The Gift of Death

Pathological consumption has become so normalized that we scarcely notice it.

By George Monbiot,
published in the Guardian 11th December 2012

There's nothing they need, nothing they don't own already, nothing they even want. So you buy them a solar-powered waving queen; a belly button brush; a silver-plated ice cream tub
holder; a "hilarious" inflatable zimmer frame; a confection of plastic and electronics called Terry the Swearing Turtle; or – and somehow I find this significant – a Scratch Off World wall map.

They seem amusing on the first day of Christmas, daft on the second, embarrassing on the third. By the twelfth they're in landfill. For thirty seconds of dubious entertainment, or a hedonistic stimulus that lasts no longer than a nicotine hit, we commission the use of materials whose impacts will ramify for generations.

Researching her film The Story of Stuff, Annie Leonard discovered that of the materials flowing through the consumer economy, only 1% remain in use six months after sale(1). Even the goods we might have expected to hold onto are soon condemned to destruction through either planned obsolescence (breaking quickly) or perceived obsolescence (becoming unfashionable).

But many of the products we buy, especially for Christmas, cannot become obsolescent. The term implies a loss of utility, but they had no utility in the first place. An electronic drum-machine t-shirt; a Darth Vader talking piggy bank; an ear-shaped i-phone case; an individual beer can chiller; an electronic wine breather; a sonic screwdriver remote control; bacon toothpaste; a dancing dog: no one is expected to use them, or even look at them, after Christmas Day. They are designed to elicit thanks, perhaps a snigger or two, and then be thrown away.

The fatuity of the products is matched by the profundity of the impacts. Rare materials, complex electronics, the energy needed for manufacture and transport are extracted and refined and combined into compounds of utter pointlessness. When you take account of the fossil fuels whose use we commission in other countries, manufacturing and consumption are responsible for more than half of our carbon dioxide production(2). We are screwing the planet to make solar-powered bath thermometers and desktop crazy golfers.

People in eastern Congo are massacred to facilitate smart phone upgrades of ever diminishing marginal utility(3). Forests are felled to make "personalized heart-shaped wooden cheese board sets". Rivers are poisoned to manufacture talking fish. This is pathological consumption: a world-consuming epidemic of collective madness, rendered so normal by advertising and the media that we scarcely notice what has happened to us.

In 2007, the journalist Adam Welz records, 13 rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa. This year, so far, 585 have been shot(4). No one is entirely sure why. But one answer is that very rich people in Vietnam are now sprinkling ground rhino horn on their food or snorting it like cocaine to display their wealth. It's grotesque, but it scarcely differs from what almost everyone in industrialised nations is doing: trashing the living world through pointless consumption.

This boom has not happened by accident. Our lives have been corralled and shaped in order to encourage it. World trade rules force countries to participate in the festival of junk. Governments cut taxes, deregulate business, manipulate interest rates to stimulate spending. But seldom do the engineers of these policies stop and ask "spending on what?". When every conceivable want and need has been met (among those who have disposable money), growth depends on selling the utterly useless. The solemnity of the state, its might and majesty, are harnessed to the task of delivering Terry the Swearing Turtle to our doors.

Grown men and women devote their lives to manufacturing and marketing this rubbish, and dissing the idea of living without it. "I always knit my gifts", says a woman in a television ad for an electronics outlet. "Well you shouldn't," replies the narrator(5). An advertisement for Google's latest tablet shows a father and son camping in the woods. Their enjoyment depends on the Nexus 7's special features(6). The best things in life are free, but we've found a way of selling them to you.
The growth of inequality that has accompanied the consumer boom ensures that the rising economic tide no longer lifts all boats. In the US in 2010 a remarkable 93% of the growth in incomes accrued to the top 1% of the population(7). The old excuse, that we must trash the planet to help the poor, simply does not wash. For a few decades of extra enrichment for those who already possess more money than they know how to spend, the prospects of everyone else who will live on this earth are diminished.

So effectively have governments, the media and advertisers associated consumption with prosperity and happiness that to say these things is to expose yourself to opprobrium and ridicule. Witness last week's Moral Maze programme, in which most of the panel lined up to decry the idea of consuming less, and to associate it, somehow, with authoritarianism(8). When the world goes mad, those who resist are denounced as lunatics.

Bake them a cake, write them a poem, give them a kiss, tell them a joke, but for god's sake stop trashing the planet to tell someone you care. All it shows is that you don't.

www.monbiot.com

While seemingly dated, the references below are still important to the whole of the post.

1. http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-stuff/
2. It's 57%. See http://www.monbiot.com/2010/05/05/carbon-graveyard/
3. See the film Blood in the Mobile. http://bloodinthemobile.org/
4. http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_dirty_war_against_africas_remaining_rhinos/2595/
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7VE2wlDkr8&list=UU25QbTq58EYBGf2_PDTqzFQ&index=9
6. http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/07/commercial-for-googles-nexus-7-tablet-revealed/
7. Emmanuel Saez, 2nd March 2012. Striking it Richer: the Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States (Updated with 2009 and 2010 estimates). http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-UStopincomes-2010.pdf
8. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p424r

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Flat Earth Society Responds To Elon Musk's Tweet And We Just Can't Even

No wonder TRUMP won...

Space

No. Elena Schweitzer/Shutterstock

If you think the Earth is flat, then you're on the wrong website. Seriously, what are you doing here? Why aren't you venturing to the icy mountainous rim around the edges, bravely peeking underneath and seeing what's on the other side of this galactic space Frisbee?

Incidentally, somewhere else that you don't expect to see flat Earth peons is on Elon Musk's Twitter profile – but this is 2017, where logic is about as relevant as witchcraft.

