9th

http://westerndigs.org/chacos-elites-were-native-to-the-canyon-not-migrants-their-remains-show/ From here, some of the researchers hope to explore some other physical traits among the remains, ones whose further study might be explain how Chaco’s home-grown residents differed from outsiders, or how elites compared with the rest of Chaco’s population. Dr. Steven LeBlanc, for example, observed that many of the elites exhibit a distinctive form of cranial deformation, their skulls apparently having been shaped in infancy to feature a slope at the top rear of the cranium. Likewise, the elites also include an unusual example of polydactyly — a woman who had six fingers instead of five.

Evidence that an ancient Pueblo site was built out of “golden rectangles” A millennium ago, the Pueblo peoples were constructing incredible monuments and cities throughout the US Southwest. Among the most impressive structures they left behind is called the Sun Temple, in what is now Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park. Probably the location for meetings and ceremonies, the Sun Temple is an enormous D-shaped building with walls that were once 11-15 feet high. Now, an applied mathematician has discovered something intriguing about the proportions used to lay out the temple and its internal structures. What she found was twofold. First, it appears the Sun Temple was built using a common unit of measurement, which is roughly 30 cm. This in itself is a fascinating discovery, because we have no evidence that the Pueblo peoples had a written language or number system. In a recent paper for Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, Towers wrote that major structures at the site—namely, the retaining wall and four round, tower-like "Kivas"—were "laid out with remarkable precision, with the relative uncertainty on measurements estimated to be approximately one percent." More incredibly, she also found that "key features of the site were apparently laid out using the Golden rectangle, squares, 45◦ triangles, Pythagorean 3:4:5 triangles, and equilateral triangles." She added that the "Sun Temple site thus likely represents the first evidence of advanced knowledge of several geometrical constructs in prehistoric America." Though ancient peoples in Greece also used the golden rectangle in their constructions, this would be the first evidence for a similar geometric structure in the pre-contact Americas. It means that the Pueblo peoples' urban layouts, which included cities carved into rockfaces and a sizable reservoir system, were aided by a sophisticated understanding of geometry. More study is needed to substantiate Towers' claim, but she's taken the first important step. She hopes that scientists can move on to study other ceremonial structures built by the Pueblo peoples, such as Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, which may have been built using the same standard unit of measure she discovered at the Sun Temple. https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/01/evidence-that-an-ancient-pueblo-site-was-built-out-of-golden-rectangles/

