Merkabah

[Skarekrow]

I love "is the house burning down?" That is great. I remember I got myself caught up in a crisis-mode mentality while I was waiting for my dad to die. I was constantly bracing for the inevitable call, and I completely shut down all "non-crucial" mental systems to conserve energy so I would be prepared to handle any emergency that came up. Even after he died, I felt like I was running on emergency backup systems, like all the lights inside of me had been turned off, and I was just doing the bare minimum I needed to do to keep my job, just going through the motions. It's funny to me how easy it is to fall into a mental habit like that and not even realize there's another way to be.




This sounds so challenging! To not be able to do those physical activities would be very difficult. I admire your commitment and persistence. On halting the downward spiral, I'm no expert but I have been working on recognizing signs that I'm getting out of balance. The earlier I can catch it, the easier it is to turn around. For me, I tend to get very caught up in my mind, and it can help me to take some sort of action in the physical world. Sometimes it's as simple as just washing the dishes, or taking care of some other mundane chore. When I'm feeling drawn away from the present and into the past or future, I often start to feel very disconnected from my physical body, so anything that can bring me back in and ground me physically is helpful.

My Dad passed away in 2008 and those last few weeks it was kind of…any minute now…but that lasted and lasted…when he finally did pass away, my body shut me down…gave me a terrible migraine…I believe it was forcing me to just lay still in the dark…to let that tension go.
They leave such a gap in life don’t they?
The pain dulls with time…but their absence never seems to leave.

I clean and do exactly what you explained as well…the dishes or whatnot…totally.
I find that singing is my own best medicine!
I put music on here all day long…even when I did surgery, I had to have some music going.
Studies show that not only does listening to music stimulate your Dopamine receptors…but just anticipating listening releases it too!
Singing…adds a third factor as it can really stimulate the Dopamine providing you are really singing with emotion!
I need my music.
It’s the best way for me to feel happier in general.

All my life I have felt like I was just a bit more melancholy than the rest of them…and I have come to accept this about myself…the music picks me up to a higher idle I guess you could say.

 

[Skarekrow]

 

[Skarekrow]

 

[sprinkles]

[MENTION=5045]Skarekrow[/MENTION]
[video=youtube;glKrZHSnAvA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glKrZHSnAvA[/video]

How are you doing?

I planted a broccoli patch today and my hands are a bit swollen and sore but yet I feel invigorated. Wanted to do lettuce too but that'll have to be another day.

 

[Skarekrow]

@Skarekrow
[video=youtube;glKrZHSnAvA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glKrZHSnAvA[/video]

How are you doing?

I planted a broccoli patch today and my hands are a bit swollen and sore but yet I feel invigorated. Wanted to do lettuce too but that'll have to be another day.

That makes sense…not only are such activities good for our brain chemistry, but the microbes in the soil work as a natural antidepressant surprisingly or unsurprisingly enough - http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm

I’m okay.
Still healing…getting frustrated with myself a lot…being impatient…haha.
The way I feel throughout the day varies from hour to hour, but I still feel is moving in the right direction.
Getting more strength back, more energy…though it takes me a minute to build up the qi to do something sometimes.
The appetite is almost back to normal which is fantastic…it’s hard to get your strength back when you are force-feeding yourself.
That’s about it…feeling positive most of the time…still have little bouts of depression that try to pop in, but I am pretty good at recognizing this and doing things to correct it.

Yep…that’s it.

How about you??
Sorry your hands hurt!
Sounds like you are going to have a great garden! You should take pictures when it’s in full growing mode!
(Gotta pop out to do some chores, but will write you back in a few if you respond while I’m out!)

 

[sprinkles]

That makes sense…not only are such activities good for our brain chemistry, but the microbes in the soil work as a natural antidepressant surprisingly or unsurprisingly enough - http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm

I’m okay.
Still healing…getting frustrated with myself a lot…being impatient…haha.
I way I feel throughout the day varies from hour to hour, but I still feel is moving in the right direction.
Getting more strength back, more energy…though it takes me a minute to build up the qi to do something sometimes.
The appetite is almost back to normal which is fantastic…it’s hard to get your strength back when you are force-feeding yourself.
That’s about it…feeling positive most of the time…still have little bouts of depression that try to pop in, but I am pretty good at recognizing this and doing things to correct it.

Yep…that’s it.

How about you??
Sorry your hands hurt!
Sounds like you are going to have a great garden! You should take pictures when it’s in full growing mode!
(Gotta pop out to do some chores, but will write you back in a few if you respond while I’m out!)

