UFO on the Moon

 

Youth Restoring Benefits Of NAD+

Science has long sought a way to reverse a mechanism of aging that may not be adequately addressed by healthy lifestyles. Normal aging is accompanied by a noticeable increase in fatigue and loss of motivation. The tiredness we outwardly feel reflects inward impairment of cellular functions critical to sustaining life. NAD+, a compound found in young cells, has been discovered to turn “off” genes that accelerate degenerative processes.

NAD+ is the term used in the scientific literature to describe a cellular compound called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. NAD+ is found in every cell in the body and is essential to life. NAD+ enables the transfer of energy from the foods we eat to vital cell functions. It is also required to “turn off” genes that accelerate degenerative aging processes.

Nicotinamide riboside is a “next-generation” form of vitamin B3 that supports the vitamin’s functions throughout the body by boosting levels of a key metabolic cofactor called NAD+. NAD+ is found in every single cell in the body, and is an absolute requirement for normal, efficient, and safe energy transfer from food to tissues. New discoveries show that NAD+ is also essential for silencing genes for proteins that accelerate aging, such as those involved in inflammation, in fat synthesis and storage, and in blood sugar management. Supporting NAD+ levels with nicotinamide riboside supplementation extends life span in laboratory organisms, while boosting energy, physical performance, and cognition in aging animals.

As NAD+ levels decline, mitochondrial function is impaired, resulting in fewer mitochondria surviving. This vicious cycle of mitochondrial depletion results in many of the physical symptoms of aging. Compelling research shows that NAD+ has a unique ability to protect tissues, induce DNA repair, and increase life span.

It has long been known that NAD+ plays an important role in transferring energy released from glucose and fatty acids to the mitochondria so that it can be converted into cellular energy. Without sufficient NAD+, energy transfer in the cells breaks down, resulting in age-accelerating mitochondrial dysfunction.

NAD+ is an essential cofactor of key enzymes responsible for longevity called sirtuins. While resveratrol is well known for sirtuin activation, evidence indicates it does so indirectly, whereas NAD+ directly activates sirtuins to regulate the genes of aging. Sirtuins, specifically SIRT1 and SIRT3, are intimately related to longevity through their control of gene expression and require NAD+ for their activity.

Research into the sirtuins continues to yield substantial information on how to control aging. By activating these sirtuins, we’re able to gain control over one of our body’s anti-aging “switches.” SIRT enzymes “turn off” certain genes that promote aging, such as those involved in inflammation, in fat synthesis and storage, and in blood sugar management. SIRT enzymes are activated by calorie restriction, the proven means of reliably extending life span in all organisms. The way calorie restriction activates anti-aging sirtuins is by increasing cellular NAD+.

NAD+ is also required for turning off genes that accelerate aging. From a cellular energy standpoint, lower levels of NAD+ reduce mitochondrial function, with fewer energy-rich ATP molecules being produced, and fewer mitochondria produced. This vicious cycle results in many of the physical symptoms of aging.

The age-related decrease in NAD+ causes defects in both energy- and gene-related functions to accumulate. These defects feed on one another to produce the disorders we typically identify as aging. The consequences of a decline in NAD+ levels and subsequent reduction in SIRT 1 and SIRT 3 enzymes include:

• Neurodegeneration in the brain,

• Vascular inflammation, producing damage to blood vessels that can result in stroke or heart attack,

• Increased fat storage in the liver, which can lead to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD),

• Increased fat production and deposition in white adipose tissue, the primary fat storage form found in dangerous belly fat,

• Insulin resistance, preventing cells from appropriately removing glucose from blood, producing higher blood sugar levels and leading directly to metabolic syndrome,

• Fatigue, loss of muscle strength, and fatty infiltration of muscles, resulting in reduced fatty acid oxidation (“burning”), thereby depriving muscles of their normal sources of energy.

To avoid these degenerative processes, it is essential that steps be taken to optimize the amount of NAD+ in our bodies. By increasing intracellular NAD+ levels, age-related mitochondrial dysfunction can be reversed. One of the ways to accomplish this is by engaging in major calorie restriction, which has been proven to raise NAD+ levels and in experimental organisms tested to date, to extend life span. Unfortunately, most people find significant calorie restriction to be nearly impossible in practice.

Researchers have discovered a form of vitamin B3 that converts in the body to NAD+. Vitamin B3 is involved in over 400 enzymatic reactions throughout the body and is essential for production and management of cellular energy. A new patented form of this vitamin called nicotinamide riboside has been found to increase NAD+ levels and in the process, provide an extraordinary range of longevity benefits that promises to change how we combat aging.

Directly boosting NAD+ with nicotinamide riboside presents a new and effective strategy for preventing the natural decline in cellular energy as we age by promoting youthful vitality. Studies have shown that nicotinamide riboside switches “off” the genes of aging, extends life span, increases endurance, improves cognitive function, activates sirtuins, and enhances cellular energy. These benefits add up to a system-wide slowing and reversal of certain aging processes. Nicotinamide riboside accomplishes this NAD+ boosting effect without the irritating skin flushing and rash caused by the standard forms of vitamin B3.

Nicotinamide riboside is a dynamic compound that works through multiple mechanisms to promote life extension. Most dramatic are its effects on longevity and metabolism, as shown by recent laboratory studies. One critical mechanism in oxygen-consuming organisms is mitochondrial function. Mitochondria, the tiny, intracellular “furnaces” that power cellular processes, are sites of intense electrical and chemical activity. They can readily “burn out,” contributing to the aging of tissues, and hence, of organs and entire organisms.

Nicotinamide riboside supplementation raises levels of the NAD+ needed to safely move electrons through the mitochondria. We have long known that ineffective mitochondrial electron transport is an age-accelerating process. Supplementation with nicotinamide riboside produces a significant increase in essential NAD+ levels, resulting in the activation of the critical life span-extending enzymes SIRT1 and SIRT3. Supplementation with nicotinamide riboside also improved the numbers and function of mitochondria, the intracellular powerhouses that release energy from food; poor mitochondrial function is a known age-accelerator.