Musk, a man known for his cosmic ventures, giant batteries, and curious, pun-filled tweet threads, openly wondered the other day why there isn't a Flat Mars Society. After all, there's a Flat Earth Society, whose adherents are just as odd as you'd expect them to be. Is Earth the only planet that's flat?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have an enormous, game-changing spoiler for you. The official Twitter account of the Flat Earth Society responded to Musk's tweet, and they have claimed that Mars, unlike the Earth, is absolutely, definitely round.

"Hi Elon, thanks for the question. Unlike the Earth, Mars has been observed to be round. We hope you have a fantastic day!"

Well, that's cleared that up then. By round, we assume they mean spherical, but round objects can be flat too – so who knows, really.

Weirder still, when prompted by a skeptical social media user's use of a gif showing the Earth spinning on its axis, the Flat Earth Society account replied with an obtuse Star Wars reference.
"No! Alderaan is peaceful, we have no weapons. You can't possibly –" it reads. Are they suggesting that our presumably flat Earth is about to be destroyed by the Death Star? It's more likely that they're implying that photographs of Earth that we see every day are simply fabrications – but either way, this is all incredibly strange.

If Mars is round or spherical, are all the other planets also round and spherical too? Are they suggesting that Earth's the only flat planet in existence? Oh, so many questions.

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HOUR GLASS

HOUR GLASS

by
RALPH PITRE

Ralph Pitre
1601 Broadway St
Concord CA
914.557.0870
ralphpitre@gmail.com


INT. MORNING. LIVING ROOM
The living room is heavily decorated in CATHOLIC
PARAPHERNALIA and lighted VOTIVE CANDLES. The window shades
have been pulled, the room dark.
MOTHER steps into the living room from the hall outside of
the apartment, holding a BOTTLE in her hands, close to her
bosom. Closing the door behind her she stands against the
door, using it for support. She looks down at the BOTTLE.
CUT TO:
CLOSE UP:
Angle on BOTTLE.
WIPE:
DIAGONAL SPLIT SCREEN.
Reveals a close up of an OLD WOMAN speaking upper screen
right.
CUT TO:
TITLE CARD:
OLD WOMAN
Rub ointment on your childs chest,
then sprinkle holy water to relieve
your sons thirst for blood within
the hour.
INT. MORNING. LIVING ROOM
MOTHER walks briskly to a door across the living room. MOTHER
steps into the room.
INT. MORNING. BEDROOM
MOTHER enters the bedroom slowly, cautiously and afraid, but
determined, carrying the BOTTLE.
The bedroom is also decorated in CATHOLIC PARAPHERNALIA and
lighted VOTIVE CANDLES, the shade of the only window also
drawn. MOTHER walks across the room to the bed where a
teenaged boy, TOBE, pale and soaked in sweat, lies asleep.
She stands over him.

2.
MOTHER sits on the bed beside him. TOBE suddenly lurches up
to a sitting position to attack her, revealing VAMPIRE FANGS
and saliva frothing at the edges of his mouth. MOTHER pulls
away, revealing a CROSS that she had been hiding in her
bosom, and holding it out to show TOBE. TOBE retreats,
sinking back into the bed, bringing the covers back up to
protect himself. Still displaying the CROSS, MOTHER settles
back onto the bed. MOTHER gently pulls the covers from TOBE,
enough to expose his chest. MOTHER removes a pinch of
ointment from the BOTTLE, that she gently rubs into TOBE’S
chest, while he grunts and squirms in discomfort, hissing and
growling at her, still eyeing the CROSS she holds in one
hand. MOTHER removes another SMALL BOTTLE from her pocket,
stands away from the bed, and sprinkles some of the liquid
contents (HOLY WATER) of the SMALL BOTTLE on TOBE while
saying a prayer. TOBE squirms in agony, writhing in bed.
MOTHER stops, watches him for a moment, waiting for the
anger to subside and then steps forward to sit on the
bed beside him. She holds his hand, looks into his eyes.
Suddenly, for a moment, the monster in him retreats, and
we see a little boy giving MOTHER a pleading look.
MOTHER takes her hand away, pushes the covers back,
tucking TOBE in to bed, caressing his face. TOBE turns
away and closes his eyes. MOTHER stands and walks
backwards away from the bed to the door, sprinkling holy
water & giving the sign of the cross until she has
stepped out of the room.
INT. TENEMENT APARTMENT HALLWAY
MOTHER has stepped out of the bedroom and stands with
her back pressed against the door, looking away.
INT. TENEMENT APARTMENT HALLWAY
MOTHER struggles down the hall to the living room.
INT. LIVING ROOM
MOTHER enters the living room, racing to the HOURGLASS
on the mantle, turning it over so that it starts again.
MOTHER places the CROSS on the mantle.
INT. HALL OUTSIDE OF APARTMENT.
Close on apartment door. A hand reaches into frame and
knocks.


3.
INT. LIVING ROOM
MOTHER struggles across the living room to the door. She
hesitates to open it, but then does so.
MOTHER steps back from the door, revealing the visitor.
A man FATHER, with a smile, he enters and calls to
MOTHER. She turns away from him, waving him away.
CUT TO:
TITLE CARD:
MOTHER
What are you doing here? I don’t
need you, your son doesn’t need
you. Go away!
MOTHER looks to the bedroom door.
FATHER motions for her to accept him, offers an apology,
even getting down on one knee. But she’ll have none of
it. She demands he leave.
CUT TO:
TITLE CARD:
FATHER
I want to see my son! I want to see
TOBE!
MOTHER explains what has become of their son, once again
looking sullen and beaten.
CUT TO:
TITLE CARD:
FATHER
Let the boy free. Nothing you do
will break him from his MASTER’S
hold. A Vampire is a powerful
demon.
MOTHER turns on him, suddenly strong, she orders him to
leave. She pushes him out the door.
MOTHER sits on the couch, lays back and falls asleep.


