A century in Times Square
Times Square is the most famous gathering place in the world and it is through extraordinary photographs from the archives New York Times, the newspaper that gave its name “Time Square” presents some of the best pictures. We get to see pictures at various stages of evolution from playgrounds to great hotels to grand restaurants and world class theaters. It tells us as how Times Square became the city’s number one spot where New Yorkers celebrated, partied, mourned from wars to economic depression. The highlight of the books includes the spectacular pictures of Times Square during; the 1937 Dec 31 picture of Times Square welcoming 1938; hero’s welcome to General MacArthur on April 20, 1951; an army of unemployed men looking for jobs with some creative marketing display; catching the world series in 1919; August 14, 1945 picture celebrating the end of WWII; the blizzard of 1888 (at what would be the future Times Square); the “old time barroom, a Times Square hangout at 1900; a comparison of Times Square in 1927 and 1999; and the 1903-04 pictures of Times Square at various stages of construction.
I very much enjoyed reading this book and it is recommended. It makes a great little book for your coffee table.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
Movie Reviewed: The four horsemen and the apocalypse, starring Rudolph Valentino
Movie Reviewed: The four horsemen and the apocalypse, starring Rudolph Valentino
A family drama in the midst of WWI
This is a story about a family from Buenos Aires, Argentina starring Rudolph Valentino in his very first major film. Valentino plays the grandson of a wealthy patriarch Julio Madariaga. When the family members split and migrate to France and Germany, and very soon they find themselves on opposing sides of the WWI. The real story is the drama of war and casualties it inflicts on nations. It is also a love story of Julio and an unhappily married woman named Marguerite Laurier played by actress Alice Terry. When her husband finds out, he files for a divorce, but the war pitches the family against each other causing significant loss of life and heartache for the surviving members of the family.
Screen writer June Mathis's adaptation of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez's novel, The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse was widely acclaimed as great work, and Metro Studios gave her more rights in the film. She chose Rex Ingram as the director and young Valentino as the lead actor. He was largely introduced as a young "Latin Lover" who would become a matinée idol. The gamble paid off but not for Metro Studios. He quit the studio over a pay dispute and took up with Famous Players-Lasky Studio.
Some aspects of the film were controversial with American film censorship boards. For example, the Pennsylvania board, upon reviewing the affair between Julio and married Marguerite, considered it distasteful and required that Marguerite be described as a fiancée of Etienne Laurier rather than his wife. There were also some scenes where German officers were in drag which did not sit well with many conservative viewers. The movie is a little long but certainly interesting to watch especially for Rudolph Valentino fans.
A family drama in the midst of WWI
This is a story about a family from Buenos Aires, Argentina starring Rudolph Valentino in his very first major film. Valentino plays the grandson of a wealthy patriarch Julio Madariaga. When the family members split and migrate to France and Germany, and very soon they find themselves on opposing sides of the WWI. The real story is the drama of war and casualties it inflicts on nations. It is also a love story of Julio and an unhappily married woman named Marguerite Laurier played by actress Alice Terry. When her husband finds out, he files for a divorce, but the war pitches the family against each other causing significant loss of life and heartache for the surviving members of the family.
Screen writer June Mathis's adaptation of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez's novel, The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse was widely acclaimed as great work, and Metro Studios gave her more rights in the film. She chose Rex Ingram as the director and young Valentino as the lead actor. He was largely introduced as a young "Latin Lover" who would become a matinée idol. The gamble paid off but not for Metro Studios. He quit the studio over a pay dispute and took up with Famous Players-Lasky Studio.
Some aspects of the film were controversial with American film censorship boards. For example, the Pennsylvania board, upon reviewing the affair between Julio and married Marguerite, considered it distasteful and required that Marguerite be described as a fiancée of Etienne Laurier rather than his wife. There were also some scenes where German officers were in drag which did not sit well with many conservative viewers. The movie is a little long but certainly interesting to watch especially for Rudolph Valentino fans.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Movie Reviewed: Gravity (2014), starring Sandra Bullock and Georg Clooney
Movie Reviewed: Gravity (2014), starring Sandra Bullock and Georg Clooney
Mission Aborted
Sandra Bullock offers a brilliant performance in this $100 million extravaganza that capitulate the drama of a woman in space struggling at all odds to survive the tedious journey. The trouble starts during a spacewalk to Hubble Telescope when a Russian missile strike a defunct satellite which creates a serious hazardous situation for astronaut Stone (Bullock) and her partner in space astronaut Kowalski (George Clooney). The entire movie runs through the various scenarios where Dr. Stone keeps up with the danger until she successfully re-enters the atmosphere and lands in a lake. This is mainly Sandra Bullock movie where Clooney plays a supporting actor. Produced at such a record amount, much of the scenes were done using computer-generated imagery for the spacewalk scenes and automotive robots to move the astronauts. The production team found it enormously challenging to do the shooting in weightless environment.
