~C4Chaos

An Unware Fight: Evolution, Intelligent Design, and the View from Integral

Just finished listening to an audio via Integral Spiritual Center wherein Ken Wilber addressed the issue of the current science and religion debate, specifically by the New Atheists. Nice. I also got a special mention in the discussion due to my coverage of the New Atheists. But they still refer to me as "coolmel." Ah well, no escape from that stupid moniker for me.

Too bad the audio is only available for ISC members.  But here is the blurb I received from the ISC update.

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An Unaware Fight (audio) Evolution, Intelligent Design, and the View from Integral

The past year has seen some very public debates between proponents of Darwinian evolution and Intelligent Design. An Integral perspective of this argument reveals that these two camps—the “New Atheists” on one side, (Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris), and a variety of fundamentalist Christian apologists on the other, are not even speaking the same language, though they mistakenly assume that they are.

In this week’s featured audio, Ken Wilber discusses how, by applying an Integral perspective, particularly by including an awareness of levels of development, one can better understand the disconnect in this debate, and embrace both sides, and discover the more inclusive truth, the one that transcends and includes them both.

Here’s how: levels of development determine, though not definitively, the way we interpret our experience.  Developmental research shows us that instead of assuming that there is a “given” world (created by God or created by the laws of nature) that we can make factual statements about, we should more accurately assume that a worldspace arises when we look from a given altitude through a given perspective, and that some worldviews are more inclusive (and thus more true) than others.

In this debate the Integral model highlights how these two sides inhabit entirely different levels of development, and thus see entirely different worldspaces. As a result, they are not sharing meaning. Though the words they use to debate this issue may be identical, the meaning each party constructs out of those words is likely to be completely different.  Essentially, these two groups are not talking to each other. It’s a disconnect, one that only an Integral model can highlight.

For example, Christopher Hitchens seems to acknowledge that development occurs, and that people make meaning of their world from their level of development.  Why then, he asks, don’t people simply make meaning by trying to understand how the universe works?  Which is precisely how people at an orange altitude/rational worldview make meaning….

Sam Harris, himself a meditator, also seems to lack an awareness of levels of development in his expressed respect for Buddhism (as opposed to the other major religious traditions) as much more than a mythic worldview.  This assertion discounts that fact that Buddhism is held mythically by millions of people worldwide. There are mythic Buddhists, rational Buddhists, pluralistic Buddhists, and integral Buddhists. Each is a Buddhist, each has an entirely different interpretation of Buddhism. Integral therefore concludes that the problem is not any particular religion, it is the level of development of the adherent that can become problematic, particularly when people at different levels of development try to communicate.

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In the audio, Wilber mentioned that he was invited by Sam Harris's people to have a blogalogue on BeliefNet but he didn't have the time to participate. That's understandable. I've watched the New Atheists debate on these issues and it's too time-consuming, not to mention, draining. But they do it anyway because they have books to promote.

I think Wilber should consider having a dialog with Harris (or all of the New Atheists) as an opportunity to also promote his old book, Marriage of Sense and Soul. How about a re-issue with a chapter addressing the New Atheists? The object is not to join the New Atheist bandwagon and win debates, but to explore a skillful way of promoting and discussing the integral world view far and beyond the nodes of I-I.

May 16, 2008 at 03:37 PM in Integral Stuff, Religion, Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Second World Matters in a Post-American World

I've been watching a lot of Charlie Rose conversations lately. Last night Parag Khanna was on the program discussing his views in his book, The Second World - Empires & Influence in the New Global Order. Very informative and insightful discussions on geopolitics and global economics. Check it.

In general, Khanna's view is a complement to Fareed Zakaria's Post-American World. His book has been on my reading list for a while now. This interview jacks it up on top of my list.

I resonate with Khanna's and Zakaria's perspectives because they look at politics from the point of view of other nations rather than from an American-centric viewpoint (like some of our political leaders and political pundits who are stuck in partisan ideologies). Also, their views, though critical of U.S. foreign policies, are not anti-American. They are raising the awareness of the public and key people in leadership positions to shift their perspectives to a more world-centric, global, and less self-centered view of things. It's good to know that Parag Khanna is an advider to Barack Obama.

I'm looking forward to reading Khanna's book. In the meantime, let's all wave goodbye to hegemony :)

May 16, 2008 at 01:30 PM in Geopolitics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Happy, Gay, and a Right to Marry

This is a big victory for gay and lesbian couples in California.

