Cartoon by Bob Seal: http://www.bobseal.com
Click here to go to the next issue
Highlights Home Page | Receive the Nondual Highlights each day
#2423 -
In this issue is an article about the movie Mystic
India. Also a cartoon from the very bright Bob
Seal. Next is a news article on the latest atronomical
discovery of the event "less than a trillionth
of a second after time began."
Following that is an article about cosmologist
John Barrow, who won the Templeton Prize. Burrows, in
his book on nothingness, said "understanding these concepts
[of nothingness] is critical in the history of mathematics,
physics, philosophy, literature and theology." This
issue is concluded by a statement by Wei Wu Wei
on form and void.
Mystic movie takes audiences back
http://tonight.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=360&fArticleId=316051
By Kim Clayton-Millar
A truly beautiful and special international cultural film
contribution is coming our way.
The Swaminarayan Hindu Mission of South Africa (Baps Care
International) - a worldwide non-profit organisation, currently
actively engaged in educational, cultural and humanitarian
services - is bringing Mystic India, a unique
film insight to the mysticism and beauty of
The film - which is the world's first large-format epic on India
- explores the history and culture of that land by following the
true story of Neelkanth, a young yogi who lived there 200 years
ago.
Between 1792 and 1799, he undertook a spiritual journey, alone
and barefooted, over 12 872kms across India.
At his journey's end, Neelkanth met a great saint and teacher
called Ramanand Swami who persuaded the child to become his
successor. From there on, he was known as Bhagwan Swaminarayan
and was eventually considered one of the greatest spiritual
leaders and social reformers in Indian history.
Narrated by the simply beautiful and commanding voice of screen
legend Peter O' Toole, this literally breath-taking period piece
takes viewers back to the 18th century, along a journey which
covered more than 100 locations across India.
Audiences are introduced to the people of that land through
marvelous cultural landmarks and events such as the many grand
monuments, shrines, temples palaces and famous festivals.
The production reveals much insight to India, a country in which
18 different languages - with more than 1600 dialects - are
spoken and is home to a billion people of different religions,
traditions and backgrounds.
The central theme of unity in diversity is portrayed in Mystic
India through these words, "We share the same sky, walk the
same earth, breathe the same air, which we are a single human
family, capable of living together, loving one another."
The ancient Sanskrit saying "Vasudhaiv Kutumbhakam" -
"The whole world is one family" - exemplifies this
heritage.
As a bonus, Mystic India is an Imax giant screen production being
screened at the Imax Theatre in the Menlyn Park Shopping Centre
in Pretoria.
Anyone who has never seen a film on an Imax screen should really
try it as it is a totally different and believe me, larger
-than-life film-viewing experience, which makes one feel as if
they are literally "in" the film, enjoying the
surrounds, storyline and events within.
To celebrate the opening of a six-month season of Mystic India at
the Imax Theatre in the Menlyn Park Shopping Centre in Pretoria
from Saturday, the Swaminarayan Hindu Mission of South Africa is
hosting a gala premiere event on that day at that venue.
This will include a full, pre-screening lineup of entertainment
including a range of traditional Indian events enacted in full
costume, with folk-dance, music and so on, from 12 noon.
There will be a public screening of the 45-minute long film at
11am, 1pm and 5pm on Saturday.
The live events will be from noon and then there will be a
special screening for invited guests and the media at 7pm. Call
the Imax theatre at 012-3681186.
Cartoon by Bob Seal: http://www.bobseal.com
http://snipurl.com/nrus
Astronomers Find the Earliest Signs Yet of a Violent Baby
Universe
By DENNIS OVERBYE
Using data from a new map of the baby universe, astronomers said
yesterday that they had seen deep into the Big Bang, and had
gotten their first detailed hint of what was going on less than a
trillionth of a second after time began.
The results, they said, validated a key prediction of the
speculative but popular cosmic theory known as inflation about
the distribution of matter and energy in the Big Bang. The theory
holds that during its first moments, the universe, fueled by an
antigravitational field, underwent a violent growth spurt,
ballooning from submicroscopic to astronomical size in the blink
of an eye.
"It amazes me that we can say anything about the universe in
the first trillionth of a second," said Charles L. Bennett,
a professor at the Johns Hopkins University and the leader of the
group that reported the results yesterday. "It appears that
the infant universe had the kind of growth spurt that would alarm
any mom or dad." The map was produced by a NASA satellite
known as the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe that has been
circling the Earth at a point on the other side of the Moon since
2001, recording faint emanations of microwaves thought to be the
remnants of the Big Bang.
The microwaves paint a portrait of the 13.7-billion-year-old
universe when it was only 380,000 years old, astronomers say. But
in the details of that portrait are clues to processes that
occurred when it was much younger.
Using the map, the Wilkinson team has been able to revise an
earlier estimate of the time at which the first stars began to
form and shine through the primordial murk that followed the
cooling of the Big Bang. Those stars appeared when the universe
was about 400 million years old, they said yesterday.
The previous estimate of 200 million years, based on earlier
Wilkinson data, had been seen as surprisingly early by many
cosmologists, and the new date is comfortably in line with
mainstream theories.
Inflation theory, which was invented by Alan H. Guth of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been the workhorse of
Big Bang cosmology for the last 25 years. But astronomers and
physicists admit that they still have no idea what caused
inflation. As a result, there are a welter of models describing
how it might have worked.
Although inflation is not yet conclusively confirmed, it is now
in better shape than ever, many astronomers said, and many models
can be eliminated.
"We've crossed a threshold," said David N. Spergel of
Princeton University, a member of the research team. "We can
now start to say something interesting about the physics of
inflation."