4.
INT. HALL OUTSIDE OF APARTMENT.
Close on door, a hand reaches in and knocks.
MOTHER awakens to hear the door knock. She looks at the
HOURGLASS. Time is almost out. MOTHER goes to the door
and yells for whoever, to go away.
INT. HALL OUTSIDE OF APARTMENT.
Close on pale lips speaking.
INT. LIVING ROOM
MOTHER, embarrassed, opens the door.
The door opens revealing a tall man dressed in black,
looking frighteningly elegant.
MOTHER rushes off to look in a MIRROR hanging on a wall,
trying to fix her hair, but can see that the entry door
reflected in the mirror has opened and closed without
anyone there; the stranger has no reflection. THE
MASTER!
THE MASTER has closed the door is poised in a menacing
stance.
CUT TO:
TITLE CARD:
MASTER
I want the boy.
MOTHER cowers, backing away, pleading with the MASTER, then
with anger, challenging him.
THE MASTER becomes furious and spells MOTHER. THE MASTER
floats toward MOTHER, his eyes drilling deep into her,
keeping her entranced. THE MASTER towers over her, bending
down toward her. MOTHER tries to fight him off with weak
hands but it is as if nothing can stop him. THE MASTER shows
his VAMPIRE FANG as he brings his head down to her neck.


5.
INT. BEDROOM
TOBE’s eyes open, alert. He rises from bed and moves
quickly toward the door. He looks out.
INT. HALLWAY
TOBE races down the hall.
INT. LIVING ROOM
TOBE looks into the living room, seeing THE MASTER biting
MOTHER on the neck. Blood flows from her neck and down her
arms, pooling onto the floor. THE MASTER turns to look at
TOBE and smiles, mouthing TOBE’s name and laying MOTHER on
the floor in a pool of blood.
TOBE rushes toward them, pushing THE MASTER away and cradling
MOTHER in his arms. Her head falls limp, blood flowing from
the gash in her neck. TOBE takes her head in one hand.
MOTHER’S eyes barely open to look up at TOBE, her mouth
puckered, her tongue lapping, gasping for air. TOBE bows his
head, closes his eyes, lays her gently on the floor and
stands on all fours over her. TOBE looks back over his
shoulder to THE MASTER. THE MASTER looks back at TOBE.
CUT TO:
TITLE CARD:
THE MASTER
I’ve come for you, Tobe, not for
The Mother.
TOBE turns quickly toward THE MASTER and lunges toward him,
wrestling THE MASTER to the floor and pinning him down as
TOBE shows his VAMPIRE FANGS, trying to close in on and bite
THE MASTERS neck. THE MASTER quickly brings his right arm in
between them, resisting TOBE, then throwing him over toward
and against the wall, causing the CROSS to fall from the
mantle onto the floor beside TOBE, away from THE MASTERS
view. TOBE turns over quickly as THE MASTER pounces on TOBE.
TOBE thrusts the CROSS into the lunging MASTER, stabbing THE
MASTER dead center in the chest. THE MASTER, stunned and held
in place, pulls away from TOBE, and falls back on his knees;
blood flows from THE MASTERS wound onto his hands as he
struggles to pull the CROSS from his heart.


6.
THE MASTER falls forward, one arm stretched out to keep from
falling, the other still clutching the CROSS. THE MASTER
loses his strength and falls to the floor on his side, dead.
TOBE quickly moves toward MOTHER, kneels down beside her and
takes her in his arms, then rests her on his lap, stroking
her face. TOBE looks at his own forearm then places it to
MOTHERS mouth. MOTHER takes TOBE’S arm with both hands and
begins to suckle from the wrist. TOBE looks back toward THE
MASTER, then back to MOTHER. MOTHERS strength returns enough
to keep her alive. She opens her eyes and looks up at TOBE.

New Suicide Machine With Detachable Coffin Lets You Kill Yourself Anytime, Anywhere | LifeNews.com

Ralph Pitre

If I have to die alone, then so be it...I die alone

She wanted too much from me. Relationships require compromise but compromise isn't required in building a personal relationship. For the individual there is no compromise. 

There are consequences but like any situation there always consequences. 

Its 3 women narrating Ray's last days as the 3 all who loved him and knowing his wish not to commit plan to use his invention against him...

They meet and confer about Ray...

He plans on implanting a bacteria that  will consume the body, completely, all the residue, leaving nothing, with nothing left, the organism born from the ingestion dies and withers...

Ray is an inventor/designer of medical equipment. Having gone to school to be a doctor and deciding instead to design leading edge medical equipment after having been a resident he found his strength in hardware design. As an undergraduate in pre-med and working endless shifts as a medical equipment technician with a small medical equipment manufacturer he learned design.

Actually told to others at a small rare gathering of friends where he is confronted by all about his lone life.

Two female friends show themselves around his apartment. He finds them, other male friends join and in the bedroom they bring up his lone lifestyle, lone not alone and certainly not lonely. Chet mentions the bed, Rays, latest invention, the ultimate need. He mentions his bed and the pending patent for it; for now and in jest he calls it "The Death Bed". "What a creepy idea, it something a guy would come up with, you wouldn't catch me laying in it."

"Well you're laying in it".

She jumps out.

Ray details the functions of the bed to all. The safety system that keeps it from accidentally starting the process. Its a very comfortable bed. They go into production in a month. I've got seven pre-orders, three in Japan, the rest in the Middle East. What happens to the, sleepers body. Simply disappears.

How much?

$35000.

A very expensive hospital bed.

The Tesla of beds.

Go for a test drive.

I'll pass for now.

What triggers it?

The state of your body. Sensors in the bed look for a human a warm human body, when those checks are exhausted the process behind automatically.

Euthanasia?

Well, there's a switch for that, but a body still has to be in bed for the process to start.

Certain conditions have to be met before first.

It knows your body, learns more as you sleep, will even know when there's more than one person in the bed and create a different profile always knowing yours.

It has a voice as well.

It can be very ornate, a true kings need, or a basic hospital bed that even the poor can afford through The Affordable Care Program.

Sounds like Sam coaxing her lover into bed.

Sam lays in it.

"Kerry is right, I wouldn't tell a girl about this bed before sex otherwise you'll never get any. Speaking of, have you tried it? No danger in it seeing off during some really physical sex? I know how you are."

"Not a chance, I've tried it."

"Not with me."

"Not a chance."

"Really? Did I hurt you that much? After all you cheated on me."

"True, eventually, I did, but there was some motivation."

"Me? You could've broken up with me, it would've hurt less."

"I was still hoping you'd stop treating me like shit, but..."

Why did you make it sound like me?

Well its not exactly you but I was thinking of you when developing the bed...you do have one of the sexiest bedroom voices I've ever heard.

told to ex girl who doesn't want be alone when she dies begging to be with him. but he has answer for his own end. Can die alone and has planned a way to not allow his body to lay and rot. At end she tricks him into his death bed and leaves him to die in agony, in a death trap.

Actually, regret is painful, you can't but think again of decisions you made long ago when you were younger and bolder and fearless of hope, its all going to end and the feelings you know nothing about as you approach the end of your life, you've made plans, but still it seems to rush upon you and then? And then? Did i want to be alone at this moment? No matter how much you prepare, you second guess yourself, but its too late, this is one queue line you can't get off, can't turn back, this ride is yours, get on and wait for the first drop...

Its as I see it, I'm dying, the pain has been with me for a very long time, it seems, though only a year really, yet I've prepared for many more... death & disposal, medication to sedate, to sleep and rid the pain and slow the heart enough to begin a process that can't be stopped... death & disposal, this elaborate plan I've conjured, to dispose of the body i leave behind its as I see it...

I want to die alone, asleep, silent and oblivious to the pain...

I lay fetal as I came into this world, the proper dose measured long ago I would sleep away the pain, lights out, room by room, as I left the house... dark...

I wanted to just disappear and what all might wonder happened to me didn't matter... I didn't want to die with celebration or animosity from those who loved and hated me... just disappear, as if I never happened.

Mourning is for the living, not the dead, the dead no nothing of the livings hereafter, the dead don't care, the dead are just, dead. Likewise the living know nothing of what it is to die but mourn as if they do. Death is its own celebration of the moment we break free, end the suffering of life that comes upon the heels of and just before the joy... spoken or not, sadness is an underlying current upon which we are always in opposition... the joys, short or long in length are the moments we come up for air, how much air can one capture before the next stroke forces you under...  Death is where we always come back to after living. Living is learning, death is being. Living, life and death and dying are words describing a state of existence applied from a single point of view. True, death can just as likely have no importance other than the end of a corporeal existence, consciousness, self nothing more than the result of a complex system interaction, therefore an illusion, there is no self, no consciousness. However then, what is self if we fear losing it via death. A result of our complex existence that in the end is nothing more than a tease for if consciousness creates a self that we cherish than of course we desire to continue. Some of us eschew existence, ourselves and yearn not to live not always necessarily to die but to exist as another, that often may result in death either to exile ourselves from the current or see how green is the grass is on the other side.

Death is one long breath held... long enough to rise, again... and inhale the suffering and the joy of life...

Its as I see it...

Don't you want someone to grow old with to be there when you're sick, dying, to be by your side? What if she goes first, I'll still be alone... I prefer not to burden anyone else, I just haven't found someone to really grow old with, I thought I had twice but no...so in lieu of that I've prepared for the end by myself. Show me.

They sleep together, sex, sleep, she awakens and while he sleeps she activates the bed. She paralyzes him causing the bed to start the process

The bed has a dual purpose in death; to provide a means of euthanasia is desired and primarily as a means of disposal if you die in your sleep.

To all his friends Ray simply disappeared, though one wonders...

Michael Cook   Nov 20, 2017   |   6:28PM    Sydney, Australia

Australia's best-known euthanasia activist, Dr Philip Nitschke, is back in the news with another machine for committing suicide, the Sarco capsule.
The machine will allow anyone who has the access key to end their life by simply pressing a button. Developed in the Netherlands by Nitschke and an engineer, the machine can be 3D printed and assembled in any location. Access to the Sarco capsule will be by an on-line mental questionnaire which will provide a four-digit access code.
When the person lies in the capsule, he can activate it and liquid nitrogen will rapidly drop the oxygen level, leading to death a few minutes.
The novel feature is that the capsule can be detached from the Sarco machine and used as a sleek and shiny coffin. The machine base can be re-used.
Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
Design criteria for the Sarco will be free, made open-source, and placed on the internet. Nitschke says that the world is now one step closer to the goal where any rational person can electively end their life in a peaceful and reliable way at the time of their choosing. "Sarco does not use any restricted drugs, or require any special expertise such as the insertion of an intravenous needle. Anyone who can pass the entry test, can enter the machine and legally end their life".
LifeNews Note: Michael Cook is editor of MercatorNet where this story appeared.

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rpitremedia

The Unmistakable Freedom of Contentment and How to Find It

Written by joshua becker ·

"Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty." —Socrates

There were many reasons we chose to become minimalist and simplify our lives. We were frustrated with clutter. We discovered the time that was wasted managing our possessions. We realized joy was not found in our possessions. And we determined that we value other things far more than physical belongings. This initial process of simplifying our home required energy, effort, and encouragement.
But the process of remaining minimalist and living this counter-cultural lifestyle against all odds requires something completely different. It requires contentment.

Contentment is the lifeblood of minimalism. And without it, the journey towards minimalism is short-lived. Discontent will always rear its ugly head and become the great obstacle to fully thriving in a simple life.

Not only does contentment provide the opportunity for minimalism, it also reduces your stress level, improves your outlook, relaxes your body, and makes your life enjoyable. There is an unmistakable freedom that accompanies contentment: a freedom to be who you are, enjoy who you are, and live the life you were destined to live.

Yet in our consumeristic-culture where discontent is promoted and material gratification is encouraged, learning to be content can be very difficult. It is certainly a personal journey that we all must travel and nobody's journey will look the same. Truly, there is no one-size-fits-all, seven-step program to fully-attain contentment in your life… but here are six keys that have helped us further develop contentment in our lives:

1. Become grateful. It is impossible to develop contentment without gratitude – they are inseparable. And a grateful person is one who has learned to focus on the good things in their life, not the things that they lack. When you begin to question what you have to be grateful for, just start making a list – a literal list of all the good things in your life. Don't worry about finishing, you don't need to. The simple discipline of beginning the exercise will undoubtedly shift your focus back to the many good things you already have.

2. Take control of your attitude. A person who lacks contentment in their life will often engage in "when and then thinking" – "when i get _______, then i will be happy." Instead take control of your own life. Remember, your happiness is not reliant on the acquisition of any possession. Your happiness is based solely on your decision to be happy – and this may be one of the most important life lessons you can ever learn.

3. Break the habit of satisfying discontentment with acquisitions. For many of us, it has been ingrained into our lives that the proper way to diffuse discontent is to purchase the outward item that is seemingly causing the discontentment. Almost no energy is spent determining the true root of the discontent. Are you dissatisfied with your wardrobe? Go buy new clothes. Not content with your vehicle? Go buy a new one. We have gotten into the habit of satisfying our discontent by simply spending more money. We must break that habit. Understand that material possessions will never fully satisfy the desires of your heart (that's why discontent always returns). The next time you recognize discontentment surfacing in your life, refuse to give into that bad habit. Instead, commit to better understand yourself and why the lack of that item is causing discontent. Only after you intentionally break this habit will true contentment begin to surface.

4. Stop comparing yourself to others. Comparing your life with someone else's will always lead to discontentment. There will always be people who "appear" to be better off than you and seemingly living the perfect life. But be advised, we always compare the worst of what we know about ourselves to the best assumptions that we make about others. Their life is never as perfect as your mind makes it out to be. You are unique. You are special. And it's always better that way.

5. Help others. When you begin helping others, sharing your talents, time and money, you will find yourself learning to be content. The practice will give you a finer appreciation for what you own, who you are, and what you have to offer.

6. Be content with what you have, never with what you are. Never stop learning, growing, or discovering. Take pride in your personhood and the progress that you have made, but never become so content that you cannot find room for improvement. Contentment is not the same as complacency. As soon as you stop growing, you start dying.

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The Physics of Consciousness – The Zero Point Field and the Pineal Gland

There has always been a tussle between the rational or physical science and age old religious concepts or dogmatic beliefs. Science has been raising doubts on the esoteric knowledge because there is not enough support of concrete scientific proof for such things.

Science has always been maintaining that there is a huge difference between the earth and the outer world. Here on the earth there is no concept of emptiness. All places on earth are full of something or the other. However, same is not the situation in the outer space.
In contrast to the position on the earth, there is a vast open space outside in the universe which carries nothing. The outer space is full of emptiness. This gave rise to various questions on the ways of communication or transmission of energy in the outer space as known to the mankind like how light travels from the sun to the earth. We know through science that all sorts of energies need one medium or the other to travel from one place to the other. No energy can move in emptiness. Like sound energy travels from one place to the other in the form of waves. It requires a medium to travel which can either be solid or liquid or gas. So we can hear sound coming through the air or through water or it explains sound energy travelling through the rails. Sound waves are basically compression waves.
In simpler terms, these waves travel like the waves travelling in the water. It will be interesting to note that these waves are not there if water is not there to carry them. Thus a medium is always required for the energy moving from one place to another. However this theory does not hold good for the light and heat energies travelling from the sun to the earth. It has been scientifically proven that these electromagnetic waves travel as waves. However if the outer space is said to be empty without any medium, then how these energies reach from the sun through empty space to the earth. As there is no medium, how these waves are propagated.
In order to explain the propagation of light through space, scientists in the 19^th century proposed that the space is not empty but carries a medium which propagates these electromagnetic waves. This they called as 'luminiferous ether' or the 'light carrying' chemical spread across the space in the universe. This was a simple explanation to this important question and continued like an acceptable theory for quite a long time.  However this just remained a theory only and could not be substantiated with any scientific proof. Later, during the end of 19^th century, two American scientists through experiments proved beyond doubt that there was no luminiferous ether present in the outer space. There was definitely something else which was still unknown to the scientists during that time.
Light is definitely a wave and that is proven without any doubt. So what could be the explanation for its traveling through empty space? Only after few years in 1905, the great scientist Albert Einstein solved this problem very ingeniously. He proved that light was not just wave energy requiring some medium to travel. It also contains very small particulate matter that he named as 'photons'. As particles themselves are physical entities and do not require any medium to travel, the light particles easily travel from the sun to the earth through empty outer space.
It will not be out of context to mention that there is a Greek concept called 'Pleroma' which means fullness. It believes that that there is nothing like nothingness because it is full of emptiness. Therefore there in no empty space, it is in fact full. It believes that the outer world, we know very little about, is full of light. This is the faith that been has built through ages for the perceived world and is contrary to the real world we perceive through our senses. It may take some time for the science to understand this but one day our theological beliefs will be supported by today's science itself.
This was not long enough when another theory was propagated which supported the earlier argument that the space is not empty but indeed is filled with something. Heisenberg in his 'theory of uncertainty' also called 'theory of indeterminacy' suggested that we cannot at any point of time as certain a pair of complementary properties of a particle. There is a limit to their accuracy. This is particularly true with the quantum objects having matter-wave nature.
Therefore we cannot accurately know the position and also the speed of sub-atomic or elementary particles i.e. electrons, protons etc simultaneously. It is possible only when these particles were at rest. However as these particles can never remain at rest, hence their momentum can never be known. Even at absolute zero temperature i.e. at -273 degrees Celsius, it is not possible. The space vacuum's temperature measures just 3 degrees below this absolute zero. And at this temperature, the space is actually filled with what they call vacuum energy spreading across the universal space and filling it completely. So earlier what we thought of the vacuum or complete emptiness in space was not exactly the situation but the space was full of energy.
This Heisenberg theory of uncertainty is of great importance as it explains a basic principal of the Quantum theory. This caused a major shift from the prevailing paradigm. We go back to the earlier theory saying the space is not empty but there is actually some substance which filled the space. This was named as ZPF or Zero Point Field filled with ZPE or Zero Point Energy.
The place called space got a new definition and a new explanation with the advent of quantum theory. At such a super low temperature very close to absolute zero, a new form of substance is created called EBC or "Einstein Bose Condensate".This is the most mysterious state of matter and a totally new concept different from the other four known states of matter i.e. solid, liquid, gas and plasma. A great Indian scientist named Satyendra Nath Bose way back in 1924 suggested that when a particle is cooled to few degrees close to absolute zero, this new form of matter is created by transformation of a particle to a collection of particles staying together as if they were just one. This was reconfirmed in 1938 when a substance called Helium 4 subjected to so low temperatures behaved exactly as Bose had suggested. At that low temperature Helium 4 was found to lose all its viscosity and could flow in vacuum without any loss of energy.

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Then again in 1995, this unique substance EBC was actually made in the laboratory. These condensates were made from bosons at a very low temperature near to absolute zero. This is a very dilute gas with as low density as 100,000^th of normal air. At this stage, the EBC has zero viscosity and infinite fluidity. This substance derives its power directly from the vacuum energy or the ZPE and can easily spread into the space without any loss of time. This zero point energy is in fact the lowest possible energy level. This is the energy that stays there when all other energy has been removed from the system. So even at absolute zero temperature, Helium 4 continues to remain liquid because of its zero pint energy.
There has been a recent discovery that correlates us human beings to this space energy. This is something strange but the research proves that these special Einstein Bose Condensates are also found in the human body. All cells in the living bodies contain a jelly like substance in the form of liquid crystal. This liquid crystal is a state of substance lying between the solid state and the liquid state and that is why it is called semi solid.
All cell membranes and connecting tissue have this substance within themselves. The specialty of this form of substance is miraculous such that there is absolute free flow of information in this state without any loss of time. It will be easy to understand this concept when we know how our calculators work so fast. They use liquid crystal form for instantaneous flow of information.
All the cells in our body contain very tiny microscopic microtubules. These are tubular structures and function as the brains of the cells. They transmit information from one cell to others absolutely fast. They are also found in the brain cells and there they can be as long as almost a meter. For transfer of information they adapt the process of transmission of light just as it is done in fiber optics technology. Their transmission is waved through Bose Einstein condensates.
This kind of communication can be understood through various applications of laser beam in which all the light particles or photons become coherent. A very good example of this is a hologram which is basically a three dimensional image of an object. This kind of effect is created when an object is photographed with the help of different sets of interfering laser beams. These different sets of light become coherent to produce a three dimensional image of the object. Similar technology can be observed in a CD player also.
Purpose of quoting these examples is to understand the new theory which suggests that the microtubules in the human cells explained above also produce such coherent light. These microtubules in a human body are very large in no, in fact in trillions and they produce vast amount of coherent light. For this they use zero point energy derived from the zero point field. This has also been correlated to the Indian philosophy through 'Akashic Record' or the Chinese understanding as Ch'i.
In Indian philosophy this has been very well explained through the 'karmas' of ancient sages who did it through 'yoga' to connect their mind to the energy of the universe and align themselves with it. Now Quantum theory is ready to recognize this as a possible activity. Thus the human brain can get in touch with the vacuum energy and the extremely vast pool of information available there related to past, present and future.
It is also believed that the ether or Ch'ispread across the universe can transform into matter. The vice versa is also true that the matter can be transformed into energy. This can also be supported by the theory of Zero Point Field fueling the creation of Einstein Bose condensates and vice versa. Surprisingly science looks at it this way today, however long back Mani, a Gnostic teacher had already stated that matter is nothing but only bottled light.
The Japanese researchers argue that as the microtubules in the human body are in trillions, the possibilities of storing limitless data by a human being is immensely high. In the local transmission of information in the body these microtubules make it possible instantaneously. However when there are parallel microtubules, they exchange coherent light with each other and their interference generating  huge quantities of holographic images have capacity to store extremely huge amounts of information.
This would make it possible to have a three dimensional recording of illusionary world which will not be different from the reality. This virtual reality has been named as Bohmian IMAX named after the great philosopher David Bohm. On the contrary, literal reality is what the brain creates images of the real thing on the basis of information gathered through our various senses.
All this is possible with a pineal gland seated in the human brain. This is an endocrine gland situated almost in the middle of the brain secreting hormone melatonin regulating sleep patterns. This is also called the 'third eye'. This pineal body is supposed to be the seat for exchange of information with the zero point field.
This zero point field is in fact a huge data base that keeps record of every possible information i.e. what happened in the past, what is happening at present and also what will happen in future in the universe. So if we believe the quantum theory to be true, then there are millions of different universes with billions of holographic images of all human beings who were there in the past, the present ones and also the ones who are yet to come to our planet.
And it can also be imagined that each one of these is capable of giving information to the zero point field and taking information from there. This is a mind boggling vast matter and so complicated that with the current scientific knowledge we have, it is not possible to apprehend it.
Nevertheless, with so much research work going on the field, it is possible in near future and it may not be surprising if we come to know that the theological concepts are not just dogmatic but have a basis to understand the existence of universe in a much broader sense than classical physics can offer to explain. These religious beliefs are not just the whims and fancies of earlier generations but can explain things which even now science is groping in the dark to explain and accept.

