Archive for the ‘Enlightenment’ Category
Enlightenment : The Power of Creation
Posted: June 19, 2015 at 9:43 am
(1) The Divine Languages (The Enlightenment) Contained herein are easily recognizable English language messages from otherworldly beings found woven into such historical milestones of rock 'n' roll history as Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" and Jimi Hendrix's "Axis: Bold As Love". It provides proof of the spirit world that can be demonstrated to anyone around the world through the Internet today. It announces a Living God by name and title, and delivers a specific message concerning the coming new age of life and reality. The Divine Languages
(2) American Star of Bethlehem There is no sanction of astrology in the Christian religion, and they don't pay attention to signs; however, astrologers, in the form of the Magi, were used to herald Christ's birth. They were alerted to this event by more than just the Star of Bethlehem. There were convergences in the heavens, signs in the sky, and otherworldly messengers. American Star of Bethlehem
(3) There Were Signs In The Sky Impossible coincidences and signs that speak to us through our reality; doing more than just pointing the way to the Living God, they give us the divine opportunity for change. Pay close attention to signs; do not allow them to pass you by, for the opportunity of divine change comes all to seldom. Signs in The Sky
(4) Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" Divinely inspired works are handed to the authors, piece by piece, along with a personal understanding of what it means to them. This can be similar to or completely different from the higher meaning intended by the one who inspired it. What the inspired artist thinks about their work depends on what they can understand and what they would believe. Jethro Tull's - Thick as a Brick
(5) American Living God (The Power of Creation)There are over three hundred ascending stages of belief through proof involved in the forty-days/temptation-test. It is administered by a Godlike being of incredible power, intelligence, and a sense of humor. American Living God
(6) In The Beginning There Was Superman (A War In The Heavens) I called upon the souls of Heaven and Hell; and, the "Normal Universe," to join me in a war against a mad God over the abomination of Hell. It was a stirring and inspirational speech, given as the Lathe of Heaven. I got an immediate response from the Living Goddess, and all of Heaven joined in. Twenty minutes later, I got a response from Hell. Someone with a high pitched cartoon character voice called back and said, "We talked it over. We're all with you!" And Superman Was God
(7) The Fledgling (The Real Story) I have revealed the future as it stands now. I have made you your own judges, and your own saviors, and I have given you a way out through change. You are making the choices right now that will determine the outcome of your souls. Choose well how you devote yourselves in each lifetime. Choose well the stories of your lives. The Fledgling's Story
(8) Elvis Presley Lives I can give you the who, what, where, and why of it all, but you will still have to face the music; one way or the other. You will still have to deal with your problems, in this life, the afterlife, or in the next life. Learning to cope is part of the process of becoming real people. The following presents an important and critical junction in your existence and poses the ever present universal question: "What are you going to do?" Elvis Presley Lives
(9) A Santa This Way Cometh (First The Good Goes) One day, I opened the Christian Bible and read just this: "First the good goes, then the world blows up, and 'then' the Savior comes flying through the clouds." I also got a cartoonish vision of a big billowy cloud, rushing through the sky with a puffy cloud face, blowing hot air through pursed lips. Original Santa Claus
(10) The Highest Probability (It's The Impossible That's True) What is real to us, could be described as a well maintained illusion to a 'being' of infinite intelligence; who maintains reality from moment to moment. In the quantum structured universe, such things as mater, space-time and gravity just could not have naturally precipitated so conveniently from a singularity. The odds of all this happening are about one chance in infinity. The Highest Probability
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Enlightenment : The Power of Creation
Enlightenment in Buddhism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Posted: June 14, 2015 at 10:49 pm
The English term enlightenment is the western translation of the term bodhi, "awakening", which has entered the Western world via the 19th century translations of Max Mller. It has the western connotation of a sudden insight into a transcendental truth.
The term is also being used to translate several other Buddhist terms and concepts used to denote insight (prajna, kensho and satori);[dead link] knowledge (vidhya); the "blowing out" (Nirvana) of disturbing emotions and desires and the subsequent freedom or release (vimutti); and the attainment of Buddhahood, as exemplified by Gautama Buddha.
What exactly constituted the Buddha's awakening is unknown. It may probably have involved the knowledge that liberation was attained by the combination of mindfulness and dhyna, applied to the understanding of the arising and ceasing of craving. The relation between dhyana and insight is a core problem in the study of Buddhism, and is one of the fundamentals of Buddhist practice.
