There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills . . . I mean, in Them Thar Earthquakes

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Lee — Leave a comment

This just in: Over 80% of the world’s commercially viable gold deposits were formed in mountain-building earthquakes.

That’s the conclusion of a recent study by Australian geologists Richard Henley and Dion Weatherley.

Earthquakes don’t create gold. Rather, they cause gold that is dissolved in water to be precipitated out and deposited in cracks and fissures miles deep in the earth’s crust.

How?

Gold Deposits on Quartz

When the earth’s tectonic plates suddenly shift along their fault lines (creating an earthquake), small cracks in the rocks can instantaneously become large gaps. Something has to fill those gaps. The rocks aren’t going to. They’re too solid. So the water that flows through the cracks and crannies is rapidly sucked into a much larger space than it would ordinarily fill, causing it to instantly vaporize. In the process of vaporization, it leaves behind any minerals that might have been dissolved in it—such as quartz and gold.

As earthquakes repeatedly rocked the earth’s crust over hundreds of thousands of years, gold built up in seams miles below the surface creating concentrations large enough to mine. These earthquakes resulted from the collisions of tectonic plates that caused most of the earth’s great mountain chains to rise skyward.

Thus, the gold in your necklace or wedding ring has a violent and traumatic history!

What does this have to do with spirituality?

For more on earthquakes, mountains, and gold, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Dion Weatherley, earthquakes, gold, jewelry, mining, natural disasters, pain, plate tectonics, Richard Henley, science, spirituality, wealth, wedding rings
Posted in Science Philosophy and History, Spiritual Growth

Spiritual Growth 101 with Mike Tyson: “The Virtue of Selfishness”

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Lee — 6 Comments

Mike Tyson

Ayn Rand

Who woulda thought Mike Tyson was a devotee of Ayn Rand?

Before the rumors start flying . . . as far as I know, he isn’t.

But he could be.

In 2009 Mike Tyson appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show for a major interview. In response to Oprah’s questions, Tyson spoke about his struggle to leave behind his life of anger, addiction, violence, and infidelity.

In a follow-up interview later that week, Oprah asked Tyson, “How do you stop yourself from going to the dark place? Is it a battle with you all the time? I sense that you’re still in the struggle.”

Tyson replied:

I want to say . . . that my children stop me, but it’s not. My children can’t—my love for my children’s not stronger than my addiction. But, I want a better life for myself. . . . And it’s so funny because we say selfishness is bad, but without a form of selfishness we’re gonna die out here. And it’s just for my own self-aggrandizement I want to live a better life. I want to live the life I was on the path to live before I . . . it’s . . . diverted to different kind of agendas for my own self-benefit.

It may not be perfect prose, but the meaning is clear. Tyson is saying that the driving force behind his efforts to reform himself is not anything noble like his often-expressed love for his children. Rather, he is driven by an elemental desire to acquire a better life for himself.

Is Mike Tyson more selfish than the average person?

I doubt it. But on this point he’s certainly more honest than the average person. Looking into his own soul he has recognized—and unlike most of us, is willing to state publicly—that he is driven by selfishness.

And that’s an excellent place to start on the path toward spiritual growth.

For more on Mike Tyson, Ayn Rand, and the virtue of selfishness, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: abusive relationships, Ayn Rand, Desiree Washington, egoism, Mike Tyson, Objectivism, Oprah Winfrey, regeneration, selfishness, spiritual rebirth, spirituality, The Virtue of Selfishness, violence
Posted in Popular Culture, Spiritual Growth

Heaven, Regeneration, and the Meaning of Life on Earth

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Lee — 103 Comments

We’ve posted many articles recently about what happens to us when we die. However, to fully comprehend what death entails we need to understand the meaning of life. Why are we here on this earth, anyway? Why do we go through the experiences life throws at us (or that we cause to be thrown at ourselves)? What’s the whole point of being here, living this life on earth? Why?

Like it or not, we are all spiritual beings. And we are all on a journey to grow into better people. It does not matter whether we are Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Pagan, or a member of any other organized religion. For that matter, it does not even matter if we are atheist, agnostic, lapsed, lazy, or lethargic. In fact, even Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Modern Whigs, Communists, Socialists, and Green Party members are all spiritual beings.

There is a purpose to our time here in this earthly realm, and it matters not the labels by which we define our external selves. That’s because at our core we are all spiritual beings possessing the ability to grow into better people. With each step of progress, we are reborn again . . . and again . . . and yet again. In other words, to use a term commonly found in science and medicine, each time we grow and are reborn, we are in the process of regenerating. We are here on earth for the purpose of regenerating (or being spiritually re-grown) into the best person we can become.

For more on regeneration, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Creation, Doctor Who, God, heaven, hell, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, neighbor, regeneration, spiritual rebirth, spirituality, the Bible
Posted in Popular Culture, Spiritual Growth, The Bible Re-Viewed

Near-Death Experiences and the Doctors

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Lee — 136 Comments

Ever since the awareness of near-death experiences burst upon the popular consciousness with the publication of Raymond Moody’s 1975 bestseller Life After Life, there has been a steady stream of books, articles, and movies on the subject. These have come from people in all professions and all walks of life.

More recently, several medical doctors have weighed in on the subject.

Doctors are in an interesting position. On the one hand, since near-death experiences commonly take place during medical emergencies, doctors are often present when people have them. On the other hand, because of their extensive scientific training doctors are often skeptical that near-death experiences are anything other than the desperate hallucinations of a dying, oxygen-deprived brain.

But when the doctors themselves have a near-death experience, they come out with a very different perspective.

Dr. Mary Neal

Here is a talk by Dr. Mary Neal, an orthopedic surgeon, about her near-death experience, which took place in 1999 during a white-water kayaking accident:

For more on doctors and near-death experiences, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: death, Eben Alexander, Erasing Death, Life After Life, Mary C. Neal, Mehmet Oz, near-death experiences, Proof of Heaven, Raymond Moody, Sam Parnia, science, To Heaven and Back
Posted in The Afterlife

What Happens To Us When We Die?

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Lee — 308 Comments

The Magical Mystery Tour

In our modern materialistic age, people sometimes claim that there is no real information about the spiritual world.

That’s not true! There is a huge amount of information available about the spiritual world.

One of the clearest and most extensive sources of information on the afterlife was first published over 250 years ago: Heaven and Hell, by Emanuel Swedenborg. It offers a guided tour of heaven, hell, and our journey to one or the other after death.

Here’s a short version of that journey:

Once we lose consciousness in this world, everything is warm and peaceful, because we are attended at death by the wisest and most loving angels.
We then go on to a life much like we had here on earth—so much so that we may not even realize we have died.
Sooner or later, our true inner self comes out, and is visible for all to see. We can no longer pretend to be someone we aren’t. It is now clear whether we’re headed for heaven or for hell.
If we’re headed toward heaven, angels teach us what heaven is like before we actually travel to our own eternal home there.

For more on what happens to us when we die please click here to read on.

Tagged with: angels, death, Emanuel Swedenborg, heaven, Heaven and Hell, hell, Life After Life, near-death experiences, Raymond Moody, spirits, the world of spirits
Posted in The Afterlife

Amazon vs. Walmart: The Spiritual Shift

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Lee — 2 Comments

People entering and leaving a Walmart store

The Walmart Model

The Amazon Model

The battle between Amazon and Walmart has become legendary. Google the two company names together, and you will find enough reading material to keep yourself out of mischief for the foreseeable future.

However, this battle is also a legend in another sense: Amazon and Walmart have become corporate characters in an epic cultural myth of powerful heroes (or anti-heroes) battling it out. And like all myths, the characters and their conflict symbolize something deeper about human society.