The film was directed, co-written, and produced by Alfonso Cuarón. At the 86th Academy Awards; it was honored with ten nominations with Cuarón winning in the best director category. This movie is a scientific fiction with some inaccuracies in depicting the principles of physics operating in space, but a treat for Sandra Bullock fans.
Mission Aborted
Sandra Bullock offers a brilliant performance in this $100 million extravaganza that capitulate the drama of a woman in space struggling at all odds to survive the tedious journey. The trouble starts during a spacewalk to Hubble Telescope when a Russian missile strike a defunct satellite which creates a serious hazardous situation for astronaut Stone (Bullock) and her partner in space astronaut Kowalski (George Clooney). The entire movie runs through the various scenarios where Dr. Stone keeps up with the danger until she successfully re-enters the atmosphere and lands in a lake. This is mainly Sandra Bullock movie where Clooney plays a supporting actor. Produced at such a record amount, much of the scenes were done using computer-generated imagery for the spacewalk scenes and automotive robots to move the astronauts. The production team found it enormously challenging to do the shooting in weightless environment.
The film was directed, co-written, and produced by Alfonso Cuarón. At the 86th Academy Awards; it was honored with ten nominations with Cuarón winning in the best director category. This movie is a scientific fiction with some inaccuracies in depicting the principles of physics operating in space, but a treat for Sandra Bullock fans.
Book Reviewed: The quest for the origins of Vedic culture, by Edwin Bryant
Book Reviewed: The quest for the origins of Vedic culture, by Edwin Bryant
The ancient history of Vedic ancestors
The Indo-Aryan migration debate has been going on ever since European scholars claimed (in later part of 19 century) that the practitioners of the Vedic rituals and the authors of RgVeda were “Aryans” of European ancestry. Despite the images of tall blonde, soma belching Germanic supermen riding their chariots, hooting and tooting their trumpets as they trampled the inferior aboriginal dasas of ancient India, numerous Indian scholars have challenged this theory. This debate is not over since the evidence obtained from philology, archeology and internal evidences gleaned from RgVeda provides a forum for contrasting interpretations.
A brief summary of the book is as follows: This book may be broadly classified into two sections that deal with the discussions about the identity of the Vedic ancestors, and the date of the earliest writings of RgVeda. Scholars are divided over the earliest writings of RgVeda but some estimates put this date to be around 1500 BCE. At this time, the Indo-Aryans were a separate entity from Iranians that descended from a larger Indo-Iranian population. This conclusion is largely based on the similarities in the linguistics of RgVeda and Avesta (sacred texts of Zoroastrianism). The separation of two populations may have occurred as early as 2200 BCE. In contrast to this theory, some authors have suggested, based on astronomical data of RgVeda, the earliest writings to an earlier date of 2500 BCE. The references to the river Sarasvati in RgVeda makes the strongest suggestion that Vedic ancestors were present in the mature Harappan period.
With regards to the origin of Vedic people, more far reaching conclusions could be drawn based recent genetic studies and the origin of the Indo-European language (1). Most indigenous tongues spoken today, from Hindi to Italian, English to Russian and Spanish to Greek belong to one parent Indo-European language. This classification is based on shared features of vocabulary and grammar. To identify indigenous population in ancient Eurasia, archeologists used distinctive types of pottery and cultural practices associated with burials and settlements into individual "archaeological cultures". Significantly, animal grave offerings were made (cattle, sheep, goats and horse), a feature associated with Proto-Indo-Europeans, and later by the Vedic ancestors. However, it hasn't been clear whether there is a genetic basis for these group boundaries or whether they're just cultural. Recent genetic analysis reveal that this group of pastoralists with domestic horses and oxen-drawn wheeled carts were responsible for up to 75% of the genomic DNA seen in Indo- European cultures about 4,500 years ago. The study identified a massive migration of herders and farmers from the Yamna culture of the north of the Black and Caspian Seas (Ukraine). This is called the “Steppe hypothesis.” This would have favored the expansion of at least of few of these Indo-European languages throughout the Eurasia. This “steppe” expansion explains the intriguing link of modern Indo-European languages to one mother language. It is also quite likely that the Indo-European languages spoken in India and Iran were probably diverged from those spoken by the Yamna people before they blazed a trail into Eastern and Central Europe. Recent archeological evidences also favor these findings. In 2009, a 6,000-year-old ancient 'cathedral' was discovered in Ukraine near modern-day Nebelivka. The place of worship contained altars and burnt bones of lambs as well as humanlike figurines (gods) shedding light on practices within a huge prehistoric settlement. Some of these practices were carried though the Vedic period in India. Another genetic analysis suggest that humanity’s most recent common male ancestor, the "father" of us all, would have lived between 174,000 and 321,000 years ago (2). These studies give an overall picture of human evolution and population migrations. Perhaps in few short years to come, we can solve the puzzle of the ancestry of Indo-Aryans more precisely.
The author reviews the literature thoroughly and presents a contrasting picture that emerges in the ancient history of India and the roots of Vedic culture. This book is of great interest for those interested in the ancient history of India and the earliest period of modern Hinduism.