In the Peruvian Desert, about 200 miles south of Lima, there lies a plain between the Inca and Nazca (sometimes also spelled Nasca) Valleys. Across this plain, in an area measuring 37 miles long and 1-mile wide, is an assortment of perfectly-straight lines, many running parallel, others intersecting, forming a grand geometric form. In and around the lines there are also trapezoidal zones, strange symbols, and pictures of birds and beasts all etched on a giant scale that can only be appreciated from the sky. There are about 900 geoglyphs on the plain. Geoglyphs are geometric forms that include straight lines, triangles, spirals, circles and trapezoids. They are enormous in size. The longest straight line goes nine miles across the plain. The purpose of the geoglyphs may have also changed over time from what archaeologists call the final Formative period, which spanned until A.D. 200, to the early Nazca period, which ended in A.D. 450. The smashed ceramics dated to the later period. "Our research revealed that the Formative geoglyphs were placed to be seen from the ritual pathways, while those of the early Nazca period were used as the loci of ritual activities such as intentional destruction of ceramic vessels," Sakai said. Many recent interpretations of Chaco Canyon see it as a site of pilgrimage, and this is often specifically seen as taking the form of regular region-wide ritual events involving communal feasting, construction work on the massive buildings in the canyon, trade involving various mundane and exotic items, and ritual breakage of pottery and deposition of it in the mounds accompanying most great houses. Based on the number of rim shards in the excavated portion and an estimate of the size of the whole mound, Toll calculated that 150,000 vessels were used during the 60-year period (A.D. 1040 to 1100) during which Gallup Black-on-white was the predominant decorated type, a period that roughly corresponds to the height of the Chaco system. This works out to 2500 vessels a year, or 125 for each of the 20 households estimated to have lived at Pueblo Alto at any one time. This is a huge number compared to ethnographically documented rates of pottery usage and breakage or ratios seen at small sites, and to Toll it suggested that the pottery deposited in the mound was probably not broken in the course of everyday life at Pueblo Alto but was instead broken deliberately in rituals associated with the annual pilgrimage fairs. Ritual breakage and deposition of pottery is a known Pueblo practice, but this would be on a scale not seen at any other known site. ALBUQUERQUE — For years Patricia Crown puzzled over the cylindrical clay jars found in the ruins at Chaco Canyon, the great complex of multistory masonry dwellings set amid the arid mesas of northwestern New Mexico. They were utterly unlike other pots and pitchers she had seen. Some scholars believed that Chaco’s inhabitants, ancestors of the modern Pueblo people of the Southwest, had stretched skins across the cylinders and used them for drums, while others thought they held sacred objects. But the answer is simpler, though no less intriguing, Ms. Crown asserts in a paper published Tuesday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: the jars were used for drinking liquid chocolate. Her findings offer the first proof of chocolate use in North America north of the Mexican border. After an exchange with Ms. Reents-Budet in October 2007 about the resemblances between the Chacoan and Mayan earthenware, Ms. Crown said she thought about having the Chacoan cylinders checked for cacao residue. Ms. Crown turned to W. Jeffrey Hurst, a senior bioanalytical chemist for the Hershey Company, the giant chocolate maker, whose bosses have been allowing him to test Mesoamerican ceramics for cacao for two decades. In 2002, he co-published a paper in Nature showing that early Maya were using cacao by 600 B.C., pushing back the earliest chemical evidence for their cacao use by 1,000 years. Ms. Crown submitted five fragmentary shards to Mr. Hurst’s laboratory, which subjected the samples to high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry testing, which confirmed the presence of theobromine — a bio marker for cacao — in three shards. “The results were unequivocal,” said Mr. Hurst, who wrote the new paper with Ms. Crown.