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There are indeed few things which they knew better than we know now. Not only that, research is also going on how to tap and utilize this zero point energy. It will be very interesting to see how the old beliefs meet the new scientific knowledge for a better understanding of human capabilities and their relationship with the universal forces.

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75 Deep Philosophical Questions To Ask Yourself and Others

Philosophy relates to the study of, and attempts to understand, the root nature of reality, existence, and knowledge. There are many questions in life for which there are no set answers, or such diverging opinions on answers that just raise more questions. Here are 65 deep philosophical questions for you to ponder. Meditation is often useful in helping people to search inside for their own answers and meanings.

1. Is it worse to fail at something or never attempt it in the first place?
2. If you could choose just one thing to change about the world, what would it be?
3. To what extent do you shape your own destiny, and how much is down to fate?
4. Does nature shape our personalities more than nurture?
5. Should people care more about doing the right thing, or doing things right?
6. What one piece of advice would you offer to a newborn infant?
7. Where is the line between insanity and creativity?
8. What is true happiness?
9. What things hold you back from doing the things that you really want to?
10. What makes you, you?
11. What is the truth?
12. What is reality?
13. Do you make your own decisions, or let others make them for you?
14. What makes a good friend?
15. Why do people fear losing things that they do not even have yet?
16. Who defines good and evil?
17. What is the difference between living and being alive?
18. Is a "wrong" act okay if nobody ever knows about it?
19. Who decides what morality is?
20. How do you know that your experience of consciousness is the same as other people's experience of consciousness?
21. What is true strength?
22. What is true love?
23. Is a family still relevant in the modern world?
24. What role does honour play in today's society?
25. If money cannot buy happiness, can you ever be truly happy with no money?
26. How do you know your perceptions are real?
27. How much control do you have over your life?
28. What is freedom?
29. Isn't one person's terrorist another person's freedom fighter?
30. What happens after we die?
31. What defines you?
32. What do people strive for after enlightenment?
33. Do we have a soul?
34. What is intelligence?
35. How should people live their lives?
36. If lying is wrong, are white lies okay?
37. Is trust more important than love?
38. Is it easier to love or be loved?
39. Is it better to love and lose or never to love?
40. Do aliens exist?
41. The structure of DNA appears to be intelligently designed, what are the implications?
42. If everything evolved from amoebas, how does the world still have amoebas?
43. Is life all a dream?
44. When does consciousness begin?
45. What are numbers?
46. Can we have happiness without sadness?
47. How did the universe begin?
48. Is there a supreme power?
49. What is education?
50. What will happen at the end of the world?
51. Is there a reason to life?
52. Where does the soul live?
53. Is it more important to be liked or respected?
54. Does sound happen if nothing is present to hear it?
55. What is infinity?
56. Where does the universe end?
57. Does observation alter an event?
58. Does the Law of Attraction exist?
59. How does gravity work?
60. Where were people before they were born?
61. What is beauty?
62. Where do thoughts come from?
63. Is mind or matter more real?
64. What is time?
65. How can people believe in truths without evidence?
These next ten are a bit special….
66. Can You Kill 10 People To Save 100?
67. Do We Have Free Will?
68. Is There Absolute Morality?
69. Is There A Meaning Of Life?
70. What Is Mathematics?
71. Are We In The Matrix?
72. Is There An Alternative To Capitalism?
73. What Is Consciousness?
74. Is There A God?
75. Can We Really Know Anything?

You will no doubt, already have views on some of these deep philosophical questions, and may have formed quick views on others. On the remaining questions though, think them over and see what they mean to you and what you can learn from the questions themselves.

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Why Sexual Desire Is Objectifying – and Hence Morally Wrong

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise star in 'Eyes Wide Shut.' (Photo Warner Bros./Liaison)

The 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant believed that human beings tend to be evil. He wasn't talking about some guy rubbing his hands and crowing with glee at the prospect of torturing an enemy. He was thinking about the basic human tendency to succumb to what we want to do instead of what we ought to do, to heed the siren-song of our desires instead of the call of duty. For Kant, morality is the force that closes this gap, and holds us back from our darker, desiring selves.

Once desire becomes suspect, sex is never far behind. Kant implicitly acknowledged the unusual power of sexual urges and their capacity to divert us from doing what is right. He claimed that sex was particularly morally condemn-able, because lust focuses on the body, not the agency, of those we sexually desire, and so reduces them to mere things. It makes us see the objects of our longing as just that ­– objects. In so doing, we see them as mere tools for our own satisfaction.

Treating people as objects can mean many things. It could include beating them, tearing into them, and violating them. But there are other, less violent ways of objectifying people. We might treat someone as only a means to our sexual pleasure, to satisfy our lust on that person, to use a somewhat archaic expression. The fact that the other person consents does not get rid of the objectification; two people can agree to use one another for purely sexual purposes.

But don't we use each other all the time? Many of us have jobs – as cleaners, gardeners, teachers, singers. Does the beneficiary of the service objectify the service provider, and does the service provider objectify the recipient by taking their money? These relationships don't seem to provoke the same moral qualms. Either they do not involve objectification, or the objectification is somehow neutered.

Kant said that these scenarios weren't really a problem. He draws a distinction between mere use – the basis of objectification – and more-than-mere use. While we might employ people to do jobs, and accept payment for our work, we don't treat the person on the other side of the transaction as a mere tool; we still recognise that person's fundamental humanity.
Sex, though, is different. When I hire someone to sing, according to Kant, my desire is for his or her talent – for the voice-in-action. But when I sexually desire someone, I desire his or her body, not the person's services or talents or intellectual capabilities, although any of these could enhance the desire. So, when we desire the person's body, we often focus during sex on its individual parts: the buttocks, the penis, the clitoris, the thighs, the lips. What we desire to do with those parts differs, of course. Some like to touch them with the hand, others with the lips, others with the tongue; for others still, the desire is just to look. This does not mean that I would settle for a human corpse: our desire for human bodies is directed at them as living, much like my desire for a cellphone is directed at a functioning one.