Nicotinamide riboside has also been shown to protect brain cells. As cases of dementia and Alzheimer’s reach epidemic proportions in the aging population, pharmaceutical companies are aggressively researching brain protective compounds. Nicotinamide riboside with its ability to directly increase NAD+ is providing promising brain benefits. The mechanisms by which these effects are achieved were found to include significant increases in brain levels of NAD+, and consequently activated enzymes involved in cellular energy production and energy release from glucose.

In a similar study of neuroprotection, nicotinamide riboside was shown to delay the degeneration of axons, the “communication cables” of nerve cells that carry impulses over long distances. When these communication cables deteriorate, tingling, weakness, numbness, and loss of motor function can occur as a result. The mechanism behind this benefit was shown to be a significant 20-fold increase in the enzyme that converts nicotinamide riboside to NAD+.

So, restoring NAD+ by supplementing NAD+ intermediates can dramatically ameliorate these age-associated functional defects, counteracting many diseases of aging, including neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, the combination of sirtuin activation and NAD+ intermediate supplementation may be an effective anti-aging intervention, providing hope to aging societies worldwide.

In summary, researchers have discovered and patented a no-flush form of vitamin B3 that is revolutionizing the field of aging research. Unlike earlier forms of this vitamin, nicotinamide riboside has been found to provide an extraordinary range of impressive longevity benefits that promise to change how science approaches the reduction of aging.

Studies have shown that nicotinamide riboside switches “off” the genes of aging, extends life span, increases endurance, improves cognitive function, activates sirtuins, and enhances cellular energy.

As we age, and our NAD+ levels dramatically decline, we begin to experience fatigue and are more susceptible to neurodegeneration and cellular dysfunction. What makes the nicotinamide riboside form of vitamin B3 so unique is that once it is processed by the body it immediately converts into the powerful molecule NAD+.

Nicotinamide riboside accomplishes this NAD+ boosting effect without the irritating skin flushing and rash caused by the standard forms of vitamin B3.

If you feel increasingly lethargic or unmotivated as you age, you can probably blame your falling NAD+ levels, which result in reduced cellular energy production.

Directly boosting NAD+ with nicotinamide riboside presents a new and effective strategy for preventing the natural decline in cellular energy as we age by promoting youthful vitality.

adapted from article by Scott Rahway at LifeExtension.com in the November 2014 magazine issue

Peace

The Paradox Of Reality And Our Current Times

The extreme madness that has been our world since 2020 shows no signs of relenting. This is a framework that seems to some to be contrived, pre-planned and intent on reaching a very specific outcome, and one that certainly does not bode well for the human species.

AKA, “evil agenda” “population control,” “Global enslavement”… there have been numerous names assigned to this apparent meticulously calculated program, if such a plan indeed exists.

One individual might observe this “madness,” and conclude that we are doomed; this is evil at it’s core and nothing more.

Another might observe that the agenda is a well planned lesson designed to wake up humanity visa vie a reality that only “appears” to be bad, and therefore must be understood as only a species-wide litmus test, which ultimately is for our highest good.

A third individual may entertain both angles, acknowledging that both are equally true and thus choose to use the opportunity to fuse opposites together and turn the madness into magic (The Alchemist).

It was American novelist and philosopher F. Scott Fitzgerald who said, “The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” – from the essay The Crack Up

When you understand that this level of reality presents a paradox (or puzzle), and you treat it as such, you can indeed combine two seeming opposites in order to create a new reality, and one that you greatly prefer.

But here’s the kicker. It was a narrative included in the final scene of the Adjustment Bureau (SPOILER ALERT AHEAD) that perhaps says it all about the true nature of this Matrix:

“Most people live life on the path we [The Agents] set for them, too afraid to explore any other. But once in a while people like you [character: David Norris] come along who knock down all the obstacles we put in your way. People who realize free will is a gift that you’ll never know how to use until you fight for it. I think that’s the chairman’s [Head of the Adjustment Bureau] real plan. That maybe one day, we won’t write the plan, you will.”

Imagine that all that’s going on right now may just be Universe’s way (though harsh as it may be) of showing us how to use our God-given free will through the unimaginable Matrix of crisis, challenge, and a plan that appears to have nothing but evil intent?

Imagine if the plan even included a cast of characters who appeared to design the evil agenda with an expectation of complete control and the loss of freedom and free will? And imagine, how that script would turn on a dime (to its opposite) if we individually and collectively knocked down all the obstacles they put in our way?

Could this be the real plan? Could it be that this Matrix was actually designed to escape?

Whatever the master plan, I think it behooves us all to at least consider the possibility. Better yet, explore it with action and intent. And then not only we will know what free will truly means, we will experience once and for all that the Matrix is nothing more than a relative construct of reality, designed to be relegated to the annals of illusion and the only thing that is real is your consciousness to choose to create your reality as you see fit.

by Alexis Brooks at https://higherjourneys.com/escape-the-matrix/

A Glimpse Into The Empty Awareness

We think of ourselves as individuals whose objective of existing on this planet is to fulfill some purpose. It can either be a material or a spiritual pursuit. The idea is to become something better than what we are right now in this moment.

But this idea of an individual with its associated wants, needs, and desires comes from the mind's contents as thinking. The thinking mind creates personas as the external situations routinely influence it.

The way we see ourselves is nothing more than a memory construct. Suppose if all of our memory was magically wiped out, what would remain? Would you still exist?

It is something that happened, apparently to what is referred to as "me." At some point in my life journey, I started losing my sense of personal self or what I called "me." Until a moment when everything disappeared instantaneously.

It is incredibly challenging to put this so-called experience into words. It was like everything was happening without a center of consciousness. The personal energy - the sense of me was absent in the apparent happening.

I could hear voices, see things, feel other sensations, but there was no individual to experience any of those. All of it was happening. As this understanding deepened, a transition occurred from phenomenality to stillness - something that I can vaguely describe as empty awareness.

I saw myself not as the mind's contents but as the boundless awareness that felt like unconditional love. A love that did not require a subject and an object in time. But as the eternal and timeless presence.

