A short clip from the NZ Hare Krishna channel "Theology Unleashed" criticizing a common atheist-materialist argument about consciousness.
The Stephen Meyer mentioned in the clip is presumably the Intelligent Design creationist and author of "Darwin´s Doubt". While I obviously disagree with the creationist take, the rest of the clip is pretty well argued...
Actually, there are (of course) many legends about an antediluvian civilization. Note also that Plato´s dating of the destruction of Atlantis fits with a real world cataclysm during the Younger Dryas. Who knows, maybe the jury is still out on this one?
With Graham Hancock and Russell Brand, often accused these days of being a conspiracy theorist.
An interesting presentation about Lal Ded, a 14th century female mystic and poet from Kashmir. She was a Tantric in the tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, but has been claimed by Sufi Muslims of the Rishi order.
Its founder Nund Rishi is said to have been "breastfed" by Lal Ded, probably an allegorical reference to the female mendicant influencing the future Sufi sheikh!
Lal Ded is also known as Lalleshwari or Lalla Aarifa.
The based heretic Edward Dutton discusses the Westermarck effect and something called "genetic sexual attraction" or GSA, which is apparently a "pseudo-science" according to Wikipedia. It seems the pro-grooming trend hasn´t yet reached the jaded wokesters at Wiki, LOL.
But sure, the idea that third cousins may be good marriage material (at least on Iceland) might perhaps strike some people as a bit too heretical..
How would
a Shaiva answer the questions from the YouTube clip linked in the previous blog
post? No idea, and they probably never will, so I decided to LARP as a Shaiva of
a slightly Left Hand Path inclination. Or is it the Lord of the Dance himself who is speaking here?
Does science
answer everything? – No, it doesn´t. Still, it´s great fun that my idol is on
display outside CERN!
Why do atheists
care if people worship God? – Why do you care if people worship Shiva instead
of Christ?
Can Nothing
create Something? – Of course Nothing can create Something. I AM THAT NOTHING,
BROTHER!!!
If you never
been everywhere in the universe, how do you know God doesn´t exist? – If you
never been everywhere in the universe, how do you know Shiva doesn´t exist? I´m
right under your nose as we speak, in fact I am INSIDE OF YOU.
What is
the origin of life? – Well, what do you think? Can you prove that your god
created life 6000 years ago, rather than our god creating and DESTROYING life as he dances
along for billions of years? MU HA HA HA!
If humans
are animals, where does our sense of morality and justice come from? – What
morality? What justice? You sound like an orthodox Vaishnava or something…
If you had
evidence of God, would you become a Christian? – If you had evidence of Shiva,
would you become a Shaiva? Or would you run away from me in sheer terror of my sublime tandava dance?
If
evolution is real, how come there are no transitional forms in the present? – Not
part of my play, dude.
Do you
live your life according to your belief, or according to what you lack in
belief? – Can´t say I really give a damn, frankly, since every single one of
you are my puppets on a string anyway HA HA HA.
“If God
exists, will you not lose your soul when you die” – If Shiva exists, will you
not lose *your* soul when you die?
“Just because
you can´t see God, doesn´t mean he doesn´t exist” – Oh, granted, but you see me
all the time, just look around you, who do you think is behind this imaginative
creation? That little bleeding heart pussy god of yours? Nah, it was Me all
this time!
“Creation
itself testifies to a powerful and imaginative creator” – I see you appreciate me
creating tape worms, zombie ants, ichneumon wasps and shit. Maybe there is hope
for you guys after all!
The short video
above is from YouTube and has the provocative title “10 Questions Atheists
CANNOT answer” (at least that´s the title in the description). I´m not an
atheist sensu stricto, but since I have nothing to do on this boring and grey
Saturday morning, I decided to LARP such ay creature, so here are my answers…
Does
science answer everything – No, it doesn´t. How does that disprove atheism?
Everything we know comes from empirical experiences. In *that* sense I suppose
you could say that “science answers everything”, since science is a generalized
empirical method of research. Besides, does the Bible answer everything? For
instance, is the germ theory of disease in your holy book? What about the
existence of America? Or the discovery of Pluto?
Why do atheists
care if people worship God – Because people who worship God persecute atheists!
Can Nothing
create Something? – No, but you believe that Something can create Something
else from Nothing. You know, creation ex nihilo and all that.