Reference:
1. Wolfgang Haak et al. Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe. Nature, 2015; DOI: 10.1038/nature14317
2. Agnar Helgason, et al. The Y-chromosome point mutation rate in humans. Nature Genetics, 2015; DOI: 10.1038/ng 3171
The ancient history of Vedic ancestors
The Indo-Aryan migration debate has been going on ever since European scholars claimed (in later part of 19 century) that the practitioners of the Vedic rituals and the authors of RgVeda were “Aryans” of European ancestry. Despite the images of tall blonde, soma belching Germanic supermen riding their chariots, hooting and tooting their trumpets as they trampled the inferior aboriginal dasas of ancient India, numerous Indian scholars have challenged this theory. This debate is not over since the evidence obtained from philology, archeology and internal evidences gleaned from RgVeda provides a forum for contrasting interpretations.
A brief summary of the book is as follows: This book may be broadly classified into two sections that deal with the discussions about the identity of the Vedic ancestors, and the date of the earliest writings of RgVeda. Scholars are divided over the earliest writings of RgVeda but some estimates put this date to be around 1500 BCE. At this time, the Indo-Aryans were a separate entity from Iranians that descended from a larger Indo-Iranian population. This conclusion is largely based on the similarities in the linguistics of RgVeda and Avesta (sacred texts of Zoroastrianism). The separation of two populations may have occurred as early as 2200 BCE. In contrast to this theory, some authors have suggested, based on astronomical data of RgVeda, the earliest writings to an earlier date of 2500 BCE. The references to the river Sarasvati in RgVeda makes the strongest suggestion that Vedic ancestors were present in the mature Harappan period.
With regards to the origin of Vedic people, more far reaching conclusions could be drawn based recent genetic studies and the origin of the Indo-European language (1). Most indigenous tongues spoken today, from Hindi to Italian, English to Russian and Spanish to Greek belong to one parent Indo-European language. This classification is based on shared features of vocabulary and grammar. To identify indigenous population in ancient Eurasia, archeologists used distinctive types of pottery and cultural practices associated with burials and settlements into individual "archaeological cultures". Significantly, animal grave offerings were made (cattle, sheep, goats and horse), a feature associated with Proto-Indo-Europeans, and later by the Vedic ancestors. However, it hasn't been clear whether there is a genetic basis for these group boundaries or whether they're just cultural. Recent genetic analysis reveal that this group of pastoralists with domestic horses and oxen-drawn wheeled carts were responsible for up to 75% of the genomic DNA seen in Indo- European cultures about 4,500 years ago. The study identified a massive migration of herders and farmers from the Yamna culture of the north of the Black and Caspian Seas (Ukraine). This is called the “Steppe hypothesis.” This would have favored the expansion of at least of few of these Indo-European languages throughout the Eurasia. This “steppe” expansion explains the intriguing link of modern Indo-European languages to one mother language. It is also quite likely that the Indo-European languages spoken in India and Iran were probably diverged from those spoken by the Yamna people before they blazed a trail into Eastern and Central Europe. Recent archeological evidences also favor these findings. In 2009, a 6,000-year-old ancient 'cathedral' was discovered in Ukraine near modern-day Nebelivka. The place of worship contained altars and burnt bones of lambs as well as humanlike figurines (gods) shedding light on practices within a huge prehistoric settlement. Some of these practices were carried though the Vedic period in India. Another genetic analysis suggest that humanity’s most recent common male ancestor, the "father" of us all, would have lived between 174,000 and 321,000 years ago (2). These studies give an overall picture of human evolution and population migrations. Perhaps in few short years to come, we can solve the puzzle of the ancestry of Indo-Aryans more precisely.
The author reviews the literature thoroughly and presents a contrasting picture that emerges in the ancient history of India and the roots of Vedic culture. This book is of great interest for those interested in the ancient history of India and the earliest period of modern Hinduism.
Reference:
1. Wolfgang Haak et al. Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe. Nature, 2015; DOI: 10.1038/nature14317
2. Agnar Helgason, et al. The Y-chromosome point mutation rate in humans. Nature Genetics, 2015; DOI: 10.1038/ng 3171
Monday, March 16, 2015
Movie Reviewed: Laugh and Get Rich, Starring Edna May Oliver
Delightful screwball comedy
This is a home spun comedy about the life in a boarding house run by Edna May Oliver in which she plays a domestic top-Sargent. Hugh Herbert is a cast standout playing her indolent but good-hearted husband. Herbert's get-rich-quick schemes are the main subject of conflict until his one of his long forgotten invention finally pays off, but there is also a romantic sub-plot involving Herbert and Oliver's daughter Dorothy Lee. La-Cava wrote and directed this "B" movie based on the story by Douglas MacLean. Director Gregory La Cava has made some wonderful movies like "My Man Godfrey" and "Stage Door," but his work in this movie could have been a little more focused. Although this may be a "B" movie, but it is still funny and enjoyable!