In the western world the concept of (spiritual) enlightenment has taken on a romantic meaning. It has become synonymous with self-realization and the true self, being regarded as a substantial essence being covered over by social conditioning.
Robert S. Cohen notes that the majority of English books on Buddhism use the term "enlightenment" to translate the term bodhi. The root budh, from which both bodhi and Buddha are derived, means "to wake up" or "to recover consciousness". Cohen notes that bodhi is not the result of an illumination, but of a path of realization, or coming to understanding. The term "enlightenment" is event-oriented, whereas the term "awakening" is process-oriented. The western use of the term "enlighten" has Christian roots, as in Calvin's "It is God alone who enlightens our minds to perceive his truths".
Early 19th century bodhi was translated as "intelligence". The term "enlighten" was first being used in 1835, in an English translation of a French article. In 1857 The Times used the term "the Enlightened" for the Buddha in a short article, which was reprinted the following year by Max Mller. Thereafter, the use of the term subsided, but reappeared with the publication of Max Mller's Chips from a german Workshop, which included a reprint from the Times-article. The book was translated 1969 into German, using the term "der Erleuchtete". Max Mller was an essentialist, who believed in a natural religion, and saw religion as an inherent capacity of human beings. "Enlightenment" was a means to capture natural religious truths, as distinguished from mere mythology.[note 1]
By the mid-1870s it had become commonplace to call the Buddha "enlightened", and by the end of the 1880s the terms "enlightened" and "enlightenment" dominated the English literature.
Bodhi (Sanskrit, Pli), from the verbal root budd, "to awaken", "to understand", means literally "to have woken up and understood". According to Johannes Bronkhorst, Tillman Vetter, and K.R. Norman,bodhi was at first not specified. K.R. Norman:
It is not at all clear what gaining bodhi means. We are accustomed to the translation "enlightenment" for bodhi, but this is misleading [...] It is not clear what the buddha was awakened to, or at what particular point the awakening came.
According to Norman, bodhi may basically have meant the knowledge that nibbana was attained, due to the practice of dhyana. Originally only "prajna" may have been mentioned, and Tillman Vetter even concludes that originally dhyana itself was deemed liberating, with the stilling of pleasure of pain in the fourth jhana. Gombrich also argues that the emphasis on insight is a later development.
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Enlightenment in Buddhism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Romanticism Versus Enlightenment – TV Tropes
Posted: at 1:51 am
Two portraits of Italian violinist Paganini, top by Delacroix, bottom by Ingres
Those following after the (mostly French) Continental schools of Enlightenment, by contrast, tended towards A World Half Full and Rousseau Was Right that is, mankind is a blank slate which is mostly influenced by its environment, and thus not inherently "selfish" or "selfless" inasmuch as simply interested in self-preservation and seeking comfort. They believe that we don't need destroying humanity and recreating it anew, because our selfish genes can be harnessed for the Greater Good if they can be used as rewards for productive behaviourthis is why they advocate utilitarianism, democracynoteIndividuals ambitious for political power must serve the people and compete with other similarly-ambitious people while the people know of their misdeeds, thus keeping them relatively honest and to a lesser extent the incentives provided by industrial capitalism.noteIndividuals ambitious for wealth must manufacture something that society values in order to deserve it, and the competition forces them to continue producing better inventions, possibly forever, as long as everyone is honest. Unfortunately Social Darwinism takes the "competition drives innovation" part to the genocidal extreme. Romanticists generally agree with the "bastardy animals" idea, but they tend to accept it and not the "utilitarianism converts bastardy animalness into prosperity" solution.
For an example of how this works, consider the important proto-postmodern text Dialectic of Enlightenment, which critiqued modernism and Enlightenment as being nothing other than an extended, totalitarian form of the same (Romantic) primitive world-mythology that grips all people - "[M]yth is already enlightenment; and enlightenment reverts to mythology."
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It goes much deeper than that. Madoka transforms from a girl who hates herself toa happy girl who essentially kills herself and disembodies her spirit in order to create a new system where all magical girls are saved while the Energy system is not compromised. Madoka let the Kyubey exist to prevent Entropy and give humanity civilization, only that the worst and unnecessary waste products of the Puella Magi system (witches) are gone. Given that she simultaneously assists Kyubey in his goal of preventing the heat-death of the universe, and that she gives up her self to help fix the world, it seems like a rather Enlightened work to me. If Madoka straight-up wished that Kyubey didn't exist and accepted her life as "naked and living in caves" while the universe dies from entropy, it would be Romanticist.