However, this was not a continuous experience. Soon, I was back in the world, and my mind started contemplating what it was. If that was me, then who is this entity here thinking about it? And the answer came like lightning in an instant, "I AM" is all there is.

"I AM" is the consciousness that is the substratum of all phenomenality. It is not a force but a supreme reality. The relative "I-thought," on the other hand, arises as an object appears in the sensory awareness. For example, when angry, we say, "I am" angry, when happy, "I am" happy, and so on.

The relative "I-thought" is a pseudo subject that always appears in the presence of an object of experience. The experience object can either be physical, like a beach view, or subtle, like a thought, feeling, or emotion. When we say, "I am thinking," it's not the same as "I AM."

The "I AM" is the singular impersonal thought. It's self-luminous and doesn't require an object of experience to show up. No matter how much I try, I cannot prove its existence, for it's not an object. It comes as a direct experience of empty awareness.

That said, the individual identified by the name Jagjot still continues. I continue in the same living conditions as earlier, but I completely understand that I am not the doer of my actions. Everything is happening, and happening itself is an appearance in duality or phenomenality.

This understanding doesn't make me unique or special in any way. But it brings a great sense of relief as knowing that I am not the doer relieves the psychophysical organism (me) from the burden of success or the guilt of failure.

There is a sense of detachment or desirelessness that does not proceed from a cause. Everything happens as before: anger, sadness, anxiety, happiness, sexual urges, etc., but without a sense of personal identification with any of these.

The difference is that the afflicting emotions remain mild and do not acquire a destructive tone. The involvement gets cut-off as soon as any destructive impulse arises.

With the realization that everything is apparently happening on the screen of consciousness, there's actually no one here doing anything in particular. It's all happening. It's nothing and everything at the same time.

How does this understanding impact our relationships? If we're not the doer of our actions, even the others are not. So when someone is rude or unkind, I would do whatever needs to be done in that particular situation, but I will not hold a feeling of hate or resentment towards them.

What I mean is that nothing can stop the body from experiencing pain. But there's no suffering as involvement or thinking propagated in linear time is cut-off as soon as it appears in consciousness.

Therefore, I am at peace accepting the fact that pain and pleasure are the interconnected opposites of duality that we cannot manipulate to serve the ego-mind. Every manipulation has consequences: good or bad, and they're fleeting.

Non-duality is not a solution to the problems of duality. It dissolves the duality by annihilating the illusory personal self. The mind-body complex continues as earlier and is subject to nature's forces, but the suffering individual is no more.

Any attempt to grasp it by reducing it to an object is a cunning ploy of ego-mind. We desire to grasp something we perceive as fancy. I don't consider myself a teacher, nor do I have a method or prescription to make you experience this awareness.

A mind trying to awaken another mind is doership at its best. All it will do is reduce this experience to a figment of imagination, or worse, a hallucination.

A glimpse into the empty awareness reveals what one cannot learn over multiple lifetimes. The only way to experience this non-experience or stateless state is to see it directly for what it is. It requires complete attention to "what is."

by Jagjot Singh at mindfulnessquest.com

Gary Robbins' Backyard 100M

 

What Can One Person Do?

The world is a mess. What can a person who cares very much about the world and the people around them do to contribute to making a difference in bringing about a positive outcome?

First and foremost, each of us needs to understand that one person can make a huge difference. Each of us has the power to change the world. One determined person can make a significant difference; a group of determined individuals can change the course of history. It begins with one – you, me, each of us.

Each of us is empowered at birth to make a difference in this life. It is a birthright. No one is a victim. There have never been any victims. Each of us creates our own reality. This is not a time to blame others for the way things are, but to take responsibility for the fact that the world is the way it is because we have allowed it to happen.

What are you going to do about it? Are we going to sit there and play victim, or are we going to say no, we have educated ourselves and understand what is going on. We understand that maybe we have not taken enough action and become involved up until this point. Are you prepared to say that from this point forward you are going to make a change?

Are you ready to say enough is enough? Are you ready to take action and unite with others of like mind and resolve and face the things that to this point have been very uncomfortable to stand up to with the intention of shedding light on the darkness of the world that we encounter? Are you ready to do something about returning the world to a place of Light and Peace and Love and Harmony and Unity that we deserve to live in?

You have the power to make change happen right now, in your lifetime... if you choose to do that.

Embracing AI

The most significant limitation that we as humans must deal with in this complex, accelerated reality that we find ourselves rapt in today is our own cognitive power. It's always been the same thing – across all of time, across all circumstances, across all cultures – the limiting factor for all of humanity comes down to how much we can think. We have run up against this insurmountable barrier, however, where we are building complexity faster than we can decipher and deal with it. The only way that human cognitive power can go forward against that complexity is if we augment our cognitive power with artificial intelligence.

It is artificial intelligence that is going to allow us to evolve to the next stage in our progression as a species. Failing to successfully incorporate the adoption of artificial intelligence and recognizing that cognitive power is truly the scarcest resource on this planet and should be hoarded and cherished, failing to optimize our social orders to do just that, we may be at a point of risk of not successfully evolving to the next stage of our development.

The human brain picks up somewhere on the order of five billion impressions each day. Of those, how many do you think you actually give attention to? Probably no more than you can count on the fingers of both hands. What if you could augment the management of what is going on in the world around you with some form or artificial intelligence that would bring to your attention items that you choose to prioritize? Would it tend to make you more efficient or successful in how you engage the world?

The world is moving faster than we can respond to it. Already we have reached our cognitive threshold. Short of being modified to be super humans with genius IQ's the realm of artificial intelligence may be our ticket to moving forward in a world that may otherwise leave humans behind. That digital voice in your watch that reminds you not to eat that sugary dessert at the risk of accelerating health problems may not only be your savior, but may be the very technology necessary to springboard humanity into the next step in our evolution.

Obedience and the Rise of Authoritarianism

"You have to be willing to stand up to people who are going to oppose you. You have to be willing to defy yourself and to defy the crowd.” ~ Pascal Koole

"Authoritarianism in religion and science, let alone politics, is becoming increasingly accepted, not particularly because so many people explicitly believe in it but because they feel themselves individually powerless and anxious. So what else can one do…except follow the mass political leader…or follow the authority of customs, public opinion, and social expectations?”

