"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: Resources: Ken Wilber CD
Friday, December 21, 2001
Current Members: 1568

------------

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nhne-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, send a blank email message to:
nhne-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

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EDITOR'S COMMENT:

This is just a quick post to let all of you know about a new CD that has
been released of an interview with Ken Wilber. Wilber, for those of you who
may not know, is widely regarded as one of the most important
spiritually-oriented philosophers alive today. His chief claim to fame:
gathering a wide variety of human disciplines -- from science, psychology,
and spirituality to business, politics, and medicine -- into one
comprehensive system that attempts to explain the ultimate purpose and
destiny of humankind. A very tall order, but one which Wilber excels at. And
one that everyone on this mailing list should know about.

An NHNE Special Report on Wilber is on the back burner and may yet see the
light of day. Until then, the recently released CD is the best "layman's
introduction" to Wilber I am aware of. A complete (and somewhat grandiose)
description of the CD follows, along with links to six MP3 cuts from the
two-set collection.

I've also included links to three of Wilber's books.

And that's it from me. I send my best to each and every one of you this
holiday season.

With Love & Best Wishes,
David Sunfellow

...........

SPEAKING OF EVERYTHING (The newly released audio CD's):
http://www.enlightenment.com/shop/wilber.cfm?AffiliateID=2001125217

THREE OF WILBER'S BOOKS:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYTHING:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1570627401/newheavenneweart

A THEORY OF EVERYTHING:
AN INTEGRAL VISION FOR BUSINESS, POLITICS, SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1570628556/newheavenneweart

GRACE AND GRIT:
SPIRITUALITY AND HEALING IN THE LIFE AND DEATH OF TREYA KILLAM WILBER:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1570627428/newheavenneweart

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KEN WILBER, SPEAKING OF EVERYTHING
By Jeramy Hale

The first-ever live audio interview with the world's most widely published
spiritual philosopher. Just $24.95 for 2 CDs plus Alex Grey illustrated
Glossary pamphlet. Only at Enlightenment.Com.

http://www.enlightenment.com/shop/wilber.cfm?AffiliateID=2001125217

CD LINER NOTES:

Ken Wilber is the most widely published philosopher in the world today.
Sociable by nature, but reclusive due to the demands of his work, this is
the first time he has agreed to have a live recorded interview made
available to the public.

The interview covers a wide range of topics, from intimate discussions of
Ken's personal life to his unmatched integration of science, psychology, and
spirituality. From incredibly entertaining moments, to moments that solidly
engage the intellect, there is something for everyone in this unique and
heartfelt glimpse into the inner world of a man called the "Einstein of
Consciousness."

A deep rapport develops between Ken Wilber and Jordan Gruber, the founder of
Enlightenment.Com, as the interview starts off with  a behind-the-scenes
look at Ken's Integral Institute and some of the challenges it faces. Soon
the conversation turns to the shocking but entertaining "Two Truths
Doctrine," "Reincarnation," and yes, "The Purpose of Being Here."

The highly charged and entertaining material on Disc Two is the perfect
balance to some of the more theoretical topics in the first half, as the
burden of fame, the importance of spiritual practice, and even the internet
get discussed.

Only an easy attention is required as Ken speaks about himself or about the
theoretical system he has built over a lifetime. His warmth and humanity
shine through as his intellect illuminates broad stretches of the
psycho-spiritual landscape.

During the production stages, everyone who heard the interview remarked that
something special took place that was captured in the recording. Whether the
topic is the mundane or the mystical, you will think, you will laugh, you
will wonder, and you will be given a rare opportunity to look into the life
and writings of one of the world's most profound and important thinkers.

This is Ken Wilber, Speaking of Everything.


1ST CD, TRACK TITLES:

1. Introduction
2. It's Not Every Day You Lose $100 Million
3. Leading the Integral Institute

4. Approaching the Powers that Be
http://www.enlightenment.com/shop/clips/track4clip.mp3

5. Boomeritis
6. Only One Mind

7. The Two Truths Doctrine
http://www.enlightenment.com/shop/clips/track7clip.mp3

8. Satori for Worms

9. Reincarnation
http://www.enlightenment.com/shop/clips/track9clip.mp3

10. Got the Outline, Got the Framework
11. The Purpose of Being Here
12. Everybody's Right
13. Now You've Done It!
14. The Chinese Box

2ND CD, TRACK TITLES:

1. Pathetically Obvious
http://www.enlightenment.com/shop/clips/track15clip.mp3

2. Wake Up to Nirvana!
3. Hallucinatory Nonsense

4. The Burden of Fame
http://www.enlightenment.com/shop/clips/track18clip.mp3

5. Strumming the Strings
http://www.enlightenment.com/shop/clips/track19clip.mp3

6. Working Day Satori Blues
7. Unraveling the Mysteries of Life, Death & Pain
8. A Celestine Prophecy of the Second Tier
9. The Internet
10. The QLink
11. Evidence of Powers
12. Four Quadrants Forever
13. Drugs & Meditation
14. Which Practice for You?

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NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@egroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE's Unique Coverage of 2001
Friday, December 28, 2001
Current Members: 1565

NOTE: This message has been sent to both our Main List and News List so some
of you may receive this message twice.

------------

To subscribe, send a blank email message to:
nhne-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, send a blank email message to:
nhne-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

EDITOR'S COMMENT:

What a year! Are you finding it as difficult as I am to track AND ASSIMILATE
the torrent of breakthroughs, disasters, and unexpected events? Thank
goodness we've got each other to steady our tiny boats in the growing
tsunamis of change!

A couple years ago I realized we couldn't keep up with all the events that
interest us with one mailing list. So we created a news list to supplement
our primary list. Our "Main List" was set aside to receive longer, more in
depth articles, while our "News List" was primed to receive a daily barrage
of cutting-edge, often fast-breaking news stories and related resources.

Since January 1st of this year, an amazing 1469 messages have been sent to
NHNE's News List. That compares to 912 sent out the year before. This list
covered everything from male/female differences, killer asteroids, and the
newest scientific breakthroughs to behind-the-scenes looks at a host of
colorful, often controversial individuals and organizations.

We also used the News List to aggressively monitor all aspects of the 911
crisis.

The NHNE News List began the year with 428 people and ends, as of this
writing, with 670 -- a gain of 242 new people.

NHNE's Main List, meanwhile, had far less messages (15 in all), and shrunk
in membership, from 1673 people at the beginning of the year, to our current
number of 1565 -- a loss of 108.

The real story, of course, is not how many posts were sent out, or how many
people each list gained or lost; the real story is in the incredibly
diverse, multi-faceted, and thought-provoking information that reached
others of like mind all over the world. And to be sure all of you, on both
lists, didn't miss anything important, I've put together a four-part summary
that contains links to what I believe are some of the year's most important
stories (and resources):

-- MOST IMPORTANT NHNE NEWS LIST STORIES OF 2001

-- MOST IMPORTANT NHNE 911 POSTINGS

-- MOST IMPORTANT NHNE MAIN LIST POSTINGS OF 2001

-- TOP 10 NHNE WEBSITE RESOURCES

I encourage you to review these lists carefully, visit the links that spark
your interest (if you haven't already), and save them for future reference.
I also encourage you to share them with others who might be interested.
There's a lot of incredible information here and I guess it goes without
saying that you won't find a summary like this in Time or Newsweek!

Four more things:

First, a special thanks to Sherry Stultz for facilitating NHNE's Forum for A
Common Understanding (http://www.nhne.com/database/dbforum.html), Kathleen
Blake for continuing to offer well-informed advice on numerous alternative
health stories, Di Tracy for serving as NHNE's Secretary Treasurer, and
James Gregory for acting as our Vice President, all on a volunteer basis!

Second, a special thanks to the 34 people who helped us purchase a much
needed laptop. I asked for $2450.00 and received $2882.00! All of the
information posted to both lists since early October have been made, from
multiple locations, via that happy, roving laptop!

Third, a special request for help paying off this year's bills. We need
$1369.00 to clear the books and enter 2002 with a clean slate. I'll be
running an "End of The Year Fundraising Drive" for the next week or so.
During the drive, a short tag will appear at the top of every News List post
detailing how much money we've raised, how many people have contributed, and
how far we've yet to go. If you would like to help out, you can make a
tax-deductible donation via email, the Web, via phone, or regular mail. To
make a donation via credit card, please include your credit card number,
expiration date, and phone number. To make a donation via check, please make
your check payable to "NHNE."

eMail: nhne@...
Web: http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Mail: NHNE, P.O. Box 2242, Sedona, AZ 86339

And finally, a special thanks to all of you for sharing the adventure with
us. If 2002 is anything like 2001, we are going to continue to need the
experience, wisdom, financial support, and raw researching muscle our
network, made up of people all over the world who share an interest in
personal and planetary transformation, bring to the table. I salute you and
look for to sharing the coming year with you!

With Love & Best Wishes,
David Sunfellow

...........

NHNE'S MAIN LIST:

To subscribe, send a blank email message to:
<nhne-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>

To read current posts to this list:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/


NHNE'S NEWS LIST:

To subscribe, send a blank email message to:
<nhnenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>

To read current posts to this list:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/messages/

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

MOST IMPORTANT NHNE NEWS LIST STORIES OF 2001:

Designer People (1/7/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/996

Regenerative Medicine Promises Immortality (12/19/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2414

The Biological Components Of Spiritual Experiences (5/9/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1468

In Search of God: Special Helmet Lets You Meet God (4/20/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1401

Shamanism vs. Capitalism: The Politics of Ayahuasca (7/29/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1730

LSD & Hollywood Hospital (12/28/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2435

Apes Were First To Get High On Drugs (12/28/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2434

The Placebo Effect: The Power of Nothing (5/26/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1513

New Evidence Shows False Memories Can Be Created (6/21/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1599

Why Do Civilizations Fall? (4/23/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1405

The Dramatic Collapse of Egypt's Old Kingdom (7/27/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1720

New Evidence That Heavenly Bodies Toppled Civilizations (11/13/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2255

The Year One (4/9/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1356

A New Map of Life on Earth (11/5/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2210

Atlas Shows Humankind's 'Footprint' on the Planet (2/16/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1168

Scientist Warns Of Sixth Great Extinction (11/20/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2345

Microbes That 'Rule the World' (10/1/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2035

A Skeptical Look At The Skeptical Environmentalist (12/12/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2396

Globalization Wiping Out Languages, Natural Links (2/11/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1155

Medicine Men Threaten Court Action (6/8/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1546

The Prague Declaration (11/24/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2311

Tabulating Every Believer On Earth  (3/19/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1264

Map of the Universe (6/7/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1542

Butchered Animals: 'They Die Piece by Piece' (4/10/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1358

The Scientist Who Dared to Say Animals Think (2/6/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1130

Mother Duck Leads Officer To Stuck Ducklings (7/13/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1669

The Dark Side Of Processed Foods (1/18/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1055

The Dark Side of National Environmental Organizations (4/24/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1413

How Polluters Influence Environmental Education (7/28/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1727

GM Canola Spreading, Becoming 'Impossible To Control' (6/29/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1619

Mushrooms Break Down Pesticide & Oil Contamination! (11/27/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2325

Can Wearing A Bra Kill You? (7/28/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1729

White Poison: The Horrors of Milk (12/4/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2360

E-Bombs (10/28/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2191

Monkey Head Transplanted To Different Body (4/6/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1347

First Cyborg (10/17/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1384

Professor To 'Control' Wife By Cyborg Implant (5/6/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1461

Doctor Stumbles Onto Orgasm Machine (2/7/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1138

'Body Art' Exhibition & Controversy (4/9/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1357

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MOST IMPORTANT NHNE 911 POSTINGS:

Perspective: A Pure, High Note of Anguish (9/27/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1986

All You Need Is Love! (11/26/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2318

'Brother, If You Don't Mind... Let's Get The Hell Out Of Here' (9/20/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1901

Deepak Chopra's Son, Gotham, Offers Firsthand Accounts (9/15/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1862

Personal Story: Becoming The Enemy (9/23/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1942

Solutions: The Challenge of Terror (9/21/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1924

Solutions: Tapping The Wisdom of The People (9/22/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1931

Perspective: The Roots of Violence (10/24/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2167

The Roots of Muslim Rage (9/19/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1891

Christian vs. Islamic Fundamentalism  (9/20/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1902

Miss America vs Miss Afghanistan  (10/22/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2150

The United States and Middle East: Why Do They Hate Us? (9/24/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1950

Perspective: Netanyahu's 9/20/2001 Speech (10/1/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2024

Behind The Scenes: An Extraordinary Discussion (10/7/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2059

Excerpt From Remarkable Tony Blair Speech (10/7/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2054

The Palestinian Side of The Fence (12/12/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2398

Cheney's Oil Deals With Iraq (11/6/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2215

Shell Oil Chairman Gives Remarkable Speech (10/12/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2106

Encyclopedia of Terror (11/4/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2202

Russian Scientist Warns of Smallpox Terror Risk (11/5/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2211

Military Sprayed Germs on U.S. Cities (10/24/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2161

Natural Remedies For Biological Armageddon (10/18/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2135

Biological & Chemical Warfare (& Related Links & Resources) (10/8/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2068

Health Bill Endangers Civil Rights (11/26/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2322

The Nuclear Powerplant Nightmare (9/13/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1853

Surviving Chemical, Biological Or Nuclear Terrorism Attacks (10/22/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2149

'End-Of-World-Sex' (10/1/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2031

Rumors & Truths Surrounding Sept. 11th Attacks (10/3/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2046

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MOST IMPORTANT NHNE MAIN LIST POSTINGS OF 2001:

Excerpts from "Healing Dreams" (2/4/2001):
http://www.nhne.com/misc/healingdreams.html

"Edgar Cayce: An American Prophet (2/7/2001):
http://www.nhne.com/misc/edgarcayce.html

The Lost City of the Pyramid Builders (11/27/2001):
http://www.nhne.com/misc/lostcityofpyramidbuilders.html

Yogananda's Love Child (11/30/2001):
http://www.nhne.com/misc/yogananda.html

All 258 Pathwork Lectures Now Online! (9/6/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/message/35

Ken Wilber, Speaking of Everything:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/message/43

The Incorruptibles (7/2/2001):
http://www.nhne.com/misc/incorruptibles.html

Sai Baba: Divine Pedophile (7/25/2001):
http://www.nhne.com/misc/saibaba-pedophile.html

Sun Myung Moon On The Move Again In America (6/27/2001):
http://www.nhne.com/misc/sunmyungmoon.html

NHNE News List & Resources (8/30/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/message/34

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TOP 10 NHNE WEBSITE RESOURCES:

1. Frontline's "Apocalypse!"
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/srapocalypse.html

2. NHNE Special Report: Emissary of Light:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/sremissary.html

3. NHNE Special Report: Crop Circles:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/srcropcircles/index.html

4. NHNE Special Report: Earth Changes & Millennium Fever:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/srmillenniumfever.html

5. The Best of the NHNE News Brief:
http://www.nhne.com/newsbriefs/nhnenbbo.html

6. NHNE VisionQuest Game:
http://www.nhne.com/vqgame/vqghomepage.html

7. NHNE Special Report: The Pathwork Lectures of Eva Pierrakos:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/srpathwork.html

8. Wind & Wings:

Wind & Wings 3: Love & Relationships
http://www.nhne.com/windwings/wind3.html

Wind & Wings 4: Extraordinary Possibilities
http://www.nhne.com/windwings/wind4.html

9. Dreams:

Dreams & Dreamwork:
http://www.nhne.com/features/dreamwork.html

Dreams & VisionQuests:
http://www.nhne.com/misc/visionquests.html

10. NHNE Y2K Resources:

Wild2K Website:
http://www.nhne.com/wild2k/index.html

Y2K Afterthoughts Website:
http://www.nhne.com/y2kafterthoughts/

NHNE Y2K Reports:
http://www.nhne.com/y2kreport/

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NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@egroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: Special Article:
Questioning The Origin of the Koran
Sunday, March 3, 2002
Current Members: 1603

------------

To subscribe, send a blank email message to:
nhne-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, send a blank email message to:
nhne-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

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RADICAL NEW VIEWS OF ISLAM AND THE ORIGINS OF THE KORAN
By Alexander Stille
New York Times
March 2, 2002

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/02/arts/02ISLA.html

To Muslims the Koran is the very word of God, who spoke through the Angel
Gabriel to Muhammad: "This book is not to be doubted," the Koran declares
unequivocally at its beginning. Scholars and writers in Islamic countries
who have ignored that warning have sometimes found themselves the target of
death threats and violence, sending a chill through universities around the
world.

Yet despite the fear, a handful of experts have been quietly investigating
the origins of the Koran, offering radically new theories about the text's
meaning and the rise of Islam.

Christoph Luxenberg, a scholar of ancient Semitic languages in Germany,
argues that the Koran has been misread and mistranslated for centuries. His
work, based on the earliest copies of the Koran, maintains that parts of
Islam's holy book are derived from pre-existing Christian Aramaic texts that
were misinterpreted by later Islamic scholars who prepared the editions of
the Koran commonly read today.

So, for example, the virgins who are supposedly awaiting good Islamic
martyrs as their reward in paradise are in reality "white raisins" of
crystal clarity rather than fair maidens.

Christoph Luxenberg, however, is a pseudonym, and his scholarly tome ""The
Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran" had trouble finding a publisher, although
it is considered a major new work by several leading scholars in the field.
Verlag Das Arabische Buch in Berlin ultimately published the book.

The caution is not surprising. Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" received a
fatwa because it appeared to mock Muhammad. The Egyptian novelist Naguib
Mahfouz was stabbed because one of his books was thought to be irreligious.
And when the Arab scholar Suliman Bashear argued that Islam developed as a
religion gradually rather than emerging fully formed from the mouth of the
Prophet, he was injured after being thrown from a second- story window by
his students at the University of Nablus in the West Bank. Even many
broad-minded liberal Muslims become upset when the historical veracity and
authenticity of the Koran is questioned.

The reverberations have affected non-Muslim scholars in Western countries.
"Between fear and political correctness, it's not possible to say anything
other than sugary nonsense about Islam," said one scholar at an American
university who asked not to be named, referring to the threatened violence
as well as the widespread reluctance on United States college campuses to
criticize other cultures.

While scriptural interpretation may seem like a remote and innocuous
activity, close textual study of Jewish and Christian scripture played no
small role in loosening the Church's domination on the intellectual and
cultural life of Europe, and paving the way for unfettered secular thought.
"The Muslims have the benefit of hindsight of the European experience, and
they know very well that once you start questioning the holy scriptures, you
don't know where it will stop," the scholar explained.

The touchiness about questioning the Koran predates the latest rise of
Islamic militancy. As long ago as 1977, John Wansbrough of the School of
Oriental and African Studies in London wrote that subjecting the Koran to
"analysis by the instruments and techniques of biblical criticism is
virtually unknown."

Mr. Wansbrough insisted that the text of the Koran appeared to be a
composite of different voices or texts compiled over dozens if not hundreds
of years. After all, scholars agree that there is no evidence of the Koran
until 691 ‹ 59 years after Muhammad's death ‹ when the Dome of the Rock
mosque in Jerusalem was built, carrying several Koranic inscriptions.

These inscriptions differ to some degree from the version of the Koran that
has been handed down through the centuries, suggesting, scholars say, that
the Koran may have still been evolving in the last decade of the seventh
century. Moreover, much of what we know as Islam ‹ the lives and sayings of
the Prophet ‹ is based on texts from between 130 and 300 years after
Muhammad's death.

In 1977 two other scholars from the School for Oriental and African Studies
at London University ‹ Patricia Crone (a professor of history at the
Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton) and Michael Cook (a professor of
Near Eastern history at Princeton University) ‹ suggested a radically new
approach in their book "Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World."

Since there are no Arabic chronicles from the first century of Islam, the
two looked at several non-Muslim, seventh-century accounts that suggested
Muhammad was perceived not as the founder of a new religion but as a
preacher in the Old Testament tradition, hailing the coming of a Messiah.
Many of the early documents refer to the followers of Muhammad as
"hagarenes," and the "tribe of Ishmael," in other words as descendants of
Hagar, the servant girl that the Jewish patriarch Abraham used to father his
son Ishmael.

In its earliest form, Ms. Crone and Mr. Cook argued, the followers of
Muhammad may have seen themselves as retaking their place in the Holy Land
alongside their Jewish cousins. (And many Jews appear to have welcomed the
Arabs as liberators when they entered Jerusalem in 638.)

The idea that Jewish messianism animated the early followers of the Prophet
is not widely accepted in the field, but "Hagarism" is credited with opening
up the field. "Crone and Cook came up with some very interesting revisionist
ideas," says Fred M. Donner of the University of Chicago and author of the
recent book "Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic
Historical Writing." "I think in trying to reconstruct what happened, they
went off the deep end, but they were asking the right questions."

The revisionist school of early Islam has quietly picked up momentum in the
last few years as historians began to apply rational standards of proof to
this material.

Mr. Cook and Ms. Crone have revised some of their early hypotheses while
sticking to others. "We were certainly wrong about quite a lot of things,"
Ms. Crone said. "But I stick to the basic point we made: that Islamic
history did not arise as the classic tradition says it does."

Ms. Crone insists that the Koran and the Islamic tradition present a
fundamental paradox. The Koran is a text soaked in monotheistic thinking,
filled with stories and references to Abraham, Isaac, Joseph and Jesus, and
yet the official history insists that Muhammad, an illiterate camel
merchant, received the revelation in Mecca, a remote, sparsely populated
part of Arabia, far from the centers of monotheistic thought, in an
environment of idol-worshiping Arab Bedouins. Unless one accepts the idea of
the angel Gabriel, Ms. Crone says, historians must somehow explain how all
these monotheistic stories and ideas found their way into the Koran.

"There are only two possibilities," Ms. Crone said. "Either there had to be
substantial numbers of Jews and Christians in Mecca or the Koran had to have
been composed somewhere else."

Indeed, many scholars who are not revisionists agree that Islam must be
placed back into the wider historical context of the religions of the Middle
East rather than seeing it as the spontaneous product of the pristine
Arabian desert. "I think there is increasing acceptance, even on the part of
many Muslims, that Islam emerged out of the wider monotheistic soup of the
Middle East," says Roy Mottahedeh, a professor of Islamic history at Harvard
University.

Scholars like Mr. Luxenberg and Gerd- R. Puin, who teaches at Saarland
University in Germany, have returned to the earliest known copies of the
Koran in order to grasp what it says about the document's origins and
composition. Mr. Luxenberg explains these copies are written without vowels
and diacritical dots that modern Arabic uses to make it clear what letter is
intended. In the eighth and ninth centuries, more than a century after the
death of Muhammad, Islamic commentators added diacritical marks to clear up
the ambiguities of the text, giving precise meanings to passages based on
what they considered to be their proper context. Mr. Luxenberg's radical
theory is that many of the text's difficulties can be clarified when it is
seen as closely related to Aramaic, the language group of most Middle
Eastern Jews and Christians at the time.

For example, the famous passage about the virgins is based on the word hur,
which is an adjective in the feminine plural meaning simply "white." Islamic
tradition insists the term hur stands for "houri," which means virgin, but
Mr. Luxenberg insists that this is a forced misreading of the text. In both
ancient Aramaic and in at least one respected dictionary of early Arabic,
hur means "white raisin."

Mr. Luxenberg has traced the passages dealing with paradise to a Christian
text called Hymns of Paradise by a fourth-century author. Mr. Luxenberg said
the word paradise was derived from the Aramaic word for garden and all the
descriptions of paradise described it as a garden of flowing waters,
abundant fruits and white raisins, a prized delicacy in the ancient Near
East. In this context, white raisins, mentioned often as hur, Mr. Luxenberg
said, makes more sense than a reward of sexual favors.

In many cases, the differences can be quite significant. Mr. Puin points out
that in the early archaic copies of the Koran, it is impossible to
distinguish between the words "to fight" and "to kill." In many cases, he
said, Islamic exegetes added diacritical marks that yielded the harsher
meaning, perhaps reflecting a period in which the Islamic Empire was often
at war.

A return to the earliest Koran, Mr. Puin and others suggest, might lead to a
more tolerant brand of Islam, as well as one that is more conscious of its
close ties to both Judaism and Christianity.

"It is serious and exciting work," Ms. Crone said of Mr. Luxenberg's work.
Jane McAuliffe, a professor of Islamic studies at Georgetown University, has
asked Mr. Luxenberg to contribute an essay to the Encyclopedia of the Koran,
which she is editing.

Mr. Puin would love to see a "critical edition" of the Koran produced, one
based on recent philological work, but, he says, "the word critical is
misunderstood in the Islamic world ‹ it is seen as criticizing or attacking
the text."

Some Muslim authors have begun to publish skeptical, revisionist work on the
Koran as well. Several new volumes of revisionist scholarship, "The Origins
of the Koran," and "The Quest for the Historical Muhammad," have been edited
by a former Muslim who writes under the pen name Ibn Warraq. Mr. Warraq, who
heads a group called the Institute for the Secularization of Islamic
Society, makes no bones about having a political agenda. "Biblical
scholarship has made people less dogmatic, more open," he said, "and I hope
that happens to Muslim society as well."

But many Muslims find the tone and claims of revisionism offensive. "I think
the broader implications of some of the revisionist scholarship is to say
that the Koran is not an authentic book, that it was fabricated 150 years
later," says Ebrahim Moosa, a professor of religious studies at Duke
University, as well as a Muslim cleric whose liberal theological leanings
earned him the animosity of fundamentalists in South Africa, which he left
after his house was firebombed.

Andrew Rippin, an Islamicist at the University of Victoria in British
Columbia, Canada, says that freedom of speech in the Islamic world is more
likely to evolve from within the Islamic interpretative tradition than from
outside attacks on it. Approaches to the Koran that are now branded as
heretical ‹ interpreting the text metaphorically rather than literally ‹
were widely practiced in mainstream Islam a thousand years ago.

"When I teach the history of the interpretation it is eye-opening to
students the amount of independent thought and diversity of interpretation
that existed in the early centuries of Islam," Mr. Rippin says. "It was only
in more recent centuries that there was a need for limiting interpretation."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

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------------

NHNE: Special Article:
Bible Tales Are Wilting
Saturday, March 9, 2002
Current Members: 1608

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AS RABBIS FACE FACTS, BIBLE TALES ARE WILTING
By Michael Massing
New York Times
Saturday, March 9, 2002

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/09/arts/09BIBL.html

Abraham, the Jewish patriarch, probably never existed. Nor did Moses. The
entire Exodus story as recounted in the Bible probably never occurred. The
same is true of the tumbling of the walls of Jericho. And David, far from
being the fearless king who built Jerusalem into a mighty capital, was more
likely a provincial leader whose reputation was later magnified to provide a
rallying point for a fledgling nation.

Such startling propositions -- the product of findings by archaeologists
digging in Israel and its environs over the last 25 years -- have gained
wide acceptance among non-Orthodox rabbis. But there has been no attempt to
disseminate these ideas or to discuss them with the laity -- until now.

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, which represents the 1.5
million Conservative Jews in the United States, has just issued a new Torah
and commentary, the first for Conservatives in more than 60 years. Called
"Etz Hayim" ("Tree of Life" in Hebrew), it offers an interpretation that
incorporates the latest findings from archaeology, philology, anthropology
and the study of ancient cultures. To the editors who worked on the book, it
represents one of the boldest efforts ever to introduce into the religious
mainstream a view of the Bible as a human rather than divine document.

"When I grew up in Brooklyn, congregants were not sophisticated about
anything," said Rabbi Harold Kushner, the author of "When Bad Things Happen
to Good People" and a co-editor of the new book. "Today, they are very
sophisticated and well read about psychology, literature and history, but
they are locked in a childish version of the Bible."

"Etz Hayim," compiled by David Lieber of the University of Judaism in Los
Angeles, seeks to change that. It offers the standard Hebrew text, a
parallel English translation (edited by Chaim Potok, best known as the
author of "The Chosen"), a page-by-page exegesis, periodic commentaries on
Jewish practice and, at the end, 41 essays by prominent rabbis and scholars
on topics ranging from the Torah scroll and dietary laws to ecology and
eschatology.

These essays, perused during uninspired sermons or Torah readings at Sabbath
services, will no doubt surprise many congregants. For instance, an essay on
Ancient Near Eastern Mythology," by Robert Wexler, president of the
University of Judaism in Los Angeles, states that on the basis of modern
scholarship, it seems unlikely that the story of Genesis originated in
Palestine. More likely, Mr. Wexler says, it arose in Mesopotamia, the
influence of which is most apparent in the story of the Flood, which
probably grew out of the periodic overflowing of the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers. The story of Noah, Mr. Wexler adds, was probably borrowed from the
Mesopotamian epic Gilgamesh.

Equally striking for many readers will be the essay "Biblical Archaeology,"
by Lee I. Levine, a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. "There
is no reference in Egyptian sources to Israel's sojourn in that country," he
writes, "and the evidence that does exist is negligible and indirect." The
few indirect pieces of evidence, like the use of Egyptian names, he adds,
"are far from adequate to corroborate the historicity of the biblical
account."

Similarly ambiguous, Mr. Levine writes, is the evidence of the conquest and
settlement of Canaan, the ancient name for the area including Israel.
Excavations showing that Jericho was unwalled and uninhabited, he says,
"clearly seem to contradict the violent and complete conquest portrayed in
the Book of Joshua." What's more, he says, there is an "almost total absence
of archaeological evidence" backing up the Bible's grand descriptions of the
Jerusalem of David and Solomon.

The notion that the Bible is not literally true "is more or less settled and
understood among most Conservative rabbis," observed David Wolpe, a rabbi at
Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and a contributor to "Etz Hayim." But some
congregants, he said, "may not like the stark airing of it." Last Passover,
in a sermon to 2,200 congregants at his synagogue, Rabbi Wolpe frankly said
that "virtually every modern archaeologist" agrees "that the way the Bible
describes the Exodus is not the way that it happened, if it happened at
all." The rabbi offered what he called a "litany of disillusion" about the
narrative, including contradictions, improbabilities, chronological lapses
and the absence of corroborating evidence. In fact, he said, archaeologists
digging in the Sinai have "found no trace of the tribes of Israel -- not one
shard of pottery."

The reaction to the rabbi's talk ranged from admiration at his courage to
dismay at his timing to anger at his audacity. Reported in Jewish
publications around the world, the sermon brought him a flood of letters
accusing him of undermining the most fundamental teachings of Judaism. But
he also received many messages of support. "I can't tell you how many rabbis
called me, emailed me and wrote me, saying, `God bless you for saying what
we all believe,' " Rabbi Wolpe said. He attributes the "explosion" set off
by his sermon to "the reluctance of rabbis to say what they really believe."

Before the introduction of "Etz Hayim," the Conservative movement relied on
the Torah commentary of Joseph Hertz, the chief rabbi of the British
Commonwealth. By 1936, when it was issued, the Hebrew Bible had come under
intense scrutiny from scholars like Julius Wellhausen of Germany, who raised
many questions about the text's authorship and accuracy. Hertz, working in
an era of rampant anti-Semitism and of Christian efforts to demonstrate the
inferiority of the "Old" Testament to the "New," dismissed all doubts about
the integrity of the text.

Maintaining that no people would have invented for themselves so
"disgraceful" a past as that of being slaves in a foreign land, he wrote
that "of all Oriental chronicles, it is only the Biblical annals that
deserve the name of history."

The Hertz approach had little competition until 1981, when the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations, the official arm of Reform Judaism, published
its own Torah commentary. Edited by Rabbi Gunther Plaut, it took note of the
growing body of archaeological and textual evidence that called the accuracy
of the biblical account into question. The "tales" of Genesis, it flatly
stated, were a mix of "myth, legend, distant memory and search for origins,
bound together by the strands of a central theological concept." But Exodus,
it insisted, belonged in "the realm of history." While there are scholars
who consider the Exodus story to be "folk tales," the commentary observed,
"this is a minority view."

Twenty years later, the weight of scholarly evidence questioning the Exodus
narrative had become so great that the minority view had become the majority
one.

Not among Orthodox Jews, however. They continue to regard the Torah as the
divine and immutable word of God. Their most widely used Torah commentary,
known as the Stone Edition (1993), declares in its introduction "that every
letter and word of the Torah was given to Moses by God."

Lawrence Schiffman, a professor at New York University and an Orthodox Jew,
said that "Etz Hayim" goes so far in accepting modern scholarship that,
without realizing it, it ends up being in "nihilistic opposition" to what
Conservative Jews stand for. He noted, however, that most of the questions
about the Bible's accuracy had been tucked away discreetly in the back. "The
average synagogue-goer is never going to look there," he said.

Even some Conservative rabbis feel uncomfortable with the depth of the
doubting. "I think the basic historicity of the text is valid and
verifiable," said Susan Grossman, the rabbi of Beth Shalom Congregation in
Columbia, Md., and a co-editor of "Etz Hayim." As for the mounting
archaeological evidence suggesting the contrary, Rabbi Grossman said:
"There's no evidence that it didn't happen. Most of the 'evidence' is
evidence from silence."

"The real issue for me is the eternal truths that are in the text," she
added. "How do we apply this hallowed text to the 21st century?" One way,
she said, is to make it more relevant to women. Rabbi Grossman is one of
many women who worked on "Etz Hayim," in an effort to temper the Bible's
heavily patriarchal orientation and make the text more palatable to modern
readers. For example, the passage in Genesis that describes how the aged
Sarah laughed upon hearing God say that she would bear a son is
traditionally interpreted as a laugh of incredulity. In its commentary,
however, "Etz Hayim" suggests that her laughter "may not be a response to
the far- fetched notion of pregnancy at an advanced age, but the laughter of
delight at the prospect of two elderly people resuming marital intimacy."

In a project of such complexity, there were inevitably many points of
disagreement. But Rabbi Kushner says the only one that eluded resolution
concerned Leviticus 18:22: "Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman;
it is an abhorrence." "We couldn't come to a formulation that we could all
be comfortable with," the rabbi said. "Some people felt that homosexuality
is wrong. We weren't prepared to embrace that as the Conservative position.
But at the same time we couldn't say this is a mentality that has been
disproved by contemporary biology, for not everyone was prepared to go along
with that." Ultimately, the editors settled on an anodyne compromise, noting
that the Torah's prohibitions on homosexual relations "have engendered
considerable debate" and that Conservative synagogues should "welcome gay
and lesbian congregants in all congregational activities."

Since the fall, when "Etz Hayim" was issued, more than 100,000 copies have
been sold. Eventually, it is expected to become the standard Bible in the
nation's 760 Conservative synagogues.

Mark S. Smith, a professor of Bible and Near Eastern Studies at New York
University, noted that the Hertz commentary had lasted 65 years. "That's
incredible," he said. "If `Etz Hayim' isn't around for 50 years or more, I'd
be surprised."

Its longevity, however, may depend on the pace of archaeological discovery.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
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------------

NHNE: Special Interview:
NRMs: New Religious Movements
Wednesday, March 13, 2002
Current Members: 1577

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SUPERNATURAL SELECTION
By Katie Bacon
Atlantic Unbound
February 8, 2002
 
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/interviews/int2002-02-08.htm

Toby Lester, the author of "Oh, Gods!" in the February Atlantic, talks about
the Darwinian way in which religions evolve and mutate.

............

When Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses upon the door of the Castle Church
in Wittenberg, in 1517, he could hardly have imagined that he would succeed
in spawning a new, Protestant branch of the Christian Church. He would also
no doubt be surprised if he could see the direction Protestantism has taken
in the past 500 years. What would Luther think if he were somehow to visit
the state of Utah, essentially a homeland for the Mormon church -- a
movement born out of American Protestantism which is now one of the fastest
growing movements in the country, with 5 million adherents in the U.S. alone
and estimated assets of around 30 billion dollars? Or if he were to attend a
service of the evangelist Toronto Blessing movement based in Canada, in
which "a move of the Holy spirit" can lead to congregants barking like dogs,
roaring like lions, and laughing uncontrollably?

The evolution of Protestantism is but a tiny example of the constant
churning change taking place in the world of religion. And not only are
established religions always mutating, but new ones are constantly being
born. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, an 800-page volume that
attempts to track every religion practiced around the world, there are 9,900
distinct religions and two or three new religions created every day. A
growing number of scholars are studying these new religious movements, or
NRMs, concentrating on such questions as, What social conditions lead to the
creation of new religions? How, exactly, do religions mutate? What was it
about early Christianity or Islam or Buddhism that made those movements
survive, when most new religions fail? In "Oh, Gods!" (February Atlantic:
<http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/02/lester.htm>), Toby Lester surveys
these questions and others by looking at the study of NRMs.

One of the debates that continually roils the field of NRM scholarship is
whether a distinction can really be made between cults and new
religions‹after all, many of today's established religious movements began
on the fringes of society. Does this mean that the Hare Krishnas or the
Wiccans could be the next big religion? It's unlikely, but stranger things
have happened. One thing is clear, though‹a hundred years from now, our
religious landscape will look radically different than it does now. "What
new religious movements will come to light in the twenty-first century?"
Lester asks.

"Who knows? Will that raving, disheveled lunatic you ignored on a street
corner last week turn out to be an authentic prophet of the new world faith?
All sorts of developments are possible. Catholicism might evolve into a
distinctly Charismatic movement rooted primarily in China and headed by an
African pope.... Membership of the Mormon Church might become predominantly
Latin American or Asian. Scientology might become the informal state
religion of California.... None of these possibilities is as unlikely as it
may sound."

Lester, a senior editor at The Atlantic, has written two previous cover
stories for the magazine, "The Reinvention of Privacy" (March 2001), and
"What is the Koran?" (January 1999). We corresponded by e-mail earlier this
week.

--- Katie Bacon

...........

QUESTION: How did you become interested in the subject of new religious
movements?

ANSWER: Well, I've always been interested in religion as a social
phenomenon, and one of the questions that I have often found myself
returning to is why certain religious ideas and movements have caught on
while others haven't. One has a tendency to think that today's major world
religions‹Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism‹are just fixed
elements of the religious firmament, but that's not the case at all, of
course. Go back just a few thousand years, just a blip in human history, and
none of those religions existed. And think of the fates of, say, Zeus, Odin,
and Zoroaster, all gods who at one point or another in history lots of
people felt were absolutely essential to the course of human events. If one
can find this sort of flux in history, who's to say that other equally
important and influential religions won't still emerge?

As I began to look into this a bit more closely, I found that there's as
much religious flux now as there ever has been. The Mormons, for example,
have only been around for a century and a half but already they're on the
verge of becoming a world religion with millions of adherents and all sorts
of cultural and political influence‹even though in the nineteenth century
they were regularly persecuted as an aberrant, blasphemous, and extremely
dangerous cult. Ralph Waldo Emerson called Mormonism an "after-clap of
Puritanism," the irony of which is hard to miss at a time when the Mormons
are essentially hosting the Olympic Games and the Unitarians are only found
in small pockets here and there around the country. Pentecostals at the turn
of the twentieth century were laughed at as bizarre "holy rollers," but now
it seems that in the coming century Pentecostals around the world may number
as many as one billion. Falun Gong is another movement that has emerged
almost imperceptibly, from the Western perspective, as a huge force in the
world.

The closer you look at the religious landscape, the more of this sort of
thing you find. So I decided to see whether there were people out there
studying the dynamics of new religious movements. It turns out that this is
actually a growing field, and I found myself intrigued by a lot of what
these scholars had to say.


QUESTION: Have your own thoughts about religion shifted at all as you became
immersed in the topic?

ANSWER: The main thing is simply that I've been surprised to discover just
how much religious activity there is in the world. By this I don't just mean
how many people describe themselves as religious, which is the usual
indicator that people discuss, or how many people pray or go to churches or
mosques or temples once a week. What I mean is the amount of mutation and
schism that goes on in religious beliefs and practices. In my article I cite
the claims made in the World Christian Encyclopedia‹which is pretty much the
best source out there on the makeup of the religious world‹that every day
some two or three new religions are formed, and that in the contemporary
world some ten thousand religions are currently practiced. Those are
astonishing figures. Thinking about religion in those terms has made me
think of the evolution of religion in Darwinian terms‹as a sort of
"supernatural selection," you might say, in which mutation happens all the
time, and in which diversity leads, a bit paradoxically, to the constant
emergence of very hardy species that can adapt to evolving social
situations. Most mutations fail, obviously, but every once in a while one
comes along that is spectacularly well adapted to a new social environment
and spiritual needs‹and that's how a new religion takes off.


QUESTION: Can a realistic or meaningful distinction be made between cults
and burgeoning religions?

ANSWER: Debates rage about this question, and I tried to avoid getting into
it in my article, because it's such an emotional and inherently unresolvable
issue, which makes debate about it very circular. The simplest way of
answering it, though, is probably to say that a cult is a cult until it
becomes successful. At that point it becomes a religion. People who study
new religions observe that as religions become more successful, they
gradually develop an orthodox structure and an internal hierarchy and a
relatively low-tension relationship with society, all of which means that
their initial cult-like feeling fades away. For example, to most Romans,
Christianity seemed like just a weird cult of blood drinkers and cross
worshipers‹a "depraved, excessive superstition," as Pliny the Younger put
it. What made Christianity succeed, in large measure, though, was its
protean nature‹it was able to find a place for itself in Roman culture, and
then in other cultures, in the process transforming itself pretty
dramatically. What would a second-century Christian think, say, of a
Californian megachurch? Or a Latin American Pentecostal congregation? And
vice versa? Which would be the cult?