This is a home spun comedy about the life in a boarding house run by Edna May Oliver in which she plays a domestic top-Sargent. Hugh Herbert is a cast standout playing her indolent but good-hearted husband. Herbert's get-rich-quick schemes are the main subject of conflict until his one of his long forgotten invention finally pays off, but there is also a romantic sub-plot involving Herbert and Oliver's daughter Dorothy Lee. La-Cava wrote and directed this "B" movie based on the story by Douglas MacLean. Director Gregory La Cava has made some wonderful movies like "My Man Godfrey" and "Stage Door," but his work in this movie could have been a little more focused. Although this may be a "B" movie, but it is still funny and enjoyable!
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Movie Reviewed: Flying High (1931), starring Charlotte Greenwood
Real screwball slapstick: Absolutely hilarious
Happy Landing was a lively musical upon which this movie is based on. The top of the cast include Charlotte Greenwood, Pat O’Brien and Bert Lahr. Lahr is a zany making his screen debut in his original Broadway role. He plays an amateur aviator who makes a world record flight because he didn’t know how to land. Greenwood meets him by offering $500 in search of a husband, and Lahr gladly accepts the offer of $500. There is a great deal chemistry between Lahr and Greenwood that includes hijinks and screwball comedy. It also stars Hedda Hopper, Charles Winninger, and Guy Kibbee. The numbers for the musical was staged by Busby Berkeley. This is an absolute screwball slapstick!
Happy Landing was a lively musical upon which this movie is based on. The top of the cast include Charlotte Greenwood, Pat O’Brien and Bert Lahr. Lahr is a zany making his screen debut in his original Broadway role. He plays an amateur aviator who makes a world record flight because he didn’t know how to land. Greenwood meets him by offering $500 in search of a husband, and Lahr gladly accepts the offer of $500. There is a great deal chemistry between Lahr and Greenwood that includes hijinks and screwball comedy. It also stars Hedda Hopper, Charles Winninger, and Guy Kibbee. The numbers for the musical was staged by Busby Berkeley. This is an absolute screwball slapstick!
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Movie Reviewed: Pivate Lives (1931), starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery
Movie Reviewed: Pivate Lives (1931), starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery
Amanda Vs Elyot
This is a tale of Amanda (Norma Shearer) and Elyot (Robert Montgomery) who really care for each other but are divorced and re-married to others. They end up in the same hotel for their honeymoons in adjoining rooms. It doesn't take long to discover that they are next door to each other. Not long after that they end up in Switzerland. This another controversial pre-code film that MGM brought from theater, this time it is Noel Cowards highly successful " Private Lives." Well directed by Sidney Franklin and good script writings by Hans Kraly, Claudine West and Richard Schayer makes the film interesting. But it is the theme of the story that makes it controversial. Amanda and Elyot being married to others, live in "sin," so to speak for a 1931 movie. Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery coped zestfully with Coward's rapid-fire repartee. Reginald Denny and Una Merkel played the thankless roles of their dull spouses.
At times, this movie reminds me of 1937 movie, "Awful Truth'" starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne especially when Shearer and Montgomery start bickering. It is fast paced movie and as always, it is a pleasure to watch Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery together.
Amanda Vs Elyot
This is a tale of Amanda (Norma Shearer) and Elyot (Robert Montgomery) who really care for each other but are divorced and re-married to others. They end up in the same hotel for their honeymoons in adjoining rooms. It doesn't take long to discover that they are next door to each other. Not long after that they end up in Switzerland. This another controversial pre-code film that MGM brought from theater, this time it is Noel Cowards highly successful " Private Lives." Well directed by Sidney Franklin and good script writings by Hans Kraly, Claudine West and Richard Schayer makes the film interesting. But it is the theme of the story that makes it controversial. Amanda and Elyot being married to others, live in "sin," so to speak for a 1931 movie. Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery coped zestfully with Coward's rapid-fire repartee. Reginald Denny and Una Merkel played the thankless roles of their dull spouses.
At times, this movie reminds me of 1937 movie, "Awful Truth'" starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne especially when Shearer and Montgomery start bickering. It is fast paced movie and as always, it is a pleasure to watch Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery together.
Movie Reviewed: Belle of the Nineties (1934), starring Mae West
Movie Reviewed: Belle of the Nineties (1934), starring Mae West
It ain’t no sin
This is a tale of a New Orleans singer juggling her career and romances with a boxer and a millionaire while her villainous boss lusts for her. The story written by Mae West is pretty weak and not very appealing. Looking like an upholstered egg-timer, the star of the movie was kept on screen front and center throughout by the astute director Leo McCarey in this William LeBaron production. The movie was still a big hit because of the star appeal of Mae West. However it was subjected to severe censoring by the Hay’s office since the morality code was in force in 1934. Some of West’s best lines were snapped by the scissors of Hay’s office. The highlight of the movie is the performance by Duke Ellington and his orchestra helping Mae West thorough four numbers including “My old Flame.”