"SAN FRANCISCO — Gay and lesbian couples in San Francisco rejoiced on Thursday over a State Supreme Court decision affirming their right to marry even as political leaders on both sides of the issue girded for an extended fight over the ruling in the courts and at the ballot box."

But the battle is far from over.

"Opponents of same-sex marriage said they had gathered 1.2 million signatures to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would define marriage as between a man and a woman, and effectively undo the Thursday decision." [read more]

A constitutional amendment? Jeesh. How about a constitutional amendment to have health care as a basic human right? Yeah, yeah, this is debatable. I'm just trying to illustrate how silly this call for a constitutional amendment--defining marriage between a man and a woman--is. What's up with people's priority? Does this issue really warrant a constitutional amendment? Does squabbling over people's right to marry whomever they want more important than the current health care crisis in the U.S.?

Anyway, to all my LGBT friends, godspeed and enjoy your new rights.

May 16, 2008 at 11:54 AM in PopCulture | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Dawkins and Krauss On Science

Most Americans are yearning for presidential debate on Science. Unfortunately, the heed of the scientific community is continued to be ignored by presidential candidates. They instead preferred to talk about their faiths. Nothing wrong with that. But I'm looking forward to a presidential science debate between McCain and Obama.

In the meantime, Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss are leading the way on how to do a public dialogue on science. Notable quote from Dawkins: "Any fool could've been a Darwin."
 

"Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss sat down for a public discussion at Stanford University on Sunday, March 9th 2008. The focus was on Science education, but the discussion also covered religion, physics, evolution and more. This video will be released on DVD soon at RichardDawkins.net, along with other new unmoderated discussions with Richard Dawkins."

YouTube: Full Playlist (1-12)
Discussion: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Q&A (now w/ subtitled questions): Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12

Google Video: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Thanks to RichardDawkins.net for the heads up!

May 15, 2008 at 03:48 PM in Politics, Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Einstein Would've Been a New Atheist?

EINSTEIN AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT
Uploaded by *olivervo on 16 Jun 06, 11.40PM PDT.

If Einstein were alive today would he back up the New Atheists?

It's hard to say. It's possible that Einstein would have a more evolved and sophisticated belief system if he's still alive. But based on his 1954 letter to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, he sounds more like Hitchens or Harris. (Even Dawkins is claiming Einstein as an Atheist.)

"Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday.

"The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.

"As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they 'have no different quality for me than all other people'.

"'The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.

"'No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this,' he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper." [read more]

Word.

ADDENDUM: Some say that Einstein was a genius, not a mystic. I beg to differ. If the definition of a mystic is "someone who believes in the existence of realities beyond human comprehension," then Einstein certainly qualified. Here's a relevant quote (via Quantum Questions). Emphasis mine.

"If it is one of the goals of religion to liberate mankind as far as possible from the bondage of egocentric cravings, desires, and fears, scientific reasoning can aid religion in yet another sense. Although it is true that it is the goal of science to discover rules which permit the association and foretelling of facts, this is not its only aim. It also seeks to reduce the connections discovered to the smallest possible number of mutually independent conceptual elements. It is in this striving after the rational unification of the manifold that it encounters its greatest successes, even though it is precisely this attempt which causes it to run the greatest risk of falling a prey to illusions. But whoever has undergone the intense experience of successful advances made in this domain is moved by profound reverence for the rationality made manifest in existence. By way of the understanding he achieves a far-reaching emancipation from the shackles of personal hopes and desires, and thereby attains that humble attitude of mind toward the grandeur of reason incarnate in existence, and which, in its profoundest depths, is inaccessible to man. This attitude, however, appears to me to be religious, in the highest sense of the word. And so it seems to me that science not only purifies the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism but also contributes to a religious spiritualization of our understanding of life."

So, to me, Einstein was both a genius and a mystic. But a mystic who spoke in a non-metaphysical (or non-New Agey) language.

May 15, 2008 at 01:38 PM in Religion, Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Edwards' Endorsement is Icing on Obama's Cake

John Edwards endorses Barack Obama. No surprise there. It was just a matter of time.

Hats off to Hillary Clinton for winning West Virginia. But the die is cast. The more interesting question is: Will Edwards be Obama's Vice-president? Now that ticket would be a sure winner!

May 14, 2008 at 08:28 PM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Stimulated But Reserved

Checked my mail today. My economic stimulus payment is in! It's directly deposited to my account already. I've also received mail solicitations from different organizations vying to get a piece of the economic stimulus pie. Not sure what to do with it, yet.