If you never
been everywhere in the universe, how do you know God doesn´t exist? – Are you telling
me God actually shows himself on other planets? Could you please tell him to
show his ass on our planet, too?
What is
the origin of life? – Can you prove that God created life, then? Show me your
peer reviewed paper…
If humans
are animals, where does our sense of morality and justice come from? – We are
highly aberrant animals, LOL. Seriously, it comes from the fact that we are an
intelligent social species. Where does your sense of morality come from? The Bible?
Which book? Joshua or the Sermon on the Mount? Why are they better than simply
being social? Perhaps the real mystery is where genocide or quietism in the
face of genocide come from…
If you had
evidence of God, would you become a Christian? – A sly question, me man, since
it shows that most atheists are really misotheists. I´ll let you know my true
feelings when the evidence is forthcoming!
If
evolution is real, how come there are no transitional forms in the present? –
You´re kidding, right?
Do you
live your life according to your belief, or according to what you lack in
belief? – What on earth does this question even mean???
“If God
exists, will you not lose your soul when you die” – Pascal´s Wager. Answered
1000 times already. Christians lose out on all the fun shit if atheism is true,
btw. You know, sodomy and all that.
“Just because
you can´t see God, doesn´t mean he doesn´t exist” – We can´t touch, smell, hear
or taste him either, so wazza point, dude?
“Creation
itself testifies to a powerful and imaginative creator” – Yeah, he´s “imaginative”
alright, creating tape worms, zombie ants, ichneumon wasps and shit. Haven´t
you forgotten something in your own theology? I don´t know, the fall or
something…
Sure wonder what would happen if a Shaiva would answer the very same questions. Stay tuned!
A Hare Krishna tries to sound reasonable and inclusive when faced with William Lane Craig´s version of Christianity. From "Theology Unleashed", a Hare Krishna channel on YouTube. I previously linked to their intriguing documentary on a heretical movement within the Orthodox Church (!).
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| Credit: Benjamint444 |
I´m not an art historian, but my subjective impression after browsing the web and looking at pictures of Roman mosaics is that the one depicted in the linked article is simply "too good". And indeed, the only source as to its provenance claims that it´s a modern forgery made in Tunisia.
My guess is that the depiction of a blue-and-yellow macaw (a bird only found in South America) is a mistake. The Romans did depict other parrots on their mosaics, so perhaps the Tunisian forger found a picture of a macaw, thought it was nice, and used it, not realizing that this particular species can´t possibly have been known in the Roman Empire.
Unless you believe that the Roman imperial navy discovered South America 1,300 years before the conquistadors...
Not the first time I see an anachronistic parrot, btw. On the web, I found a presumably modern picture of the Hindu deity Bala Tripurasundari, in which the child goddess has a cockatoo on her shoulder, a bird not native to India! But sure, I suppose *it* could have been imported from Indonesia.
Avocados and squash co-evolved with the Pleistocene megafauna...which created problems once said megafauna disappeared! Until humans developed a taste for these fruits, that is.
Interesting contribution about "ghost fruits" and "evolutionary anachronisms".
While this is interesting, to be sure, it´s also grossly exaggerated. There can be no doubt that Charles Darwin was one of the greatest scientists who ever lived. He didn´t "stand on the shoulder of giants", but was the real giant (together with Wallace). Deal with it, guys!
_and_Mars.jpg/1024px-C2022_E3_(ZTF)_and_Mars.jpg) |
| Credit: Eduardo Unda-Sanzana |
A certain YouTube atheist recently referenced this article as evidence that something can indeed come out of nothing. But if you actually read the article, it´s obvious that you can´t and that the article doesn´t *really* say that anyway. In other words, the title is click bait...
"Physicists prove that you can make something out of nothing"
Note the consistent materialism in this clip featuring based British gadfly Edward Dutton. Indeed, if there is a one-to-one correspondence between mental states and physical states, why *can´t* even phrenology be real? From a materialist viewpoint, it´s perfectly reasonable to assume that changes in “the mind” can manifest as changes in “the body”, since they are both…body.
Btw, the mask at the beginning shows
what this is *really* all about. Yes, Dutton believes that people who wear
masks for protection against COVID are neurotics!
There are legends of both giants and dwarfs from all over the world, and while the hard evidence for such creatures existing during “historical times” seems thin to non-existent, both gigantic and diminutive primates are known from the fossil record. Think Gigantopithecus and Homo floresiensis.