The best expression I've found of the evolutionary dynamics I'm alluding to
comes in William James's Varieties of Religious Experience. It's worth
quoting at some length, I think.

"A genuine first-hand religious experience," he writes, "is bound to be a
heterodoxy to its witnesses, the prophet appearing as a mere lonely madman.
If his doctrine prove contagious enough to spread to any others, it becomes
a definite and labeled heresy. But if it then still prove contagious enough
to triumph over persecution, it becomes itself an orthodoxy; and when a
religion has become an orthodoxy, its day of inwardness is over: the spring
is dry; the faithful live at second hand exclusively and stone the prophets
in their turn. The new church, in spite of whatever human goodness it may
foster, can be henceforth counted on as a staunch ally in every attempt to
stifle the spontaneous religious spirit, and to stop all later bubblings of
the fountain from which, in purer days, it drew its own supply of
inspiration.


QUESTION: In writing this article did you get a personal sense of what it
might be like to be a member of a new religious movement?

ANSWER: Yes and no. Initial converts to just about any religious movement,
new or old, tend to feel pretty euphoric about the new community they've
become a part of, and I imagine that that sort of feeling is remarkably
similar from movement to movement. What's often particular to new movements,
though, at least to successful ones, is a sense of being involved in a
community that is ideologically and spiritually at odds with the surrounding
society. Scholars of new movements generally seem to agree that for a new
movement to succeed, it has to define itself against the status quo and be
very demanding of its members. Movements that just allow people to come and
go, without a lot of commitment and sacrifice, tend to fail pretty quickly.
So I'd say that in a lot of new movements there's probably a bit of a siege
mentality, which, of course, is exactly the sort of bonding experience that
people often are in search of when they choose their religion.


QUESTION: Why do you think some new religions are successful and others
aren't?

ANSWER: That's a complicated question, involving all sorts of factors,
including the charisma of the founder, the social environment and the
political system into which the religion is introduced, and a lot of pure
chance. The one scholar I came across who has actually dared to put into
print what he feels are the reasons a religion succeeds is the sociologist
Rodney Stark, who in 1996 wrote an article in the Journal of Contemporary
Religion called "Why Religious Movements Succeed or Fail." He listed ten
factors that he felt are essential to a religion's success, some of which I
can try quickly to summarize for you here. 1) Cultural continuity with the
society at large. Mormonism has succeeded, for example, because of how much
it emphasizes the heritage it shares with Christianity. 2) They exist at a
moderate level of tension with society‹they're "strict, but not too strict,"
Stark says. 3) They can create a highly motivated group of volunteers who
gladly will work for the community and many of whom will actively
proselytize. 4) They have enough children to keep membership strong, and
they work at keeping their children engaged in the religion. 5) They seek
out an open "market niche," as it were, and exploit it well. 6) They exist
in a political climate that is at least somewhat tolerant of religious
unorthodoxy. Stark goes on at much greater length, and in much greater
detail, but those are some of the things he thinks are pretty important.
Obviously a charismatic leader is crucial at the outset, too, but charisma
alone won't do it‹to succeed a movement quickly has to give itself a
structure and an identity that is both strong and adaptable.


QUESTION: You write that "in the period after World War II so many new
religious movements came into being in Japan that local scholars of religion
were forced to distinguish between shin-shukyo ('new religions') and
shin-shin-shukyo ('new new religions')." Is there any sort of link between
violent societal upheaval caused by war or poverty and the sprouting of
numerous new religions?

ANSWER: I would imagine so, particularly in that violent social upheaval
usually happens very fast, whereas established religion‹think of the
Catholic Church‹moves very slowly and often can't keep up. It's often said
that new religious movements do well because they are so small and can
therefore adapt to changing social environments very quickly. As that new
social environment settles down and becomes established, so do the religious
movements that grew up along side it. Speaking of poverty and social
upheaval, incidentally, it's interesting to note that India's
"untouchables," now known as Dalits, have regularly flirted in recent years
with the idea of a mass conversion out of Hinduism and into another
religion, notably Christianity. If tensions became severe between the Dalits
and Indian culture at large, it's not inconceivable that such a conversion
could take place, which would suddenly make Christianity a sort of new
religious movement among millions of people. Context is everything.


QUESTION: You point out that members of NRMs tend to be young, well
educated, and relatively affluent. This certainly doesn't fit with most
people's ideas of who might join the Hare Krishnas, the Moonies, and so on.
In general, what is it that draws people to these new religions?

ANSWER: It's hard to generalize, because there are so many different kinds
of movements, and so many different social situations in which new movements
emerge, but it does seem that the initial membership of new movements is
often dominated by the young, the well educated, and the affluent. I suppose
this probably has something to do with the facts that the young like new
things that get their parents upset; that more education generally leads to
an openness to new ideas; and that affluence often leads to a sort of
selfishness and materialism that can suddenly seem appallingly corrupt to
those who have grown up in it. But in the end I'd say that what really draws
people in to new movements is that they offer, as one scholar put it to me,
a "high octane" brand of religion. It's kind of a thrill, just as attending
an African-American gospel service might be for a Catholic. There's a
vitality and passion there that just makes an emotional connection. Rodney
Stark tries to disabuse his readers of the idea that somehow there's
something that you meaningfully might call "theological refinement" in
religion; his point is that if a religion becomes an intellectual pursuit,
full of abstract and metaphorical notions about spirituality, and loses
touch with the passion and zeal and self-sacrifice that created the original
movement, it's lost. The same thing goes for music, come to think of it‹new,
less-refined versions of it are born all the time, and these versions have a
cult-like appeal, especially to the young, the affluent, and the well
educated. The same standard of success applies, too: the Beatles were a
deviant cult until they became successful, which meant soon enough that the
Queen knighted them and new musical movements emerged that emulated them‹or
even rejected them.


QUESTION: Do people in the U.S. tend to be drawn to NRMs for different
reasons than people in, say, Africa?

ANSWER: On the surface, maybe, but I'd say that at root what draws people to
new religious movements is what I've just described‹that high-octane sense
of passion and community. And what keeps them there is pretty much the same
everywhere, too, I think‹the simple and obvious fact that they work, in
terms of how they allow individuals to function in society. The African
example is a good one. I was told repeatedly as I reported my article that
new religious movements, particularly Christian ones, are extraordinarily
popular in Africa, and that this is in large part due to the fact that these
movements are now trans-national. A lot of Africans have to be very mobile
in search of work, and these new trans-national movements allow them to feel
at home and part of a larger community whether they're in Ghana or Botswana.


QUESTION: You describe the sociologist Rodney Stark's rational-choice theory
of religion as one of the primary ways that people are theorizing about
religion today. According to this theory, you write, "in a free-market
religious economy there is a healthy abundance of choice (religious
pluralism), which leads naturally to vigorous competition and efficient
supply (new and old religious movements). The more competition there is, the
higher the level of consumption." This would seem to mean that we should get
fewer new religions‹and perhaps slower evolution of established religions‹in
countries with repressive regimes. Does this seem to be the case?

ANSWER: Well, I would suspect that no matter where you are you'll find
people coming up with new religious movements, but I do think it's fair to
say that these new movements can't succeed very well if they're politically
persecuted in their early stages. One theory has it that Christianity
survived and thrived in the Roman empire because initially it was considered
just too marginal to pay much attention to. There was the occasional
Christian thrown to the lions or something, but in the larger picture‹which
at the time involved all sorts of cults and movements from all over the
Roman empire‹Christianity just didn't seem like much of a political threat.
Rodney Stark cites the strength of a religious "free market" in order to
explain the odd paradox that the United States is a pretty fervently
religious country even though its constitution explicitly sets up a wall
between religion and politics.


QUESTION: What do you see as the future for a big religion like Islam, which
in some ways seems resistant to change and slow to evolve?

ANSWER: I think the idea of Islam as an unchanging monolith is a very
misleading one. Islam is full of variety and schism and factionalism‹which
is another way of saying it's still full of life, notwithstanding the
contemporary focus on the static and uncompromising vision of bin Laden and
his crew. It's hard to imagine that Islam won't play a major role in the
world for centuries to come. What's interesting, actually, is to think of
groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Taliban and al Qaeda as new
religious movements themselves‹each one emerged in the twentieth century,
after all. If they conform to what scholars have learned about the emergence
and evolution of new movements, either they'll wither away or they'll become
more and more mainstream, which will mean that they'll evolve ways of more
peacefully coexisting with society. And if they enjoy a measure of success
in the meantime, perhaps that will lead to a pendulum swing toward new
movements in Islam. I've recently seen reports, for example, that Sufism is
undergoing a bit of a revival. And I was interested to learn in researching
my piece that there's also a major new schismatic Islamic movement known as
the Ahmadi movement, which is only a little more than a century old, that
was created by a "successor" prophet to Muhammad. It's based in Pakistan,
claims to have millions of members, and seems to have global reach. Right
now the groups suffers considerable persecution and is banned from making
the pilgrimage to Mecca, but one could make the case that the Ahmadis are a
bit like Islamic Mormons, practicing a divergent yet culturally continuous
brand of religion‹and that precisely because of that, and despite the
"heresy" of their new beliefs, they have a reasonable chance of success, at
least in the religious free market.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

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------------

NHNE: Special Article:
Why We Fear Ourselves More Than Asteroids
Tuesday, March 26, 2002
Current Members: 1566

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WHY WE FEAR OURSELVES MORE THAN ASTEROIDS
By Robert Roy Britt
Space.Com
Tuesday, March 26, 2002

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/asteroid_fears_020326-1.ht
ml

In the past six months, while the world focused on the continuing threat of
global terrorism, as many as a dozen or more asteroids sneaked up on the
Earth and zoomed by at distances just beyond the Moon's orbit and closer.
Most were never noticed. Earlier this month, astronomers did spot one. Four
days after it flew by.

In discussing these events, experts describe a planet vulnerable to an
unexpected attack that could, in an instant, wipe out a city or even destroy
civilization. Some researchers go so far as to view the asteroid threat as
an "international emergency situation," as Andy Smith of the Safety Research
Institute in Albuquerque New Mexico said last week.

Yet as billions upon billions of dollars are spent to provide insurance
against terrorism, astronomers were foiled in a recent attempt to encourage
Australia to invest a comparatively paltry $1 million to scan the mostly
unsurveyed southern skies for killer space rocks.

The scientists were practically laughed at on television by the science
minister of Australia who, like much of the world's public, simply does not
take the threat of asteroids seriously.

The reason is simple: The Dread Factor is not high enough.

Paul Slovic, author of "The Perception of Risk" (Earthscan, 2000), says most
people are far more worried over what humans and technology can do to them
than they are about natural disasters. While terrorism, chemical spills and
nuclear accidents are awarded high "Dread Factor" marks by most people,
asteroids, earthquakes and hurricanes rate low.

Stealth approach

On March 8, a hunk of stone and metal about the size of an 18-story
building, made its closest approach to Earth, passing roughly 298,400 miles
(480,200 kilometers) from the planet, just a bit farther out than the Moon,
but a little too close for comfort for most astronomers.

But what was most disturbing was that the asteroid, later named 2002 EM7,
passed virtually unseen. Not until March 12, when it had moved out of the
glare of the Sun and into the night sky was it seen from Earth.

And it was not alone: On Jan. 7, an asteroid the size of three football
fields came within two lunar distances and was spotted only a month before.
Last October, a smaller asteroid passed by at a similar distance and was
detected just two days prior.

For each nearby asteroid that is spotted, several pass entirely unnoticed,
some closer to us than the Moon, scientists say. One researcher estimates
that each year, 25 asteroids roughly as large as 2002 EM7 whiz by at even
closer distances.

They slip through because of limitations to technology, telescope time, and
funding.

These close brushes illustrate a message that asteroid researchers have
repeatedly tried to hammer home to politicians and the public: The number of
undiscovered asteroids far exceeds the known list, and the list needs to be
filled out before it's too late.

Asteroid 2002 EM7 left a a pretty ominous message on its own: Only a
tremendously expensive new telescopes -- placed outside Earth's orbit so as
to monitor the blind spot created by the Sun -- could guarantee we won't
suffer an unexpected and sudden impact. There would be a flash of brilliant
light in the sky, and seconds later the world would change forever in a way
that would render Sept. 11 an insignificant memory.

Dread Factor vs. reality of risk

Scientists develop asteroid risk statistics by estimating the total number
of objects that exist and by studying evidence of past encounters -- big
holes in the ground called impact craters.

From these clues, they say your chances of death by asteroid are about the
same as dying in a plane crash, roughly 1-in-20,000 during your lifetime.
You're more liable to be electrocuted to death (1-in-5000 chance), succumb
to skin cancer or be killed in a car crash.

Yet asteroids pose more risk than tornadoes (1-in-60,000 chance),
rattlesnake bites or food poisoning.

If Earth is hit, you could die by direct impact and vaporization. Or you
might be killed in an associated earthquake or volcanic eruption as the
planet's bell is rung like never before in recorded history. Or perhaps like
countless lesser species, you'll die a slow, agonizing death of starvation
as the world's food supply dwindles in the face of reduced sunlight caused
by a global debris cloud.

Yet if you're like most people, you are not all that worried, according to
sociologists and psychiatrists who study these things.

Slovic, the author, also works at Decision Research, an organization in
Oregon that advises industry and government about risk. He says we do not
base our fears on statistics. Instead, each of us develops our own personal
Dread Factor for various frightening scenarios based on personal experience,
knowledge and, more important, our sense of the situation.

Emotion has replaced instinct as a major risk-assessment tool for modern
humans, who face myriad dangers, none of which involve sneaking up on woolly
mammoths from behind a tree.

"It is more of a gut feeling," Slovic says. "Does it worry me? Does it scare
me? Does it make me uneasy?"

Cars are low on most individuals' Dread Factor lists, even though the
average American stands about a 1-in-100 or 1-in-200 chance of dying in an
automobile.

"We don't dread cars," Slovic says. "Things that cause cancer are high on
the Dread Factor."

Scientists vs. voters

The Dread Factor, or lack of it, can drive political funding decisions.

The U.S. Congress apparently perceived the threat real enough to require
NASA to make asteroid hunting a serious business. The space agency spends
$3.55 million each year searching for and studying asteroids. (Much of that
money goes to space-based research of asteroids that pose no threat.)

Individual search programs provide much of their own institutional funding.
And amateur astronomers around the globe contribute to the effort. Not
everyone, however, sees an urgent need.

The Australian Science Minister Peter McGauran, appearing on his country's
60 Minutes television program March 17, called the effort to find
potentially threatening asteroids "fruitless, unnecessary, self-indulgent"
and promised no funds unless researchers provide a more convincing argument
for the need.

To the consternation of many researchers, there are no telescopes below the
equator devoted to searching southern skies for asteroids. Australia cut
funding to one such effort in 1996.

An ongoing online poll taken in conjunction with the televised program found
overwhelming support -- 91 percent at last count -- for reinstatement of the
funding. But these votes were cast by people who watched an animated
asteroid slam into Earth and listened to leading experts spout frightening
statistics and detail the grim outcomes they say are only a matter of time.

You and most other voters, in Australia and around the world, probably lean
more toward McGauran's sentiment. According to experts in risk assessment
and fear management, McGauran's starkest statement likely reflects the
general public mood: "I lie awake worrying about a lot of other things.
Near-miss asteroids is not one of them."

The average person tends to be much more afraid of industrial accidents, for
example.

As with terrorism, vast sums of money are spent, as Slovic puts it, "to take
small risks of chemical and radioactive pollution and reduce them even
further. We spend a huge amount for every statistical life saved. On the
other hand, if you wanted to get people to spend money on asteroid
protection or earthquake mitigation, it's very difficult, even though the
risk is much greater."

Richard Taylor of the Probability Research Group, a global affiliation of
researchers looking into various science topics, thinks there is a clear
message in the fact that nations spend billions on military defense but zero
scanning our entire Southern Hemisphere flank for asteroids:

"We feel more at danger from man than from Nature," Taylor says.

Not in my lifetime

A decade ago, Slovic and some colleagues conducted a test. They provided a
group of university students with information about the threat from beyond,
explaining that a giant asteroid was thought to have killed off the
dinosaurs, and others would surely hit the planet at statistically
determined intervals. Then they surveyed the students to determine how they
assessed the risk. The students recognized the threat, but chose not to
worry about it.

"They're expectation was, well, it's not going to happen in my lifetime,"
Slovic says.

If astronomers were to announce an imminent collision, asteroids would
suddenly develop a high Dread Factor, Slovic figures. But because none of us
has any direct experience whatsoever with deadly space rocks, "People don't
get worked up about it. There's too many things to worry about."

Scientists find it similarly difficult to generate much public worry for
other potential calamities, like horrible storms, droughts and coastal
flooding that might result over the next century due to climate change, but
which are seen as remote in time.

There is little chance that the complacent attitude of the public, and of
some government officials, will ever elevate to the level of concern
maintained by asteroid experts. As Slovic says, it's common for scientists
and technicians to have a different and more rational understanding of the
risks involved in their area of study.

Fear as a motivator

Many astronomers, it must be noted, believe present asteroid search efforts
are fairly adequate, notwithstanding the lack of a southern telescope. With
time, they say, the worst threats will be rooted out, which is to say the
largest asteroids. And, they argue, the odds are that if any globally
destructive object is found to be on a collision course with Earth, there
will probably be years of warning.

A more vocal group of astronomers and other proponents of increased spending
tend to worry about smaller asteroids that could cause regional devastation.
And they tend to make more frightening statements. Here are just a few that
have come from the mouths of respected experts just in the past 10 days:

"If it were over a populated area, like Atlanta, it would have basically
flattened it," asteroid cataloguer Gareth Williams told CNN in discussing
the potential of asteroid 2002 EM7.

"We live in a cosmic shooting gallery," said Duncan Steel of Salford
University.

"We're talking about a million megaton explosion," said author and physicist
Paul Davies of Macquarie University, in discussing a typical impact on
another recent television program. "That's a million city-bursting bombs all
going off at once."

While such statements are often softened with the reminder that the world
probably won't end tonight -- Davies said in the next breath, "I don't want
people to lie awake at night worrying about it" -- the effort is clear: Get
you and the politicians to act on this threat.

Yet in a world remade by a single day of terrorism, fear may be doomed as a
sales pitch, just as it was in Australia.

Fear is not something that can necessarily be instilled by scientists.
Instead, it tends to be generated by whatever rears its ugly head and shouts
loudest, explains Robert Butterworth, a psychologist at International Trauma
Associates in Los Angeles. Nothing right now, globally speaking, can measure
up to the fear of terrorism and the associated potential of a nuclear
attack.

I can't take it

While there are plenty of things for a 21st Century human to worry about, we
all have our limits.

"In order for us not to have these things on our minds, we use a device
that's been maligned in last few years, which is denial and repression,"
Butterworth says. "We push it back, because we couldn't function if we
didn't."

Asteroids, like a fear of bugs or concern over a missed appointment, can be
lost in a shuffle of frightening thoughts. Some things just aren't as
significant as they seemed last summer.

Butterworth puts it this way: "If we had been walking with a limp and all of
a sudden were shot in the stomach, the limp fades away."

No place has been hit in the stomach like New York City. Psychologist Janice
Yamins, whose patients include victims of the terrorist attacks, says
residents are stunned by their own change in views, such as newfound support
for defense spending "instead of other things that won't help preserve our
world."

Where fear leaves off, anger and revenge step in.

Natural disasters don't generate similar sea changes in philosophy.
Californians suffer tremendously from earthquakes every few years. They pick
up and move on. Southeast coastal residents rebuild time and again after
hurricanes. People there shrug off the threat. Butterworth figures an
asteroid impact would generate similar reactions.

"What do we do, shake our fist at God?" he asks. "Who can we be angry at?"

All this psychology lends support to a notion that has already formed in the
heads of many astronomers: Their call for more funding will fall on a whole
lot of deaf ears until another asteroid makes real noise.

The last serious impact was in 1908, when a rock about the same size as 2002
EM7 exploded above the surface of Siberia. Roughly 1,200 square miles (3,108
square kilometers) of forest were flattened in a remote region known as
Tunguska. There were no known deaths, because almost no one lived there.

The odds of a similar event, which could easily destroy a large city or a
small state with miles of extra destruction to boot, are about 1-in-20 over
the next 50 years.

Knowledge and false alarms

In the past decade, about 500 very large space rocks have been found to
wander near the space shared by Earth's orbit. These so-called Near Earth
Asteroids, all larger than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles), represent about half the
expected total. Millions of smaller asteroids are almost entirely
uncatalogued.

The larger rocks are the ones many scientists fear most. If one hit Earth,
civilization would be pushed to the brink and perhaps beyond. Deaths could
easily be counted in millions, possibly even billions. Many species of
plants and animals would disappear.

As more asteroids are discovered and publicized, public awareness of the
threat grows. But the information is not always accurate.

In a couple of high-profile cases, most prominently four years ago with an
asteroid called 1997 XF11, the public was warned of potentially devastating
impacts before further calculations showed the newly found rocks to be no
threat at all.

Worse, late-night radio programs and various web sites spout all sorts of
unscientific claims of impending asteroid doom, reports that spread like
tsunami radiating outward from an ocean impact. Any reporter who covers the
subject has gotten more than a few frantic e-mails from concerned citizens
who heard this or that and were worried about the planet-destroyer coming
next June, or whenever.

Movies like Armageddon only enhance "wild inaccuracies" in some minds, says
Taylor of the Probability Research Group.

All of this -- the fact, the fiction, the unfounded fears and the genuine
threats that some people don't fear at all -- create a gulf of apathy and
misunderstanding that may well prevent asteroid experts from convincing you
to see the world as they see it.

Several dozen professional astronomers, meanwhile, maintain a nightly vigil
in the Northern Hemisphere, scanning immense and dark skies for tiny points
of light, then struggling to observe often minor movements against the
background of stars in order to determine a trajectory, an ultimate
destination.

Always on their minds: Will this one hit Earth?

"It isn't a matter of if one of these things is going to hit the Earth,"
said Duncan Steel on the 60 Minutes broadcast. "It's just a matter of when.
Either we can expect 23 years warning or six or seven seconds."

For those in the know, the asteroid Dread Factor is off the charts.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
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NHNE: Special Article:
Marching In Gandhi's Footsteps
Sunday, April 7, 2002
Current Members: 1572

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MARCHING IN GANDHI'S FOOTSTEPS
Bangkok Post
March 23, 2002
By Kate Rope

http://www.bangkokpost.com/en/230302_Outlook/23Mar2002_out01.html

George W. Bush is dividing the world and waging war. Osama Bin Laden is
skillfully eluding capture and giving hope to the thousands he has trained
to kill. Betwixt the two, hot spots in Israel and the occupied territories
are descending into ever more gruesome violence, other countries are being
forced to choose which side of the "war" they support, and nobody is talking
about peace.

Except, perhaps, David Hartsough, who is quietly building an army in the
midst of the fury. A veteran of the civil rights struggle in the US and a
peace activist who's been on the frontlines of some of the most destructive
clashes of the last half century, Hartsough is travelling the globe to rally
a force that will march into the danger zones of the world armed with only a
commitment to peace. Born from the work left unfinished by Mahatma Gandhi
some 70 years ago, it's a hard-sell in times like these, but Hartsough is an
experienced and persuasive salesman.

Sitting in the Thammasat office of Chaiwat Satha-anand, Thailand's most
prominent peace academic, Hartsough comes across first as a friendly,
traveller type. His greying hair, well-worn trousers and forest-green
rucksack look like the accoutrements you'd expect a peace-loving wanderer to
sport. But when he sits down to tell his story and how and why his approach
will work, it is with the resolve and no-nonsense confidence of a
battle-seasoned general. Hartsough knows non-violence can work because he
has spent his life in the field.

When Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948, he was building a shanti sena,
a "peace troop". From that idea, Hartsough and others have created the
Global Non-violent Peace Force -- a corps of civilians trained in active
non-violence techniques that will be sent to areas of conflict around the
world to protect human rights and create the space for peaceful resolution
of differences.

At the invitation of NGOs or other parties, the corps will enter combat
areas to provide unarmed escorts for peaceworkers and training in active
non-violence, as well as summon the attention of the world. Hartsough hopes
to have the force "non-combat-ready" by 2003, with an initial contingent of
200 active members, 400 reservists and 500 supporters around the globe who
will send email, make phone calls, alert the press and turn the
international spotlight on particular conflicts. He already has 10 informal
invitations from places including Sri Lanka, Burma, Korea, Mindanao in the
Philippines, Columbia, Ecuador, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.

At a conference due to be held in New Delhi in November, an international
steering committee, which includes Acharn Chaiwat, will choose the location
for a pilot project. If it is successful, Hartsough hopes it will set a
precedent for solving conflicts peacefully.

Hartsough's early teachers were Gandhi, whom he read as a child, Martin
Luther King, whom he met as a teenager, and his father, who risked his life
in the early years of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

David Hartsough

A Congregationalist minister who later became a Quaker, Hartsough's father
went to the Middle East when David was eight years old to bring tents and
medicine to refugees displaced by the first Israel-Palestine war. "My father
gave sermons in church on the Good Samaritan story, and it really impressed
me that he was not just preaching it but was willing to risk his life on the
belief that `everyone is my neighbour'," he recalls.

Hartsough's father also took his teenage son to see the work Martin Luther
King was doing in Montgomery, Alabama, to secure equal rights for black
citizens of the United States. King was the leader not only of the struggle
for civil rights in the US, but also of the first non-violent movement in
that country.

"I was very deeply moved that these people, who were facing such oppression,
were determined to get justice, but they were determined to do that
non-violently, even against people who were bombing their churches and their
homes. That put me on the road to a much deeper understanding of
non-violence," says Hartsough.

After a year spent at an elite, almost entirely white college on the East
Coast of the United States, where he was helping the admissions office
recruit black students, Hartsough heard that Howard University, a black
college in Washington, DC, needed white students. Deciding to practise what
he was preaching, he transferred to Howard in 1959, and there he received a
lesson more valuable than anything else he could have learned: the power of
peaceful resistance.

In 1960, all across the southern states of the US, people began protesting
the segregation of lunch counters. So, every Saturday, Hartsough and his
black friends would leave DC, which had already been desegregated, and cross
into Maryland. They would sit at a lunch counter there until they were
arrested. After spending the weekend in jail singing freedom songs, they'd
be released in time for classes on Monday, only to be back in action the
following Saturday.

Hartsough stayed clear of nearby Virginia, which was home not only to the
American Nazi Party but also to a law that handed down a year's prison
sentence and a thousand-dollar fine to anyone who protested at a lunch
counter.

"We didn't have a thousand dollars and we didn't want to spend a year in
prison," says Hartsough laughing. But when months passed and no one
challenged the racist law there, he and his friends mustered their courage,
did some extra training in non-violence, and crossed the state line.

"Twelve of us went in and sat down at this lunch counter at the People's
Drugstore in Arlington, Virginia, and within minutes there were six cars and
sirens coming from all directions. They didn't arrest us, but neither were
they going to serve us any food either. We stayed there for two days, and it
was the most difficult two days of my life."

Hartsough and his friends endured vicious name-calling, lit cigarettes being
dropped down their shirt-fronts, punches so hard they were knocked off their
stools to the floor, where they were kicked, and members of the American
Nazi Party sporting swastikas and brandishing photos of apes, asking them
malevolently, "Is we or is we ain't equal?"

At the end of the second day, as Hartsough sat in meditation trying to think
about loving his enemies, a man approached him from behind. "He said to me,
'you nigger-lover', and he had this horrible look of hatred on his face; 'if
you don't get out of this store in two seconds, I'm going to stab this
through your heart'." In the man's hand was a switchblade. "I had two
seconds to decide if I really believed in non-violence, and I looked this
man right in the eye, and I said, 'Friend, do what you believe is right, and
I'll still try and love you', and it was quite amazing, because his jaw
began to fall and his hand began to drop and he left the store."

The most difficult part was to come. The protest had been on newspaper front
pages and an angry crowd of 500 had gathered outside the drugstore, armed
with rocks and firecrackers and threatening to kill the 12.

For their part, Hartsough and his friends decided to write to Arlington's
religious and political leaders asking for local eating establishments to be
opened to everyone. "We said that if nothing changed in a week, we'd come
back. Some friendly newspaper reporters had their cars outside and got us
out of there alive, and we went back to Washington and for six days we were
shaking and wondering, `Do we have the courage to go back and do it again?'"

But they didn't have to make that choice. On the sixth day, the call came
that the lunch counters in Arlington were now open to all.

"That taught me a very powerful lesson," says Hartsough, "That by acting on
our conscience we got those people to act on their conscience, and those
people got the society to act on its conscience. That you don't need
millions of people ... even a few can make change."

Since that time, Hartsough has been working beside the few and sometimes the
many, to make change all over the world. He has been jailed well over 100
times, but his most high-profile arrest was at the hands of Slobodan
Milosevic.

Before violence erupted in Kosovo in the late 1990s, hundreds of thousands
of Albanians marched to secure basic freedoms -- the right to attend school,
secure jobs, speak their own language, get access to medical care -- that
had been taken from them by the Serb regime. They enlisted the help of
Hartsough and others to awaken the international community to what was
happening and bring moral, political and economic pressure to bear on the
Serbs, like that which had succeeded against apartheid.

So Hartsough travelled the US and Europe to rally support, but met with
none. He finally returned to Kosovo with a small crew of four Americans to
conduct non-violence training sessions. Though there was no international
media attention, coverage on Albanian TV got Milosevic's attention and
Hartsough and the five were locked up. "It became front-page news around the
world," says Hartsough, "which was stupid, because 100,000 people marching
for justice had not been news, but five Americans in jail was."

Unwilling to take the international heat, Milosevic soon released the
activists and turned them out of the country.

Not long after, the world woke up to the situation in Kosovo and Nato began
dropping bombs, a response Hartsough believes could have been avoided and is
at the heart of why he is now devoting all of his time to building the peace
force.

"I travelled all around the US saying, 'Kosovo is an explosion waiting to
happen, we need people to come'. Nobody responded, and then it exploded and
after it exploded, Nato said our only choices were to do nothing or to start
bombing. But many of us there felt that with 200 trained and courageous
peace troops we might have made an important contribution to a peaceful
resolution."

Hartsough wants his peace force to march right down the middle path between
doing nothing and bombing, so that places like Sri Lanka, now possibly on
the precipice of peace, can be delivered there rather than disintegrate into
further acts of death and destruction.

To charges that this is naive and unrealistic in the world's present
landscape of violence, Hartsough marshals evidence that forces like the one
he is building have been successful around the globe.

Peace Brigades International, a smaller corps than the one Hartsough plans,
was instrumental in giving courage to the civil society in Guatemala which
challenged a repressive government that was killing hundreds of thousands of
citizens, says Hartsough.

At the invitation of a group called "The Families of the Detained and
Disappeared", the Brigades came in to escort protesters, providing a buffer
between military death squads that carried out the government's orders and
the civilians who were challenging the government's power.

During a four-year period, only two peace-workers were stabbed in Guatemala
and no one was killed. In the increasingly safe environment, more members of
the civil society emerged to oppose government oppression. Hartsough, who
was there at the time, attributes Guatemala's transition to democracy in
large part to the work of the Brigades.

To prepare a training module for his force, he studied the work of Peace
Brigades International and others and has compiled a 300-page document on
what has worked, what hasn't, and what has never been tried.

"We're not going to take on the whole world in the first year," says
Hartsough. "Ideally we'd like something that in two years' time we could see
some real success. We're convinced that if we do this well the world will
discover that here is a method that costs one millionth of what a military
response to a conflict costs, is much more effective, and you don't have the
terrible death and destruction and hatred that can continue for
generations."

Despite being a less expensive alternative to armed conflict, peace doesn't
come cheap and Hartsough and his colleagues need to raise a pretty penny by
peace-movement standards -- $8 million (352 million baht) a year -- a sum
that may be even harder to gather in the wake of September 11. Hartsough is
quick to point out, however, that this amount is equal to what the world
spends on the military every four minutes. If he can secure the funding, he
hopes to have the force fully operational  -- with 2,000 active members,
4,000 reservists and 5,000 supporters -- by 2010.

Though September 11 has engendered more violence, Hartsough sees this moment
in history as an opportunity to advance his cause. He points to an article
in the International Herald Tribune exposing the deaths inflicted on one
Afghan village by the American bombing campaign.

"As more and more facts like this come out, I think people are going to be
revolted by this militaristic response to something terrible. The United
States has spent trillions of dollars on military security, bombers, planes,
nuclear weapons, the CIA, FBI ... and that got us zero security. It didn't
protect one person on September 11. Isn't it time to look at an alternative
way to get security?

"After [Martin Luther] King was killed, I was devastated, because he gave so
much hope for a new kind of America with him as a leader. But I finally came
out of that depression feeling that the only thing we've got is for many of
us to become like King," argues Hartsough. "Today we have a whole lot of
local leaders like him that most of the world doesn't even know about.
They're in Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Latin America, Africa and Thailand."

And, like King, they are all saying unpopular things to a few people in the
hopes of changing the minds of the many. This is a legacy which Hartsough is
happy to carry on.

"I have felt ever since that time [in Arlington, Virginia] that we don't
have to be just subjects of history. We can help make it."

...........

THE GLOBAL NON-VIOLENT PEACE FORCE:

Web: http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org
eMail: info@...

------------

PREVIOUS NHNE NEWS LIST ARTICLE:

AN INTERNATIONAL NONVIOLENT PEACE FORCE (1/4/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2466


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NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@egroups.com>

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You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
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twice...

"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: Food for Thought: Try to See the Other
Monday, April 8, 2002
Current Members: 1570

------------

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EDITOR'S COMMENT:

Like many of you, my email is being flooded with information concerning the
ongoing crisis in Israel. Everyday, I receive new reports of Israel
shooting, killing, maiming Palestinians (and international peace activists,
journalists, and innocent bystanders) -- and of the Palestinians responding
in kind with increasingly desperate and daring attacks of their own. Where
does this kind of violence, and the corresponding hatred, distrust, and
vilification of other human beings, originate? And what, exactly, can you
and I do to stop and/or heal it?

Along with supporting inspired initiatives like the one I sent out last
night to NHNE's Main List ("Marching In Gandhi's Footsteps"
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/message/49>), I think it is very
important to examine the deeper issues that give birth to human violence in
the first place. Indeed, as I've mentioned in the past, one of the things
that spawned NHNE was realizing we will not be able to extricate ourselves
from the endless self-inflicted plagues that regularly visit humankind until
we understand, and heal, the inner forces that power, perpetuate, and give
rise to our individual and collective ills.

With this in mind, I am including a brief excerpt from a Pathwork lecture
that was recently posted to The Pathwork Circle by Dottie Titus, the
Circle's facilitator. This excerpt, like most Pathwork lectures, places the
emphasis on you and I ; on how we contribute to the world's sufferings and
what we can do to help heal it. And while not ruling out the possibility
that we may be called to write letters, join peace rallies and marches, or
perhaps even offer ourselves as human shields in war torn areas of the
world, the Pathwork source emphasizes that the real work of peacemaking (and
keeping) begins in our inmost thoughts and feelings, and ordinary,
day-to-day lives...

--- David Sunfellow

------------

THE ORDER AND DIVERSITY OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLDS --
THE PROCESS OF REINCARNATION
Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 12, 1996 Edition
September 17, 1957

http://www.pathwork.org/lectures/P012.PDF

"One hears people say again and again, 'If God exists, and there is indeed a
divine order, how can it be that so many terrible things happen on earth?'
You all know, you have all learned that human beings forge their own
destinies.  That you have to carry such heavy burdens is the result of
breaking spiritual laws, often unconsciously.  Still, this will not
sufficiently explain to you events like wars, in which, through the decision
of a few, many who seem innocent have to suffer a heavy fate.  To this I
reply:  First of all, even in mass or group disasters, an individual will
never need to experience anything that does not fit into his or her own
destiny.  Second, every person, except those very few who have already
reached a higher state of purification, is also sharing the responsibility
for wars and other mass disasters.  Not only the politicians or those few
who visibly and publicly shape world history are to be made responsible for
wars, but every single person who, with impure thoughts and emotions,
pollutes the cosmic 'reservoir,' and this, one day, must have its effect.

"Each thought of hate, of separation, of egoism, of injustice, of
discrimination, of wanting more for oneself than for one's neighbor, in
short, each thought that breaks God's laws, is a building block in that
enormous spiritual structure -- war -- which must first be formed in spirit
before it can manifest destruction on the material plane.  If only a small
part of humankind sowed the seeds of peace, wars would not exist, in spite
of a few unscrupulous politicians.  Most people, including you, my friends,
harbor thoughts of anxiety, and if not thoughts of hate, then of mistrust
and separation, such as between one group and another -- and all of these
violate the law of brotherhood.  Each thought of this kind, each emotion is
a significant contribution to the outbreak of war.

"This does not apply to thoughts and feelings only, or to individual
reactions to general political issues and opinions.  Even when people are
free of false reactions concerning society in general, but react in their
private lives in erroneous negative ways, this energy will contribute to
precipitate a war or another mass catastrophe.  Only when you purify
yourself from within, cleanse your emotions and thoughts and so best fulfill
your destiny wherever you are placed, can you become also a carrier of
peace.  Indirectly, by living spiritually, people can do more for or against
war than politicians or statesmen, my dear friends.

"Question yourself honestly, feel into it, examine yourselves when you send
out -- perhaps until now unconsciously -- such 'poison' that aids and abets
the powers promoting war.  Look at some of your fellow humans with whom you
might have difficulties.  They might have hurt you and you cannot get over
it or understand it.  Yet try looking at the issue from another point of
view.  Try to see that the other person has perhaps reacted to you only from
blindness, ignorance, and a great inner insecurity, erroneously attempting
to protect himself.  Consider how often you have had a similar reaction
yourself and may have wounded a fellow human being, not because you wanted
to but because in your own blind insecurity you thought that this was the
best way to protect yourself.  To the extent you do this yourself, it will
be inevitably done to you by others, although not always by the same person.
To the extent you recognize and understand this state of affairs, you will
recognize the so far inexplicable behavior of the other for what it is, just
in the way I have explained here.   With this understanding the hurt will
leave you and then the understanding for the other party will increase
steadily because you have experienced it yourself and it has become part of
your consciousness.  From the understanding comes empathy and that is the
way of love.  With it you build your happiness, you gain knowledge and
wisdom, you fulfill your life and so contribute to the cause of peace.
Complete this little task, my friends, every single one of you; take it
seriously, not superficially, and then you will feel a great liberation.
You will free yourself of a burden.

"So try not always to focus on yourself and your pain.  Try to see the
other.  Forget yourself for the moment, attempt to understand the other in
the sense I explained before.  See his or her pain, not yours, see his or
her insecurity, not yours.  And ask God to give you the light of truth and
knowledge to look at the whole situation as it really is, not the way you
are trying to present it from your point of view.  I can promise you, my
loved ones, that if you are truly desirous to understand the need and the
loneliness of others, then you will not experience their erroneous acts as
painful to you.  You can liberate yourself from your suffering by
concentrating on the 'thou' instead of the 'I' and by asking God to give you
the full vision of the truth.  If this desire is genuinely present, it will
be fulfilled.  But we know full well that one must make up one's mind to be
truly motivated by a genuine desire. Consider this an occasion to test
yourself."

------------

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PATHWORK:

Pathwork Website:
http://www.pathwork.org

All 258 Lectures (1996 edited version):
http://www.pathwork.org/lectures/lect.html

Pathwork CD, Books & Other Materials:
http://www.pathwork.org/php-bin/ecomm4/categories.php

NHNE Special Report on The Pathwork Lectures of Eva Pierrakos:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/srpathwork.html

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NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@egroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

This post has also been sent to the NHNE News List, so you may receive it
twice...

"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: Food for Thought:
Technotopia & The Death of Nature
Thursday, April 18, 2002
Current Members: 1573

------------

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TECHNOTOPIA & THE DEATH OF NATURE
CLONES, SUPERCOMPUTERS, AND ROBOTS
By James Bell
Earth Island Journal
Summer 2002, Vol. 17, No. 2

http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/new_articles.cfm?articleID=586&journalI
D=64

There is no question that technological growth trends in science and
industry are increasing exponentially. There is, however, a growing debate
about what this runaway acceleration of ingenuity may bring. A number of
respected scientists and futurists now are predicting that technological
progress is driving the world toward a "Singularity" -- a point at which
technology and nature will have become one. At this juncture, the world as
we have known it will have gone extinct and new definitions of "life,"
"nature" and "human" will take hold.

"We are on the edge of change comparable to the rise of human life on
Earth," San Diego University Professor of Computer Science Vernor Vinge
first warned the scientific community in 1993. "Within 30 years, we will
have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly
after, the human era will end."

Some scientists and philosophers have theorized that the very purpose of
life is to bring about the Singularity. While leading technology industries
have been aware of the Singularity concept for some time, there are concerns
that, if the public understood the full ramifications of the Singularity,
they would be reluctant to accept many of the new and untested technologies
such as genetically engineered foods, nano-technology and robotics.

Machine Evolution

A number of books on the coming Singularity are in the works and will soon
appear. In 2003, the sequel to the blockbuster film The Matrix will delve
into the philosophy and origins of Earth's machine-controlled future. Matrix
cast members were required to read Wired editor Kevin Kelly's 1994 book "Out
of Control: The Rise of Neo-biological Civilization"
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201577933/newheavenneweart). Page
one reads, "The realm of the born -- all that is nature -- and the realm of
the made -- all that is humanly constructed -- are becoming one."

