The Physics of Immortality, Frank. J. Tipler ©19 -- This book is not for the the light hearted reader who wants to be entertained. Quite honestly, I don't understand most of it, which is to say, I must spend much time reading and then re-reading its chapters just to begin to grasp its concepts.
Among numerous physics concepts outlined in his book, Dr. Tipler discusses two major classical scientific recurrance theories that seem to challenge his Omega Point Theory -- the basic notion that progress (whatever that is...) will continue forever. These are: the Eternal Return and the Heat Death theories. According to Tipler, "The Eternal Return says that all events in nature repeat themselves in exact detail again and again. In particular, in the future an exact copy of you, the reader, will read an exact copy of this book again. And this will be repeated again, and again, and again, without limit. There are only a finite number of possibilities, and these will be eternally repeated. Thus there cannot be any continued progress.
"The Heat Death is an invention of nineteenth-century physics. According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, a quantity called entrophy -- a physical quantity which is a measuree of disorder in a system -- always increases or remains the same. It can never decrease. Thus, if the amount of entropy which can be generated in the universe is finite, there must come a time in the future after which no further change is possible. If there were a temperature difference between any two parts of the universe, it would be possible to increase entropy still more, so this final state of maximum entropy would be a state of universal constant temperature. In such a situation, all the energy in the entire universe is in the form of heat; there is no more "available" or free energy in existence. Thus all life must cease and never arise again for all future time." Tipler (p66-67) This happy theory -- (I will call it the lukewarm reality) was first published in 1854 by a German physicist -- Hermann von Helmholtz.
As cosmologist, Tipler writes, "I take the far future of the universe as seriously as I do the early universe. The equations of physics tell us to take the far future seriously, and until I have experimental evidence to the contrary, I shall believe what the equations say. I hope my fellow physicists will do the same.... Many of my fellow physicists have strongly advised me to avoid using words like "God", "Heaven", "free will", and the like. My friends believe these words have been debased by philosophers and theologians into synonyms for 'nonsense'.... The time has come to absorb theology into physics, to make Heaven as real as an electron." (Preface xii - xv)
Well I, for one, find it all interesting and am willing to hear this physicist out!
Glory of the Stars, E. Raymond Capt ©1983 Printing - Artisan Sales -- a study on the meaning of the constellations which make up the Zodiac (in some cultures meaning The Way). Interesting to note, the earliest traditions identifying the constellations of the Zodiac are similar from country to country and continent to continent. This should seem unusual since it suggests a common body of knowledge coursing throughout mankind. After all, isn't it unlikely that while looking up to the skies you would identify The Hunter/ Warrior; The Two-Natured One in Sagittarius; The Serpent; The Virgin; and about 120 different star clusters in total? Nothing in the star groupings even remotely suggests these figures. Honestly, to me, the stars look like a bunch of bright twinkle lights, but to the ancients stars meant The Way. And they could tell you all about The Way.
The oldest records indicate that stars were "for a sign". How is it they were considered signs? Signs, we know, are guide posts along the way intentionally pointing in a direction. So beginning with the constellation Virgo (the Virgin) and continuing in sequence ending with the Lion, Capt draws on commonalities and a basic knowledge of the ancient Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, Hindi, and Chinese cultures. Capt indicates from his research that star names and their meanings in any language still reveal an interesting story.
And why begin with Virgo? Capt writes, "Because the Zodiac is a circle and a circle has no beginning nor ending, the natural question is: Where should we break this circle and begin our story? A clue to the solution is found in the ceiling of the Portico of the Temple of Esneh in Egypt. An ancient circular Zodiac, there, shows a Sphinx having the head of a woman and the body of a lion, placed between the constellations of Virgo and Leo." Capt (p 31)
So in the last year of the 20th Century... the Sphinx, having been the continual focus of hundreds of thousands of hours of rock quarying and weathering studies in the last 100 years by Egyptologists and other archaeologists, the Sphinx construction has been estimated somewhere between 5,000 - 15,000 (or more) years B.C. reaching well beyond and behind the currently accepted Egyptian Dynastic periods... and is quite possibly the key to where this story begins as well as where it all will someday end. Sorry to disappoint those who thought it might be some kind of fancy hood ornament for an extra large off-road desert vehicle.
By the way, does anyone know why we start our educational year each September?
Other Books by E. Raymond Capt:
Great Pyramid Decoded
Stonehenge and Druidism
Jacob's Pillar
The Scottish Declaration of Independence
E. Raymond Capt's books are available at the Artisan Press Homepage.
Tragedy and Hope, Carroll Quigley ©1966 The Macmillian Company -- Over 1300 pages of perhaps the most eye opening account of the world history in this last century that I've ever read. Quigley grapples with the history of the world with all its divergent cultures and influences regularly high-lighting episode upon episode that changed and moved the 20th century forward. Quigley tells how Oxford's brightest and best, Alfred Milner and Cecil Rhodes (as in the prestigious Rhodes scholarships) established societies and associations of helpers for the purposes of influence, acquistion, and increasing wealth. Milner and his famed kindergarten, a class of early Rhodes Scholars, were those who brought us South African apartheid. This kindergarten class learned how to fund both sides of the World Wars (after all, somebody had to, right?)