There are also Pygmies (of our species Homo sapiens) still alive today, for instance the Twa in Rwanda, and they must have been more widespread during the Paleolithic and perhaps later. Although unlikely, I wouldn´t be *completely* surprised if the existence of other Pygmy races (or even species) would be confirmed from more recent times.
That being
said, the character of the stories collected by Karl Shuker (see links below)
is more difficult to gauge. Is it some kind of quasi-anthropology? Or are the dwarfish
tribes that supposedly inhabit North America (and play pranks on the American
Indians) really a kind of fairies? Some of their antics are surprisingly
similar to those of their counterparts from Celtic mythology! Note also the
peculiar Dover Demon, seen by two White teenage boys in 1977, which apparently
closely resembles little people from local Native folklore…
As usual, make of this content what you wish.
Everyone has heard of dark matter in the universe. Of course, nobody has actually seen it (LOL). Meanwhile, strange shit is happening right here on Earth. Apparently, there is a “dark biodiversity” right under our feet (or at least in the forest), with hundreds of thousands (sic) of cryptic fungal species. Dark *fungal* matter? Is anyone really surprised?
Apparently,
no man (or womyn) has ever seen these fungi, but their presence is revealed by
analyzing fungal DNA samples from all over the world. Perhaps as many as 20
class-level fungal taxa are completely dark at present.
I assume
the Swedish scientist who wrote the blog post is right when he says that this
could impact our entire understanding of forest ecology, or perhaps ecology in general.
It´s also quite fascinating that discoveries of this sort can still be made today,
in our all-knowing scientific age. It reminds me of another fungus-related
breakthrough a couple of years ago, when it was revealed that many lichens are
*triple* organisms, not just double ditto. I mean, how can you miss that for so
long?
I suppose
my romantic side wants to believe that the discovery of a dark biosphere (or at
least fungosphere) somehow means that aliens, fairies, ghosts and some smelly
ape named Bigfoot might be real too, but another conclusion is (of course) that
the real “cryptids” are microscopic. Or nearly so. Cryptozoology must cede
ground to crypto-mycology. Go figure.
The first
link below goes to a non-technical piece, while the second goes to the recent
technical paper discussing the taxonomical problematique of these dark taxa. It
seems the present nomenclature can´t accommodate them, Mother Gaia once again confounding
the formalistic petty bureaucrats of Official Science. Or, to put it in more
folksy language: Fuck around and find out!
HA HA HA. Religious conservative and libertarian pro-capitalist Ben Shapiro gets problems with Milton´s Satan figure in "Paradise Lost". It seems Old Nick was something of a libertarian himself!
Note that the Daily Wire media outlet, co-founded by the very same Shapiro, has acquired the exclusive TV rights to Ayn Rand´s "Atlas Shrugged". Yes, the same Rand whose philosophy has inspired the Church of Satan...
Below I
link to three articles written by a French chronological revisionist, who
unfortunately also seems to be a historical revisionist (think Holocaust
denial). Still, his contributions are interesting and to a large extent based on
the alternative history views of Gunnar Heinsohn, a recently deceased sociology
professor in Germany. The author, Laurent Guyénot, actually complains in another
article that Heinsohn was pro-NATO and pro-Israel!
There are
several versions of the so-called “phantom time hypothesis”, according to which
a large portion of the Middle Ages (and perhaps even Antiquity) never actually happened.
I have previously commented on German chronological revisionist Heribert
Illig´s speculations, defended in English by Emmet Scott in “A Guide to the
Phantom Dark Ages”. Heinsohn´s version is somewhat different. In contrast to
Illig, who posited a vast medieval conspiracy to invent three centuries of fake
history, Heinsohn apparently took the more sensible position (relatively
speaking) that the whole thing is a misunderstanding of sorts. Around the year 1000,
European civilization was almost destroyed by a comet impact that led to
widespread famines and pestilence. The survivors had only garbled memories of
what had transpired before. Still, at least in Guyénot´s exegesis of Heinsohn,
elements of a conspiracy still exist, for instance the Catholic Church rewriting
both its own history and that of the Byzantine Empire (which the Catholics opposed)
and various Renaissance humanists forging the ancient Roman manuscripts they
supposedly “discovered”. Guyénot seems very pro-Byzantine and pro-Greek in his
orientation, while somewhat curiously not sounding pro-Christian. The website that
publishes his contributions, the Unz Review, also publishes pro-Russian content.