Anyway, I've been thinking of getting an iPhone lately but with the non-bubble price of gasoline and the food crisis, I'm not that excited to spend on geeky wants. So, for now the stimulus package is stimulating my savings account. Maybe I'll use it to buy potatoes, or use it as gasoline fund. I don't drive that often but with today's gas prices, it would only take a short time before my gasoline fund dries up.

How about you? Are you that stimulated? How are you spending it?

May 14, 2008 at 03:47 PM in Xistential Memoir | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Belief in Global Warming (in the U.S.) Falling?

While majority of developed countries had already moved beyond the debate, belief in Global Warming in the U.S. is falling, with a deep partisan divide.

"The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted April 23-27 among 1,502 adults, finds that the already substantial partisan divide over global warming has widened in the past year. Fully 84% of Democrats and 75% of independents say there is evidence that the earth's temperatures have been rising, compared with just 49% of Republicans.

"Among Republicans, far more moderates and liberals than conservatives say there is evidence of global warming (69% vs. 43%). However, the proportion of both groups expressing this view has declined since January 2007." [read more]

The science may be settled (although this is still debatable) and Al Gore could update his slideshow as much as need, but belief is what drives people. Unfortunately, the more people know about the science of Global Warming, the less alarmed they are. And therein lies a paradox.

Then again, good science neither requires consensus nor belief, nor it offers certainty on complex phenomena. So when scientists and the media are saying different things, lay people are left to resort to their ideologies, political affiliations, and instincts.

So where are you on the Climate Change belief scale?

May 14, 2008 at 11:44 AM in Environment | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Kosmic Consciousness in this Cosmic Web

I watched History Channel's The Universe: Biggest Things In Space the other day. As the narrator describes the cosmic web, I felt a sense of awe, wonder, humility, and insignificance all at the same time. Check out the video to get a sense of what I'm talking about.

See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5

From a cosmological perspective, our petty quarrels, political conflicts, racial biases, religious differences, philosophical and idealistic notions, and sense of individual and collective existence don't seem to have any significance. We live, eat, take shelter, poop, work hard, have sex, experience emotions, beget life, create technology, yearn for meaning and sense of purpose, choose faiths, acquire philosophy... We age... We die.

Once in a while we look up to the sky and reflect on the meaning of it all. Science had gone a long way to change the narrative of our place in the universe. The more we know, the more our minds grow bigger, the more our bodies get smaller. We're now even smaller than quarks. Yet the irony of it all is that we're still the center of this universe. Everything we know and discover (both external and internal) are eternally bounded by the reach of our perceptions and our capacity of extending and interpreting them with tools and abstract knowledge.

Our narratives keep on changing... our consciousness expanding, remembering, awakening, forgetting...

And when everything is said and done even the notion of Kosmic Consciousness seems like a cruel joke. The only honest answer to the question: "Why is there something rather than nothing?" is "I don't know."

May 13, 2008 at 06:08 PM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Arnel Pineda Tours with Journey

Speaking of Charice Pempengco, this just reminded me that another Filipino singing sensation, Arnel Pineda, is already currently on tour with Journey promoting their new album, Revelation. Looking forward to check out this album. Journey is also scheduled to make a TV debut on Ellen DeGeneres. Hataw na naman!

To those who still doubt that a Filipino can pull off a live Journey concert, doubt no more. Here's a proof. Check out Journey at the Great Chile Festival Concert 2008.

Thanks to Youtube, a dose of serendipity, and awesome talent, the Internet is leveling the playing field for discovering world-class performers. Expect more Filipinos to pop up on the international scene. Don't stop believing, mga kababayan!

May 12, 2008 at 10:27 PM in Music, Native Tongue, PopCulture | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Charice Pempengco on Oprah

Just watched Filipino singing sensation Charice Pempengco deliver a powerful performance on Oprah. What a voice! She keeps getting better and better! So young and so accomplished already. Hataw sa galing! Eat your heart out Whitney!

You have to watch it (and pump up the volume) to believe it.

Thanks to Charice for making Filipinos proud. Check out the rest of the amazing kids on Oprah.

May 12, 2008 at 09:42 PM in Native Tongue, PopCulture | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

International Nurses Day

Doctors rock. But nurses are often the people who connect with patients day in and day out. So here's to all nurses on International Nurses Day. Here's a video tribute to you.