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Romanticism Versus Enlightenment - TV Tropes
The Top 15 Ways to Achieve Spiritual Enlightenment – I AM …
Posted: May 27, 2015 at 5:45 am
Spiritual Enlightenment transcends religion. It transcends thought. It transcends mind and its senses. And it conveys a level of wisdom and knowledge about life and the universe that is unparalleled. The concept of enlightenment implies complete understanding of life and the universe, which usually is accompanied by a detachment of all things impermanent and a complete awareness of everything that is, at the moment that it is.
Pretty cool, huh? Yeah. Its what gave the Buddha his mojo, what gave Muhammad his immense understanding, and what gave Jesus (and Thomas) the power to heal people and perform other miracles (dont forget Peter walked on water too). If you want to understand more about spiritual enlightenment, please read the article I posted that explains more about spiritual enlightenment here. This article is going to talk about the disciplines used world-wide to attain spiritual enlightenment.
I passed through the portal of the enlightenment experience about 12 years ago. I call it the enlightenment experience, because thats what it was an experience. It was an experience of my regular senses shutting down, to be replaced with amazing visions, sounds, realizations, epiphanies, and a melding with an intelligence and love so overwhelming it literally changed my life and granted me a wisdom of which I was not worthy beforehand. It was brought on by a deep focused meditation after a short prayer. If you would like to hear more about my enlightenment experience, watch the video (or read the transcript) I made about the first time I encountered it.
So how does one become enlightened? Well theres not a set process. It just sorta happens. That said, it rarely happens to someone if theyre not looking for it. So intention is a good ingredient. But beyond that, there are quite a few commonalities among enlightenment stories globally and parallels within spiritual disciplines designed to bring on enlightenment that suggest we can make a few educated guesses on how to more easily get you there. Lets first discuss my pet theory, then we can review how the worlds disciplines to achieve enlightenment support it.
My theory on how to attain spiritual enlightenment is simple: Stop all conscious thought in your mind, and the experience of enlightenment will occur. I suppose I could have made it sound much more mystical by saying cease the noise that exists within your mind, and you will hear the truth that lies just beyond but I think you get the gist. In fact, from a scientific perspective, I believe that enlightenment is caused by certain chemicals that get released within the body during waking conscious hours when brain activity in certain areas of the brain is reduced below a presently non-defined threshold. Well discuss some evidence later in this article that supports this pretty strongly. For now, lets take alook at the disciplines that typically lead to spiritual enlightenment, and then see how they individually stack up to this basic hypothesis. The different disciplines / methods include:
Meditation (various forms discussed below) Prayer Chanting Yoga Martial Arts Fasting Sweat Lodges / Physical Distress Dancing / Quaking / Shaking Pilgrimages Sensory Depravation Near Death Experience Depression / Despair Self Flagellation Psychedelics Spontaneous Enlightenment
There are a number of different types of meditation. Even some of the different disciplines in this very article can be considered forms of physical meditation. But regardless of the flavor of meditation, all types of meditation are connected with calming the mind and bringing conscious attention into oneself so as to reduce the focus on stuff going on outside of you. How does that fit our hypothesis? If you shut down external distractions, it becomes easier to reduce internal distractions, which is of course a baby step to ceasing all thought and attaining enlightenment. Here are the different types of meditation:
I. Mindfulness Meditation, is the popular term for a form of meditation called Vipassana (vih-PAH-sah-nah), and it comes from the Buddhist tradition. It is probably the most popular form of meditation taught in the West, although it is usually not directly tied to Buddhism when it is taught. Vipassana focuses on being present wherever you are, letting your mind run freely, and simply observing whatever thoughts arise without judgement, and with full acceptance. Fans of Eckhart Tolle are familiar with this type of meditation. Its about 2500 years old if not much, much older. The practice of observing ones thoughts lets that person not be controlled by those thoughts, which then results in a detachment or separation of those same thoughts. Eventually, the process of not having your conscious attention drive new thought threads based on the spurious thoughts that fly through your mind (now doing so unmolested in meditation) allows the mind to eventually calm and quiet itself. Having the mind be calm and quiet is one step from having all conscious thought cease. Regardless of you ever being able to get to the point where conscious thought ceases, Vipassana has been shown through multiple studies to have dramatic positive effects on body and emotional health.