It ain’t no sin
This is a tale of a New Orleans singer juggling her career and romances with a boxer and a millionaire while her villainous boss lusts for her. The story written by Mae West is pretty weak and not very appealing. Looking like an upholstered egg-timer, the star of the movie was kept on screen front and center throughout by the astute director Leo McCarey in this William LeBaron production. The movie was still a big hit because of the star appeal of Mae West. However it was subjected to severe censoring by the Hay’s office since the morality code was in force in 1934. Some of West’s best lines were snapped by the scissors of Hay’s office. The highlight of the movie is the performance by Duke Ellington and his orchestra helping Mae West thorough four numbers including “My old Flame.”
Movie Reviewed: Wings (1927), starring Clara Bow
Movie Reviewed: Wings (1927), starring Clara Bow
Paramount Studio’s epic movie of 1927 starring Clara Bow
This is a romantic drama set during WWI starring Clara Bow. John Monk Saunders, the writer and an ex-airman of WWI took the idea of this story too Jessy Lasky who went to Paramount to make this war epic to match MGM's 1925 hit, The Big Parade. Paramount also received the cooperation of Air Force in a big way since they had to use thousands of soldiers, hundreds of planes, and airmen. The air force schools in San Antonio, TX were also available for filming the flying scenes. Paramount took some risk in assigning this expensive project into the hands an inexperienced director, John Wellman. His only qualification was that he had the necessary aviation expertize; he was a much medaled flyer in WWI, and later as a stunt pilot. He had a burning enthusiasm to do this film. Casting was done with shrewd eye on fan appeal. Top roles were given to up-and-comers Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Richard Arlen as airmen pals who are in love with the beautiful Clara Bow. The climatic scene is that Rogers mistakenly shoots and kills Arlen and the real story is Bow is actually in love with Arlen.
The highlight of the movie is war in action with stunning photography of flying sequences. It is brilliant display of stunts for a movie made in 1927. All were actual scenes without any faking or process shots that ran Paramount to a total of $2 million in expenses, but turned out to be a very profitable investment for the studio. Wings won the Academy Award for the best picture in the very first Academy Award Ceremony. Gary Cooper has a minor role in the movie which also bought him a contract with Paramount Studios. This is a real treat for war movie fans. Clara Bow's appearance in the movie is limited, but she is fascinating to watch.
Paramount Studio’s epic movie of 1927 starring Clara Bow
This is a romantic drama set during WWI starring Clara Bow. John Monk Saunders, the writer and an ex-airman of WWI took the idea of this story too Jessy Lasky who went to Paramount to make this war epic to match MGM's 1925 hit, The Big Parade. Paramount also received the cooperation of Air Force in a big way since they had to use thousands of soldiers, hundreds of planes, and airmen. The air force schools in San Antonio, TX were also available for filming the flying scenes. Paramount took some risk in assigning this expensive project into the hands an inexperienced director, John Wellman. His only qualification was that he had the necessary aviation expertize; he was a much medaled flyer in WWI, and later as a stunt pilot. He had a burning enthusiasm to do this film. Casting was done with shrewd eye on fan appeal. Top roles were given to up-and-comers Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Richard Arlen as airmen pals who are in love with the beautiful Clara Bow. The climatic scene is that Rogers mistakenly shoots and kills Arlen and the real story is Bow is actually in love with Arlen.
The highlight of the movie is war in action with stunning photography of flying sequences. It is brilliant display of stunts for a movie made in 1927. All were actual scenes without any faking or process shots that ran Paramount to a total of $2 million in expenses, but turned out to be a very profitable investment for the studio. Wings won the Academy Award for the best picture in the very first Academy Award Ceremony. Gary Cooper has a minor role in the movie which also bought him a contract with Paramount Studios. This is a real treat for war movie fans. Clara Bow's appearance in the movie is limited, but she is fascinating to watch.
Book Reviewed: Conversations on Consciousness: What the Best Minds Think about the Brain, Free Will, and What It Means to Be Human, by Susan Blackmore
Book Reviewed: Conversations on Consciousness: What the Best Minds Think about the Brain, Free Will, and What It Means to Be Human, by Susan Blackmore
The quest for consciousness
Author Susan Blackmore interviews about 20 scientists working in the physics and biology of consciousness, and focuses mainly on the neurobiological aspects of mind, subjective experience, free will and consciousness.
Consciousness is a set of physical processes that give rise to conscious experience. But in order to understand the relationship between consciousness and the physical world, we need to know the nature of physical reality. This leads us to quantum physics and the explanatory gap between quantum and classical realities. We are conscious of only classical reality which is governed by the classical laws of physics, but we cannot comprehend quantum reality that is governed by the laws of quantum physics. This suggests that there is a hidden reality of nature that our mind does not sense but only revealed to us through the quantum physical measurements. Therefore our consciousness must include both classical and quantum realities. Many neuroscientists believe that consciousness is as fundamental as spacetime and matter (energy). Quantum physical measurements also imply that the physical reality does not objectively exist, but they exist after an intervention by a conscious observer.
