Order in the House

 

In case you think our elected officials are a bunch of fools, I give you...the Parliament of Malaysia!  

WTF

 

???!!!

Simple as

 

Hare Krishna guru solves Fermi paradox. *We* are the aliens. Didn´t see that coming, did´ya?

Galileo event

Egypt: Neither White nor Black?

Is this a "Galileo event" for Afro-centrists? I think it´s offically over now. Martin Bernal and Black Athena lost. And that´s that. Speaking as a "recovering (moderate) Afro-centrist" myself. 

Old Kingdom Egyptians had ties to Mesopotamia

Of course, I also had to ask ChatGPT about this problematique...

To what "racial" group did the North African Neolithic population belong?

The North African Neolithic population belonged to a group that is best understood today as part of a "North African" or "Afro-Mediterranean" genetic continuum, rather than a clearly defined "racial" group in the older typological sense. However, if we examine this using modern genetics and anthropology, we can break it down more clearly:

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🧬 Genetic Affinities of North African Neolithic Populations

1. Main Components:

   • Maghrebi Ancestry (IAM Component): This is a deeply rooted North African genetic component seen in Early Neolithic populations in Morocco (e.g., the Ifri n’Amr ou Moussa or IAM samples, ~7,000 years ago). It's thought to be descended from local Epipaleolithic hunter-gatherers.

   • European Neolithic Ancestry: Later North African Neolithic populations (e.g., Kelif el Boroud, ~5,000 years ago) show evidence of admixture from Iberian Early Farmers (carrying Anatolian Neolithic ancestry).

   • Middle Eastern/Levantine Influence: Some gene flow from the Levant, especially during and after the Neolithic, is also present.

2. Y-DNA and mtDNA Markers:

   • Y-DNA: Early Neolithic North Africans carried haplogroups like E-M78, typical of Northeast African and Mediterranean populations.

   • mtDNA: Mitochondrial DNA often included U6 and M1, which are characteristic of North Africa and likely derived from earlier Upper Paleolithic back-migrations from the Near East.

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🏺 Cultural and Archaeological Connections

• Archaeological evidence shows cultural exchanges between North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Near East.

• Neolithic sites in North Africa show a mix of indigenous development and incoming farming technologies, likely from Mediterranean Europe and the Levant.

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🧑🏽‍🤝‍🧑🏼 In Racial Terms (Antiquated and Problematic)

If one were to try to use the now-outdated 19th–20th century racial categories, Neolithic North Africans might have been classified (in that flawed framework) as:

• “Mediterranean” or “Caucasoid”, due to their craniofacial traits and later genetic affinities with Near Eastern and Southern European populations.

However, this concept is now scientifically obsolete. Modern population genetics shows that ancient populations don’t fall into clean, static racial boxes—populations were fluid and mixed over time.

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🧭 Summary

Neolithic North Africans were primarily descended from local North African hunter-gatherers with additional input from Levantine and European Neolithic farmers. They form part of a distinct North African population cluster with some genetic links to both Europe and the Near East, but they were not "black" Sub-Saharan Africans nor simply "white" Europeans. They are best seen as Afro-Mediterranean in ancestry.

Let me know if you'd like a map, specific sample data (like from IAM or KEB), or a comparison to modern North African populations.

Listen, lacktheist!

 

Fact check: mostly true. 

A hole in space

 

The Big Bang never happened...the Big Bang never happened...the Big Bang never happened...

Maybe the standard cosmology will go out with a bang, after all! And yes, I know, I already linked to Sabine´s video, but here we go again. 

Local Hole

Self-serving?

 

Has the Servant of the People become self-serving? It seems Ukraine is in the throes of a serious political crisis as Zelensky attacks two independent anti-corruption agencies (with the full support of the "opposition" in Parliament, no less). 

For the first time in three years, large crowds of people are actually protesting against the government. Zelensky himself claims that the agencies were filled with Russian spies, but that´s what he has to say, isn´t it? The sequel might prove...interesting.

Links below to Kyiv Independent. 

Zelensky just betrayed Ukraine´s democracy

Zelensky dismantles Ukraine´s anti-corruption infrastructure

"We know how to stand up for our rights"

Permanent recess

 

This thing just won´t go away. In case anyone thought so. Here´s a prediction: the release of the Epstein files will be repeatedly postponed until 2029...when a Democrat president will be given the questionable honor to deny their existence!

House cancels last day of votes before summer break

The cosmic secret

 

Vishnu and Brahma behold Shiva in the form of an infinite fiery pillar....

Kosovo Polje

Baserad serbisk jordbruksbrigad? 