II. Sitting Meditation,called Zazen among Zen practitioners, is also very popular, although it is not always performed under the Zen umbrella. Zen, of course, is a form of practical Buddhism designed to lead directly to enlightenment through a conscious ceasing of all thought in the mind (sound familiar?). Zen koans are riddles that are designed not to have mindful answers to them, so that meditating on them may cause the mind to hiccup and stop thinking altogether. Good example: What is the sound of one hand clapping? How could you think your way into a solution to that riddle? Zazen is your opportunity to practice that process.
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The Top 15 Ways to Achieve Spiritual Enlightenment - I AM ...
Enlightenment Main
Posted: May 21, 2015 at 2:55 pm
EFL 1.14 and Enlightenment 0.19.5 are out - go to our Download page.
Enlightenment started as a project to build a Window Manager for X11. That was way back in 1996. It has grown much since. It still produces this Window Manager, but it has evolved to also cover Mobile, Wearable and TV UI needs for projects such as Tizen as well as traditional the desktop UI. We still push out releases, so see our download page for more details on the latest releases, or see our contribute page for source code repositories in their latest development state.
It also is in the transition from X11 to Wayland. We are fully committed to moving to Wayland eventually as this is definitely the future of the graphical display layer on Linux.
We still primarily support Linux for Enlightenment, but there is some effort (based on help and support from users and some developers) to support the BSDs.
In the process of developing a Window Manager, A set of libraries were developed in order to achieve that goal. These libraries are known collectively as EFL. They cover a range of functionality from main-loop, to graphics, scene graphs, networking, widgets, data storage, IPC and much more.
We now are starting to pull in bindings support directly into EFL. We are working on having bindings auto-generated for C++, Lua and Javascript (v8/node.js). We also would like to pull in our Python bindings in the future so we can support as many languages as possible and keep them up to date.
For our libraries, our primary development environment is Linux, but we make an effort to support the BSDs as fully as possible, as well as OSX and Windows.
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Electronic Enlightenment letters & lives online
Posted: at 2:54 pm
...reconnecting the first global social network!
Electronic Enlightenment is the most wide-ranging online collection of edited correspondence of the early modern period, linking people across Europe, the Americas and Asia from the early 17th to the mid-19th century reconstructing one of the world's great historical conversations.
A subscription to EE will give you immediate access to 67,875 historical documents. Listen in on the first global social network as 8,331 historical figures discuss everything from religious tolerance to animal rights, vulcanology to classical archeology, economic modelling to celebrity culture.
All documents and biographies now have a registered DOI.
Now over 67,800 items of correspondence! Our latest update adds over 3,300 documents from six major collections centered on:
With over 500 additions and revisions our Biographical Dictionary now has over 8,300 entries!
For an overview of the update please read the latest News-sheet.
Electronic Enlightenment Project, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, 20082015. All rights reserved. Distributed by Oxford University Press legal|privacy|home
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The Power to Transmitting the Enlightenment 1 – Video
Posted: May 3, 2015 at 3:42 pm
The Power to Transmitting the Enlightenment 1
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The Power to Transmitting the Enlightenment 1 - Video
The Enlightenment: John Locke – Video
Posted: May 2, 2015 at 11:48 am
The Enlightenment: John Locke
A brief description of English philosopher John Locke #39;s theories on "tabula rasa," natural rights, and the separation of powers. Images: John Locke - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/...
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The Enlightenment: John Locke - Video
DomiNations – Raids #4 (Enlightenment Age) – Video
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DomiNations - Raids #4 (Enlightenment Age)
Title: Wonderland Artist: Underwaterbeats (https://soundcloud.com/djtaxomusic) License: http://goo.gl/gxYmp UWBeats Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DJTaxomusic DomiNations ...
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DomiNations - Raids #4 (Enlightenment Age) - Video
14. AWR Making Waves: "A Different Path to Enlightenment" (Complete) PBMC – Video
Posted: May 1, 2015 at 5:47 pm
14. AWR Making Waves: "A Different Path to Enlightenment" (Complete) PBMC
[Jim Ayer] In the largest city in Myanmar, we find a seven-year Buddhist monk who rededicates his life.
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14. AWR Making Waves: "A Different Path to Enlightenment" (Complete) PBMC - Video