Your house

When there's a water leak in your house, what do you do?

Cult and religion? "Original sin" of a religion?

As a follow up of my previous post, I'll trace back a bit and look at how a religion is formed. By looking into the difference between a religion and a cult, we see a critical problem of a religion.

religions? Religion?

When people found out my major as religion, they often asked me: Which religion are you studying? After I've told them that I study all kinds of religions, they would then follow up with this question: Do you believe in God? I don't think most of them were satisfied by my answer. Maybe this is what they were looking for.

I Challenge Common Sense Killer!

I haven't been updating this blog actively for the past few months because of some conflicts I have with myself. I've finally admitted that I have those conflicts late last night (I'm slow, I know) and action is what follows. I'm giving myself several challenges to do in order to break free of my old habits. The first and major one is:

No random web surfing for 7 days straight

One of the addictions that I have is continually browsing the web for no particular reason (be it on youtube, forums or the comments section of news articles).  And before I knew it I've spent 2 or 3 hours sitting there practically doing nothing.

So unless I have some specific need of going on to a website (checking what's on sale is NOT a need), I'll not open my web browser, at least not for the next 7 days.  Some other minor challenges also started today.

I'll also have a new series of posts about definitions of some slippery terms.  What is reality?  What is a fact, a truth?  What is a person?  What is a mind?

I've read a lot of books and know a lot of things about the world and what not.  But until I've experienced them, they are nothing but knowledge that does nothing for me.  I need to convert knowledge into wisdom.  In other words,  I could read about how to drive a car all I want, but it's when I actually drive one that I would know how it's really like. 

I won't stop seeking knowledge, but my focus is more on myself right now.  This blog is now a personal journal.

The Map Is A Lie!

View Larger Map

1. Look at the world map taken from Google maps above.  Looks familiar, right?
2. Look at that huge land to North America's upper right.  That's Greenland.
3. Look at Africa; it seems like Africa is about the size of Greenland.

Now consider this fact:

Africa is 14 times larger than Greenland.

Size of Africa: 30,221,532 sq km
Size of Greenland: 2,166,086 sq km
30,221,532 / 2,166,086 = 13.95
(Data from CIA and Wikipedia)

Now look at the Google map again.  What the hell is going on?  Answer after the jump.

[R#4] So How Many Books Are Written By Doctors About Reincarnation? A LOT.

Here's a list of books that are:

1. about reincarnation
2. written by physicians
3. highly rated on Amazon.com

I've only used 30 minutes or so to form the list so this is just a small portion of what's out there.  It's a really tiny portion if we include those written by professors, scientists, mediums, journalists, etc.  I'm not suggesting that those written by other professions aren't worth checking out but for this post I want to list books that examine reincarnation from the perspective of physicians.  Most if not all of these authors/physicians didn't believe in the notion of reincarnation since they were raised in Western culture.

Some might say that these physicians are just doing it to gain publicity. But let's have a reality check, "supernatural" phenomenons are still considered to be a taboo to discuss in our scientific community. And don't get me started on how people look at me when I talk about these things. Although it's not as bad as 20 years ago, these physicians were risking their careers to reveal these cases.  Go ahead and read any one of them, you won't regret it whether you believe it or not.  I've read 5 books from this list after the jump.  Go go go.

Researchers Achieve Quantum Teleportation Over 10 Miles Of Empty Space (News Article)

Remember the phenomenon of quantum entanglement I mentioned in the previous post about quantum mechanics?  No?  It's rather simple actually.  Two objects, not connected in any way perceivable, become entangled with each other.  Whatever happens to one would affect the other instantaneously (meaning faster than the speed of light).  The distance between the objects does not matter.  The concept itself is simple enough, the difficult thing is accepting the fact that it's real.  Einstein refused to accept this, calling it "spooky action".  This is what people called supernatural, it's reality and it makes this headline.

Not to confuse anyone, the transportation itself can only travel at the speed of light or slower.
 

[R#3] Book Review - Many Lives, Many Masters

Many Lives, Many Masters is the first book I've encountered of this kind.  I remember it was sometime in 2007 when I accidentally saw the Chinese version of the book and bought it in curiosity.  At that time, I thought reincarnation is nothing but a baseless belief.  You could imagine how shocking I was when I saw the description of the book claiming firmly that reincarnation is real.  Questions started popping up in my mind: "If it's proven, why isn't it on the news?"  "If it's real, why hasn't anybody tell me about it yet?"  "Could our commonsense be wrong all this time?"