There is another thorny question still remains as to why any physical process, quantum or classical, should give rise to subjective experience. This book discusses in depth about subjective experience, free will and the nature of consciousness with the leaders of consciousness research. The book illustrates that these are really hard problems to solve, and the opinions of the experts are varied and diverse. Many neuroscientists assume that these mental powers somehow emerge from the electrical signaling of neurons, the circuitry of the brain. Cartesian theater (CT) is a term Dan Dennett uses to describe a common idea that somewhere in the brain or mind, everything comes together and consciousness happens. Neurobiologist Susan Greenfield proposes that consciousness is associated with brain and brain generates consciousness. Dave Chalmers says, that consciousness ceases when one is dead, therefore consciousness is strongly associated with brain. Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff propose "orchestrated objective reduction" ('Orch OR') theory, according to which consciousness derives from quantum vibrations in microtubules (protein polymers inside brain neurons) which both govern neuronal and synaptic function. They connect brain processes to self-organizing processes on quantum scale to produce quantum structure of reality. Stephen LaBerge takes a Vedantic view of a universal consciousness akin to the quantum physical reality. Kevin O'Regan believes that consciousness can survive death, but in years to come we would be able to download our personality onto a computer and re-live in virtual worlds. Philosophers like David Rosenthal and Michael Graziano suggest that consciousness is illusory. They observe that we have certain beliefs about mental states, and they have distinctive functional properties which causes some forms of attention. Philosopher John Searle believes that consciousness is essentially a biological property that emerges in some systems but not in others for reasons as yet unknown. V. Ramachandran offers a neurobiological explanation as to why animals do not have the same level of consciousness as humans.
Free will is another topic widely discussed in this book and it is the most disputed philosophical issue of all time. It is an idea that we can act or make choices unconstrained by external circumstances or an agency such as fate or divine will. It is often compared with determinism, which means that all events in the world are determined by prior events. The experts discussed in this book differ in their opinion. Pat and Paul Churchland, Francis Crick, and Chris Koch suggest that free will is an illusion, but Dan Dennett, Stuart Hameroff, Thomas Metzinger, and Kevin O'Regan believes that we have free will.
To summarize, it is evident from the discussion presented in this book that there is a lack of complete theory by neuroscientists regarding how neural activity translates into conscious experiences. Deepak Chopra argues that it is still a speculation no matter if you want to call consciousness a fundamental property of the universe consisting of matter (or energy) operating in spacetime; or consciousness is caused by brain activity and creates the properties and objects of the material world. Some critics argue that the hypothesis that the brain creates consciousness has more evidence than the hypothesis that consciousness is a fundamental property of the universe. Such arguments falls short, since quantum reality is not considered a part of overall reality in this argument.
The quest for consciousness
Author Susan Blackmore interviews about 20 scientists working in the physics and biology of consciousness, and focuses mainly on the neurobiological aspects of mind, subjective experience, free will and consciousness.
Consciousness is a set of physical processes that give rise to conscious experience. But in order to understand the relationship between consciousness and the physical world, we need to know the nature of physical reality. This leads us to quantum physics and the explanatory gap between quantum and classical realities. We are conscious of only classical reality which is governed by the classical laws of physics, but we cannot comprehend quantum reality that is governed by the laws of quantum physics. This suggests that there is a hidden reality of nature that our mind does not sense but only revealed to us through the quantum physical measurements. Therefore our consciousness must include both classical and quantum realities. Many neuroscientists believe that consciousness is as fundamental as spacetime and matter (energy). Quantum physical measurements also imply that the physical reality does not objectively exist, but they exist after an intervention by a conscious observer.
There is another thorny question still remains as to why any physical process, quantum or classical, should give rise to subjective experience. This book discusses in depth about subjective experience, free will and the nature of consciousness with the leaders of consciousness research. The book illustrates that these are really hard problems to solve, and the opinions of the experts are varied and diverse. Many neuroscientists assume that these mental powers somehow emerge from the electrical signaling of neurons, the circuitry of the brain. Cartesian theater (CT) is a term Dan Dennett uses to describe a common idea that somewhere in the brain or mind, everything comes together and consciousness happens. Neurobiologist Susan Greenfield proposes that consciousness is associated with brain and brain generates consciousness. Dave Chalmers says, that consciousness ceases when one is dead, therefore consciousness is strongly associated with brain. Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff propose "orchestrated objective reduction" ('Orch OR') theory, according to which consciousness derives from quantum vibrations in microtubules (protein polymers inside brain neurons) which both govern neuronal and synaptic function. They connect brain processes to self-organizing processes on quantum scale to produce quantum structure of reality. Stephen LaBerge takes a Vedantic view of a universal consciousness akin to the quantum physical reality. Kevin O'Regan believes that consciousness can survive death, but in years to come we would be able to download our personality onto a computer and re-live in virtual worlds. Philosophers like David Rosenthal and Michael Graziano suggest that consciousness is illusory. They observe that we have certain beliefs about mental states, and they have distinctive functional properties which causes some forms of attention. Philosopher John Searle believes that consciousness is essentially a biological property that emerges in some systems but not in others for reasons as yet unknown. V. Ramachandran offers a neurobiological explanation as to why animals do not have the same level of consciousness as humans.