Tragedy and Hope is a treasure trove for trivial pursuit. For whatever reason the following historical obscurity has stuck in my head. You know that epic movie (made for TV) "Shogun"? Well, we discover those warlord families didn't just pack up their bags and go play golf. Mitsui and Mitsubishi are still around, aren't they?
Finally, if you hadn't realized it before, Quigley recounts how Paul Warburg, architect of the Bank of socialist Germany, was quietly brought ('cause the powers that be in this country would never secretly bring -- nope, never!) he was quietly brought to America to structure our national banking system which would maintain direct connections to the Bank of England, the Bank of France, and the Bank of Germany. In actuality, Warburg created a private bank and gave it the appearance of being owned by the government. And what is that bank? Voila -- the Federal Reserve Bank! So, of course, banks need money. Well, poof -- the Federal Income tax system (IRS) was established the following year. And naturally, money is for spending (or, at least, investing) -- well, duh! Why not have a... a World War I the next year?
Additionally, Quigley details the formation and growth of perhaps the most influential political-elitist "think tank" of the twentieth century -- The Council on Foreign Relations. This exclusive organization totalling less than 3,000 members (the population of an average high school) throughout its complete history, is proud to boast that ALL U.S. Presidents, Vice-Presidents and most Cabinet members of recent decades belong to CFR. Sorta makes you wonder about who's fooling who when it comes to politics and the populus, and free thinking individuals. And since you or I will never be invited to join the Council, why not take advantage of their homepage? But don't believe everything you read!
So when you've read about these interesting topics of deception and political engineerings, you'll only have 1,100 more pages of tid-bits to read! What a Tragedy?!
For the finest presentation of Carroll Quigley found on the Internet, please check out the incredibly interesting homepage of Terrence J. Boyle. Upon Quigley's death, Professor Boyle was entrusted with his papers.You will be impressed with Terrence Boyle's scholarship on a variety of fascinating topics.
Windswept House, Malachi Martin ©19 -- a close associate of Pope John XXII and Cardinal Augustin Bea, Malachi Martin is the author of such national bestsellers as The Jesuits, Vatican, The Final Conclave, and Hostage to the Devil. In the fly leaf of the book you read, Is Windswept House mere fantasy? Too outrageous to be true? Let reviewers answer: "In biblical times," wrote the Dallas Morning News of Malachi Martin, "they would have called him a prophet"; his views, wrote Washington Dateline, "are the stuff of tomorrow's headlines."
If you haven't read Tragedy and Hope (the "wheelings" and "dealing" of geo-politicos who have invented, fashioned, and manipulated history, to their own gain, at the expense of masses of people in nearly every nation)... if you haven't read The Leipzig Connection (about German social philosophy that invaded the American educational system at the turn of the 1900s via Columbia Teachers College, New York City), then the concepts behind Windswept House may seem fanciful, or at least, unfamiliar.
Well, here's an edited excerpt from the Martin's book:
"...But it was Pensabene who had the most resources. And in the intricate scheme to establish special ad hoc Internal Affairs Agencies within the various National and Regional Conferences, it was Pensabene who came up with the key factor.
"'Change agents!'" Pensabene cocked a bony forefinger at Maestroianni and Aureatini at the outset of their very first working session. "If we can install 'change agents' and 'upper-level facilitators' within every ad hoc IAC... we can meet our early timetable. Without them, we haven't a prayer -- if you pardon the expression."
"Pensabene realized that he had a lot of explaining to do to bring his two colleagues up to his level of understanding. On the historical side of the ledger, he told how the concept and implementation of "change agents" and "upper-level facilitators" had appeared first as prime factors in the rise of European dictatorships in the 1920s and 1930s. "Notably,"he observed without apology, "in Joseph Stalin's Soviet empire, in Adolf Hitler's National Socialism regime and in Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime.
"To be accurate, the first page of the methodology was written by the Soviets. Hitler copied them. And, as Hitler's lackey, Mussolini tried to reproduce the Fuhrer's version. The premier educational philosopher of the United States, John Dewey, studied the same methods and came up with his own version. A version tailored for use within two areas that concern us now.
"First, Dewey tailored his methods for use within the educational realm. And second, he tailored them for use within the framework of Western democratic society. What is now called 'social engineering' took on a respectable air."
"Now, as I see it, " Pensabene continued... "[it] is exactly the problem faced by all those earlier theoreticians and practitioners of social engineering. And that problem is simple: How to persuade millions of people to change their outlook so as to fit ideologically into the mold the social engineers have in mind....
"An 'agent of change' might be any number of things. An institution. An organization. A lone individual. It might originate from the public or the private sector -- or sometimes from both.... The purpose of an 'agent of change' is to replace 'old' values and behaviors with 'new' ones. And to do so by using psychologically based techniques developed specifically for the wearing away of attitudinal resistance.
"At some point, the practice of these techniques became known as 'facilitating,' or as 'facilitation.' But the object is always to change a previously held mind-set into a totally new and different mind-set. Even to a mind-set that previously would have been unacceptable and abhorrent.
