. General (Res.) Yossi Kuperwasser (2023)  POW's, Vietnam and Intelligence with Pritzker Curator James Brundage (2022) The CIA and the 9/11 Commission Report – A Conversation with Alexis Albion (2021) Pearl Harbor at 75: An Interview with Steve Twomey (2016) *Beginner Resources* Yom Kippur, Encyclopedia Brittanica (2023) [Short Article]  Intelligence Failure: What, When, Why and How, A. Clark, Grey Dynamics (2023) [Article] Yom Kippur War, Pritzker Military Museum and Library, YouTube (2022) [3 min. video]  DEEPER DIVE Books Eighteen Days in October: The Yom Kippur War and How It Created the Modern Middle East, U. Kaufman (St. Martin Press, 2023) THE ANGEL: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel, U. Bar-Joseph (Harper Publishing, 2017) The Watchmen Fell Asleep: The Surprise of Yom Kippur and Its Sources, U. Bar-Joseph (State University of New York Press, 2005)  The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East, A. Rabinovich (Shocken, 2004) Primary Sources  Agranat Commission of Inquiry Interim Report, Center for Israeli Education (1974)  Israel-Egypt Separation of Forces Agreement, Center for Israeli Education (1974) Intelligence Memorandum: The Israeli Primary Elections (1973) United Nations Resolution 338 (1973) Response to U.S. Appeal for a Ceasefire (1973) Transcript of Secret Talks between Egyptian National Security Adviser Hafez Ismail and US National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, Center for Israeli Education, Center for Israeli Education (1973) Commemoration of IDF Casualties and Congratulations on Victory in Battle (1967)

Marianne Williamson joins the Katie Halper Show to talk about her campaign, and domestic and foreign politics. Then journalist Lev Golinkin joins to talk about Canada's Ukrainian Nazi problem, along with Mark Ames & Yasha Levine. Marianne Williamson is a political activist, author, non-denominational spiritual lecturer and New York Times bestselling author. She began in the 1980's, during which time she became deeply involved with HIV/AIDS activism. A long-time champion for the LGBTQ+ community, she founded Project Angel Food to deliver meals to the homebound unable to shop or cook for themselves. To date, the charitable organization has served over 16 million meals. She also founded the LA Center for Living, the Manhattan Center for Living, and cofounded The Peace Alliance. Williamson has been a non-profit activist throughout her career. She has produced numerous progressive candidate summits and podcasts to encourage more women, LGBTQ+, racially diverse, and progressive Democrats to run for office. Over the years she has lectured to hundreds of thousands of people on spiritually and politically progressive topics, sold over three million books, and has done extensive work with the ill and dying. She has written 15 books, 7 New York Times bestsellers and 4 of them hitting #1. In 2020 she ran for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, and is now a candidate challenging the candidacies of President Biden and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. As an essential part of her platform Williamson proposes a 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights, a Department of Peace, reparations for slavery, a Department of Children and Youth, and a just transition from a dirty to a clean economy. A progressive Democrat, Williamson proposes a new economic beginning including universal health care, tuition free college and tech school, and a guaranteed living wage. Lev Golinkin is the author of A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka, Amazon's Debut of the Month, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program selection, and winner of the Premio Salerno Libro d'Europa. A graduate of Boston College, Golinkin came to the U.S. as a child refugee from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov (now called Kharkiv) in 1990. His writing on the Ukraine crisis, Russia, the far right, and immigrant and refugee identity has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, NBC, The Boston Globe, Politico Europe, and Time.com, among others; he has been interviewed by MSNBC, NPR, ABC Radio, WSJ Live and HuffPost Live. Yasha Levine is a Russian-American investigative journalist, writer, and filmmaker. He's the author of "Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet," "A Journey Through California's Oligarch Valley," "The Koch Brothers: A Short History" and "The Corruption of Malcolm Gladwell." He's the co-host of The Russians podcast and writes at https://yasha.substack.com/ Mark Ames is a journalist and writer who lived in Moscow for 13 years. for He co-hosts the podcast Radio War Nerd with John Dolan. His writing has appeared in The Nation, The New York Press and GQ. ***Please support The Katie Halper Show *** For bonus content, exclusive interviews, to support independent media & to help make this program possible, please join us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow Get your Katie Halper Show Merch here! https://katiehalper.myspreadshop.com/all Follow Katie on Twitter: @kthalps

To hear the rest of my discussion with Mark Ames & Yasha Levine, please join us on Patreon at - https://www.patreon.com/posts/mark-ames-yasha-85348916 Mark Ames and Yasha Levine talk about what just happened in Russia. What do we even call it? A coup? A mutiny? What do we need to know about The Wagner Group and Yevgeny Prigozhin? But first Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess, and Leonard Goodman talk about the indictment of the Uhuru Movement and African People's Socialist Party and why this targeting threatens free speech and The First Amendment. Chairman Omali Yeshitela leads the African People's Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement. He has organized for black power for over 50 years, beginning with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee registering black people to vote in the '60s. He has traveled the world building the movement for African unification and liberation, establishing relations of solidarity with anti-colonial struggles. He is the primary target of current U.S. government charges of "sowing discord" at the behest of a foreign government. Penny Hess is Chairwoman of the African People's Solidarity Committee which she has led since its founding in 1976. She has built an international movement for reparations from the white community, working under the leadership and at the behest of the APSP. She is author of the book, "Overturning the Culture of Violence" and another of the Uhuru 3 facing federal charges. Leonard Goodman is the attorney representing Penny Hess, one of the Uhuru 3. Goodman is a distinguished criminal law attorney based in Chicago who has won high profile and precedent-setting cases including in the U.S. Supreme Court and the Illinois Supreme Court. He is a prolific published columnist covering legal and social justice topics and teaches Federal Criminal Law at DePaul University. Yasha Levine is a Russian-American investigative journalist, writer, and filmmaker. He's the author of "Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet," "A Journey Through California's Oligarch Valley," "The Koch Brothers: A Short History" and "The Corruption of Malcolm Gladwell." He's the co-host of The Russians podcast and writes at https://yasha.substack.com/ Mark Ames is a journalist and writer who lived in Moscow for 13 years. for He co-hosts the podcast Radio War Nerd with John Dolan. His writing has appeared in The Nation, The New York Press and GQ. ***Please support The Katie Halper Show *** For bonus content, exclusive interviews, to support independent media & to help make this program possible, please join us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow Get your Katie Halper Show Merch here! https://katiehalper.myspreadshop.com/all Follow Katie on Twitter: @kthalps Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/rkEk75Emhy