Seeing the Unseen

Knowing comes to us in many ways. Not all are rational. Not all can be articulated in words. Some of our knowing is knowing that mystery abides, that we will never have better than a fleeting, sidelong glance, or a brief glimpse beyond the veil.

Paul Laffoley

Paintings that function as metaphysical machinery. Article here. Slideshow here.

Alchemy: The Telnomic Process of the Universe, 1973. Source: http://paullaffoley.net/paintings/

Luigi Serafini's Codex Seraphinianus

Hypnogogic imagery brought into the waking world. Articles here and here, and here.

 

Composer Alexander Belau was inspired by the Codex to write a symphony:

The Voynich Manuscript

A mysterious book from Central Europe in the 15th or 16th century, by an unknown author, in a language found nowhere beyond its pages, of unknown import. Article here. You can page through the entire volume here.

 

Alex Grey

Access galleries of work by this visionary artist of physical and metaphysical anatomy here. Article here.

Source: http://alexgrey.com/art/paintings/soul/bond/

Carl Jung's Red Book

Carl Jung, Freud's contemporary and early colleague, was one of the greatest explorers of the human unconscious. Article here.

Links and Miscellany – October 2

Greek financial crisis has biological health effects; Young adults in Greece suffer more from stress and mental health problems and are less optimistic about the future than Swedes of the same age The horrible psychological and social costs of high youth unemployment (and long-term unemployment generally) are compounded by the fact that the problem could be solved in a day, at the stroke of a pen. There is no shortage of meaningful work to do, no shortage among the unemployed of the skills required to do that work, no shortage of money to pay for the work, and no shortage of real resources for the newly employed to spend their income on: housing, food, clothing, health care, transportation... New money to end unemployment or for any other purpose is simply an accountable measure of public initiative, upon which there are no constraints beyond a citizenry's imagination. Our only real constraints are real resources, of which we have enough for all to live well. That we fail to do this is a stupendous failure of imagination and an enormity.

Bad luck? Knocking on wood can undo jinx: study Much of the fury displayed by self-appointed defenders of science against "pseudo" science and metaphysics is misdirected. We should rather be much more seriously studying and exploiting the placebo effect in all its manifestations, and in general the connections between one's thoughts, one's health and well-being, and the creation of one's external reality.

How to stay sharp in retirement; Motivation key factor in preserving brainpower later in life, Concordia University researchers show

People who exercised more than four hours per week in their leisure time had a 19 percent lower risk of high blood pressure than people who didn’t exercise much; Physical activity at work was not linked to a lower risk of high blood pressure

More corollary and direct evidence for the hygiene theory of disease:

Vacuum Dust: A Previously Unknown Disease Vector Striving to be extra-clean doesn't necessarily make us healthier.

Adults who move to farming areas where they experience a wider range of environmental exposures than in cities may reduce the symptoms of their hypersensitivities and allergies considerably 

Scientists who share data publicly receive more citations Science v. practice of science, episode n+1.

Boosting testosterone can promote generosity, but only when there is no threat of competition What? It's more complicated than we thought?

Success in transferring the trait that associates nitrogen-fixing bacteria in legumes to other crops; enormous environmental and economic benefits eyed 

Survival after cancer diagnosis in Europe is strongly associated with how much governments spend on health care In the U.S. we prefer the "Breaking Bad" model.

Playing with blocks may help children's spatial and math thinking Gee, d'ya think?

Genetic study: the first significant expansion of human populations appears to be much older than the emergence of farming and herding, dating back to the Paleolithic (60,000-80,000 years ago) rather than Neolithic age (10,000 years ago)

"The Writer" is a 240-year old programmable handwriting automaton built by clockmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz (h/t BCP).

Take a tour in 1950 of the Wurlitzer jukebox factory, a remarkable film on many levels.

Your daily dose of beauty.

Blaze of Glory

Links and Miscellany – September 24

Motivated Numeracy and Enlightened Self-Government One reason democracy is so difficult. In this study, the “Science Comprehension Thesis”, which identifies defects in the public’s knowledge and reasoning capacities as the source of such controversies was refuted, while the “Identity-protective Cognition Thesis”, which treats cultural conflict as disabling the faculties that members of the public use to make sense of decision-relevant science, was supported. When confronted with scientific data that are at odds with their political biases, even highly numerate persons reject the data and retain their biases.

Gun retailers strongly support expanded criteria for denying gun purchases, UC Davis survey finds "The survey is believed to be the first of its kind to gather the views of federally licensed firearms dealers and pawnbrokers on important social issues and the firearms business itself."

No detectable association between frequency of marijuana use and health or healthcare utilization "Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found frequency of marijuana use was not significantly associated with health services utilization or health status. These findings currently appear online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine."

Online time can hobble brain’s important work "Erik Fransén, whose research focuses on short-term memory and ways to treat diseased neurons, says that a brain exposed to a typical session of social media browsing can easily become hobbled by information overload. The result is that less information gets filed away in your memory."

The Pursuit of Hopefulness in Entertainment Media "Participants were assigned to one of three media groups - underdog narrative, comedy, and nature scenes - or a no-media control group. Those in the media groups were assigned to view one 5-minute video clip per day for five consecutive days. Following this period, those in the underdog narrative group felt more hopeful and reported greater motivation to pursue their own goals than those in other conditions. And, partially consistent with Prestin’s second hypothesis, the emotional experience of hope was durable, with hopefulness remaining at elevated levels up to three days after the final media exposure."

A new index of happiness based on migratory flows and not on subjective answers to surveys "The first places in this ranking are occupied by countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, Israel, South Korea, Sweden, Canada and Australia. Bolivia, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Cameroon, Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, Afghanistan, South Africa and China are at the bottom of the list."

Why humans are musical: Self-generated sounds of locomotion and ventilation and the evolution of human rhythmic abilities Maybe...

Covert operations: Your brain digitally remastered for clarity of thought Using fMRI biofeedback to retrain one's own brain.

Mysterious, beautiful, achingly poignant short from experimental filmmaker Nick Abrahams set to music by Icelandic ambient rockers Sigur Rós:

This three-part documentary on the life and work of Carl Jung is full of rich information, not least of which is the exposure of science and technology as the central myth of modern life, and its new religion.