augustmarsblog

  Table of Contents for Mysticism Label  MYSTICISM, INTRODUCTION (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Why Doesn't God Prohibit War? (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Why Do I Suffer? (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Paracelsus, the Alchemist (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) FAITH (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) The Effectiveness of Prayer (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) The Holy Trinity: The Father (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Trinity: The Son (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Trinity: The Holy Spirit (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) The Mystery of Sin (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) ORIGINAL SIN (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) The Liar's World (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Dying Is Not So Bad (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) How Loving Is God? (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) LOVE MY NEIGHBOR AS MYSELF (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Is It Possible to Love Your Enemies? (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) THE JOB ENIGMA (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Elihu (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Ways the Holy Spirit Teaches: Dreams

  Table of Contents for Philosophy Label Introduction To Philosophy Label (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) THE FIRST EXISTENTIALIST (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) DesCartes Deserves a Plaudit (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Materialist vs. Idealist (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) ILLUSION (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Illusion via Plato and Alchemy (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com)

  Table of Contents for Psychology Label Introduction to Psychology Label (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Know Thyself (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Know Thyself, The Persona (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Know Thyself, Self (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Know Thyself, Anime & Animus (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com ) Know Thyself, 5: The Shadow (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) The Higher Self (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Know Thyself, 8: The Ego (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Freud and Jung (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Why Dream? (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) A WORLD OF DREAMS (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com)

   Table of Contents for Science Label SCIENCE INTRODUCTION (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Climate Change, Effect of Carbon Dioxide (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Climate Change, Effect of Atmospheric Moisture (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Climate Change, Effect of Pollution (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Climate Change - Data Considerations (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Climate Change, Logical Considerations (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) SCIENCE AND SCIENTISTS (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Paradigm (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) The Psychology of Innovation (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Focusing On an Algebra Problem (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Accomplishing the Impossible (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) The Power of Positive and Negative Thinking (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Man In Space (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Exploring Other Worlds (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com)

MYSTICISM, INTRODUCTION This label deals with spiritual matters, in a way which, for many, will seem unconventional. I'll describe my own attempts to gain insight into these matters. But I want to emphasize that it is by no means my intent to set up my own experience as an example for others. But it is my intent to encourage any reader who is concerned about these matters to seek insight into them for himself. We'll discuss briefly questions like, “Does God exist?” and “Why doesn't God prevent war?”, and eventually get to subjects like, “the nature of God”, “The Trinity”, “Why no one should fear God”, etc. Return to table of contents for this label: Table of Contents for Mysticism Label (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com)

  Introduction To Philosophy Label An often-quoted Socrates saying is “The unexamined life is not worth living”. As a young man, I thought of philosophy as a lot of meaningless conflicting speculations by long-bearded sages. But as I grew older, I was forced to face  some fundamental questions like, for example, that of the existentialists, “What does it mean? Why are we doing this?”. When my parents have both passed away, I see that I am the next in line, and then my children, and then their children. But to what ultimate end? I realized that Socrates was right. I began to examine life itself, with regard to the materialist-idealist dichotomy, DesCartes's fascinating “I think, therefore I am” argument. It addresses such questions as: What do I know for certain? This study of the nature of knowledge is called Epistemology. The study of the nature of reality is called Ontology. It considers questions such as: How do we define what is real? Is it p

  Introduction to Psychology Label My formal education in basic psychology, consisted of undergraduate courses Psych.101,102, which focused largely on perception and study techniques and, at NASA, numerous noncredit courses in various aspects of human relations. They included Eric Bernes's “Games People Play”, Transactional Analysis, Stress Management, Oral Presentations (an excellent course that included salesmanship, debate, and speaking to a hostile audience), Problem Solving, etc. Most of these courses were more useful than one would suspect because they were not taught by local practitioners but by expensive professionals. All of these courses were helpful in some way in teaching me how to behave in certain situations, but they didn't do much in providing the information that I most needed. For that information I would have to delve deeper into all aspects of the mind, including the subconscious. This interest in depth psychology was driven by three motivation

