Scientists have just announced an historic discovery on a par with the splitting of the atom: the Higgs boson, the key to understanding why mass exists has been found. In The Particle at the End of the Universe, Caltech physicist and acclaimed writer Sean Carroll takes readers behind the scenes of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN to meet the scientists and explain this landmark event.
The Higgs boson is the particle that more than six thousand scientists have been looking for using the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and highest energy particle accelerator, which lies in a tunnel 17 miles in circumference, as deep as 575 feet beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva. It took ten years to build and this search has now cost over $9 billion and required the collaboration of engineers from more than one hundred countries.
What is so special about the Higgs boson? We didn’t really know for sure if anything at the subatomic level had any mass at all until we found it. The fact is, while we have now essentially solved the mass puzzle, there are things we didn’t predict and possibilities we haven’t yet dreamed. A doorway is opening into the mind boggling, somewhat frightening world of dark matter. We only discovered the electron just over a hundred years ago and considering where that took us—from nuclear energy to quantum computing–the inventions that will result from the Higgs discovery will be world-changing.
The Particle at the End of the Universe not only explains the importance of the Higgs boson but also the Large Hadron Collider project itself. Projects this big don’t happen without a certain amount of conniving, dealing, and occasional skullduggery— and Sean Carroll explores it all. This is an irresistible story (including characters now set to win the Nobel Prize among other glories) about the greatest scientific achievement of our time.
Jean Carroll
BiographySean Carroll is a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology, specializing in cosmology, gravitation, field theory, and quantum mechanics. His research addresses the foundations of cosmology: What happened at the very beginning of the universe? Why was entropy low near the Big Bang? Is there an interpretation of quantum mechanics that applies to the universe as a whole? What are the dark matter and dark energy that dominate the universe today? How do complex structures evolve over time?
Carroll has been blogging regularly since 2004. His textbook “Spacetime and Geometry” has been adopted by a number of universities for their graduate courses in general relativity. He is a frequent public speaker, and has appeared on TV shows, such as The Colbert Report and Through The Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. He has produced a set of lectures for The Teaching Company on dark matter and dark energy, and another on the nature of time. He has served as a science consultant for films such as Thor and TRON: Legacy, as well as for TV shows such as Fringe and Bones. His 2010 popular book, “From Eternity to Here,” explained the arrow of time and connected it with the origin of our universe.
“The Particle at the End of the Universe,” about the Large Hadron Collider and the quest to discover the Higgs boson, was released November 2012. A TV special for NOVA on PBS, based in part on the book, is currently in development. Look for that in 2013.
Sean Carroll – The Particle at the End of the Universe
Published on Jan 18, 2013
It was the universe’s most elusive particle, the linchpin for everything scientists dreamed up to explain how stuff works. It had to be found. But projects as big as CERN’s Large Hadron Collider don’t happen without dealing and conniving, incredible risks and occasional skullduggery.
Award-winning physicist and science popularizer Sean Carroll reveals the history-making forces of insight, rivalry, and wonder that fuelled the Higgs search and how its discovery opens a door into the mind-boggling domain of dark matter and other phenomena we never predicted.
Sean Carroll – The Particle at the End of the Universe: Q & A
Following his talk at the Ri, theoretical physicist Sean Carroll takes questions from a packed audience in the famous Faraday Theatre. Chaired by science journalist, Alok Jha.
Sean Carroll Interview – Beyond the Higgs Boson
We caught up with theoretical physicist Sean Carroll to find out why the discovery of the Higgs Boson was such a major breakthrough and what it means for scientists and our conception of reality. Emphasising the importance of fields in particle physics, Sean explores what’s in store next at the Large Hadron Collider and discusses and what exactly physicists mean when they refer to ‘symmetry’.
We ask him what could lie beyond the Higgs and if it is worth spending over $10 billion to find out. Watch Sean Carroll present his talk on ‘The Particle at the End of the Universe’
Throughout history, the number 108 has held a multi-dimensional meaning. In geometric terms it is a natural division of circle (108=36+72=9 X 12). In the Eastern part of the world, different traditions talk about the108 navamsas. The Shiva malas[1], or rosaries, both Tantric and Tibetan[2] are composed by 108 beads. The number 108 is also one of great significance inside of the Rosicrucian order, since it exemplifies the time-frame of some of their cycles. Interestingly enough, a leap year displays 366 days and 3 x 6 x 6 gives 108.
The number 108 is considered sacred in many Eastern religions and traditions, such as Hinduism[3], Buddhism, Jainism[4], Sikhism and connected yoga and dharma based practices. Even the pre-historic monument Stonehenge is 108 feet in diameter. 108 is a number known to be referring to spiritual completion, and it is no surprise that the early Vedic sages were renowned mathematicians and in fact invented our number system. 108 is a Harshad Number, an integer divisible by the sum of its digits. Harshad in Sanskrit means “joy-giver”. 108 was the number of choice for this simple reason: 108 represent the whole of existence. There are said to be 108 types of meditation. Some say there are 108 paths to God. Indian traditions have 108 dance forms.
Another interesting example, Hindu deities have 108 names, whilst in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, there are 108 gopis of Vrindavan. Recital of these names, often accompanied by the counting of the 108-beaded Mala, is considered sacred and often done during religious ceremonies. The recital is called namajapa. Accordingly, a mala usually has beads for 108 repetitions of a mantra.
In some schools of Buddhism, it is believed that there are 108 defilements. In Japan, at the end of the year, a bell is chimed 108 times in Buddhist temples to finish the old year and welcome the new one. Each ring represents one of 108 earthly temptations a person must overcome to achieve nirvana. Likewise, Zen priests wear juzu, a ring of prayer beads, around their wrists, which consists of 108 beads. The Lankavatara Sutra[5] has a section where the Bodhisattva Mahamati asks Buddha 108 questions.
In modern Gnosticism, through the teachings of Samael Aun Weor, it is believed that an individual has 108 chances, or lifetimes, to eliminate his egos and transcend the material world before “devolving” and having the egos forcefully removed in the infra-dimensions. In other words, each one of us carries the reminiscent memory cells of at least 108 previous incarnations, which constitutes the body of our incarnational selves. Inside of this essentially holographic template is stored the repository of the emotional and spiritual involvements that your Soul may have experienced and have retained the impression of, but that needed to be cleansed and integrated in order to continue the spiritual evolution.
The Buddhism tradition talks about the 108 earthly desires in mortals, 108 lies humans tell and 108 human delusions[6].
The esoteric presence of the number 108 can be seen in various spiritual practices and theories: In Kriya Yoga, the maximum number of repetitions allowed to be practiced in one sitting is 108. Also, 108 Sun Salutations in yoga practice is often used to honor change, for example the change of seasons, or at a time of tragedy to bring peace, respect and understanding. It is said that if one can be so calm in meditation practicing pranayama to have only 108 breaths a day that enlightenment will come.
Energy Points[7]
There are said to be 108 energy lines, or nadis, converging to form the heart chakra. Marma points are like Chakras, or intersection of energy, with fewer converging energy lines. On Sri Yantra, the Marmas have 54 intersecting energy lines where three lines intersect. Each has feminine, or shakti, and masculine, or shiva, qualities. 54 X 2 = 108. Therefore there are 108 points that define the human body and the Sri Yantra or the Yantra of Creation. The same rule is observed in the Sanskrit language, with its 54 letters, both representing the two genders and they are also called Shiva and Shakti respectively; again, 54 X 2= 108.
Importance in Astronomy and Astrology
The earth cycle is supposed to be of 2160 years = 20 x 108. The distance between the Earth and Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Sun. The diameter of the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Earth. The distance between the Earth and Moon is 108 times the diameter of the Moon. The universe is made up of 108 elements according to ancient texts. The current periodic table claims a few more than 108.
There are 12 constellation and 9 arc segments. 9 times 12 equal 108. The 9 planets travelling through the 12 signs constitute the whole of existence. 9 x 12 = 108. The 27 nakshatras or lunar constellations spread over the 4 elements – fire, earth, air, water or the 4 directions – north, south, east, and west. This also constitutes the whole of existence. 27 x 4 = 108.
[1] – The Buddhist rosary, where from is inspired the rosary of the Moslems, then straight-away as an inheritance of crusades by Catholic Christians, is constituted of 108 fragments of distinctive different human skulls .
[2] 108 sacred books constitute the holy writings for Tibetans
[3] The Vedanta, according to the Hinduism tradition, recognizes 108 authentic doctrines (Upanishad) aiming to approach the Truth and to destroy Ignorance.
[4] In Jain tradition is believed that they are 108 virtues.
[5] Lankavatara Sutra ancient teachings refer repeatedly to many temples with 108 steps.
[6] In Tibetan Buddhism it is believed that there are 108 sins or 108 delusions of the mind: abuse, aggression, ambition, anger, arrogance, baseness, blasphemy calculation, callousness, capriciousness (unaccountable changes of mood or behavior) censoriousness (being severely critical of others), conceitedness, contempt, cruelty, cursing, debasement, deceit, deception, delusion, derision, desire for fame, dipsomania (alcoholism characterized by intermittent bouts of craving), discord, disrespect, disrespectfulness, dissatisfaction, dogmatism, dominance, eagerness for power, effrontery (insolent or impertinent behavior), egoism, enviousness, envy, excessiveness, faithlessness, falseness, furtiveness, gambling, garrulity (tediously talking about trivial matters), gluttony, greed, greed for money grudge, hardheartedness, hatred, haughtiness, high-handedness, hostility, humiliation, hurt, hypocrisy, ignorance, imperiousness (assuming power or authority without justification), imposture (pretending to be someone else in order to deceive), impudence, inattentiveness, indifference, ingratitude, insatiability, insidiousness, intolerance, intransigence (unwilling or refusing to change one’s views or to agree about something), irresponsibility, jealousy, know-it-all, lack of comprehension, lecherousness, lying, malignancy, manipulation, masochism, mercilessness, negativity, obsession, obstinacy, obstinacy, oppression, ostentatious, pessimism, prejudice, presumption, pretense, pride, prodigality (spending money or using resources freely and recklessly), quarrelsomeness, rage, rapacity (being aggressively greedy or grasping), ridicule, sadism, sarcasm, seduction, self-denial, self-hatred, sexual lust, shamelessness, stinginess, stubbornness, torment, tyranny, unkindness, unruliness, unyielding, vanity, vindictiveness, violence, violent temper, voluptuousness, wrath.
[7] According to Chinese and Indian Martial Arts: Marma Adi and Ayurveda, there are 108 pressure points in a human body.
This article, The Mystic Meaning of the Number 108, is syndicated from http://humanityhealing.net and is reposted here with permission.
Ed. Note: Shortly after founding the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Edgar Mitchell conceived and collaboratively developed what he described as “an authoritative encyclopedic volume of psychic research.” It was a groundbreaking book, and in honor of IONS’ upcoming fortieth anniversary, it will soon be republished (details to come), with a new foreword by IONS’ president Marilyn Schlitz and Senior Scientist Dean Radin. What in some ways is most striking about the book is Dr. Mitchell’s introduction, abridged here. His astute insights into the state of humanity’s affairs and his visionary and passionate call for how to take our species to the next level of its evolution are no less vital today than they were back then.
In February 1971, I had the privilege of walking on the moon as a member of the Apollo 14 lunar expedition. During the voyage I made a test in extrasensory perception (ESP), attempting to send information telepathically to four receivers on Earth. Since then, people have asked me why an astronaut would take such an intense interest in a subject as ridiculed and unacceptable in respectable scientific circles as psychic research.
It is a fair question. The answer is partly implied by the title of this book: psychic research presents a challenge that science can no longer avoid. But the title is also somewhat misleading. My real interest is – and has been for many years – to understand the nature of consciousness and the relationship of body to mind. Psychic research is one facet of this larger whole. Therefore, it might be said that I have simply gone from outer space to inner space.
The study of mind and consciousness is called noetics. The term comes from the Greek root word nous, meaning “mind.” As popularly used, noetic refers to purely intellectual apprehension. But Plato spoke of noetic knowledge as the highest form of knowing – a direct cognition or apprehension of the eternal truths that surpasses the normal discursive processes of logical, intellectual reasoning. The word science, of course, originally meant “knowing” but has come to mean a type of knowing derived from use of the objective, rational faculties of mind. But psychic abilities such as telepathy are another type of knowing – a subjective knowing, a nonrational, cognitive process largely overlooked by the scientific world. Consciousness appears to be the central, unifying concept behind these different aspects of mind.
The topic of consciousness is as vast as the cosmos and as close to us as sleep. Noetics is the discipline that is arising from this confluence of outer- and inner-space research. It is the ultimate frontier in man’s attempt to understand the nature of the universe and himself.
Inner vs. Outer: A Time for Reconciliation
If we review the history of mankind’s attempt to perceive, cognize, and interpret his environment, we find that in the last four centuries, as a result of the growth of scientific methodology, a formalized dichotomy has arisen between proponents of the two modes of knowing: objective observation (followed by deductive reasoning) and direct cognitive processes. These opposing modes of perception are crudely epitomized as science versus religion, reason versus intuition, rationality versus nonrationality, objective knowledge versus subjective experience, and so forth. Only in relatively recent years have scholars of each persuasion actively and vehemently denied the validity of the other process. In prescientific times, scholars – whether they agreed upon their conclusions or not – at least recognized the validity of both external and internal observation. (We must quickly add that the truly great teachers of modern times have always acknowledged this dual process.)
Thus, although I am identifying consciousness as the ultimate frontier in man’s attempt to gain knowledge, it is by no means a new frontier because throughout history people have sought to resolve the differences between their objective methods and their subjective experience – between outer and inner. The study of mind and consciousness is the common ground for this effort. The living system that we call man is a holistic phenomenon that exhibits both modes of knowing.
Perhaps after 350 years of divisiveness between science and religion we are on the threshold of a new era of knowledge and cooperation. It should be obvious that objective observation and reason do not by themselves produce a satisfactory ethic for living – neither for the individual nor for social systems. Facts become divorced from values, and action from need.
On the other hand, intuition and inspiration do not by themselves produce the agreement society needs to bring about order, structure, and survival in the material world. In this case, observation frequently becomes subject to individual interpretation according to the covert biases of the individual.
The antagonism between the objective and subjective modes of knowledge can be clearly illustrated. In 1600 Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake by theologians for asserting that the earth was not the center of the solar system and that there were other solar systems with living beings in them. In 1972 the American Academy of Science asserted that science and religion are “mutually exclusive realms of thought” and therefore the Genesis theory of creation should be kept out of science textbooks. The roles of science and religion are reversed in the modern example, but the same close-minded dogmatism is operating to limit inquiry through sanctimonious denial of other viewpoints.
Research over the last fifty years by little-known but forward-looking thinkers has shown there is a vast creative potential in the human mind that is as yet almost totally unrecognized by science. Nonrational cognitive processes have so far eluded scientific description. However, this potential has been previously known and described by a few ancient sages and enlightened religious teachers, using veiled prescientific language to express what they discovered through subjective, intuitive, experiential means. We are, in my opinion, on the threshold of rediscovering and redefining those concepts and insights through the objective, rational, experimental efforts of science – if dogmatism and outmoded belief structures do not prevent it. The proper direction of sophisticated instrumentation and laboratory techniques can be the means whereby the physical and metaphysical realms are shown to be different aspects of the same reality. If this is demonstrated, it would be ironic, but appropriate, that so-called godless technology and materialistic science should lead to the rediscovery of the essential unity of science and religion.
Noetics recognizes all this. Noetics is the research frontier where the convergence of objectivity and subjectivity, of reason and intuition, is occurring most rapidly. In the study of consciousness, the techniques and technology of science are being combined with the higher insights of mind from both East and West to provide a new methodology for scholarly inquiry. For it is quite clear that reason alone is not sufficient for total understanding of ourselves. As Michael Polanyi, the eminent philosopher of science, points out in his book Personal Knowledge (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958), scientific discoveries do not always follow in a sequence of perfectly logical deductions. Instead, many discoveries involve intuitions and hunches on the part of the scientist in a manner that cannot be completely explained.
The Limits of Pragmatism
When I went to the moon, I was as pragmatic a test pilot, engineer, and scientist as any of my colleagues. More than a quarter of a century had been spent in learning the empirical approach to dealing with the universe. Many times my life has depended upon the validity of scientific principles and the reliability of the technology built upon those principles. I knew well that analytic and logical thought, using objective data, could produce a technology that would reveal new secrets of the universe by probing the reaches of space and, at the microscopic level, the structure of atoms. Prior to the lunar exploration, I became as familiar with the spacecraft and its vast support system of people and equipment as a man could be, with confidence in it all. Despite that familiarity and confidence, though, there were moments during the flight when I felt an amazed and profound respect for the rational abilities of the human intellect – that it could find ways to guide a tiny capsule of metal through a half million miles of space with such precision and accuracy. Yes, I was pragmatic because my experience had shown beyond all question that science works.
But there was another aspect to my experience during Apollo 14, and it contradicted the “pragmatic engineer” attitude. It began with the breathtaking experience of seeing planet Earth floating in the vastness of space.
The first thing that came to mind as I looked at Earth was its incredible beauty. Even the spectacular photographs do not do it justice. It was a majestic sight, a splendid blue and white jewel suspended against a velvet black sky. How peacefully, how harmoniously, how marvelously it seemed to fit into the evolutionary pattern by which the universe is maintained. In a peak experience, the presence of divinity became almost palpable, and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes. This knowledge came to me directly – noetically. It was not a matter of discursive reasoning or logical abstraction. It was an experiential cognition. It was knowledge gained through private subjective awareness, but it was – and still is – every bit as real as the objective data upon which, say, the navigational program or the communications system was based. Clearly, the universe had meaning and direction. It was not perceptible by the sensory organs, but it was there nevertheless – an unseen dimension behind the visible creation that gives it an intelligent design and that gives life purpose.
Next I thought of our planet’s life-supporting character. That little globe of water, clouds, and land no bigger than my thumb was home, the haven our spacecraft would seek at the end of our voyage. Buckminster Fuller’s description of the planet as “Spaceship Earth” seemed eminently fitting.
Then my thoughts turned to daily life on the planet. With that, my sense of wonderment gradually turned into something close to anguish because I realized that at the very moment when I was so privileged to view the planet from 240,000 miles in space, people of Earth were fighting wars; committing murder and other crimes; lying, cheating, and struggling for power and status; abusing the environment by polluting the water and air; wasting natural resources and ravaging the land; acting out of lust and greed; and hurting others through intolerance, bigotry, prejudice, and all the things that add up to man’s inhumanity to man. It seemed as though man were totally unconscious of his individual role in – and individual responsibility for – the future of life on the planet.
It was also painfully apparent that the millions of people suffering in conditions of poverty, ill health, misery, fear, and near slavery were in that condition from economic exploitation, political domination, religious and ethnic persecution, and a hundred other demons that spring from the human ego. Science, for all its technological feats, had not – more likely could not – deal with these problems stemming from man’s self-centeredness.
The magnitude of the overall problem seemed staggering. Our condition seemed to be one of deepening crises on an unprecedented scale, crises that were mounting faster than we could solve them. There appeared to be the immediate possibility that warfare might destroy vast segments of civilization with one searing burst of atomic fury. Only a little further off appeared the possibility of intolerable levels of polluted air and of undrinkable water. A more remote but no less real likelihood was the death of large portions of the population from starvation, abetted by improper resources management by an exploding population.
How had the world come to such a critical situation – and why? Even more important, what could be done to correct it? How could we restore the necessary harmonious relationship between the environment and ourselves? How could a nuclear Armageddon be avoided? How could life be made livable? How could our potential for a peaceful, creative, fulfilling society be realized? How could the highest development of our objective rationality, epitomized by science, be wedded to the highest development of our subjective intuition, epitomized by religion?
These thoughts and questions stayed with me through the mission, splashdown, and parades. They stayed long afterward to the point of haunting me with an overwhelming awareness of how limited a view man has of his own life and the planet’s. Sometimes at night I would lie awake for hours struggling with this enigma, trying to understand it and see it in a sensible perspective. How could human beings, the most intelligent creature on earth, be so utterly stupid and shortsighted as to put themselves in a position of possible global extinction? How had insight become divorced from instinct? Was it possible to find a workable solution?
The View from Above, and from Within
Only when man sees his fundamental unity with the processes of nature and the functioning of the universe – as I so vividly saw it from the Apollo spacecraft – will the old ways of thinking and behaving disappear. Only when man moves from his ego-centered self-image to a new image of universal human will the perennial problems that plague us be susceptible of resolution. Humanity must rise from man to mankind, from the personal to the transpersonal, from self-consciousness to cosmic consciousness. Humanity’s multiple problems resolve themselves into one fundamental problem: how to change consciousness. How can we raise our awareness to a higher level – a level that will restore the unity of human, the planet, and the universe?
For me, seeing our planet from space was an event with some of the qualities traditionally ascribed to religious experience. It triggered a deep insight into the nature of existence – the sort of insight that radically changes the inner person. My thinking – indeed, my consciousness – was altered profoundly. I came to feel a moral responsibility to pass on the transformative experience of seeing Earth from the larger perspective. But further, the rational part in me had to recognize the validity ofthe nonrational cognitive process.
Obviously we cannot send everyone to the moon in the near future. But we can provide information and experiences of another sort that will serve the same purpose and provide the same perspective. Moreover, we can do it in a way that brings objective reason closer to subjective intuition and thereby help to lessen the unfortunate gulf between these two modes of knowing. We can do this because inner- and outer-space research are converging.
Now is the time for us to begin building a single whole of humanity. Now is the time to develop our nonrational abilities into a “subjective technology,” which will begin the wedding of science and religion, reason and intuition, the physical and the spiritual. This union of head and heart, insight and instinct, will ensure that as science comes to comprehend the nonmaterial aspect of reality as well as it knows the material – that is, as science approaches omniscience – our knowledge will become wisdom, our love of power will become the power of love, and the universal human of cosmic consciousness can then emerge.
Interview to Dr. Edgard Mitchell – IONS
Traveling back to Earth, having just walked on the moon, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell had an experience for which nothing in his life had prepared him. As he approached the planet we know as home, he was filled with an inner conviction as certain as any mathematical equation he’d ever solved. He knew that the beautiful blue world to which he was returning is part of a living system, harmonious and whole—and that we all participate, as he expressed it later, “in a universe of consciousness.”
This experience radically altered his worldview: Despite science’s superb technological achievements, he realized that we had barely begun to probe the deepest mystery of the universe—the fact of consciousness itself. He became convinced that the uncharted territory of the human mind was the next frontier to explore, and that it contained possibilities we had hardly begun to imagine. Within two years of his expedition, Edgar Mitchell founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences in 1973.
Today, Dr. Mitchell serves on the board of directors of the institute. He continues to be active at institute events, including lectures and conferences. He is the author of “The Way of the Explorer”, translated in several languages all around the world.
This interview made on last December 2010 represents a testimonial of this extraordinary man!
2012 and the grand alignment. What does it really mean? It’s not just about a calendar ending. It’s really about an evolutionary beginning of a new cycle. Individually and collectively we all can play a part and help to make this transition a positive, enlightening experience. This video is an inspirational journey through the cosmos, with beautiful music from Enigma, and wonderful Hubble telescope photos. We hope to inspire and communicate in simple terms what is needed to help us make the necessary planetary shift in consciousness .
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The iconoclastic physicist Amit Goswami has never shied away from acknowledging a divine intelligence in his study of the quantum world, and here he makes his case. While he harbors little patience for the neo-Darwinist position (“they are dead wrong when they say there is no meaning and purpose to evolution”), he is also quick to criticize intelligent design theorists when they argue against the scientific validity of evolution. His solution? Quantum activism—aligning oneself with evolutionary imperatives to change the world for the better.
Amit Goswami, Ph.D. talks about quantum physics and God.
Present! – Amit Goswami, Ph.D. (Part Two) Quantum Physics and God
Physicist Amit Goswami talks about the struggle between spirituality and science, and introduces the quantum view of reincarnation.
Ed: The bulk of this new book, an effective balance of both the academic and the entertaining, profiles what apparently is a growing subculture of Americans who believe in such anomalous phenomena as those identified in its subtitle. The authors, all of whom are sociology professors, draw primarily from data generated by the seminal 2007 Baylor Religion Study but fill in the gaps with their own research as well as numerous case studies of everyday people and their direct experiences with the paranormal. The following excerpt comes from their concluding chapter.
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Spending time in the realms of the paranormal led us to reflect on how much has changed since the 1980s. Back then the Internet was in its infancy, not filled with websites, blogs, and discussion forums devoted to paranormal subjects. The X-Files had yet to appear on television. There was no MonsterQuest or Ghost Hunters, let alone the seemingly endless clones and spin-offs that have appeared in their wake. Not that the paranormal is new, far from it. In Search of was a fairly popular pre-1990 paranormal show. In 1992, CBS relaunched Miracles and Other Wonders, hosted by Darren McGavin. Magazines such as Fate and Argosy (now defunct) brought the ghosts and psychic powers to the newsstands.
What appears to have changed is the degree of societal interest in the paranormal and the extent to which this interest has organized. Two decades ago, an attempt to investigate the paranormal nearly always led to someone like Datus Perry [referred to earlier in the book]. Almost every community had “that guy who sees UFOs” or the “family who thinks their house is haunted.” Few people knew of the organized paranormal groups in existence at the time, such as the Mutual UFO Network and National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), so local inquiries usually led to colorful, eccentric dead ends.
It is clear that increased interest in the paranormal has gone hand in hand with greater media attention and the rapid diffusion of the Internet. If you live in a city or town of any size, you are likely to find an organized local or regional group of ghost hunters, a group for developing one’s psychic potential, a UFO investigation club, and depending on the region, a Bigfoot hunting organization. If your area does not have its own paranormal organization or club, it is probably home to a regional chapter of a national one. Twenty years ago, a visit to a reputed haunted house in a community was a lonely affair. Today one may find competition for the ghosts’ attentions from a local ghost-hunting group, a documentary crew, or a radio show.
While we doubt many will argue with us when we claim that interest in the paranormal has increased over the last few decades, it is very difficult to prove so with any certainty. Beliefs about the paranormal have rarely been subjected to detailed scrutiny. When survey researchers have asked Americans if they believe in paranormal topics or have had paranormal experiences, the way in which the questions have been asked, the population to whom the questions have been asked, and even the subjects asked about have varied so dramatically that it is impossible to know for certain how much interest in the paranormal has increased. What we can say for certain is that we live in a paranormal America. Put another way, the paranormal is normal.
It is important that we be very clear what we mean by this statement, as it may be open to misinterpretation. Most books about the paranormal are written from a base underlying assumption regarding the reality of the phenomenon under discussion. A number of skeptics and scientists have written books bemoaning increased interest in the paranormal as a sign that our culture is losing its critical reasoning skills. Michael Shermer’s Why People Believe Weird Things and the late Carl Sagan’s The Demon Haunted World assume that paranormal phenomena are not objectively real and therefore try to explain what leads people to lose their common sense and believe in fallacious subjects. Books written by paranormal believers attempt to present evidence, often in the form of personal accounts or eyewitness testimony, in an attempt to prove the reality of the phenomenon in question. Conservative Christian authors vary: some arguing that paranormal phenomena are not real while others claim that the paranormal is a tool of Satan.
In the course of researching this book and presenting its findings, we have been accused of being (1) too skeptical by some paranormal believers who wish we would attest to the reality of UFOs or Bigfoot and (2) not skeptical enough by some colleagues who wish we would “call out” lapses in logic among the people we have studied.
We could have presented arguments against the objective reality of UFO abductions. The first widely publicized abduction case of Betty and Barney Hill has been the subject of intense debate. For example, Betty claimed to have copied a “star map” shown to her by her abductors. Skeptics and believers have argued ever since whether the map truly displays a star system (and if so, which one) or is simply a random selection of dots produced by a deluded person.
From our perspective, there was little point in entering such debates. One aspect of the Hill case that few disagree with is that the couple truly believed themselves to have been abducted. From a sociological perspective, that is the important factor. The Hills’ apparent sincerity amid their astonishing claims proved to be a formative moment in what ultimately became a popular phenomenon in the late seventies. Sociologists have long observed that people act upon their strongly held beliefs, whether those beliefs represent “reality” or not.
When we report that the paranormal is normal, therefore, it should not be taken as an implicit or explicit statement for or against the reality of UFOs, psychic phenomena, ghosts, Bigfoot, or any other paranormal topics. We simply mean that the paranormal is no longer a fringe subject. Need proof? Only 32 percent of Americans [based on the 2007 Baylor Religion Survey] report no paranormal beliefs, and half of the population reports belief in two or more paranormal phenomena. Statistically, those who report a paranormal belief are not the oddballs; it is those who have no beliefs that are in the significant minority. Exactly which paranormal beliefs a person finds convincing varies, but whether it is UFOs and ghosts or astrology and telekinesis, most of us believe more than one. If we further consider strong beliefs in active supernatural entities and intense religious experiences, the numbers are even larger. The paranormal is here to stay and is no longer marginal phenomena.
About the Author
Bader, Mencken, and Baker
Christopher D. Bader is Associate Professor of Sociology at Baylor University. With F. Carson Mencken, he is Principal Investigator on the Baylor Religion Survey Project.
F. Carson Mencken is Professor of Sociology at Baylor University.
Joseph O. Baker is Assistant Professor of Sociology at East Tennessee State University.
In February 1971, as Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell hurtled earthward through space, he was engulfed by a profound sense of universal connectedness. He intuitively sensed that his presence and that of the planet in the window were all part of a deliberate, universal process and that the glittering cosmos itself was in some way conscious. The experience was so overwhelming Mitchell knew his life would never be the same.
For the next 35 years he embarked on another journey, an inward exploration of the ineffable mystery of human consciousness and being. Mitchell left NASA to form the Institute of Noetic Sciences. The Institute allowed him to initiate research in areas of study previously neglected by mainstream science and where he constructed a theory that could not only explain the mysteries consciousness, but the psychic event—what spiritualists call a “miracle,” and scientists dismiss altogether.
Mitchell also created a new dyadic model of reality, revealing a self-aware universe not predetermined by the laws of physics, nor preordained by deities, nor infinitely malleable. While human actions are generally subject to the laws of physics, these laws are also influenced by the mind. The Way of the Explorer traces two remarkable journeys—one through space and one through the mind. Together they fundamentally alter how we understand the miracle and mystery of being, and ultimately reveal mankind’s role in its own destiny.
Dr. Edgar Mitchell, a graduate of MIT with a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics, is the founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and cofounder of the Association of Space Explorers. As an astronaut, he was backup Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 10 and 16, and flew as Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 14. He has spent 35 years studying human consciousness and psychic and paranormal phenomena in the search for a common ground between science and spirit. Mitchell lectures regularly at dozens of conferences across the world. He lives in Florida.
Dwight Williams, recipient of the 1989 Jovanovich Award for short fiction, is the author of Raising Lazarus. He lives in Colorado.
In this one minute video, Apollo astronaut Capt. Edgar Mitchell shares the extraordinary story of his mystical experience in space while returning from the moon, an experience that led him to shift his whole vision of reality. Yogis call such an experience “samadhi,” and it led Edgar to create the Institute of Noetic Sciences to explore the meeting of science and spirituality, as well as the creation of a new worldview.
Doomsday believers, you might be able to breathe a sigh of relief.
The much-hyped “prediction” that, according to the ancient Mayan calendar, the world will end on Dec. 21, 2012, may be based on a miscalculation. According to recent research, the mythological date of the “end of days” may be off by 50 to 100 years. To convert the ancient Mayan calendar to the Gregorian (or modern) calendar, scholars use a numerical value (called the GMT). But Gerardo Aldana, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says the data supporting the widely-adopted conversion factor may be invalid.
In a chapter in the book “Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient and Medieval World,” Aldana casts doubt on the accuracy of the Mayan calendar correlation, saying that the 2012 prophecy as well as other historical dates may be off.
“One of the principal complications is that there are really so few scholars who know the astronomy, the epigraphy and the archeology,” Aldana said in a UCSB press release. “Because there are so few people who are working on that, you get people who don’t see the full scope of the problem. And because they don’t see the full scope, they buy things they otherwise wouldn’t. It’s a fun problem.”
Researcher Questions Accuracy of Mayan Calendar’s 2012 Prophecy and Other Dates The GMT constant, named for early Mayan scholars Joseph Goodman, Juan Martinez-Hernandez and J. Eric S. Thompson, is partly based on astronomical events. Those early Mayanists relied heavily on dates found in colonial documents written in Mayan languages and recorded in the Latin alphabet, the release said.
A later scholar, American linguist and anthropologist Floyd Lounsbury, further supported the GMT constant. But, through his research reconstructing Mayan astronomical practices and reviewing data in the archeological record, the release said Aldana found weaknesses in Lounsbury’s work that cause the argument behind the GMT constant to fall “like a stack of cards.”
“This may not seem to be much, but what it does is destabilize the entire argument,” he said. “A few scholars have stood up and said, ‘No, the GMT is wrong,’” Aldana said. “But in my opinion, what they’ve done is try to provide alternatives without looking at why the GMT is wrong in the first place.”
Despite research undercutting the 2012 apocalypse hype, films, websites and books will likely continue to drive “end of days” mania to a fever pitch. A crop of iPhone applications count down to (or capitalize on) the 2012 apocalypse, several websites
ABC News’ Susan Donaldson James contributed to this article.
In 2012, Our Planet Will Become A WAR ZONE Will You Survive, Or Are You And Your Family Already Doomed?
By the time you finish reading this, you’ll know:
Which nightmarish predictions are complete jokes, and which ones are 100% correct And exactly why world leaders and mass media have been covering these facts up for years.
The truth about whats ACTUALLY going to happen in 2012, and why billions of people need to prepare for the impending disasters, or prepare to die.
How you can guarantee your survival, and the survival of your loved ones. Because survival IS possible, and you can protect your most valuable treasure when the calamity begins the people you love.
Author Hawking says God not needed for creation
By JENNIFER QUINN (AP)
LONDON — Did creation need a creator?
British physicist and mathematician Stephen Hawking says no, arguing in his new book that there need not be a God behind the creation of the universe.
The concept is explored in “The Grand Design,” excerpts of which were printed in the British newspaper The Times on Thursday. The book, written with fellow physicist Leonard Mlodinow, is scheduled to be published by Bantam Press on Sept. 9.
“The Grand Design,” which the publishers call Hawking’s first major work in nearly a decade, challenges Isaac Newton’s theory God must have been involved in creation because our solar system couldn’t have come out of chaos simply through nature.
But Hawking says it isn’t that simple. To understand the universe, it’s necessary to know both how and why it behaves the way it does, calling the pursuit “the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.”
“We shall attempt to answer it in this book,” he wrote. “Unlike the answer given in ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,’ ours won’t be simply ’42.’”
The number 42 is the deliberately absurd answer to the “Ultimate Question” chosen by sci-fi author Douglas Adams.
Hawking, who is renowned for his work on black holes, said the 1992 discovery of another planet orbiting a star other than the sun makes “the coincidences of our planetary conditions … far less remarkable and far less compelling as evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings.”
In his best-selling 1988 book “A Brief History of Time,” Hawking appeared to accept the possibility of a creator, saying the discovery of a complete theory would “be the ultimate triumph of human reason — for then we should know the mind of God.”
But “The Grand Design” seems to step away from that, saying physics can explain things without the need for a “benevolent creator who made the Universe for our benefit.”
“Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing,” the excerpt says. “Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to … set the Universe going.”
Hawking retired last year as the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge University after 30 years in the position. The position was once held by Newton.
Stephen Hawking rules out the need for God in the Big Bang
The scientist has claimed that no divine force was needed to explain why the Universe was formed.
In his latest book, The Grand Design, an extract of which is published in Eureka magazine in The Times, Hawking said: “Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.”
He added: “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.”
In A Brief History of Time, Prof Hawking’s most famous work, he did not dismiss the possibility that God had a hand in the creation of the world.
He wrote in the 1988 book: “If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason — for then we should know the mind of God.”
In his new book he rejects Sir Isaac Newton’s theory that the Universe did not spontaneously begin to form but was set in motion by God.
In June this year Prof Hawking told a Channel 4 series that he didn’t believe that a “personal” God existed. He told Genius of Britain: “The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can’t understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second. If you like, you can call the laws of science ‘God’, but it wouldn’t be a personal God that you could meet, and ask questions.”
Until his retirement last year Prof Hawking was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a post previously held by Newton.
The book, co-written by American physicist Leonard Mlodinow, is published on September 9.
According to Sr iyukteshwars calculation,we will see Kalki in our life time because Kali Yuga has ended.
Kali yuga started in AD 500 and ended in AD1700.Kali Yuga or Iron age is only 1200 year duration in every cycle.
The book, The Holy Science, combines the astrological eras with time periods that are described in ancient Hindu works, notably the Manu Samhita.
This video is based on Hindu scripture and Sri Yukteshwar’s famous book Holy Science.His Yuga and timelines correction has been accepted by scientist world wide and has been verified using the Hindu scripture and also Historical evidence.He has precisely calculated the age of Rama and Krishna which has been verified by Binary Labs which is working on his book.
In David Frawley’s opinion, the cycle of Yugas is much like the four seasons. The planet gradually moves from one yuga to the next and from one cycle to the next, without any sudden jump from Kali into Satya Yuga. According to Frawley, historical evidence shows that Kali Yuga ended around 1700 CE, changing at that time to Dwapara Yuga. He also questions the traditional 432,000 year cycle which is false.
Like Frawley, Sri Yukteswar Giri maintains that we are currently in Dwapara Yuga. According to him, the astronomers and astrologers who calculated the almanacs were guided by the false annotations of certain Sanskrit scholars such as Kullu Bhatta. As a result, [they] falsely maintained that the length of Kali Yuga is 432,000 years, of which 4994 would have elapsed as of 1894, leaving 427,006 years remaining.
His other discovery is about the sun taking a binary star and revolving around it which leads to equinoxes is under scientific investigation.
Yukteswar tells us that the calendars of the higher ages were based on the Yugas, with each era named after its Yuga. As a result, the year 3000 BC or BCE was known as descending Dwapara one hundred two, because the last descending Dwapara yuga began one hundred two years earlier in 3102 BC or BCE. He stated that this method was used up until the recent Dark Ages, when knowledge of the connection with the yugas and the precession cycle was lost.
He stated, “The mistake crept into the almanacs for the first time during the reign of Raja Parikshit, just after the completion of the last descending Dwapara Yuga. At that time Maharaja Yudhisthira, noticing the appearance of the dark Kali Yuga, made over his throne to his grandson, the said Raja Parikshit. Maharaja Yudhisthira, together with all the wise men of his court, retired to the Himalaya Mountains.” He finished by stating, “there was no one who could understand the principle of correctly calculating the ages of the several Yugas.”
Consequently, when the Dwapara was over and the Kali era began no one knew enough to restart the calendar count. They knew they were in a Kali Yuga, which is why the old Hindu calendar now begins with K.Y. However, the beginning of this calendar, which in 2006 stands at 5108, can still be traced to 3102 BC or BCE, (3102+2006=5108), which was the start of the last descending Dwapara Yuga.
Maharishi Valmiki has recorded inBal Kaand sarga 19 and shloka eight and nine (1/18/8,9) that Shri Ram was born on ninth tithi of Chaitra month when the position of different planets vis-a-vis zodiac constellations and nakshatras (visible stars) were:
i) Sun in Aries;
ii) Saturn in Libra;
iii) Jupiter in Cancer;
iv) Venus in Pisces;
v) Mars in Capricorn;
vi) Lunar month of Chaitra;
vii) Ninth day after no moon;
viii) Lagna as Cancer (cancer was rising in the east);
ix) Moon on the
Punarvasu (Gemini constellation & Pllux star);
x) Day time (around noon).
Kalki Avtar will come in the present Yuga or Dwapara according to the calculations given in Manu Samhita.If we go by Prabhupada then the age of arrival of Kalki would be a long period.That’s the only mistake in my video.
Scientists have just announced an historic discovery on a par with the splitting of the atom: the Higgs boson, the key to understanding why mass exists has been found. In The Particle at the End of the Universe, Caltech physicist and acclaimed writer Sean Carroll takes readers behind the scenes of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN to meet the scientists and explain this landmark event.