On one
point, Heinsohn is more extreme than Illig. Heinsohn believes that the phantom
centuries span a period of 700 years, not just 300! Thus, the Church Father
Cyprian (3rd century) really lived during the 10th
century (a plague that badly affected Rome is named after Cyprian). Jesus was
crucified during the 8th century. An original take is that Heinsohn
believed that the original Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire and the “Early
Middle Ages” existed simultaneously. Augustus and Diocletian were contemporaries,
and Charlemagne was a Roman vassal. The Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain at the
same time as the Romans, both of them fighting the Celts. Arab civilization was
never primitive during the period in question, so presumably Islam was the
religion of an advanced high culture from the beginning. Heinsohn claims that
there is archeological evidence for this, or rather that there is a noticeable lack
of archeological evidence for a 700-year period…
I find all
this difficult to believe, but some of the arguments are interesting in their
own right (for instance about the Greek and Latin languages). It´s also fun to
speculate what this means for Scandinavian history. Presumably, the Vikings and
the Heruli are the same people, and the Old Uppsala mounds really are Viking. The
famous settlement of Birka was abandoned due to the comet impact. That Theoderic
the Great and Attila are prominently mentioned in much later Norse sagas may be
because the sagas were written shortly after their time.
Make of
this material what you wish!
A curious article on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, simultaneously defending him from charges of "racism" and wishing the charges were true. Teilhard was, of course, the controversial Jesuit priest who constructed an entire alt-theology based on progressive cosmic evolution. Some believe that he was also involved in the Piltdown Man hoax!
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: Prophet of Eugenics and Race-Realism
A form of "chronological revisionism" á la Velikovsky. Probably wrong, but it does raise some interesting questions about Rome and Byzantium.
The Romans did seem to have been strange, with an obsession with all things Oriental, from Greek mythology to Semitic and Egyptian deities. And, ahem, Christianity. Ex Oriente lux? Note also the curious origin story of Virgil...
Were the Romans renegade Etruscans, I wonder? And where did *does* guys come from?
Please disregard the French author´s pro-Nazi comments in the introduction. Note that the object of his admiration, chronological revisionist Gunnar Heinsohn, was a pro-Israeli German!
The "unscheduled disassembly" of Elon Musk´s latest rocket. Note the bizarre situation at the end, when the people responsible for the launch applaud and cheer as the rocket explodes!
The United States (and the Western world) in 2023. Very symbolic.
In other news, Venus is still up there and the Moon is forever new...
The idea that Hitler and the Nazis established a secret base in Antarctica is a staple of much conspiracy theory, and has also been connected to UFOs.
There seems to be about as many versions of this plot as there are authors, but one common idea is that Hitler managed to escape to Antarctica after World War II had ended. Another version claims that he is buried there together with profuse quantities of Nazi treasure. No evidence is likely to ever be forthcoming, since the base was supposedly destroyed by three "Allied" nuclear bombs in 1958...
I was somewhat amused when it turned out that a real Nazi German expedition to the region actually was launched in 1938-39. Its main purpose was to hunt for whales, since the whale oil was necessary for German margarine production!
Even the breakaway civilization needs to eat breakfast sandwiches, it seems.
Operation Paperclip has never been so much fun...
These rumors, tall tales and (sometimes) true Wunderwaffe would have been a footnote in history had it not been for the UFO craze after World War II (and still ongoing).
Adolf Hitler had a fairly bizarre family background. His parents were first cousins once removed, his father may have been half-Jewish (!), his half-nephew was named William Patrick Hitler and was born in Liverpool (!!), and one of his cousins was executed as part of the Nazi eugenics program?! And yes, his father´s real name was Schicklgruber.
Note that the channel is hosted by a British historian, not a conspiracy theorist...
One of the largest leftist parties in the UK are former Nazis. But sure, it was long ago...
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| Credit: Rushikesh Iohar |
But surely it´s the other way around, Mr Shankara. We think the world is a harmless rope, when it´s really a snake!
And that snake is very, very real indeed...
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| Credit: Looking Glass |
What the heck happened to Advaita Vedanta, I mean, even the swans have a strange color these days?! What´s next, the lotus replaced by a datura plant or what?
When I watched BBC´s "Frozen Planet II", I assumed the stromatolites shown at the end of episode 4 were computer animated rather than real. However, it seems the film crew *did* dive in Lake Untersee, a lake in Antarctica with a permanent ice cover that may have persisted for 100,000 years.
