Prepare yourself for an unparalleled sensory experience. Samsara reunites director Ron Fricke and producer Mark Magidson, whose award-winning films Baraka and Chronos were acclaimed for combining visual and musical artistry. Samsara explores the wonders of our world from the mundane to the miraculous, looking into the unfathomable reaches of humanity’s spirituality and the human experience. Neither a traditional documentary nor a travelogue, Samsara takes the form of a nonverbal, guided meditation.
The field of neuroscience has advanced our understanding of the human brain by leaps and bounds in recent decades. We now know the regions of the right and left hemispheres that are responsible for speech, movement, emotional response and other essential functions. Still, much of the brain’s complexity remains illusive and indefinable. At the center of this uncertainty is one of the most fundamental existential questions in the history of our species: what is the source of our consciousness? “The Ultimate Truth” examines the scientific clues that could enable us to isolate the core of our identity.
Synopsis:In this introduction to the mind training (lojong) tradition, Geshe Dawa explains the history and practice of mental transformation. Coming from early Indian Buddhist masters, this important, practical tradition became central to all the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. The most sophisticated and rigorous system of positive psychology ever devised, the mind training teachings uphold phenomenological existence while denying any underlying essence, thereby providing a powerful tool for both simple and profound change.
The talk marks the opening of “Bridging Worlds: Buddhist Words and Works,” an exhibition in honor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 2007 visit.
Do animals show empathy? Are there any signs of morality in animal societies? Can a monkey distinguish right from wrong? And what are the standards of what is right and what is not? Does morality evolve in time both for human societies and animal societies?
It is hard to imagine that empathy—a characteristic so basic to the human species that it emerges early in life, and is accompanied by strong physiological reactions—came into existence only when our lineage split off from that of the apes. It must be far older than that. Examples of empathy in other animals would suggest a long evolutionary history to this capacity in humans. Over the last several decades, we’ve seen increasing evidence of empathy in other species. Emotions suffuse much of the language employed by students of animal behavior — from “social bonding” to “alarm calls” — yet are often avoided as explicit topic in scientific discourse. Given the increasing interest of human psychology in the emotions, and the neuroscience on animal emotions such as fear and attachment, the taboo that has hampered animal research in this area is outdated. The main point is to separate emotions from feelings, which are subjective experiences that accompany the emotions. Whereas science has no access to animal feelings, animal emotions are as observable and measurable as human emotions. They are mental and bodily states that potentiate behavior appropriate to both social and nonsocial situations. The expression of emotions in face and body language is well known, the study of which began with Darwin. Frans de Waal will discuss early ideas about animal emotions and draw upon research on empathy and the perception of emotions in primates to make the point that the study of animal emotions is a necessary complement to the study of behavior. Emotions are best viewed as the organizers of adaptive responses to environmental stimuli. If you like this kind of stuff you should read: Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
David Korten is an economist, author, activist, and prominent critic of corporate globalization. He is perhaps best known for his bestselling 1995 book, When Corporations Rule the World – an examination of market libertarians’ twisting of famed economist Adam Smith’s teachings and a vision of an alternative sustainable economy based on small-scale, localized cooperative enterprises. He was named an Utne Reader visionary in 2011. His publications are required reading in university courses around the world. Korten is also the cofounder and chair of YES! Magazine, a nonprofit publication focused on sustainability, alternative economics and peace.
The Nobel prize for physics this year has been awarded to physicists who proved that the universe in not real. ‘The Universe is not real’ – a concept that Vedanta has been proclaiming for millenia. The latest proof to this comes from this year’s Nobel Prize winning physicists Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger. We have finally arrived at a day where we are discussing the paradoxical aspects of quantum physics that can be easily resolved by applying the principles of Advaita Vedanta. Physicists are now toying with the idea that the very purpose of the universe was to create conscious observers. Until observers appeared, the universe was in a state of quantum flux. It did not have any shape or form before observers came into being. All these sound less like physics and more in the territory of metaphysics. Is it possible to make sense of these bizarre findings? It indeed makes perfect sense when you look through the lens of Vedanta.
Topics in the video include: Portals to the Universe intricately placed in astronomical alignment, may have once opened portals to the universe, permitting entry for entities from other worlds and dimensions. Tower of Babel – Legends tells us that language once unified all of humanity, but a detrimental blunder led to this once-unifying force becoming a means of mass confusion. Beyond the biblical account, researchers found most modern languages do indeed stem from a singular matrix language. The intricate tunnels and cave systems throughout the American Southwest have been used for sacred ceremonies and military programs alike. Piece together Hopi and Zuni folklore with eyewitness accounts to unlock the secrets of the four corners and its history of extraterrestrial influence. Is there an ancient code which points the way to inner earth civilizations like Agharta and Patala? Oral traditions from indigenous cultures, throughout the world, all point to ancient advanced civilizations thriving deep under the earth. Was Göbekli Tepe built as a sacred interstellar portal connecting the people of Earth with extraterrestrial civilizations? Denisovans: They Might Be Giants Is there a kernel of truth to be found within the ancient legends of giants? Lost Cities Beneath the Ocean. Arcane accounts from Egypt, Greece, Rome and Sumeria tell startling similar stories of the oceanic destruction of advanced civilizations which vanished into the world’s oceans and forgotten to the ravages of time.
In the Kakadu National Park lies Ubirrok, where the Rainbow Serpent stopped after creating the world and was painted on a rock so that people could see her. Over time our forefathers left on the rocks a complete collection of images which depict their way of life and their beliefs. On these ancient rocks they also drew figures of the men of that time, warriors and hunters, who used the same spears and harpoons as we do now.
This documentary follows Aubrey Marcus and company through a powerful Ayahuasca ceremony at Spiritquest Sanctuary in Peru. Under the guidance of Don Howard and his team of ayahuasca shamans, Aubrey and his tribe experience deeply vulnerable transformational experiences. This beautifully cinematic journey is directed by Mitch Schultz, the director of DMT the Spirit Molecule, with an original soundtrack by Poranguí.