Free will is another topic widely discussed in this book and it is the most disputed philosophical issue of all time. It is an idea that we can act or make choices unconstrained by external circumstances or an agency such as fate or divine will. It is often compared with determinism, which means that all events in the world are determined by prior events. The experts discussed in this book differ in their opinion. Pat and Paul Churchland, Francis Crick, and Chris Koch suggest that free will is an illusion, but Dan Dennett, Stuart Hameroff, Thomas Metzinger, and Kevin O'Regan believes that we have free will.
To summarize, it is evident from the discussion presented in this book that there is a lack of complete theory by neuroscientists regarding how neural activity translates into conscious experiences. Deepak Chopra argues that it is still a speculation no matter if you want to call consciousness a fundamental property of the universe consisting of matter (or energy) operating in spacetime; or consciousness is caused by brain activity and creates the properties and objects of the material world. Some critics argue that the hypothesis that the brain creates consciousness has more evidence than the hypothesis that consciousness is a fundamental property of the universe. Such arguments falls short, since quantum reality is not considered a part of overall reality in this argument.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Yezidism and Hinduism: Common origins from a proto Indo-Iranian religion.
This book focusses mainly on the culture and history of Yezidis. Since the fall of 2014, the atrocities of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) committed in Iraq and Syria came into light, the world learned that thousands of innocent Yezidis were slaughtered. Their plight and sufferings are too gruesome to describe. Since then there has been a surge of interest in understanding the culture and traditions of Yezidi people. This book gives a comprehensive introduction to Yezidi society, and examines Yezidism not only as a religion but also as a social and historical phenomenon.
A brief summary of this book is as follows: Yezidism did not have liturgical or historical writing before 12th century, but the contemporary religious practices and hymns orally transmitted over generations hint at various layers of development. Modern Yezidis are mainly of Kurdish origin whose ancestors practiced a proto Indo-Iranian religion. Yezidis pray God through the banners of the Peacock Angel and consider celestial gods like sun, fire, water and earth as sacred. They generally pray in the direction of sun, and perform fire sacrifices. Fire is an important part of many ceremonial rituals, and Yezidis are strong believers in reincarnation. They also have a caste system and observe the rite of baptism. All these practices are traced to a proto Indo-Iranian practices that is clearly documented in the Rig Veda and ancient Sanskrit literature of Hinduism. For example, the hymns of Rig-Veda of Hinduism were orally transmitted for 3,000 years in Brahmanical system.
The Islamic practices were introduced to Yezidis much later in 12 century by Sufi Sheikh Adi. After his death in 1162, the Yezidi successors blended his doctrine with Islamic beliefs, which became the modern Yezidi doctrine as we know today. The ancient form of Yezidism that had roots in the proto-Indo-Iranian religion had significant influence on the masses up to 12 century but started to grow under the strong influence of Islam, but their power started to decline by 15 century when Muslims started to massacre Yezidis for their non-Islamic beliefs. Yezidi persecutions, massacres, deportations, and forced conversions over centuries have taken a toll on the Yezidi culture and religion. They suffered most during occupation by Ottoman Empire which forced Yezidi to convert to Islam, and from the 18th century many "fatwas" were declared against them. Discrimination based on Islamic laws was far and wide.
In modern Iraq, Lalish, located in Northern part of the country became the main pilgrimage center, and the traditions of qewwals and the sacred musicians kept the Yezidi religion alive. Since there were no written texts to educate the new generations, oral traditions were continued to educate the new generations. The Yezidi holy books, Mishefa Resh (the black book) and the Kiteb-i-Cilwe (the book of Revelation) came into existence from qewwals. Yezidis, unlike followers of other religions, did not have temples for the performance of liturgies, however, the mausoleums of saints and shrines fulfilled the function of a place of worship. It also did not require public prayer or worship but encouraged individual prayers. The caste system was rigorously practiced and the practice of endogamy also prevented unification among all Yezidis. Among Hindus and Yezidis, the tradition of endogamy is a part of the inner structure.
The Peacock Angel (Tawusi Melek) is the most important character in the Yezidi pantheon. He is the leader of the Yezidi Holy Trinity and dominates all divinities. In the Yezidi religion, the Peacock Angel is the mediator angel between God and Yezidi people who leads directly to God. He is God's alter ego; united with him results in a union that is whole and inseparable. He is the manifestation of the creator. That is why Yezidis pray to God through his banner in the form of a Peacock. Death for Yezidis means the separation of the soul from the body and the rebirth of the soul in another body. They believe in reincarnation and in heaven and hell. Yezidism believe in one eternal God called "Xwede" who is the creator of the universe
This idea of a Proto-Indo-Iranian religion was put forwarded by Rig-Vedic researchers when the evidence for a proto-Indo-Iranian language was found in Avesta (collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism) and Rig-Veda. It is also known that Sanskrit is one of the main off-shoots of the Indo-European language, which is the mother of all earthly languages. All Indo- Iranian mythologies involve gods (often called by similar names) associated with aspects of nature depending on a function (e.g. sky father, thunder god, sea god, god of wind, river goddess, pastoral god, etc.) Common cosmogonies are connected with primal sacrifice that allowed life to emerge on earth; battle with dragon and serpent, and victory of God over evil was deemed essential for the survival of humans on earth. Yezidis also believe that at the beginning of creation, God had created Seven Angels (Heft Sur) or Seven Mysteries; in Rig-Veda there are seven Adityas who have similar functions of keeping the divine order.