Generally its the beating around the bush that seems to define most scholarly pursuits (in my eyes) and is thus why I lack the temperament for such endeavors - as Ive come to understand that such beating is more or less the point to begin with. Which is to say; its not my thing, but clearly has its place. I dont consider it a "lesser" or "greater" pursuit of knowledge, which is a stance that tends to effectively marginalize in general, it seems. However Im very concerned with "boiling it down", and getting to the essence of things - getting to the crux of the matter, cutting to the chase, etc - however you want to put it. Thus lacking the massive vocabulary and/or referential basis of commonly and uncommonly known information, it seems difficult to fully engage scholars who insist on the referential methodology of debate and discussion. Accumulated referential data alone does not mean anything to me, whereas others seem to hold its esteem above all else. But I do greatly value any connectivity of data which renders any degree of holistic understanding of its totality - and therefore of course, I especially value a great amount of connectivity between a great amount of data. Anyways, the point that often seems lost in many theoretical models and systemology is the lack of accounting for the relativity of perception itself, which is consequently ignored in favor of attempts to work out the resulting problems that must proceed from such an oversight. Lets take a "simple" prospect like 'free will' for example. Does it exist, does it not exist? Again the relativity of perception is immediately ignored in favor of an absolute (or "black and white") question and answer. For example, if it is raining outside - you have the free will to put on a jacket or not, and yet you do not have the free will to stop the rain from falling. This is a simple way of understanding the relativity of a simple situation. And it can be further extrapolated to any degree you wish. The absolutist tendencies of our so-called "rationality" seems to be a real issue in promoting a lack of understanding anything in general. Its not logical. Its not even "rational" but in reality it is highly "irrational" to think in terms of absolute terms that allow only the "either/or" proposition. And this isnt even to say that such a proposition does not exist, but rather it does exist in the specific context of limitation itself - in other words, it clearly exists in a specific form. Any specific form is by its very nature limited - that is what provides the definition of a form, the boundaries of its given parameters. This is further illustrated by the very colloquialism that references absolute propositions, i.e. "black or white". We can understand this a bit better by relating these terms to their closest relatives, i.e. "dark" and "light". In reality, there is no such thing as "black and white" in terms of "dark and light". Rather, these are simply references to the limits of our perception (in this case, visual) which are symbolically grafted onto a conceptualization of the "world" itself. Our eyes can only perceive a very limited range of photonic activity (or light), which we have proven to ourselves with other instruments which measure their activity in ranges far beyond those which our eyes are privy to. While black and white are colors and not specifically related to perception of light per se (other than the most obvious), the comparison is certainly applicable enough to get my point across, considering the way in which this colloquialism is used in conversation. The limits of human perception therefore often define a basis of conceptualization, and even when this is recognized and acknowledged in a purely intellectual way in terms of the given theories and so forth - it often tends to impute a character to further arguments, perspectives and so forth even in spite of any previous acknowledgement. This is why I often find that psychology itself tends to rule the day in any and all endeavors, even when people are striving their very utmost (and certainly claiming) to be "objective" in a sense of stepping outside the limitations of human perception and its inherently flawed subjectivity. And even beyond this small example there are many other positions of relativity that tend to be overlooked and ignored, due to very specific psychological causes. This obviously obfuscates any real pursuit of science. And when it comes to pursuing scientific and scholarly endeavors, there is obviously no prerequisite for overcoming the aspect of personal psychology that affords all manner of various detrimental subjective fallacies. Like almost everything else in the human world, the subjective elements of egotism and dogmatism and emotionalism are often highly lauded and promoted in intellectual pursuits as well. Again, the legacy of the psyche itself rules the day, and yet is the elephant in the room that no one will acknowledge. The presentation of authority which demands ignorance of any and all limitation should be the most thoroughly examined topic of all time, and yet its complete lack of examination is the very basis for most human endeavors. And IMHO, when you start out on the wrong foot - you arent going anywhere except the wrong way. What Im saying is: it doesnt have to be that way. Life doesnt have to be "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Unfortunately, that just seems to be the primary mode of humanity in general. What we need to do is simple... Make Earth great again. Lets build a wall to keep this kind of shit out. Fuck these goddamn rapist monkeys. Grab life by the pussy!

I really have almost no knowledge and scholarly background in physics and natural science and so forth, so I cant comment in depth or at length on the specifics of these discoveries and so forth. But I wanted to ask those that do; would you be able to elaborate on some of the discrepancies between the current theoretical models of the universe which requires the postulation of so-called "dark matter" or "dark energy" (such a horribly stupid name, imo... shouldnt it be "unseen matter" or something? I digress..*) as opposed to a theoretical model of the universe which accounts for such activity in a way that does not require the existence of such "dark matter"? I could be completely off on this so I wanted to get some clarification if its possible. I was under the impression that a model of the universe based on different principals such as dimensional folding or the fundamental actions of electricity somehow accounted for this in a way that is not addressed by the current model which postulates "dark matter". Am I completely off here? I find it rather difficult to get a satisfying layman's consensus by researching the information that is out there. * and to digress further, this kind of terminology reminds me of the so-called "junk DNA" that made up around 98% of the genome and was termed as such because scientists could not understand how it affected genetics at the time, but have now come around to understand that they were just too stupid to figure it out... but were clearly arrogant enough to call it "junk" at the time

Getting older helps. It often seems there is an inverse relationship to "age" and "number of fucks given".

The most classical example I can think of are the Tibetan texts: But that presupposes at least a bit of familiarity with tibetan culture or vajrayana buddhism, or both. The so called "Egyptian Book of the Dead" was a specialized document produced for the dying individual in question, although it contains generalized portions as well. However, the lack of modern context will typically preclude a person from gaining much of value from studying these kinds of ancient texts, although that isnt necessarily always the case. The Hindus would usually indicate that if a person fixates their mind on "God" (whatever that is) in the moments leading up to, and especially at the time of death - it will engender the most fortuitous results (whatever that is). I would say it is the most perfect time to fully realize the most profound level of the truth that states "This too shall pass..." which is also sometimes called "impermanence". In a few different traditions, the extent to which the totality of this truth is grasped is often regarded as a determining factor in the experience of death itself, as well as whatever lies beyond this experience.

