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Often referred to as a thousand-petaled lotus, it is said to be the most subtle chakra in the system, relating to pure consciousness, and it is from this chakra that all the other chakras emanate. When a yogi is able to raise his/her kundalini, energy of consciousness, up to this point, the state of Nirvikalpa Samādhi is experienced.
This stage is said to bring about rebirth or the siddhis - powers of transforming into the divine, and being able to do whatever one wishes.
Some philosophers have concluded that what we think of as the "real world" could be or is an illusion (an idea known as the skeptical hypothesis about ontology).
The first recorded mention of the idea was by Zhuangzi, and it is also discussed in Hinduism, which makes extensive use of the argument in its writings.[31] It was formally introduced to Western philosophy by Descartes in the 17th century in his Meditations on First Philosophy.
While people dream, they usually do not realize they are dreaming (if they do, it is called a lucid dream). This has led philosophers to wonder whether one could actually be dreaming constantly, instead of being in waking reality (or at least that one cannot be certain, at any given point in time, that one is not dreaming).
In the West, this philosophical puzzle was referred to by Plato (Theaetetus 158b-d) and Aristotle (Metaphysics 1011a6). Having received serious attention in René Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy, the dream argument has become one of the most prominent skeptical hypotheses which clearly has an archetype in elements of Plato's Allegory of the Cave also.
This type of argument is well known as "Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly" : One night, Zhuangzi (369 BC) dreamed that he was a carefree butterfly, flying happily. After he woke up, he wondered how he could determine whether he was Zhuangzi who had just finished dreaming he was a butterfly, or a butterfly who had just started dreaming he was Zhuangzi. This was a metaphor for what he referred to as a "great dream":
"Only after he wakes does he know it was a dream. And someday there will be a great awakening when we know that this is all a great dream. Yet the stupid believe they are awake, busily and brightly assuming they understand things, calling this man ruler, that one herdsman—how dense! Confucius and you are both dreaming! And when I say you are dreaming, I am dreaming, too. Words like these will be labeled the Supreme Swindle. Yet, after ten thousand generations, a great sage may appear who will know their meaning, and it will still be as though he appeared with astonishing speed."
The simulation hypothesis proposes that all of reality, including the earth and the universe, is in fact an artificial simulation, most likely a computer simulation. Some versions rely on the development of a simulated reality, a proposed technology that would seem realistic enough to convince its inhabitants the simulation was real.
In a larger sense, the theory suggests that the entire universe can be seen as two-dimensional information on the cosmological horizon...
He was largely responsible for reviving interest in general relativity in the United States after World War II. Wheeler also worked with Niels Bohr in explaining the basic principles behind nuclear fission. Together with Gregory Breit, Wheeler developed the concept of the Breit–Wheeler process. He is best known for linking the term "black hole" to objects with gravitational collapse already predicted early in the 20th century, for coining the terms "quantum foam", "neutron moderator", "wormhole" and "it from bit", and for hypothesizing the "one-electron universe".
At Princeton he supervised 46 PhDs, more than any other professor in the Princeton physics department.
In Norse mythology Yggdrasil is the name of an enormous glistening ash tree that cradles the nine realms of the cosmos within its branches and roots, thereby connecting all things. The holy tree is evergreen and is covered in moist white loam. It supports all of creation – gods, giants, man, and beasts – some of which eat directly from the branches and roots of the tree. Yggdrasil is also called the World Tree or Tree of Life because it contains all the worlds and represents the cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth.
The true principles and meanings of the tree, as well as all Old Norse religion and myths, are profound and complex, yet strikingly beautiful.
The two main sources of Norse poems and stories are called the Eddas. They both contain information about the tree of life.
The term Odin’s horse is symbolic for gallows, which pertains to the Norse world tree. The tree served as Odin’s gallows in the poem, Odin’s Rune Song, of the Poetic Edda, in which Odin hung himself on the tree for nine days. The following is an interpretation of the mythological story that links Odin’s gallows to the holy tree.
Odin desired the power to control destiny. But in order to have that control he needed to be able to see and decipher the magic runes, which are a system of symbols that convey wisdom, intention, and power. The runes had the ability to spread intentions across the cosmos through their meanings.