  SCIENCE INTRODUCTION I don't intend to make this label highly technical, but rather a series of posts that will be accessible to the average reader. Some technical terms may be used, but an understanding of them will not be required to grasp the message of each post. In view of the current high level of interest in the subject of climate change, we'll start with a few relevant facts that appear to be ignored in most of the discussions on the subject. Then we'll discuss and compare the various concepts of science. Then we'll consider the important role of personal psychology in innovative research. Return to table of contents for Science label: Table of Contents for Science Label (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com)

  Know Thyself This saying, an ancient Greek aphorism, implies that it is possible, even probable, that we do not already know ourselves. However, if someone says to me, “Know yourself”, am I not likely to reply, “I already know myself”? Certainly, reason tells me that I am in a better position to know myself than anyone else is. However, if I pause to think about the matter objectively, I realize that there are many things about myself that I don’t know. For example, if I were suddenly faced with a life-or-death situation, how would I react? I would like to think that I would be calm and courageous, but I’m not at all certain that I would be. If I behave in a helpful, generous way toward another, am I motivated by a true, caring concern for him, or is my intent to receive his praise and gratitude; or to incur a sense of obligation on his part? I know how I want to think of myself, but do I honestly know my own motives? Is it even possible to know oneself? It is surely an im

  THE FIRST EXISTENTIALIST Kierkegaard, in the 19 th century, was probably the first of the philosophers to emphasize the importance of the question, “What is the point of man’s life?” This fundamental question is one that some of us never confront, at least consciously. We simply take life at its face value and accept death without questioning. But for many others the question thrusts itself into consciousness, usually at some critical point in their life experiences. One may encounter a life-threatening illness, narrowly survive a potentially lethal accident, or suddenly become acutely aware of his own mortality on the death of one of his parents. At that point he may stop and ask, “Why are we going through this apparently meaningless cycle of infancy, learning, growing, working, marrying, having children to perpetuate the cycle, then facing death, and dying? Is there anything that I can do that will give this life meaning?” That point in his life is of

  Why Doesn't God Prohibit War? For those who are interested in pursuing a life beyond the mortal, it will be necessary to come to terms with God. This means knowing Him with a conviction beyond a set of vague beliefs, which often contain a veiled suspicion of retribution for failure to meet His high standards. We would like to be free of this fear of God, which stands as a roadblock on our path to Him. An early step that we can take to eliminate this fear is to answer this question that is so often asked by those who tend to tend to react through emotion rather than through reason: “If God is both all-powerful and all-loving, why does He allow such atrocities as those committed during warfare?”. The short answer is, “You would not want God to be any other way”. Of course you would like for those acts not to be committed, but you would not want them prevented by God's intervention. Why? Simply because that would take away man&

  DesCartes Deserves a Plaudit The study of the nature of existence is called “ontology”. We are especially interested in the nature of our own existence. DesCartes challenged conventional thinking on this issue and came up with a surprising conclusion. By way of introduction, I'll describe DesCartes's exploration of the problem of establishing the reality of his own body. He argues, “I think, therefore I am”. His reasoning is that he must exist as that thing that asks the question of his existence. He then argues that it is impossible to prove that that thing is a body. At first, it seems so simple. We know it exists because we see it, hear it, touch it, etc. But, following DesCartes's reasoning, those experiences don't prove anything. Why? Because it is the physical body itself that is providing the evidence – the seeing, hearing, etc. And therefore, that argument for the existence of the physical world is a circular argument - the physical body test

  Know Thyself, The Persona The Persona is the face, or mask, that we present to the public, whether in the form of a one-on-one conversation with a friend, or a dinner with family or friends, or a gala occasion like a wedding reception or a retirement party. One reason that it is important to recognize and understand the Persona is that the opinion that others have of you is often based on the part of your personality that they actually see. First impressions are important! I could write an academic article on the psychology of the Persona, but I think the concept can be effectively presented though a few examples. Having chosen a scholarly lifestyle in childhood, I gradually came to be perceived that way, and was voted “Most Scholarly” in the high school graduating class, with my picture in the “Class Mirror” of the annual. I was proud of that flattering honorific, little realizing that many of my classmates thought of it simply as a euphemism for “biggest nerd”. My Persona