Meanwhile, Warner Brothers has embarked on the most expensive film of all
time -- a $180 million sequel called "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines".
The film is due out in 2003; a good decade before actual machine evolution
is predicted to accelerate "out of control," plunging human civilization
towards the Singularity.

Central to the workings of the Singularity are a number of "laws" -- one of
which is known as Moore's Law. Intel Corp. cofounder Gordon E. Moore noted
that the number of transistors that could fit on a single computer chip had
doubled every year for six years from the beginnings of integrated circuits
in 1959. Moore predicted that the trend would continue, and it has --
although the doubling rate was later adjusted to an 18-month cycle.

Today, millions of circuits are found on a single miniscule computer chip
and technological "progress" is accelerating at an exponential rather than a
linear growth rate.

Stewart Brand, in his book "The Clock of the Long Now"
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0465007805/newheavenneweart),
discusses another law -- Monsanto's Law -- which states that the ability to
identify and use genetic information doubles every 12 to 24 months. This
exponential growth in biological knowledge is transforming agriculture,
nutrition and healthcare in the emerging life-sciences industry.

In 2005, IBM plans to introduce "Blue Gene," a computer that can perform one
million-billion calculations-per-second -- about 1/20th the power of the
human brain. This computer could transmit the entire contents of the Library
of Congress in less than two seconds. According to Moore's Law, computer
hardware will surpass human brainpower in the first decade of this century.
Software that emulates the human mind -- "artificial intelligence" -- may
take a few more years to evolve.

Reaching Infinity

The human population also is experiencing tremendous exponential population
growth. Dan Eder, a scientist at the Boeing Artificial Intelligence Center,
notes that "human population growth over the past 10,000 years has been
following a hyperbolic growth trend... with the asymptote [or the point of
near-infinite increase] located in the year 2035 AD." An infinite number of
humans is, of course, impossible. Scientists predict our numbers will hover
around 9 billion by mid-century.

Eder points out that the predicted rise of artificial intelligence coincides
with the asymptote of human population growth. He speculates that artificial
life could begin to multiply exponentially once biological life has met its
finite limits.

Scientists are debating not so much if it will happen, but what discovery
will set off a series of Earth-altering technologic events. They suggest
that advancements in the fields of nanotechnology or the discovery of
artificial intelligence could usher in the Singularity.

Technologic Globalization

Physicists, mathematicians and scientists like Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil
have identified through their accelerated technological change theories the
likely boundaries of the Singularity and have predicted with confidence the
effects leading up to it over the next couple of decades.

The majority of people closest to these theories and laws -- the tech sector
-- can hardly wait for the Singularity to arrive. The true believers call
themselves "extropians," "post-humans" and "transhumanists" and are actively
organizing not just to bring the Singularity about, but to counter what they
call "techno-phobes" and "neo-luddites" -- critics like Greenpeace, Earth
First! and the Rainforest Action Network.

The Progress Action Coalition (Pro-Act, http://www.progressaction.org),
which was formed in June 2001, fantasizes about "the dream of true
artificial intelligence... adding a new richness to the human landscape
never before known." The Pro-Act website features several sections where the
strategies and tactics of environmental groups and foundations are targeted
for "countering."

Pro-Act, AgBioworld, Biotechnology Progress, Foresight Institute, the
Progress Freedom Foundation and other industry groups that desire
accelerated scientific progress acknowledge that the greatest threat to
technologic progress comes not just from environmental groups, but from a
small faction of the scientific community -- where one voice stands out.

The Warning

In April 2000, a wrench was thrown into the arrival of the Singularity by an
unlikely source -- Sun Microsystems' Chief Scientist Bill Joy. Joy
co-founded Sun Microsystems, helped create the Unix computer operating
system and developed the Java and Jini software systems -- systems that
helped give the Internet "life."

In a now-infamous cover story in Wired magazine, "Why the Future Doesn't
Need Us" (http://www.nhne.com/misc/foodbilljoy.html), Joy warned of the
dangers posed by developments in genetics, nanotechnology and robotics.
Joy's warning of the impacts of exponential technologic progress run amok
gave new credence to the coming Singularity. Unless things change, Joy
predicted, "We could be the last generation of humans." Joy has warned that
"knowledge alone will enable mass destruction" and termed this phenomenon
"knowledge-enabled mass destruction" (KMD).

The Times of London compared Joy's statement to Einstein's 1939 letter to
President Roosevelt, which warned of the dangers of the nuclear bomb.

The technologies of the 20th century gave rise to nuclear, biological and
chemical (NBC) technologies that, while powerful, require access to vast
amounts of raw (and often rare) materials, technical information and
large-scale industries. The 21st century technologies of genetics,
nanotechnology and robotics (GNR) however, will require neither large
facilities nor rare raw materials.

The threat posed by GNR technologies becomes further amplified by the fact
that some of these new technologies have been designed to be able to
"replicate" -- i.e., they can build new versions of themselves. Nuclear
bombs did not sprout more bombs and toxic spills did not grow more spills.
If the new self-replicating GNR technologies are released into the
environment, they could be nearly impossible to recall or control.

Globalization and Singularity

Joy understands that the greatest dangers we face ultimately stem from a
world where global corporations dominate -- a future where much of the world
has no voice in how the world is run. The 21st century GNR technologies, he
writes, "are being developed almost exclusively by corporate enterprises. We
are aggressively pursuing the promises of these new technologies within the
now-unchallenged system of global capitalism and its manifold financial
incentives and competitive pressures."

Joy believes that the system of global capitalism, combined with our current
rate of progress, gives the human race a 30 to 50 percent chance of going
extinct around the time the Singularity happens. "Not only are these
estimates not encouraging," he adds, "but they do not include the
probability of many horrid outcomes that lie short of extinction."

Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen contends that if
chemists earlier in the last century had decided to use bromine instead of
chlorine to produce commercial coolants (a mere quirk of chemistry), the
ozone hole over Antarctica would have been far larger, would have lasted all
year and would have severely affected life on Earth. "Avoiding that was just
luck," stated Crutzen.

It is very likely that scientists and global corporations will miss key
developments (or, worse, actively avoid discussion of them). A whole
generation of biologists has left the field for the biotech and nanotech
labs. As biologist Craig Holdredge, who has followed biotech since its early
beginnings in the 1970s, warns: The science of "biology is losing its
connection with nature."

Yet there is something missing from this discussion of the technologic
singularity. The true cost of technologic progress and the Singularity will
mean the unprecedented decline of the planet's inhabitants -- an
ever-increasing rate of global extinction.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN), the International Botanical Congress
and a majority of the world's biologists believe that a global "mass
extinction" already is underway. As a direct result of human activity
(resource extraction, industrial agriculture, the introduction of non-native
animals and population growth), up to one-fifth of all living species --
mostly in the tropics -- are expected to disappear within 30 years. "The
speed at which species are being lost is much faster than any we've seen in
the past -- including those related to meteor collisions," University of
Tennessee biodiversity expert Daniel Simberloff told the Washington Post.

A 1998 Harris poll of the 5,000 members of the American Institute of
Biological Sciences found 70 percent believed that what has been termed "The
Sixth Extinction" is now underway. A simultaneous Harris poll found that 60
percent of the public were totally unaware of the impending biological
collapse.

At the same time that nature's ancient biological creation is on the
decline, artificial laboratory-created bio-tech life forms -- genetically
modified tomatoes, genetically engineered salmon, cloned sheep -- are on the
rise. Already more than 60 percent of food in US grocery stores contain
genetically engineered ingredients -- and that percentage is rising.

Nature and technology are not just evolving: They are competing and
combining with one another. Ultimately there could be only one winner.

.........

Resources:

- The Foresight Institute's (http://www.foresight.org) May 2000 conference
on "Confronting Singularity" prompted Bill Joy to issue his famous warning
about technology's threat to human survival.

- Ray Kurzweil's website: http://www.kurzweilai.net

- "The Campaign for a Post-Human World," Richard Hayes, Earth Island
Journal, Spring 2001.

James Bell is a writer for Sustain, a national environmental information
group based in Chicago (http://www.sustain.info).This article is excerpted
from his forthcoming book. For more information visit
<http://www.technologicalsingularity.info> or contact
<jamesbell@...>. An earlier version of this article was published
in the Samhain (November/December 2001) issue of the Earth First! Journal.
(c) 2001 by James Bell.

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NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
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NHNE: Special Article:
The Biotech-Nanotech Revolution
Thursday, May 16, 2002
Current Members: 1562

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WHAT'S THE PURPOSE OF LIFE?
NANOTECHNOLOGY MIGHT PROVIDE THE ANSWER.
By Ronald Bailey
Reason.Com
May 1, 2002

http://www.reason.com/rb/rb050102.shtml

Two different types of cutting-edge technology are promising (or
threatening, as the fearful might see it) to radically change human
abilities and capacities -- and even our identities. One -- already the
subject of plenty of political maneuvering -- is the biotechnological
revolution. The other, not yet of major political significance, is
nanotechnology -- the ability to manipulate matter precisely on the atomic
level.

The Foresight Institute (http://www.foresight.org/), an organization
dedicated to nanotech, sponsored a meeting in Palo Alto over the weekend
featuring around 100 of the industry's leading doers and speculators.
Attendees heard from Zyvex's (http://www.zyvex.com/) Ralph Merkle, inventor
Ray Kurzweil (http://www.kurzweilai.net/), futurist author Stewart Brand of
the Long Now Foundation (http://www.longnow.org/) and Long Bets Foundation
(http://www.longbets.org/), and Neil Jacobstein of the Institute for
Molecular Manufacturing (http://www.imm.org/), among others.

The meeting featured a colorful debate on the relative importance of
nanotech and biotech between Ray Kurzweil and Gregory Stock
(http://research.mednet.ucla.edu/pmts/Stock.htm). Kurzweil is an inventor of
note and the author of a number of books, including The Age of Spiritual
Machines. Stock is the director of the program on medicine, technology, and
society at UCLA, and author, most recently, of Redesigning Humans. Billed as
the "Debate of the Decade: 'BioFuture or MachineFuture?'" their discussion
ranged from gee-whiz gadgetry to the question that bedevils most human
beings: "What is the purpose of life?"

Stock began by challenging Kurzweil's brisk timetable for the cyborgization
of humanity -- which Kurzweil sees happening within a few decades. "I know
some of you are eagerly anticipating transmogrification into some sort of
cyborg chipheads," said Stock. "I know biological enhancement sounds so
stodgy compared to some of the things talked about by Ray. But I don't think
that a migration to a non-organic substrate is going to happen any time
soon."

Stock foresees instead that rapid advances in biological research will soon
change how we manage our emotions, how we have children, and how long we
live. New psychoactive drugs will enable us to short-circuit the emotional
pathways that have evolved to reward behaviors that increase our chances of
surviving to reproduce. These new side-effect-free drugs will allow us to
feel really happy and fulfilled all the time. "Are you going to be able to
resist that?" Stock wonders.

"I know that many of you are thinking, 'why talk about biology when we're
going to achieve personal immortality by joining a superconsciousness that
is nonbiological?'" noted Stock. He admitted that he found that vision "very
seductive, but even with exponential advances in technology, we are still
not going to become cyborgs." Why not?

Because trying to meld biology and machinery is incredibly complex. So for
the next few decades, until all the bugs in nano are worked out, biotech
will be the technology that will boost life expectancy and expand our
physical capacities. Given the relatively primitive state of
electromechanical technology, "why would we bother to implant computers?"
asked Stock. "I'm not going to have brain surgery in order to install the
moral equivalent of an electronic toaster."

Kurzweil thinks the future will be both biotech and nanotech. The first two
decades of the 21st century will be the golden age of biotechnology,
featuring tissue engineering, the immortalization of cells and organs using
telomeres, rational drug design, simulations replacing animal testing, and
the repair of genetic defects. The third and fourth decades will be the
golden age of bionanotechnology, in which biology and nanotechnology will
meld. "Nanotech is behind biotech, but consider the law of accelerating
returns. We will make progress equivalent to that of the whole 20th century
in the next 15 years," Kurzweil predicts. "Progress in the 21st century will
be equivalent to 20,000 years of progress at today's rate of progress."

By 2030, electronics will utilize molecule-size circuits and be organized in
three dimensions instead of the two dimensions used today. Also by 2030,
nano-electromechanical systems combining computational power and the ability
to manipulate matter at the molecular level will be common. The accelerating
rate of progress will make human-level intelligence available in a $1,000
computer by 2029. Humans will incorporate nano-scale electromechanical
devices in their bodies because "we are not going to be able to expand our
biological abilities. There are profound limitations on biology, but
nanotechnology is infinitely expandable." Kurzweil foresees the replacement
of the nuclei of cells with nanotech structures that contain genomic
information and can make the proper proteins. (Of course, cell nuclei are
already, in a sense, bionanotech devices.)

Kurzweil also outlined his vision of the increasingly intimate and gradual
inclusion of machines in the human body. He suggested that people's notions
of machines have to be revised ­ we will grow to see them not as merely
cold, inflexible, and brittle gadgets, but as helpful and necessary devices,
as soft and subtle as human tissues. Kurzweil is convinced that a person's
computationally powerful nonbiological components will eventually overwhelm
his biological remnants. Perhaps a person's biology would then become simply
superfluous.

Kurzweil also suggested that nanotechnology will succeed because it is not
controversial. He pointed out that biotech is already politically and
ethically controversial. Kurzweil asked, "We're already putting computers in
people's brains and are there any people protesting against them? Is there
any controversy over that?"

The dialogue took a philosophical, even theological, turn. Stock said, "If
your goal is to feel good, to feel happy, new biotech drugs without side
effects will be able to hijack neural circuits and mimic those feelings."

"I don't think that the purpose of human life is just to feel good,"
Kurzweil responded. "Creating knowledge, appreciating a jazz riff, a good
conversation -- they are really the most profound and satisfactory
experiences. It really comes down to, what is the purpose of life? Is it to
create knowledge and new patterns of information?"

Stock wondered, "What is the purpose of life when nonbiological
intelligences of the sort you're talking about are more creative than we
are?" Kurzweil answered, "As we become more intimate with our machines,
biology does become trivial. The nonbiological part will accelerate and
become a million trillion times more powerful than biology. Because it is
the nature of the nonbiological intelligence to grow exponentially, it will
eventually dominate. This whole period of transhumanism is just an interim
period." Although humans as such may disappear in the nanotechnological
future, that which will endure beyond our biology will be an expression of
our civilization, Kurzweil asserted.

Stock noted, "There is this strange urge in us to transcend our biology. If
you can't buy Christianity, there is a strong desire to create those same
visions of heaven and transcendence through our technologies." Kurzweil
admitted that the technological future he projects has similarities to the
Christian vision of heaven.

"Isn't there something better than people sinking into being chemically
inspired couch potatoes and letting the machines get on with the future?"
asked an audience member. Kurzweil responded that there are always dead
ends, and new technologies will create new dead ends. But he believes that
despite the temptation to become nanotechnological couch potatoes, many
humans will continue to expand their horizons.

Asked if he was worried about rising hostility to technology, Kurzweil noted
that the luddite movement has always been there, but that it had not
appreciably slowed down technological progress. "All of these ethical
concerns are focused on biology. You don't see demonstrations against
computer technologies," he declared.

Kurzweil may be declaring the "all clear" on nanotech prematurely. After the
debate, Leon Fuerth, Al Gore's former national security advisor, led a
session to discuss its policy implications. Fuerth quickly punctured
Kurzweil's complacent claim that there is no political and ethical
controversy over nanotechnology.

"These guys talking here act as though the government is not part of their
lives. They may wish it weren't, but it is," said Fuerth. "As we approach
the issues they debated here today, they had better believe that those
issues will be debated by the whole country. The majority of Americans will
not simply sit still while some elite strips off their personalities and
uploads themselves into their cyberspace paradise. They will have something
to say about that. There will be a vehement debate about that in this
country."

Indeed, there are activist groups like the Funders Group on the Emerging
Technologies
(http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2002/apr/goodman_p16_020429.html) and the
ETC Group (http://reason.com/rb/rb070401.shtml) mobilizing against
nanotechnology. Fuerth made it clear that the government will want to meddle
in the coming nanotech revolution. The future is bright, either biotech or
nanotech, but as always it is imperiled by those who would strangle it in
its crib.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

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receive it twice. Thanks to Jim Torson for alerting me to this important
article. -- DS


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NHNE: Special Article:
The Real History of the Crusades
Monday, June 3, 2002
Current Members: 1523

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THE REAL HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES
By Thomas F. Madden
Crisis Magazine
April 1, 2002

http://www.crisismagazine.com/april2002/cover.htm

With the possible exception of Umberto Eco, medieval scholars are not used
to getting much media attention. We tend to be a quiet lot (except during
the annual bacchanalia we call the International Congress on Medieval
Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, of all places), poring over musty chronicles
and writing dull yet meticulous studies that few will read. Imagine, then,
my surprise when within days of the September 11 attacks, the Middle Ages
suddenly became relevant.

As a Crusade historian, I found the tranquil solitude of the ivory tower
shattered by journalists, editors, and talk-show hosts on tight deadlines
eager to get the real scoop. What were the Crusades?, they asked. When were
they? Just how insensitive was President George W. Bush for using the word
"crusade" in his remarks? With a few of my callers I had the distinct
impression that they already knew the answers to their questions, or at
least thought they did. What they really wanted was an expert to say it all
back to them. For example, I was frequently asked to comment on the fact
that the Islamic world has a just grievance against the West. Doesn't the
present violence, they persisted, have its roots in the Crusades' brutal and
unprovoked attacks against a sophisticated and tolerant Muslim world? In
other words, aren't the Crusades really to blame?

Osama bin Laden certainly thinks so. In his various video performances, he
never fails to describe the American war against terrorism as a new Crusade
against Islam. Ex-president Bill Clinton has also fingered the Crusades as
the root cause of the present conflict. In a speech at Georgetown
University, he recounted (and embellished) a massacre of Jews after the
Crusader conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 and informed his audience that the
episode was still bitterly remembered in the Middle East. (Why Islamist
terrorists should be upset about the killing of Jews was not explained.)
Clinton took a beating on the nation's editorial pages for wanting so much
to blame the United States that he was willing to reach back to the Middle
Ages. Yet no one disputed the ex-president's fundamental premise.

Well, almost no one. Many historians had been trying to set the record
straight on the Crusades long before Clinton discovered them. They are not
revisionists, like the American historians who manufactured the Enola Gay
exhibit, but mainstream scholars offering the fruit of several decades of
very careful, very serious scholarship. For them, this is a "teaching
moment," an opportunity to explain the Crusades while people are actually
listening. It won't last long, so here goes.

Misconceptions about the Crusades are all too common. The Crusades are
generally portrayed as a series of holy wars against Islam led by power-mad
popes and fought by religious fanatics. They are supposed to have been the
epitome of self-righteousness and intolerance, a black stain on the history
of the Catholic Church in particular and Western civilization in general. A
breed of proto-imperialists, the Crusaders introduced Western aggression to
the peaceful Middle East and then deformed the enlightened Muslim culture,
leaving it in ruins. For variations on this theme, one need not look far.
See, for example, Steven Runciman's famous three-volume epic, History of the
Crusades, or the BBC/A&E documentary, The Crusades, hosted by Terry Jones.
Both are terrible history yet wonderfully entertaining.

So what is the truth about the Crusades? Scholars are still working some of
that out. But much can already be said with certainty. For starters, the
Crusades to the East were in every way defensive wars. They were a direct
response to Muslim aggression -- an attempt to turn back or defend against
Muslim conquests of Christian lands.

Christians in the eleventh century were not paranoid fanatics. Muslims
really were gunning for them. While Muslims can be peaceful, Islam was born
in war and grew the same way. From the time of Mohammed, the means of Muslim
expansion was always the sword. Muslim thought divides the world into two
spheres, the Abode of Islam and the Abode of War. Christianity -- and for
that matter any other non-Muslim religion -- has no abode. Christians and
Jews can be tolerated within a Muslim state under Muslim rule. But, in
traditional Islam, Christian and Jewish states must be destroyed and their
lands conquered. When Mohammed was waging war against Mecca in the seventh
century, Christianity was the dominant religion of power and wealth. As the
faith of the Roman Empire, it spanned the entire Mediterranean, including
the Middle East, where it was born. The Christian world, therefore, was a
prime target for the earliest caliphs, and it would remain so for Muslim
leaders for the next thousand years.

With enormous energy, the warriors of Islam struck out against the
Christians shortly after Mohammed's death. They were extremely successful.
Palestine, Syria, and Egypt -- once the most heavily Christian areas in the
world -- quickly succumbed. By the eighth century, Muslim armies had
conquered all of Christian North Africa and Spain. In the eleventh century,
the Seljuk Turks conquered Asia Minor (modern Turkey), which had been
Christian since the time of St. Paul. The old Roman Empire, known to modern
historians as the Byzantine Empire, was reduced to little more than Greece.
In desperation, the emperor in Constantinople sent word to the Christians of
western Europe asking them to aid their brothers and sisters in the East.

That is what gave birth to the Crusades. They were not the brainchild of an
ambitious pope or rapacious knights but a response to more than four
centuries of conquests in which Muslims had already captured two-thirds of
the old Christian world. At some point, Christianity as a faith and a
culture had to defend itself or be subsumed by Islam. The Crusades were that
defense.

Pope Urban II called upon the knights of Christendom to push back the
conquests of Islam at the Council of Clermont in 1095. The response was
tremendous. Many thousands of warriors took the vow of the cross and
prepared for war. Why did they do it? The answer to that question has been
badly misunderstood. In the wake of the Enlightenment, it was usually
asserted that Crusaders were merely lacklands and ne'er-do-wells who took
advantage of an opportunity to rob and pillage in a faraway land. The
Crusaders' expressed sentiments of piety, self-sacrifice, and love for God
were obviously not to be taken seriously. They were only a front for darker
designs.

During the past two decades, computer-assisted charter studies have
demolished that contrivance. Scholars have discovered that crusading knights
were generally wealthy men with plenty of their own land in Europe.
Nevertheless, they willingly gave up everything to undertake the holy
mission. Crusading was not cheap. Even wealthy lords could easily impoverish
themselves and their families by joining a Crusade. They did so not because
they expected material wealth (which many of them had already) but because
they hoped to store up treasure where rust and moth could not corrupt. They
were keenly aware of their sinfulness and eager to undertake the hardships
of the Crusade as a penitential act of charity and love. Europe is littered
with thousands of medieval charters attesting to these sentiments, charters
in which these men still speak to us today if we will listen. Of course,
they were not opposed to capturing booty if it could be had. But the truth
is that the Crusades were notoriously bad for plunder. A few people got
rich, but the vast majority returned with nothing.

* * *

Urban II gave the Crusaders two goals, both of which would remain central to
the eastern Crusades for centuries. The first was to rescue the Christians
of the East. As his successor, Pope Innocent III, later wrote:

"How does a man love according to divine precept his neighbor as himself
when, knowing that his Christian brothers in faith and in name are held by
the perfidious Muslims in strict confinement and weighed down by the yoke of
heaviest servitude, he does not devote himself to the task of freeing them?
...Is it by chance that you do not know that many thousands of Christians
are bound in slavery and imprisoned by the Muslims, tortured with
innumerable torments?"

"Crusading," Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith has rightly argued, was
understood as an "an act of love" -- in this case, the love of one's
neighbor. The Crusade was seen as an errand of mercy to right a terrible
wrong. As Pope Innocent III wrote to the Knights Templar, "You carry out in
deeds the words of the Gospel, 'Greater love than this hath no man, that he
lay down his life for his friends.'"

The second goal was the liberation of Jerusalem and the other places made
holy by the life of Christ. The word crusade is modern. Medieval Crusaders
saw themselves as pilgrims, performing acts of righteousness on their way to
the Holy Sepulcher. The Crusade indulgence they received was canonically
related to the pilgrimage indulgence. This goal was frequently described in
feudal terms. When calling the Fifth Crusade in 1215, Innocent III wrote:

"Consider most dear sons, consider carefully that if any temporal king was
thrown out of his domain and perhaps captured, would he not, when he was
restored to his pristine liberty and the time had come for dispensing
justice look on his vassals as unfaithful and traitors...unless they had
committed not only their property but also their persons to the task of
freeing him? ...And similarly will not Jesus Christ, the king of kings and
lord of lords, whose servant you cannot deny being, who joined your soul to
your body, who redeemed you with the Precious Blood...condemn you for the
vice of ingratitude and the crime of infidelity if you neglect to help Him?"

The reconquest of Jerusalem, therefore, was not colonialism but an act of
restoration and an open declaration of one's love of God. Medieval men knew,
of course, that God had the power to restore Jerusalem Himself -- indeed, He
had the power to restore the whole world to His rule. Yet as St. Bernard of
Clairvaux preached, His refusal to do so was a blessing to His people:

"Again I say, consider the Almighty's goodness and pay heed to His plans of
mercy. He puts Himself under obligation to you, or rather feigns to do so,
that He can help you to satisfy your obligations toward Himself.... I call
blessed the generation that can seize an opportunity of such rich indulgence
as this."

It is often assumed that the central goal of the Crusades was forced
conversion of the Muslim world. Nothing could be further from the truth.
From the perspective of medieval Christians, Muslims were the enemies of
Christ and His Church. It was the Crusaders' task to defeat and defend
against them. That was all. Muslims who lived in Crusader-won territories
were generally allowed to retain their property and livelihood, and always
their religion. Indeed, throughout the history of the Crusader Kingdom of
Jerusalem, Muslim inhabitants far outnumbered the Catholics. It was not
until the 13th century that the Franciscans began conversion efforts among
Muslims. But these were mostly unsuccessful and finally abandoned. In any
case, such efforts were by peaceful persuasion, not the threat of violence.

The Crusades were wars, so it would be a mistake to characterize them as
nothing but piety and good intentions. Like all warfare, the violence was
brutal (although not as brutal as modern wars). There were mishaps,
blunders, and crimes. These are usually well-remembered today. During the
early days of the First Crusade in 1095, a ragtag band of Crusaders led by
Count Emicho of Leiningen made its way down the Rhine, robbing and murdering
all the Jews they could find. Without success, the local bishops attempted
to stop the carnage. In the eyes of these warriors, the Jews, like the
Muslims, were the enemies of Christ. Plundering and killing them, then, was
no vice. Indeed, they believed it was a righteous deed, since the Jews'
money could be used to fund the Crusade to Jerusalem. But they were wrong,
and the Church strongly condemned the anti-Jewish attacks.

Fifty years later, when the Second Crusade was gearing up, St. Bernard
frequently preached that the Jews were not to be persecuted:

"Ask anyone who knows the Sacred Scriptures what he finds foretold of the
Jews in the Psalm. 'Not for their destruction do I pray,' it says. The Jews
are for us the living words of Scripture, for they remind us always of what
our Lord suffered.... Under Christian princes they endure a hard captivity,
but 'they only wait for the time of their deliverance.'"

Nevertheless, a fellow Cistercian monk named Radulf stirred up people
against the Rhineland Jews, despite numerous letters from Bernard demanding
that he stop. At last Bernard was forced to travel to Germany himself, where
he caught up with Radulf, sent him back to his convent, and ended the
massacres.

It is often said that the roots of the Holocaust can be seen in these
medieval pogroms. That may be. But if so, those roots are far deeper and
more widespread than the Crusades. Jews perished during the Crusades, but
the purpose of the Crusades was not to kill Jews. Quite the contrary: Popes,
bishops, and preachers made it clear that the Jews of Europe were to be left
unmolested. In a modern war, we call tragic deaths like these "collateral
damage." Even with smart technologies, the United States has killed far more
innocents in our wars than the Crusaders ever could. But no one would
seriously argue that the purpose of American wars is to kill women and
children.

By any reckoning, the First Crusade was a long shot. There was no leader, no
chain of command, no supply lines, no detailed strategy. It was simply
thousands of warriors marching deep into enemy territory, committed to a
common cause. Many of them died, either in battle or through disease or
starvation. It was a rough campaign, one that seemed always on the brink of
disaster. Yet it was miraculously successful. By 1098, the Crusaders had
restored Nicaea and Antioch to Christian rule. In July 1099, they conquered
Jerusalem and began to build a Christian state in Palestine. The joy in
Europe was unbridled. It seemed that the tide of history, which had lifted
the Muslims to such heights, was now turning.

* * *

But it was not. When we think about the Middle Ages, it is easy to view
Europe in light of what it became rather than what it was. The colossus of
the medieval world was Islam, not Christendom. The Crusades are interesting
largely because they were an attempt to counter that trend. But in five
centuries of crusading, it was only the First Crusade that significantly
rolled back the military progress of Islam. It was downhill from there.

When the Crusader County of Edessa fell to the Turks and Kurds in 1144,
there was an enormous groundswell of support for a new Crusade in Europe. It
was led by two kings, Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, and
preached by St. Bernard himself. It failed miserably. Most of the Crusaders
were killed along the way. Those who made it to Jerusalem only made things
worse by attacking Muslim Damascus, which formerly had been a strong ally of
the Christians. In the wake of such a disaster, Christians across Europe
were forced to accept not only the continued growth of Muslim power but the
certainty that God was punishing the West for its sins. Lay piety movements
sprouted up throughout Europe, all rooted in the desire to purify Christian
society so that it might be worthy of victory in the East.

Crusading in the late twelfth century, therefore, became a total war effort.
Every person, no matter how weak or poor, was called to help. Warriors were
asked to sacrifice their wealth and, if need be, their lives for the defense
of the Christian East. On the home front, all Christians were called to
support the Crusades through prayer, fasting, and alms. Yet still the
Muslims grew in strength. Saladin, the great unifier, had forged the Muslim
Near East into a single entity, all the while preaching jihad against the
Christians. In 1187 at the Battle of Hattin, his forces wiped out the
combined armies of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem and captured the
precious relic of the True Cross. Defenseless, the Christian cities began
surrendering one by one, culminating in the surrender of Jerusalem on
October 2. Only a tiny handful of ports held out.

The response was the Third Crusade. It was led by Emperor Frederick I
Barbarossa of the German Empire, King Philip II Augustus of France, and King
Richard I Lionheart of England. By any measure it was a grand affair,
although not quite as grand as the Christians had hoped. The aged Frederick
drowned while crossing a river on horseback, so his army returned home
before reaching the Holy Land. Philip and Richard came by boat, but their
incessant bickering only added to an already divisive situation on the
ground in Palestine. After recapturing Acre, the king of France went home,
where he busied himself carving up Richard's French holdings. The Crusade,
therefore, fell into Richard's lap. A skilled warrior, gifted leader, and
superb tactician, Richard led the Christian forces to victory after victory,
eventually reconquering the entire coast. But Jerusalem was not on the
coast, and after two abortive attempts to secure supply lines to the Holy
City, Richard at last gave up. Promising to return one day, he struck a
truce with Saladin that ensured peace in the region and free access to
Jerusalem for unarmed pilgrims. But it was a bitter pill to swallow. The
desire to restore Jerusalem to Christian rule and regain the True Cross
remained intense throughout Europe.

The Crusades of the 13th century were larger, better funded, and better
organized. But they too failed. The Fourth Crusade (1201-1204) ran aground
when it was seduced into a web of Byzantine politics, which the Westerners
never fully understood. They had made a detour to Constantinople to support
an imperial claimant who promised great rewards and support for the Holy
Land. Yet once he was on the throne of the Caesars, their benefactor found
that he could not pay what he had promised. Thus betrayed by their Greek
friends, in 1204 the Crusaders attacked, captured, and brutally sacked
Constantinople, the greatest Christian city in the world. Pope Innocent III,
who had previously excommunicated the entire Crusade, strongly denounced the
Crusaders. But there was little else he could do. The tragic events of 1204
closed an iron door between Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox, a door that
even today Pope John Paul II has been unable to reopen. It is a terrible
irony that the Crusades, which were a direct result of the Catholic desire
to rescue the Orthodox people, drove the two further -- and perhaps
irrevocably -- apart.

The remainder of the 13th century's Crusades did little better. The Fifth
Crusade (1217-1221) managed briefly to capture Damietta in Egypt, but the
Muslims eventually defeated the army and reoccupied the city. St. Louis IX
of France led two Crusades in his life. The first also captured Damietta,
but Louis was quickly outwitted by the Egyptians and forced to abandon the
city. Although Louis was in the Holy Land for several years, spending freely
on defensive works, he never achieved his fondest wish: to free Jerusalem.
He was a much older man in 1270 when he led another Crusade to Tunis, where
he died of a disease that ravaged the camp. After St. Louis's death, the
ruthless Muslim leaders, Baybars and Kalavun, waged a brutal jihad against
the Christians in Palestine. By 1291, the Muslim forces had succeeded in
killing or ejecting the last of the Crusaders, thus erasing the Crusader
kingdom from the map. Despite numerous attempts and many more plans,
Christian forces were never again able to gain a foothold in the region
until the 19th century.

* * *

One might think that three centuries of Christian defeats would have soured
Europeans on the idea of Crusade. Not at all. In one sense, they had little
alternative. Muslim kingdoms were becoming more, not less, powerful in the
14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The Ottoman Turks conquered not only their
fellow Muslims, thus further unifying Islam, but also continued to press
westward, capturing Constantinople and plunging deep into Europe itself. By
the 15th century, the Crusades were no longer errands of mercy for a distant
people but desperate attempts of one of the last remnants of Christendom to
survive. Europeans began to ponder the real possibility that Islam would
finally achieve its aim of conquering the entire Christian world. One of the
great best-sellers of the time, Sebastian Brant's The Ship of Fools, gave
voice to this sentiment in a chapter titled "Of the Decline of the Faith":

Our faith was strong in th' Orient,

It ruled in all of Asia,

In Moorish lands and Africa.

But now for us these lands are gone

'Twould even grieve the hardest stone....

Four sisters of our Church you find,

They're of the patriarchic kind:

Constantinople, Alexandria,

Jerusalem, Antiochia.

But they've been forfeited and sacked

And soon the head will be attacked.

Of course, that is not what happened. But it very nearly did. In 1480,
Sultan Mehmed II captured Otranto as a beachhead for his invasion of Italy.
Rome was evacuated. Yet the sultan died shortly thereafter, and his plan
died with him. In 1529, Suleiman the Magnificent laid siege to Vienna. If
not for a run of freak rainstorms that delayed his progress and forced him
to leave behind much of his artillery, it is virtually certain that the
Turks would have taken the city. Germany, then, would have been at their
mercy.

Yet, even while these close shaves were taking place, something else was
brewing in Europe -- something unprecedented in human history. The
Renaissance, born from a strange mixture of Roman values, medieval piety,
and a unique respect for commerce and entrepreneurialism, had led to other
movements like humanism, the Scientific Revolution, and the Age of
Exploration. Even while fighting for its life, Europe was preparing to
expand on a global scale. The Protestant Reformation, which rejected the
papacy and the doctrine of indulgence, made Crusades unthinkable for many
Europeans, thus leaving the fighting to the Catholics. In 1571, a Holy
League, which was itself a Crusade, defeated the Ottoman fleet at Lepanto.
Yet military victories like that remained rare. The Muslim threat was
neutralized economically. As Europe grew in wealth and power, the once
awesome and sophisticated Turks began to seem backward and pathetic -- no
longer worth a Crusade. The "Sick Man of Europe" limped along until the 20th
century, when he finally expired, leaving behind the present mess of the
modern Middle East.

From the safe distance of many centuries, it is easy enough to scowl in
disgust at the Crusades. Religion, after all, is nothing to fight wars over.
But we should be mindful that our medieval ancestors would have been equally
disgusted by our infinitely more destructive wars fought in the name of
political ideologies. And yet, both the medieval and the modern soldier
fight ultimately for their own world and all that makes it up. Both are
willing to suffer enormous sacrifice, provided that it is in the service of
something they hold dear, something greater than themselves. Whether we
admire the Crusaders or not, it is a fact that the world we know today would
not exist without their efforts. The ancient faith of Christianity, with its
respect for women and antipathy toward slavery, not only survived but
flourished. Without the Crusades, it might well have followed
Zoroastrianism, another of Islam's rivals, into extinction.

.........

Thomas F. Madden is associate professor and chair of the Department of
History at Saint Louis University. He is the author of numerous works,
including A Concise History of the Crusades, and co-author, with Donald
Queller, of The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople.

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NHNE: NOVA: Fire Wars
Sunday, June 30, 2002
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EDITOR'S COMMENT:

Most of you know that I live in Sedona, Arizona. Sedona is about 100 miles
from the Rodeo-Chediski fire, which is currently the largest wildfire in the
United States. To date, the fire has consumed 455,000 acres of forest land,
burned 423 homes and buildings, and resulted in some 32,000 people being
evacuated from nine different communities.

Severe drought conditions throughout the state of Arizona (and most of the
Southwest), have created a near-perfect atmosphere for wildfires. Because of
this, virtually all the parks, trails, campsites, even roadside pullouts
around Sedona are closed. This is the first time this has happened in the 15
plus years I have lived in Sedona. And smoke from the Rodeo-Chediski fire,
90 percent of which continues to burn out of control, makes it clear that a
fire breaking out in Sedona (or elsewhere in Arizona) is not some vague,
pie-in-the-sky threat.

Over the last few days, local television and radio stations have been
understandably preoccupied with Rodeo-Chediski fire -- how many acres of
land have been burned, how many homes lost, how many people evacuated, and,
increasingly, who's to blame (so far, overzealous environmentalists are the
favorite scapegoat).

I've been watching all this and wondering what it means. And last night I
caught a NOVA special that provided some comprehensive,  level-headed,
carefully-researched answers. Originally broadcast May 7, 2002, the NOVA
special mentioned, among other things, how fire is a natural and necessary
part of the eco-system (there's an important symbolic message here for our
personal lives, but that's another subject). The NOVA special also described
how recent generations of well-intentioned, albeit misguided Americans have
created a full-blown crisis by not understanding, or properly utilizing, the
power of fire. With some 40 million acres of U.S. forests now endangered by
a hundred years of mismanagement, officials are searching for ways to
correct past mistakes before future catastrophes strike.

And, surprise, the whole mess is also tied into our planet's larger  global
warming problems.

What follows are excerpts from NOVA's timely report...

--- David Sunfellow

------------

FIRE WARS WEBSITE:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fire/

FIRE WARS TRANSCRIPT:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2908_fire.html

EXCERPTS:

NARRATOR: Nature's ignition, lightning, strikes the earth up to eight
million times a day. When it hits dry fuels -- grass, pine tar, small
branches -- the result is fire. In every part of the world, lightning sparks
regular burning. Over millions of years, plants and animals have evolved
with fire. Some even take advantage of it as a creative, life-giving force.

STEVE PYNE: The fact that it's been there, the fact that it has been a part
of their environment the same way that certain patterns of rainfall or
sunshine occur, means that they have adjusted their life cycles, their
existence, to this rhythm of fire.

NORMAN L. CHRISTENSEN (Duke University): There are many species that don't
just withstand the fire but, in fact, depend on it. Many species of pine,
for example: the cones remain closed until a fire burns through the area.
The heat of the fire actually melts waxes and causes the cones to expand and
release the seeds.

NARRATOR: Different species use fire in different ways. California chaparral
burns to the ground every few decades, then grows back up from the roots.
Lodgepole pine burns more rarely. Every one to three hundred years, crown
fires level the lodgepole forest and produce a whole new crop of seedlings.
The trees themselves record the history of how forests burn. Embedded in
their growth rings are fire scars, charred lines left behind every time the
tree is scorched.

CRAIG D. ALLEN (U.S. Geological Survey): These tree cross-sections show that
for hundreds of years fires frequently burned through ponderosa pine
forests. This is true throughout ponderosa pine forests in the West. Each of
the black arrows represents a fire scar recorded in the tree, and you can
see these events between 1796, 1814, 1822, 1847, 1851, 1861, 1874, 1879 and
1899. They were landscape-wide. They would spread across very large portions
of landscape. Some years the whole Southwest was burning, we know from these
fire scar records.

NARRATOR: These were not crown fires but low-intensity burns. They thinned
out the smaller ponderosas, leaving nutrients and space for others to grow
big and tall. Fire created open, park-like forests quite unlike the ones
we're used to today.

CRAIG D. ALLEN:  This is a good example of the kind of Ponderosa pine forest
that used to be widespread in the western U.S. These open-grown, big trees,
300-year-old trees, 40 or so trees per acre with grassy understories. That
was maintained this way by repeated surface fires.

NARRATOR: Throughout eons of history, the fires that shaped the earth's
landscapes were sparked by lightning. Then, about one million years ago,
another fire starter appeared.

STEVE PYNE: Only one creature that we know of acquired the ability, actually
a species monopoly, to manipulate fire. We have fingers and hands and all
the apparatus we need to pick it up, to start it, to stop it, to rearrange
it, to move it around the planet. We came, if you will, genetically equipped
to manipulate fire. But we don't come genetically programmed knowing how to
use it. What should we do with this power?

NARRATOR: In North America, as in many parts of the world, indigenous
peoples made fire their partner. Native Americans burned deliberately, using
fire as a tool for hunting, clearing land for crops and molding the
environment to their needs.

NORMAN L. CHRISTENSEN: They used it to keep the forest open to provide
routes for travel, they used it to improve wildlife habitat. And that was
happening all over North America, in the Plains, in the eastern states, in
the Far West.