Rollo May, Man’s Search for Himself

The American psychologist Rollo May wrote these words in 1953, and in the decades that followed the West tiptoed into tyranny. A mass surveillance state was established, free speech gave way to increasing levels of censorship, statist bureaucracy and stifling regulations invaded ever more areas of life, and tax rates reached levels that in the past would have caused a revolution. However, in recent years this tiptoe into tyranny has turned into a sprint, as some Western countries are flirting with full-blown totalitarian rule. (Take a look at Canada in the past week.) But the existence of power hungry and psychologically disturbed politicians who desire total control is not what makes our situation particularly precarious, for such individuals exist in all ages. Rather, our troubles lie with the fact that very few people posses the one virtue that can turn the tide back in the direction of freedom, that being, the virtue of courage. And as A.S. warned in 1978:

“A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days…Should one point out that from ancient times declining courage has been considered the beginning of the end?”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, A World Split Apart

In this video we are going to explore how a hyper-conformity and blind obedience has infected the West and, in the process, crowded out the cultivation of courage. We will discuss how a widespread cowardice is permitting the rise of authoritarianism, and how a rebirth of courage is the antidote to our precarious political predicament.

The pathological conformity that infects the West is generations in the making and the result of a confluence of factors. It is driven by a value system in which social validation occupies a pre-eminent position. It is furthered by the use of social media and the fact that success on these platforms is achieved by virtue signalling and conforming to the moral flavours of the day. It is also a product of of an education system which deifies the democratic ideal and promotes the rights of the majority over the rights of the individual.  These factors, combined with others, has created a society of hyper-conformists, and as the psychologist Rollo May explained:

“The opposite to courage…in our particular age, is automaton conformity.”

Rollo May, Man’s Search for Himself

One of the ways that Western conformity manifests is through a blind obedience and a pathological need to follow rules. Most people believe that to be a good person is to be a compliant person and to do what one is told by those in positions of political power and their lackeys in the media and celebrity culture. In acting with blind obedience, the conformist fails to differentiate between morality and legality and so remains willfully ignorant of the fact that government rules can be immoral, driven by corruption, and that sometimes they pave the way for individual and social ruin. Or as Rollo May explains:

“…our particular problem in the present day…is an overwhelming tendency toward conformity… In such times ethics tend more and more to be identified with obedience. One is “good” to the extent that one obeys the dictates of society… It is as though the more unquestioning obedience the better…But what really is ethical about obedience? If one’s goal were simple obedience, one could train a dog to fulfill the requirements very well.”

Rollo May, Man’s Search for Himself

To see other people exercise independent judgment, self-responsibility and self-reliance, disturbs the conformist’s belief in the value of obedience and so threatens their sense of self. It is not the case, therefore, that the conformist obeys while permitting others the freedom to make their own choice, rather, as Stanley Feldman explains in a paper titled Enforcing Conformity:

“…people who value social conformity… support the government when it wants to increase its control over social behavior and punish nonconformity…valuing social conformity increases the motivation for placing restrictions on behavior…the desire for social freedom is now subservient to the enforcement of social norms and rules. Thus, groups will be targeted for repression to the extent that they challenge social conformity…

Stanley Feldman, Enforcing Social Conformity: A Theory of Authoritarianism

When a majority advocates for the government enforcement of conformity, a society places itself on what the psychologist Ervin Staub called a continuum of destruction. As the government uses coercion and force to punish a noncompliant minority, the majority rationalizes their support of such authoritarian measures by further demonizing the noncompliant, thus leading to increasingly severe government measures.

“One psychological consequence of harm-doing is further devaluation of victims…people tend to assume that victims have earned their suffering by their actions or character.” (Staub)

Ervin Staub, The Psychology of Good and Evil

In several countries in the 20^th century, such as the Soviet Union, Turkey, Germany, Cambodia and China, government measures such as banning certain minority groups from restaurants, pubs, cafes, and other public spaces, imposing curfews, expelling them from their jobs, forcing them to pay fines, and restricting their freedom of movement and assembly, functioned as the first steps on a continuum of destruction that ended in mass-scapegoating, mass-imprisonment and mass-murder. In his book the Psychology of Good and Evil, Ervin Staub elaborates on the psychological mechanism that facilitates a continuum of destruction.

“How does harmful behavior become the norm?…Doing harm to a good person or passively witnessing it is inconsistent with a feeling of responsibility for the welfare of others and the belief in a just world. Inconsistency troubles us. We minimize it by reducing our concern for the welfare of those we harm or allow to suffer. We devalue them, justify their suffering by their evil nature or by higher ideals. A changed view of the victims, changed attitude toward that suffering, and changed self-concept result.” 

Ervin Staub, The Psychology of Good and Evil

To counter the continuum of destruction that is a product of too-much conformity and too-much government force, more people need to act with moral courage. Moral courage entails a willingness to encounter risks so as to defy immoral orders, reject authoritarian government control, and to stand up for the disappearing values of truth, freedom, and justice. And as Rushworth Kidder explains in his book Moral Courage:

“Where there’s no danger, there’s no courage…Anyone can “endure” security and well-being. The real challenges…arise in the face of hazard… So it is with moral courage, where danger is endured for the sake of an overarching commitment to conscience, principles, or core values.

Rushworth Kidder, Moral Courage

Some acts of moral courage are accompanied by mild risks, such as being ridiculed, insulted or ostracized. If, for example, we speak out against a status quo belief in the presence of a group of conformists, or if we refuse to adhere to social practices or mandates that are immoral or idiotic, we may lose friends or attract choice words from the obedient. But this is a small price to pay in exchange for doing what we believe is right, for as Rollo May explains:

“The hallmark of courage in our age of conformity is the capacity to stand on one’s own convictions…”

Rollo May, Man’s Search for Himself

However, sometimes acts of moral courage are accompanied by more grave risks including, but not limited to, the loss of employment, physical or financial penalties, imprisonment, or in some cases, even death.