Thanks for all your valuable and compassionate contributions to society. Special thanks to those nurses fighting for universal health care. And special thanks to ~myDakini for taking care of me. :)

May 12, 2008 at 08:34 AM in Health and Fitness | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Music Transcends the Borders of North Korea

Music Transcends the Borders of North Korea

Last night I watched Christiane Amanpour's Notes from North Korea. In her own words, it is the "holy grail of assignments."

"...when CNN asked me to cover the historic trip of the New York Philharmonic to Pyongyang at the end of February, I jumped at the chance. After months of negotiations, the North Korean government agreed to the orchestra's demands for playing Pyongyang, which happily for us included bringing in a large contingent of journalists. I was under no illusion that we journalists would have free run of the place -- far from it. However, any access is better than none, and any time is better than never, even in the dead of freezing North Korean winter."

The reporting was tightly controlled but it was still fascinating peek at a country and its people under communist rule. My favorite part of the program was a feature on New York Philharmonic's  historic concert in North Korea. The music and the emotional reaction of the performers and audience sent shivers up and down my spine.

Here's a video of the historic concert. New York Philharmonic rocks!

 

Music is indeed a language that transcends barriers. Hopefully, this is a good start at breaking those barriers as well.

May 11, 2008 at 12:35 PM in Geopolitics, Music, ~Omni-Peephole | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Happy Mother's Day! Any way the wind blows...

(This is in response to the Questions and Reflections for May 11, 2008)

What have you learned from your mother? If you could share something with your mum, wherever she is, what would you say? How has your mother inspired you?

My mom thought me patience, kindness, humility, compassion, forgiveness, and the Golden Rule.

I love you, Mama. Thanks for bringing me into this world. I'm sorry for the times I'm not there when you needed me. So here's one of the greatest songs ever written for a super mom like you. Any way the wind blows... I'm always thinking of you.

May 11, 2008 at 10:18 AM in Gaia | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Extreme Skydiving @ Etopia Prime

I visited Etopia Prime to try out the skydiving experience. Very exhilarating, especially extreme skydiving with a bike.

May 10, 2008 at 04:21 PM in Kosmic Aperture, Virtual Reality | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

What would you choose to make a film about?

(This is in response to the Questions and Reflections for May 10, 2008)

Today is Pangea Day, a global event meant to bring the world together through the use of film.

If you could make a movie about something, knowing it would be seen around the world, what would you choose? What story would you tell?

A film about a post-singularity world when humankind had achieved convergence of technology and spirituality on a planetary scale. The Matrix, Blade Runner, and Star Trek all rolled into a futuristic dystopian saga.

I'm still thinking of a working title...

May 10, 2008 at 12:59 PM in Gaia | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Nurses for Universal Health Care

Nurses in California continue to fight and make a case for universal health care. Watch them featured on Bill Moyers Journal. Check out the video and transcript.

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GERI JENKINS: When you have 60 percent of the healthcare in this country being delivered by for-profit corporate entities, whose mi-- major focus is their bottom line, then you better hope there's a nurse there to make sure you're okay and to look out for you and advocate for you when you're at that-- those-- most vulnerable moment in your life.

ROSE ANN DEMORO: Since nurses are in every community across the country, and since they're such a trusted profession, we think we're structurally situated to actually change this hit system systemically for once and for all. And we're not gonna stop until that happens.

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Godspeed to all those nurses. Here's a prayer for universal health care, however which way we get there.

May 9, 2008 at 10:29 PM in Health and Fitness, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Torture Breeds a Culture of Cruelty

I just finished watching a very informative and insightful interview with Philippe Sands (author of Torture Team) on Bill Moyers Journal. This interview is a must-see. Check out the video and transcript.

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BILL MOYERS: For a long time, it was thought that the, it went up the chain from Bagram in Afghanistan, to Abu Ghraib, and then to Guantanamo. But you're saying it started in Washington and went down?

PHILIPPE SANDS: It started with a few bad eggs. The administration has talked about a few bad eggs. I don't think the bad eggs are at the bottom. I think the bad eggs are at the top. And what they did was open a door which allowed the migration of abuse, of cruelty and torture to other parts of the world in ways that I think the United States will be struggling to contain for many years to come.

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If Philippe Sands is right (which I believe he is) then there could be some big fish in the current administration that would go down should the next administration decide (and rightly so) to do a much-needed housecleaning.

ADDENDUM: See the video of Philippe Sands' testimony before the House Judiciary Constitution, Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Sub-committee.

May 9, 2008 at 10:16 PM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Mitt Romney Makes Up With Atheists

Remember Mitt Romney's speech on Faith in America wherein he left out the non-believers? See my previous critique.