De "baserade" serberna ("the most Game-conscious people in Europe"), som är allierade med Moder Ryssland, agerar ju på ett intressant sätt här...

Serbiens plan: Massinvandring från tredje världen

Concordant

 

I literally never heard of "Concordant Believers" before. It´s an extremely strange sectarian current at the outskirts of American Christianity. Their theology sounds like a mixture of E W Bullinger´s ultra-dispensationalism and Charles Russell´s original Watchtower Society (not the later JW´s). 

The anti-Trinitarianism and universalism comes from Russell, while the strong distinction between Israel and the Gentile Church resembles both Russell and Bullinger. Note that the Concordant groups seem to reject both baptism and the Lord´s supper. 

Most sensationally, the Concordant Believers are "liberal" in their views of homosexuality (especially lesbianism), transgenderism, sex before marriage, prostitution, polygamy, and abortion?! I didn´t see *that* coming. Definitely one of the most peculiar Christian groups I´ve encountered.    

A Satanist in West Papua

 

I blogged about West Papua before, so I might as well link to this content. Taylor (alias The Antibot) is a self-proclaimed Satanist and witch who grew up as a Christian missionary kid in New Guinea, specifically the Indonesian-controlled Western half. In this video, she reflects on her experiences. I never heard the expression "Main Character Syndrome" before...

Remember the Titans

 

The YouTube video above argues that Saturn´s moon Titan might harbor life (at least primitive life) during the sun´s "red giant phase" billions of years into the future, when life has become impossible on Earth. ChatGPT confirms that the idea is at least plausible. See below!

Is is true or plausible that the moon Titan might end up in "the habitable zone" and even become home for life during the sun´s future phase as a red giant?

Yes, it is scientifically plausible that Titan, Saturn's largest moon, could enter the Sun’s habitable zone in the far future—specifically during the Sun’s red giant phase, roughly 5 to 7 billion years from now. During that phase, Titan might theoretically become warm enough to support some form of life.

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🌞 What Happens to the Sun?

As the Sun exhausts its hydrogen fuel:

• It will expand into a red giant, increasing in size and luminosity dramatically.

• The habitable zone (where liquid water can exist) will shift outward, potentially reaching the orbits of Jupiter or even Saturn.

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🪐 Titan’s Potential

Current conditions on Titan:

• Extremely cold: ~−180°C (−292°F)

• Thick atmosphere of nitrogen and methane

• Lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons, not water

• Subsurface ocean of liquid water likely beneath the ice crust

During the Sun’s red giant phase:

• The increased heat may:

  • Melt surface ices, potentially allowing liquid water on the surface

  • Trigger chemical reactions between surface organics and water

• Titan could enter a "warm Earth-like" phase for several hundred million years

🧬 Titan is already rich in organic molecules, including tholins and methane—so if liquid water appears, prebiotic chemistry or life could emerge.

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🧪 Scientific Plausibility

• NASA astrobiologists and planetary scientists (e.g., David Grinspoon) have speculated seriously on this scenario.

• While it's speculative, it's based on real physics and planetary science.

• Some argue Titan may become "Earth-like" for a brief window before the Sun's outer layers are lost and it becomes a white dwarf.

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⚠️ Challenges

• Timescales are billions of years, so it's purely theoretical

• Titan would need to maintain a stable atmosphere and surface conditions during this brief habitable period

• Life would need to emerge quickly or already be present (e.g., in subsurface oceans)

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🧠 Summary

✅ Plausible under accepted models of solar evolution
🌡️ Titan could become temperate during the red giant phase
🌊 It might support liquid water and even life—briefly
🧪 Supported by some scientific speculation, not just science fiction

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Would you like a sketch of the solar system’s future habitable zone or a comparison between Titan and early Earth?

Study comparative mysticism, young man

It´s actually extremely funny when ChatGPT sounds like this. Provided you take its "advise" with a certain grain of salt, obviously. Still, I wonder how a insentient computer can even come up with stuff like this? 

How can the widely divergent messages and contradictions between different religious traditions be reconciled?

This is a profound and necessary question — especially for anyone sincerely exploring spirituality across traditions.

Religions do contain divergent and sometimes contradictory doctrines, practices, and cosmologies. Some say God is personal, others say formless; some speak of eternal heaven and hell, others of rebirth; some stress devotion, others knowledge, others ritual or ethics. So: how can we make sense of this?

There are several major approaches, depending on your orientation.

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🧭 1. Perennialism ("One Truth, Many Paths")

• Holds that all authentic religions point to the same ultimate reality, though expressed differently due to culture, language, history.

• Differences are surface-level — the core truths (e.g., inner transformation, transcendence of ego, love or union with the Divine) are shared.