Walmart, as the largest retailer in the world, represents the traditional brick and mortar or storefront method of selling merchandise to customers.
Amazon.com, as the largest online retailer in the world, represents the newer electronic business or Internet method of selling merchandise to customers.

Of course, it’s not quite that simple in real life. Walmart does have a large online selling operation. And though Amazon has no “brick and mortar” storefronts, it does use physical buildings to warehouse and ship its products.

But myths and legends don’t get hung up on nitpicky details like that. It is common knowledge that there is a battle royale going on between Walmart and Amazon . . . and that Walmart is the champion representing the old guard method of selling in stores, while Amazon is the champion representing the new wave method of selling online.

Yes, there is a paradigm shift going on in the marketplace.

It is a shift toward spirit.

For more on the spiritual dimensions of the marketplace shift, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Amazon, Amazon.com, brick and mortar, business, electronic business, Internet technology, love, mythology, online retailers, spiritual reality, understanding, virtual reality, Walmart
Posted in Current Events, Money and Business

Self-Esteem is Made to be Broken

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Lee — 11 Comments

Megan Thode

Megan Thode believes that Lehigh University owes her a B.

When instead she received a C+ in a class critical to her intended career as a professional counselor, she challenged the grade through the usual university channels. She even called in her father, Lehigh University finance professor Stephen Thode, to support her case.

The university stuck by Professor Amanda Carr, who had given the C+ grade based on Thode’s poor showing in class.

So Thode took the next logical step.

No, she didn’t re-take the class. She sued the university for $1.3 million. Her claim: that’s how much money she would lose in her career because the C+ grade prevented her from completing her Master’s degree in counseling and human services and becoming a state-certified counselor.

And here’s the kicker: Thode was attending the school tuition-free because of her father’s teaching position there. The university had even given her an on-campus job.

Unfortunately for Ms. Thode, she failed in court as well.

Megan Thode learned the hard way that she’s not so special after all.

I’m not so sure about the old saying, “Rules are made to be broken.” But here’s a new version:

Self-esteem is made to be broken.

For more on the perils and pitfalls of self-esteem, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: children, emotional intelligence, God, Lehigh University, love, Megan Thode, neighbor, psychology, self-esteem, self-image, service, spiritual rebirth, spirituality
Posted in Current Events, Spiritual Growth

Man, Woman, and the Two Creation Stories of Genesis

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Lee — 51 Comments

A reader named Kim left a long and thoughtful comment on my previous post, “What are the Roles of Men and Women toward Each Other and in Society?” This post is a response to that comment—which I’ll quote for you in a minute.

In my previous post I said:

From a literary perspective, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 were not originally meant to be read sequentially. Each is a self-contained creation myth telling its own story. These two ancient creation stories were collected from two different oral traditions, written down, and placed one after the other in the Bible. Despite the valiant efforts of Biblical literalists to harmonize the two as if they were two different angles on same story, they simply don’t agree with each other in the overall order in which God created things or in the details of exactly how God created the earth and all the plants, animals, and humans that populate it.

That paragraph is a compact and simplified version of a very complicated reality. We won’t get into all the complications here. But in order to respond to Kim, we need to look more closely at the two very different creation stories contained in the first two chapters of Genesis. What we’ll find is that attempts to collapse these two stories into one story on a literal level run into serious complications and contradictions.

But as I said in the very next paragraph of my previous post:

From a symbolic and spiritual perspective, though, the two stories harmonize perfectly. They are like two different verses of the same song. The story of the seven days of creation in Genesis 1 and the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2 represent two different phases of human spiritual and social development, one following after the other.

In other words, a literal reading of Genesis 1 and 2 doesn’t work very well. But a spiritual reading gives us great enlightenment on the human condition in general, and on the relationship between man and woman in particular.

First, let’s let Kim speak.