In a recent speech before the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, Mitt Romney made up for his omission (or something he and his speech writers overlooked) by acknowledging the important contributions of non-believers in America. Below is the relevant quote.

"Several commentators, for instance, argued that I had failed to sufficiently acknowledge the contributions that had been made by atheists. At first, I brushed this off — after all this was a speech about faith in America, not non-faith in America. Besides, I had not enumerated the contributions of believers — why should non-believers get special treatment?

"But upon reflection, I realized that while I could defend their absence from my address, I had missed an opportunity…an opportunity to clearly assert that non-believers have just as great a stake as believers in defending religious liberty.

"If a society takes it upon itself to prescribe and proscribe certain streams of belief — to prohibit certain less-favored strains of conscience — it may be the non-believer who is among the first to be condemned. A coercive monopoly of belief threatens everyone, whether we are talking about those who search the philosophies of men or follow the words of God.

"We are all in this together. Religious liberty and liberality of thought flow from the common conviction that it is freedom, not coercion, that exalts the individual just as it raises up the nation." [read more]

Ah well, better late than never.

Then again, if you continue to read the rest of Romney's speech, he still insists that "freedom requires religion." I beg to disagree. It depends on the definition of religion. If we're talking about dogmatic religion then how can there be freedom with dogma creeping up on believers and limiting their minds to soar?

In any case, I think it's more accurate to say that freedom includes and transcends religion. There are people who experience freedom and liberty without identifying with any religion, or those who find total freedom by eschewing religions altogether. Religion can be a stepping stone to more authentic freedom but not a requisite.

From another perspective, even the notion of freedom can be a shackle.

"You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,

"But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.

"And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?

"In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes." - Khalil Girban, The Prophet On Freedom

Thanks to Cosmic Variance for the heads up.

May 9, 2008 at 01:48 PM in Politics, Religion | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Post-American World

Yesterday I went to Barnes & Noble to check out the book, The Post-American World. I got interested with this book after watching Fareed Zakaria on Charlie Rose. But since the book is still in hardcover it's a bit pricey ($25 bucks in store). So I opted to just order it from Amazon, saving me more than $10. How very American of me ;)

I'm looking forward to reading this book to have more detailed understanding of Zakaria's thesis: the Rise of the Rest. Growing up outside of the U.S. and having had an experience living in Europe, my gut feeling tells me that Zakaria's thesis is very sound. But the devil, as they say, is in the details.

That said, my first impression on this book is favorable. Other political books are too politically divisive, too much engaged in partisanship, too conservative, too liberal, too American-centric, or too anti-American. What I like about this book is that it's neither American-centric nor anti-American. It does critique American leadership (i.e. GW Bush's failed foreign policies) but all in all it's a constructive criticism of U.S. foreign and economic policies, as well as a peek on what's happening around the world. Coming from someone who is constantly exposed to international issues (Fareed Zakaria is editor of Newsweek International) this book looks promising.

But I'll withhold the rest of my praise or critique until I've read the book. Will post my review soon.

For those of you who have already read it, feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.

May 8, 2008 at 02:45 PM in Books, Geopolitics, Kosmic Aperture, Politics | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Re: The New Atheists @ WIE

Previously, I ranted a bit about WIE's featured article on the New Atheists. It was a pleasant surprise that I got a response from WIE writers -- Carter (one of the authors of the article) and Tom.

Tom said: "We've received a few letters criticizing our “view from 15,000ft” take on the new atheists, but to be honest, that's all it was ever meant to be, which is why we called it a “field guide” on the cover and in the ToC blurb – and an “entertaining” one at that! :)"

Good point. In fairness to WIE, I did get the impression that the featured article was not meant as a detailed take on the New Atheists. But that was partly the reason for my disappointment. I've been wanting to see a more integral take on the New Atheists and I was expecting it from WIE (e.g. the excellent WIE issue on the Evolution Debate). Maybe in future issues? ;)

See the comment thread on my Gaia blog for the rest of the discussion.

Thanks to Carter and Tom for their time and attention.

May 7, 2008 at 04:25 PM in Religion, Spirituality | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Fareed Zakaria On The Daily Show

Saw this fun and informative interview with Fareed Zakaria on The Daily Show last night.

But for a more serious and intellectual conversation, check out Fareed Zakaria's interview with Charlie Rose.

I'm a sucker for brilliant minds with a global perspective on economics, capitalism and geopolitics. So I'm going to buy his book, The Post-American World.