I'm really good. A little excited that I'll have plenty of work to do this spring and summer.

 

[Skarekrow]

I'm really good. A little excited that I'll have plenty of work to do this spring and summer.

That is so great!
The plan here is to rip out the back lawn and install french drains since all the houses here were originally built on marshland (gee, I wonder why the backyard is a swampy mess in the winter and beginning of spring?), so we can have NORMAL soil back there for the whole year.
I have been planting vegetables along the side of the house in past years, which has worked out great…the soil (when the rains chill out) here makes shit grow like you wouldn’t believe…I have always had an excess of vegetables even when planting a single thing like summer squash or tomatoes.
Anyhow…one day, I would like to have a really kick ass garden in the backyard along with growing a bunch of bizarre plants as well…hehe.
Some fun poisonous plants if I can get ahold of them.

What all have you planted so far? Just the broccoli?
We have to wait till almost June to plant here…but we seem to always more than enough time for them to grow and produce.

 

[Skarekrow]

I now feel validated.

Well, Duh: Why Sarcastic People Are Actually Proven To Be Smarter

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been called a “smart ass” over my 22 years of existence, I’d probably be sipping montrachet off the coast of Saint-Tropez right now, instead of writing this piece.

That title never really offended me, though; I’m a sarcastic piece of sh*t, I say it proudly [cue B-Rabbit voice].
That’s just how I was brought up.

Not to mention I’ve been called worse things, and quite frankly, “smart ass” sort of has a ring to it.
It also might be dead on balls accurate [cue Mona Lisa Vito voice].

According to Smithsonian Mag, generally speaking, we “smart asses” ARE, in fact, scientifically smarter.
Oh, the irony.

How is sarcasm linked with intelligence, you might ask?
Well, think about it like this: Sarcasm, in its rawest form, is stating one thing, but truly implying something else.

Typically the opposite.
For instance, the first time I listened through Yeezus in full, I remember thinking to myself: “Well, Kanye’s humble.”

Obviously, I was being sarcastic.
In actuality, Kanye West’s ego has been fed so thoroughly over the past couple of years – you would think it just tried the Paleo Diet and relapsed.

Having said that, the irony of sarcastic statements provokes emotion – and as the vocal sample in “Bound 2″ faded out – my buddy and I shared a laugh thinking about “Kanye” and the word “humble” being used in the same sentence.

See, that’s how sarcasm works, and why it’s correlated with intellect.
It’s a two-step process.

To use, and detect, sarcasm, you need to grasp not just the scenario in front of you – but also aspects of that scenario that might be lacking.
As Richard Chin of Smithsonian writes, sarcasm requires a series of “mental gymnastics.”

Sarcastic, satirical or ironic statements all compel the brain to “think beyond the literal meaning of the words and understand that the speaker may be thinking of something entirely different.”

Thus, in a way, sarcasm forces us to think one step ahead – a notion that science defends.
In one experiment, by attaching electrodes to the brain and monitoring their activity (in response to sarcastic and non-sarcastic statements), electrical activity levels were increased when test subjects were exposed to sarcasm.

Over time, this increased bulk of cognitive-expenditure doesn’t go to waste.
Chin describes active sarcasm use as a means of “mental exercise,” which is useful because it provides us with an illusory comparison.

Think about abdominal crunches.
If you do a few sets of 100 each night, over time, your core is bound to be toned.

Sarcasm, as a form of “mental exercise,” functions the same way.
Over time, that “extra work” brought forth by sarcasm leaves our brains toned, too.

As you can see, it’s by no accident that Dwight Schrute sits atop the ranks of salesmen, as top dawg at Dunder Mifflin.
And as for the failures of a one George Costanza – well, like with all things, there are exceptions.

For the most part, however, sarcasm is not only linked to intelligence – but also to aggression.
In a separate study, conducted by cognitive psychologist Albert Katz at the University of Western Ontario, those more “fluent” in sarcasm also scored higher on aggression tests.

As Katz suggests, one reason behind this finding is that aggressive people can “decode” that two-step process of sarcasm-perception, more quickly.
Still, while these findings might encourage you to add a little (or a lot of) snark to your daily interactions, I suggest doing so with caution.

While you may think you’re being clever, there’s a good chance you might end up being the only one laughing.
That’s the risk you take every time you decide to speak tongue-in-cheek.

For that reason, always substantiate the “sarcasm-gauge” of those around you.
As much as sarcasm is linked with, and can be easily detected by, smart people – keep in mind, the world is full of stupid people who won’t always appreciate your snide quips.