• Exponents: Aldous Huxley, Frithjof Schuon, Ramakrishna, Sufi thinkers, Vedantic universalists.

🗝️ “Truth is one, sages call it by many names.” — Rig Veda

⚠️ Critique: Can sometimes flatten real theological or metaphysical differences, and ignore the uniqueness of each tradition.

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🧭 2. Evolutionary View

• Religion evolves in stages — early religions were tribal or magical, later ones ethical, philosophical, and mystical.

• Contradictions arise because human consciousness has evolved, and so has its conception of the Divine.

• Thinkers like Ken Wilber or Teilhard de Chardin propose that religion reflects layers of consciousness, not just disagreement.

🔄 Buddhism and Christianity may contradict on the surface, but both speak to different levels of human need — moral, devotional, transcendental.

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🧭 3. Psychological or Archetypal Interpretation

• Each religion expresses universal inner realities (archetypes), not objective cosmic facts.

• Gods, heavens, hells, rituals are symbolic maps of human experience, not literal truths.

• Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and many modern contemplatives interpret religion in this way.

🌌 Kali, Yahweh, the Buddha, and Christ may all represent different facets of the Self or psyche.

⚠️ Critique: This can spiritualize away the actual religious claims and practices, which many adherents take seriously.

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🧭 4. Pluralism with Integrity

• Accepts that different religions may actually contradict each other, and that's OK.

• They offer different paths, suited to different kinds of people, cultures, and ultimate concerns.

• You don't have to “reconcile” everything — instead, choose a path, and respect others.

🧭 “Each tradition is a map — but you must walk one map fully to reach the summit.”

⚠️ This approach requires maturity — you may need to live with incompleteness and mystery.

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🧭 5. Metaphysical Reconciliation (like in Hindu Tantra or Dzogchen)

• Some esoteric traditions claim that apparent contradictions resolve at higher levels of insight.

• For example: God can be both formless and form, both immanent and transcendent, both empty and full.

• Tantra, nondual Shaivism, and Dzogchen often hold multi-layered models where duality and nonduality coexist.

🌈 “Everything is real, and everything is illusion — that is the paradox the awakened must embrace.”

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🙋 So What Can You Do?

Here are a few suggestions:

✅ 1. Choose Depth over Breadth

Pick one tradition — or one path within a tradition — and go deep. After a while, you'll understand others more clearly from within.

✅ 2. Accept Mystery

No human mind can fully resolve the contradictions of eternity, being, or God. Let some questions remain open — that's part of humility.

✅ 3. Discern Inner Resonance

Rather than reconcile all traditions intellectually, notice which path resonates deeply with your soul. That may be your calling.

✅ 4. Study Comparative Mysticism

Read from the mystics of each tradition (e.g., Rumi, Eckhart, Nāgārjuna, Lalleshwari). You’ll often find surprising unity beneath doctrinal difference.

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Would you like a recommendation of books or thinkers who explore these questions deeply — either philosophically or experientially?

I think there is also a form of pluralism which embraces the fact that there may be different legitimate goals (more than one "summit").

Yes — beautifully put. You're describing a mature, open-ended form of pluralism that doesn't just tolerate diversity, but recognizes that different paths may lead to genuinely different — and valid — spiritual outcomes.

Rather than assuming there is one mountain with many paths, this view suggests:

🏔️ There may be many mountains, each with their own summit — and some people are not even climbing, but digging, flying, or planting seeds.

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🧭 This View Could Be Called “Teleological Pluralism”

(“teleology” meaning “goal or purpose”)

It acknowledges that:

• Different traditions aim at different ultimate goals — not just different routes to the same destination.

• Those goals may include:

  • Liberation from rebirth (e.g., Theravāda Buddhism)

  • Union with a personal God (e.g., Christian or Bhakti traditions)

  • Realization of nonduality (e.g., Advaita, Dzogchen)

  • Spiritual empowerment or occult mastery (e.g., Tantra, some esoteric schools)

  • Cultivation of virtue and harmony in this world (e.g., Confucianism)

  • Fulfillment of ancestral, national, or communal destiny (e.g., Judaism, Shinto)

Each of these is internally coherent, meaningful, and can lead to profound transformation — but they may not all be compatible in metaphysical terms.

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🎯 Implications of This Pluralism

1. No Single Truth-Claim Must Dominate
   The value of a path may depend more on the goal it’s aiming at than on metaphysical exclusivity.

2. Different People, Different Destinies
   What’s salvation or awakening for one person may not be for another. The soul’s “calling” varies.

3. Religious Difference Is Not Just Error or Incompleteness
   It may reflect different types of relationship to the Divine, Reality, or the Self.