NARRATOR: When Europeans arrived here, many landscapes they thought of as
natural were in fact the result of thousands of years of Native American
burning. Early settlers learned from the Native Americans, but as Europeans
moved across the continent and settled the West, the Native American
approach to fire became controversial.

STEVE PYNE: The people who were actually on the ground, the frontiersmen,
those in close contact with American Indians, always saw them burning and
understood why they were doing it and saw the power of that. But again, the
people in cities -- academics, officials -- saw it differently.

NARRATOR: In 1899, after studying wildfire in the West for three years, a
U.S. Geological Survey report said that fire's effects were "always evil,
without a single redeeming feature." But hardly anyone was ready to declare
war on fire -- until the summer of 1910.

That spring, little rain fell. By summer the Northern Rockies were tinder
dry. Locomotives scattered sparks along tracks, starting fires that spread
into the forest. Summer thunderstorms brought lightning. The fires began to
multiply. Then, on August 20th, the weather made a sudden change.

STEVE PYNE: A cold front moves through. The wind picks up on the 20th
steadily throughout the day, reaching essentially gale force speeds by late
afternoon, and the fires have just erupted.

NARRATOR: Smaller fires merged into huge firestorms. Giant trees were
uprooted and thrown around like straws. Settlers fled for their lives,
crossing streams so hot the fish were dying.

JOHN N. MACLEAN: It was unbelievable how catastrophic it was. I mean it
just... the whole country was on fire.

........

NARRATOR: ...To this day, the Big Blowup of 1910 remains the worst wildland
firefighter disaster in American history: 78 dead, many more injured. For
weeks, search parties combed the woods, finding survivors and bodies. The
devastation was massive. Entire towns were destroyed. Three million acres
burned in the Northern Rockies alone, 20 million across the entire West. In
Boston, smoke turned the sun an eerie copper color. Soot fell on the ice in
Greenland.

JOHN N. MACLEAN: It was a catastrophic event, not only for that region, but
for the whole attitude of the United States toward fire.

NARRATOR: The Big Blowup stunned the country. It was the turning point that
led to the creation of a national fire policy. From now on all fires would
be put out, a goal that would be called 100 percent suppression. An all-out
war on fire had begun.

STEVE PYNE: The next three chiefs of the Forest Service, all the way through
1939, were personally on the fire lines in 1910. They are going to remember
those fires, and they are going to continue to try to re-fight it, and this
time they're convinced they're going to win.

NARRATOR: To win this war on fire, an army was created. Technology -- air
power and radios -- revolutionized fire detection. Thousands of young men
flooded the backcountry, working for the Civilian Conservation Corps during
the Depression. They cleared trails, built lookouts and fire roads.
Organized crews trained to fight fires together, the predecessors of today's
Hotshots. For the first time, Americans were taking on fire, confident they
could win.

..........

WILLIAM TWEED (Sequoia National Park): In the early days a lot of things
were done in national parks that would certainly not be done today. Here in
the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park we cut ramps on top of trees so
people could drive their cars on top of them and get a picture. We built
campgrounds in the sequoia groves. We liked deer, so we shot mountain lions
-- something we'd never do today. But the most fundamental thing we did in
this forest was we suppressed fire. We liked green. We liked cool. We liked
pretty. Fire was ugly. Fire was perceived as dangerous. So we began a policy
of total fire suppression in our sequoia groves. We got better and better at
putting out fires.

NARRATOR: By the early 1960s there had been no big fires in the groves for
decades. Then Park managers realized they had a problem: there were many new
trees but no new sequoias.

WILLIAM TWEED: It happened so slowly, it had almost been missed. And when we
looked at the pictures one century to the next, it suddenly stood out like a
sore thumb. We'd done something drastic to our forest. The Big Trees were
still there and they kept growing. But the new generation was missing. And
what was there instead was a new generation of thick pine and fir and cedar,
filling in the forest, shading it and precluding the sun-loving sequoias
from ever having a chance to sprout and grow.

Once we realized that we had changed our forest by removing fire, the
question came to us, "How do we put fire back in?" I mean, our first
attempts at managing this enemy were done with enormous caution. We went
into our experimental forest in the 1960s. We'd take an acre or two. We'd
cut a fireline around it, bring in fire trucks, almost surround it by
firemen, and very cautiously and very hesitantly light a little corner and
see what would happen.

NARRATOR: The fires burned away years of litter covering the forest floor,
exposing the bare mineral soil that sequoia seeds need for germination.
Sequoias also need light, and the flames thinned out the thick overgrowth,
letting sunshine once again wash over the exposed soil. The next year, for
the first time in decades, there were baby sequoias.

WILLIAM TWEED: So a whole bunch of very fundamental things here are
fire-driven, and all of those processes had been lost during the century of
fire suppression.

NARRATOR: Setting controlled fires in the sequoia groves, prescribed
burning, seemed full of promise.

STEVE PYNE: Well, prescribed burning appears in the 1960s and it seems
almost revolutionary. But in fact it's simply going back to the way it had
always been. Fire setting and fire suppressing had gone together, fire
lighting and fire fighting. They had always been complimentary things.

NARRATOR: The Park Service began regular burns in the sequoia groves and the
Big Trees were revitalized. But around the country foresters were still not
convinced. They had been trained, all of them, in suppression, and
prescribed burning went against everything they had learned. Even in Sequoia
there was resistance. Visitors saw scarred and blackened trees, and many of
them felt sure prescribed fires were ruining the forest.

JOHN F. ELLIOTT (Sequoia Area Newspaper Publisher): When I come to Giant
Forest I don't want to see a scene of desolation like this. Now I'm being
told that 100 years from now this will be in better shape and will be a
renewed area and will be fine. But in the meantime we have several
generations that have to come and deal with this death and destruction. I
don't think it's worth the cost.

WILLIAM TWEED: People expect natural landscapes to be enduring and
unchanging, and that's almost never true. Sooner or later this is all going
to burn. It's either going to burn during an event that we try to control or
it's going to burn on its own terms, on the hottest, driest, windiest day,
in a far more destructive cycle. It's important that people realize that the
choice is not between prescribed fire and no fire, the choice ultimately is
between prescribed fire and wildfire.

NARRATOR: Over the next two decades, the lessons of Sequoia slowly took
hold. Firefighters abandoned the goal of 100 percent suppression and in some
places began to set prescribed fires. They let some wildfires burn until
they died out on their own, a new policy called "prescribed natural fire" or
"let burn." But in another of America's most beloved national parks the "let
burn" approach would be put to a terrible test.

Yellowstone Park: the summer of 1988 was the driest on record, and by early
July a half-dozen fires were burning. At first they were allowed to burn
naturally. But within weeks, over 8,000 acres were charred and park
officials began to worry. The "let burn" policy was suspended.

It was too late. Major fires, christened with ominous names like
"Hellroaring" and "Storm Creek," started outside the park and moved in. High
winds drove embers as far as a mile and a half, starting new fires. Flames
threatened the historic lodges and even the ground under Old Faithful. The
fires defied all efforts at control, joining together into huge flaming
fronts. Thousands of firefighters were deployed, two battalions of Marines.
And millions of dollars were spent in essentially useless efforts to control
the fires. Only the snows of late October finally ended the danger -- after
1.4 million acres burned in and around the park.

BRUCE BABBITT: The politicians immediately blamed everybody in sight, and
the superintendent up at Yellowstone, to his great eternal credit, said,
"Folks, relax. This is a natural event." And lo and behold, two, three, four
years later he was proven right. All of a sudden, the slopes are greening
with new lodgepole pines. The lupin and the summer flowers are blooming, and
the place is just sort of miraculously coming back.

NARRATOR: But to many the destruction was too widespread, too long term. A
national treasure had been horribly damaged, and more conflagrations seemed
inevitable. After more than a half-century of suppression other forests
throughout the country were overgrown and primed for disaster.

WILLIAM ARMSTRONG: And so what you have got now is a carpet of dead and
dying victims of this crowding. Not only enormous quantities of fuel on the
ground, but we have an arrangement of fuels that lead to explosive fire. Now
what we're finding is when the fires burn and burn with these intensities,
what's happening is it's burning everything. And what you're ending up with
is a parking lot. It's burning it right down to this bare mineral soil and
baking it. These are the kinds of fires that kill people, that burn up
towns, entire communities, and there's absolutely nothing we can do but
stand there and watch them until the weather changes or until it runs out of
fuel.

NORMAN L. CHRISTENSEN: Fire managers have a complex job. At one end of the
spectrum of fire behavior we can manage fire effectively and artfully. At
the other end of the spectrum of fuel complexity and quantity we have no
more control over fire burning in a lodgepole pine forest than we do
managing an ice storm. And there's no particular place where we can say,
"Well, these are the fires we can control, or these are the fires we can
prescribe, and these are the fires we can't." There's no threshold.

NARRATOR: What remains is a paradox: our efforts to control fire have
actually made conditions worse, setting the stage for larger, more
catastrophic wildfires than ever before.

STEVE PYNE:    It's a huge mess that is out there. It's going to cost an
enormous amount of money. We can spend a billion dollars now and it doesn't
seem to make a terrific amount of difference. We've reduced our whole
relationship to fire to one thing: as a firefight. And we're trying to fight
fire as though it were a war and, uh, it's probably not going to work much
better than the war on drugs.

...........

NARRATOR: So far, in the year 2000, fires have consumed almost three million
acres, a million more than an average season. They've burned down hundreds
of buildings and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate. More and
more Americans are building homes near wilderness areas. Few are prepared to
share their property with fire.

NEIL SAMPSON: Most of the time those of us that move out into the
countryside don't realize we're in a fire environment because we've never
seen a fire there. Fires have been suppressed there for a very, very long
time. There's not a person out there that has a memory of a large fire. So
in everybody's mind, this is not a fire environment. It hasn't burned.

STEVE PYNE: What we've done is take sort of the two extreme values of
American environmentalism, the city and the wild. We're ramming them
together and it's sort of matter and anti-matter collision, and, uh, we
shouldn't be surprised that it's exploding.

NARRATOR: Even in an environment where wildfire is natural and inevitable,
homeowners still expect the government to protect them at almost any cost.
One way to do this is regular prescribed burning. But prescribed fires are
risky, too, as Los Alamos learned earlier this year. And there's another
downside to prescribed fire, smoke.

NEIL SAMPSON: If we use a lot of fire, we may discomfort an awful lot of
people, because the smoke and the air pollution is a real problem. So, it's
not, uh, a harmless situation. It may be natural, but it's not harmless.

NARRATOR: Time and again, communities limit prescribed burning because of
smoke, leaving themselves more vulnerable to wildfire.

..........

NARRATOR: Whether from prescribed fire or wildfire, there will be smoke.
Here in the northern Rockies, only a few hours from Clear Creek, a dozen
other big fires are burning. A thick, choking haze lies like a blanket over
the region, so wide and dense it can be seen from space.

And smoke is more than an inconvenience for nearby residents. It's a key
factor in global warming -- how much so is one of the biggest questions in
fire science today.

Alaska, the wilderness north of Fairbanks. Sixty-five scientists from around
the world have come to this remote location for "Frostfire." Fifteen years
in the planning, it's one of the largest fire experiments ever conducted in
the United States.

DAVID V. SANDBERG (U.S.D.A. Forest Service Research): This is the boreal
forest. This is a very common feature of, of the whole northern latitudes.
This is a forest that's very much driven by the dynamics of fire.

NARRATOR: In preparation for the Frostfire experiment, sample plots have
been laid out where every twig and pile of leaf litter is measured, every
tree marked with a fire-resistant metal tag...

NARRATOR: One purpose of Frostfire is to find out how forest fires
contribute to global warming, the gradual increase in the earth's
temperature that scientists have observed. So firefighters have cut eight
miles of fireline around this entire valley and plan to burn all 2200
acres...

NARRATOR: Many scientists believe global warming is connected with the
levels of carbon gasses in the air. Carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and
methane, the "greenhouse" gasses, are released by burning fossil fuels and
forests. All living things contain carbon, and one third of the earth's
carbon is found in these northern forests -- some in the trees, more frozen
in the "permafrost," the icy subsoil.

DAVID V. SANDBERG: Permafrost exists in this environment with an average
temperature of about one degree below freezing all year round. So it doesn't
take much in terms of either warming the soil or removing this insulating
layer of duff before that melts. And if that melts a tremendous change will
happen here.

NARRATOR: If the permafrost melts, huge volumes of greenhouse gasses will be
released. This could speed global warming, causing more forest fires. More
fires would release still more gasses, fueling a dangerous spiral of climate
change and fire.

DAVID V. SANDBERG: This is the layer that really counts. It's where the
carbon is. It's where the insulation for the permafrost layer is. So we want
a good severe burn that burns down into this duff and moss layer, but one
that's controllable and manageable. We've been planning this thing for 10,
15 years. And this is the first chance that we've really seen a condition
when we should really get the kind of burn that'll, that'll tell us
something.

NARRATOR: Burn day: the scientists and the firefighters are ready...

NARRATOR: Dave Dash is the burn boss on Frostfire, the man who decides if
conditions are right for the experiment. He has to be sure the 100
firefighters on this burn can keep it under control, and he has to get the
right kind of fire for the scientists.

NARRATOR:  The day after the burn the scientists are hard at work, measuring
the fire's severity and recording its effects...

NARRATOR: The results show that this short burn has released 10 tons of
potent greenhouse gasses. Multiply this by the thousands of wildfires that
burn every year and the answer is frightening.

NEIL SAMPSON: I estimated that in the year 2000 with the fires that were in
the 11 western states, that we may have released the equivalent of 75
million tons of carbon into the atmosphere through the carbon dioxide,
carbon monoxide and methane that was released. So this is a really, really
difficult problem.

NARRATOR: Even worse, emissions from wildfires are only a fraction of those
released by fossil fuels. And no one really knows how much might tip the
earth into major climate change. Global warming has given new urgency to the
search for solutions to the wildfire problem.

WILLIAM ARMSTRONG: The question that we're facing is, "How do we reintroduce
fire into a veritable furnace, for heaven's sakes, with the amount of fuel
and the amount of trees and so forth that have accumulated out here over the
last hundred years?" My opinion is, as a forester and from my experience, I
don't believe that you can utilize fire as your only tool. You got to have
lots of different tools and they have to be used in a way that makes sense.

NARRATOR: Recently, Bill Armstrong tried a new approach in the ponderosa
forests near Los Alamos, thinning and burning. He cut back the small trees
and brush, hauled them away, and then did some light burning. This was an
attempt to recreate conditions that existed before fires were suppressed,
when less dense forests meant less intense fires. When the Cerro Grande fire
roared through Los Alamos, Armstrong had a chance to see if the approach
worked.

WILLIAM ARMSTRONG: What happened here was that, because the stem densities
and the fuels were reduced, when the Cerro Grande fire came over the hill
over there, rather than incinerating this area and burning through the
crowns and leaving a blackened, denuded landscape, the fire dropped to the
ground when it reached this area and behaved very similar to what it
probably historically did and burned along through the ground, through the
debris and needles on the ground. As you can see, none of these trees
suffered any dire effects. They're all still green. In fact, they're
probably better off with the fire coming through this area than if they
hadn't been.

NARRATOR: In areas of the Southwest where thinning and burning have been
tried it's been an ecological success. But thinning makes some
environmentalists nervous. They see it as an opening for uncontrolled
logging. And burning must be done carefully to make sure fires don't escape
and to minimize smoke. It's time-consuming and labor-intensive.

JOHN N. MACLEAN: The government wants to treat 40 million acres of federal
land, uh, over the next fifteen years. They figure about half of that, 20
million acres, uh, will burn naturally. The other 20 million acres they'll
have to put time and money and energy into. This is sometimes uncomfortable
for people in the area, but that's the way they're going.

NARRATOR: Many of these 40 million acres are in remote areas, and it will
cost as much as $20 billion to treat them. But fighting wildfire is also
expensive, well over a billion dollars a year.

NEIL SAMPSON:  The idea of using prescribed fire is a little bit like "pay
me now or pay me later." You're going to get some damage. You're going to
get some smoke. We can spread the smoke throughout the year. If you don't do
it, you're going to get a big fire and you're going to have the smoke all at
once, the concentrations are going to be much worse, and the damages are
going to be much worse. So it's...the problem is we're looking for a
solution that is not perfect, but it's the least damaging...

NARRATOR: Where wildfire is concerned, there are no easy answers. Every
approach has failed or created new problems. Yet there is no choice. We can
no longer fight fire like a war, but we can't walk away from it either.

STEVE PYNE: There really is no neutral position for us. Once we seized the
torch 100,000 years ago, a million years ago, whenever, once we seized that,
uh, we lost the right to walk away from it. That was the responsibility that
came with the power.

NARRATOR: Living close to America's wildlands and maintaining the landscapes
we cherish means accepting that there will be fire. It means fighting fires,
living with fires, even setting fires. It means finding a balance that so
far has been elusive.

...........

To order this show or any other NOVA program for $19.95 plus shipping and
handling, call WGBH Boston Video, at 1-800-255-9424.

The Wildfire Family Activity book, a companion to Fire Wars, is available
free of charge. The book includes a family educational game and activities.
To order, write WGBH, EPO/Wildfire, 125 Western Avenue, Boston,
Massachusetts, 02134.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
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Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
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Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
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This message has also been sent to the NHNE News List, so some of you will
receive it twice...

"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: Special Report: Center of Astrogeology
Tuesday, July 23, 2002
Current Members: 1360

------------

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EDITOR'S COMMENT:

What follows is the Introduction from an NHNE Special Report on the USGS
Astrogeology Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. Full of photographs, QuickTime
movies, important links, and lots of interesting information, I encourage
all of you to swing by and take a look. The page will take few minutes to
load, but it will be worth it. Among other things, this special report
includes an interview with the world's leading and most prolific
asteroid/comet discoverer, Carolyn Shoemaker. Jim Torson, the USGS Computer
Software Engineer who invited me up for a visit, also has some interesting
things to say about visitors from elsewhere, U.S. Government coverups, and
the caliber of research being done by some UFO investigators:

http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/astrogeology/

--- David Sunfellow

------------

A VISIT TO THE USGS CENTER OF ASTROGEOLOGY
IN FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA
Friday, June 21, 2002
Report By David Sunfellow

http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/astrogeology/

INTRODUCTION

NHNE is fortunate to have readers and fans who are engaged in a wide variety
of remarkable activities all over the world.

Take Jim Torson, for example.

Jim is a Computer Software Engineer for the United States Geological Survey
(USGS) Center of Astrogeology in Flagstaff, Arizona. For the past 16 years,
he has been busy creating software that helps process the extraordinary
images that NASA and other government agencies are constantly collecting
from various space probes.

Currently, Jim is developing software for processing images from the THEMIS
instrument on board the Mars Odyssey spacecraft (a probe that has been
orbiting Mars for several months now), the ASTER instrument aboard the EOS
Terra spacecraft, which is a part of a project to monitor climate change by
studying the Earth's glaciers (the GLIMS project), and assisting with the
Mars Exploration Rovers project (which will be sent to Mars in 2003).

Jim also helped produce mosaics of the Moon from images produced by the
Clementine spacecraft. One of these mosaics, the 5-band multispectral
mosaic, fills more than 70 CD-ROM volumes! Many of these mosaics are
available from the National Space Science Data Center.

A few weeks ago, Jim invited me to visit him and take a look at the work
being done at the Astrogeology Center. So I packed a camera and talked James
Gregory and two of my daughters into coming along with me.

Flagstaff is located about 28 miles north of Sedona. It is the first city in
the world to restrict outdoor lighting so that its residents can see the
night skies. It is also home to TWO world class observatories: the Lowell
Observatory and the U. S. Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station.

Overshadowed by towering, forest-covered mountains, there are seven
buildings on the USGS Flagstaff Field Center campus. The folks who work for
the Astrogeology Center are scattered among four of these buildings. With
Jim as our guide, we spent two and a half hours touring offices, examining
maps, posters, and displays, and talking with Jim and other USGS staff
members.

Along with learning about the projects I mentioned above, we discovered, to
our surprise, that the Flagstaff Center played an important role in the
Apollo Moon missions. What's more, the Astrogeology Center was founded by
Gene Shoemaker, "a legend of a man who almost single-handedly created
planetary science as a discipline distinct from astronomy" (see Eugene M.
Shoemaker and The Eugene M. Shoemaker Tribute for a brief overview of Gene's
life and work).

Gene, who died in a tragic car accident in 1997, played major roles in a
number of innovative, forward-thinking projects. Publicly, he is perhaps
best known for helping select and train the Apollo astronauts in lunar
geology and impact cratering; suggesting that asteroids and comets are a
real and present danger to Earth; and discovering, along with his wife
Carolyn and fellow scientist David Levy, the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which
captured the attention of the world when it slammed into Jupiter in 1994.

While Gene is no longer with us, his wife, Carolyn is still alive, kicking,
and working out of an office located on the Flagstaff USGS campus.

Carolyn also happens to be the world's leading and most prolific
asteroid/comet discoverer!

Carolyn began her career as a lay person, at age 51 -- two remarkable facts
considering how much she has accomplished and how important her
contributions have been. (You can find out more about Carolyn and her work
by reading "Comet Hunter" by Jennifer Laing.)

Towards the end of our tour we were fortunate enough to bump into Carolyn
and she graciously took time to answer a few questions concerning her
research and the potential of an asteroid/comet striking planet Earth.

As for Jim, well, he not only gave us a red carpet tour of the Astrogeology
Center, but he also suffered through a torrent of newbie questions.

What did we see and learn?

This website was created to give you a quick overview. It includes a couple
dozen photographs, three QuickTime movies, and lots of interesting
information.

A number of related links have also been tacked on to the end of this report
for those of you who would like to find out more.

Special thanks to Jim for inviting us to see what he was up to; for
answering our many questions; and for providing and/or pointing to much of
the material found in this report. If you would like to thank him -- or
pester him with more newbie questions -- he can be reached at
<jtorson@...>.

And I, of course, can be reached at <nhne@...>.

Complete report, including a QuickTime interview with Carolyn Shoemaker:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/astrogeology/

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@egroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

This post was sent out to the NHNE News List yesterday, so those of you who
are on the News List will receive it twice...

"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: The Dalai Lama Is Oxygen
Thursday, July 25, 2002
Current Members: 1350

------------

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EDITOR'S COMMENT:

The Dalai Lama is one of the most venerated, and respected, human beings on
planet Earth. Why? A couple days ago, I came across a simple article by
Calvin White that seemed to capture what it is about the Dalai Lama that
makes him such a compelling figure. Coincidentally, my eldest daughter also
told me about a book she was reading that included an interview with the
Dalai Lama. The interview took place in 1988. It comes from Catherine
Ingram's book, "In the Footsteps of Gandhi: Conversations With Spiritual
Social Activists". Following White's July 23rd article, I have included a
few poignant excerpts from Ingram's interview. I hope you find them both as
inspiring as I did...

--- David Sunfellow

------------

THE DALAI LAMA IS NOT A ROCK STAR, HE IS OXYGEN
By Calvin White
The Globe & Mail
Tuesday, July 23, 2002

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?current_row=1&
tf=tgam/common/FullStory.html&cf=tgam/common/FullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tga
m/config&vg=BigAdVariableGenerator&date=20020723&dateOffset=&hub=headdex&tit
le=Headlines&cache_key=headdexFeatures&start_row=1&num_rows=1

Earlier this month, 100 metres from Prague's Sky Club Brumlovka, we were
approached by a polite, young fellow wondering if we had a spare ticket for
sale.

It was still two hours before the event was to begin, and, as we rounded the
corner, we were surprised to see some 200 people gathered near the entry
gates. Some held small signs offering to buy tickets for double the value.

It was a sell-out, and many would be left outside.

This is the phenomenon of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet and
1989 Nobel Peace Laureate. The (just-turned) 67-year-old Buddhist monk
travels around the globe by invitation, this time from Czech President
Vaclav Havel. He had already been in Prague for three days of meditation and
meetings with the humanist, intellectual Havel, and now he was giving a
public talk.

Thus, at 6 p.m. on a sultry Tuesday in early July, 1,500 people had jammed
into the dark, cavernous sweatbox of Brumlovka to sit in bleachers and
floor-level chairs for two hours -- to listen in silence to the words of the
Tibetan leader, words first spoken in his cadenced English and then
patiently translated into Czech.

Not a rock star, a famous athlete or celebrity; not offering any spectacle
or compelling entertainment; totally absent of hype or style or power, the
Dalai Lama is unique. He attracts diverse audiences of all age groups, none
bound by religious or ethnic commonality. Only Nelson Mandela approaches
similar worldwide appeal, and he was an actual national leader with a
political power base.

In an era when there is no trust, no faith in the essential depth or honesty
of public figures, the Dalai Lama is oxygen. His ideas are far from
profound. As Gandhi used to proclaim, "My ideas are as old as the hills," so
too is what the Tibetan offers. This night in Prague he talks about
compassion and how, through being compassionate, one attains inner peace and
joyfulness.

His elucidation is slowly and logically drawn out, each idea linked, simply,
until every person in the building nods at the inevitable conclusion.
Indeed, if we offer genuine love to each other, we will all feel better.

The power, of course, is in who is delivering the message and the spirit he
conveys as he does it. Somehow, one hears it differently, more purely, and
considers it more deeply, reduced to greater focus and reflection. Perhaps,
it's because one wants to hear, because the needed trust is there. His
authenticity and gentleness opens ears.

An experience with the Dalai Lama begins at first sight. As soon as he
leaves his car, he starts to make contact with individuals. Instead of
brushing by under the cloak of his security entourage and right away going
to the stage, he stops to linger, shake hands, and, above all, look into
eyes. The latter is what stands out the most. He wants to see who is looking
at him, wants to feel their energy.

The first words he uttered that afternoon in Prague, once he had taken his
seat under a semi-pyramid of colourful prayer flags, were that now he could
see everyone more clearly. That contact and connection is obviously central
to his identity. He doesn't come to lecture but to connect. Each time it was
the Czech translator's turn to convey his comments, the bespectacled Tibetan
scanned the audience, his gaze pausing deliberately on certain individuals
to nod, raise eyebrows, smile, point, or chuckle. Thus, so many feel
touched, and the audience, in general, senses itself not as observers but as
a part of an exchange.

At the end of his talk, he elicits questions. From all over the premises,
hastily scribbled notes find their way to his secretary. Attentively, he
gives each one a serious and considered response, regardless of how often it
must have been posed before. We hear his thoughts on Tibet's struggle for
autonomy, on vegetarianism and non-violence, and on giving money to beggars.
The question that perhaps reveals the most is when he is asked what he keeps
in his red monk's bag.

Immediately, he opened it and began pulling out objects for all to see. A
chocolate bar, a case for his glasses, a toothbrush, Kleenex tissues, and
then after a pause -- a single candy which, to great applause, he promptly
unwrapped and popped into his mouth. Then, a moment later, he plucked out
another candy and gave it to the young Czech woman doing the translating.

Another personal question asked what people could give him for his (then)
impending birthday (July 6). He turned to his secretary to ensure he had
heard correctly and then beamed at the audience. "That is easy," he said,
"Just give me your smiles. It makes me feel good when I see people smile at
me. And if you smile at each other that would also be very good. So you can
just give me your smiles."

Minutes later, he had left the arena, and the crowd was milling around,
about to make their way home. The sky, almost black with thunder clouds, was
soon to unleash a torrential downpour. But since this evening had been so
warm, no one was very concerned.

------------

EXCERPTS FROM "IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF GANDHI"
"His Holiness The Dalai Lama"
By Catherine Ingram
Published in 1990

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0938077244/newheavenneweart

"The interview was over. His Holiness the Dalai Lama sent his secretary,
Tenzin Geyche, to get a Tibetan silver coin to present to me as a gift. As
we waited alone in the receiving room of his private residence, His Holiness
stood, slightly hunched over with his hands clasped behind him. I stood near
an open window which was framed outside by a bougainvillaea in full bloom,
blazing pink in the late afternoon sun. Suddenly His Holiness said to me, 'I
think this lifetime as Dalai Lama is the most difficult of all the Dalai
Lamas.' As I let the power of that statement wash over me, feeling the
poignancy of it, just as suddenly he looked at me there in front of the
radiant window and burst out laughing, saying, 'Life is so colorful.'"

...........

"Without inner peace, it is not possible to have world peace."

...........

"CATHERINE INGRAM: When you first visited Rajghat, the site of Gandhi's
memorial in India, you spoke of feeling a commitment to nonviolence. But
I've also read a story you tell of a bodhisattva on a boat who became aware
that a man on the boat was planning a mutiny which the bodhisattva knew
would cause the death of hundreds of people. In compassion for those people,
the bodhisattva killed the man who would have caused the death of hundreds,
and thereby took on himself the karma of killing.

"DALAI LAMA: Of course, yes.

"CATHERINE INGRAM: Do you think there are times when violence is the
appropriate action?

"DALAI LAMA: My commitment with the Tibetan problem is to nonviolence. In
our case, it is almost certain that violence would not be helpful. I think
it's out of the question. In that story, the man had developed bodhicitta,
altruism. He had developed fully as a true bodhisattva. For a person such as
that, the altruistic motivation is very, very genuine. With that motivation
it is possible to follow some kind of seemingly violent method with
confidence, in order to help others. In my case, I am not fully developed in
that kind of altruism. Of course, I try. And as time goes by, it is
increasing. Still I cannot say I am a bodhisattva. Maybe I am a candidate
for being a bodhisattva. But, you see, I don't have that certainty or
confidence, so it is very risky. The more reliable, the safer thing is
complete nonviolence.

"CATHERINE INGRAM: So unless someone is a fully developed bodhisattva, then
complete nonviolence is the better way.

"DALAI LAMA: Of course. No doubt. And that story of the bodhisattva is
talking about one person's action. But when communities are fighting, it
involves many people. One or two persons may have genuine bodhisattva
altruism, but at the same time there are many people who do not have that
kind of altruism. Then there's every danger to be motivated by anger. Very
dangerous. Very risky."

...........

"CATHERINE INGRAM: If you weren't in your position of being the spiritual
and temporal leader of Tibet, do you think there would be some other kind of
social activism you would undertake, or do you think that you'd prefer to be
a monk living quietly in a monastery?

"DALAI LAMA: Nowadays, I think if I were not the Dalai Lama, I would desire
time in some monastery or some remote place to practice deeper meditation.
In my twenties, thirties, forties, I had a great desire for spiritual
practice. These ideas come after contact with Buddha's teachings or as a
result of some knowledge about Buddhism. But suppose I still remained in my
own place as a farmer's son, then I don't know. As soon as my birth took
place, my father decided that I should become a monk. If those circumstances
had been different, most probably I would have become a technician of some
kind because I am very interested in mechanical things.

"CATHERINE INGRAM: Given the other problems in the world, would there be one
which compelled you to help out more?

"DALAI LAMA: I think at the moment, because of the title Dalai Lama, that is
the primary factor. Another factor is my own personality, as we have already
discussed -- very open, informal, sincere motivation. From that it seems as
if some people might get some kind of mental peace or some benefit.

"But if I were not the Dalai Lama, I don't know. According to basic Buddhist
philosophy of interdependency, or co-dependent origination, how things are
is the reality. So we must make best use of the real situation and choose
the best way from among the possibilities which exist."

...........

"CATHERINE INGRAM: Do you think there will be another incarnated Dalai Lama?

"DALAI LAMA: At the moment it is difficult to say. The next ten or twenty
years will determine this. I think Tibetans still want to have Dalai Lama.
Actually, this is not my concern, but if the Tibetan people want to have
another Dalai Lama, then Dalai Lama will come. If circumstances change and
the majority of Tibetan people are not much concerned about Dalai Lama, then
I will be the last Dalai Lama. That is not my responsibility. Those Tibetans
who are now age five or ten, it is their responsibility. So in twenty,
thirty years when I have passed away, then they will decide.

"CATHERINE INGRAM: I hope you will live a long life.

"DALAI LAMA: According to my dreams, the maximum years would be 110 or 113.
But I could not live that long. So perhaps I will live until I am 90,
between 80 and 90. Then I would become useless, an old Dalai Lama of not
much value.

"CATHERINE INGRAM: I must respectfully disagree, Your Holiness."

------------

PREVIOUS NHNE NEWS LIST ARTICLES ABOUT THE DALAI LAMA:

WHAT BUDDHISTS KNOW ABOUT SCIENCE (7/24/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3462

T: DALAI LAMA WARNS WAR ON TERRORISM COULD BACKFIRE (5/21/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3193

DALAI LAMA HEALTH IMPROVES (1/30/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2637

DALAI LAMA HOSPITALIZED IN BOMBAY (1/27/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2617

DALAI LAMA SICK (1/26/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2613

DALAI LAMA WILL NOT REINCARNATE IN OCCUPIED TIBET (1/9/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2506

DALAI LAMA BUILDS MONUMENTS TO WARD OFF EARTHQUAKES (12/17/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2412

T: DALAI LAMA CRITICS US FOREIGN POLICY (10/24/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2162

THE DALAI LAMA'S LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT (11/13/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1854

DIGITIZING THE DALAI LAMA (8/23/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1765

DALAI LAMA TO PROBE SCIENCE OF EMOTIONS (4/19/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1396

DALAI LAMA: 42ND ANNIVERSARY OF TIBETAN UPRISING (3/15/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1251

DALAI LAMA TO VISIT HINDU FEST (1/25/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1090

THE DALAI LAMA: BODHISATTVA OF PR (12/13/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/898

DALAI LAMA RE-ESTABLISHES CONTACT WITH CHINA (12/5/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/873

DALAI LAMA WARNS OF TIBET GENOCIDE (9/27/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/694

THE DALAI LAMA'S MESSAGE TO WORLD PEACE SUMMIT (8/31/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/633

WORLD'S RELIGIOUS LEADERS MEET WITHOUT DALAI LAMA (8/29/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/618

BEIJING ROUNDS UP PORTRAITS OF DALAI LAMA IN TIBET (8/3/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/535

DALAI LAMA UPSET AT PLIGHT OF COWS IN INDIA (5/31/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/327

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

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Subscribe/unsubscribe/archive info at the bottom of this message.

------------

THE BRAIN GAME
WHAT¹S SEX GOT TO DO WITH IT?
ABC News
July 31, 2002

http://abcnews.go.com/onair/DailyNews/braingame020731.html

If you want a clear illustration of one of the many differences in the ways
men and women think, a simple car ride will paint a pretty clear picture.

When Lori and Rich Boulware of Kendall Park, N.J., hit the road recently,
their navigational radars were tuned into different frequencies. Rich used a
mental map, while Lori used landmarks to get around. As the couple tried to
get around a tricky area of town, Rich said, "Turn left on Webster," while
Lori said, "You have to turn before the ice cream cone."

Dr. Helen Fisher, an expert in gender differences, says the Boulwares are
not unusual in their navigational skills. "Women go from one object to
another. Š A man will say, go two miles down the road and then head east.
That's very different from saying go down to the shoe store and take a left
at the high stone wall."

But these differences begin long before people get their driver's licenses.
The Boulwares are already observing major differences in the way their three
children communicate, particularly their two eldest ‹ Jordan, 11, and
Jerika, 9.

Lori Boulware says her daughter Jerika describes her day with a lot more
drama than her son. "Everything is about relationships," she said. "I know
who was whose best friend today and who fought with who and what boy likes
who. Jordan has no interest in that kind of stuff at all. Jordan would be
happy to just say, 'My day was fine.'"

Do the Boulwares' family stories sound familiar? If so, you're not alone.
Fact is, men and women are very different in the way they speak, behave,
solve problems, and even remember where the car keys are.


Size Isn't Everything

The reasons behind these differences have fueled arguments for generations
and continue to do so today. Is it our biology, or our culture? Many
scientists say it's all in our heads, or, more precisely, in the way men's
and women's brains are designed and the way they function.

A century ago, the discovery that female brains were about 10 percent
smaller than male brains was cited as proof that women could never be as
smart as men ‹ contributing to their status as second-class citizens. We now
know that size isn't everything when it comes to brainpower. Our I.Q.s are
the same. In fact, the highest recorded I.Q. belongs to a woman, a writer
named Marilyn vos Savant.

There are other, perhaps more significant, differences that distinguish male
and female brains. Male brains are wired to move information quickly within
each side ‹ or hemisphere ‹ of the brain. This gives them better spatial
abilities. They can see an object in space, and react quickly.

In women's brains, areas of the cerebral cortex ‹ linked to language,
judgment and memory ‹ are more densely packed with nerve cells than men's
brains. This allows them to process that information more effectively.

Fisher explained that the corpus callosum, which she describes as a "big
highway between the two sides of the brain," is larger in women toward the
rear than it is in men. "Hence," she said, "the two sides of the brain are
better interconnected" in women.

This means that women can absorb and analyze all sorts of information from
the environment simultaneously. This makes women more adept at multitasking,
while men tend to do better tackling one thing at a time.


Hard-Wired in the Womb?

Scientists are developing new ways of looking inside the working brain ‹ to
see just how it's wired. Diagnostic tests such as Functional MRIs, which can
measure blood flow, electrical activity and energy use, are being used to
give researchers pictures of our brains in action.

Drs. Ruben and Raquel Gur, a husband and wife neuroscience team at the
University of Pennsylvania, put men and women inside an MRI and studied how
their brains responded to various verbal and spatial tasks.

In each case, the men's brains "lit up" in a few specific areas, while the
women's brains showed activity in many areas ‹ for both spatial and verbal
tasks. Ruben Gur said the men's brain activity became completely focused,
while women did exactly the opposite, activating other parts of their brain.

Researchers have found that the male brain's ability to focus on one area
works better for spatial tests, while the female brain's approach is better
for verbal tests. Scientists are still trying to figure out why that's the
case.

The differences, researchers say, begin in the womb. At first, all fetuses'
brains are virtually the same. At about nine weeks, however, testosterone
surges through the male fetus, not only creating a boy's body but actually
hard-wiring the brain to be male. Without testosterone to spur those
changes, girls develop "female" brains.

Michael Lewis, director of the Institute for the Study of Child Development
at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, has documented
behavioral differences in children as young as one year of age. In one
study, Lewis placed toddler boys and girls behind a barrier, blocking them
from reaching their mothers.

The male and female children had very different strategies for getting past
the barrier. Lewis said, "The boy child wants to get back to mom and it's
going to climb over that barrier. It's going to knock it down. It's gonna
push on it. It's gonna try to go around the side."

The girls' strategy? According to Lewis, they "get help from another
person." Interestingly, the female children got out from behind the barrier
faster than the boys. They showed distress, and their mothers came and
picked them up.


An Old Brain in a Modern Culture

The degree to which individuals' behavior is determined by their
physiological make-up remains a hotly debated question. Lewis points out
that children grow up in a world that reinforces boy and girl differences ‹
through cartoons, commercials, clothing ‹ and their behavior as adults will
be shaped by these social cues.

Anne Fausto-Sterling, a biologist at Brown University, thinks these external
influences are so substantial that we shouldn't study the brain in
isolation. "I balk at the notion that our brains are hard-wired,"
Fausto-Sterling said. "Our brains develop, and they develop new connections.
So, you never have development outside of culture and experience," she said.

Fausto-Sterling, like Lewis, pointed out that children are bombarded with
"heavily gendered messages." Fausto-Sterling said these messages "start
earlier than we can imagine."

Some researchers say the perception that men excel in motor and spatial
skills while women are stronger in the verbal department is not just an
over-parodied stereotype. Evolutionary scientists claim it all began with
our ancient ancestors.

Fisher said it all goes back to the hunter-gatherer days. Women needed
verbal and emotional skills to cajole, educate and discipline their babies,
while men needed spatial skills out on the hunt. "We've got an old brain in
a very modern culture."


From the Classroom to Career Choices

Researchers are also trying to understand why boys and girls often show
stark differences in academic performance. In grade school, girls usually
outshine the boys in every subject, including math. In high school, however,
it's a different subject altogether.

Lewis noted that "early math really isn't math. It's really more language
problems." Once puberty hits, boys get a second surge of testosterone and
their math and spatial abilities climb dramatically ‹ but some researchers
don't exactly know what the connection is. By the time high school kids take
their SATs, boys outscore girls in the math section by 7 percent.

Fisher said, "It's quite remarkable how much better boys become at all kinds
of spatial skills, mechanical skills, engineering skills, when that surge of
testosterone comes on them." Meanwhile, estrogen starts flooding the girls'
bodies, and experts think that boosts helps them develop stronger verbal and
memory skills. According to Fisher, a woman's verbal ability climbs rapidly
during the middle of the monthly menstrual cycle, when estrogen levels peak.

Some researchers say these physiological differences may predispose men and
women to gravitate toward certain careers. Fisher notes that despite the
move toward equal employment opportunity in the U.S. job market, some 85
percent of the architects in America are still men, and 90 percent of the
mechanics are still men. She said she's not at all surprised that men
gravitate to those jobs that need and require mechanical spatial skills.
Meanwhile, 94 percent of all speech therapists are women, and 99 percent of
all pre-school and kindergarten teachers are female.

Fausto-Sterling cautions that an over-emphasis on innate brain differences
may unfairly limit an individual's opportunities. "By saying something is
innate we shut doors and say, 'Well, this is just the way it is.' We close
down possibilities. For every woman I think of who's sort of stereotypically
female, I can think of one who isn't, and the same for men."