This book was published in 1988 when I was only 2.  I only read about a few dozens pages of the book at that time to fulfill my curiosity.  My conclusion was that "reincarnation could be real" but I didn't go in depth since I don't like reading translations plus I didn't realize what it could mean to my way of living.  It wasn't until early last year that I started truth seeking and finished reading the English version of this book.

Unlike the previous book review, I'll summarize the first third of the book and you'll be the judge on whatever you want.  So go ahead and

[R#2] Another Boy Remembers Past Life (Video)

What would you do if your child starts talking about being another person in great details?

I actually like this documentary better than the previous one; it has less interpretation, more observation.  Videos after the jump.

[R#1] Boy Remembers Past Life (Video)

Simply put, this documentary presents a strong case.  You have two ways to react after watching it.

1. Believe that reincarnation is real or at least there's something more out there
2. Reject the entire account: "His parents are lying (or delusive)!"

The latter was what the professor at the end of the documentary chose in an attempt to explain this phenomenon on the basis of... commonsense.

'Starving Yogi' Astounds Indian Scientists

After being monitored 24/7 for 10 straight days without ANY food and water in 2003 (it's mentioned in part 4 of the documentary about the "Buddha boy"), Prahlad Jani is being tested by scientists once again; this time for 15 days.  Read the article about it after the jump.

How Quantum Mechanics Contradicts Our Commonsense Beliefs

In earlier posts, I talked about the significance of quantum mechanics to our technology advancements and reviewed the book- Quantum Enigma.  However, I missed the most important point; I didn't explain how exactly quantum mechanics is contrary to our common senses.  I'll try my best to keep the explanation short and simple, so even I could understand it.  If you don't like to read (at least watch the cartoon), skip to the last part where I list what the quantum mechanics is strongly suggesting.

Human Sensing Surroundings Like A Bat. (Video)

Philosopher, Thomas Nagel, is famous for asking "What is it like to be a bat?"  The answer is "we don't have a freaking clue".  But we're one step closer to feel like a bat with our ability of echolocation.  This is not news, it's been formally known and studied as early as the 1950s.  Just don't ask me why is it not widely known in 2010. Video after the jump.

Random Rant

Are we free?

Boy Meditated For Months Without Food And Water. o_O (Video)

If you want your mind to be blown away, this documentary is your best bet.  This boy, Ram Bahadur Bomjon, in India was claimed to be able to survive without any food and water for months, a team from the discovery channel went and investigate.  Let me give you a heads-up, no they didn't take the boy away and analyzed him.  BUT in the later parts of the documentary, another man claimed that he could survive without any food and water.  So they locked him up and monitored him 24/7 for 10 straight days without ANY food and water.  Without spoiling everything in the documentary, let's just say that he didn't die.

Watch these vids and have your mind blown away.

Dear NDE Skeptics,

This post is for those who doubt the possibility of our consciousness being able to leave our body. (Check the previous post about Near-Death Experience)  It's also for those who do believe it since more convincing reasons won't hurt.

Christmas Tree = Tradition?

Not in the 19th century.  Christmas trees were popularized during the 1600s in Germany.  Over the years, the practice was spread across Europe but it wasn't until the 1800s that the first Christmas tree appeared in the US.  And most people didn't even like it.  Cleveland, Ohio 1851, a reverend who had recently emigrated from Germany put up a Christmas tree in his local church.  He was roundly condemned since nobody before had ever put up a Christmas tree in an American church.  For the rest of the 19th century, Christmas tree remains controversial.  New York Times editorialized against the Christmas tree in the 1880s.  When Teddy Roosevelt became president he denounced the practice of cutting down trees for Christmas, declaring the practice a waste of timber.

Evidences Of Consciousness Existing Outside Of Body (Video)

Last post, the book 'Quantum Enigma' explains how physics encounters consciousness.  Now this documentary has people talking about being conscious OUT OF THEIR BODIES.  This extraordinary documentary made by BBC explores cases of NDE (Near-Death Experience) and does it well.  There are a bunch of PhDs trying to figure the phenomenon out on both sides.  Just go watch it after the jump.  You know you want to.

Quantum Mechanics Blew Up Hiroshima And Nagasaki Of Japan

Our modern technology won't be possible if not for the biggest breakthrough in science of the last century, the discovery of quantum mechanics.

That's right; your PCs, cellphones, TVs, DVDs, iPods, damn nuclear weapons, and almost any electronic you can think of are possible because of quantum mechanics. Some of its contributions after the jump:

Common Sense: Time Is The Same For Everyone

Fact: Moving clock ticks slower.

This fact is long been known for but hardly anyone knows about it. This phenomenon, time dilation, arises when: