The Original Settlers of Central America

By Doug Simpson

Christopher Columbus landed on the eastern shore of Costa Rica in 1502, but it is incorrect to claim that he discovered Costa Rica. The best we can grant him with is the rediscovery of Costa Rica, as the indigenous Indians had resided in Costa Rica for thousands of years before Columbus arrived. This article will provide you with some information on the original settlers of Central America.

Enter Edgar Cayce. Edgar Cayce is regarded as America's legendary mystic, and has often been referred to as America's Nostradamus. Edgar was born in rural Kentucky in 1877, and his soul returned home on January 3, 1945, but he left behind a priceless treasure-chest of over 14,000 transcripts of his readings, recorded while he was in a deep, self-induced, trance state. (more…)

What is God?

I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us... John Lennon

Beliefs about God

Atheists do not believe God exists. Agnostics believe it impossible to know anything about God, including existence or otherwise. In contrast numerous religions with billions of followers believe in the existence of one or more deities of various forms.

Reasons to Believe in God

The concept of God has existed for millennia, believed in by billions across cultures around the world.

Despite the undoubted success of science as a means of understanding reality it has made little to no progress in answering several fundamental questions, eg:

• the nature of consciousness, and free will
• the origin of the miracle that is life
• what preceded / caused the 'big bang'
• why the laws of nature are so precisely tuned as to support life

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Keep It Simple

By Dr.Stewart Bitkoff

When life becomes confusing and over whelming, there is a management technique I use that has been very helpful.

I learned this technique while working at the psychiatric hospital and we were getting reading for our routine four year inspection by The Joint Commission; during our leadership meetings one of our Directors offered a personal leadership technique that has stayed with me. He said, every day when he comes to work, he has 4 things/goals that he works on and these will help prepare us for the inspection. (more…)

What Can I Know? What Should I Believe?

The Significance of Faith

Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed. Jesus (John 20:29)

In this quote Jesus expresses the importance of faith - belief in that which has not / cannot be "proven". In actuality, much of what we think we know relies in varying degrees upon faith.

The Limits of Certainty

Descartes remarked in the 17th century: I think therefore I am. This effectively defined the bounds of certainty, since all else beyond one's own existence could be illusion.

Scientific quantum theory in the 20th century discovered the inherent randomness at the most fundamental level of the material universe. Heisenberg's "uncertainty principle" set a limit in principle on what it is physically possible to know.

It seems overwhelmingly likely that the true nature of reality is very different to that which is perceived through the physical senses.

Consciousness and Reality

I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness. Max Planck, Nobel Prize winner, originator of quantum theory.

The consequence of key concepts from quantum physics (observer effect, collapse of the wave function) suggest that consciousness (yours, others', God's?) doesn't just passively receive information about the universe but may play an active role in shaping/creating reality (eg see The Self-Aware Universe by theoretical physicist Dr. Amit Goswami).

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Learning from Life- 11 Lessons

By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff

This piece has not been an easy one for me to write or think about. There is much that I would like to forget and get past.

Also, I searched my motivation for this piece and concluded:  it is based primarily upon the belief- life is the great classroom and we learn much from personal, every day experience.

About 2 months ago I was in hospital with a heart attack; now after the shock waves have subsided a bit, I have had time to reflect on all of this. Also, I am still occupied with the after effects. I am in cardiac rehab, changing certain life habits and still don’t have all my strength or heart capacity back; in multiple ways, this experience has clearly affected members of my family.

Some learning happens right away and other lessons take longer; both the doctors and EMT’s said I was lucky to be alive. There was a 100% blockage in my major heart artery and 60% in another; they have a nick- name for this particular attack: ‘the widow maker.’

Fortunately, I was at a family Thanksgiving dinner when this occurred and people acted quickly.

Sometimes, I still wonder why I am here.  Perhaps there is more that I have to do, accomplish and enjoy. (more…)

Alzheimer's and Psychic Ability

My mother is in a nursing home with advanced dementia. Although bed-bound, having hallucinations, and sadly with a seemingly diminishing grasp of reality she is sometimes remarkably intuitive, eg in recent weeks:

1. She warned me not to go to a certain dentist. I rarely visit a dentist, and she has never talked of dentists in
   her present condition, but I had been just a few days earlier to have a crown replaced. She could not have
   known that I was due to visit a dentist.
2. I usually take the bus alone to visit her home, but on this occasion was given a lift by my partner. My mother
   asked if "they were waiting for me". She has not said this before or since and there was no way for her to have known I was given a ride on that day.
3. I usually work at home and rarely travel into the city for business, but on this occasion had been to the city the previous week and secured some forthcoming work that would mean me spending 2 days a week in the city for a while. When I told my mother I was working tomorrow, she asked if I was going to the city, although she could not have known of these plans.
4. Her younger brother passed away suddenly and her family decided not to tell her. A few days afterwards her elder brother visited the home and mentioned their sibling's passing to the nursing staff. He was surprised to find that they already knew, because my mother had told them - even though she had no physical way to have learned this information!

Could it be that somehow, despite her Alzheimer's, part of her mind is able to access information beyond the physical senses?

4 Comments on Alzheimer's and Psychic Ability

Do We Really Have Free Will?

The question of whether we really have free will is fundamental to understanding the purpose and nature of our very existence.

What is Free Will?

Free will can be defined as an individual (human or other living entity) having the capacity to determine its own actions, and to some degree destiny, i.e. within the limits of external circumstance.

Free will is able to act in a meaningful, non-caused, non-random way to optimize fulfillment of certain goals, eg:

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Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss, M.D. - reviewed

by Doug Simpson

Dr. Weiss graduated from Columbia University and Yale Medical School. He is Chairman Emeritus of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, Florida. A nationally recognized psychiatrist, he risked his reputation by going public with the story of his personal experiences with a seriously-traumatized, intellectual young lady he has called Catherine. After endless months of minimal success in dealing with Catherine’s phobias and resulting traumas, he resorted to deep hypnotic therapy and the unexpected happened. Catherine, without any prompting, commenced talking about her past lifetimes. At first Dr. Weiss could not believe what he was hearing and sought all sorts of alternative explanations for the source of the information that freely flowed through his difficult-to-help patient. To make his case against reincarnation even more difficult, over a short period of time Catherine commenced to systematically shed her phobias as she uncovered their origins in past lifetimes. Dr. Weiss was very relieved when he eventually confided his unthinkable discoveries to a few close colleagues and they conceded that they too had made similar discoveries but were also reluctant to go public with them. (more…)

Behaviour

by Sheelagh McGrath

I have a plethora of ideas, beliefs and events to write about. The one thing that really pops out at me at the moment, is behaviour. Why has our behaviour to ourselves, to our fellow human beings, to animals and plants and indeed, to the earth, become so degenerate?

Where have the human values of kindness and goodness gone? Where has respect and humility gone? (more…)

Teaching metaphysics and beliefs to our children and grandchildren

by Sheelagh McGrath

It is of the utmost importance to instill in our offspring the values of right and wrong. With the evil that is sweeping our world at this present time we need to teach them our civilized values and teach them that they can change the World by positive thought and manifestation. We must teach them to stand tall and fight for freedom so that we can maintain our civilized way of life. And add into the mix, a belief, in a greater power than ourselves. (more…)