This book is timely and very illuminating. For those who would like to read and understand Yezidism, it is very gratifying. We get to know the plights of brave Yezidi people who continue to practice their religion and culture under the most brutal political environment.
Reference: Yezidis, the history of a community, culture and religion by Birgul Acikyildiz
A brief summary of this book is as follows: Yezidism did not have liturgical or historical writing before 12th century, but the contemporary religious practices and hymns orally transmitted over generations hint at various layers of development. Modern Yezidis are mainly of Kurdish origin whose ancestors practiced a proto Indo-Iranian religion. Yezidis pray God through the banners of the Peacock Angel and consider celestial gods like sun, fire, water and earth as sacred. They generally pray in the direction of sun, and perform fire sacrifices. Fire is an important part of many ceremonial rituals, and Yezidis are strong believers in reincarnation. They also have a caste system and observe the rite of baptism. All these practices are traced to a proto Indo-Iranian practices that is clearly documented in the Rig Veda and ancient Sanskrit literature of Hinduism. For example, the hymns of Rig-Veda of Hinduism were orally transmitted for 3,000 years in Brahmanical system.
The Islamic practices were introduced to Yezidis much later in 12 century by Sufi Sheikh Adi. After his death in 1162, the Yezidi successors blended his doctrine with Islamic beliefs, which became the modern Yezidi doctrine as we know today. The ancient form of Yezidism that had roots in the proto-Indo-Iranian religion had significant influence on the masses up to 12 century but started to grow under the strong influence of Islam, but their power started to decline by 15 century when Muslims started to massacre Yezidis for their non-Islamic beliefs. Yezidi persecutions, massacres, deportations, and forced conversions over centuries have taken a toll on the Yezidi culture and religion. They suffered most during occupation by Ottoman Empire which forced Yezidi to convert to Islam, and from the 18th century many "fatwas" were declared against them. Discrimination based on Islamic laws was far and wide.
In modern Iraq, Lalish, located in Northern part of the country became the main pilgrimage center, and the traditions of qewwals and the sacred musicians kept the Yezidi religion alive. Since there were no written texts to educate the new generations, oral traditions were continued to educate the new generations. The Yezidi holy books, Mishefa Resh (the black book) and the Kiteb-i-Cilwe (the book of Revelation) came into existence from qewwals. Yezidis, unlike followers of other religions, did not have temples for the performance of liturgies, however, the mausoleums of saints and shrines fulfilled the function of a place of worship. It also did not require public prayer or worship but encouraged individual prayers. The caste system was rigorously practiced and the practice of endogamy also prevented unification among all Yezidis. Among Hindus and Yezidis, the tradition of endogamy is a part of the inner structure.
The Peacock Angel (Tawusi Melek) is the most important character in the Yezidi pantheon. He is the leader of the Yezidi Holy Trinity and dominates all divinities. In the Yezidi religion, the Peacock Angel is the mediator angel between God and Yezidi people who leads directly to God. He is God's alter ego; united with him results in a union that is whole and inseparable. He is the manifestation of the creator. That is why Yezidis pray to God through his banner in the form of a Peacock. Death for Yezidis means the separation of the soul from the body and the rebirth of the soul in another body. They believe in reincarnation and in heaven and hell. Yezidism believe in one eternal God called "Xwede" who is the creator of the universe
This idea of a Proto-Indo-Iranian religion was put forwarded by Rig-Vedic researchers when the evidence for a proto-Indo-Iranian language was found in Avesta (collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism) and Rig-Veda. It is also known that Sanskrit is one of the main off-shoots of the Indo-European language, which is the mother of all earthly languages. All Indo- Iranian mythologies involve gods (often called by similar names) associated with aspects of nature depending on a function (e.g. sky father, thunder god, sea god, god of wind, river goddess, pastoral god, etc.) Common cosmogonies are connected with primal sacrifice that allowed life to emerge on earth; battle with dragon and serpent, and victory of God over evil was deemed essential for the survival of humans on earth. Yezidis also believe that at the beginning of creation, God had created Seven Angels (Heft Sur) or Seven Mysteries; in Rig-Veda there are seven Adityas who have similar functions of keeping the divine order.
This book is timely and very illuminating. For those who would like to read and understand Yezidism, it is very gratifying. We get to know the plights of brave Yezidi people who continue to practice their religion and culture under the most brutal political environment.
Reference: Yezidis, the history of a community, culture and religion by Birgul Acikyildiz
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