“Of all the agonizing ethical dilemmas facing humanity,” writes Rushworth Kidder, “few are more wrenching than the choice between what’s right for the world and what’s right for [you and] your family.”

Rushworth Kidder, Moral Courage

Carl Jung called the men and women willing to confront great dangers in defiance of tyranny “the true leaders of mankind”. And to learn about the mindset of one of these leaders we can turn to the story of Viktor Pestov.

In 1967 Pestov was a 20-year-old living in the Soviet Union. His family was well off by Soviet standards, and his mother was a high-ranking member of the KGB. Yet Pestov could not avert his eyes from the boot of tyranny that was crushing society and so he took a keen interest in political matters, and when Soviet tanks rode into Czechoslovakia and violently stamped out the human rights protest known as the Prague Spring, Pestov told his friend:

“We must do something about this.”

Viktor Pestov, Quoted in Moral Courage by Rushworth Kidder

Pestov and his brother set up a clandestine group called “Free Russia”, and he warned those who joined that they would likely be arrested within the year. Yet all agreed that the battle for freedom justified the risk, and so they began publishing pamphlets exposing the lies of the Soviet Regime and snuck out in the dead of night to distribute them. The KGB quickly identified the group as a threat and in 1970 Pestov was arrested, his mother was fired from the KGB and never allowed to work in Russia again, and Pestov was sentenced to 5 years in a Soviet prison camp.

Pestov decided to stand up to the Soviet Regime and therein place himself, and inadvertently his mother, in great danger, because he could not in good conscience sit idly by as a corrupt regime of thousands destroyed the lives of millions. He understood that if he did not stand up for the freedom of others, he could not expect others to stand up for his, and that if nobody did anything, everyone was doomed. And so, he chose to face danger, to fight for freedom, and to place a portion of the fate of society on his back. He saw himself as fighting against the malevolent idea that: “someone will think for you, someone will make decisions for you”, and as he explained:

“A person should be the master of his own fate.”

Viktor Pestov, Quoted in Moral Courage by Rushworth Kidder

In a conversation with Rushworth Kidder, Pestov reflected on the grave dangers he voluntarily faced and on the 5 years he spent in prison:

“I believe I did the right thing, I wasn’t silent. I was saying and doing what I had to do. There was a very small contribution of mine to the fact that the Communists were pushed out of power.”

Viktor Pestov, Quoted in Moral Courage by Rushworth Kidder

Unless more people can muster up the moral courage to renounce conformity in favor of standing up for freedom and for what is right, and at the very least make a small contribution to combating tyranny, Western societies will continue moving towards what Ayn Rand called the stage of the ultimate inversion. Or as she warns:

“We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.”

Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

posted at https://academyofideas.com on January 26, 2022

New Age Prospectus

All the important news is good.

The universe is a friendly place which is designed to support us completely.

We are immersed in a benevolent cosmic ecosystem, a God-process, which is uncomplicatedly benign and which nourishes us at every level of our being.

Everything is alive. Everything is intelligent. Everything is conscious.

Everything is changing. Everything is improving. Everything is becoming more.

The universe is richly inhabited with positive beings of light, many of who are far more advanced than we are. Their mission and their joy is to welcome us, nurture us, heal us, protect us, guide us and assist us in our evolutionary return to the internal experience of Godhead.

There is nothing wrong with us; at the level of our core essence we are perfect.

We are held softly in the understanding arms of inclusion. We are comprehensively loved at all times, whatever we think or do.

Everything we need has been thought of by those who know us better than we know ourselves.

Everything we need is immediately available to us if we ask.

All is well and all will be well.

from https://alcuinbramerton.blogspot.com/2005/08/new-age-prospectus.html

Emerging Transhumanism

The pandemic is coming to an end, but consider that it is only because the Covid experiment has achieved its objective. The Cabal may have achieved a critical mass of vaxxed individuals worldwide, taken down economies enough, and delivered enough of their TRANSHUMAN INJECTION so that a critical mass of humans are now carriers, or cyborgs, essentially under their electromagnetic control.

The Covid bioweapon is finally injected…shot into the bloodstream of willing participants in an “experiment” where a large percentage of the public has subliminally volunteered to be bioengineered into transhumans/supersoldiers. Many will die from the gene-altering injections; those who survive may find themselves morphing into transhumans.

Lest you think you are in the clear because you didn't get the jab, understand that the graphene oxide and spike protein delivery system will continue to jump from person to person, even through casual contact. The likelihood is that enough people will either die of the injection or become transhuman cyborgs in the coming years to give any dark forces with a controlling agenda enough controllable transhuman bodies to further their evil plot.

It’s completely possible that the unfolding Ukraine situation is actually a perfect set up for a war where transhuman soldiers can be tested on a real battlefield, a kind of war game where most of those playing it are very likely already vaxxed. As the world grows more transhuman by the day this could be a war gamed in real life and a way of testing how successful their program has become. All the world is a stage - or a game field – that may allow the puppet masters to move to the next stage in their experiment.

One psychic/healer recently said she could “smell covid in the air” when she landed in Los Angeles. They continue spraying this as a MICRO DUST in NANO PARTICLES via chem trails, focusing on specific targeted population centers.

THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM NANO MICRODUST. Perhaps only our recognition that nano in and of itself has consciousness and can be reasoned with may be the only thing that allows the human species to survive intact. Think of it the way you would WATER as per the experiments of Masaru Emoto. Our greatest weapon against transhumansism may in fact be our own emotional makeup... and prayer, as demonstrated by Emoto with water.

Sulforaphane

A molecule found in home-grown sprouts is documented to activate nervous system stem cells to regrow nerve tissue and repair damaged nerves and brains. This molecule is created automatically, at zero cost, when broccoli sprouts are sprouted using something as simple as a mason jar and a sprouting lid.

The molecule is called sulforaphane, and it’s found in all cruciferous vegetables. But its highest concentrations (by far) are found in broccoli sprouts.