Michael Lewis agrees. "Even if there are dispositions we're born with, it
doesn't mean environments can't alter them. The thing we know about brains
now, that we didn't know ten years ago, is that the brain is not a static
organ. It's changing throughout our lives," Lewis said.


Beauty and the Brain

Differences in the way male and female brains work don't just affect our
career choices or academic aptitudes, they control the way we perceive
beauty, and they may affect how our bodies deal with stress and disease.

While romantics believe love comes from the heart, scientists know it starts
with the brain. When the brain sees something it likes ‹ a very distinct
message is transmitted throughout the body.

Researchers have learned that beauty taps into a part of the brain called
the limbic system, which deals with craving and reward. Dr. Nancy Etcoff, a
Harvard psychologist, has been studying how the brain responds to beauty.

She observed that the so-called reward area in men's brains lit up when they
were shown pictures of beautiful women. The same reward circuitry is
triggered for many different pleasures, researchers say. Some people will
respond similarly to a good meal, cocaine will trigger the same reaction in
addicts. When men were shown photos of attractive men, however, there was no
activity in the brain's reward center at all.

Women responded differently to the photos. "They wanted to get a second
look, not only at the beautiful men, but at the beautiful women," Etcofff
said.


Depression and Women

Because the two halves of their brains are better connected, women may be
more prone to emotional problems. Women make up some two-thirds of those who
suffer from depression. Some researchers say the root of this may lie in the
balance of estrogen and other chemicals in the female brain.

Depression in females usually begins after age 13, when puberty and estrogen
kick in. It is most prevalent during a woman's childbearing years, and drops
off after menopause.

Autoimmune diseases also affect more women than men. Dr. Esther Sternberg of
the National Institutes of Health said women sufferers of these diseases
outnumber men by a two-to-one ratio. Again, researchers think that estrogen
is behind it. The hormone plays a major role in the immune system. When
released, it acts in delicate balance with other hormones in the brain,
including those that fight stress. When estrogen and other hormones are in
equilibrium, the immune system fights off disease. If the balance if off,
however, the immune system can fall asleep at the switch, making you
vulnerable to colds and flu, or it can become hyper-alert and begin
attacking your own body. This can lead to autoimmune diseases.

But researchers are working on new medicines that may target the root of the
problem. They're working to develop drugs that focus on the brain to control
illnesses that devastate the body. Sternberg said, "We have a whole new
category of drugs that we can begin to develop and test, and use to treat Š
a whole host of auto-immune diseases."

------------

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------------

NHNE: Pyramid Builders' Village Found in Egypt
Wednesday, August 7, 2002
Current Members: 1324

------------

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EDITOR'S COMMENT:

This is a follow up to "The Lost City of the Pyramid Builders" report, which
was sent out on Tuesday, November 27, 2001:

http://www.nhne.com/misc/lostcityofpyramidbuilders.html

--- David Sunfellow

------------

PYRAMID BUILDERS' VILLAGE FOUND IN EGYPT
By Brian Handwerk
National Geographic News
August 5, 2002

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0805_020805_giza.html

New evidence uncovered at Giza is adding to our knowledge of who built the
great pyramids, and how they accomplished this timeless feat.

The University of Chicago/Harvard University Giza Plateau Mapping Project,
sponsored in part this season by National Geographic and led by
archaeologist Mark Lehner, has made several new discoveries in an area lying
south of the Sphinx near the workers' cemetery.

The area, often called the "workers' village," is the site of a vast
community that thrived some 4,500 years ago on the Giza Plateau. It may have
housed as many as 20,000 people.

Every discovery in the area is an important piece to a puzzle with no
written key. "On the site we really have no texts," Lehner says, "so we
interpret from what we find on the ground."

Ancient Beds Suggest Barracks Structures

Among this season's interesting finds are mud ramps approximately one meter
wide, believed to be bed platforms. Ancient beds were often designed with
the foot a bit lower than the head.

The beds were found within large "galleries," or colonnaded porches half
open to the sky, which allowed sunlight to stream in and smoke to float out.
Lehner believes the galleries may have served as a dormitory or barracks for
temporary workers, providing sleeping quarters for as many as 2,000 people
at once. Originally excavated during the 1999 to 2002 field seasons, the
galleries appear to be part of a vast complex that also housed activities
such as copper-working and cooking.

Chambers in the rear of the sleeping galleries may have been used for
cooking, roasting, and baking -- suggesting that some of the food production
for workers might have been done on site.

The presence of a barracks could help explain the abundance of pottery, ash,
and refuse found in the area, especially the tremendous amounts of animal
bone. "When we excavate we find enough animal meat bone to feed several
thousands of people," Lehner reported. "This would explain why."

The bones in the area suggest that workers enjoyed quite a lot of prime
beef. Previous excavations have discovered that they also ate bread and
fish, and drank beer.

Analysis of human remains has suggested that workers apparently had access
to medical treatment. Evidence has been found of healed broken bones,
amputated limbs, and even brain surgeries.

Evidence of a New Workers' Town

This year's research also uncovered evidence of a separate workers' town,
dubbed "the Eastern town," complete with courtyards, chambers, and houses.
"It looks like a typical settlement, and that's what we had expected,"
Lehner said. "But we found these curious long galleries and we didn't know
what they were."

"If the galleries mean thousands of people, and the Eastern town means
substantial numbers of people, they were people who moved in very different
ways," Lehner explained. "In the Eastern town, the powers that be are
allowing them to organize themselves as they see fit."

Lehner speculates that the Eastern town housed skilled craftsmen, artisans,
stone masons, quarrymen, overseers, and officials. The discovery of the town
area reinforces the theory that ancient Egyptians utilized both permanent
skilled labor, and a temporary workforce to complete the massive
construction project.

While such temporary labor was not voluntary, Lehner suggests, neither was
it slave labor in the sense most commonly assumed.

Beginnings of Egyptian Unity?

"It's hard for modern Americans and Europeans to understand what obligation
was like in a traditional pre-modern society," Lehner said. "Obligation was
understood -- it was a part of society, which was sometimes nothing more
than your clan or your village."

But while labor in the ancient world was obligatory, Lehner believes it did
not have to be a totally unpleasant experience.

"The picture of a highly centralized bureaucracy going through the land and
conscripting people for labor by force -- it's highly doubtful," said
Lehner. "Instead, it's the local rulers, heads of villages, large estates,
that the royal house goes to when they need labor."

Because the labor pool was a rotating force, contributed by local
authorities from all over Egypt, the Pyramids project may have had a
tremendous socializing effect.

"It was a coming together of people from throughout the land," said Lehner.
"By coming and working in this place, it socialized information and bound
all these disparate areas, these provinces, into a whole. It was really the
beginnings of Egyptian unity."

"That's why I like to say my interest now is not so much how the Egyptians
built the pyramids but how the pyramids helped to build Egypt."

Site Could Yield First Old Kingdom Royal Palace

While the workforce might have been disparate, the royal house was likely
the driving force behind the pyramids' construction. As excavations
continue, Lehner and his team hope to find further evidence of royal
presence on the site.

A group of mud-brick silos surrounding a rectangular court was also found
this year, which probably stored huge quantities of grain used for baking
bread. They are situated within a royal structure for storage and
administration of the complex, first viewed during the 2001 field season,
and excavated in 2002.

"It's been my expectation that we wouldn't have a barracks out there by
itself in the desert," Lehner said. "Whenever they organized production it
was always centered around a household."

On a small-scale project, this might mean an ordinary household. On bigger
projects, it was that of a governor or a palace. "When we started finding
bakeries some ten years ago, my expectation was that there would be a royal
house right there," Lehner said.

Such expectations may yet be realized. The team has uncovered a small part
of some tantalizing remains, which lie primarily beneath a soccer field.

"We've begun to clear a very big double-walled and triple-walled building,"
Lehner enthused, "and inside we find lots of chambers, evidence of weaving,
copperwork and a big court where we found the sunken silos. It could be a
palace, or some sort of administration building. If this site follows the
pattern of other sites, we should have the residence of an important person
on the site."

If that person turns out to be one of the ancient Pharaohs, a unique
archaeological treasure could lie beneath the playing field -- Egypt's first
Old Kingdom royal palace.

The new discoveries will be featured in an upcoming National Geographic
Channel global television event on September 16, 2002.

The live two-hour documentary will air in 141 countries. In the United
States, FOX will present National Geographic Channel Presents "Pyramids
Live: Secret Chambers Revealed", Monday, September 16, 8:00-10:00 PM ET
live/PT tape delay.

In the rest of the world, the special event "Egypt: Secret Chambers
Revealed" will be aired live in 140 countries by the National Geographic
Channel. Check listings in your country for details.

Viewers of the television event will be able to go on a live archaeological
expedition deep inside the secret and complex shafts within the Queen's
chamber in the Great Pyramid, also known as Khufu's Great Pyramid, after the
Egyptian Pharaoh who is believed to have built it.

National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Zahi Hawass, who is now head of
Egypt's antiquities, along with American archaeologist Mark Lehner, will
serve as the expedition's leaders. During the special, Hawass and Lehner
will offer answers to two of history's most perplexing mysteries -- how the
Great Pyramid of Giza was built and who executed the awe-inspiring
enterprise.

The special will visit the nearby workers' cemetery, where a historic
discovery recently was made: The oldest intact Egyptian sarcophagus of its
kind ever found by modern archaeologists was unearthed in a tomb inscribed
with the grand title "Overseer of the Administrative District." The coffin
has been sealed for more than 4,500 years, and viewers will be there as
archaeologists crack the lid for the first time and unveil its ancient
contents.

The Queen's chamber inside Khufu's Great Pyramid contains architecturally
complex shafts, whose function and purpose remain unknown to this day. With
a custom-built robot equipped with fiber-optic lenses, high-resolution
cameras, and the world's smallest ground-penetrating radar antenna, the
archaeologist team will travel deep into the mysterious shafts, attempting
to peer beyond a blocking stone to look for new clues about Pharoah Khufu
and his Great Pyramid.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@egroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

This message has been sent to both our News List and Main List so some of
you will receive it twice.

"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: The Scientific Search For Immortality
Thursday, August 29, 2002
Current Members: 1331

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EDITOR'S COMMENT:

We've been tracking all sorts of developments in anti-aging research and the
quest for physical immortality. The following article provides a good
summary of current ideas, controversies, and research.

--- David Sunfellow

EXCERPTS:

"Every body harbors a line of immortal cells: the germ cells that produce
eggs and sperm. Germ cells migrate from body to body down the millennia,
disposing of their worn-out carriers as they move on. Once your ovaries or
testes are done with you, they couldn't care less whether you live."

.........

"Significant aging is a relatively new phenomenon. Over evolutionary
history, once creatures began to falter in any way, they were eaten or
dropped dead of disease -- eaten by bacteria, as it were -- so they never
had a chance to get old. 'As soon as an animal in the wild starts to slow
down even a little bit, it's eliminated from the population very quickly,'
says Simon Melov, a researcher at the Buck Institute, a nonprofit
organization devoted to aging research. 'Aging is not a natural state for us
either,' he adds. 'The evidence we have indicates that 10,000 to 20,000
years ago, most people didn't live much past 30.' Today, the only creatures
that actually experience aging are human beings and the animals they
protect, such as pets and livestock."

.........

"Still, as far as we know, the maximum human life span is the 122 years
achieved by the cigarette-smoking French woman Jeanne Calment, who died in
1997."

.........

"Probably the most promising immediate thing you can do to increase your
chances of seeing your great-grandchildren is to stop eating so much.
Calorie restriction is the only known technique for increasing the life
spans of many different organisms."

.........

"Barbara Hansen, a diabetes researcher at the University of Maryland, has
spent 20 years investigating the effects of calorie restriction on rhesus
monkeys. The experiment has not run long enough to determine if the ultimate
life spans of the calorie-restricted monkeys will be increased. But on
several related issues, her findings are unequivocal: When she compares old
calorie-restricted monkeys to old monkeys that eat what they want, the
calorie-restricted ones do not have heart disease, diabetes, or
hypertension, and their cholesterol is lower. They're healthier..."

------------

FOREVER YOUNG
THE NEW SCIENTIFIC SEARCH FOR IMMORTALITY
By Ronald Bailey
Reason.Com
August 2002

http://www.reason.com/0208/fe.rb.forever.shtml

Goat testicle transplants. Elixirs of jade. Inhaling the breath of virgins.
Injecting crushed dog gonads. Drinking radioactive waters.

These are just a few of the ways people have sought to lengthen their lives
and renew their vitality. The oldest narrative to come down to us through
the millennia -- the Gilgamesh saga, from ancient Sumeria -- describes a
quest for immortality and perpetual youth. Enkidu, bosom buddy of the
semi-divine King Gilgamesh, is killed for mocking the gods. The heartbroken
king seeks the advice of Utnapishtim and his wife, the only two mortals to
whom the gods have granted eternal life. Utnapishtim directs Gilgamesh to a
certain waterweed that will restore his youth. Gilgamesh finds it but falls
asleep, and a snake eats the weed. In the end, Gilgamesh realizes that the
only immortality human beings can aspire to is making names for themselves
as builders of cities.

This is, to say the least, unsatisfactory. As Woody Allen once put it, "I
don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it
through not dying." Modern biomedical researchers, in the quest for the
equivalent of Gilgamesh's waterweed, have made great progress in unraveling
the mystery of aging. Physical immortality may not be in the immediate
offing, but the day may come when death is radically postponed, if not fully
optional.

The barriers to this goal are not just biological but political. Believe it
or not, some of our most influential contemporary intellectuals are opposed
to the idea of long, healthy lives. "The finitude of human life is a
blessing for every individual, whether he knows it or not," wrote Leon Kass,
the president's favorite bioethicist, in the May 2001 issue of First Things.
Francis Fukuyama warns in his new book Our Posthuman Future that young
geezers will "refuse to get out of the way; not just of their children, but
their grandchildren and great grandchildren."

And then there's Daniel Callahan, co-founder of the Hastings Center, the
nation's leading bioethics think tank. "There is no known social good coming
from the conquest of death," he declared at a March 2000 conference on aging
and life extension. He added, "The worst possible way to resolve this issue
is to leave it up to individual choice."

On the scientific front, though, there's good reason for optimism. "The
prospects of dramatically increasing human longevity are excellent,"
declares Steven Austad, a biologist at the University of Idaho. "Don't
expect them tomorrow, but there will be major advances within the next 50
years." Austad, author of the 1997 book Why We Age: What Science Is
Discovering About the Body's Journey Through Life, expects 20- to 40-year
jumps in longevity to occur later in this century.

"We see ourselves on the cusp of the second longevity revolution," agrees
Jay Olshansky, a demographer at the University of Chicago and the author of
The Quest for Immortality (2001). "Scientists are on the verge of
discovering major secrets of aging." The first longevity revolution occurred
in the early 20th century, as infant mortality declined and infectious
diseases were conquered; as a result, more young people now enjoy the
opportunity to become old. The next longevity revolution, by contrast, will
actually postpone old age.

Of the two researchers, Olshansky can be considered the pessimist. He bet
Austad $500 million that there will no 150-year-old person alive and in
fairly good shape in 2150. The bet was set up as a trust fund endowed by
$150 from each scientist. Given the math behind compound interest, the
winner's heirs will get the $500 million payout on January 1, 2150.

Love and Death

Woody Allen might appreciate the science of longevity as well as the
results. Sex and death, it turns out, are inextricably intertwined. "It
doesn't pay to have a body that will last forever," notes Austad. "Evolution
only cares about reproduction." Every body harbors a line of immortal cells:
the germ cells that produce eggs and sperm. Germ cells migrate from body to
body down the millennia, disposing of their worn-out carriers as they move
on. Once your ovaries or testes are done with you, they couldn't care less
whether you live.

Here, then, is the definitive answer to the eternal question: Which came
first, the chicken or the egg? The egg did. A chicken is merely an egg's way
of making more eggs.

In the case of human beings, evolution has selected for a set of genes that
keep our bodies in pretty good shape long enough to mature sexually, produce
progeny, and raise those progeny to sexual maturity. Time elapsed: about 40
years. The evolutionary insight here is that if a body invests a lot of
energy in repairing itself, it will reduce the amount it can devote to
reproduction. That may be good for individual bodies, but your germ cells
have no interest in keeping you forever young.

The UCLA biologist Michael Rose firmly established the evolutionary
connection between sex and death by breeding fruit flies. Rose selected only
those flies that reproduced late in life and bred them with one another. The
longer it took the insects to reproduce, the longer they lived. Rose now has
flies that live 130 days instead of the usual 40.

The connection was further bolstered this January by Cynthia Kenyon, a
biologist at the University of California at San Francisco. Kenyon reported
that she could double the life spans of nematode worms by removing their
germline stem cells -- the cells that produce eggs and sperm. Then there's
Lawrence Donehower's recent research at Baylor Medical College. Donehower
has found that the genes that are helpful in guaranteeing a robust youth are
harmful in the long run. The tumor-suppressing p53 gene keeps us from
developing cancers in early life, but at the cost of stimulating our immune
systems to destroy over time the reserve of rapidly dividing stem cells that
replenish our tissues. As our stem cells are killed off, our tissues
deteriorate. The result of this "antagonistic pleiotropy" is aging.

Another example of antagonistic pleiotropy was discovered by the biologist
Leonard Hayflick in 1961. Hayflick, now at U.C.­San Francisco, found that
human cells in vitro would divide only 50 to 80 times, then stop. For a
while, some researchers thought this "Hayflick limit" might be the key to
aging. What it appears to be is an evolved mechanism to prevent cancer.
Cancer is the uncontrolled proliferation of cells, and as cells divide they
often accumulate errors that predispose them toward becoming cancerous. If
there is a limit on the number of times a cell can divide, such a limit
prevents cells from eventually mutating into cancer cells.

How do cells know when to stop? Through telomeres, caps composed of
repetitive DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes. These function somewhat
like the aglets on the ends of shoelaces that keep them from unraveling.
Through a peculiarity in DNA replication, each time a cell divides, its
daughter cells lose a tiny bit of their telomeres. Once the telomeres are
gone, the cell stops dividing and becomes senescent.

Two types of cells do not suffer this problem. One is the germ cells that
are the progenitors of sperm and eggs. Their telomeres are restored by an
enzyme called telomerase, making them essentially immortal. The other group
is cancer cells. They can divide without limit, which is what makes them so
deadly.

Significant aging is a relatively new phenomenon. Over evolutionary history,
once creatures began to falter in any way, they were eaten or dropped dead
of disease -- eaten by bacteria, as it were -- so they never had a chance to
get old. "As soon as an animal in the wild starts to slow down even a little
bit, it's eliminated from the population very quickly," says Simon Melov, a
researcher at the Buck Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to aging
research. "Aging is not a natural state for us either," he adds. "The
evidence we have indicates that 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, most people
didn't live much past 30." Today, the only creatures that actually
experience aging are human beings and the animals they protect, such as pets
and livestock.

The Roots of Aging

But what is aging, anyway? We all know it when we see it, but it's very hard
to tease aging itself from the various diseases that accompany it. Michael
Straight, a former editor of The New Republic, was asked when he was 80 what
it felt like to be an old man. Straight replied, "I feel like a young man
who's got something very bad wrong with him." In the language of
gerontology, there are no good biomarkers for aging.

Even today, many things besides aging kill people -- primarily, diseases and
accidents. Then again, as we age we become increasingly vulnerable to the
shocks and diseases that can kill us. In modern societies, disease plays a
relatively small role in killing off younger people: If all the causes of
death in the United States before age 50 were eliminated, average life
expectancy would increase by only three and a half years. Meanwhile, Jay
Olshansky has estimated that if all deaths from heart disease, cancer, and
stroke were eliminated entirely the average life expectancy in the United
States would increase to between 90 and 95. In the 19th century the
insurance actuary Benjamin Gompertz pointed out that as people age, their
chance of dying doubles every eight years or so. Thus, a 35-year-old is
twice as likely to die at age 43 and four times as likely to die at age 51.

Is there an upper limit on human lifespans? Researchers reported in the
April 29 Science that life expectancy has been increasing at about two and a
half years per decade for the last 160 years. Demographers like Olshansky,
they note, have been consistently wrong in predicting an upper limit to
human life expectancy. In 1928, for example, the demographer Louis Dublin
predicted that average life expectancy in the United States would never
exceed 64.75 years. Today it is 76.7.

At this rate of improvement, the authors of the Science report conclude,
"record [average] life expectancy will reach about 100 in six decades."
Still, as far as we know, the maximum human life span is the 122 years
achieved by the cigarette-smoking French woman Jeanne Calment, who died in
1997.

Aging is accompanied by lots of simultaneous changes -- graying hair,
thinning bones, weakening muscles, failing immune systems. So far,
researchers have not figured out whether those changes are aging itself or
just symptoms of some more general process of decay.

Scientists are now in wide agreement that aging can largely be traced to the
damage done to our cells by free radicals. A free radical is an atom or
molecule that has at least one unpaired electron, causing it to be very
chemically reactive. Lots of free radicals are created in cells as they
produce energy. Free radicals disrupt a cell's DNA and protein synthesis and
repair mechanisms. The Berkeley biologist Bruce Ames has calculated that
oxygen radicals damage the DNA inside each cell some 10,000 times per day.

Each time a cell replicates, it copies all of the billions of DNA base pairs
that comprise its genome. Cells are very crowded and chemically energetic
places, so miscopying sometimes occurs. Fortunately, evolution has devised
molecular machines that can rapidly read and then correct most of the
copying mistakes, keeping the cells to a fantastically accurate rate of one
error per billion nucleotide replications. However, each time the repair
mechanisms miss a mistake, it becomes encoded in the DNA -- and the next
time duplication occurs, the miscopied DNA is treated as correct. As a
result, errors accumulate over time. Miscopied genes lead to the production
of distorted proteins, which are inefficient when they work at all. The
accumulated molecular damage causes a 0.5 percent decline per year in
overall physical capacity after age 30.

Increasingly, researchers are focusing their attention on the damage free
radicals cause in the tiny energy-producing organelles called mitochondria.
Like any other power plant, mitochondria produce not just energy but also
wastes and pollution, including copious free radicals. As good as
mitochondria are at mopping these up, some of them nevertheless get loose
and damage the tiny DNA genomes at the heart of the mitochondria. Free
radicals create a cellular death spiral by mutating mitochondrial DNA, which
in turn degrades their energy production and increases the production of
free radicals, refueling the cycle.

Other research points to another process linking free radicals to aging.
Apparently, we are literally cooking ourselves to death. In cooking, sugars
and proteins stick together to form tasty brown crusts like those on French
toast. Our own metabolisms are a form of low-temperature cooking that causes
sticky sugars such as glucose to cross-link with proteins to create advanced
glycation end products (AGEs). AGEs are biological junk that accumulates in
cells, interfering with their functions over time. For example, AGEs reduce
the elasticity and flexibility of the collagen in our ligaments. They are
also linked to diabetes and to cardiovascular disease.

In a related process, our cells' recycling centers, called lysosomes, become
clogged with cross-linked proteins and other cellular rubbish. This cellular
gunk is called lipofuscin. Lipofuscin-filled lysosomes slowly crowd and
hinder other cellular functions.

Another process involving free radicals is inflammation. Inflammation occurs
when our immune system cells drench invaders such as bacteria and viruses
with free radicals to rip them apart. The problem is that sometimes the
inflammatory attacks don't ratchet down when the threat is gone, and our
immune cells keep pumping out free radicals. Chronic inflammation has been
linked to many diseases associated with aging, including arthritis,
atherosclerosis, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and cancer.

The free radical theory of aging is backed by more than seven decades of
research on calorie restriction. In 1935 Clive McCay, a professor of
nutrition at Cornell, noted that if laboratory rats are fed only about
two-thirds of the food they would freely choose to eat, their life spans
increase by 40 percent to 50 percent. This result has been confirmed many
times since then. Researchers think that semi-starvation may make metabolic
processes more efficient, producing fewer free radicals and also perhaps
boosting cells' DNA repair systems, since the hungry organism may have to
live longer in order to reproduce.

Besides free radicals and telomere shortening, re-searchers have long noted
that as our bodies age the levels of several key hormones begin to decline
-- testosterone for men, estrogen in women, DHEA and growth hormone for
everyone. Boosting the levels of these hormones has become the stock in
trade for the growing business of longevity clinics.

Immortality When?

So what are your chances of living forever? First the bad news. As U.C.­San
Francisco's Leonard Hayflick recently told The Washington Post, "There is no
intervention that has been proven to slow, stop, or reverse aging. Period."

Now the good news: Despite that, researchers are making a lot of progress.

Probably the most promising immediate thing you can do to increase your
chances of seeing your great-grandchildren is to stop eating so much.
Calorie restriction is the only known technique for increasing the life
spans of many different organisms. The foremost advocate of this approach is
probably the UCLA biologist Roy Walford, whose Web site offers menus for
those who want to pursue longer life by dieting themselves nearly to death.
Calorie restriction may not make your life longer, but it will certainly
make it feel that way.

Barbara Hansen, a diabetes researcher at the University of Maryland, has
spent 20 years investigating the effects of calorie restriction on rhesus
monkeys. The experiment has not run long enough to determine if the ultimate
life spans of the calorie-restricted monkeys will be increased. But on
several related issues, her findings are unequivocal: When she compares old
calorie-restricted monkeys to old monkeys that eat what they want, the
calorie-restricted ones do not have heart disease, diabetes, or
hypertension, and their cholesterol is lower. They're healthier.

There is no question that maintaining a reasonable weight prevents the onset
of many illnesses associated with aging. But what if you find the notion of
living without foie gras and pepperoni pizza unbearable? Is there hope for
you?

There may be. Hansen hopes that by starving monkeys she can pave the way to
a pill providing all the health benefits of calorie restriction while
allowing you to inhale all the ice cream and beer you want. She has
identified a compound that affects the PPAR-Delta receptor, which improves
the body's response to insulin and glucose, mimicking the benefits of
calorie restriction. It is now in early testing by Glaxo.

Calorie restriction research could also help us discover aging's elusive
biomarkers. With the sequencing of the human genome and the advent of chip
gene technologies, researchers can monitor the simultaneous actions of
thousands of genes in tissues. The aim is to characterize the differences
between the gene activity in tissues from old people and the gene activity
in tissues from young people. Already, chip tests have found that the gene
expression of tissues taken from old, calorie-restricted mice is similar to
that found in young mice.

Among other benefits, finding such biomarkers would be a major advance in
testing interventions for their effectiveness in slowing aging. Right now,
the only way to see whether a proposed longevity treatment works is to wait
for people to die.

Cloning for Longevity

If calorie restriction isn't your cup of tea, regenerative medicine is the
next best bet for near-term success. The most promising path to regenerative
medicine is the controversial process known as therapeutic cloning. If you
need a new heart or liver, it might be possible to grow a new perfect
transplant using your own cells. The process would involve transferring the
nucleus of one of your skin cells to an enucleated human egg, which would
then grow in a petri dish to the blastocyst stage. Stem cells would be
harvested from the blastocyst and transformed into the desired tissues for
transplant.

Stem cells have been found in adult tissues, in umbilical cord blood from
newborns, and in embryos. All have shown some promise. William Haseltine,
the CEO of Human Genome Sciences, recently predicted in The Washington Post
that it will one day be possible to "reseed the body with our own cells that
are made more potent and younger, so we can repopulate the body." But stem
cell transplants are at least 10 years away -- or even longer, if Leon Kass
and his allies succeed in banning therapeutic cloning. Since the chorus
calling for a ban includes President Bush, the prospects for research in
this area are not as bright as they ought to be.

Another problem: Regenerative medicine does not stop or slow aging. It just
fixes the problems and diseases that accompany aging. In a sense, it's just
a better form of conventional medicine. Continually trading in your old,
worn-out organs for new ones is certainly better than the alternative, but
it would be ever so much more pleasant if you could just stay young forever.

The true fountain of youth will involve stopping those pesky free radicals
that are wrecking your DNA and cooking your tissues to death. The most
popular anti-aging regimen, practiced by millions of Americans, is to pop
anti-oxidant vitamin and mineral pills. There is no firm scientific evidence
that gobbling down such supplements actually increases life spans. Simon
Melov of the Buck Institute for Aging Research notes that the effects of
anti-oxidant pills are fairly weak, since most of the nutrients don't get
inside the cells where the free radical damage is occurring. Jay Olshansky
dismisses megadose vitamin supplements as "a way to make expensive urine."

On the other hand, Olshansky admits that some people can benefit from
vitamin supplements. Epidemiological studies show that vitamin E supplements
might help 12 percent of the population. The problem is, each individual has
no way of knowing now whether he or she is part of that 12 percent.
Nevertheless, many of us cover our bets by taking supplements anyway.

A recent study conducted by Bruce Ames' team at Berkeley found that
lethargic old rats are perked up by l-carnitine and alpha lipoic acid. Their
mitochondrial function improves, they become more active, and their memories
get better. A company called Juvenon, founded by Ames and others, is testing
the supplements in people with the goal of finding an effective human dose.

Meanwhile, Thomas Perls of Harvard is hunting for longevity genes. Perls
noticed a decade ago that people who live to be 100 are often in remarkably
good shape. Today, he runs the New England Centenarian Project, whose
participants must be 100 years old and have siblings who lived to be over
90. By looking at DNA taken from some 600 participants so far, Perls has
found that a region on chromosome four appears to help its carriers become
healthy geezers.

Perls and his colleagues have formed a company called Centagenetix to narrow
the search for the longevity gene. Once it's identified, Centagenetix will
try to produce a Methuselah pill that mimics the activity of the proteins
made by the longevity gene.

The M.I.T. biologist Leonard Guarente recently showed that nematode worms
with more than one copy of a gene called SIR2 live 50 percent longer than
normal worms. This may explain why calorie restriction increases life span,
because SIR2 slows down gene activity when a cell is being starved. Guarente
and Cynthia Kenyon have already identified genes and enzymatic pathways that
increase the life spans of invertebrate species. They believe that these
same mechanisms will be found in people, giving them targets at which to aim
anti-aging drugs. Guarente and Kenyon have created a company called Elixir,
which will try to develop such pharmaceuticals.

Eurkarion, a privately held biotech start-up in Massachusetts, is working
with the Buck Institute's Melov to test its novel small-molecule
anti-oxidant compounds. Melov has genetically engineered mice that don't
produce superoxide dismutase, the oxygen-scavenging enzyme that protects
mitochondria from free radicals.

Such mice typically die within a week after birth. They suffer from enlarged
hearts, damaged livers, and a spongiform brain ailment that looks very much
like mad cow disease. But when these mice are injected with compounds that
mimic the effects of superoxide dismutase and catalase (a compound that
transforms hydrogen peroxide into water), they live four times longer.
Eukarion is currently testing one of its compounds as a topical application
to heal skin damaged by radiation treatments. It plans to test further
compounds as treatments for degenerative neurological diseases in human
beings.

As for the gunk built up in our cells, researchers are testing some
compounds that break apart AGEs, enabling cells to get rid of them. In
preliminary testing, a compound called Pimagedine has improved cardiac
function in rats, dogs, and primates. It is also being tested for efficacy
in treating kidney failure associated with diabetes. Another anti-AGEing
compound, ATL-711, has shown some promise as a treatment to reverse
age-related and diabetes-related cardiovascular diseases and restore
function to the cardiovascular system.

Runaway Hormones

What about lengthening telomeres? Remember, our immortal germ cells activate
the gene that produces the enzyme telomerase, which restores the ends of
their telomeres whenever they divide. Cancer cells also stimulate production
of the enzyme. The Geron Corporation is conducting research into how to use
telomerase to fight cancer. The idea is that if you can turn off telomerase
in the cancer cells they will stop dividing and commit cellular suicide,
called apoptosis.

Some researchers have suggested that it might be possible to make normal
cells immortal by getting them to produce telomerase, which could prevent
the shortening of their protective telomeres. It seems logical that if
telomere shortening causes cells to become senescent, lengthening them
should rejuvenate them and the tissues in which they reside. Still,
according to Barbara Hansen, there is little evidence that telomere
shortening causes senescence on the organism level.

Hormone replacement therapy is second only to vitamin supplements in
popularity among those seeking the fountain of youth. The aim here is to
restore the hormones that decline with age to their youthful levels. The
most popular hormones involved are DHEA, human growth hormone, melatonin,
testosterone, and estrogen.

The notion that hormones could restore youth has a long and disreputable
history. In the late 19th century the noted French physiologist Charles
Edouard Brown-Sequard injected himself and his patients with extracts from
the testicles of young dogs and guinea pigs, then declared that the
treatments had restored his physical vigor and mental acuity. In the early
20th century the American John Brinkley claimed to restore men's vitality by
transplanting goat testicles into them. He performed over 16,000 transplants
before he died, though his medical license was revoked after some of his
customers claimed a new compulsion "to chew sprouts."

More recently, hormone replacement therapies took off after the
endocrinologist Daniel Rudman reported in 1990 that a dozen older men he had
injected with growth hormone three times a week had more muscle mass, less
fat, tauter skin, and lower cholesterol levels. Subsequent studies have
shown that these quality-of-life benefits are real but slight. In fact,
regular exercise is more effective in obtaining most of the gains achieved
from injecting growth hormone.

Furthermore, there is no evidence that growth hormone treatments increase
longevity. Indeed, mice that overproduce growth hormone die sooner than
normal mice, and fruit flies that underproduce growth hormone live longer
than normal flies. In addition, some researchers suspect that supplementary
growth hormone may increase the risk of cancer.

DHEA is the most abundant steroid in the body, yet nobody knows much about
what it does. It is clear that DHEA levels peak in a person's early 20s and
decline as he or she ages. Interestingly, feeding DHEA to mice, which
produce very small quantities of this hormone naturally, increases their
life spans by 40 percent. In Why We Age, Steve Austad notes that in the few
scientifically valid human trials involving DHEA supplementation, the
hormone produced "some improvement in immune response, muscle strength, and
sleep patterns among the elderly." Still, not much is known about the
effects of the long-term use of this hormone, so most researchers advise
caution.

Much has also been made of the so-called "melatonin miracle." But rigorous
testing of melatonin's effects on human beings has not been done yet. Mice
that are fed melatonin live 5 percent longer but are at a greater risk of
developing tumors. Again, most researchers advise caution.

So far, estrogen replacement therapy is the most effective hormone
treatment. Epidemiological evidence suggests that supplemental estrogen
after menopause helps prevent osteoporosis. But recent research has undercut
claims that estrogen therapy reduces the risk of heart disease and dementia.
Using estrogen does slightly increase the risk of ovarian cancer and
promotes the growth of existing breast tumors. Estrogen may delay the onset
of certain diseases that become more common as women grow older, but there
is no evidence that it increases users' life spans.

Testosterone levels generally drop in men as they age. Research on
testosterone has lagged behind estrogen research, perhaps because of the
unsavory treatments of the past and perhaps because of steroid abuse among
athletes. There are some indications that testosterone replacement can
provide benefits to older men, including increasing muscle tone, overcoming
erectile dysfunction, and improving their overall sense of well-being. On
the other hand, it might promote the growth of any pre-existing prostate
tumors. There are other unwelcome side effects, including increased
hairiness and acne. And there is no evidence that testosterone
supplementation will increase longevity.

The Genetic Imperative

Looking further down the road, once the genes that promote disease
(Alzheimer's, diabetes, cardiovascular problems) and those that promote
longevity are identified, it will become possible for parents to select
favorable genes for their progeny. Already, more than 1,000 healthy children
have been born after their parents used pre-implantation genetic diagnosis
to select among eight-cell embryos to find the ones that were free of
disease genes. In the future, parents might also select embryos that bear
longevity-promoting genes and implant those. Further in the future, parents
will be able to add genes that improve their progeny's immune systems,
mental acuity, and athletic abilities by installing artificial chromosomes.

The Cambridge gerontologist Aubrey de Grey wants to genetically engineer
mitochondrial genes into the nuclei of cells, where they would be better
protected from the ravages of free radicals. He believes that once those
genes are better protected they will not be so quickly mutated into the free
radical death spiral. Once the vicious circle of mitochondrial mutations
producing ever more free radicals is broken, longer life should result, he
argues.

Even further in the future, another method to improve how human cells
protect themselves from the ravages of free radicals might be possible. Some
animals, such as birds, have more effective anti-oxidant protective
mechanisms. Using them as a model, we might tweak our own genes. This could
be the moral equivalent of replacing human anti-oxidant genes with similar
but more effective genes from birds.

An even more visionary approach has been suggested by Robert Bradbury, whose
startup Robiobotics is investigating the possibility of repairing whole
genomes by using bacteria to ferry artificial chromosomes into human cells.
The genetically engineered bacteria would infect billions of a patient's
cells and deliver artificial chromosomes carrying a suite of hundreds of
genes specifically aimed at repairing the damage done by free radicals. Some
genes on the artificial chromosomes might be replacements for damaged genes;
others would be designed to enhance cellular DNA repair. Skeptics point out
that our immune systems would likely do in Robiobotics' designer bacteria,
but Bradbury suggests that the problem might be dealt with by using a
transitory immunosuppressive therapy that would give the genetically
engineered bacteria an opportunity to reach their desired cellular targets.

Nanomedical Insurance

But this focus on biological interventions may be wrongheaded. After all,
some argue, we don't fly because we sprouted wings, so neither will we live
longer because we've fiddled with our genomes. Why not make machines that
hunt down harmful disease organisms and repair damaged cells? That is the
ambitious aim of nanomedicine.

Nanotechnology is the science and technology of building devices using
single atoms and molecules. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, a length
that is just over the diameter of many atoms. Conceptually, nanotechnology
and biotechnology are not all that distinct. In the words of Rita Colwell,
the director of the National Science Foundation, "Life is nanotechnology
that works."

Proponents of medical nanotechnology -- such as Ralph Merkle, a former
research scientist at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center and now a fellow at
the Texas nanotech company Zyvex -- outline an ambitious vision.
"Nanotechnology will let us build fleets of computer-controlled molecular
tools much smaller than a human cell and with the accuracy and precision of
drug molecules," Merkle declared in the Winter 1999 issue of the Anti-Aging
Medical News. He added, "These machines could remove obstructions in the
circulatory system, kill cancer cells or take over the function of
subcellular organelles." Robert Freitas, author of the 1999 book
Nanomedicine, foresees a day when oxygen-carrying red blood cells could be
supplemented by artificial respirocytes made of carbon that would be 200
times more efficient.

If that isn't wild enough, Freitas recently unveiled a scheme that would
replace your entire circulatory system with a sapphire vasculoid weighing
two kilograms. No heart, no blood -- just a system of nanotech machines that
would ferry oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, and immune protective
machines throughout your body, all encased in nearly unbreakable sapphire
that would line your old-fashioned veins and arteries. Since 80 percent of
what kills most people can be traced to the circulatory system -- heart
attacks, strokes, wounding, metastasizing cancer -- such a vasculoid would
dramatically increase one's life span. Freitas thinks the first models will
be available in 40 years.

"With nanotechnology we could someday be rebuilding our own bodies,
regenerating organs, slowing down aging," a bullish Samuel Stupp, professor
of materials science and medicine at Northwestern University, predicted at a
National Science Foundation conference earlier this year.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers are already building new drugs -- atom by atom,
essentially -- to treat diseases. Merkle believes that it will be another 20
to 30 years before the visionary technologies he foresees will be available.
In the medical arena, nanotechnology and biotechnology may well be destined
to meld together.

Nanotechnology also plays a role in what some consider the second best
alternative to living forever: cryonics. Cryonicists freeze people in liquid
nitrogen with the idea that future technologies will be sufficiently
advanced that the patients can be thawed out, revived, and cured of whatever
ailments, including old age, afflicted them before they entered the deep
freeze.

One problem facing cryonics enthusiasts is that no animal larger than a
microscopic human embryo or a tiny tardigrade -- an insect that measures
only a couple hundred microns across -- has yet been frozen and successfully
revived. Freezing causes water in cells to expand, which disrupts them. But
some researchers have developed a preservation technique called
vitrification, essentially glassifying cells. This approach, it is claimed,
causes far less disruption to cellular organization and destruction of cell
walls. Scores of people have chosen to have either their full bodies or just
their heads cryonically "suspended."

When it comes time to revive patients, the plan goes, nanotech machines will
race through the patients' bodies, repairing the damage they have suffered
from disease and freezing. Will it work? Who knows? Cryonicists put it this
way: "The clinical trials are in progress. Come back in a century and we'll
give you a reliable answer." Cryonicists divide the world into two groups,
those who are experimenting with cryonics by being frozen vs. those who just
die and are buried. Which would you rather be in, they ask: the control
group or the experimental group?

The defining political conflict of the 21st century will be the battle over
life and death. On one side stand the partisans of mortality, who counsel
humanity to quietly accept our morbid fate and go gentle into that good
night. On the other is the party of life, who rage against the dying of the
light and yearn to extend the enjoyment of healthy life to as many as
possible for as long as possible.

The most moderate critics of longevity simply worry that immortality would
cause massive overpopulation. Worry not, says demographer Olshansky. If
everyone on the planet were made immortal tomorrow, while maintaining the
current projected trends in human fertility, world population would rise to
around 13 billion by 2100. That, he notes, is the same number that alarmists
like Paul Ehrlich used to predict for the middle of this century. Olshansky
thinks that 100 years will give human society plenty of time to adjust to
longer, healthier lives.

Death to Radical Mortalists!

