Month: October 2018

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China Is Sending a Second “Moon” Into the Sky

Space Science

Date: October, 2018

Source: Inverse

” Wu Chunfeng, the chairman of Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute, announced plans to launch an “artificial moon” in 2020. According to Chunfeng, the illumination satellite will be eight times as bright as the actual moon. But he also emphasized that it has been designed to “complement the moon at night.” On Earth, its presence will appear as a “dusk-like glow” that can light an area with a diameter of close to 50 miles. The main driver of this project appears to be cash. “


Article : A Second Moon in the Sky

This happen at a time where light pollution has been identified as threatening the ecosystem. See the recent article from The Scientist

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A Happy Life May Not Be a Meaningful Life

Psychology

Date: February, 2014

Source: Scientific American

” A study recently published in the Journal of Positive Psychology helps explain
some of the key differences between a happy life and a meaningful one.  The surveys asked people to answer a series of questions on their happiness levels, the degree to which they saw their lives as meaningful, and their general lifestyle and circumstances.
More broadly, the findings suggest that pure happiness is about getting what we want in life. “


So, the key question is : ” What do we really want in our life ? “
And, to answer this question, we need first to ask : ” Who really is this one who want ? “. Once we have identified the doer, the one who want something, and how this doer functions, we may come back to the first question with a completely different answer.


Radha Burnier, former International President of the Theosophical Society wrote : “A person pursues money life after life. In one life a child dies, in another he loses his reputation, in a third his wife desert him, all sorts of things happen, and he asks himself : ‘What is this money worth ? It does not bring me the happiness I need.’ Then he begins to enquire : ‘What is real happiness ?’ Thus the evolutionary power pushes him until he begins to use rightly the freedom to become aware and act in accordance with that awareness. That freedom is inseparable from intelligence.”


Article : A Happy Life

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Learning is not a competition

Education

Date: September, 2018

Source: The Straits Times Singapore

Singapore has removed ranking of students last September, 2018 for all primary and secondary schools. No more first honor, second honor or being last in the class. The Minister of Education, Ong Ye Kung, addressed 1,700 school leaders:  “I know that ‘coming in first or second’, in class or level, has traditionally been a proud recognition of a student’s achievement. But removing these indicators is for a good reason, so that the child understands from young that learning is not a competition, but a self-discipline they need to master for life.”

All theosophical schools do not have ranking or competition among students ever since they were established. Ranking is deemed harmful to students because students tend to think that the way they are measured for their achievement is based on their competitive position or ranking in school. They lose sight of the real purpose of education.

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Quantum Atmospheres’ May Reveal Secrets of Matter

Physics

Date: September, 2018

Source: Quanta Magazine

Theosophical literature postulated that physical matter has additional states to the three commonly known (solid, liquid, and gaseous) before Science came to make this discovery. These higher states were generally called “etheric.” According to clairvoyant research by Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater published in their book Occult Chemistry, these etheric states are the result of breaking down atoms into the more fundamental particles that compose them. In modern Science, this is the field of research of quantum physics. The article below presents a new scientific theory proposing that the quantum properties of an object extend into an “atmosphere” that surrounds the material. This sounds remarkably similar to the Theosophical idea of the “etheric double,” and some scientists are now trying to develop ways to measure this “quantum atmosphere” in different objects.