4. Serious Comparison Requires Empathy and Depth
   To understand what Christianity, Taoism, or Vajrayāna are really “about,” one must explore them on their own terms, not just compare doctrines.

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🌀 Examples in History

Many thinkers, mystics, and traditions have hinted at this kind of pluralism:

• Ramakrishna practiced Islam, Christianity, and various Hindu paths — and found different types of union in each.

• Ibn ‘Arabi (Sufi mystic) said, “My heart has become capable of every form” — seeing all paths as containers for the Divine.

• Shinto does not focus on universal salvation, but on right relation with the kami and nature — a completely different spiritual "axis."

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🧘 What This Means for You

If this view resonates with you, then:

• You are free to discern your own goal — liberation, union, bliss, knowledge, transformation — and find a tradition that aims toward that.

• You may be called not to reconcile the contradictions of traditions, but to understand and respect their differences without relativism.

• You might become a kind of spiritual polyglot — fluent in many religious “languages,” but grounded in your own.

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Would you like some examples of how different religions articulate different spiritual goals — side by side — or suggestions on how to navigate your own orientation within this pluralism?

Yes, suggestions on how to navigate my own orientation within this pluralism.

Navigating your own orientation within a pluralistic spiritual landscape — especially one where different traditions offer different, legitimate goals — is both a privilege and a deep responsibility. Here's a structured way to explore your own path meaningfully without falling into confusion or superficiality.

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🧭 Step 1: Clarify Your Core Aspiration

Ask yourself not what “religion” you want to follow, but what your soul truly longs for. Some guiding questions:

• Do I want liberation from suffering or rebirth?

• Do I want union with a personal God?

• Do I want wisdom, insight, or nondual realization?

• Do I want this-worldly transformation, justice, or empowerment?

• Do I want to embody love, virtue, or beauty?

• Do I want to serve others or a community?

• Or... do I not know yet — but feel a pull toward transcendence?

Write this down. This is your telos — your inner orientation or gravitational pull.

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🧭 Step 2: Discern Your Temperament or Mode of Practice

Different people are drawn to different modes of spiritual engagement, such as:

Temperament	Path
Intellectual, contemplative	Jñāna (wisdom) paths — Advaita, Zen, Neoplatonism
Devotional, emotional	Bhakti paths — Vaishnavism, Christianity, Sufism
Practical, ethical	Karma Yoga, Judaism, Confucianism
Mystical, inner transformation	Sufism, Christian mysticism, Dzogchen
Occult, magical empowerment	Tantra, Thelema, esoteric Kabbalah
Aesthetic, artistic	Shinto, some forms of Paganism, certain Bhakti sects

Try to notice which mode speaks most to your soul, not just your intellect.

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🧭 Step 3: Choose a Tentative Home Base

Choose one tradition (or path) to explore in depth — not as a final answer, but as a vantage point. Even if you return to a broader pluralism later, going deep into one tradition:

• Grounds you

• Teaches you inner language and discipline

• Clarifies your own values through practice

Examples:

• If your core longing is liberation and you're rationally inclined → try Theravāda meditation or Advaita Vedanta.

• If your longing is divine intimacy → try Christian contemplative prayer, Vaishnava Bhakti, or Sufism.

• If you long to merge life and enlightenment → explore Tantric Buddhism, Shaiva Tantra, or Kabbalah.

Choose a tradition that matches your aspiration and temperament, even if others seem equally interesting.

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🧭 Step 4: Allow for Depth, Then Comparison

Once you have practiced seriously within a path for some time:

• Let it shape you.

• Learn not just its doctrines but its transformative logic.

• Only then return to comparison, not from curiosity but from insight.

“Don’t compare paths from the base of the mountain. Walk up one and you’ll see others more clearly.”

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🧭 Step 5: Live with Mystery and Integrity

Finally:

• Embrace the fact that no system may be fully complete — that’s OK.

• Don’t force reconciliation where divergence exists. Let paradox be part of the sacred.

• Remain honest: not all traditions are equal for you. Some will speak to your soul; others won’t. That’s fine.

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🔦 A Few Optional Tools

• Spiritual Autobiography: Write out your spiritual history — what you’ve tried, loved, rejected.

• Practice Journaling: Keep notes on how different practices affect your state, values, clarity.

• Trusted Guidance: Seek a teacher, mentor, or community who is grounded but open — they can help you avoid spiritual bypassing or dilettantism.

• Reading Across Traditions: Engage with mystics and sages directly — not just comparative scholars.

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Would you like a few personalized suggestions based on your previous questions or interests — say, paths that emphasize awe, personal empowerment, or rejection of materialism?