I've been testing out using the new 'Google Groups' as an adjunct threaded forum for SCIY. To see it, click on this link: ...   more »

WASHINGTON -- There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today than at any point during the last 650,000 years, says a new study that let scientists peer back in time at greenhouse gases that can help fuel global warming. ...   more »

Rod Hemsell's essay on mantric traditions explores the phenomenology of the mantra drawing on Vedantic and Buddhistic traditons, as developed in Japanese Tantric Buddhism by the sage Kukai and relates this traditional understanding to the theory and use of the mantra by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, particularly as exemplified by Savitri. He also extenbds his reflections on mantra into contemporary postmodern thinking.   more »

..the time may be right for our country's delegation to consider introducing to the world body a proposal for the cooperative building of a World Digital Library. This would offer the promise of bringing people closer together by celebrating the depth and uniqueness of different cultures in a single global undertaking. ...   more »

Meditation seems to energize the sleep-deprived. It seems to help with concentration. It even seems to bolster the very structure of the brain as we age. Neuroscientists presenting their latest research at a convention of 34,000 colleagues last week had so much praise for meditation that it was starting to sound like a mantra. ...   more »

The Vatican's chief astronomer said Friday that "intelligent design" isn't science and doesn't belong in science classrooms, the latest high-ranking Roman Catholic official to enter the evolution debate in the United States. The Rev. George Coyne, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, said placing intelligent design theory alongside that of evolution in school programs was "wrong" and was akin to mixing apples with oranges. ...   more »

Here is an article which I think gives an excellent  comparison between forums and blogs. I think one meaning for us is that we are talking of moderators in different discussions. Moderators  I have come to learn are pretty foreign to the conception of a Blog, and are more properly ...   more »

The Santa Fe Institute is an institution that draws renowned scientists and researchers from institutions, government agencies, research institutes, and private industry. The Institute's research is integrative and there are no formal programs or departments. The two dominant characteristics of the SFI research style are commitment to a multidisciplinary approach and an emphasis on the study of problems that involve complex interactions among their constituent parts…   more »

Dr Karan Singh, Deputy Leader of the Congress Party in the Rajya Sabha and the new president of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, is optimistic that during his tenure, the much-talked about India Center in Washington will finally become a reality. ... Dr Singh, who also currently serves as chairman of the Auroville Foundation -- a UNESCO-sponsored international community in South Asia where residents from over 30 countries and many states of India are trying a 'hands-on' experiment in spiritual and ecological harmony -- also delivered a lecture at the Asia Society in New York on 'An Alternative Approach to Resolving Sectarian and Communal Conflict: The Auroville Experiment.' He spoke to Managing Editor Aziz Haniffa recently..    more »

"The Netscape IPO wasn't really about dot-commerce. At its heart was a new cultural force based on mass collaboration. Blogs, Wikipedia, open source, peer-to-peer - behold the power of the people."   more »

NEW YORK: Dr. Karan Singh, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), now on a visit to United States, was honored with Shri Chinmoy Award on October 27 in New York in recognition of his life long contribution to world peace and harmony. ...   more »

In the 10th century B.C., in the hill country south of Jerusalem, a scribe carved his A B C's on a limestone boulder - actually, his aleph-beth-gimel's, for the string of letters appears to be an early rendering of the emergent Hebrew alphabet...    more »

Labels for Photos   more »

Scientists, this is a call to action. But also one to inaction. Why am I the messenger? Because my years of scientific research have made me a renowned expert on my topic: God. Just kidding. You'll soon see what I mean...   more »

February 2005: Contours of Modernity was an exhibition of contemporay Indian Art curated by Debashish Banerji and Nalini Rao and held at the Founder's Hall of SOKA University in Aliso Viejo, CA. from Feb.1- April 1 2005. The exhibition featured works from the 1970's to the present by twenty leading artists from India and of Indian origin. The first of its kind in Southern California, the artists whose works were displayed here included celebrated founders of modern Indian art younger leading contemporaries and diasporic artists.   more »

Officially, GEN lists 325 eco-villages, with 2,217 members, but this is believed to be a fraction of the real number of green/spiritual communities that now exist round the world. The United States-based Fellowship of Intentional Communities alone lists more than 700, mostly dedicated to sustainability, and there are thought to be thousands in Asia and Africa that still practise sustainability with a spiritual or religious content.   more »

Second Life is a virtual world - a 3D online persistent space totally created and evolved by its users.   more »

"Is Auroville only the 2000 people who live here, or is there a larger, invisible Auroville made up of all those who feel connected to this place?" The questioner is Enzo Fazzino, who has visited Auroville a number of times over recent years. "..Auroville is a capital of connections and heart linkages that represent a strong presence beyond the physical City.. ." Enzo's idea is to make this invisible Auroville more visible, and to strengthen the relationship between those who live here and those who are part of the larger Auroville, through an initiative which he provisionally terms 'Universal Citizens of Auroville'. ..Enzo sees good communication as being the key to the success of the initiative. As the man who coordinates the website portal for the whole of UNESCO, he knows what he is talking about. ...   more »

This is a review by Anie Nunnally of Jocelyn's book on Auroville titled 'Antithesis of Yoga.' It critiques the books chronicling of the stories and events of some of the pioneers in Auroville's history from 1969 to 1993.   more »

These two poems were written after a trip tp Japan in December 2003. The first, titled Uji, refers to a town with a famous bridge where the late 12th c. hero Yoshitsune fought a legendary battle and where Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the 16th c. shogun initiated the Zen cult of tea. Uji is famous to this day for its tea but its earliest claim to fame was the Phoenix Hall or Byodo-in built by a Fujiwara aristocrat in 1053. This building, so called, because it seems poised for flight with outspread wings (while simultaneously plunging into the underworld through its reflection in water), replicates within the perfect world of Amitabha Buddha holding this aspiration for the world's future. The second poem, titled Taikan's House is about the home of the famous nationalist (Nihonga) painter Yokoyama Taikan. Taikan's house in the Ueno suburb of Tokyo is now a museum of his works. When I visited during a brief stopover in Tokyo, the curators were exhibiting Taikan's water=related paintings.   more »