"...Assuming the 'change agent' is capable, those who regard the new mind-set as a perversion of thought will be few in number. Any such dissenters are left by the wayside. The successful graduates, meanwhile, having emerged from the tutelage of the 'change agent' armed with a total acceptance of the new thinking -- having been 'facilitated,' in other words -- are themselves now rightly regarded ass 'facilitators.' In his role as 'upper-level facilitator,' the 'agent of change' charges the newly converted to repeat the process. To go out into the world and spread their newfound beliefs. To coerce as many others as possible into accepting the 'new' and jettisoning the 'old'. As ever widening layers are formed in the pyramid of change, so too is the desired 'new' thinking formed about values, beliefs, attitudes and behavior.
"At this point, Maestroianni felt it imperative to raise a practical concern. "Our present enterprise is delicate and dangerous. And we haven't the luxury of time. We cannot afford merely to assume such simple success as your 'facilitation' theory implies."
"Pensabene's answer was as practical as the question. In the first place, he pointed out, there was no other model to follow... and in the second place, the process I have outlined is accomplished with relative ease. The basic thing to understand is John Dewey's own explanation of the techniques involved as -- and I believe my quote is exact -- 'a control of the mind and emotions by experimental, not rational means.' The aim is to arouse emotions rather than to stimulate thought or intellectual perception.
"....Having gathered a captive and complaisant audience, the 'change agent' begins by 'freezing' the attention and the experience of the group on its own isolation and vulnerability The second step is to disaggregate, or 'unfreeze.' In this context, that means a distancing from the 'old' values on which the members of the audience once relied. It means, in sum, that those former values are made to seem no longer desirable or suitable. Stage three -- reaggregation -- follow with acceptance of the new structure of thought proposed by the 'facilitator.' The final step is routinization. The new structures of thinking are incorporated into the flow of normal, everyday life.
"My dear your friend... In my happy experience, it is one of the wonders of the human condition that, with a little care and attention, almost anyone can be made to feel isolated and vulnerable. When we planned the hugh changeover in the daily habits of fifty-five million in the United States.... we would have got nowhere without 'change agents' and 'facilitators.' Just think! "Ask yourself, how did it happen in the United States that in the short space of two decades we practically obliterated any effective traces... of life that had been ingrained -- institutionally ingrained! -- for nearly two centuries!" Martin (p 248-251)
So you say, "What's new?!"... or worse... "So what?!" Perhaps, you will no longer remain uncritical of all the processed reality we're spoon fed in daily doses that has captured you, too! But that's kid's stuff in comparison to being unwittingly involved in grand social experiments the likes of Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini. When is the last time you thought YOUR mind and emotions were the subject of another's experiment and control, and not rational means? When is the last time you considered that someone's aim is to arouse emotions rather than to stimulate YOUR thought or intellectual perception? Don't you wonder what the 'change agents' and 'facilitators', the social engineers of today are planning for you? and your family?
Windswept House is worth reading!
Other books by Malachi Martin:
Hostage to the Devil, Martin's scholarly research of the subject of demon possession. About the book, it is written; "The most shattering book on Demonic Possession is Malachi Martin's spellbinding work." -- New York Sunday News. "It makes The Exorcist as sinister as the tooth fairy." -- Chicago Tribune. Trust mme -- You will never again look at a crowd of folks the same ol' same ol' way.
The Sirius Mystery, Robert K.G. Temple ©1987 Destiny Books -- Q: What ancient heathen culture taught western civilization manners? A: The Dogon's of Mali, West Africa. Everybody's heard of Timbuktu, but can you locate it on a map? Imagine western Africa as a circle. In the center of that circle is Timbuktu. That's near the home of the Dogons who for thousands of years have practiced a tradition which includes respect for the star system identified by western astronomers as Sirius, not "A" -- the brightest star seen from Earth; buut, Sirius "B" -- the white dwarf star -- the star we can't see from Earth without the aid of powerful astronomical telescopes. Well, that is unless you're a Dogon with exceptional vision like 20/20trillion, I guess. Go figure?! Western astronomers were only able to take a picture of Sirius B in 1970.
By the way, it's the Dogons' reverential term we are still using today whenever you hear someone say, "Yes, Sir!". Anyway, I know stars have little place in our modern, progressive lives. Nonetheless, living in an artificial world of heating, air conditioning, and even PC's does not ncecssarily a better informed person make -- apparently! The Dogon's deserve more than the usually glib and vacant headed "Gee, that's nice!" kind of glance. Perhaps, one of our next generation will begin to be able to figure what The Sirius Mystery is all about!
The question remains: How is it that for hundreds and hundreds of years a primative culture has ceremoniously kept their knowledge and customs alive only to be affirmed in this technologically "advanced" age? Do they know something we don't know? How's that for Black History Month? I'd say the Dogon's are something to be proud of and to wonder about!
Who Moved the Stone?, Frank Morison. Well, read the book and find out! I ain't gonna tell you everything.
Check out The Los Angeles Central Library
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