May 7, 2008 at 02:31 PM in Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Obama Takes North Carolina

Barack Obama delivers another inspiring and humbling speech after taking North Carolina. His focus is now to take on John McCain while calling for unity to heal the divide within the Democratic party. He even prematurely congratulated Hillary Clinton for winning Indiana (as of this writing Indiana is still too close to call with Clinton leading by 4%).

In any case, Obama's victory in North Carolina (and the tight race in Indiana) could very well seal his nomination. The big question now is: Will Clinton have the humility to end the race early, and then eventually run with Obama as Vice-President to ensure their victory over the Republican party?

That said, I'll go ahead and call this election as early as now. Whoever wins the Democratic primary will be the next President of the United States. I have a soft spot for Clinton because of her stance on universal health care. But Barack Obama looks more like a fit U.S. President in a Post-American world.

May 6, 2008 at 07:57 PM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The New Order of the Ages is Post-American

A few days ago I watched Charlie Rose interview Fareed Zakaria. I've watched a lot of insightful conversations with Charlie Rose and this conversation with Zakaria is one of the most informative on the topics of geopolitics and globalization which are not typically talked about on mainstream U.S. media. Check it out. It's a must see.

I think Zakaria is right. The U.S. needs to get its act together before the rest of the world pass it by. I'm optimistic that the next (Democratic) President would get the U.S. back on track. GWBush-style leadership and policies must go away if the U.S. is to adapt to rapid global changes.

ADDENDUM: Check out this excerpt from Fareed Zakaria's book, The Post-American World. I'm looking forward to reading it.

""Whirl is king, having driven out Zeus," wrote Aristophanes 2,400 years ago. And—for the first time in living memory—the United States does not seem to be leading the charge. Americans see that a new world is coming into being, but fear it is one being shaped in distant lands and by foreign people.          

"Look around. The world's tallest building is in Taipei, and will soon be in Dubai. Its largest publicly traded company is in Beijing. Its biggest refinery is being constructed in India. Its largest passenger airplane is built in Europe. The largest investment fund on the planet is in Abu Dhabi; the biggest movie industry is Bollywood, not Hollywood. Once quintessentially American icons have been usurped by the natives. The largest Ferris wheel is in Singapore. The largest casino is in Macao, which overtook Las Vegas in gambling revenues last year. America no longer dominates even its favorite sport, shopping. The Mall of America in Minnesota once boasted that it was the largest shopping mall in the world. Today it wouldn't make the top ten. In the most recent rankings, only two of the world's ten richest people are American. These lists are arbitrary and a bit silly, but consider that only ten years ago, the United States would have serenely topped almost every one of these categories.

"These factoids reflect a seismic shift in power and attitudes. It is one that I sense when I travel around the world. In America, we are still debating the nature and extent of anti-Americanism. One side says that the problem is real and worrying and that we must woo the world back. The other says this is the inevitable price of power and that many of these countries are envious—and vaguely French—so we can safely ignore their griping. But while we argue over why they hate us, "they" have moved on, and are now far more interested in other, more dynamic parts of the globe. The world has shifted from anti-Americanism to post-Americanism." [read more]

May 6, 2008 at 01:31 PM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

More Than Words - by Sungha Jung

Check out this instrumental rendition of one of my favorite acoustic tunes -- More Than Words by amazing child guitarist, Sungha Jung. This kid will go a long way.

See more of Sungha Jung's performances on his Myspace page.

Thanks to Breeze for the heads up.

May 6, 2008 at 09:17 AM in Insomniac Blues, ~Omni-Peephole | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

The New Atheists @ WIE

I just finished reading the featured article, Atheists with Attitude, on the latest issue of What is Enlightenment? magazine. As usual, WIE did a great job at presenting different perspectives, as well as the timeline of the evolution of Atheism. However, I was a bit disappointed with WIE's take on the New Atheists for the following reasons.

For a magazine which I consider to be a leading edge on spirituality in general, and integral spirituality in particular, I was expecting a more integral take on the New Atheists from the editors and writers. But WIE only presented a very general overview of the New Atheists. Although WIE has some nice things to say about the New Atheists, the general tone of the article is a negative slant against them. Nothing wrong with that. There are indeed philosophical areas where the New Atheists fall short. But WIE didn't make detailed distinctions on the differences between the New Atheists. In short, no teasing apart the partial right and partial wrong. There's no ranking.

The WIE staffers expressed their disagreements with the New Atheists but they weren't specific on what areas they agreed with and what areas they have issues with. Take this quote from the featured article. (Emphasis mine.)