I, for one, will always appreciate your sarcasm – and, moreover, commend you for it.
Not only are you providing humor to the “smart asses” around you, but you’re also doing mental calisthenics for yourself.

Please, don’t ever change.

 

[sprinkles]

That is so great!
The plan here is to rip out the back lawn and install french drains since all the houses here were originally built on marshland (gee, I wonder why the backyard is a swampy mess in the winter and beginning of spring?), so we can have NORMAL soil back there for the whole year.
I have been planting vegetables along the side of the house in past years, which has worked out great…the soil (when the rains chill out) here makes shit grow like you wouldn’t believe…I have always had an excess of vegetables even when planting a single thing like summer squash or tomatoes.
Anyhow…one day, I would like to have a really kick ass garden in the backyard along with growing a bunch of bizarre plants as well…hehe.
Some fun poisonous plants if I can get ahold of them.

What all have you planted so far? Just the broccoli?
We have to wait till almost June to plant here…but we seem to always more than enough time for them to grow and produce.

Just the broccoli so far. I was going to do lettuce and broccoli but the digging started to get to me.

I've got a ton of stuff to plant. Three kinds of lettuce, green onions, snow peas, green beans, beefsteak tomatoes, roma tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, hot peppers, and some lavender for the patio.

Edit: I also bought blueberry and blackberry bushes.

 

[Skarekrow]

Just the broccoli so far. I was going to do lettuce and broccoli but the digging started to get to me.

I've got a ton of stuff to plant. Three kinds of lettuce, green onions, snow peas, green beans, beefsteak tomatoes, roma tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, hot peppers, and some lavender for the patio.

Edit: I also bought blueberry and blackberry bushes.

We have so many wild blackberry vines around here!
They grow all over the place like weeds..hehe.

That sounds like a great garden!
I planted a blueberry bush at my old place…it would produce berries every other year…but don’t count on it the first year for sure…I guess they spend the first year or two even working on an extensive rooting system…then they will produce.

 

[Skarekrow]

 

[Skarekrow]

New Paper Solves Black Hole Paradox,
Suggests They Don't Erase Information After All

We all may need to change our metaphors.
Talk of paperwork "disappearing into a black hole" is wrong, a new paper claims.

As it turns out, information is preserved in black holes far better than by an incompetent bureaucracy.
The theory, published in Physical Review Letters, could also resolve one of the great paradoxes of cosmology, one that dates back to the work that first brought Stephen Hawking's to world attention.

For decades cosmologists have been upset by the problem that black holes destroy information about the materials that went into making them.
Black holes are defined simply by their mass, charge and spin.

If so, there is no way of telling which combination of elements produced the black hole in the first place.
On the other hand, quantum theory says that information is always preserved, to the extent that it is theoretically possible to take the information available about an object and construct its past.

This is problematic enough, but Hawking made the whole thing worse by demonstrating that black holes leak radiation.
A black hole can leak so much it will eventually eliminate itself, at which point this lost radiation is the only possible store for the information about what made it up.

In 2004, Hawking conceded he had been wrong, but the debate about how, or even whether, information can be preserved within black holes hasn't stopped. In Physical Review Letters, University of Buffalo PhD student Anshul Saini argues that the radiation black holes emit, known as Hawking radiation, is not random as Hawking thought.

Instead, Siani concludes that to understand what went into a hole's formation you need to not only look at the particles released in Hawking radiation, but the way they interact with each other.

This can include the gravitational attraction and the light transmitted between one particle and another.
“These correlations start very small, but then grow in time,” the authors write.

"These correlations were often ignored in related calculations since they were thought to be small and not capable of making a significant difference," says Dr. Dejan Stojkovic, Saini's supervisor and co-author on the paper.

"Our explicit calculations show that though the correlations start off very small, they grow in time and become large enough to change the outcome."
Physicists have overwhelmingly come to the conclusion that the information within black holes must survive so that it would be possible to “run the tape backwards,” but they did this on the basis of confidence in the general rule of information preservation.

Attempts, including those by Hawking himself, to demonstrate how the information could be obtained by an observer have generally not convinced others.
In practice, learning about the components that make up the hole would be an almost impossible task; any observer would need to collect particles radiated in all directions as well as the mediators like photons and gravitons that shape their interactions.

However, for cosmologists such practicalities are a trifle–what is important is that the laws of conservation are preserved.

