WELCOME TO SCIENCE AND NONDUALITY

Dualisms shape our worldview. They include Mind/Matter, Self/Other, Perception/Reality, Quantum/Classical, Wave/Particle, Spiritual/Material, Beginning/End, Male/Female, Living/Dead and Good/Evil.

Wisdom gained through meditation, yoga and mystical experiences suggest these dichotomies are illusory. Eastern mystics know a single underlying reality called advaita, Brahman, the Tao, or Nirvana, from which all existence arises through consciousness. Nonduality is the philosophical and spiritual understanding that dualisms obscure a deeper reality of non-separation and fundamental oneness.

 

via scienceandnonduality.com

updated 4:27 a.m. MT, Wed., Oct . 17, 2007

WASHINGTON - Though they may spar across the political aisle, Vice President Dick Cheney

is close enough to Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama to call him “cousin.”

Eighth cousin, that is.

Lynne Cheney, the vice president’s wife, revealed this tantalizing bit of political trivia during a television interview

Tuesday.

She said she uncovered the long-ago ties between the two while researching her ancestry for her latest book, “Blue Skies, No Fences,” a memoir about growing up in Wyoming.

“This is such an amazing American story that one ancestor ... could be responsible down the family lines for lives that have taken such different and varied paths as Dick’s and Barack Obama,” Lynne Cheney told MSNBC.

According to her spokeswoman, Sen. Obama, D-Ill., is a descendent of Mareen Duvall. This French Huguenot’s son married the granddaughter of a Richard Cheney, who arrived in Maryland in the late 1650s from England, said Ginny Justice, a spokeswoman for Lynne Cheney.

The vice president’s full name is Richard B. Cheney.

A spokesman for Obama, who wants to be the first black U.S. president, offered a tongue-in-cheek response. “Every family has a black sheep,” said spokesman Bill Burton.

Lynne Cheney did not reference the ancestral ties between her husband and Obama in the book.

Scrabble: How to Confuse and Destroy Your Opponents
by Chris Higgins - September 15, 2009 - 9:01 AM

Here’s a brief talk by Scrabble Jedi Master Mehal Shah on simple techniques for kicking butt at Scrabble. It’s from Ignite, an event series in which presenters give very brief (five-minute) talks as their slide decks auto-advance every fifteen seconds (that means 20 slides total). There is no backing up, pausing, or digression. You’ll be amazed how much Scrabble strategy Shah can share with you in just five minutes.

Discussed: how to play clean, and how to play dirty.

See also: 30 more Ignite talks.

(Via Kottke.org.)

Lucid Dreaming: A Beginner’s Guide 127 Comments

Written by Tim Ferriss Topics: Mental Performance

John Smith making another title look like child’s play (no audio)

From 1994-1995 I had the great pleasure of training with wrestling legend John Smith, 2-time gold medalist and 4-time world champion (domestic freestyle record of 80-0; international freestyle record of 100-5).

He was famous for his low leg attacks that made even  Olympic finals look like textbook demonstrations.

The problem was, of course, that I was in New Hampshire at boarding school and had never met John Smith. I only trained with him 45-60 minutes per night while I was lucid dreaming. I went on to have my best career season, which culminated with a more than 20-0 record before the national championships…