If you are asking about efforts from a previous life carrying over into this life, it will be extremely difficult to prove to yourself unless you have some kind of personal evidence. Generally such an occurrence is an accepted phenomena in a number of different traditions from all over the world, but also many of these same traditions advise one to not accept anything on blind faith alone - so that is the predicament that you will face when dealing with any "non-ordinary" (or "supernatural") phenomena and situations. Its all quite flashy. Its the kind of thing that attracts the most people. The so-called "woo-woo" aspect of self-cultivation is by far the most marketable - simply because it appeals to the lowest common denominator, which is namely: power. Supernatural power is obviously going to be quite appealing to almost everyone. Certain folks dont really care about such things but they are incredibly rare. The thing that is usually least appealing is the actual day-to-day, moment by moment WORK that must be done on a continuous basis. If you could imagine the act of breathing being something that is no longer automatic, and requires your constant supervision and maintenance and so forth - you will get an idea of what the path of self-cultivation is really about. It may be incredibly tedious - even beyond your wildest dreams of tedium. Transcendence of the human condition is growth and evolution into the higher and the lower, simultaneously. Its going to break your mind open... eventually... by putting you through experiences beyond pleasure and pain, beyond thrills and boredom. Its not a subject for light conversation. Especially when you get to the stuff that matters. Thats when the chaff starts falling away from the wheat and you learn what real solitude is all about.

"This aspect of the question is clear. The crowd neither wants nor seeks knowledge, and the leaders of the crowd, in their own interests, try to strengthen its fear and dislike of everything new and unknown. The slavery in which mankind lives is based upon this fear. It is even difficult to imagine all the horror of this slavery. We do not understand what people are losing. But in order to understand the cause of this slavery it is enough to see how people live, what constitutes the aim of their existence, the object of their desires, passions, and aspirations, of what they think, of what they talk, what they serve and what they worship. Consider what the cultured humanity of our time spends money on; even leaving the war out, what commands the highest price; where the biggest crowds are. If we think for a moment about these questions it becomes clear that humanity, as it is now, with the interests it lives by, cannot expect to have anything different from what it has." - G.G.

Was this already posted somewhere else on the forum? The first ever photograph of light as both a particle and wave A research team led by Fabrizio Carbone at EPFL has now carried out an experiment with a clever twist: using electrons to image light. The researchers have captured, for the first time ever, a single snapshot of light behaving simultaneously as both a wave and a stream of particles. http://phys.org/news/2015-03-particle.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90CkXVF-Q8M

souls are not sold on the black market it happens on every street corner and its not rare - its the most common thing there is and why not? after all... its the almighty dollar the precioussssss....

I intentionally dont give a shit

The development of these possibilities is not a law. The law for man is existence in the circle of mechanical influences, the state of 'man-machine.' The way of the development of hidden possibilities is a way against nature, against God. This explains the difficulties and the exclusiveness of the ways. The ways are narrow and straight. But at the same time only by them can anything be attained. In the general mass of everyday life, especially modern life, the ways are a small, quite imperceptible phenomenon which, from the point of view of life, need not exist at all. But this small phenomenon contains in itself all that man has for the development of his hidden possibilities. The ways are opposed to everyday life, based upon other principles and subject to other laws. In this consists their power and their significance. - G.G., aka "The Tiger of Turkestan"