 

[Skarekrow]

The interactive map is here (just click on it) -
http://io9.com/a-map-showing-ufo-hot-spots-across-the-united-states-1695952067
​

 

[Skarekrow]

No link found between psychedelics and psychosis

In large US survey, users of LSD and similar drugs were no more likely to have mental-health conditions than other respondents.

​

Data from population surveys in the United States challenge public fears that psychedelic drugs such as LSD can lead to psychosis and other mental-health conditions and to increased risk of suicide, two studies have found[SUP]1, 2[/SUP].

In the first study, clinical psychologists Pål-Ørjan Johansen and Teri Suzanne Krebs, both at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, scoured data from the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual random sample of the general population, and analysed answers from more than 135,000 people who took part in surveys from 2008 to 2011.

Of those, 14% described themselves as having used at any point in their lives any of the three ‘classic’ psychedelics: LSD, psilocybin (the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms) and mescaline (found in the peyote and San Pedro cacti).

The researchers found that individuals in this group were not at increased risk of developing 11 indicators of mental-health problems such as schizophrenia, psychosis, depression, anxiety disorders and suicide attempts.

Their paper appears in the March issue of the Journal of Psychopharmacology[SUP]1[/SUP].

The findings are likely to raise eyebrows.
Fears that psychedelics can lead to psychosis date to the 1960s, with widespread reports of “acid casualties” in the mainstream news.

But Krebs says that because psychotic disorders are relatively prevalent, affecting about one in 50 people, correlations can often be mistaken for causations. “Psychedelics are psychologically intense, and many people will blame anything that happens for the rest of their lives on a psychedelic experience.”

The three substances Johansen and Krebs looked at all act through the brain’s serotonin 2A receptor.
The authors did not include ketamine, PCP, MDMA, fly agaric mushrooms, DMT or other drugs that fall broadly into the category of hallucinogens, because they act on other receptors and have different modes of biochemical action.

Ketamine and PCP, for example, act on the NMDA receptor and are both known to be addictive and to cause severe physical harms, such as damage to the bladder[SUP]3[/SUP].

“Absolutely, people can become addicted to drugs like ketamine or PCP, and the effects can be very destructive. We restricted our study to the ‘classic psychedelics’ to clarify the findings,” says Johansen.

The 'acid casualty' myth

“This study assures us that there were not widespread ‘acid casualties’ in the 1960s,” says Charles Grob, a paediatric psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

He has long has advocated the therapeutic use of psychedelics, such as administering psilocybin to treat anxiety in terminal-stage cancer[SUP]4[/SUP].
But he has concerns about Krebs and Johansen’s overall conclusions, he says, because individual cases of adverse effects use can and do occur.

For example, people may develop hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD), a ‘trip’ that never seems to end, involving incessant distortions in the visual field, shimmering lights and coloured dots. “I’ve seen a number of people with these symptoms following a psychedelic experience, and it can be a very serious condition,” says Grob.

Krebs and Johansen, however, point to studies that have found symptoms of HPPD in people who have never used psychedelics[SUP]5[/SUP].
The second of the new two studies, also published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology[SUP]2[/SUP], looked at 190,000 NSDUH respondents from 2008 to 2012.

It also found that the classic psychedelics were not associated with adverse mental-health outcomes.
In addition, it found that people who had used LSD and psilocybin had lower lifetime rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

“We are not claiming that no individuals have ever been harmed by psychedelics,” says author Matthew Johnson, an associate professor in the Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. “Anecdotes about acid casualties can be very powerful — but these instances are rare,” he says.

At the population level, he says, the data suggest that the harms of psychedelics “have been overstated”.

Nature doi:10.1038/nature.2015.16968


References

• Johansen, P. Ø. & Krebs, T. S. J. Psychopharmacol.http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269881114568039 (2015).
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• Hendricks, P. S., Thorne, C. B., Clark, C. B., Coombs, D. W. & Johnson, M. W. J. Psychopharmacol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269881114565653 (2015).
  Show context
• Morgan, C. J. et al. Addiction 107, 27–38 (2012).
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  Show context
• Grob, C. S. et al. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 68, 71–78 (2011).
  • Article
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  • ChemPort
  Show context
• Schankin, C. J. et al. Brain 137, 1419–1428 (2014).
  • Article
  • PubMed
  • ISI
  Show context
  

 

[Skarekrow]

 

[Skarekrow]

 

[Skarekrow]

The Interesting Origins Of The Word “Abracadabra”

Abracadabra!

