Aging 1st draft

The age acceleration principle explains the sense of annual events seeming to come more quickly each year. It is a little known principle of physics that for every earth year one ages, the personal experience of time accelerates by a factor of 2. In cases of illness and catastrophe, the 2X factor, given the severity of the case, can rapidly increase and may temporarily or permanently reach much higher levels.
The reversal of the 2X factor is a futile goal for many. For most, attempts to reduce the 2X principle have been proven to be only cosmetic. An altered state of consciousness may produce a profound change in the personal experience of time and in most instances only lasts for a very fleeting moment.
An altered state of consciousness may be entered into in various ways. Entry into such a state may be passive or active. At the chromosomal/protein/enzyme level, changes to neural chemistry affected by the activation or suppression of genes by environmental factors should be considered as a passive mode entry. Active entry mode too, involves changes to neural chemistry but is consciously enacted through one or more of the following methods; the ingestion of chemicals, use of repetitive physical stress to increase internal dopamine levels, the deliberate focus of one’s internal bioelectric energy towards specific areas of the brain, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system.

Links fixed

several of the links had html errors - this has been repaired

ALL religions are invalid, institutionalized thought processes because they promote the concept of a supernatural being directing human destiny as interpreted to others through the words of a prophet. They deny reason, rationality and humanity.

Link Index

I have begun developing a list of links to the "alternative" press and clear thinking.
Look over to the right of the page for Links.

These sites are characterized by critical thinking, investigative journalism and satire. It is an effort to find a clear voice that can be heard over the white noise the mainstream propaganda machine and to help counter the weapons of mass deception that have been deployed against us.

Your suggestions for expanding this list are welcomed.

BOOK LIST

I would like to build a book list.
Criteria?
Relevance to critical thought
Fiction? maybe
In print or free download e-format

Start off

Under the Banner of Heaven A Story of Violent Faith
Jon Krakauer 2003
ISBN 0-965-77840-1
An analysis of the murder of a young woman and her infant child by men who claimed they were ordered to kill by God. Mormonism and its aberant progeny.

Scoundrel Time

Lillian Hellman 1976

ISBN 0-553-10282-6

A short memoir of that period in US history when the House Committee on Un-American Activities became the modern version of the Inquisition.

An Irreverent an Thoroughly Incomplete Social History of Almost Everything
Frank Muir 1976
ISBN 0-88029-231-8

Chapters: Music, Education, Literature, Theatre, Art, Food and Drink

caustic and funny -thoroughly irreverent!

Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas

Elaine Pagels 2005

ISBN 0-375-50156-8

permission to think is granted

A good history of the early development of the death cult known as Christianity

what to read next?

I have just finished
When Presidents Lie
Eric Alterman
ISBN 0-965-68329-X

Any one else?

Skeptics in the minority?

These statements are not limited to just a discussion of urban legends. They are quite applicable to any critical, intelligent examination of the supporting thesis of a worldview.

Excepted from
Word Myths
Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends
David Wilton, 2004 ISBN 0-7394-5593-1

<<...people repeat these legends to bolster their beliefs about society or how they would like society to be.....We should treat them skeptically. Skepticism does not mean that we automatically dismiss such stories when we hear them, but rather we should examine the evidence objectively. We should not accept such stories at face value. the key is examining the evidence and not simply believing something because someone claims it is true.
...The results may be disappointing to some. They may lose an argument that supports their worldview......but the truth does not have to be boring. Skeptics do not have to be spoilsports. There are plenty of good linguistic tales that are not bunk.
...There are many ...gems to be found, all the more lustrous because they are true. Those of us who stand up and call for skepticism and reason know that there is little chance that we can stop the spread of these legends....
....In the end, whether these stories are true or whether they are false is not really the point. What is important is the process we use to evaluate them, that we engage the brains nature gave us and examine the evidence and arguments critically.>>
I contend that it does matter whether of not the stories are true or false. Consider how stories, myths, legends and propaganda have supported and justified actions by individuals and masses. A sampling of what I am refering to is:
Manifest Destiny and World Democratization
Aryan Superiority
History as Science through dialectical materialism
A Chosen People of God
Noble Savage concepts as ascribed to Native Americans
The Rapture Index and Millenial Movements
Mormonism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism... ad nauseum
Most of us continue to tenatiously cling to a worldview for which the supporting timbers are rotted through.

still crazy after

Faith spawns heinous crimes that in the light of reason are incomprehsible. My friend Philip once told me you can't understand the reasons of the irrational because you are rational. That was nearly 40 years ago and I still find myself trying to identify the motives and dynamics underlying belief systems that are so demonstrably wrong and yet continue to shape and animate human behaviour.