But, one might object, don't we do sexual things because we love our partners, and want them to feel pleasure? Of course we do. But if we did so when we didn't want to in the first place, then we do not do it out of sexual desire. And if we don't do it out of sexual desire, then the problem of objectification does not present itself. We can enjoy sexually pleasing someone else. But you can think of the other person as a sophisticated instrument: to give the maximum pleasure, we have to please it. Just because I have to oil and maintain my car for it to work does not mean it is any less of an instrument.

Sex doesn't just make you objectify your partner. It also makes you objectify yourself. When I am in the grip of sexual desire, I also allow another person to reduce me to my body, to use me as a tool. Kant saw this process of self-objectification as an equally, if not more, serious moral problem than objectification directed outwards. I have duties to others to promote their happiness, but I also have a duty to morally perfect myself. Allowing myself to be objectified opposes this precept, according to Kant.

But really, what's the big deal? Yes, we objectify each other in sex and let ourselves be objectified. Worse things have happened and will happen. At least with sex there is pleasure (if all goes well) and lots of it (if all goes really well). Whatever is wrong with sexual objectification can't be that bad, surely?

But there's a snag. The capacity to reason is what makes people ends in themselves, worthy of moral respect, according to Kant. And what's objectifying about sexual desire is its ability to numb a person to reason, both in themselves and in others. Its power is such that it makes our reason its servant: our rationality becomes the means to satisfy its goals. It has been the downfall of kings and leaders; the ruination of relationships; the seedbed of lies in the pursuit of getting laid ('Me too! I love atonal music!'). In my pursuit to fulfil it, I cheat, I deceive, I pretend to be not who I am – and not just to the other person, but to myself, too. I set aside the other's rationality, and in doing so, set aside their humanity. That is not my concern; his or her body is.

Is it possible to have sex without objectification? Of course. Prostitutes do it all the time. So do many long-term couples. They have sex with people whom they do not desire. And with no desire, there is no objectification. Not even love can fix it. When the desire is high, when the sexual act is in full swing, my beloved is a piece of flesh. (Though love does lead to occasional cuddling, which is nice.)
I agree with Kant that sexual desire and objectification are inseparable, and a force that morality must reckon with. Sex is like any good dessert: delicious but with a price.

Raja Halwani
--
This article was originally published at Aeon and has been republished under Creative Commons.

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To find contentment...

To find contentment...

Contentment...anything that brings a person satisfaction; forever, momentary, occasional innocence, to behold what a single person perceives as content no matter that it may not equal the same feeling another person feels when they are content. There are those who never seem to feel content or don't seem to recognize contentment even if they are in such a state or don't care to feel content, to feel satisfied but do even when they feel they are not...what is complete satisfaction, can that completeness ever be achieved? Would you know? Too often we all claim to know what contentment is or when it's complete...no matter the perception, completion implies a finality, the end of discontent. Contentment also implies an acceptance that we must all feel good in the same way, there is only good and we all perceive "good" the same way... are bad people experiencing good the same way another group experiences the good?

con·tent1

kənˈtent/

adjective

adjective: content

1. 1.
   in a state of peaceful happiness.

   "he seemed more content, less bitter"

   synonyms:

   contented, satisfied, pleased, gratified, fulfilled, happy, cheerful, glad; More

   antonyms:

   discontented, dissatisfied

   • satisfied with a certain level of achievement, good fortune, etc., and not wishing for more.

     "he had to be content with third place"

verb

verb: content; 3rd person present: contents; past tense: contented; past participle: contented; gerund or present participle: contenting

1. 1.
   satisfy (someone).

   "nothing would content her"

   synonyms:

   satisfy, please; More

   • accept as adequate despite wanting more or better.

     "we contented ourselves with a few small purchases"

noun

noun: content; plural noun: contents

1. 1.
   a state of satisfaction.

   "the greater part of the century was a time of content"
2. 2.
   a member of the British House of Lords who votes for a particular motion.

Origin

late Middle English: via Old French from Latin contentus 'satisfied,' past participle of continere (see contain).

con·tent2

ˈkäntent/

noun

noun: content; plural noun: contents

1. 1.
   the things that are held or included in something.

   "he unscrewed the top of the flask and drank the contents"

   • the amount of a particular constituent occurring in a substance.

     "milk with a low-fat content"

     synonyms:

     amount, proportion, quantity "foods with a high fiber content"

   • a list of the titles of chapters or sections contained in a book or periodical.

     "the contents page"

     synonyms:

     constituents, ingredients, components, elements "the contents of a vegetarian sausage"

   • information made available by a website or other electronic medium.

     "online content providers"
2. 2.
   the substance or material dealt with in a speech, literary work, etc., as distinct from its form or style.

   "the outward form and precise content of the messages"

   synonyms:

   subject matter, subject, theme, argument, thesis, message, thrust, substance, matter, material, text, ideas "the content of the essay"

Origin

late Middle English: from medieval Latin contentum (plural contenta 'things contained'), neuter past participle of continere (see contain).

Translate content to

Use over time for: content

con·tent·ment

kənˈtentmənt/

noun

noun: contentment

1. a state of happiness and satisfaction.

   "he found contentment in living a simple life in the country"

   synonyms:

   contentedness, content, satisfaction, gratification, fulfillment, happiness, pleasure, cheerfulness; More

Origin

late Middle English (denoting the payment of a claim): from French contentement, from Latin contentus(see content1).

Translate contentment to

Use over time for: contentment

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