"As for the editors of WIE, we remain curious observers of the new atheism, encouraged by its articulate defense of modernity, science, and reason, but disturbed by its tendency to demonize all things spiritual and to associate rationality exclusively with a materialistic view of the universe."

"Demonize all things spiritual?" Sam Harris is not demonizing spirituality. He's even promoting it, albeit indirectly, with his Buddhist-flavored approach to consciousness. Harris doesn't even want to be identified as Atheist, fer Chrissakes (too late for that though). Even Christopher Hitchens has discussed the importance of separating the numinous from the supernatural. WIE had made the usual error of lumping the New Atheists like a blob, treating them as a leviathan with a single head that of Dawkins. (I consider Dawkins to be the extreme materialists among them four--Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens, Harris.)

Also, check out this quote from WIE's review of The Four Horsemen. (Emphasis mine.)

"But the primary contribution of The Four Horsemen is its capacity to stimulate the mind, to provoke one to reconsider the impact of the religious traditions and rethink one's own beliefs and attitudes toward these powerful cultural behemoths that continue to have an influence on human life. Will you agree with the new atheists? Maybe not--we didn't--but we appreciated their efforts to make us all think more clearly about what we actually believe about life, and about what God, gods, or nondeities we have faith in, and why."

Um, ok. So how does integral spirituality or evolutionary spirituality deal with radical Christians and Islam? What about the New Atheists take on multiculturalism and secularism? How about their call to action and appeal to religious moderates? What's good about studying religion from a scientific perspective? Is it a good idea to compulsory teach world religions (as well as Atheism) to children in school? I like to hear specifics rather than just an integral view from 15,000 feet.

And finally, there's no mention of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, giving the impression that the New Atheists are only comprised of angry white men (Ayaan Hirsi Ali is neither white, nor a man). I consider Ayaan Hirsi Ali to be the most gutsy among the New Atheists since her life is literally on the line whenever she speaks against radical Islam and takes on European multiculturalism.

All in all I feel that WIE didn't do enough justice with what the New Atheists represent. Yes, it's true that there's nothing new with majority of their philosophical arguments that the Enlightenment thinkers hadn't already dealt with. Then again, the New Atheists are tackling the same issue on a different interconnected global stage. So the stakes are much higher and the dynamics more complex than it was during the Age of Enlightenment. Never before in our recorded history that the issue of science, religion, and Atheism capture the attention of the global media (e.g. news network, newspapers, internet, blogosphere, etc.), and the New Atheists deserve credit for reviving this age-old philosophical debate, no matter how limited their perspectives may be.

That said, I hope that this is only WIE's intro feature on the New Atheists. I'm looking forward to WIE teasing apart, ranking, and then putting the New Atheists on a more integral perspective.

May 5, 2008 at 01:34 PM in Kosmic Aperture, Religion, Spirituality | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Sam Harris On Islam and Multiculturalism

Sam Harris just published another impassioned essay on The Huffington Post. He defended Geert Wilders's film, Fitna and then went on to criticize (and righly so) the climate of multiculturalism in Western culture. Very ballsy. Below are some key quotes.

"The point is not (and will never be) that some free person spoke, or wrote, or illustrated in such a manner as to inflame the Muslim community. The point is that only the Muslim community is combustible in this way. The controversy over Fitna, like all such controversies, renders one fact about our world especially salient: Muslims appear to be far more concerned about perceived slights to their religion than about the atrocities committed daily in its name. Our accommodation of this psychopathic skewing of priorities has, more and more, taken the form of craven and blinkered acquiescence." ....

"The connection between the doctrine of Islam and Islamist violence is simply not open to dispute. It's not that critics of religion like myself speculate that such a connection might exist: the point is that Islamists themselves acknowledge and demonstrate this connection at every opportunity and to deny it is to retreat within a fantasy world of political correctness and religious apology. Many western scholars, like the much admired Karen Armstrong, appear to live in just such a place. All of their talk about how benign Islam "really" is, and about how the problem of fundamentalism exists in all religions, only obfuscates what may be the most pressing issue of our time: Islam, as it is currently understood and practiced by vast numbers of the world's Muslims, is antithetical to civil society. ....

"This is what we owe the true moderates of the Muslim world: we must hold their co-religionists to the same standards of civility and reasonableness that we take for granted in all other people. Only our willingness to openly criticize Islam for its all-too-obvious failings can make it safe for Muslim moderates, secularists, apostates--and, indeed, women--to rise up and reform their faith.