And under the ice they filmed the previously mentioned stromatolites, bizarre structures created by myriads of cyanobacteria (the organisms previously known as blue-green algae). Perhaps inevitably, scientists find these extremophiles very interesting...since they may suggest that life is possible at Mars or Europa! Go figure.
But sure, I also go quasi-religious when I watch stuff like this, although in my case BBC´s descent into this Hadean world (did you know there are literal *deserts* in Antarctica complete with sand dunes?) rather invoke feelings of the utterly ineffable grandeur of Shiva the Destroyer...
Robert F Kennedy Jr (yes, he really is the son of *the* Robert F Kennedy) recently announced his decision to run for president. Or rather run in the Democratic presidential primaries, thus challenging Joe Biden, who is expected to announce his re-election bid soon. RFK Jr is an environmentalist activist, an anti-vaxxer and a supposed “conspiracy theorist”. For instance, he doesn´t believe that his father and uncle were killed by lone gunmen, go figure!
A recent poll shows that 14% of 2020 Biden voters support Kennedy, which is intriguing to be sure, but it´s still too early to tell whether he will really be a problem for Joe in 2024. Probably not, if Trump is the apparent GOP nominee!
In completely unrelated news, Marianne Williamson – the peculiar New Age candidate from the 2020 Dem primaries – has announced that she will make a second attempt…
Not sure if any of this means anything at all, but at least now you know.
I obviously disagree with Spiked´s cornucopian and ahem, speciesist, perspective, but this article does make some interesting points about possible connections between AI-schwärmerei, hypocritical "Green transitions" and globo-liberal authoritarianism. A strange blend of the good, the bad and the really ugly!
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| Hesperus is Phosphorus! |
I “discovered” Venus (the Evening Star version) when the planet was in conjunction with Jupiter recently, and since then, I almost obsessively watch it every evening (it´s alone now).
It is a *bit* spooky with its “rays” (an optical illusion,
I´m sure!) and the fact that it is *moving* across the sky. And the knowledge
that it has always been up there, for billions of years, seen by Neanderthals
and dinosaurs and…I don´t know…trilobites? Sure, it´s the same with the Moon,
but that celestial object is simply too familiar to evoke such feelings.
It´s also
quite fun to reflect over the association between Venus and, say, Aphrodite,
Venusian aliens, or even Jesus Christ when today we know that the planet is
really hell, and that you would have to be crazy to even try landing there. Seldom
has the discrepancy between myth and cold reality (or in this case, super-hot
and poisonous reality) been so stark…
I know, I know.
I´m just being silly. But still, there you go!
John Michael Greer´s unsurprising take on the current world situation (link below). Well, he´s not entirely wrong, is he?
Note the impending collapse of the dollar-based world economy, the failure of sanctions against Russia, and the rise of Asia at the expense of "the West".
Note also what he writes about AI. He´s absolutely right that most stuff office employees have to write these days can relatively easily be done by AI. I say that from personal experience...
One of my reflections is that the changes mention could very well happen even if Russia is defeated in Ukraine. China and India might still dominate a post-Russian world economy. Indeed, China might gobble up half of Russia if that country somehow collapses! The US might have to create a more exclusive and protectionist Western bloc, which only rules say one third or one quarter of the globe.
On the other hand, if the global economy de facto collapses, maybe there won´t be enough technological know-how to make those accursed AIs...
A downside of the essay is that it doesn´t factor in climate change, which is upsetting the applecarts already as we speak.
Edward Dutton discusses schizoid and schizotypal personality disorders, and their comorbidity with autism. The first clip is actually quite interesting, since Dutton mentions his own encounters with schizoid people trainspotting in Finland!
Content warning on the second clip where he also talks about pedophilia...
White liberals are just as likely to engage in "White flight" as ditto conservatives, studies in the UK and the United States suggest.
Of course.
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| No relation to linked article |
Indian couple behead themselves using guillotine-like device
There actually is a somewhat speculative scientific theory called "the Shiva Hypothesis", otherwise known as "consistent catastrophism"?!
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| Död som en Dimetrodon? Credit: Postdlf |
Visste inte ens att det finns en geologisk tidsperiod som heter capitanium. Fast det kanske beror på att den var en del av perm, en betydligt mer känd period (ja, den med dimetrodonten).