Others not involved in the project tended to agree.
"If this holds up to the test of time, it's a real
landmark," said Max Tegmark, a cosmologist at M.I.T.
~ ~ ~
Read the entire story here http://snipurl.com/nrus
http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/400583p-339372c.html
Great void yields up 1.4M honor
Cosmologist John Barrow received $1.4 million Templeton Prize
yesterday.
Two of the 17 books written by cosmologist John Barrow are
studies of nothingness and infinity, which has inspired a little
joke among his British colleagues.
"John can say nothing," the joke goes, "and can
talk about it endlessly."
Barrow, 53, a professor of mathematical sciences at the
University of Cambridge in England, traveled to Manhattan this
week for a kind of last laugh - he was named the winner of the
2006 Templeton Prize, valued this year at 795,000 pounds
sterling, or about $1.4 million.
The prize, given by a foundation created in 1972 by global
investor and philanthropist John Templeton, goes every year to
the person chosen by judges for outstanding work in bridging the
differences between science and religion. It is the richest award
given to any individual anywhere - as stipulated by Templeton, a
Presbyterian who believes that religion is more important than
any of the Nobel Prize categories.
Past winners of the Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research
or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities, as it is now called,
include Mother Teresa and Billy Graham, but recent winners have
been scientists who are religiously active and, in some cases,
have been ordained as ministers.
At a press conference where he was introduced Wednesday, somebody
asked Barrow why most of the recent recipients were scientists
and he said, "Maybe they ask the more interesting
questions."
Barrow is a member of the United Reform Church, a mainline
Protestant body created in England in the early 1970s by a merger
of three other churches - Congregational, Presbyterian and
Reformed Church.
He was honored for his use of mathematics, physics and astronomy
to challenge scientists and theologians to think in new ways
about time, space, matter, the origins of the universe ("or
universes") and where it all leads.
"Many of the deepest and most engaging questions that we
grapple with about the nature of the universe have their origins
in our purely religious quest for meaning," Barrow said at
Wednesday's ceremony, held at the Church Center of the United
Nations.
Speaking of recent discoveries about the size, age and movement
of the universe, he said:
"We are made of complicated atoms of carbon, nitrogen and
oxygen. The nuclei of all these atoms do not come ready-made with
the universe but are put together by a slow burning sequence of
nuclear reactions in the stars.... The nucleus of every carbon
atom in our bodies has been through a star. We are closer to the
stars than we could ever have imagined."
Barrow's work explores the relationship between life and the laws
of physics, something he sometimes talks about in whimsical
terms. Speaking recently at the Royal Society in London, he
talked about detecting art fraud, why science can send a rocket
to the moon but cannot accurately predict the weather, and how to
win at dice every time.
Every time?
"That's mathematically speaking, and over the long
run," he explained Wednesday. "It's not something I
would count on at the casino."
Among the books written by Barrow, a onetime lecturer on physics
and astronomy at the University of California at Berkeley, is
"PI in the Sky," "Theories of Everything" and
"The Left Hand of Creation." Another work,
"Infinities," was an award-winning play in Italy.
Two other books have become international science best sellers.
'The Book of Nothing," a study of all aspects of vacuums,
voids, zeroes and nothingness, argues that understanding these
concepts is critical in the history of mathematics, physics,
philosophy, literature and theology. "The Infinite
Book" is about infinity - in theology, mathematics,
philosophy, fantasy and even science fiction.
Barrow's wife, Elizabeth, making only her second visit to New
York, was asked about their conversation at the dinner table.
"When they were younger, our three children sometimes asked
David a homework question," she said. "He answered the
question and often added a lecture. After a few minutes, they
usually found an excuse to leave the table."
John Barrow, who will receive his award May 3 at Buckingham
Palace, said he wasn't sure what he would do with the money. In
fact, he was not sure what the prize was worth in dollars.
John Templeton Jr., who now heads the foundation, wasn't sure
either.
"At the close of the market yesterday," he said,
"it was about $1.4 million."
Actually, it was $1,375,747.50 - or $432,747.50 more than this
year's Nobel Prizes.
Wei Wu Wei
from "Ask the Awakened"
Things have no self-nature: their
self-nature is void.
Void is the self-nature of things, that
which they are when "they" are not.
That is why form (things) is void and void
is form, and why there is no form without void, and no void
without form.
Another Way of Doing It:
Unreality is the seriality created by the
time-concept, and which I have called "horizontal"
seeing, i.e. one-damn-thing-after-another.
Freed from the time-concept -- seriality
reintegrated, the succession of objects (objects apparently
developing, cause and effect) reunified, and...
Freed also from the space-concept -- for
Time and Space are inseparable -- the seen object becomes
"real" -- for it is seen in the manner I have called
"vertical."
Intemporal and in-formal, the supposed
object has re-become subjectivity and re-found its only reality
as pure see-ing.
Note: Liberation from the
Space-time concepts is transference from objectivising into
"subjectivising" -- or the famous "leap."
Here "objectivising" means seeing
everything as an object, or objectively, and
"subjectising" means seeing everything as from subject
or subjectively.
It can also be called seeing noumenally.
The former was called the "Guest"
position in China, as opposed to the "Host" position,
or that of the "Minister" as opposed to that of the
"Prince," or, by other Masters, the
"functional" position in contrast to that of
"Prinicipal" or "Potentiality."
~ ~ ~
Get Wei Wu Wei's books here: http://www.sentientpublications.com/catalog/wei_special.php
Enter "wei wu wei" into the
nonduality.com search engine for more: http://nonduality.com/search.htm