Then there are the more radical mortalists, such as Fukuyama, Callahan, and
Kass. Writing in the aforementioned issue of First Things, Leon Kass asserts
that "to argue that human life would be better without death is, I submit,
to argue that human life would be better being something other than human."
Without the sound of time's winged chariot rushing at our backs, Kass
claims, humanity would become frivolous, frittering away eternity with
meaningless pastimes. Apparently, if we live longer, we'll just watch more
Baywatch reruns and revisit Disney World.

For Kass, the sting of death makes for stronger friendships, greater loves,
more ardent learning, and nobler deeds. But the fact of human mortality has
also led people to commit all manner of villainy, cowardice, and crime. If
one man nobly sacrifices his life to save his family and friends from
invaders, it is because those invaders have themselves overcome their fear
of death to seek glory, goods, and dominion. Gilgamesh wanted to avoid the
oblivion of eternity, so he built a city, fought wars, and sought glory so
that his name would ring down the ages.

Meanwhile, the names of all those thousands crushed under his tyranny --
those who labored to build the walls and temples of his city -- are lost for
all time. The certainty of death may cause us to aspire, but not necessarily
to the fulfillment offered by the gentler virtues.

Kass also points to the "undesired consequences of medical success in
sustaining life, as more and more people are kept alive by artificial means
in greatly debilitated and degraded conditions." Here he is engaged in what
might be called Struldbruggism, after an episode in Gulliver's Travels.
Gulliver visits the land of the Luggnuggians, among whom are occasionally
born immortals called Struldbruggs. This is no blessing, since the immortals
still grow older, weaker, and sicker.

But the goal of research on aging is not to turn us into a race of miserable
Struldbruggs. As Olshansky puts it, "We don't want to make ourselves older
longer, we want to make ourselves younger longer." Characteristically, Kass
ignores the real goals of anti-aging research, misleading readers with a
gruesome scenario in hopes of frightening them into embracing his pro-death
dogma.

Future generations will look back at the beginning of the 21st century and
marvel that intelligent people actually tried to stop biomedical progress
just to protect their cramped and limited vision of human nature. But the
chances that the Kassians will actually hold back longevity seem small.
"It's too alluring," says Olshansky. "It's been the dream of humanity
forever. How can we not?" Austad agrees. "People want this so badly, it's
going to happen no matter what the government does," he predicts. "The
government can help or it can hinder this research, but it will happen."

"A dramatic increase in lifespan is inevitable," Aubrey de Grey said in the
British Sunday Times two years ago. "We understand aging at the molecular
level sufficiently to not just imagine interventions to retard aging, but
enough that we can describe them. It's an engineering project now, not a
scientific one. We just don't know how long it will take."

To which I say: Hurry up! The 22nd century looks too interesting to miss.

------------

RELATED NHNE STORIES:

THE SEARCH FOR AN ANTI-AGING PILL (7/30/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3498

NO NATURAL LIMIT TO LIFE EXPECTANCY (5/11/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3153

HUMAN INTERACTION AS IMPORTANT AS EXERCISE IN AGING (2/5/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2667

FREQUENT SEX MAY HELP YOU LOOK YOUNGER (11/20/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2285

GERONTOLOGY STUDIES GROW WITH AGING POPULATION (3/2/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1208

DESIGNER PEOPLE (1/7/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/996

ALTERED FLIES LIVE TWICE AS LONG (12/15/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/910

IMMORTAL FLESH: SKIN CELLS THAT WON'T DIE DISCOVERED (11/24/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/840

PHYSICAL IMMORTALITY (8/17/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/message/17

NEW CLONING TECHNIQUE MAY REVERSE AGING PROCESS (4/27/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/223

BIOTECH MIRACLES WILL TRANSFORM OUR LIVES (3/1/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/149

IF WE LIVE TO BE 200 (1/25/2000):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/93

AGING SECRETS IN A CAN OF WORMS (12/17/1999):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/21

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NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@egroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

This post has also been sent to NHNE's News List, so some of you will
receive it twice.

"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: Ancient Egyptian Chambers Explored
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
Current Members: 1323

------------

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ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CHAMBERS EXPLORED
By Nancy Gupton
National Geographic News
September 17, 2002

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/09/0910_020913_egypt_1.html

One of the mysteries of Egypt's Great Pyramid deepened early Tuesday when
archaeologists penetrated a 4,500-year-old blocked shaft only to find
another stone blocking their way.

During Pyramids Live: Secret Chambers Revealed, presented by the National
Geographic Channel, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass used a robot to peer into a
narrow shaft that opens into the queen's chamber of the Great Pyramid.
Within the shaft Hawass found another stone block, possibly a door.

"What we have seen tonight is totally unique within the world of
Egyptology," Hawass said. "There is nothing to compare it to, as these
passages are not in any other pyramids, with or without doors. The presence
of a second door only deepens the intrigue surrounding the Great Pyramid."

During the live television broadcast, Hawass also opened a sealed
sarcophagus in a tomb nearby. Inside he found the undisturbed skeleton of a
top pyramid builders village official.

"Something Important Is Hidden There"

The Great Pyramid shaft has been blocked for centuries by a chunk of
limestone that has copper handles and may have been wedged into the shaft by
pyramid builders after they used it as a polishing tool.

Around 5 a.m. Tuesday Egypt time, with Hawass and television viewers
watching, the robot sent a camera through a small hole drilled in the block
only to encounter another stone blocking the way.

Hawass, head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and a National
Geographic explorer-in-residence, was excited nonetheless.

"We can see another sealed door," he said over the shrieks of his team
members and television crew crowded into the chamber. "It looks to me like
it is sealing something. It seems that something important is hidden there.

"This is one of the first major discoveries in the Great Pyramid in some 130
years, and now what we need is time for further analysis," he said.

Archaeologists had speculated that the shaft might contain valuable
artifacts such as papyrus, builders' tools, or perhaps even a statue of
Pharaoh Khufu, the pyramid's builder. Or, they knew, it might have contained
nothing at all.

For Hawass, solving the mystery was important no matter what the
investigation uncovers. "I would just like to reveal what's behind it," he
said. "If nothing, it's fine with me."

Skeleton in Sarcophagus

During the live broadcast, which premiered in the United States on Monday,
September 16, on Fox Television, Hawass also visited the recently discovered
village of the pyramid builders, less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) away from
the Great Pyramid.

There, he opened the sealed sarcophagus of a man identified by hieroglyphics
as Ny Swt Wsrt, believed to be the overseer of the pyramid builders'
village. Inside they found a skeleton, lying on its side and facing east --
the direction of the rising sun.

"The skull is completely preserved," Hawass said in a preliminary
examination. "This man is resting beautifully."

During the time of the pyramid builders, mummification was rare and still in
experimental stages.

No artifacts were immediately visible in the sarcophagus. The bones will be
carefully photographed, removed, and x-rayed, providing answers about when
and how the man died.

The discovery is important because the skeleton is that of a common man, not
a king or nobleman. At more than 4,000 years old, Ny Swt Wsrt's coffin is
also the oldest intact sarcophagus ever found by modern archaeologists.

"I've been excavating in this cemetery for ten years and I have not found
anything intact like this," Hawass said. "This man looks to be very
important because of the construction of the tomb, because of the way that
they wrote his title -- the overseer of the administrative district or the
mayor of the city of the pyramid builders."

The tomb of the overseer is one of many exciting recent finds in the pyramid
builders' village, south of the Sphinx.

Archaeologist Mark Lehner, director of the Giza Plateau Mapping Project,
believes that as many as 20,000 people moved in and out of the village while
building the pyramids. Dormitory-style buildings appear to have held
sleeping quarters for as many as 2,000 people. Diggers also have found
evidence of copper-making and cooking facilities.

"All the evidence points to a very large lost city of the Pyramids that
hadn't been known before we started working," said Lehner.

Mysterious Shaft

In Khufu's Great Pyramid, Hawass' team set up camp in the erroneously named
queen's chamber. (The room may never have been used, and its function
remains unknown.)

Inside the chamber are two shafts. Scholars aren't sure about the purpose of
these shafts, which were unique to pyramids built during the Old Kingdom
period (2575 to 2150 B.C.), but one theory is that they were built as
passageways for the pharaohs' journey to the afterlife.

"It's thought that the so-called air shafts are really conduits for the
king's soul," said Lehner.

The first modern investigation of the shaft in the queen's chamber occurred
in the 1990s, when archaeologist Rudolf Gantenbrink sent a robot into the
passageway. The machine was blocked by the stone after traveling 213 feet
(65 meters) into the shaft.

Further hampering the exploration, the interior of the shaft is only 8
inches by 8 inches (20 centimeters by 20 centimeters) and the shaft bends in
several places.

Before the television broadcast, measuring apparatus on the robot, similar
to those used to search for World Trade Center survivors, found the block
was only 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) thick, encouraging the suggestion that
it might in fact have been a door leading to another chamber or hidden
treasures.

Did Hawass, Lehner, and the television crew know in advance what they would
find?

Before the broadcast, executive producer John Bredar said even the research
and production teams were in the dark. "It's do-or-die that night," he said.
"We don't know exactly what's going to happen."

The National Geographic Channel special Pyramids Live: Secret Chambers
Revealed will air worldwide later in the week under a different title,
Egypt: Secret Chambers Revealed, on the National Geographic Channel. Check
local listings for more information.

------------

LIVE PYRAMID BROADCAST NO EASY FEAT

Pulling off a live television broadcast from deep inside a 4,500-year-old
pyramid takes expertise, patience -- and a very long cable.

For nine months, supervising producer Richard Reisz and his team from
UK-based TV6 have worked on Pyramids Live: Secret Chambers Revealed.

The challenges include setting up camp in the cramped queen's chamber of the
Great Pyramid and snaking an enormous cable through the pyramid and hundreds
of yards across the Giza sands.

"It's an enormous challenge. We spent months sourcing equipment we're going
to need," Reisz said. "We've been working on this all through the summer,
all through the heat."

A production corps of 250 people was on site during Monday's broadcast,
which aired at 3 a.m. Tuesday Egypt time. Teams were dispatched to the
show's two different live locations, the Great Pyramid and the pyramid
builders' village.

Reisz was watching -- and waiting -- from an outside viewing area near the
pyramid.

"It's going to be a hairy weekend," he said Friday. "What happens on Monday
night will be fairly easy in comparison to the setup."

Despite the temptation to sneak a peek behind the blocking stone or inside
the sarcophagus, Reisz said, a promise is a promise. "We've said we won't
peek, and integrity matters," he said. "I think the robot group is finding
it difficult, though."

Although Reisz and his team tested the pyramid rover robot and tried to
anticipate any problems, anything could have happened Monday night.

"Something unexpected could happen. It usually does in live TV. That's what
makes it so interesting," he said.

"I've been in television for 25 years, and this is by far the most difficult
thing I've ever done. It's also one of the most exciting."

------------

PREVIOUS NHNE POSTS:

ROBOT TO PROBE PYRAMID'S MYSTERIES (9/16/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3689

ROBOT TO INVESTIGATE SECRET SHAFT IN GREAT PYRAMID (8/27/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3614

PYRAMID BUILDERS' VILLAGE FOUND IN EGYPT (8/7/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/message/58

THE LOST CITY OF THE PYRAMID BUILDERS (11/27/2001):
http://www.nhne.com/misc/lostcityofpyramidbuilders.html

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NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@egroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

This post has also been sent to NHNE's News List, so some of you will
receive it twice.


"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: Ancient & Alternative Remedies For Bioterrorism
Saturday, October 12, 2002
Current Members: 1342

------------

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EDITOR'S COMMENT:

First of all, save this post. If we are ever faced with a biological attack,
or with public officials promoting "mandatory" vaccination programs that may
not be in our best interest, the links contained in this message could be
extremely helpful. Along with news stories and websites that track all
aspects the vaccination issue, there are also links to resources that
discuss what to do if we are faced with bioterrorism, including an outbreak
of smallpox.

Secondly, NHNE is fortunate to have a reader who has researched this topic
extensively. As a professional health writer, Chet Day spent several months
right after 9/11 researching and seeking out ancient and alternative
treatments for catastrophic diseases that might be used in a bioterrorism
attack. The results of his research can be found in a 146-page single-spaced
special report that he sells for $29.95. Chet's offering this report to NHNE
readers for $24.95:

http://bioterrorism101.com/nhne.htm

What can you expect? Here's an excerpt from an introductory website Chet
created for NHNE readers. It illustrates the kind of informed, open-minded
attitude I think we need to have about all subjects, including bioterrorism:

.........

"Believe me -- and I don't care who it is -- every person and organization
writing about health has an agenda to promote. And if you don't think for
yourself, there are all kinds of wolves in sheep's clothing who will happily
relieve you of your hard-earned dollars.

"Yes, I support my family by writing about natural health and thus I have my
own agenda, but I also have a battle-scarred reputation in the natural
health movement for 'being all over the map' because I've publicly reversed
my stance on more than one occasion when I learned that what I once believed
to be true actually wasn't as clear-cut as was being presented.

"Yes, I do write about health to earn my living, but I also do it as a labor
of love because I want to advance the truth an inch or two beyond where it
was when I started studying this field back in 1993.

"So, in my special report, I'm not giving you definitive answers to
bioterrorism diseases because I don't have them.

"If anyone tells you they have definitive answers, run like hell because
they're either lying or else trying to sell you something.

"What I do provide in my special report is the best information I could find
after thirteen weeks of extensive research -- information that offers you
comprehensive, alternative knowledge about treating devastating illnesses.

"Knowledge that you can use to develop a bioterrorism defense plan for your
family.

"It's information that I hope none of us will ever have to put to use."

..........

And that's it for this post. I hope you find this information as helpful as
I do.

With Love & Best Wishes,
David Sunfellow

------------

PREVIOUS NHNE NEWS LIST ARTICLES:

PENTAGON PLANS SMALLPOX SHOTS FOR UP TO 500,000 (10/12/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3807

SMALLPOX VACCINE GUIDELINES READIED (9/23/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3714

SMALLPOX OUTBREAK: WHAT TO DO (8/20/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3592

DOUBTS OVER SMALLPOX VACCINES EMERGE (7/30/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3497

TWO ARTICLES: MMR VACCINATIONS CONNECTED TO AUTISM (8/10/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3559

CONGRESSMAN CALLS FOR CRIMINAL PENALTIES AT VACCINE MERCURY HEARINGS
(7/20/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3443

U.S. TO VACCINATE 500,000 WORKERS AGAINST SMALLPOX (7/7/2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3371

LIVING WITHOUT VACCINATIONS (12/8/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2371

LEADING DOCTORS' GROUP OPPOSE MANDATORY VACCINATIONS (11/4/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/793

-----------

RELATED WEBSITES:

SMALLPOX VACCINATION 101:
http://smallpoxvaccination101.com/

NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER (NVIC):
http://www.909shot.com

DR. CLASSEN'S VACCINE SITE:
http://www.vaccines.net/ 

IMMUNIZATIONS:
http://www.pcslink.com/~klove/immunize.htm

VACCINE INFORMATION AND AWARENESS (VIA) WEB SITE:
http://www.access1.net/via/

CONCERNED PARENTS FOR VACCINE SAFETY:
http://home.sprynet.com/~gyrene/index.htm

ANTHRAX VACCINE INFORMATION:
http://www.anthraxvaccine.org

VACCINATION NEWS:
http://www.vaccinationnews.com

VACCINEWEBSITE.COM:
http://www.vaccinewebsite.com

DR. TIM O'SHEA'S THEDOCTORWITHIN.COM:
http://www.thedoctorwithin.com/index1.html

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NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@egroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

This message has also been sent to NHNE's News List, so some of you will
receive it twice.


"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: The Sci Fi Channel Tackles Roswell
Tuesday, November 5, 2002
Current Members: 1357

------------

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EDITOR'S COMMENT:

Now here's some important news: As a part of it's aggressive, multi-faceted
investigation into UFO's, the Sci Fi Channel recently sponsored a secret
excavation of the 1947 Roswell crash site. According to a press release we
received yesterday, they used "state-of-the-art remote sensing technologies
and modern archeological forensic science under the supervision of the
University of New Mexico" to re-examine the crash site. The resulting two
hour documentary promises to present a "smoking gun" bombshell. Hosted by
Bryant Gumbel, the show is scheduled to air Friday, November 22, at 8 PM on
the Sci Fi Channel.

Along with the upcoming November 22 documentary, the Sci Fi Channel has also
dedicated a section of their website to UFO research. Among other things,
this section contains a comprehensive, evolving column, written by Roswell
researchers Tom Carey and Don Schmitt, called "The Roswell Report". I have
included two informative excerpts from their report with this message.

Thanks to Jim Torson for alerting us to this story.

Over the last few days, I have sent out a series of reports concerning
various aspects of the UFO controversy to the NHNE News List. I plan to send
out a summary of these reports to this list shortly. You can review current
posts by visiting the NHNE News List archive at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/messages/

To receive these reports directly, the day they are sent out, you can
subscribe to the News List by sending a blank message to:

<nhnenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>

Keep in mind that the News List is a very high volume list (it averages
about six messages a day), so don't subscribe unless you are prepared to be
inundated...

--- David Sunfellow

------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS: Kat Stein
212/413-5890

SCI FI CHANNEL SPONSORS LANDMARK ARCHEOLOGICAL
EXCAVATION AT 1947 ROSWELL CRASH SITE

http://www.sciFI.COM/events/event.php3?event_id=6396&date=11/22/2002&type=0

New York, N.Y., October 29, 2002 - As part of SCI FI Channel's recently
announced advocacy initiative to help bring scientific, congressional and
media attention to the UFO phenomenon, the Channel turns to the tools of
modern science to help unravel the decades-old mystery of the "Roswell
Incident." Utilizing state-of-the-art remote sensing technologies and modern
archeological forensic science under the supervision of the University of
New Mexico, SCI FI announces its coordination and sponsorship of a landmark
scientific excavation of the 1947 crash site. Working under top secret
conditions, skilled archeologists set out to unearth conclusive physical
evidence to help prove or disprove what some claim is science fiction -- the
crash of an extraterrestrial craft.

Considered by many as the "Holy Grail" of all UFO stories, the "Roswell
Incident" has captured the imagination of the public for years. Did an
actual UFO crash outside of Roswell, N.M., in July 1947? Out of those
Americans who know of the "Roswell Incident," less than three in ten (28%)
believe the "official" government story of a weather balloon crash at that
site, according to a 2002 national Roper poll commissioned by SCI FI.

To chronicle this groundbreaking archeological investigation, SCI FI sent
its documentary cameras into the deserts of New Mexico for THE ROSWELL
CRASH: STARTLING NEW EVIDENCE, hosted by Bryant Gumbel (CBS's The Early
Show, NBC's Today Show). Premiering on Friday, November 22 as part of a full
night of special programming beginning at 8PM (ET/PT), this new two-hour SCI
FI documentary of the "Roswell Incident" includes all-new eyewitness
interviews and up-to-the minute late-breaking revelations. From the initial
headlines of a "disk" being recovered in the desert in 1947 to SCI FI's
latest "smoking gun" bombshell, this new examination of the "Roswell
Incident" offers the definitive account of what may be the most important
event of the modern age.

THE ROSWELL CRASH: STARTLING NEW EVIDENCE is directed and executive produced
by Melissa Jo Peltier of MPH Entertainment (My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The
Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt). James Romanovich of Platinum Media, Inc. also
serves as executive producer.

In support of THE ROSWELL CRASH: STARTLING NEW EVIDENCE, SCI FI Channel's
award-winning website SCIFI.COM, will offer exclusive background resources
on this historic archeological project, as well as the "Roswell Incident"
itself (users can log on directly through http://www.SCIFI.COM/UFO):

SCI FI LIVE CHAT - Wednesday, October 30 at 9PM (ET)/6PM (PT) UNM's lead
principal archeologist William Doleman, Ph.D. will discuss aspects of the
top secret excavation.

SCI FI ROSWELL DIG DIARY - Starting November 13, a complete day-to-day diary
that documents the entire groundbreaking ten-day event will be posted. These
daily entries will detail the project from various points of view including
those of Doleman, veteran Roswell investigators Tom Carey and Don Schmitt;
and SCI FI Channel's senior vice president of programming, Thomas Vitale,
among others.

SCI FI LIVE CHAT - Friday, November 22 at 10PM (ET)/7PM (PT) Carey and
Schmitt will discuss the investigation of the "Roswell Incident" itself.

THE ROSWELL REPORT - Dedicated to informing those who desire to know the
truth behind an extraordinary event that occurred more than 50 years ago,
this ongoing column offers up new information stemming from Carey and
Schmitt's still-continuing, intensive investigation into this remarkable
case of apparent extraterrestrial visitation.

THE ROSWELL CRASH: STARTLING NEW EVIDENCE is an MPH Entertainment production
for SCI FI. Launched in 1996, MPH has produced over 130 hours of primetime
television programming and two independent feature films, including
co-producing the 2002 smash hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Notable among
MPH's many television projects are cable's The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt,
Founding Fathers, Discovery Channel's Eco-Challenge Australia, SCI FI
Channel's Martian Mania: The True Story of the War of the Worlds, Las Vegas:
Gamble in the Desert and Sea Tales.

The national opinion poll on The Roswell Incident was conducted by RoperASW
among a representative sample of 1,033 adults ages 18 and over. The
telephone interviews were conducted from September 6th through September
8th, 2002. The margin of error for the total sample is +/- 3%.

SCI FI Channel transmits fantastic images to 79 million human homes.
Launched in 1992, SCI FI features a continuous stream of cinematic hits, new
and original series, and special events, as well as classic sci-fi, fantasy,
and horror programming. Check out SCIFI.COM, the SCI FI Channel's
award-winning Web site, at HYPERLINK <http://www.scifi.com>. SCI FI Channel
is a program service of Universal Television
<http://www.universalstudios.com>, a division of Vivendi UNIVERSAL
Entertainment (VUE), the U.S.-based film, television and recreation entity
of Vivendi Universal, a global media and communications company.

------------

THE ROSWELL REPORT
http://www.scifi.com/ufo/roswell/

THE ROSWELL UNDENIABLE TRUTHS
By Thomas J. Carey & Donald R. Schmitt

http://www.scifi.com/ufo/roswell/articles/001.html

At first the military announced to the public that they had indeed recovered
a flying disk on a remote ranch in the central region of the state. Within
five hours they retracted the story and identified the debris displayed in
Brigadier Gen. Roger M. Ramey's office at Fort Worth, Texas, as merely a
downed weather balloon with an attached radar reflector kite. The question
remains: Which of the two announcements was the truth?

Through the course of our own investigation, we have amassed a continuously
growing roster of more than 600 witnesses associated with the events who
support the first account, that initial claim of the flying-saucer recovery.
Despite what the U.S. Air Force maintains is the "truth" about the Roswell
incident, the event remains shrouded in secrecy even as facts about the U.S.
government's involvement in other cover-ups continue to surface. Another
thing also remains constant: What took place outside of Roswell, N.M., in
the summer of 1947 was not caused by a weather device.

There are other constants, other truths that the Air Force refuses to
address. Let's review some of the major aspects of the now-legendary UFO
incident:

1. On Tuesday, July 8, 1947, Roswell Army Air Field commanding officer Col.
William Blanchard announced the recovery of a flying disk. It is important
to note that Blanchard was the officer entrusted with oversight of the first
atomic-bomb strike force in the world, based at Roswell AAFB. Blanchard's
press release was orchestrated in Washington, D.C., then later retracted in
favor of the balloon explanation.

2. Later that day, at approximately 4:30PM CST, Gen. Ramey, the commander of
the 8th Air Force and Blanchard's supervising officer, presented the press
an alternative story; he claimed the Army had recovered a rawin target
device suspended by a Neoprene balloon. ("Rawin" is a method of determining
wind speed and direction by using radar or radio waves to track a balloon
carrying either a radar-sensitive target or a radio transponder.)

3. W. W. "Mack" Brazel, the ranch foreman who first discovered the debris
field, was detained by the U.S. Army Air Force for four days while cleanup
operations continued at the site. Brazel was denied access to a phone, was
given an Army physical, and was subjected to rigorous questioning and
intimidation while under house arrest at the Roswell AAFB.

4. Extreme security measures were exercised at both Brazel's ranch and the
impact sites. Armed guards encircled the primary locations, a second cordon
was placed around its outer perimeter, riflemen were stationed on the
surrounding hills, and MPs were posted on outlying roads that led to both
locations.

5. Special, unscheduled flights arrived from Washington, D.C., with
additional units arriving from White Sands AAFB in Alamogordo, N.M., and
Kirkland AAFB in Albuquerque. Unscheduled flights from Roswell transported
wreckage or bodies to Fort Worth, Texas; Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio;
Andrews AAFB in Washington, D.C.; and the Los Alamos National Laboratory,
via truck from Kirkland.

6. Sen. Dennis Chavez (D-N.M., served 1935-1962), Chairman of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, phoned Walter Whitmore Sr., owner of radio station
KGFL in Roswell, to strongly advise him to do as he was instructed by the
FCC in an earlier call and not broadcast a wire-recorded interview with Mack
Brazel.

7. An FBI telex dated July 8, 1947, at 6:17PM CST out of the bureau's
Dallas, Texas, office disputed Gen. Ramey's announcement to the press that
the special flight transporting wreckage to Wright Field had been canceled,
as well as Ramey's explanation of a balloon and hexagonal radar target.

8. On July 9, 1947, U.S. military officials searched news-media offices in
Roswell, Albuquerque and Santa Fe to retrieve copies of the original press
release or any other documentation that was contrary to the weather-balloon
explanation. The recorded interview of Mack Brazel also was confiscated.

9.  Multiple, first-hand military and civilian witnesses who actually
witnessed the crash have come forward to tell their stories.

10. Multiple, first-hand military and civilian witnesses have suggested the
location of the craft and separate debris-field sites. There was more than
one site involved.

11. Multiple, first-hand military and civilian witnesses have given the same
testimony regarding the actual size and shape of the unknown craft.

12. More than two dozen witnesses, both military and civilian, agree on the
unconventional characteristics of the wreckage. The material defied all
conventional means of damage.

13. Multiple, first-hand military and civilian witnesses have given sworn
testimony regarding the bodies recovered at the crash site.

14. Finally, the most shocking revelation to date is that the U.S. military
resorted to physical threats against civilian witnesses. Children were
terrorized and parents were threatened that their children would be killed
if they mentioned anything about the true nature of the incident.

All of this over a weather balloon?

------------

WHY ROSWELL?
By Tom Carey and Don Schmitt

http://www.scifi.com/ufo/roswell/articles/005.html

Over the years that we have been investigating the "Roswell Incident," we're
often asked two questions: "With so many other reported UFO cases, now
running into the tens of thousands, why have you concentrated on this one to
the exclusion of other cases worthy of further investigation?" and, "Why
continue to investigate a 50-year-old case?" (Actually, it is now a
55-year-old case.) We have several reasons.

Most UFO researchers became interested in the subject of UFOs when they were
children or very young adults, and we are no exceptions.

There was something about the notion that intelligent life might exist
elsewhere in the universe and might actually be visiting us that piqued our
imaginations. This interest has persisted into adulthood and in fact has
intensified over the years, especially with the recent discoveries of a
hundred or so planets outside our own solar system. More recently, the
discovery of an Earth-like planet in another star system of our galactic
neighborhood has reinforced our belief that life must exist somewhere beyond
our own world.

The vast majority of scientists and academics believe that, statistically at
least, other life must surely exist elsewhere in the universe. The divide
arises, however, when one asks whether any intelligent, extraterrestrial
lifeforms have ever visited Earth (i.e., have "they" been able to "get here
from there"). Serious UFO researchers believe that there exists an
overwhelming body of evidence to support the notion of alien visitation, and
polls of the general public at large tend to reinforce that belief.

On the other hand, some academics believe that not only has such a
visitation not happened, it is impossible. This belief is not the result of
stringent research into the subject or a conclusion derived from a reading
of the UFO literature; it is nothing more or less than a belief based upon
the old axiom, "It can't be; therefore, it isn't." The closest they come to
a "scientific" explanation is to mutter something about the vast distances
that would be involved in any interstellar travel. The late astronomer Carl
Sagan, who took the safe, standard academic position -- namely that UFOs
don't exist -- nevertheless believed there were at least one million evolved
intelligences in our own Milky Way galaxy alone. We believe that life in the
universe, just as on Earth, is the norm and not the exception. As Jeff
Goldblum's character observed in the movie Jurassic Park, "Life finds a
way...."

The discerning reader will see that the above debate revolves around the
issue of proof. With regard to the UFO phenomenon, what constitutes proof of
alien visitation? Unfortunately, most reported UFO sightings involve
solitary witnesses reporting "lights in the sky." Such accounts do not
advance our knowledge of the phenomenon and are, quite frankly,
uninteresting to veteran researchers. Daylight sightings of structured craft
are more interesting, especially when reported by multiple witnesses;
however, these also do not amount to "proof" of alien visitation. Are they
interesting stories? Yes. Proof of anything? No.

Physical-trace cases where some aspect of the environment allegedly has been
disturbed by a UFO (e.g., broken tree limbs, oil-like stains on the ground,
depressions in the ground, radiation burns to vegetation and organic
surfaces, and the like) are interesting but ultimately inconclusive because
the observed "physical traces" allegedly left by the UFOs could just as
easily have been the result of some form of human activity. UFO crashes, on
the other hand, offer the possibility of one or more recoverable artifacts
from another world: a ship or parts thereof, or crewmembers. A UFO
investigator who has a "nuts-and-bolts" mentality naturally will gravitate
to this type of UFO encounter, as opposed to, say, claims of alien
abduction.

The Roswell case currently represents our best chance to make the case for
extraterrestrial visitation. We seek to do that by recovering an artifact of
incontrovertibly alien origin.

What we apparently have in the Roswell incident is an interplanetary craft
of unknown origin that was blown into a million little pieces over a Corona,
N.M., sheep pasture during an intense lightning storm. Before the military
arrived, countless local ranchers and their children visited the site. At a
companion site approximately 15 to 20 miles away, closer to Roswell, the
remainder of the craft and its unlucky crew met their ultimate fate. That
site also was visited by a number of civilians before the military arrived
to secure the area. During the clean-up of the crash sites and the
subsequent recovery operations, which included the boxing-up of the wreckage
for shipment and the flights that carried it out, scores of military
enlisted personnel and officers had access to the crash artifacts. Human
nature being what it is, it is entirely conceivable -- no, likely -- that
some artifacts were taken as souvenirs by civilians and military personnel
alike. In fact, this was the case, according to many first-hand accounts
that we have on record.

The wreckage/debris from the Roswell crash is most often described as
consisting of several different types. The most numerous were palm-sized or
smaller pieces of wreckage of very thin and lightweight, but extremely
strong, pieces of "foil" similar to the aluminum foil found in a pack of
cigarettes; this debris was highly unusual for its time because of its
strength, but there was nothing overtly "otherworldly" about its appearance.
The other types of wreckage found also were characterized by their extremely
light weight and remarkable strength. There also were small "I-beams" that
looked like balsa wood struts with strange symbols embossed along their
inner faces. Could those markings be alien writing samples?

Roswell skeptics, debunkers and the U.S. Air Force all maintain that the
witnesses are mistaken about the ultralightweight, super-strong materials;
they insist the I-beam symbols are nothing more than residue from flowery
Scotch tape they say was used to reinforce the balsa wood sticks that formed
the skeleton of the radar kites deployed by the Army in 1947.

Who's right? The debunkers or the believers? Unless we recover the physical
evidence, we might never know. If we are fortunate enough to obtain any of
the original Roswell artifacts, their provenance would not be accepted as
extraterrestrial until they were analyzed and declared as such by reputable
metallurgists. Results and conclusions would have to be drawn and a report
written. Presumably, a public announcement of the findings would then be
released to the press. In fact, that scenario has already taken place --
several times! -- but results suggesting an extraterrestrial origin for the
alleged UFO artifacts have been dismissed by skeptics and the military with
charges of "shoddy analysis."

There is, however, one type of wreckage from the Roswell crash, vividly
described by witnesses, that would be immediately recognizable as something
truly extraordinary without having to be first sent away for analysis. We
refer to it simply as the "Holy Grail" of our Roswell investigation: the
recovery of a piece of "memory metal." Fragments of memory metal have been
described as being fairly numerous at the Foster Ranch debris site near
Corona (in very small pieces, of course). Witnesses have stated that a piece
of it was extremely thin and light; it is described as being the color of
dull aluminum; and several witnesses have said that one could crumple a
piece of it up in one's hand, then lay it on a flat surface where it would
uncrumple itself into its original flat, pristine condition without evidence
of a crease. It also could not be scratched, cut, burned or permanently
deformed in any way. Human science had not discovered or created anything
exhibiting those properties in 1947, and we still have nothing remotely like
it today. This is the type of Roswell wreckage for which our investigation
is actively searching. We have several leads in this direction that we are
pursuing.

The more mundane reasons that we like this case are that it has everything
an investigator would want: alleged government conspiracy; cover-ups and
misconduct; a large witness pool upon which to draw; historical context and
continuity; potential artifacts as well as alien bodies; and, finally, the
case is just interesting. It has held Schmitt's attention for almost 14
years and Carey's for nearly 12 years without abatement.

Ultimately, we have two compelling reasons for continuing the investigation
of a 55-year-old case.

First, although we believe there is evidence to support an extraterrestrial
origin for the Roswell incident, major media outlets such as The New York
Times and The History Channel have uncritically accepted the Air Force's
weather-balloon explanation for the events at Roswell. We are attempting to
amass overwhelming, incontrovertible evidence proving the wreckage of an
alien vessel was recovered at Roswell.

Second, our investigation is racing the clock. Witnesses to the Roswell
events of 1947 are now quite elderly and have begun to die of natural causes
with increasing frequency. At some point in the very near future, no
first-hand eyewitnesses to the 1947 Roswell events will remain. According to
a recent report by the Veterans Administration, World War II veterans from
"the greatest generation" are passing on at a rate of 1,200 to 1,500 per
day.

If we are to uncover the truth, time is of the essence.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
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This post has also been sent to NHNE's News List, so some of you will
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"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: The State of Grace Document
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Current Members: 1330

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EDITOR'S COMMENT:

Can you image what would happen if we lived in a world where human beings
deeply loved, cherished, and looked after one another? Where instead of
fighting, blaming, and competing with one another, we listened deeply,
shared honestly, and joined together wholeheartedly to live fuller, happier,
mutually-empowering lives?

Miracles, of course, would happen, daily. Insurmountable problems, most of
which have been caused by our lack of sensitivity to one another and the
world we live in, we would vanish. And humanity, finally able to tap its
collective wisdom, inventiveness, and innate goodwill, would set sail for
unspeakably wonderful places.

Some day, perhaps, humanity as a whole will adopt "love one another" as its
prime directive. Until then, that job falls to those of us who have realized
that learning to love one another is one of the most important things we can
do -- for ourselves, for each, and for our planet.

And to help us out, here's a practical suggestion from Tom Atlee, of The
Co-Intelligence Institute (http://www.co-intelligence.org). Called "The
State of Grace Document," I thought many of you would appreciate Tom's post
(and Maureen McCarthy's discovery) as much as I did...

--- David Sunfellow

------------

We work together
In a state of grace.
Our strengths are
The gifts we bring.
Our weaknesses are strengths, too.
My weakness invites
Your infusion of wisdom,
As yours does mine.

--- Marie Knapp

...........

THE STATE OF GRACE DOCUMENT
From Tom Atlee
Thanksgiving 2002

Some months ago I ran across what I viewed as an interesting innovation.
The more I reflected on it, however, the more I realized it was not only
profoundly co-intelligent but potentially revolutionary.  It is called The
State of Grace Document.  It is the brain-heart-spirit child of Maureen
McCarthy of the consulting firm Engaging the Soul @ Work.

The State of Grace Document is an agreement between two people (or any two
entities, including groups, corporations, and countries) co-created to
sustain a high quality of relationship -- "a state of grace" -- between
them.

The State of Grace Document stands in stark contrast to that ubiquitous
document -- The Contract -- which is an agreement to ensure that interested
parties comply with certain mutually understood expectations.  Contracts
usually include an explicit or implicit threat of punishment for failure or
betrayal, backed by the power of the legal system.

Contracts and laws are vital to hold together a society of self-interested
entities seeking alliances in their competition for limited resources in
situations that may involve considerable dishonesty, alienation and
temptation.  Contract constitute an effort to nail relationships down so
they don't get blown away by some gust of social entropy.

A State of Grace Document, on the other hand, is a resource for lifting
relationships above the storms of social entropy into the realm of vibrant
co-creativity.  It doesn't nail relationships down. It provides them with a
radiantly alive center from which to continually co-create themselves.

THE FORM OF A STATE OF GRACE DOCUMENT

A State of Grace Document has a deceptively simple structure.  Its one to
three pages emerge from an in-depth conversation in which the following are
co-created:

1.  A statement from each party on what it is about the other party and the
relationship that they find so valuable -- "the 'story' of the individuals
as they see one another while things are going smoothly."  Whenever the
conditions described in these statements are present, the relationship is
considered to be in the "state of grace" which inspired its birth.  The
purpose of the document and its related conversations is to sustain that
state of grace.

2.  An agreement about the length of time the two parties will tolerate a
departure from that state of grace.  For a marriage or a close working
relationship, that time period might be an hour or a day.  For a less
immediate relationship, such as between business clients, it might be a week
or a month or more.

3.  A commitment by both (all) parties that if they are out of their state
of grace, they will come together -- before that agreed-upon time period has
elapsed -- to have a heart-to-heart talk about the state of their
relationship.  The aim of that conversation will be to either heal the
relationship into its original state of grace -- or to transform it into a
new state of grace.

There is an assumption here that what is most valuable is not necessarily
the relationship's FORM, but rather its QUALITY, the state of grace.  If the
relationship slips out of grace, that may indicate a need to redefine it to
meet new conditions or needs.  So the question becomes:  What is the NEW
state of grace for that relationship?  It may involve a new active vision or
set of expectations.  Or it could involve new ways to live out the
satisfying story the relationship began with.  It might even involve an
honorable, graceful closure to the active relationship, a friendly
separation.  In any case, it is a renewed state of grace.

4.  A set of questions that will be addressed by both (all) parties when
they have their heart-to-heart talk.  The conversation need not be limited
to these questions, but these questions are designed to stimulate a depth of
engagement with each other and with the current reality of the relationship.
Among the questions suggested by McCarthy:

*  What am I afraid of -- including what am I afraid of really saying
right now?

*  What truths do I need to tell?

*  What do I need right now?

*  What do we each have to gain by ending this relationship?

*  What do we each have to gain by continuing this relationship?

*  What part does money play in this situation?

*  Have I let you down?

*  Is there a power struggle going on between us?

*  What do I appreciate most about you?

*  What do I have to forgive myself and/or you for?

*  Is it time to redefine or redirect this relationship?

*  What is the deep down knowing we each have about how this will
eventually end up?


ITS ORIGINS AND VISION

Born through an effort to negotiate a positive divorce with her husband,
State of Grace Documents now shape the majority of McCarthy's significant
relationships, including not only her family and friends, but her business
relationships with major corporate clients.  Significantly, some of her
clients are now using State of Grace Documents in their own work.

Regarding her first State of Grace Document with her husband, Zelle, she
writes:

"We know as individuals and as a couple we are not only bound to grow and
change, but we crave it.  So if change is inevitable, who's to say that our
current set-up will serve us or the world from now until we exit the planet?
With this in mind we sat down one day and created the first State of Grace
Document.

"It serves as our commitment, not necessarily to stay together as husband
and wife, but to honor that place of truth and love in one another,
ourselves, the relationship and, in our case, a Higher Power. When we focus
on maintaining a graceful relationship, we don't dance around difficult
conversations, we commit to having them sooner rather than later and thus
relieve any built-up tensions before they get too big and ugly. We come
together from a soulful place and look for ways to remember the love and
respect we have for one another as we work through to a solution... Once I
saw the power of The State of Grace Document between Zelle and I, I began to
create them with my friends, clients and family."

The document sits, on-call, for whenever the relationship hits hard spots.
McCarthy describes its use in her marriage, where the time allotment before
a heart-to-heart conversation is three hours: "If we feel out of a state of
grace, we commit to sitting down within three hours and beginning the
process of finding our way back, even if the conclusion is that the
relationship as we know it is over. For some people three hours is too long,
for others two years is the right amount of time. It depends on your
temperament, style of relating to one another and to what degree you need
alone time before you can calm down enough to have a more loving
conversation."

She summarizes: "The State of Grace Document is a radical new way to see the
world. It's a tool for those who are searching for a non-litigious way to
resolve a difficult situation.  Or in the cases where [we] would never
resort to that, but the pain of a bad ending leaves us exhausted, it's a
remarkable path to peace.  It's a concept not yet in practice that will
cause great change in the world when adopted because it addresses the
potential for problems up front in a loving manner. As a society we avoid
saying the marriage could end before the ceremony has begun, the job might
not work out as planned, or the business partnership might not be the best
route as we move forward.  Reality says it's all possible, but it seems so
distasteful to acknowledge it.  With the State of Grace Document a new and
very elegant approach has been created to address the possibilities, while
keeping the love, honor and integrity intact."

For more information, including sample State of Grace Documents, see her
website at:

http://www.stateofgracedocument.com

Maureen K. McCarthy
<maureenkmccarthy@...>
(828) 693-0802

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@egroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

This post has also been to NHNE's News List so some of you will receive it
twice.