Yes, you have touched on one aspect of the greater difficulty. Someone once told me, "that which is spirit terrifies the flesh" - and it certainly shakes out that way for good reason. To go beyond that terror requires something more profound than anything else... which is namely: a total sacrifice of your entire life. The body/mind is quite adept at grasping things in a complete way much quicker than the conceptual mind (of words and thoughts) - and it will quickly realize the implications of an encounter with the greater form from which it has arisen, and especially the full magnitude of consequences which would result from a complete surrender to this greater form. The body/mind grasps this immediately, even as the conceptual mind is entirely stunned and/or rendered null and void. This principle holds true for all interactions the body/mind has with the greater form(s) from which it has arisen, in any capacity - which is to say, it doesnt like it at all. This is due to the fact that the end result of a communion with these greater form(s) will be its demise - but in such a way that it shall never arise again. It may (or may not) surprise you to know the body/mind has a firm grasp on the continuation of its existence in the form of a particular species, beyond one particular lifetime - and this is wrapped up into the basis of the survival impulse itself. The survival impulse runs far deeper than your personal concerns for safety and security and desires for the house with the white picket fence. You have arisen in the image of the human body/mind - and you share this image with all other humans. Yet this image of the human body/mind has arisen within the image of a far greater lifeform that engages in actions with far reaching implications that stretch far beyond the image of the human body/mind - most notably in terms of capacity. There is no mistaking encounters of this nature, no way to hide from the complete humility which it will engender. And this is only the beginning of the aspect that the body/mind will fight tooth and nail to avoid, to retain its "king of the hill" status. There is no greater challenge to the human body/mind than this.

When you truly set out on a path of evolution - there will be no system, no tradition, no cultural heritage to help guide you or fall back on. The only reason to learn a system of cultivation and follow it with total discipline is to get to the point where you dont need it anymore. You are supposed to grow out of it. All effective systems of self-cultivation (whatever they may be) help you develop your will to the point it becomes an effective tool rather than just an enticing possibility. Once you have developed the power of doing things for yourself, you must take the next step and actually do them. That is the real point. Ritualized adherence to traditionalism for its own sake is not only a dead-end, its completely harmful in every way. The desire to become "comfortably numb" doesnt go away once you become established in a particular tradition - in fact, it actually becomes much more desirable due to the support systems in place, as well as the community and so forth. Bruce Lee was a legend and a true champion fighter for a damn good reason. He invented a fighting style based on all he had learned, just like the many Grandmasters that have come before and after. While the extent of how "radical" it was is certainly open to debate - I think its probably the most well known example for most people, especially those who are less familiar with martial arts. Real "Taoists" should already be on this same page. Its literally baked into the basis of the tradition. Its made very clear from the outset. Perhaps some of you are familiar with the Buddha's parable about the raft and the river? That is another indication of the same thing. Here is the original text from the Pali Canon: So if this is some kind of new information for you, some kind of new idea or revelation - then you havent actually accepted the complete depth of wisdom that the most profound traditions have to offer. This is the point. This is the goal. This is the purpose.

“A frog in a well cannot discuss the ocean, because he is limited by the size of his well. A summer insect cannot discuss ice, because it knows only its own season. A narrow-minded scholar cannot discuss the Tao, because he is constrained by his teachings. Now you have come out of your banks and seen the Great Ocean. You now know your own inferiority, so it is now possible to discuss great principles with you. 井蛙不可以語於海者，拘於虛也；夏蟲不可以語於冰者，篤於時也；曲士不可以語於道者，束於教也。今爾出於崖涘，觀於大海，乃知爾醜，爾將可與語大理矣。” ― Zhuangzi

By studying data from Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn, the seventh planet from the Sun, French scientists confirmed that a ninth planet might exist in the far reaches of our solar system, co-author Jacques Laskar of the Paris Observatory told AFP, “but not just anywhere”. US astronomers announced in January that they may have found a ninth planet beyond Neptune but said it could take 10,000 to 20,000 years to orbit the Sun and they had no idea where it might be. This past January, Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun. "This would be a real ninth planet," said Mike Brown, the Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor of Planetary Astronomy. "There have only been two true planets discovered since ancient times, and this would be a third. It's a pretty substantial chunk of our solar system that's still out there to be found, which is pretty exciting." The researchers, Konstantin Batygin and Brown, discovered the planet's existence through mathematical modeling and computer simulations but have not yet observed the object directly. http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2016/02/a-9th-planet-does-it-exist-in-a-10000-year-orbit-in-the-outer-reaches-of-our-solar-system-weekend-fe.html