.jpg/440px-Prabhupada_singing_(Germany_1974).jpg)
This will be
a somewhat weird blog post, and I haven´t really checked my sources, or much of
anything, but since I can publish whatever whenever here, why not this too?
Apparently,
the founder and first leader of the ISKCON (the Hare Krishna movement), Shrila
Prabhupada, sometimes contradicted himself in his published writings. This has
created problems for some in the ISKCON, Prabhupada being the only authority within
the movement. I assume the “founder-acharya” is considered to be pretty much
infallible. So how can there be contradictions in his world-famed purports? And
since Prabhupada has passed away (or perhaps passed on), nobody can ask him to
clarify the contentious points…
The main
contradiction is that Prabhupada said different things at different times about
the origins of the soul (jiva). He seems to have taken three positions on the
matter. The first one is that both God (Bhagavan), the soul (jiva) and the material
substrate (prakriti) are eternal. The second is that God (i.e. Krishna) created,
or perhaps emanated, the soul in an “intermediary world” at some specific time.
Indeed, Krishna´s energy body emanates new souls pretty much all the time. The
soul is endowed with at least some free will, and can therefore chose either to
ascend to Krishna´s Heaven (Vrindavana) or reject Krishna, at which point the
soul descends into the imperfect material world, emanated by Krishna precisely
to house jivas who refuse Him. The third version says that the souls were
originally with Krishna in Vrinadavana, but that some souls then fell all the
way down to the material plane.
So what´s
going on? Why did Prabhupada take three distinctly different and even contradictory
positions on the origins of the human soul? My guess is that we´re dealing with
a question of authority. The first scenario is presumably similar to that of “orthodox”
Vaishnavism (if there is such a thing). The second scenario seems to be the
real position of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas, the Vaishnava sub-tradition Prabhupada
belonged to. And the third version? Maybe that´s Prabhupada´s own position on
the matter.
The ISKCON
founder wanted to show his credentials as an orthodox interpreter of Vaishnavism,
perhaps because the Gaudiya sub-branch is considered heterodox. At the same time,
he also wanted to show his loyalty to his own lineage, which is of course
Gaudiya Vaishnavite. Finally, as the leader of his own sect, the ISKCON, he
could also show his originality as a teacher. These subtleties were lost on his
followers, however, who still wonder about the “contradictions” in his
messaging, not realizing that he was speaking in three different voices to demonstrate
his teaching authority to three somewhat different audiences...
Problem
solved? :D
I link to this not because of the contents (although they do say some interesting things), but rather because of the people on the podcast.
This is an ISKCON group in New York, Supersoul Farm, that sometimes jokingly refer to themselves as "Hare Krishna 2.0".
They *do* look more "normie" than the classical and more cultish Hare Krishnas I remember from my younger days, although their religious ideas seem to be...exactly the same Gaudiya Vaishnava/Prabhupada fair as in the good ol´ days, despite valiant attempts to sound less sectarian.
The bizarre and disturbing "Death of the Engineers" scene from "Alien: Covenant", in which we learn how the universe *actually* looks like...
Henri Jolicoeur is a Canadian hypnotherapist and practitioner of Yogananda´s version of kriya yoga. As a very young man, he was initiated into the Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON), and although he isn´t entirely negative towards its late founder-leader Prabhupada as a person, he regards the movement itself as a gigantic scam filled with psychopaths, criminals and even murderers.
In this clip, he tells the weird story of how a Hare Krishna sannyasin (celibate "monk") was allowed by Prabhupada himself to break his woves and marry a rich heiress, apparently hoping that she would bring millions of dollars to the ISKCON organization!
In reality, the woman was an ex-prostitute and scam artist, and it seems *she* fleeced the Hare Krishnas of millions, using her husband as very willing go-between...
Henri Jolicoeur is a former member of the ISKCON (the Hare Krishna movement) who currently heads his own neo-Hindu ministry in Canada (?).
Here is a portion (about 20 minutes long) of his scathing criticism of the eleven gurus who took over the ISKCON after Prabhupada´s death, many of whom Jolicoeur knew personally. Somwhat surprisingly, he seems to regard Prabhupada himself as a honest but *extremely* misguided and naïve man, who recruited all kinds of riff raff to his movement. Note the bizarre rumour about the wedding between a sannyasin and a prostitute!
Jolicouer worked with Prabhupada personally, and it seems the old man occasionally did listen to his advice, which may explain why he doesn´t reject him en toto.
I haven´t read the book Jolicoeur is commenting on.