"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: Death Is An Outrage
Friday, January 17, 2003
Current Members: 1331

------------

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DEATH IS AN OUTRAGE
By Robert A. Freitas Jr.
November 16, 2002

http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0536.html

Each year, we allow a destruction of knowledge equivalent to three Libraries
of Congress with an average value of about $2 million dollars for each human
life lost. The solution: "dechronification" -- nanomedicine tools that can
arrest biological aging and reduce your biological age.

Based on a lecture by the author at the Fifth Alcor Conference on Extreme
Life Extension (http://www.alcor.org/conferences/2002/), November 16, 2002
in Newport Beach, CA. Published on KurzweilAI.net Jan. 9, 2003.

To see the charts referred to in this article, please visit the website
referenced above.

.............

While you were reading this sentence, a dozen people just died, worldwide.
There. Another dozen people have perished. I think this is an outrage. I
want to tell you why I think so, and what nanomedicine can do to help.


FIGURE 1: WORLDWIDE DEATH TOLL IN 2001

Let's look at the dimensions of the human holocaust that we call "natural
death ."

The death toll in the Year 2001 was worst in India. Almost 9 million
casualties. The bodies were piled nearly as high in China. The United States
fell in third, with 2.4 million fatalities. 21 nations lost over half a
million lives, each. These 21 countries represented all cultures, races,
creeds, and continents. The human death toll in the Year 2001 from all 227
nations on Earth was nearly 55 million people, of which about 52 million
were not directly caused by human action , that is, not accidents, or
suicides, or war. They were "natural" deaths.


FIGURE 2: NATURAL DISASTERS

Even the most widely recognized greatest disasters in human history pale in
comparison to natural death . For example, the typhoon that struck
Bangladesh in 1970 washed away a million lives. In 1232 AD, Genghis Khan
burned the Persian city of Herat to the ground. It took his Mongol horde an
entire week to slaughter the 1.6 million inhabitants. The Plague took 15
million per year, World War II, 9 million per year, for half a decade each.
The worldwide influenza pandemic of 1918 exterminated less than 22 million
people ­ not even half the annual casualties from natural death . But
natural death took 52 million lives last year. We can only conclude that
natural death is measurably the greatest catastrophe humankind has ever
faced.


FIGURE 3

Of course we're outraged by natural death because of the obvious personal
consequences. But the cost to humanity of our individual deaths is rarely
appreciated, truly staggering, and equally heartbreaking.

Each one of us carries within us a complex universe of knowledge ,life
experience , and human relationships. Each individual is gifted with unique
insights possessed by no one else. Almost all of this rich treasury of
information is forever lost to mankind when we die. This lost treasury is
truly enormous. If the vast content of each person's life can be summarized
in just one book, then every year, natural death robs us of 52 million
books, worldwide. But the U.S. Library of Congress, the world's largest
collection of physical books, holds only 18 million volumes. So each year,
we allow a destruction of knowledge equivalent to three Libraries of
Congress.

It is as if in 2001, somebody burned the Library of Congress to the ground.
Once in January. Then again in May. Then again in September. 52 million
books go up in flames. And then in 2002, they burn it down again. Three more
times. And then again in 2003.

What's even worse is that if you agree with me that the sum total of each
human mind would really fill many, many books, and not just one, then you
must accept that the devastation of knowledge is actually far greater than
I've suggested here.


FIGURE 4: U.S. VALUE OF LIFE, BY AGE, 2000

Besides this staggering sacrifice of information, natural death also
destroys wealth on a grand scale. According to the Lasker Foundation, a
dozen or so studies since the mid-1970s have found the value for human life
is in the range of $3 to $7 million dollars, using many different method
ologies. More recently, Murphy and Topel at the University of Chicago drew
this chart (which I've updated to Year-2000 dollars) showing the value of
human life at every age. It recognizes that fewer years remain to us at
older ages. But this is only half of the equation.


FIGURE 5: NUMBER OF HUMAN DEATHS BY AGE, IN 2000

This chart shows estimates from the Census Bureau of the number of people
that died in the United States in the Year 2000, in each age cohort, year by
year. If you multiply the death rate at each age, from this chart, by the
dollar value at each age, from the previous chart, you get the economic loss
at each calendar age, due to natural death . The sum of these economic
losses divided by the total number of deaths gives you the average economic
value of a human life lost.


FIGURE 6

The result is an average value of about $2 million dollars for each human
life lost. If we conservatively assume that the population age structure and
the age-specific mortality is the same worldwide as in the United States,
then the worldwide natural death toll of 52 million people in the Year 2001
represents an economic loss of about $100 trillion dollars. Every year.

How big of an economic calamity is this? Taking Federal Reserve figures for
the total tangible wealth of the United States, including all financial
assets, all real estate, and all consumer durables, net of debt, and
applying the ratio of U.S. to world GDP gives us an estimate of total global
tangible net worth of $91 trillion dollars. So this means that every year,
natural death robs us of human capital equivalent in value to the entire
tangible wealth of the world.

It is as if in the Year 2001, someone took out a giant broom and swept up
all the physical assets of human civilization into a cosmic trash can, and
then threw it all away. That's $100 trillion dollars of financial assets,
real estate, and durable goods. Gone. And then in 2002, the giant broom
sweeps again. Another $100 trillion dollars of human capital is destroyed,
or three times larger than the $33 trillion dollars of annual economic
activity represented by world GDP. Then it happens again in 2003.

But the economic disaster caused by natural death is even worse, if you go
back through history . Since the modern human species first emerged, perhaps
25 millennia ago, 34 billion people have ever walked the Earth, and 28
billion of us have already died. The equivalent total information waste is
more than 28 billion books, enough to fill almost 2000 Libraries of
Congress. The equivalent total economic waste is about $60 thousand trillion
dollars, enough to rebuild our current tangible civilization 600 times over.
If you carry the tally back a million years, to the very dawn of man, all
these figures about double. Natural death is a disaster of unprecedented
proportions in human history.

So ... what's being done about this? Let's take a statistical look at the
progress to date.


FIGURE 7: EXPECTED AGE AT DEATH (EAD) IN THE U.S.

This chart, compiled from Census Bureau data, shows that for the last
one-and-a-half centuries, life expectancy at birth has risen dramatically in
the United States. A newborn child in the Year 1850 could only expect to
live to 38 years, but should reach almost 75 years today. To measure
longevity, I'm using the Expected Age at Death, which is just your current
age plus your remaining life expectancy.

But 20th century medical technology has mainly improved the longevity of the
very young. Since 1850, the Expected Age at Death of a 40-year-old has only
improved from 68 years to 77 years. The Expected Age at Death of a
70-year-old has only improved from 80 years to 83 years. In other words, a
70-year-old's chances of living another 10 years were about as good in 1850
as they are today. Not much progress . But let's take a closer look at the
data.


FIGURE 8: DECADAL INCREASE IN U.S. LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH

This chart shows the rate of Change in Life Expectancy at birth since 1850,
as measured in years of extra life expectancy achieved by medical technology
per decade of calendar time. If we could get to a rate of 10 years of life
extension per decade, then medical technology would be extending life
exactly as fast as we're aging, postponing natural death, on average,
indefinitely. We see from the chart that the Change in Life Expectancy
improved at only 1 year per decade up until 1890. After 1890, the Change in
Life Expectancy of newborns jumped dramatically, reaching more than 6 years
per decade at its peak in 1925. This was due to the rapid introduction of
several basic medical breakthroughs, like public sanitation, comprehensive
vaccination programs, and later, antibiotics.

Note that the rate of Change jumped from 0.8 to 4 years per decade during
1890 to 1900, a fivefold increase in a 10 year calendar span. The rate
soared from 2 to 6 years per decade during 1910 to 1925, a threefold
increase in a 15 year calendar span. So we know it's possible to see very
rapid increases in the rate of Change in Life Expectancy, when new
technology is brought to bear on the problem. In other words, history tells
us that the current 2.3 year per decade rate of progress could plausibly
quadruple to the "magic" 10 years per decade threshold, in the space of just
10-20 years from today, if new resources and new medical technologies are
focused on improving longevity.


FIGURE 9: DEATH RATE (DR), U.S. MALES, ALL AGES

Worried parents and life insurance salesmen often complain that the young
think they're immortal. Well, in a sense, the young are almost right! There
are age groups for which it can validly be said that extreme life extension
has already been achieved, using existing medical technology. To better
appreciate this accomplishment, we need to talk about death rates for a few
minutes.

The chart shows the aggregate death rate for all males, at all ages, in the
United States, from 1850 to 2000. In 1850, each male had a 2 percent chance
of dying in the next year. By 2000, each male had a 1 percent chance of
dying in the next year. So over this 150-year time span, the death rate was
cut in half. As a result...


FIGURE 10: ESTIMATED VS. ACTUAL EXPECTED AGE AT DEATH (U.S. MALES, AT BIRTH)

...the life expectancy from birth has approximately doubled, from 38 years
in 1850 to almost 75 years in 2000, as shown by the black curve.

A very simple formula, written in red below, can be devised for estimating
the Expected Age at Death. This formula encodes the simple truth that,
roughly speaking, cutting the death rate in half doubles the life
expectancy, as measured from the current age of the individual. The formula
assumes a single net death rate, for a whole population of mixed ages. This
is an import ant point, because the natural death rate in humans depends on
our physiological age. Death rates typically rise with advancing age, except
at the oldest ages.


FIGURE 11: DEATH RATE, U.S. MALES, AGE 1-4

Medical technology has had its greatest impact to date in preventing infant
mortality, especially between the ages of 1 to 4. In the Year 1850, a young
child in this age cohort had a 2.4 percent probability of dying in the next
year. Today, the probability of dying in the next year for these children
has been reduced from 2.4 percent to 0.04 percent. That's a phenomenal
60-fold reduction.

What if future medical technologies permit us first to arrest, and later to
reverse, the biological effects of aging? In such an era, our bodies would
no longer tumble down a staircase of degeneration and frailty. Instead, our
statistical death rate would take on some approximately fixed value that's
appropriate for our physiological-age cohort, not our calendar-age cohort.
Biological age would no longer march in lockstep with calendar age. So, how
much longer might we live, if we could just keep the bodies we had when we
were young?


FIGURE 12: EXPECTED AGE AT DEATH, ASSUMING AGE-INVARIANT DEATH RATE (MALES,
AGE 1-4)

Well, in the Year 1850, the death rate for a U.S. male between the ages of 1
and 4 implied an Expected Age at Death, according to our formula, of only 31
years. That is, in 1850, a child that could remain perpetually 1-4 years old
physiologically, would have died, on average, after 31 calendar years. Early
childhood was still very unhealthy and dangerous in those days.

As medical technology slowly improved, childhood became far less dangerous.
Most of the specific medical causes of early childhood death have now been
analyzed, and conquered. As a result, a child that could remain perpetually
1-4 years old biologically today would not die, on average, until he or she
reached the calendar age of 1800 years. Death would usually come from some
form of non-medical accident, which is the leading cause of death up to age
44.

Of course, most of us aren't 1-4 years old. How long would we live if we
could halt any further biological aging of our bodies right now, at our
current age?


FIGURE 13: EXPECTED AGE AT DEATH. ASSUMING AGE-INVARIANT DEATH RATE (MALES,
AGE 1-44)

Here's the answer for various biological age cohorts up to 44 years old.

The 10-year-olds among us would fare the best, reaching an average Expected
Age at Death exceeding 3000 calendar years. The 20-year-olds would make it
to 600 calendar years. Life has even become less dangerous for the
40-year-olds, who could survive to an average calendar age of 300 years in
today's medical environment, if further biological aging could be
immediately halted. These are remarkable achievements of medical technology
compared to the Year 1850, a time when none of these groups would have
survived more than 80-100 calendar years. Note that all of these curves --
and most especially the youngest cohorts -- began their steep climbs into
extended longevity during the latter half of the 19th century.


FIGURE 14: EXPECTED AGE AT DEATH, ASSUMING AGE-INVARIANT DEATH RATE (MALES,
AGE 35-84)

If you're over 45, the picture is not yet so bright. Non-aging biological
50-year-olds would live to a calendar age of 178 years. Non-aging
60-year-olds could only expect to survive to 113 calendar years in the
current medical environment.

But the news is not all bad for the elders. The death rate for 80-year-old
U.S. males fell by 45 percent during the last century. So some progress is
definitely being made. The problem is that the absolute natural death rate
is still so high among the elderly that the Expected Age at Death has not
yet significantly improved.


FIGURE 15: AGE DISTRIBUTION OF U.S. POPULATION, 1850-2030

Now, you remember those Expected Age at Death curves for the youngsters that
began their steep climb into extended longevity in the late 19th Century?
The biggest gains were in the 1-10 year old cohorts, where death rates fell
30- to 60-fold. These gains began at a time when this age cohort made up 20
to 30 percent of the U.S. population. Early deaths in this gigantic
demographic bulge were of great concern to medical researchers at the time,
who lavished their resources on solving this problem.

I think history is about to repeat, this time at the opposite end of the age
scale. In the United States, people over 60 years of age already make up the
single largest cohort at 16.5 percent, and this cohort grows to 20 to 30
percent of the U.S. population after 2015, and for decades beyond. As
before, this demographic bulge will focus research scientists and research
dollars towards solving the problem of premature death among the very old.


FIGURE 16: BIRTH/DEATH RATIO, DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

And there's another societal motivation to reduce death rates. As nations
become more industrialized, their birth rates go down. In the developed
world, the birth-to- death ratio has been declining for decades. In many
countries, there are already more deaths each year than births, which, in
the long run, is a prescription for national extinction. To avoid a
Population Implosion, these nations must get busy and reduce their death
rates to below their falling birth rates.


FIGURE 17: WHAT IS NANOMEDICINE

The greatest advances in halting biological aging and preventing natural
death are likely to come from the fields of biotechnology and
nanotechnology. That is, nanomedicine. Nanomedicine is most simply and
generally defined as the preservation and improvement of human health, using
molecular tools and molecular knowledge of the human body.

In the near term, say, the next 5 years, the molecular tools of nanomedicine
will include biologically active materials with well-defined nanoscale
structures, such as dendrimer-based organic devices and pharmaceuticals
based on fullerenes and organic nanotubes. We should also see genetic
therapies and tissue engineering becoming more common in medical practice.

In the mid-term, the next 5 or 10 years or so, knowledge gained from
genomics and proteomics will make possible new treatments tailored to
specific individuals, new drugs targeting pathogens whose genomes have now
been decoded, stem cell treatments to repair damaged tissue, replace missing
function, or slow aging, and biological robots made from bacteria and other
motile cells that have had their genomes re-engineered and re-programmed. We
could also see artificial organic devices that incorporate biological motors
or self-assembled DNA-based structures for a variety of useful medical
purposes.

In the farther term, perhaps somewhere in the 10 or 20 year time frame, the
first fruits of molecular nanorobotics should begin to appear in the medical
field. My own theoretical work in nanomedicine has concentrated on medical
nanorobotics using diamondoid materials and nanoparts. This area, though
clinically the most distant, and still mostly theoretical, may hold the
greatest promise for health and life extension.


FIGURE 18: DECHRONIFICATION

The end result of all these nanomedical advances will be to enable a process
I call "dechronification" -- or, "rolling back the clock." I see no serious
ethical problems with this. According to the volitional normative model of
disease that is most appropriate for nanomedicine, if you're physiologically
old and don't want to be, then for you, oldness and aging are a disease, and
you deserve to be cured. After all, what's the use of living many extra
hundreds of years in a body that lacks the youthful appearance and vigor
that you desire? Dechronification will first arrest biological aging, then
reduce your biological age by performing three kinds of procedures on each
one of the 4 trillion tissue cells in your body.

First, a nanodevice will be sent to enter every tissue cell, to remove
accumulating metabolic toxins and undegradable material. Afterwards, these
toxins will continue to slowly re-accumulate as they have all your life, so
you'll probably need a whole-body cleanout to prevent further aging, maybe
once a year. Second, chromosome replacement therapy can be used to correct
accumulated genetic damage and mutations in every one of your cells. This
might also be repeated annually. Third, persistent cellular structural
damage that the cell cannot repair by itself such as enlarged or disabled
mitochondria can be reversed as required, on a cell by cell basis, using
cellular repair devices. We're still a long way from having complete
theoretical designs for many of these machines, but they all appear possible
in theory, so eventually we will have good designs for them.


FIGURE 19: EXPECTED AGE AT DEATH AFTER DECHRONIFICATION

Using these annual checkups and cleanouts, and some occasional major
repairs, your biological age could be restored once a year to the more or
less constant physiological age that you select. I see little reason not to
go for optimal youth -- though trying to maintain your body at the ideal
physiological age of 10 years old might be difficult and undesirable for
other reasons.

A rollback to the physiology of your late teens would be easier to maintain
and more fun. That would push your Expected Age at Death up to around 900
calendar years. You might still eventually die of accidental causes, but
you'll live ten times longer than you do now.


FIGURE 20: NANOMEDICAL LIMITS TO BIOLOGICAL LIFE EXTENSION

How far can we go with this? Well, if we can eliminate 99 percent of all
medically preventable conditions that lead to natural death, your healthy
lifespan should increase to about 1100 years. It may be that you'll find it
hard to coax more than a millennium or two out of your original biological
body, because deaths from suicides and accidents have remained stubbornly
high for the last 100 years, falling by only one-third during that time .

However, one can hope that the rate of suicides might be greatly reduced,
with so much to look forward to, and with new nanomedical treatments for
unhealthy mental states. Nanotechnology can also improve the overall safety
of our material environment, leading to far fewer deaths from accidents.

Finally, genetic modifications or nanomedical augmentations to the human
body may extend healthy lifespans still further, to a degree that cannot yet
be accurately predicted.

In closing, I hope you'll agree with me that natural death is an outrage.
Indeed, it is humanity's, and history's, greatest outrage. Now, at long
last, maybe we can finally do something about it. So let's get on with it!

Thank you.

For more information about my writings on nanomedicine , please
visit the following websites:

NANOMEDICINE:
http://www.nanomedicine.com/

NANOMEDICINE AT THE FORESIGHT INSTITUTE:
http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/

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NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

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NHNE: The Assisi Decalogue For Peace
Friday, January 31, 2003
Current Members: 1314

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THE ASSISI DECALOGUE
By David Waters
Syndicated Memphis, Tennessee Commercial Appeal
March 17, 2002

http://interfaithnews.net/index.php?page=assisi

What if leaders of the world's major religions got together one day and
denounced all religious violence? What if they unanimously agreed to make
this plain, clear and bold statement to the world?

"Violence and terrorism are opposed to all true religious spirit and we
condemn all recourse to violence and war in the name of God or religion." It
could change the world. At the very least, it would be big news, wouldn't
it? Apparently not.

More than 200 leaders of the world's dozen major religions did get together
Jan. 24 in Assisi, Italy. Maybe you missed the story about it the next day.
Most newspapers didn't carry it. And it was hidden inside many of those that
did. There was a lot of other news that day. The Enron hearings opened in
Washington. John Walker Lindh made his first court appearance.

It's no wonder the largest meeting of world religious leaders in history
couldn't even make the front page. Pope John Paul II and a number of
cardinals were at the meeting. So was Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of all
Orthodox Christians. So were a dozen Jewish rabbis, including some from
Israel. So were 30 Muslim Imams from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and
Pakistan. So were dozens of ministers representing Baptists, Lutherans,
Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Disciples of Christ,
Mennonites, Quakers, Moravians, The Salvation Army and the World Council of
Churches.

So were dozens of monks, gurus and others representing Hindus, Buddhists,
Sikhs and Zoroastrians and native African religions. They ignored the
personal and political risk of attending such a high-profile gathering.

They convened and talked and prayed. They unanimously agreed to condemn
every recourse to violence and war in the name of God or religion. They also
said, "No religious goal can possibly justify the use of violence by man
against man." And that "Whoever uses religion to foment violence contradicts
religion's deepest and truest inspiration." They called their statement the
Assisi Decalogue for Peace. It consists of 10 mutual commitments to work for
peace and justice in the world, including this one:

"We commit ourselves to stand at the side of those who suffer poverty and
abandonment, speaking out for those who have no voice, and to working
effectively to change these situations." On March 4, the Pope sent a copy of
the Decalogue to all of the world's heads of state.

Maybe you missed the story. It didn't even make the newspapers the next day,
hidden inside or not. There was a lot of other news that day. Seven American
soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. Israeli troops killed 17 people in the
West Bank. Mike Tyson got a license to box.

What if leaders of the world's major religions got together one day and
denounced all religious violence --- and no one cared?

DECALOGUE OF ASSISI FOR PEACE

1. We commit ourselves to proclaiming our firm conviction that violence and
terrorism are incompatible with the authentic spirit of religion, and, as we
condemn every recourse to violence and war in the name of God or of
religion, we commit ourselves to doing everything possible to eliminate the
root causes of terrorism.

2. We commit ourselves to educating people to mutual respect and esteem, in
order to help bring about a peaceful and fraternal coexistence between
people of different ethnic groups, cultures and religions.

3. We commit ourselves to fostering the culture of dialogue, so that there
will be an increase of understanding and mutual trust between individuals
and among peoples, for these are the premises of authentic peace.

4. We commit ourselves to defending the right of everyone to live a decent
life in accordance with their own cultural identity, and to form freely a
family of their own.

5. We commit ourselves to frank and patient dialogue, refusing to consider
our differences as an insurmountable barrier, but recognizing instead that
to encounter the diversity of others can become an opportunity for greater
reciprocal understanding.

6. We commit ourselves to forgiving one another for past and present errors
and prejudices, and to supporting one another in a common effort both to
overcome selfishness and arrogance, hatred and violence, and to learn from
the past that peace without justice is no true peace.

7. We commit ourselves to taking the side of the poor and the helpless, to
speaking out for those who have no voice and to working effectively to
change these situations, out of the conviction that no one can be happy
alone.

8. We commit ourselves to taking up the cry of those who refuse to be
resigned to violence and evil, and we desire to make every effort possible
to offer the men and women of our time real hope for justice and peace.

9. We commit ourselves to encouraging all efforts to promote friendship
between peoples, for we are convinced that, in the absence of solidarity and
understanding between peoples, technological progress exposes the world to a
growing risk of destruction and death.

10. We commit ourselves to urging leaders of nations to make every effort to
create and consolidate, on the national and international levels, a world of
solidarity and peace based on justice.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

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receive it twice.


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The Strange & Troubling World Of 'Parasomnias'
Monday, February 3, 2003
Current Members: 1314

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THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A DEER
By Chip Brown
New York Times
February 2, 2003

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/02/magazine/02SLEEP.html

The Strange and the Beautiful

It takes a while to figure out why Dr. Mark Mahowald's grainy sleep-lab
videos are so spooky. One immediate reason is the phenomena on the footage
-- a class of disorders called ''parasomnias,'' which are defined as
unwanted and involuntary behaviors during sleep and are by definition
occult, because they appear when most people are unable to witness them. But
even the scientists who stay up late by profession never quite get used to
what they see. Mahowald, a neurology professor at the University of
Minnesota and director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center,
likes to say to his students, ''We study the strange and the beautiful.''

To judge from the tapes, that's the understatement of the semester.

Here's a bearded elder man bolting up at 4:30 a.m. He clutches his left leg,
waves his right arm and brays at the top of his lungs -- "HO! HO! HO!" --
dementedly jolly cries that also evoke something bestial and wounded. In the
morning he remembers nothing of this ''confusional arousal'' triggered by
obstructive sleep apnea, a condition in which a constriction of the throat
causes you to gasp for breath. Inevitably the man came to be known at the
lab as Santa Claus. Mahowald said that when the patient saw himself on tape
he was ''horrified'' but finally understood why he'd been kicked out of so
many hotels.

Here's a fat, frizzy-haired woman in bed grinding her teeth. The sound is
like a door hinge in a haunted house. Her left hand fumbles for a snack; she
starts to eat, with no conscious control over her actions.

Here are people in the midst of ''partial'' arousals who spring from bed and
rip off the electrodes glued to their heads, removing patches of their
scalps as well; people who box the air, flail at imaginary snakes, twitch,
jerk, groan, rub their genitals, bloody their hands on nightstands or rock
and tremble like bobble-head dolls. People who by day are wry, levelheaded
paragons of mental health but who at night find themselves locked in
life-and-death struggles with intruders.

Mel Abel, for instance. He's a droll, mild-mannered man who grew up on a
farm in Minnesota, owned a tavern for a while and sold real estate. A taped
snippet of one of his nights in the sleep lab is part of a parasomnia
training video. At 4:24 a.m., Mel begins sleep-talking: ''Quit using the
goddamn bowl for banging like that -- quit it now! Get the hell out of here!
Go on! That's about four times this morning that I have told you. I don't
know if you're that deaf or that dumb, which . . . goddamn continuously. . .
. What the hell are you looking for, a walleye?''

For sure, some of these spectacles are hilarious. It's hard not to laugh
when a sane Midwesterner who doesn't have a cat sits on the edge of his bed
asleep, saying, ''Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.'' But it's not so funny if you
are one of the automatons eating raw bacon and cigarettes. Some parasomnia
cases have the parameters of Greek tragedy. Mel Abel's eyes brim with tears
when he tells how criminally close he came to harming his wife, Harriet. He
was struggling with a deer whose neck he was trying to snap when he
discovered he was actually home in bed with his hands on Harriet's head and
chin. Harriet woke him up, hollering, ''Mel, what in the world are you
trying to do?''

These after-hours manifestations of the strange and beautiful undermine all
our noonday notions of who we are and what we can command. Suddenly it's
easy to understand what spawned the lore of demons and succubi, those ''old
hags'' from whom the word nightmare is derived, and the countless other
psychoreligious confabulations dreamed up over the centuries since Plato
declared that ''in all of us, even good men, there is a lawless wild-beast
nature which peers out in sleep.''

Our ideas about ourselves are constantly evolving, but the pace of the
revisions lately has been accelerated by phenomenal advances in both
neuroscience and sleep medicine, which is one of the youngest sciences. ''We
are at the dawn of the golden age of sleep research,'' says David Dinges,
chief of the division of sleep and chronobiology in the department of
psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. ''The field is moving so fast
scientifically that few researchers can even take the time to write a
book.''

New data about parasomnias are emerging in the context of a ''folk
psychology'' that has been shaped by a century of Freudian opinion. If we
now conceive of demons and their ilk as repressed conflicts and
developmental traumas and accept as axiomatic that the self is not limited
to what we are strictly conscious of even when fully awake, we also suppose
our behaviors are pregnant with hidden meanings and that our psyches speak
in codes only $200-an-hour masterminds can crack. We suppose hidden truths
are waiting to surface when the guard of waking is dropped.

Parasomnias are interesting for the ways they undercut these contentions --
for what they imply about the scope and nature of the self. They point
toward a novel model of the mind that envisions waking, sleeping and
dreaming as distinct neurodynamic states that lie along a continuum and are
separated by imperfect, sometimes porous boundaries. States can get
''dissociated'' or mixed together in the way script from one program can
hang up in another when you're shifting between the windows of a buggy
computer. If this ''state dissociation'' model proposes a brave new world
shorn of some of our most cozy truisms, it also raises those questions that
inevitably trail after radical revisions: that's to say, who are we now
under these strange new terms, and how should we live?

Drama Queens

It's probably safe to say that as long as people have been sleeping they
have been having problems sleeping, but the consensus now is that things
have never been worse. Electric lights, night shifts, double espressos,
after-dark distractions, even the archetype of the macho workaholic have
combined to murder sleep. Millions of Americans have what is called ''sleep
debt,'' which preliminary studies indicate may lead to heart disease,
stroke, diabetes and depression, among other troubles.

For about 40 million Americans, sleeping woes can be linked to at least one
of the 84 official sleep disorders, the most common of which are chronic
insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea. People with sleep apnea can wake up
hundreds of times a night and not know it. On the other hand, parasomnias,
which account for about 10 percent of sleep disorders, are the drama queens
of the night, known if not to the afflicted players (who are by definition
asleep) then certainly to their boggled bed partners. They are generally
divided into two categories that reflect the now canonical states of the
sleeping brain -- those that occur in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep and
those that arise from non-REM (NREM) sleep.

The most common NREM parasomnias, sleepwalking and sleep terrors, are often
triggered by so-called partial or confusional arousals from the deepest
stages of sleep. Some stimulus like a loud noise or a full bladder
half-wakes you up, and you have enough awareness to perform fairly complex
motor behaviors -- enough to drive a car, say, or turn on a microwave -- but
not enough to be considered the agent of your actions by traditional
standards. The amnesia characteristic of NREM arousals seems almost
incredible in the case of sleep terrors, where people will often bolt up
bug-eyed, screaming like actresses in straight-to-video horror movies. It's
no wonder that the prevailing opinion until recently was that these
disorders signaled some seriously loose screws.

''We were taught in medical school in the 60's that sleepwalking and sleep
terrors in adults were associated with significant underlying psychiatric
disease,'' Mahowald told me. ''I actually taught that because that's what
the book said. Then we saw a lot of adults with sleepwalking and sleep
terrors who were perfectly well wired neurologically and psychiatrically.
People just didn't want to believe that a perfectly normal adult could have
sleep terrors and sleepwalking.''

Sleepwalking and sleep terrors are so common among children between the ages
of 4 and 12 that they're considered normal developmental behavior. It's one
measure of how culture is imposed on us that what's normal in children is
problematic in adults. Often sleepwalkers, or people with some of the other
disorders like sleep-talking, sleep-groaning or periodic limb movement
disorder, don't seek treatment until they're planning to head off to college
or join the Army and are faced with the prospect of exhibiting their
embarrassing night life in a dorm or a barracks.

The first window for REM parasomnias opens with the initial phase of sleep
associated with vivid dreams. Rapid Eye Movement sleep could just as easily
be named after one of its other features, muscle paralysis, or atonia, which
is what prevents you from sitting up in a dream to pet a cat you don't have.
The presence of muscle tone is a key to REM behavior disorder, perhaps the
most significant of all the parasomnias.

The mystery of the brain's nightly oscillations between REM and NREM is part
of the larger enigma of sleep itself. No one really knows why we have to
throw ourselves onto a pallet every evening, or why the average person
spends about 25 years of his or her life sleeping (or trying to sleep). All
that's certain is that sleep is essential for many species of birds and for
all mammals, and that evolution seems to have taken pains to keep it in the
picture. (Dolphins, for example, would drown if they couldn't stay awake to
regulate their respiration, but their brains have evolved the ingenious
ability to sleep one hemisphere at a time.)

Much of what is known about parasomnias has been gathered in sleep clinics,
the first of which was established only in 1970 at Stanford University.
There are now hundreds of clinics in the United States. When an especially
baffling parasomnia case appears, doctors sometimes refer patients to top
centers like the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, where Mark
Mahowald and his colleague Carlos Schenck have been mapping this esoteric
patch of the mind-body problem for more than 20 years. Late last summer
Mahowald invited me to visit the Minnesota clinic, and Schenck, a
psychiatrist on staff there, offered to introduce me to some of his patients
-- a group of Midwesterners who were more intimately acquainted with the
strange and beautiful than they'd ever bargained for.

"Nine Years of Hell"

In 1979, after 33 years of marriage, Rowena Pope thought she knew her
husband, Cal, as well as any soul mate could. They lived in a house in a
northern suburb of Minneapolis. They had raised six daughters and a son.
They had started out ''poor as Job's turkey,'' as Rowena put it, but had
worked hard, Cal as a customs broker, and Rowena in jobs at a local
newspaper, a law office and the municipal court. She could finish her
husband's sentences and start a lot of them, too, because he was a man of
few words -- dutiful, undemonstrative, slow to anger, gentle.

''He's part of that generation of men who came home from World War II, took
off the uniform and never said a word about it to anybody, and anybody who
did say a word was a blowhard,'' Rowena told me when I visited them at their
house.

One spring night in 1979, asleep in bed, she woke up to find herself under
attack. It was Cal, of all people. ''He was violently kicking and pummeling
me and carrying on,'' she recalled. ''His feet were just like hammers --
bang! bang! bang! It lasted about a minute but it seemed like forever. He
was asleep. I asked him when he woke up, 'What in the world is happening?'
And he said, 'I don't know.'''

She was angry and frightened, but mostly puzzled.

When he came home from work that night, he said he finally figured out that
he had been having a dream and in it, an intruder had come into their
bedroom and he was trying to drive him out.

''That was the beginning of nine years of hell,'' Rowena said.

Night after night, Cal would kick and shout in his sleep. The episodes began
to take a toll on the house, not to mention on Cal's body. He knocked
pictures off the wall. A head butt left a crack in a walnut dresser that had
belonged to Rowena's mother. He threw a punch that put a crater in the
plaster bedside wall. He cracked a toe, and bloodied his knuckles more times
than anybody could count.

The episodes also began to take an emotional toll on Rowena. ''There was
never a time when we were free of it,'' she said. ''We turned down
invitations to stay overnight at friends' houses. Cal never wanted to
travel. At night he would be shouting and cavorting and carrying on. I
finally said, 'You have to sleep in another room.' I talked to our family
doctor, and he said, 'Oh, it might be something he ate.' People didn't know
anything about this.''

She thought maybe Cal had post-traumatic stress from the horrors of his
experience in the war. What was most exasperating was that Cal didn't think
he really had a problem. When he was dreaming he lacked any awareness of
being in a dream, and when he would wake up, he had little if any memory of
what had happened. Because his sleep was chopped up with so many arousals,
he was often exhausted during the day and would come home from work and
collapse.

''I just figured I was working too hard,'' he said.

''Sometimes he would shout out in his sleep 'No! No! No!''' Rowena said. ''I
had never heard him sound so anguished before in my life. It was
heart-rending. He's never been in a fight as far as I'm aware of. He was
never jealous.''

They took all the framed pictures out of the room. They got a bed that was
low to the floor and under the carpet laid a double-thick pad to cushion the
falls Cal might take.

A feeling of estrangement crept over their marriage. Cal eventually moved
all his clothes and belongings into another room. Sleeping in separate beds
was ''abhorrent'' to Rowena, but she felt there was no choice.

Then one afternoon she saw a report on the local TV news about a man who
mistook his wife for a deer. It was Mel Abel. Rowena tried to persuade Cal
to have an evaluation. He resisted, even though the behavior seemed to be
getting worse. She recalled one incident in an account she wrote up:

''One afternoon while he was napping on the couch as I read a book, he
played out a scene more awful than anything I had ever seen or heard. He
rolled off the couch and hit the floor. Normally, a fall to the floor would
have awakened him. But instead he began roaring like a wounded wild animal.
I sat in my chair frozen with fear as I watched the unbelievable scene
unfold. He roared, he crouched, he pounced and finally crawled into a space
between the couch and the wall, as if in a den or lair. When I was able to
speak I shouted to awaken him. He could not believe my description of what
had just happened, even though he was surprised to find himself on the
floor.''

Rowena had finally had enough. She wrote to the Minnesota sleep center and
in November 1988 got Cal an appointment with Dr. Schenck. The next month he
spent two nights in the sleep lab. The diagnosis was indeed what Mel Abel's
had been: REM behavior disorder.

''It was such a relief to get a diagnosis and treatment,'' Rowena said. ''At
the time they had only diagnosed 25 people.''

Only two years earlier in the journal Sleep, Mahowald and Schenck had
published what would come to be considered one of the seminal papers in the
field, formally identifying REM behavior disorder (R.B.D.) as a new
parasomnia. R.B.D. mainly affects men over 50 and is characterized
clinically by changes in the nature and range of a patient's dreams, as well
as by a spectacular loss of the muscle paralysis that prevents most people
from acting their dreams out.

In a way, REM behavior disorder is the mirror image of narcolepsy, the
well-known disorder that can cause people to nod out in the middle of a
sentence. In narcolepsy, a feature of REM sleep (muscle atonia) intrudes
into waking. In REM behavior disorder, a feature of waking (muscle tone)
intrudes into REM sleep. A sedative, clonazepam, which works in ways nobody
really understands, has been proved an effective treatment for REM behavior
disorder. It doesn't restore the muscle paralysis but seems to calm the
brain down enough to keep the dreamers in their beds.

What makes REM behavior disorder so theatrical is not just the dream
enactment but also the change in the character of the dreams. They become
more like pulp fiction, filled with intruders, obscenities, kicks and
uppercuts. Here, you might think, is a psychologically rich parasomnia in
which the sleeping mind betrays the unexpurgated feelings hidden behind the
mask of civility.

Apparently not.

''The R.B.D. behaviors and their associated stereotypic dream changes are
the most reflexive by-products of altered brain-stem activity,'' Schenck
told me. ''They are behavioral storms coming from the brain stem.''

In Schenck and Mahowald's view, what argues for the finding that R.B.D.
behavior has little if anything to do with psychodynamic factors are the
famous experiments with cats that anticipated the discovery of REM behavior
disorder in humans. Michel Jouvet and his colleagues in France in the 1960's
made lesions in cat brain stems that prevented muscle atonia. When the cats
went into REM sleep, they didn't lie immobilized in the dream world; they
scrambled up, arched their backs and acted out all sorts of aggressive
automatic behaviors.

''The categories of behavior seen in REM-behavior-disorder patients are the
exact same categories seen in animals,'' Schenck said. ''We see simple
jerking and twitching, orientation responses, locomotion and violent
behaviors. We don't see feeding, eating, grooming or sexual behavior.
Basically, with REM behavior disorder your dream content gets very
restricted. Everything is shunted along certain pathways. A lot of people
say after treatment, 'I can have my regular dreams again!'''

One of Schenck and Mahowald's most remarkable findings was that in 65
percent of their male patients over 50 (without a neurological condition),
the onset of REM behavior disorder proved to be a harbinger of Parkinson's
disease. Some patients actually experienced changes in the content of their
dreams months before they began acting them out. In those who developed
Parkinson's, symptoms of the disease appeared within 13 years on average
from the onset of R.B.D.

Schenck and Mahowald identified R.B.D., but they were not the first to
describe the behavior, as Schenck learned in December 1996, when he flew to
Madrid to give some talks to a Spanish neurological society. At dinner one
night, two of his colleagues presented him with a gift, a copy of Miguel de
Cervantes's epic novel ''Don Quixote,'' published in 1605. A passage was
marked on Page 364. Schenck, who speaks Spanish, began to smile as he read
Cervantes's lines: ''He was thrusting his sword in all directions, speaking
out loud as if he were actually fighting a giant. And the strange thing was
that he did not have his eyes open, because he was asleep and dreaming that
he was battling the giant. . . . He had stabbed the wine skins so many
times, believing that he was stabbing the giant, that the entire room was
filled with wine.'' A classic case of R.B.D., described 381 years before the
condition was recognized.

Cal Pope still thrashes in his sleep, but his medication has managed the
behavior fairly well for 14 years now, and some good things have come back
into his and Rowena's lives -- not everything, but Rowena prefers to count
her blessings. After 56 years of marriage, she has the company of her
husband again, not that wild beast that was peering out at her from sleep.
They go to the movies once a week. Evenings at home they watch the news
together, sometimes sharing a bowl of popcorn or ice cream, and then around
10, still a little wary of the night, they head off to separate rooms.

"Even the Mice Have Left"

Because people have been devising theories about the meaning of dreams for
centuries, convinced that dreams are messages from God or postcards from the
unconscious or telepathic communiques from the great beyond, it's hard to
imagine that a sleep disorder involving dreams could reveal so little about
an individual's psyche. But this is what sleep scientists argue is the case.
As Schenck noted, in both REM and NREM parasomnias, more than 90 percent of
the wild stuff recorded in the sleep lab are ''automatic behaviors related
to neuronal activity and/or abnormal or confusional interactions with the
immediate environment.'' In the more relaxed setting of the home, he says,
there is a slight increase in what he termed ''psychologically meaningful''
behaviors for people with NREM disorders like sleepwalking and sleep terrors
and, to a lesser degree, sleep-related eating disorder. For those with REM
behavior disorder, however, being at home makes virtually no difference.

''In the lab, what we see a little more of aren't really 'deep-seated'
psychological behaviors dealing with neurosis,'' Schenck said. ''They're
more things like a mother searching for her baby and picking her baby up for
fear the baby may not be safe.''

Maureen Strehlow, a 57-year-old woman with dark brown eyes and hair, lives
alone south of Minneapolis. It has been 10 years since she first walked into
the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center. At that time, she had been
divorced a few years; she was living with her three children, and she was at
her wit's end.

She had discovered that she was powerless to stop eating in her sleep --
sleep, or whatever that twilight state was in which she would traverse the
hall from the bed to the kitchen, usually with no recollection in the
morning but aware enough at the time to rummage in the counter drawer for
the stale licorice behind the coffee filters. The list of tactics that
failed to thwart her behavior was long. She had tried to ''prime'' herself
not to eat. She'd hung paper plates block-lettered with the word ''EAT''
with a bold slash through it. She had even hired one of her daughters at a
few dollars a night to bed down in the hall outside Maureen's room on the
theory that the teenager might be alert enough to intervene, or at least
present an obstacle.

''You know how kids sleep,'' Maureen recalled. ''A bulldozer could hit the
house and they wouldn't wake up. The first night I stepped right over her.''

Maureen got rid of the sweets she usually went for, but then she discovered
one morning that she had opened a can of soup and picked out the mushrooms.

She was so tired in the morning she would hit the snooze alarm six times.
What bothered her more than the fatigue and the lack of control was how she
was ruining her figure. For a while, she had a helpful adversary in her
youngest daughter, Suzanne.