Only the Norns, the three maidens of fate, who lived within the Well of Urd at the bottom of the Norse world tree, understood the runes. The Norns were the controllers of destiny. In order to manifest their desires for all of creation, they would carve the runes into the sacred tree’s trunk. Through the runes, the meanings and intentions of the Norns would travel along the branches and roots of the tree to each of the nine worlds.
To gain the ability to wield the immense power of the runes, Odin had to sacrifice himself. He needed to be worthy of such potent and frightful wisdom. So he stabbed himself and then hung himself from the World Tree for nine days. This was a sacrifice of himself to himself, and only then was he able to obtain the meaning and power of the runes.
The Enneagram of Personality, or simply the Enneagram (from the Greek words ἐννέα [ennéa, meaning "nine"] and γράμμα [grámma, meaning something "written" or "drawn"[1]]), is a description of the human psyche which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types.
The Enneagram of Personality has been widely promoted in both business management and spiritual contexts through seminars, conferences, books, magazines, and DVDs.[3][4] In business contexts, it is generally used as a typology to gain insights into workplace interpersonal-dynamics; in spirituality, it is more commonly presented as a path to higher states of being, essence, and enlightenment. Both contexts claim it can aid in self-awareness, self-understanding and self-development.[3]
In Pagan and Norse mythology it is the tree in which Odin, whilst on his quest, hung himself for nine days until he spied the Runes in its branches, and they spoke to him, and gave him wisdom and purpose. In Christian Mythology it is the Tree at the centre of the garden of Eden. The tree from which we were not permitted to eat. The tree in which the whispering serpent spoke to Eve and said ; ".. you will not surely die, For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
Two very different perspectives of the whispering tree, two very different perspectives on life.
Moksha is liberation. Liberation from duality, splitness and contradiction. In every argument which we can find opposing perspective, there is a greater perspective that unites, the third view, also known as seeing with the third eye.
Yggdrasil, the tree that unites, is the greatest of metaphors for this perspective, its roots in the dark underworld, with the worms, and its branches high in the air with the birds. It unites and bridges the worlds. It is itself the winged serpent, the Dragon with which St George did battle. It represents death and rebirth...
If you visit any church yards in England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland you cannot fail to notice how many of them have an ancient Yew Tree in the cemetery. Nearly all have one, and I believe that if they dont have one now, then it has been cut down. The wardens and priests dont seem to know the resons why all their churches have Yew trees, they say its just traditional, but dont really know why.
Well, its because; The Yew tree IS the tree of life. Our pagan ancestors worshipped these trees.
The Yew tree speaks of eternity, of life within death and rebirth. We need to reconnect with this ancient deity and to listen to the voices on the wind within the branches of the whispering tree.
As the trunk of the tree begins to decay, a new tree sprouts from the old one. This represents the cycle of life that makes Yew trees a symbol of rebirth as well. However, due to its poisonous nature, it was considered as a symbol of death (associated with funeral and death).
Much of the yew's symbolism is concerned with transcendence, the transformation that arises from death (not necessarily a physical death.)
he Green Man wisdom here is clear - he suggests that if we continue to persevere, the tasks we undertake are more likely to be achieved.
the yew is symbolic of the sum of all wisdom. Just as the yew contains the lessons of all the other trees, so, it is said, so we contain all the experiences, knowledge, and understanding of our ancestors.
As the culmination of the spiritual journey, the ultimate lesson of the yew is the transcendence of death.
In Norse mythology, Huginn (from Old Norse "thought") and Muninn (Old Norse "memory" or "mind") are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring information to the god Odin. ... In the Prose Edda and the Third Grammatical Treatise, the two ravens are described as perching on Odin's shoulders.
Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong.
Conscience in humans evolved a duality; to protect and save friends, and also to hate and fight enemies.
"[W]e eternally experience the misery... of each new manifestation of the complex, then invent some new 'ism' to categorise this behavior as an evil, dealing with a common behavioural trait piecemeal [instead of] finally grasping and understanding the phenomenon."