For more on the two creation stories in Genesis, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Adam, Creation, Eve, female submission, gender equality, gender roles, Genesis, male dominance, man, marriage, the Bible, woman
Posted in Sex Marriage Relationships, The Bible Re-Viewed

What are the Roles of Men and Women toward Each Other and in Society?

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Lee — 89 Comments

Man + Woman = Confusion?

There are few issues so hotly debated in today’s society as the roles of men and women toward each other and in society. The arguments range all the way from those who maintain that man is created to rule and woman to serve, to those who maintain that there are no significant differences between men and women besides the physical differences required for human reproduction. In other words, we humans are mightily confused about the roles of women and men!

Traditionalists in the largely Christian parts of the world often point to the Bible in support of their view that man is meant to be in charge and woman is meant to serve man. But a look at how men and women were first created tells a slightly different story!

In many ways, the roles of men and women have not changed all that much over the centuries. Yet today, in this era of change, one thing is new: both women and men have far more choice as to what roles they will play and what they will devote their lives to. The grip of church and state on our personal lives has loosened—and this opens up new possibilities for how men and women will relate to one another, and how we will each contribute to society.

For more on this confusing subject, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Adam, Creation, Eve, female submission, gender equality, gender roles, male dominance, man, marriage, psychology, the Bible, woman, yin yang
Posted in The Bible Re-Viewed

Curses or Consequences: Did God Really Curse Adam and Eve?

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Lee — 57 Comments

There’s an idea afoot that God cursed Adam and Eve because they disobeyed him.

But that’s not what the Bible says.

The whole story unfolds in Genesis chapter 3.

God had said to Adam, “You may freely eat of every tree in the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, for on the day that you eat of it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:16–17).

Eve Tempted by the Serpent, by William Blake

However, after God created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs, and the two of them became husband and wife, that crafty old serpent (really, just a glorified snake) got busy.

That’s where we pick up the story in Genesis 3.

Though Adam was in the garden with Eve, the serpent ignored him completely. Instead, he went to work on Eve: “Did God really say, ‘You may not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Notice the not-so-subtle twisting of God’s words. God had really said, “You may freely eat of every tree in the garden” . . . except one. The serpent ignored that completely, and focused Eve’s attention on that one tree as if it were the only tree in the garden.

Now, some people have complained that God told Adam, not Eve, not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yes, that’s true. But clearly Adam had told his wife: Eve was well aware of God’s prohibition. She replied to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You may not eat of it, nor may you touch it, or you will die” (Genesis 3:2–3). (Ahem! There’s a little trick here about which tree is in the middle of the garden!)

“You will certainly not die,” the serpent said, “for God knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

And in fact, that tree did look mighty tempting to Eve. She ate some of its fruit. (The Bible says nothing about an apple!) Then she gave some to her husband, and he ate it too.

Just as the serpent said, their eyes were opened . . . and they realized with horror that they were naked.

Hold on! That’s not quite what the serpent advertised!

For more on serpents, curses, and consequences, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Adam, curses, Eve, Garden of Eden, God, nakedness, pain, serpent, spiritual rebirth, spirituality, the Bible, tree of knowledge of good and evil, tree of life
Posted in The Bible Re-Viewed

	Fernando on Near-Death Experiences and the…
	Fernando on Where Does Our Soul Come From?…
	Fernando on Where Does Our Soul Come From?…
	Lee on Can We Really Believe the…
	World Questioner on God Is Unconvincing To Smart F…
	World Questioner on God Is Unconvincing To Smart F…
	Lee on Where Does Our Soul Come From?…
	World Questioner on God Is Unconvincing To Smart F…
	World Questioner on God Is Unconvincing To Smart F…
	World Questioner on Mats “Ibelin” Stee…
	World Questioner on Is It Okay to Masturbate in a…
	Lee on How can we have Faith when So…

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Dr. Mary Neal

Share this:

The Magical Mystery Tour

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Man + Woman = Confusion?

Share this:

Share this:

Donate