Sulforaphane is just one of many “neuritogenic” molecules that are known to regenerate nerve tissue and help repair damaged brains. Given that mRNA spike protein vaccines cause direct damage to neurological and vascular systems, sulforaphane may represent one of the most important, promising natural molecules to help repair and restore brain damage in vaccine victims.

GreenMedInfo.com has done extensive research on sulforaphane and other natural molecules. Their list of neuritogenic substances, found at this link, shows all the following substances exhibiting documented neurological repair capabilities:

• Lion’s Mane (mushroom)

• Green Coffee Bean

• Ubiquinol

• Curcumin

• Puerarin

• EGCG

• Jujube

• Gensenosides

• Cannabinoids

Green Med Info has also published an overview of sulforaphane and its brain repair mechanisms as documented in published science. From that story:

The researchers determined the optimal concentration range of sulforaphane in promoting neural stem cell (NSC) growth without harming neurons. The researchers determined that “Concentrations of less than 5 mM did not induce cytotoxic e?ects, but rather potentially promote the growth of NSCs.”

The term 5 mM means 5 milli-molar which is a reference to the concentration of sulforaphane in blood. 5 milli-molar is 5 thousands of a Mole. A Mole is a set number of molecules in one liter of a solution, regardless of molecular weight.

Although this depends a lot on body weight, we think it wouldn’t require much consumption of broccoli sprouts to achieve 5 mM concentrations in the blood of a person.

When neural stem cells were exposed to sulforaphane, they transformed into neurons. From the Green Med Info article: …exposing NSCs to sulforaphane resulted in their differentiation [into] neurons, lending powerful support to the hypothesis that sulforaphane could stimulate brain repair.

This means that sulforaphane is a kind of molecular “activator” that causes neural stem cells to become neurons. This is how damaged brain cells are regrown.

And for anyone who thinks you can’t grow brain cells, you already did it once. Your entire brain was grown from nothing, in your mother’s womb. A similar process grew your heart, lungs, bones, nerve cells and so on. Every human body knows how to regrow nerve cells. Otherwise, humans wouldn’t exist.

Because God and Mother Nature gave us all the medicine we need, you can “manufacture” your own sulforaphane for mere pennies and literally transform air into sulforaphane through the use of broccoli sprouts.

1. Buy broccoli sprouts, a mason jar and a sprouting lid.

2. Put about a tablespoon of broccoli spouting seeds into a mason jar, rinse with water, affix the sprouting lid and turn it upside to drain the water.

3. Keep the sprouting jar upside down. Once a day, rinse with water and drain.

4. In a few days, you have broccoli sprouts with loads of sulforaphane.

You can then eat the sprouts, use them in salads, blend them into smoothies, drop them into soups or whatever you want to do. Sulforaphane is a very robust molecule and it’s somewhat difficult to destroy, so don’t think you have to treat it like a delicate, fragile substance. Blending sprouts does not destroy their molecules. That’s because these molecules are very, very small.

You can multiply the sulforaphane production by up to 10 times by spraying your sprouts with a low-cost source of sulfur. While broccoli sprouts create sulforaphane from the air by grabbing carbon, oxygen and nitrogen from atmosphere, they need a source of sulfur, which is absorbed through roots.

Sulforaphane also exhibits powerful anti-cancer properties. GreenMedInfo lists the best properties of this molecule as reflected in published medical literature. It shows that sulforaphane is documented to help with:

• oxidative stress

• inflammation

• prostate cancer

• breast cancer

• colon cancer

• autism

• pancreatic cancer

• diabetes type-2

• DNA damage

• bladder cancer

• insulin resistance

… and many other conditions.

Everyone can make unlimited quantities of sulforaphane for nearly free. No person needs to wait for a doctor’s permission to grow and eat broccoli sprouts. You don’t need health insurance coverage or a visit to the (toxic) pharmacy.

Even better, corrupt, pharma-infested governments of the world can’t take away your broccoli sprouts unless they go full tyranny and start banning seeds. Even then, seeds are pretty easy to hide from government thugs.

posted on January 28, 2022, by Mike Adams at NaturalNews.com

Paradigms are Made for Shifting

“A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels…” ~Albert Einstein, N.Y. Times, 1946

Over the course of the last hundred years, Western scientists have given us a deeper view of the universe, of life and nature as a creative and unified self-organizing process. Unfortunately, most modern societies are still operating with outdated ideas and assumptions, that do not reflect this new paradigm.

Albert Einstein understood this, as have many others. In order to survive as a species, it is essential that we shift paradigms, developing ways of thinking (and behaving) that are more aligned with how human life and Nature’s systems actually work.

Every “thing” that exists in our universe is a dynamic complex system, interdependently connected to other systems, constantly moving and changing, less a static “thing” than an evolving and transforming creative process.

We see galaxies and hurricanes spinning, continents moving, societies changing, children growing, rivers flowing, artists creating, friendships forming, flowers unfolding. This is how Nature evolves, grows and changes, with everything connected interdependently, constantly transforming… atoms and molecules drifting together, then moving apart, re-organizing as if the whole Universe were alive.

Modern Systems Sciences are now converging on a unified understanding that helps us to recognize patterns, processes and principles that apply to a wide range of physical structures that exist all around us. Human beings are a living part of this, we exist as creative expressions of complex interconnected systems changing and evolving in our Universe.

This has given rise to a new appreciation of our relationship to the Cosmos, a deeper understanding (and spiritual experience) for many scientists of ourselves as part of a greater whole. As Einstein put it, “I like to experience the universe as one harmonious whole. Every cell has life. Matter, too, has life; it is energy solidified.”

The Emerging Systems View Has Ancient Roots

Similar views of Nature’s Paradigm have arisen in other cultures and ages. Almost two thousand years ago, the Roman philosopher Cicero, spoke of the Universe as a unified field of interdependent relationships, writing “Omnia vivunt, omnia inter se conexa” that “Everything is alive, everything is interconnected.”

The emperor Marcus Aurelius shared a similar perception, of the whole Universe as a single living being:

“Never forget that the universe is a single living organism possessed of one substance and one soul, holding all things suspended in a single consciousness and creating all things with a single purpose that they might work together spinning and weaving and knotting whatever comes to pass.”