"And if anyone in this debate can be credibly accused of racism, it is the western apologists and "multiculturalists" who deem Arabs and Muslims too immature to shoulder the responsibilities of civil discourse." [read more]

May 5, 2008 at 09:35 AM in Religion | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

On Manifesting Awesomeness

There's a featured article on Louise Hay on NYTimes Magazine. Check it out and see how the New Age movement impacted (and continues to "manifest awesomeness") Western culture. Hint: AIDS and cancer were among the driving forces.

"LOUISE HAY IS ONE OF THE BEST-SELLING AUTHORS IN HISTORY, and none of the women who have sold more — like J. K. Rowling, Danielle Steel and Barbara Cartland — owned a publishing empire. They did not change the spiritual landscape of America and several of its Western allies. They were not pregnant at 15 and they did not lack high-school diplomas. Finer writers they may have been (depending on your taste), and wealthier women, but it would be hard to argue that any was more interesting than Louise Hay." [read more]

May 4, 2008 at 10:25 AM in Spirituality | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Red ~C Diary: Shrink My Ride! A Tribute to My Road Buddy

If there's one positive impact of the recent soar in gas prices, it's that people are now becoming more conscious of the impracticality of big gas guzzlers. The result: small cars market gets bigger.

"DETROIT — Soaring gas prices have turned the steady migration by Americans to smaller cars into a stampede.

"In what industry analysts are calling a first, about one in five vehicles sold in the United States was a compact or subcompact car during April, based on monthly sales data released Thursday. Almost a decade ago, when sport utility vehicles were at their peak of popularity, only one in every eight vehicles sold was a small car.

"The switch to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles has been building in recent years, but has accelerated recently with the advent of $3.50-a-gallon gas. At the same time, sales of pickup trucks and large sport utility vehicles have dropped sharply." [read more]

Granted, small cars may not be practical for people with babies and children. Car seats alone take up a lot of space. But for the majority of people who mostly do their driving alone to and from work, smaller coupes with less horsepower should suffice.

When I was in Ireland, the average size of cars I've seen is that of the Toyota Yaris. I rarely saw SUVs. There's a big difference between Europeans and Americans when it comes to their attitude toward their cars. For people in Europe, a car is a means to an end: to get from point A to point B. For Americans, a car is an extension of their personality and an integral part of culture. So it has to be fast, furious, big, powerful, pimped out, or classy, or all of the above.

I used to subscribe to the American attitude on cars. The first time I moved to the U.S. was also my first time to own a car. So I wanted a car that would reflect my taste, personality, and social status. I remember car shopping for a 1997 Nissan Pathfinder. My reasoning was that the winter in Chicago is harsh so I needed a four-wheel drive to be safer on the road. But the price, the mileage per gallon, and the insurance premiums discouraged me. My frugal upbringing won over my short love affair with SUVs. So I ended up buying a more fuel-efficient (up to 30 mpg on highway) and stylish 3-door sports coupe -- a jet black 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

More than ten years had passed already and I'm still loving my first car. I call him, Mitsu. We've driven on snow and icy highways in Chicago, up and down the rockies in Colorado, in and around the steep wet roads in Seattle and Vancouver, BC, and he still look and feel good as new. I've taken good care of him and he took good care of me. I'm now emotionally attached to my car. We've been through a lot together, through thick and thin, ups and downs, literally and metaphorically. He's no longer just a car to me. Mitsu is my road buddy.

Once in a while I get tempted to look at other cool new cars and dream of owning them. But in reality I have no plans of buying a new car, that is, until Mitsu craps out on me. If I have my way my loyal black steed will stay with me until plug-in hybrids and electric cars become affordable. When that time comes, I think Mitsu would be ready to retire. But for now he still has less than 100,000 miles on his odometer. So it looks like we have a few more years of bliss on the road together.

Looking back, I'm happy that I made the right decision of shrinking my ride.

May 2, 2008 at 11:59 AM in Red ~C Diary, Xistential Memoir | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Hillary Clinton @ O'Reilly Factor

Just finished watching the second part of Hillary Clinton's interview with Bill O'Reilly. (See Part 1 of interview here).
 

All in all I think Clinton did a great job with this interview, especially in spite of O'Reilly's annoying interruptions. But I'd have to give O'Reilly credit for bringing out Clinton's passion on key issues, like the universal health care, Iraq war, torture, and immigration. I wonder how Obama and McCain would fair with O'Reilly's know-it-all interview style.

May 1, 2008 at 08:32 PM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)