  Why Do I Suffer? Now, we could argue, “Even if I see that God doesn't prevent war because He allows us free will to incite war, I don't see why He allows me to suffer mental and physical problems. My free will certainly doesn't will that I suffer”. The reply to this argument is contained in a post under the Science label: “The Power of Positive and Negative Thinking”. When the mind detects a problem, it tends to focus on the problem. Even considering various medications and operations is a way of keeping the mind on the problem. However, the problem tends to feed on the fear and worry. They are counterproductive thoughts. The power of negative thinking works on a global basis as well as a personal basis. The many natural disasters – hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, tidal waves, etc. result from all the negative thoughts that fill our minds. It is not only a matter of our personal feelings – the pains, the grievances, hurt feelings, th

  Climate Change, Scientific Considerations: CO2 Much of the discussion about the effects of green vegetation centers on the advantageous effects of trees because they provide shade and they “sequester carbon” by absorbing CO2, which is deemed to be a greenhouse gas. This line of thinking leads to the logical conclusion that the ideal goal is an atmosphere entirely devoid of CO2. Actually, if that goal were achieved we would all die. And anyone who passed his high school course in biology should know that. Green plants cannot exist without the CO2 that is emitted by animals, and we cannot breathe without the O2 that is emitted by the plants. Furthermore the food that we eat ultimately derives from vegetation. Even if we don't eat the plants themselves, we eat the herbivores that eat the plants, or the carnivores that eat the herbivores that eat the plants, or the carnivores that eat the carnivores that eat. . . etc. However, at present (2019) it appears t

  Know  Thyself, Self In many ways the Self is the opposite, or converse, of the Persona. It is the place where one makes the decisions that direct his body and his mind. The introvert is at home here, but an extrovert may be so extroverted that he will avoid it in any way possible. He will constantly seek the company of others, and even when he is physically alone, he will maintain contact with the outside world by means of TV, or a cell phone, or with earbuds and satellite radio. This quiet part of the mind both influences and is influenced by the other complexes. If it dwells on thoughts of beauty, friendship, honor, and such, the effects will be seen in the Persona and in the speech and actions of the body, and even in its health. These thoughts may be instigated entirely by a decision of the Self, or they may be be brought home to the Self from recent experiences with the outside world. The same reasoning applies to negative thoughts like worry, hatred, revenge, etc., whi

  ALCHEMY The origin of alchemy is sometimes equated with the origin of chemistry. But alchemy as it has been practiced in the recent millennium appears to have evolved from the recognition of a relationship between chemical or physical transformations and the inner transformations that take place in the nonphysical world of mind, soul, or spirit. The basic description of alchemy has been captured succinctly by Sarah Stone in her essay on Nicolas Flamel: “ Alchemy is a discipline with ancient roots stretching back into some of the earliest chapters of history, with objectives in both the philosophical and physical worlds. Philosophically, alchemy looked toward the transformation of the self in pursuit of spiritual refinement, a crucial counterpart to the more practical endeavors of alchemy, with the belief that one could not perform the earthly transformations without first mastering the spiritual one.” First, by w

  Materialist vs. Idealist There is a philosophical concept called “Idealism” which is opposed to “Materialism”, the view held by the vast majority of humans in western society. Here are brief definitions which I copied from an internet site on philosophy: “ Idealism is the belief that the mind and ideas is the primary structure of reality and that physical or material reality is secondary. Materialism is the opposite of Idealism and sees matter as the primary reality and all other things including thoughts as the product of interactions of matter.” It is difficult to have a meaningful dialogue between idealists and materialists because it is almost impossible to establish, as a starting point, anything on which the two agree. For example, if we ask the question, “Can matter generate an original thought?”, the materialist answers, “Of course, because thoughts are generated in the brain, which must be matter because there isn't anything else”. But t