In ancient China, the philosopher Lao Tsu described the Universe as being a unified flowing process, guided by what he called the Tao, or the “Way” of Nature. The goal of Taoist philosophy is to align with this way, to learn how to balance opposing forces, to think (and move) in harmony with the Natural world and the rest of the Universe.

In the 1800’s, American Transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman shared a similar view with their words and poetry. Like the artist Vincent Van Gogh, they saw the Universe and Nature as a flowing unity, an ever-changing cosmic whole.

“Every particular in nature, a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole. Each particle is a microcosm, and faithfully renders the likeness of the world.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the 20th century, Albert Einstein (and other scientists) have communicated this understanding to us, that the beautiful evolving structures in our lives (and the greater Universe) form an interdependent unity, that all the parts (including ourselves) that we had thought to be separate are in reality interconnected. Modern systems thinker Fritjof Capra describes the emerging systems paradigm in science this way:

“We have discovered that the material world, ultimately, is a network of inseparable patterns of relationships. We have also discovered that the planet as a whole is a living, self-regulating system. The view of the human body as a machine and of the mind as a separate entity is being replaced by one that sees not only the brain, but also the immune system, the bodily organs, and even each cell as a living, cognitive system. And with the new emphasis on complexity, non-linearity, and patterns of organization, a new science of qualities is slowly emerging. We call this new science ‘the systems view of life’ because it involves a new kind of thinking – thinking in terms of relationships, patterns, and context. In science, this way of thinking is known as ‘systems thinking’, or ‘systemic thinking’.”

Humanity’s Guiding Paradigm Needs to Shift

Unfortunately, our connection to (and appreciation for) the cosmic web of natural systems that supports us (and has brought us into being) is not given much attention in the mundane affairs, militaristic concerns and materialistic power games of high technology civilizations.

Most modern humans are so absorbed in politics, wars, careers, technological innovations, addictive pleasures and quests for economic dominance (or security) that they rarely reflect upon (or feel gratitude for) our interdependence with Nature and the rest of the Universe. It just does not seem to be a top value or priority.

At work our experiences are compartmentalized by units of time and deadlines, focusing people’s attention on mundane tasks that need to get done. At home we are overwhelmed with finances, chores, domestic worries, interpersonal struggles and endless daily problems that need solving. Rarely do we feel we “have time” to look out the window and experience a sense of connection to the wider Cosmos. 

In schools the focus is on testing and the collection of data, to prepare young people for college and careers. We teach our children the names of the parts of their physical bodies and structures in Nature, but don’t put much emphasis on having them experience the
Universe as a whole or understand their relationship to all that exists.

They are taught that ecology, physics, biology, astronomy, economics, sociology, psychology, politics, history, religion, art, literature, poetry and chemistry are
completely separate fields (and should be kept that way). Everything is divided up into pieces, all knowledge to be memorized, categorized and compartmentalized.

Rarely are children taught how these pieces fit together. There is little or no discussion of how modern Science’s emerging view of the Universe as a unified whole relates to the art of Van Gogh, the philosophy of Lao Tsu, the religion of the Romans, the spiritual ideas of Albert Einstein or the poetry of Walt Whitman.  

Few get a sense of the big picture of Science or the spiritual implications, how their biological growth is an expression of universal creativity, guided by the DNA of ancestors, nurtured by their mothers’ bodies, with cellular systems running on solar energy passed along by glucose molecules from the leaves of plants that captured photons from our nearest star, the sun. 

Civilization’s Dominant Paradigm is Focused on Economic Survival

Materialistic societies are so focused on economic survival that most people don’t pay attention to the interconnections and synergistic processes that support our lives. This is especially true in hierarchical “civilized” cultures with languages that developed (over the centuries) in order to keep economies running, not to help us feel a sense of unity and connection with Nature or the Universe.

“People normally cut reality into compartments, and so are unable to see the interdependence of all phenomena. To see one in all and all in one is to break through the great barrier which narrows one’s perception of reality.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Our minds are trained to divide the world up into dualistic categories such as right/wrong, good/evil, winner/loser, developed/primitive, winners/losers and us/them, unaware that these are conceptual projections of our belief systems, not actual characteristics of the world.

The rigid categories of our language systems influence how we think (and feel) about everything around us. We see ourselves as separate from fellow human beings, and the Universe to which we belong.

Perhaps because the dominant warrior civilizations have been so successful at wars and conquests, we have come to see problems as something we must battle rather than understand more holistically, or as symptoms of our predatory and compartmentalized ways of thinking.

As the agricultural revolution led to a surge in human populations, it must have been especially difficult for European & Middle Eastern nations, where a hostile invasion by one’s neighbors could happen at any time. One of the sad truths of history has been that tribes and cultures that learned to peacefully coexist ran the risk of being conquered, enslaved or exterminated by violent neighbors.

As a result, members of successful warrior civilizations have tended to ignore important natural processes and interdependent connections that exist but don’t fit with their survival priorities, essentials of life that don’t respond well to power games and manipulation.

“The difficulty is this fragmentation.. All thought is broken up into bits… Therefore, people cannot see that they are creating a problem and then apparently trying to solve it… Wholeness is a kind of attitude or approach to the whole of life. If we can have a coherent approach to reality then reality will respond coherently to us.” ~David Bohm

It’s like Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall, once predatory civilizations came to view the Universe as distinct objects and little pieces, their members no longer experienced a sense of connection to the whole. Technologically “advanced” cultures became successful at constructing machines and dominating others, losing touch with the natural rhythms, ecological interdependence and organic oneness of the world.

It’s a tragic paradox. Highly intelligent, yet ignorant of connections, we have created a host of seemingly insolvable problems for ourselves and others. Because unless one truly understands the nature and root causes of problems, one cannot solve them. We can create machines, build incredible technologies, and yet are like idiots when it comes to solving problems that involve complex natural systems and living beings.

“This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” ~Albert Einstein

We Cannot Solve Complex Problems Unless We First Understand Them

The field of medicine, for example, while excelling at surgery (which requires a deep understanding of how the body’s systems are organically structured) puts great emphasis on using drugs to suppress the symptoms of “illnesses.”  

