Medley

Ananya Sri Ram – USA  

Akitu Festival: A Celebration of New Beginnings in Ancient Mesopotamia

There are little anecdotes in a calendar I have. The most recent one is about a ritual called “The Trial of the King” that supposedly took place in ancient Mesopotamia during the Akitu festival. The festival was to appease the gods and for the ruler to show humility. (It must be noted that I could find anything that mentions whether this was historically true, parts of the anecdote don’t seem to fit, but the sentiment is something to reflect upon.)

New research sheds light on where and how we feel different kinds of love.

Researchers at Aalto University have made a map of where in the body different types of love are felt and how strongly they are experienced.

Cecil Messer – USA

When embarking on the spiritual search, we may be drawn towards a symbol of that which is beyond our reach. The silhouette of a distant mountain top, shrouded in mystery, framed in the dawn of a rising sun, beckons with hidden promise. It holds in trust a secret and sacred jewel of meaning. Our inquiry into meditation approaches this mountain, the way to which is obscured by the mist of unknowing. There are ways of cutting through obstacles and breaking out of our chrysalis of self-absorption and entering the clear light. The caterpillar is instinctively compelled to find a quiet place to begin its process of pupal envelopment. But it is only after it dissolves itself and sheds the cocoon that the glorious butterfly emerges. We too must dissolve our ego clinging and shed our self-cherishing to liberate the luminous nature of our mind.

 Image © Cornelia Li for National Post

More on the artist: https://www.collater.al/en/cornelia-li-conceptual-illustration/ 

Up to an hour after their hearts had stopped, some patients revived by cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) had clear memories afterward of experiencing death and had brain patterns while unconscious linked to thought and memory, report investigators in the journal Resuscitation, published by Elsevier.

 Before heading to work each day, most people have spent the night dreaming. Studies show that on any given morning, about 40 percent of the working population recalls their dreams.

New research from the University of Notre Dame shows that when dreams are first recalled, people often draw connections between their dreams and waking lives, and the connections they draw alter how they think, feel and act at work.

Andrew Rooke – Australia*

Africa is a huge continent with a population of 1.28 billion people (estimated in 2018). It is enormously varied, culturally, racially, and in its kaleidoscope of religions both indigenous and introduced.  There are various estimates of how many people follow the various religions. A survey of sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 found that 63% identified as Christians, 30% as Muslims and 3% as followers of traditional religions. The rest followed Eastern religions or did not identify with any at all.

Esther Pockrandt – Australia

Many of you will already have an established meditation practice.  Yet life does test us sometimes and we lose this temporarily.  It happens to all of us. So, here’s a reminder of that which you already know, and for those of you who are new to meditation, this will help set you up. As they say, ‘Practice makes Perfect’!