The biggest gadfly on YouTube, Henri Jolicoeur, wonders whether the Dalai Lama is senile. Also mentions the pedophile problem within monastic Buddhism...
Some Hindu takes on Jesus. For the record, I don´t believe Jesus ever visited India or Tibet. That´s, ahem, a modern apocryphal tradition (a.k.a. "hoax") from the 19th century. It´s not even Indian, but comes from a Russian explorer who wrote in French! To see the Christ in visions is another thing entirely...
This is a somewhat
peculiar documentary about a werewolf-like creature said to stalk eastern Kentucky.
It´s popularly known as Bearilla (think bear and gorilla…or is it Godzilla?)
and seems to have appeared in the Appalachians out of the blue during the 1970´s.
Some locals claim to have seen it up front, and the local cryptozoologist Ron
Coffey is a true believer in its existence, even organizing a little expedition
for the benefit of an eye-witness (and the TV crew).
The
creature is described as large, either black or silvery, walking on its hind
legs, having a dog-like snout and pointed ears. It´s supposedly behind cattle
killings and have even attacked and killed humans (although this is
unconfirmed). Obviously, no “real” creature looks like this, although Coffey
likes to think that it could be a bear-dog or amphicyonid, a carnivoran that
went extinct 5 million years ago according to modern science. Werewolf folklore
is a more likely explanation, but a local zoologist believes that people are
simply misidentifying black bears. The reason? The black bear, long extinct in
Kentucky, started to return during the 1970´s, exactly when people started to report
Bearillas in the woods…
Bears can stand
or walk on their hind legs, and their front legs then look like long “arms”. They
also have snouts and (in this case) black fur. Young bears in particular look strangely
“humanoid”. Of course, this explanation tacitly assumes that many of the
reports are exaggerated or even hoaxes, since Bearilla can apparently run
across highways on its hind legs, is sometimes seen in broad daylight and (as
already mentioned) often has a silvery coat. DNA tests of cows supposedly
killed by Bearilla shows canine DNA, consistent with feral dogs.
The
documentary features non-token skeptics, which is unusual for a
paranormal-themed production, and it´s obvious that many locals in the area don´t
really believe in the creature. I also veer towards the misidentified bear
explanation, perhaps in conjunction with huge quantities of Appalachian
moonshine, but sure, you never really know what may lurk out there…
An original way to end up in hell according to the Buddha...
A scary YouTube
clip arguing that the “Neolithic decline” was caused by none other than our
good ol´ friend Yersinia pestis. After killing off a large portion of the farming
population of Old Europe, the continent became easy pray for the Indo-European invaders.
Not sure
if I buy this. The genetic evidence suggests a mass die off of *male* lineages,
while female lineages survived and “intermarried” with the Indo-European conquerors.
Is there any other plague pandemic in world history during which men are extremely
disproportionately affected?
That being
said, the pesky bacterium have apparently been found at Neolithic sites…
 |
| Synapsids born to rule? |
Synapsids were
the dominant land animals during the Permian, only to be replaced by the sauropsids
during the Mesozoic. Then, after an unfortunate meteorite impact, synapsids
became dominant again.
Humans are
synapsids. So are all other mammals (of course) and various groups considered ancestral
to mammals, or closely related to them. Reptiles and birds are sauropsids.
In other words, synapsids and sauropsids have alternated as the dominant land animals for the past 300 million years or so.
So where is the teleology? Asking for a friend
named Ashtar Command.
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I sometimes read extreme nerd articles like this one. I touched upon the extreme "splitting" activity of certain biologists before, when pseudo-reviewing a book about bovines and expressing the suspicion that the scientists just want more UN funding (apparently allocated on a species-by-species basis).
So it was interesting to read a defense of the "splitters" and their morpho-genetic antics from a guy with a real degree in paleontology.
The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy was just the beginning it seems! Note the bashing of our very own national hero Carolus Linnaeus at the end...
The Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter is one of the most famous, and also one of the most bizarre, UFO cases. It´s up there with the Flatwoods Monster!
It also seems to lack an obvious natural explanation...unless you postulate that 11 people suffered from exactly the same form of mass hysteria for hours after misidentifying completely normal owls. Or escaped monkeys from a Gypsy circus?
Nothing´s impossible on *this* crazy planet, I suppose, but somehow it´s easier to believe that the fairies were behind this one!