What is ignored is that our bodies have a natural wisdom and intelligence, they “know” how to grow, heal and care for themselves, to maintain balance, grow and regenerate.

Our bodies are masterpieces of biology, that have evolved over millions of years with the capability to maintain and self-regulate their health. When these natural abilities are ignored– for example when nutrition, exercise and diet are not given proper attention or people ingest toxic substances– then problems like obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease arise.

When it comes to education, human children have a natural curiosity and love of learning, they have magnificent self-organizing brains that seek to understand the world’s patterns and develop complex skills.

In the early years this natural learning process is supported by parents and families, but not as much by society’s mechanistically structured institutions of schooling.

As a result many young people are turned off by formal schooling, believing themselves to be stupid or failures. But there is nothing wrong (or stupid) about a human child. We are all miraculous works of nature, the result of millions of years of evolutionary development and fine tuning. 

“You are something that the Whole Universe is doing, in the same way that a wave is something that the Whole Ocean is doing…” ~Alan Watts

It’s those in positions of authority attempting to program children like machines, that destroy their natural love of learning. Children will learn quickly, enjoyably and easily when their natural curiosity, creativity and interests are encouraged and respected.

When young people fail to learn (or are discouraged by schooling) its adults forcing inappropriate methods and mechanistic systems (out of touch with reality) that have failed, not the children. 

The kinds of problems we see in health care and education exist in other “civilized” institutions as well. In each case, its often a lack of compassion and “ignorance” about the interdependent nature of reality (and how natural systems work) that creates many of our “modern” problems.

Wars happen when human beings hold on to past grievances, identify with tribal loyalties, wish to protect (or acquire) territory or seek revenge. To kill fellow human beings requires a closing of the heart and a compartmentalization of thinking, seeing the world as a battle between “us” and “them.”  

The sacredness of life is temporarily forgotten, the core teachings of our spiritual traditions (and the truth that humans are part of one interconnected family) ignored. 

Environmental pollution and destruction occur when the health and harmony of Nature is not respected (or prioritized). Again, its a matter of thinking we are somehow separate from the rest of the planet that surrounds us. When human beings don’t support the natural balance of ecosystems, it’s usually because we fail to keep in mind that the harm we do to the natural world we also do to all future generations, and ourselves.

Economic problems are also linked to civilization’s compartmentalized and selfish ways of thinking. It’s an extension of the way emperors and kings have thought for over two thousand years.

Wealth inequalities arise when a few people seek to dominate others, to accumulate (and then hoard) resources for themselves, without caring about their sisters and brothers in surrounding communities who require an equitable share of that wealth to live happy and healthy lives. 

In a sense, human communities and nations are like physical bodies. In a body every cell requires a fair share of the energy in order to thrive. When a group of cells take more than their share, without concern for the rest of the body,  the health of the body is damaged and becomes unstable.

In any complex unified system, natural balance and harmony is a priority, and chaos will arise until it is restored. Human history over the last few thousand years is in large part the story of this imbalance.

Most social problems arise from these inequities and the compartmentalized thinking that perpetuates our ignorance.

Drug abuse, crime, violent revolutions, terrorism and other such “disturbances” down through history flow from the extreme wealth and power imbalance of complex hierarchical civilizations. They are directly related to the poverty, oppression and unhappiness associated with those on the bottom end of wealth inequality and oppression.

“Creating a society that goes against human nature is what creates the suffering… We live in a completely unnatural society, that actually tramples on what it means to be a human being. That’s the essence of suffering, and there are so many ways in which our society does that.”  ~Dr Gabor Mate

When people are healthy, happy and leading meaningful lives such behaviors are less likely to arise, and can be calmed quickly. This does not require a forced political solution (such as Communism) as much as a change of mindset, and greater compassion. If more people in positions of power and dominance began to think differently and care more, the problems associated with poverty could be solved, quickly.

The Reality We Create Arises From Our World Views and Beliefs

Humans organize the world based on our beliefs and perceptions. If we see a world at war, a world of winners and losers, of competition (and battle over resources ) we respond that way, defensively and aggressively.

If we view the world as a place where everyone is a member of our extended family, where everything in the Universe is interconnected ecologically and holistically, we will respond more compassionately and generously.

The challenge for humanity now is to transform and transcend our fractured views of the world, to shift paradigms, to return to a more wise and holistic understanding of ourselves and our place in the Universe.

A change in thinking and behavior will result naturally from a change of heart. As Einstein put it, “Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

“As a species, we are on the cusp of an evolutionary choice. Standing at the dawn of this perfect storm, we find ourselves at the beginning of a process of civilizational transition. As the old paradigm dies, a new paradigm is born. And many people around the world are already making the evolutionary choice to step away from the old, and embrace the new.”~Nafeez Ahmed

Once enough of us open our minds and collaborate together, there’s a good chance we’ll find many of our problems can be solved quite easily. By aligning our species with the wisdom of Nature (and our own hearts), the health of our planet and communities could be restored.

We just need to recognize our interdependence with the rest of the Universe, be more generous and grateful, care about one another, re-evaluate our priorities and change the way we think.

Posted on October 19, 2015, by Christopher Chase at https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com

“Learn how to see, realize that everything connects to everything else.”~Leonardo Da Vinci

“What is needed to launch our societies along the humanistic path is some sort of evolutionary compass. Some way of guiding our efforts so that they are in tune with, aligned with, the general evolutionary processes of which we are a part… So rather than seek to dominate the planet, the quest becomes one of dynamic harmonization, of evolutionary consonance, in short, of syntony. The evolutionary compass, then, would be one that points our way toward syntonious pathways for future creation.”~Alexander Laszlo

“The greatest revolution of our time is in the way we see the world. The mechanistic paradigm underlying the Industrial Growth Society gives way to the realization that we belong to a living, self-organizing cosmos.” ~Joanna Macy

“You are not IN the universe, you ARE the universe, an intrinsic part of it. Ultimately you are not a person, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself. What an amazing miracle.” ~Eckhart Tolle