The word that’s synonymous with magic actually has an interesting origin, finding its roots back in the 2nd century AD.
While the exact origins of the word are still up for debate, one of the oldest records found comes from a Roman sage named Serenus Sommonicus.

Sommonicus was the physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla and would prescribe malaria sufferers to wear amulets containing the word “abracadabra” written in the form of a triangle (see below), as it was his belief that the power of the amulet could make lethal diseases go away.

According to Wikipedia, other Roman emperors, including Geta and Alexander Severus, were followers of Sommonicus and may have used the “Abracadabra” incantation as well.

​

Other theories suggest the origins of the word stem from the word “abraxas,” whose letters in Greek numerology add up to 365 (number of days in the year).

While others believe that the word is derived from the Hebrew words for “father, son and holy spirit” (“ab, ben and ruach hakodesh”), the most (phonetically) obvious answer seems to be that it was derived from the Aramaic phrase “avra kadavra” (not to be confused with “avada kedavra” from Harry Potter), which means “I will create as I speak”.

While the origins of Abracadabra are still slightly shrouded in mystery, the believed “power” of the word has not lost its potency.
Aleister Crowley wrote about it in his book, The Book of the Law, but called it “Abrahadabra” (the word in what he believed as the true spelling):

Abrahadabra is a word that first publicly appeared in The Book of the Law, the central sacred text of Thelema. Its author, Aleister Crowley, described it as “the Word of the Aeon, which signifieth The Great Work accomplished.”[1] This is in reference to his belief that the writing of Liber Legis (another name for “The Book of the Law”) heralded a new Aeon for mankind that was ruled by the god Ra-Hoor-Khuit (a form of Horus). Abrahadabra is, therefore, the “magical formula” of this new age. It is not to be confused with the Word of the Law of the Aeon, which is Thelema, meaning “Will.”

​

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law,” the central philosophy of Themela, is strikingly similar to the notion of “I will create as I speak,” and in modern times seems to be yet another medium of manifesting through “Law of Attraction,” which is the practice of intentionally creating your own reality.

In metaphysical practice, there seems to be a fine line between magic/manifesting, and creating/attracting.
Perhaps Abracadabra is the magic word to allow miraculous healing, manifesting, attracting and creating… or maybe it’s just a word, nothing more.

Whatever the case may be, the history of this mystery is interesting nonetheless.

 

[Skarekrow]

I had a very strange and vivid dream again last night…
I was at what appeared to be an old hotel… on a craggy cliff, and surrounding the hotel were raging rivers.
I was with a group of maybe 3 other nameless people…and as I walked through this decrepit place…I could see the paint and wallpaper peeling off the walls.
There was trash and used needles strewn about…
As we walked past each room…I would pause and I knew somehow what each room contained…it was usually something grisly and dark.
Some contained evil ghosts that were just waiting for someone to open the door.
Many contained the bodies of people who has suffered greatly before their death at the hand of something or someone wicked.
The smell as I walked through was terrible…rotting flesh, human flesh…I know this smell very well from my past professions.
We reached the door at the end of the hallway…as I opened the door you could see that half of the room was missing…broken away, fell off into who knows where below.
Something terrible had happened there too…and I tried to instruct those with me, not to open any doors in the room!
I stood on the edge of the floor and watched the rivers surrounding us…I realized the water was so high there would be no way to leave this place.
Then I awoke at 130am.

I thought that was a bit fucked up for a dream…I really feel that I travel to places sometimes in my sleep that a regular person wouldn’t necessarily go.
To me, it felt like that place needed a witness more than it was some aspect of myself.
Strange.

 

[Skarekrow]

[video=youtube;Yb-OYmHVchQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Yb-OYmHVchQ[/video]​

 

[Skarekrow]

This is a captivating talk!

Gabor Mate

The Hungry Ghost

The Biopsychosocial Perspective of Addiction
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[video=youtube;_KTqCmajPGk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_KTqCmajPGk[/video]

[video=youtube;5OghK_jSNgI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5OghK_jSNgI[/video]

[video=youtube;zN7G62qwOw0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=zN7G62qwOw0[/video]

Jul 15, 2014

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Medical doctor Gabor Mate, speaks to the human condition within the evolution of our historical culture.

He speaks to issues bringing them to child and human development in way that questions our present paradigms for things like addiction and ADHD.

This is a must if you want to consider other possibilities based in research for the direction of our culture and our medical perspective. Filmed at Kane Hall, Univ of Washington by Todd Boyle.​