I heard about Kelly-Hopkinsville already as a kid, as it is mentioned in Hilary Evans´ classical little book "UFOs: The Greatest Mystery". And here we are, decades later, but not any wiser...
A surprisingly even-handed look at the famous Barney and Betty Hill alien abduction case.
In my humble opinion, aliens from outer space are pretty much excluded as the perps, but whudunnit instead? I suppose it *could* be a genuine paranormal experience of some sort (think fairies), but what bothers me is that the luminous objects the couple were seeing may have had a perfectly natural explanation. Perhaps misidentification of beacons or airplanes together with sleep deprivation triggered a psychotic episode of some sort?
Or perhaps the fay get you when you´re sleep deprived...
I have a faint memory reading somewhere that Betty Hill was a Theosophist, but neither the mini-docu nor Wiki contains this information. Perhaps she became Theosophy-inspired later, when she developed a virtual craze about UFOs and aliens? According to the docu, Hill was the representative of the Unitarian Universalists at the United Nations?!
Still, an interesting contribution.
 |
| Credit: ESO |
It seems the Spiked editorial board will have to grow their own vegetables in the future. Note the crazy globalist solution to depopulation in the last paragraphs...
_Fundort_Nariokotome%2C_Kenia%2C_Rekonstruktion_im_Neanderthal_Museum.jpg/800px-Homo-erectus_Turkana-Boy_(Ausschnitt)_Fundort_Nariokotome%2C_Kenia%2C_Rekonstruktion_im_Neanderthal_Museum.jpg) |
| Some racist shit (Credit: Neanderthal Museum) |
An
interesting piece on the fringey “initial bipedalism” hypothesis, which claims
that all vertebrates are descended from a kind of aquatic proto-human, which
later “dehumanized” into all the Vertebrata known today…except in the human
lineage, of course!
While this sounds very, very bizarre, I´m actually familiar with similar speculations about apes being descended from humans, rather than the other way around. See my review of Friedrich Kipp´s “Childhood and Human Evolution” on this blog (the second link below).
Kipp is probably an Anthroposophist, and Anthroposophy´s founder
Rudolf Steiner seems to have had a view of evolution similar to that of the initial
bipedalists, in which humans form the “stem” of a teleological evolutionary
process, with all other groups being side-branches. Hence, all living creatures
are – in some sense – devolved from a human archetype.
Steiner
also proposed, if memory serves me right, that the proto-humans were aquatic.
Kipp only discusses the great apes in his book, however, perhaps because he
wants to sound as scientific as possible. I didn´t know that a “scientific”
version of Steiner´s full speculations even existed, nor was I familiar with
the connection to cryptozoology. It seems Heuvelmans was far more “out there”
than I expected!
Very
interesting stuff to read on a lonely Good Friday morning…
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I actually mention the Red Panda and its fossil relatives in two ealier blog posts on cryptozoology, so I was amused to find the article below, written by a science blogger who occasionally forays into cryptid pastimes...
The year is 10,000 AD. The last man is put on display by the intelligent raccoons that have taken over the world after the Carrington Event of 9,100 AD.
Human devolution turned Homo sapiens into a bizarre creature convergent with over-sized spider monkeys of cryptid fame. No other traces of Homo exist.
It´s over.
Interesting
YouTube clip about the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem. Or tombs, since some Protestants
claim that a place outside the city, called the Garden Tomb, is the real burial
place of Christ. The traditional location is, of course, the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher.
Here is a
topic I haven´t revisited for some time…
Yes, it´s
time for the paranormal Black Dogs (and their equally dark-colored feline
cousins) to enter the fray again!
The link
goes to Darren Naish´s science blog Tetrapod Zoology, which occasionally
dabbles in topics cryptozoological and Fortean, usually from a skeptical
perspective (although it´s obvious that Naish really wants to find a cryptid one
day, preferably of the fleshly and bloodily persuasion). Naish is positive towards
a kind of heterodox naturalistic explanation, according to which certain
features of the landscape gives rise to anomalous electromagnetic phenomena, which
are then interpreted by the human brain as “freakin´ large black dogs” (or panthers).
WHICH IS
PRECISELY HOW THE FAIRIES HAVE OPERATED FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS!!!
:D
This kind
of natural explanation shades seamlessly into the more forthrightly supernaturalist
take that the fairies are indeed of an electromagnetic nature, at least when
they manifest on our physical plane of existence.
You
already know my take, citoyen!
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