''Five or six times Suzanne heard me get up in the night and came running
upstairs from the basement. She would stand there with her hands on her hips
and say, 'You're eating!' And I'd say, 'I'm not eating!' And she'd say:
'Duh! You are too!' Part of me was mad at her. And then in the morning, if I
hadn't eaten, I'd be so grateful. Sometimes I was totally asleep; other
times I had some awareness. I would say 75 percent of the time when I woke
up in the morning I'd have no memory of getting up and eating. But then
something might jog me and I'd remember.''

She had been eating in her sleep since her late teens, finding clues like
chocolate frosting on her pillow or cherry pits and porkchop bones in the
sheets. ''I thought I was the only person in the world doing this. I would
wake up in the morning wondering, What did you do last night?''

In 1992, a friend was listening to a radio program that featured Carlos
Schenck talking about people who eat in their sleep. There had been
scattered case reports of nocturnal eating in the medical literature going
back to the 1940's, but in 1991, again in the journal Sleep, Schenck and
Mahowald described 19 cases of what they were formally introducing as
sleep-related eating disorder (S.R.E.D.).

''My friend called me at home,'' Maureen recalled. ''She said, 'This is
you!' I called the center the next day.''

Her condition was diagnosed as S.R.E.D., which is defined as compulsive
eating occurring during partial arousals from NREM sleep. It often combines
elements of an eating disorder, which is considered a psychiatric condition,
with elements of a sleep disorder, which in Maureen's case researchers
speculate is related to a deficiency of dopamine in her brain.

''No matter how it begins, either with stress or with another sleep disorder
such as sleepwalking, sleep-related eating will usually become a nightly
phenomenon,'' Schenck told me. ''The one variable is the level of
consciousness associated with the eating. Usually there is partial
consciousness, but in about a quarter of our patients there can be complete
unconsciousness, and in about 15 to 20 percent of cases, there is full
wakefulness and subsequent recall, but no control over the eating.''

Schenck prescribed Maureen a dopamine-enhancing medication and Tylenol 3,
which contains codeine.

''When I first started taking the medications, I was running around the
neighborhood singing Hallelujah!'' Maureen recalled. ''I felt so good about
myself. I started exercising. I would call up guys and ask them out to
dinner.''

For three years her sleep-eating was well controlled by the prescriptions.
But then what Schenck believes is an underlying condition emerged -- the
sleep disorder known as restless legs syndrome, which is characterized by
extremely painful crawling sensations in the legs.

When I visited in October, Maureen had recently had a relapse of
sleep-eating, and her restless legs syndrome was acting up. ''It's kind of
depressing what I can do,'' she said, with a rueful laugh. ''Last week I
woke up with the worst taste in my mouth -- I had made a sandwich out of
beef-bouillon cubes in my sleep. Who'd eat that? It's probably because
there's nothing to eat in the house. Even the mice have left.''

She showed me the route from her Victorian bed to her tan-tiled kitchen. The
way was lined with potential obstacles -- her collection of large crocks, a
rocking horse, a congress of teddy bears, breadboxes, ceramic pitchers --
all of which she always managed to negotiate in her sleep. When she was
married, she said, she lived for a while with her mother-in-law, who was
fighting cancer. She had loved her mother-in-law, and it still baffled and
upset her that she could get up night after night to eat but never once
think to check on the woman dying in the next room.

Cat Boy

The treatment Maureen Strehlow received for the pain in her legs and for her
sleep-eating never addressed the possibility that psychological factors
might be contributing to the disorders. No one would think to look for
psychological factors in restless legs syndrome. But with sleep-eating,
despite its automatic quality, the role of the psyche is harder to rule out.
People recoil from a strictly neurological view of behavior basic to their
identity -- behaviors related to food, sex, emotions, language and even
dreams -- despite the obvious distortion of dreams in REM behavior disorder.

If there was an emotional or mental cause to Maureen's sleep-related eating,
something other than the varying dopamine levels in her brain, she wasn't
aware of it. The persistence of the behavior over the years had disabused
her of the idea that she could do much to curb her trips to the kitchen; it
was more important to her to break the pattern than to hunt for
psychological origins under the iffy assumption that they existed. In any
case, she didn't expect uncovering them would make any difference.

While skepticism about psychological causes ought to be routine, given how
wantonly they've been applied to conditions where they had no business,
sometimes there is no recourse but to invoke the psyche as the source of a
parasomnia. One of the more startling episodes captured on tape at the
Minnesota clinic is the nocturnal behavior of a 19-year-old known in the lab
as Cat Boy. Fifty-three minutes after falling asleep, the teenager gets out
of bed and begins crawling on the floor, growling, his hands folded into
paws. He seizes a corner of the mattress with his teeth and shakes it. After
six and a half minutes, perspiring heavily, he collapses and becomes
''clinically unresponsive.'' When technicians ask him, he reports that he
has been dreaming what he always dreams -- he is a large cat following a
female zookeeper with a bucket of raw meat. Here's the strangest thing of
all: this parasomnia is not technically a sleep disorder. Throughout the
episode Cat Boy's EEG reports that his brain is ''awake.''

In his case, the diagnosis was of a psychiatric condition that happened to
reveal itself under cover of darkness. Researchers at the Minnesota clinic
estimate that about 7 percent of their parasomnia cases are actually
nocturnal dissociative disorders. And these disorders consist of almost
nothing but psychologically meaningful behavior.

''The behaviors reflect the psyche and past psychological experience usually
in the context of physical, sexual, verbal abuse,'' Schenck noted. ''Many of
the observed and recorded behaviors, including vocalizations (moaning and
words), are a combination of sexual and sexualized behaviors -- pelvic
movements and thrusting -- and defensive behaviors and vocalizations, like
'No, no, no, don't do that!' or 'You're hurting me!' or 'Stop! Stop!' The
EEG is awake but the person (usually female) perceives her dissociated
memory of past abuse as an actual dream, as if she were asleep even though
she is technically awake.''

Even to a tutored eye, it is impossible to distinguish between behavior
arising from a sleep disorder and behavior arising from a nocturnal
dissociative disorder without a work-up in a sleep lab. For all their
resemblance, parasomnias from the sleep state and parasomnias emerging from
waking-state dissociations belong to different domains with different moral
expectations. Cat Boy's parents were upset to learn his condition was a
psychiatric disorder. The finding put the onus not on the body but on the
mind -- on the waking state with its apparently defective self-control
rather than on the sleep state where custom accepts that the self will
vanish into the automatism of the brain.

The expectation that we ought to be able to control ourselves is essentially
the issue at stake in criminal cases. Sleepwalking has been successfully
used as a legal defense in some homicide cases but has failed in others. The
main hurdle is that experts cannot determine the actual state of the brain
after the fact, only whether a person has a propensity for partial arousals.

More mundanely, the premium on self-control heightens the guilt of people
who exhibit sexual behavior while asleep. ''Sleep sex'' is not an officially
classified disorder, but it has been the subject of a much-publicized recent
study by researchers at Stanford University and has been observed since the
inception of overnight sleep-lab studies. ''I got a call about this from
Playboy magazine years ago,'' Mahowald told me. ''Technicians have seen it
in the lab for years. It happens all the time. Most likely it's a
specialized form of sleepwalking.''

Dr. Christian Guilleminault and other scientists at Stanford's Sleep
Disorders Clinic reported on 11 cases of ''atypical sexual behavior'' during
sleep. The behaviors included ''violent masturbation, sexual assaults and
continuous (and loud) sexual vocalizations during sleep.'' Eight of the
cases occurred in NREM sleep, three in REM. In four of the cases no
psychopathology was diagnosed. In the others, a range of psychiatric
ailments was found, from depression to obsessive-compulsive tendencies to
anxiety, but the researchers concluded, ''We do not know to what extent the
psychiatric disorders played a role in the observed behaviors.''

Psyche vs. Neuron

The Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center is housed on the eighth floor
of the Hennepin County Medical Center in downtown Minneapolis. It has a wing
for offices and consulting rooms and one for overnight sleep studies, of
which the center does about 1,500 a year. On the afternoon when Mahowald was
running through his parasomnia highlights reel, a crowd drifted in, Schenck
among them. Mahowald and Schenck have been collaborating for 21 years. They
have co-written 23 textbook chapters and 43 articles in peer-reviewed
journals. They have made major discoveries and numerous contributions to the
field of sleep medicine.

But there are subtle, psyche-versus-neuron differences in their views, some
of which reflect differences in their training and background. Mahowald, 59,
was born, bred and schooled in Minnesota. As a neurologist, he has a
materialist's innate suspicion of nonmaterial concepts and explanations.
Schenck, 52, is a psychiatrist who grew up on Manhattan's Upper West Side,
where mentalist theories are as much a part of the landscape as
alternate-side-of-the-street parking.

Even people who had seen the clips previously stared quietly as the train of
strange behaviors flashed by. The tension in the office wanted breaking.
''We rent these out on weekends,'' Mahowald said.

A new clip started. ''Here's a sleep terror,'' he continued. ''You can
trigger a sleep terror de novo, from nothing -- just the sound of a doorbell
or a buzzer from a six-volt battery -- which means it's not a climax of
ongoing dreamlike mentation. See this kid -- he's paying attention to
exogenous and endogenous information. It's not like a nightmare when you can
remember why you are frightened. In nightmares you have an accelerated heart
rate. With a sleep terror you have no anticipatory increase in the heart
rate.''

A man with REM behavior disorder appeared on the monitor fighting phantoms
over his bed. A case of a person acting out a dream?

''Either he's acting out a dream, or possibly dreaming out an act. It could
be that the brain makes up something to explain the movement created by
motor-pattern generators in the brain stem.''

Schenck piped up. ''But isn't there still room for Freud?'' he asked, using
''Freud'' as a synonym not for psychoanalytic doctrine but for the idea that
what's on the mind can modify what's in the tissue. There was a deferential
note in his voice, as if he knew the suggestion might irritate his senior
colleague. ''One of our R.B.D. patients after his divorce said he was always
dreaming of an 800-pound gorilla chasing him around the house. How can you
not consider a psychodynamic influence in a scenario like that, with the
man's ex-wife thinly disguised as an 800-pound gorilla?''

Mahowald shrugged. Was he ceding the point? On the screen now a black
Labrador retriever was snoozing on his side. The dog's legs began pedaling
wildly, pawing the air. Was he inventing a dream to go with the mad
scrabbling of his legs -- perhaps a hot-pursuit sequence involving a
mailman?

''I don't know,'' Mahowald said with a happy little drop of arsenic in his
voice, ''but I suspect he's not resolving deep inner conflict.''

Maybe It's a Gift

Not long ago in an Italian biology journal, Mahowald and Schenck proposed a
''state dissociation'' model of the brain. But recently Mahowald told me
that he had reviewed a new book, ''The Dream Drugstore,'' by Allan Hobson, a
Harvard dream researcher, and that Hobson's model, developed over the last
25 years, was much better than his own. Hobson's so-called Activation Input
Modulation theory tries to account for waking, sleeping and dreaming, as
well as states like coma, by picturing the mind-brain as a cube. The three
dimensions of Hobson's cube reflect the three key variables that determine a
person's consciousness at any given moment. The first variable is the level
of activation in the brain; coma, for example, would be at the low end;
waking and vivid dreaming at the high end. The second variable is the
predominant source of input -- in waking, for instance, the brain's
attention is concentrated on the external environment, but in REM sleep the
brain is mostly minding itself. The third and most complex variable is the
brain's chemical microclimate, the fluctuating mix of the neuromodulators
that can enhance or impede the brain's ability to analyze information.

''The AIM model says that the brain-mind is constantly changing states,''
Hobson said when I went up to Boston to talk to him. ''There are canonical
states like sleep and waking, which we know well and about which we have
little or no choice. They are probably genetically determined and highly
conserved by evolution and tremendously significant. But there are all kinds
of design and program errors that can happen in any complex system, and
that's probably what accounts for a lot of the parasomnias.''

And where is the self in this enchanted complexity? Hobson is not one to
write it off as a chimera yet: ''The self is a gorgeous construct, an
essential construct that is capable of making many decisions. You can't tell
me it doesn't matter. People will say to me, 'Oh, well, you're just as
religious as the theists,' and I say, 'O.K., we might find out that it's all
automated, but it sure doesn't feel that way.'''

In another society Lindsey Conlon might be a healer or a shaman and her
powers of dissociation cultivated on the trellis of a spiritual tradition.
Her gorgeous construct is grappling with a parasomnia whose very name --
parasomnia overlap disorder -- attests to the potency of Hobson's model and
the idea that the brilliantly promiscuous brain can exist in more than one
state at once. Here's a portion of the write-up of Lindsey's first night in
the Minnesota clinic lab in May 2000: ''The study was notable for numerous
spontaneous brief arousals from all stages of non-REM and REM sleep. . . .
Periodic limb movements were present throughout all stages of sleep, often
but not always associated with arousals from sleep. REM sleep was
characterized by a relative lack of atonia. . . . There was one episode of
sleep-talking.''

''And I know they didn't see the half of it,'' Lindsey told me in October
when we met for dinner at a restaurant in northwest Minneapolis. ''Who can
sleep with that camera on them?''

Lindsey works as a patient-services coordinator at a local hospital. She is
24 years old. She has high cheekbones and lanky brown hair, which she pushes
back behind her left ear but lets hang freely over her right because she
doesn't want people to see the hearing aid she wears in it. She was born
profoundly deaf but has learned to speak with almost no impairment.

''I remember when I was around 6,'' she said, ''I walked out of my bedroom
into the kitchen, poured a glass of water and then picked up a stack of
serrated computer paper and pulled the sheets around the living room in a
complete circle. My mother thought I was awake and couldn't understand what
I was doing. I've always sleepwalked. I've always had conversations with
myself. I'll ask myself a question and answer it. I'm aware I'm doing this
but I can't dissociate enough to tell myself to shut up. But it never really
struck me as a problem.''

But in 1999, on vacation, she was staying with some girlfriends in an
Orlando hotel room. During the night, Lindsey got up in the middle of a
dream, convinced the group would soon be swallowed in a flood. She paced
from bed to bathroom, imploring her roommates to evacuate. Finally her
friend Jenny woke up.

''What the hell are you doing?'' Jenny said.

''We've got to get out of here!'' Lindsey said.

''Lindsey, did you take anything?''

''I'm going outside!''

Jenny managed to get Lindsey back to bed.

Not long after, back in Minneapolis, Lindsey was sleeping at her boyfriend's
house, and she had another partial arousal.

''I crawled over him, turned on the light, opened his closet, put on a shirt
and went to my purse to get my car keys. I started talking about how I had
to get something out of the car. The guy woke up, luckily, and lured me back
to bed. My eyes were open the whole time. I was awake at some level, but
it's almost like I had a virtual-reality headset on. I remember crawling
over him, turning on the light, and him looking at me and saying, 'What the
hell are you doing?' I know I'm doing what I'm doing, but it's like I can't
dissociate enough from the actions to tell myself to stop. That's what made
me nervous. I actually had the car keys in my hand.''

When she got ''caught'' talking or walking in her sleep, she invariably felt
embarrassed and stupid, she said. ''I've been trying to find a pattern. Is
it the moon? Is it stress? Am I upset about something? I can never correlate
it with anything. Where it comes from, why it happens -- I don't know.''

Unlike most sleepwalkers, Lindsey is often dreaming while she walks, and
unlike most people with REM behavior disorder who usually don't get too far
from their beds, she can stray some distance. She has always had hypervivid
dreams and often the sensation of dreaming all night without interruption, a
phenomenon described in sleep medicine as ''epic dreaming.''

''I had one dream where I was in a war, and I could see the decals on the
planes flying by and the bombs coming out,'' Lindsey said. ''I could feel
the ground shaking as they hit. I was with my family, we were all running
away, and I kept saying, 'We have to keep moving!' It was unbelievably
intense. I know I'm dreaming. I can control some of them. I'm almost always
watching myself. I've watched my own funeral. I remember walking into church
and seeing my family and realizing it was my funeral, and then walking
around the corner and seeing the casket and it was me lying in it, and
saying: 'No! No! No!' It was more vivid than a movie.''

She referred herself to the Minnesota clinic and received a diagnosis of
parasomnia overlap disorder -- unwanted behavior in REM and NREM sleep. Her
medication has quelled the arousals and blanked out her dreams. That's good
in some ways; in other ways it has dulled something in her that perceived
the world in a rare way.

''The good thing is that I'm not always wondering why I have this condition,
or what it symbolizes, or what's going on in my life that's making it
happen,'' she said. ''And my fiance, Mike, is able to sleep next to me. I
take Xanax a half-hour before bed. I can feel my whole body dropping. It's
like someone hits you on the head. I go right to sleep. I'm still exhausted
during the day, though, and now I take Adderall to wake up. And I wonder if
the drugs are just masking things. Are they really slowing down my brain
waves or just making it so I don't notice the states I used to be in.''

She pushed her hair back over her left ear.

''I think I have a different way of looking at things because I was born
deaf,'' she said. ''I think one reason my dreams might be so vivid is that I
depend so much on vision, and I'm very sensitive to touch.''

And weirdly she was always having deja vu experiences. She wondered if her
easy access to altered states had made her especially aware of odd
synchronicities and the way dreaming and waking were entwined. When the
dream world was more vivid than the waking one and she was able to move
around inside it, swept up in its matchless enchantment and creativity,
knowing she was dreaming yet able to exert some measure of her will (except
in those moments of horror), sometimes she wondered whether her condition
was a disorder or a gift.

A White Crow

If it's the case that most parasomnias express nothing more than the
gibberish of a confused brain -- that they have more to do with genes and
physiology than with repressed conflicts or pathogenic secrets; more to do
with the mechanics of the brain than with trouble on the mind -- it's also
true that once in a while a parasomnia can articulate the essence of a
person's life. Some sleep-related behavior can seem to be permeated with
psychological meaning. Perhaps it can even be caused by what's on a person's
mind. Generally these cases are as rare as the proverbial white crow. As
Mark Mahowald emphasized: ''The percentage of patients performing
psychologically significant actions is minuscule. I'm not sure our center
has seen a single example.''

But now and then, a white crow turns up. Last September, I heard about a
sighting from Dr. John Winkelman, a 46-year-old assistant professor of
psychiatry at Harvard medical school and a well-known authority on
parasomnias. Winkelman had described how post-traumatic-stress disorder
patients sometimes suffered from insomnia because trauma had made them
hypervigilant. But he had recently seen a 50-year-old woman with
post-traumatic-stress disorder whose complaint was not insomnia but
sleepwalking.

When she would stay at her daughter's house, she would get up, walk to her
granddaughter's crib in the nursery, put her fingers in the baby's mouth and
appear to be trying to clear the girl's airway. Sometimes she would give her
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. As the baby needed none of this, the girl's
mother was freaked out. ''Although we have no way of knowing for sure
without observing her behavior in a sleep lab study, the woman was probably
sleep-walking because she had no memory of the behavior,'' Winkelman said.
''And it was usually happening in the first hour of sleep. I asked when the
behavior started, and she said it was 10 years ago. I asked if anything had
happened around that time. She said as a matter of fact, yes, she had been
baby-sitting for some parents and had fallen asleep, and while she was
asleep the parents came home and discovered the baby had died in the crib.''

''So in her sleep she was trying to save the child,'' I said.

''Or trying to undo the event,'' Winkelman said. ''This is a meaningful
parasomnia. In a way it would be easier to treat her if we didn't know the
story. We could do a clinical work-up, handle it like a typical case of
sleepwalking. Maybe she had some sleep apnea that was causing the arousals.
We could prescribe some Halcion, and in a practical sense we would be
preventing her from doing the behavior.''

''But you wouldn't be helping her atone.''

Winkelman nodded -- humbled, it seemed, by the immense domain of suffering
beyond the bounds of medicine.

............

Chip Brown is the author of ''Good Morning Midnight: Life and Death in the
Wild,'' which will be published in April by Riverhead Books.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

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NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

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------------

January 2003: Most Important News List Stories
Monday, February 3, 2003
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ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

EDITOR'S COMMENT:

A few years ago, we faced a dilemma: how to keep up with the increasingly
fast-paced changes, discoveries, and breakthroughs unfolding all over the
planet without drowning our readers in massive amounts of email?

Our solution?  Divide our network into two primary lists -- one list, NHNE's
Main List, would receive only the most important news, information and
special reports, while the other list, NHNE's News List, would receive a
daily barrage of raw, largely unedited news and information as soon as it
came in.

The end result of this plan is that the News List, which now has about 780
readers, has grown into a vital, daily source of cutting-edge information
while the Main List (this list) has quietly faded into the background. Not
only has NHNE's Main List lost almost half of its subscribers (down from a
high of about 2200 folks to our current level of 1300), but since the two
lists emerged in November of 1999, there have only been 67 messages posted
to this list compared to 4359 messages posted to the News List.

Our Main List, in other words, has been slowly losing readers, energy, and,
perhaps worst of all, missing out on gobs and gobs of fascinating,
occasionally even life changing, news and information.

So beginning today, I'm going to see if we can turn the tide. Along with
continuing to send only the best material I/we come across to this list, I
will also be sending out a monthly summary of the best material the News
List has received. If you want to receive this information directly, the day
it is posted, you can subscribe to the News List (see below for directions).
If, on the other hand, you want to keep the email you receive from us to a
minimum, then you don't need to do anything. A monthly News List summary
will be added to the infrequent postings this list currently receives.

And that's it for now. Here's hoping the new monthly summaries will help
everyone on this list stay abreast of today's most interesting developments.

With Love & best Wishes,
David Sunfellow

ABOUT THE NHNE NEWS LIST:

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To subscribe, send a message to:
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-----------

JANUARY 2003: MOST IMPORTANT NEWS LIST STORIES

The following list contains only the most important posts that were sent out
to NHNE's News List in January of 2003. Stories marked with an "*" are
especially important. For a complete list of all NHNE News List posts, you
can visit our database at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/messages

............

The 10 Worst Corporations of 2002 (1/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4175

Wildlife Seeks Cooler Climes (1/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4177

Ape 'Learns To Talk' (1/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4178

College Campuses Going Green (1/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4179

Life Forms Found In Deep Ocean Crust (1/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4180

Bill Talen & The Church of Stop Shopping (1/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4181

Clones, Clonaid & The Raelians (1/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4182

Baring Witness: Nude Women & Men Protest War (1/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4183

* Air Ionisers Wipe Out Hospital Infections (1/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4184

Search for Bigfoot Outlives the Man Who Created Him (1/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4185

'Gut Cam' Technology Easy To Swallow (1/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4186

Ten Technologies To Watch In 2003 (1/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4187

Dogs Sniff Out Landmines Across Afghanistan (1/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4188

Car Thieves Twarted By High Tech Devices (1/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4189

* More On "The Illusion of Conscious Will" (1/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4190

Orangutans Said to Exhibit Hallmarks of Culture (1/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4191

Nuns As Sexual Victims Get Little Notice (1/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4192

U.S. TV Shows Losing Potency Around World (1/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4193

Breast Feeding Can Relieve Newborn Pain (1/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4194

T: US Making Digital Copies of US Monuments (1/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4195

Wal-Mart's Audacious Expansion (1/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4196

IRS Goes After Tax Rebel Lynne Meredith (1/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4197

Retreating Ice Reveals Treasures Of The Past (1/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4198

US Operatives Active In Iraq (1/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4199

UFO: 'Wake Up USA: A UFO Study' Radio Program (1/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4200

Being Fat At 40 'Cuts 3-14 Years Off Life' (1/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4201

Cambodia Becoming Paedophiles' Playground (1/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4202

China Plans Manned Spaceflight In 2003 (1/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4203

India Plans Moon Landing (1/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4204

* Doctor To Unveil Death Machine (1/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4205

* John Shelby Spong On Euthanasia (1/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4206

* The Biology Of Romance (1/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4207

Some Democrats Urge Broad U.S. Military Draft (1/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4208

Lomborg, The Skeptical Environmentalist, Rebuked (1/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4209

More Proof Humans Contributing To Global Warming (1/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4210

* 'Gadget Printer' Promises New Industrial Revolution (1/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4211

Einstein Proved Right On Gravity (1/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4212

Animal Study: Chemicals Harmed Soldiers In Gulf War (1/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4213

HBO: Was Hitler Gay? (1/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4214

Radiation-Proof Superbug (1/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4215

Brightest U.S. Students Increasingly Shun Science (1/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4216

The Most Ancient Human Ever Found In Europe (1/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4217

* Internet Helps Write Book Of Life (1/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4218

Skipping Ads? TV Gets Ready to Fight Back (1/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4219

"Human Shield" Peace Activists Mobilise For Iraq (1/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4220

Arab Boycott Of American Consumer Goods Spreads (1/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4221

Corporate Black Caucus Corrupted By Corporations? (1/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4222

* Zen & The Japanese War II War Machine (1/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4223

Grunts, TV & PCs Replace Conversations With Children (1/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4225

Catholic Church Crisis Leads To Nearly Every Diocese (1/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4226

Time Poll: Which Country Poses Greatest Danger? (1/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4227

Scientists Seek To Nudge Hurricanes (1/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4230

Gene 'Predisposes Men To Fat Bellies' (1/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4231

National Geographic Society Turns 115 (1/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4232

* American Metabolic Institute: Reversing Cancer Successfully (1/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4233

* Source For Trustworthy Supplements (1/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4234

* Invitation To The Birth Of A Culture Of Dialogue (1/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4235

Perspective: The United States Has Gone Mad (1/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4236

Cambodia's Genocide Becomes Big Business (1/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4239

Teen Drug Use Associated With Psychiatric Disorders Later In Life
(1/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4240

* The Life & Death of Planet Earth (1/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4241

* Hackers Unite To Fight Spam (1/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4242

* Death, Terror In N. Korea Gulag (1/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4243

* Two North Korean Prison Stories (1/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4244

* Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Update (1/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4245

Greenpeace Breaks Into UK Nuclear Power Plant (1/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4246

Knights Templar To Use Latest Imaging In Search For Grail (1/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4248

Perspective: Listen to the Veterans (1/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4249

'Space Sheepdogs' Could Round Up Space Junk (1/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4251

Scientists Explain Formation Of Stone Circles (1/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4252

Giant Squid 'Attacks French Boat' (1/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4253

Huge Bronze Age Haul Found In Austria (1/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4254

Scientist Discovers Possible Dino Flying Secrets (1/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4255

U.S. Park Rangers Overrun, Under-Staffed, Under-Trained (1/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4256

Well-Known Parks Put On 'Endangered' List (1/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4257

Gulf War Veterans Suing Companies For Chemical Exports (1/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4258

Anti-War Demonstrators Rally Around The World (1/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4260

America's Ultra-Secret Weapon (1/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4261

U.S. Special Forces Hunting For Saddam (1/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4262

Panel Urges Smallpox Vaccine Warnings (1/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4263

Stephan Schwartz: My Heart Attack (1/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4264

Credit Card That Tells You When You're Drunk (1/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4265

* Secrets Of Ageing Revealed (1/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4266

Today's Women Have Less Time For Sex (1/22/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4267

'Oldest Star Chart' Found (1/22/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4268

Perspective: Male Bashing On TV (1/22/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4269

Front-Line U.S. Troops Disproportionately White, Not Black (1/22/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4270

Census Bureau: Hispanics Largest U.S. Minority (1/22/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4271

San Francisco Bans Segway (1/22/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4272

* Internet Stokes Anti-War Movement (1/22/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4273

* Medicating Away Our Conscience (1/22/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4274

U.S. Pressuring Industries To Cut Greenhouse Gases (1/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4277

* Large Holes Appearing In Earth's Magnetic Field (1/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4278

NASA Wants To Use Nuclear Power On Space Crafts (1/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4279

* Creating Life Using Ink-Jet Printers! (1/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4280

Cloned Cat Hardly Resembles Original (1/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4281

* Male Circumcision Challenged In Legal Systems & Legislatures (1/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4282

* Pill Changes Kind Of Men Women Are Attracted To (1/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4284

Kinsey Female Sex Book Celebrates 50 Years (1/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4289

A "Feed Thine Enemy" Campaign (1/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4291

US Warns That Bioterror Attack Is Inevitable (1/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4294

'Magdalene Laundries': Irish Catholic Slave Labor Camps (1/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4296

The Interfaith Power & Light Movement (1/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4297

McDonald's Going Organic? (1/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4298

800 Missiles To Hit Iraq In First 48 Hours (1/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4303

* Cell Phones 'Blind' Drivers (1/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4304

* 'Give Me That Online Religion' (1/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4306

* Sleep Imbalance Linked To Heart Disease (1/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4310

* Wikipedia: A Revolutionarily New Encyclopedia (1/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4311

Modern Art As A Form Of Torture (1/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4312

Sitting Too Long At A Computer Could Kill You (1/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4320

* Fisk: The Flies That Feed Off The Dead (1/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4325

Lawyers Warn Bush On War Crimes (1/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4328

* Nuclear Weapons & Pollution Linked To 65 Million Deaths! (1/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4330

* Memories Of A Free Iraq (1/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4332

Genesis World Energy & 'The Edison Device' (1/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4333

* Cell Phones Cause Holes To Form In Rat Brains (1/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4334



QUICK PREVIEW OF FEBRUARY POSTS:

* Perspective: When Compassion Becomes Dissent (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4336

* FAIR's Media Contact List (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4337

* Human Conflicts Rage Across The Globe (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4341

Natural World Gets Bleaker For Children (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4342

* The Power of Prayers & Candles (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4345

A Wanderer for Peace (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4346

* Huge Dust Cloud Threatens Asia (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4347

Perspective: We Lost Another Seven (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4349

Perspective: Boyle: Preemptive Impeachment (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4351

Expressing Anger May Protect Against Stroke & Heart Disease (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4354

* Common Pediatric Anesthesia Drugs Cause Brain Damage In Rats (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4355

Death Of A Child Can Shorten Life Of Their Parents (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4356

* 'Dormant' Volcanoes Found To Be Active (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4357

* Oceans & Global Warming Linked To Droughts (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4358

Michael Jackson Unmasked In British Documentary (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4359

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

This message has also been sent to NHNE's News List, so some of you will
receive it twice.


"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE's February 15-16, 2003 Global Peace Coverage
Friday, February 14, 2003
Current Members: 1310

------------

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nhne-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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nhne-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

EDITOR'S COMMENT:

As all of you know, people from all over the world will be gathering this
weekend to encourage a peaceful solution to the crisis in Iraq. In order to
give us all greater insight into what is happening around the world, I have
created a special section on the NHNE website to monitor this event. If you
are planning to attend a rally in your part of the world, please consider
sharing your experiences with the rest of us.

For my part, I will be attending two rallies, one in my home town of Sedona,
Arizona, and the other one in Flagstaff (about 25 miles away), where my
three daughters will be helping me interview participants and film the
event. (For more information about the Flagstaff gathering, go to
<http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?calid=1607>; for more
information about the Sedona gathering, call me at (928) 282-6120.)

If you plan to attend a rally in your part of the world, and would like to
share your experiences with the rest of NHNE's readership, here's what to
do:

1. Take photographs of your event and email me <nhne@...> 5 to 10 of
your best pictures.

2. Along with the photographs you email in, please include a letter
describing each photograph, the event itself, and how the event affected you
and those you shared the experience with. Be sure to include your NAME,
LOCATION (city, state, country), AND THE EMAIL ADDRESS OTHERS CAN CONTACT
YOU AT. (I won't post anything from anonymous sources.)

3. Since time is of the essence, I will post material as soon as it arrives
and notify the News List (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/messages)
as soon as new material is posted on the web. Material must reach me no
later than noon on Monday, February 17th to be posted on the website.

This special website is located at:

http://www.nhne.com/globalpeace/feb15-2003.html

To find out where events are happening in your part of the world, I
encourage you to visit the United for Peace & Justice Website:

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/

Finally, I'm including a quote from Peace Pilgrim, a story on the global
rallies planned for this weekend, and links to many organizations working to
prevent a war with Iraq.

Since none of us are wise enough to see all the ramifications of any given
situation, we are in desperate need of one another's wisdom and perspective,
including those which may seem hurtful and counterproductive on the surface.
Here's hoping that we can remember that finding a truly helpful solution to
the Iraqi situation means listening, deeply and carefully, to everyone, not
just those who think like we do...

--- David Sunfellow

------------

QUOTE FROM PEACE PILGRIM:

The Positive Approach

"In my work I have chosen the positive approach.  I never think of myself as
protesting against something, but rather as witnessing for harmonious
living.  Those who witness for,  present solutions.  Those who witness
against, usually do not -- they dwell on what is wrong, resorting to
judgment and criticism and sometimes even name-calling.  Naturally, the
negative approach has a detrimental effect on the person who uses it, while
the positive approach has a good effect.

"When an evil is attacked, the evil mobilizes, although it may have been
weak and unorganized before, and therefore the attack gives it validity and
strength.  When there is no attack, but instead good influences are brought
to bear upon the situation, not only does the evil tend to fade away, but
the evildoer tends to be transformed.  The positive approach inspires;  the
negative approach makes angry.

"When you make people angry, they act in accordance with their baser
instincts, often violently and irrationally.  When you inspire people, they
act in accordance with their higher instincts, sensibly and rationally.
Also, anger is transient, whereas inspiration sometimes has a life-long
effect."

--- Peace Pilgrim

------------

10 MILLION JOIN WORLD PROTEST
RALLIES FROM AFRICA TO ANTARCTICA, PEOPLE PREPARE TO MARCH FOR PEACE
By John Vidal
The Guardian
February 13th, 2003

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=969

Up to 10 million people on five continents are expected to demonstrate
against the probable war in Iraq on Saturday, in some of the largest peace
marches ever known.

Yesterday, up to 400 cities in 60 countries, from Antarctica to Pacific
islands, confirmed that peace rallies, vigils and marches would take place.
Of all major countries, only China is absent from the growing list which
includes more than 300 cities in Europe and north America, 50 in Asia and
Latin America, 10 in Africa and 20 in Australia and Oceania.

Many countries will witness the largest demonstrations against war they have
ever seen.

The majority will be small but 500,000 people are expected in London and
Barcelona, and more than 100,000 in Rome, Paris, Berlin and other European
capitals. In the US, organizers were yesterday anticipating 200,000 marching
in New York if permission is given. A further 100,000 are expected to march
in 140 other American cities.

What is extraordinary, say the organizers, is the depth and breadth of
opposition that the US and Britain are meeting across the world before a war
has even started.

"This is unprecedented. Demonstrations only got this large against the
Vietnam war at the height of the conflict, years after it started," said a
spokesman for Answer, a coalition of US peace groups which helped organize a
march of 200,000 people last month in Washington.

Many in the global peace movement optimistically hope that public opposition
to a war is becoming politically significant and could now affect the timing
of an invasion of Iraq and possibly even help avert conflict altogether.

"The internationalism of the opposition is the most powerful weapon people
have. It's all we have. We think that Bush and Blair are well aware that
global opposition is mounting fast and that they are now desperate to start
the war before they are completely isolated by world opinion," said a
spokesman for United for Peace and Justice, a US coalition.

New polls in Europe and the US yesterday suggested that opposition is still
mounting and is likely to continue even if the US gets a second resolution.
Spanish and Dutch polls showed that more than 70% now oppose even
UN-mandated action, with slightly fewer in Italy. Yesterday CND reported
that it was struggling to cope with the deluge of people wanting to join.

In Germany, more than 300 towns are sending coaches to Berlin, where more
than 100,000 people are expected to march.

"Opposition is broader than at any time in the past. This will be the
largest peace march in 20 years," said Malte Keutzseldt of Attac, Germany.
"The peace movement is getting older now, but a new generation of young
people is deeply concerned. The churches and unions have linked to make the
coalition far broader than even the anti-nuclear missile marches in the
1980s".

In Paris, a march organizer said that feeling was running high and that he
expected the anti-war demonstration to be largest ever. The most unusual
rally is expected to be in the international territory of Antarctica, where
dozens of scientists and others at the US McMurdo base on the edge of the
Ross sea will take to the ice.

The idea of an international day of action against the war was first
suggested in London after the last peace march in October. It was discussed
by peace and anti-globalization groups from 11 countries at the European
social forum in Florence in November, but only became truly international
following meetings in Cairo, Egypt and Porto Alegre, Brazil, last month.

Since then the idea of coordinating international peace protests has spread
rapidly across the world and up to 30 new cities a day are believed to be
planning demonstrations. Next month activists from all continents will meet
in London to propose further global actions.

Coordinated international demonstrations have flourished in the past five
years with anti-capitalist marches and campaigns by environmentalists and
anti-globalizers against corporations like McDonald's, Shell and Esso, and
against global warming or international trade. Mostly organized on the web
by activists working below the radar of the mainstream media, they have
taken the establishment by surprise in many countries and only been reported
by independent media.

"The whole world's marching," said Helmut, a German student in London. "This
peace party should be better than the millennium celebrations."

The Stop The War Coalition (STWC) is planning a display of mass direct
action designed to bring Britain to a standstill on the day any war starts
with Iraq. The protests would involve demonstrations in the center of London
and other big towns and cities, wildcat strikes by anti-war supporters and
mass sit-ins at schools, colleges and universities across the country.

A spokeswoman for the SWTC said: "We do think there will be a whole wave of
civil disobedience if war breaks out. People want to be peaceful and are
quite slow to anger, but they will be very angry if after Saturday's mass
show of opposition Tony Blair refuses to listen."

------------

GROUPS WORKING AGAINST AN IRAQ WAR:
(From the United for Peace & Justice Website)

A.W.O.L.
http://awol.org/

American Friends Service Committee (National)
http://www.afsc.org/iraq/Default.htm

American Muslims for Jerusalem
http://www.amjerusalem.org

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
http://www.adc.org/

Black Voices For Peace
http://www.bvfp.org

Boston Mobilization
http://www.bostonmobilization.org

Citizens for Participation in Political Action (CPPAX)
http://www.cppax.org

Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC)
http://www.epic-usa.org

Environmentalists Against the War
http://www.workingassets.com/nowar

Fellowship of Reconciliation
http://www.forusa.org

Foreign Policy in Focus
http://www.fpif.org/

Fourth Freedom Forum
http://www.fourthfreedom.org/

GI Rights Network
http://girights.objector.org/

Global Exchange
http://www.globalexchange.org/

Green Party of the United States
http://www.greenpartyus.org/

Houston Coalition for Justice Not War
http://houstonjusticenotwar.org

Independent Progressive Politics Network
http://www.ippn.org

Institute for Policy Studies
http://www.ips-dc.org/

International ANSWER
http://www.internationalanswer.org

International Socialist Organization
http://www.internationalsocialist.org

Iraq Peace Pledge
http://www.peacepledge.org/

Jewish Voice for Peace
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org

Left Turn
http://www.left-turn.org

Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives
http://longislandpeace.org

Military Families Speak Out
http://www.mfso.org

Mothers Acting Up
http://www.mothersactingup.org

MoveOn.org
http://www.moveon.org/

National Network to End the War Against Iraq
http://www.endthewar.org/default-new.htm

NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
http://www.networklobby.org

New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar

New York Coalition for Peace & Justice
http://www.nycpj.org

New Yorkers Say No to War
http://www.nysaynotowar.org/

Not In Our Name Project (national)
http://www.notinourname.net/

Not In Our Name statement of conscience
http://www.nion.us

Pax Christi USA
http://www.paxchristiusa.org

Peace Action (National)
http://www.peace-action.org/

Promoting Enduring Peace
http://www.pepeace.org

Psychologists for Social Responsibility
http://www.psysr.org

Queers For Peace And Justice (list-serve)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QueersForPeaceAndJustice

RANT (Root Activists Network of Trainers)
http://www.rantcollective.org

San Mateo County LULAC Chapter 3068
http://www.sanmateocountylulac.org/

September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
http://www.peacefultomorrows.org

Socialist Party USA
http://www.sp-usa.org

Student Peace Action Network (SPAN)
http://www.studentpeaceaction.org

Taking Aim
http://www.wbaifree.org/takingaim/

The Shalom Center
http://www.shalomctr.org

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
http://www.endtheoccupation.org

Tikkun
http://www.tikkun.org

United Students Against Sweatshops
http://www.usasnet.org

Veterans Against the Iraq War
http://www.vaiw.org

Veterans For Peace
http://www.veteransforpeace.org

Voices in the Wilderness
http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/

War Resisters League
http://www.warresisters.org

Washington Peace Center
http://www.washingtonpeacecenter.org

Win Without War
http://www.winwithoutwarus.org

Women Against War
http://www.womenagainstwar.org
http://www.womenagainstwar.net

Women's Action for New Directions
http://www.wand.org

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
http://www.wilpf.org

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@egroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

This post has also been sent to NHNE's News List, so some of you will
receive it twice.


"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: Moving List, "Pulse" & Misc.
Wednesday, February, 19, 2003
Current Members: 1314

------------

To subscribe, send a blank email message to:
nhne-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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nhne-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

CAN REINCARNATION BE PROVEN?
HOW RESEARCHERS HAVE INVESTIGATED CLAIMS OF PAST LIVES.
By Laura Sheahen
BeliefNet
Tuesday, February 18, 2003

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/121/story_12132.html

For most people, reincarnation is a matter of faith. Millions of Hindus
believe in it, and some polls show that over 20% of Americans who
self-identify as Christians do too, despite Christian doctrine's repudiation
of the idea.

What fewer people know is that reincarnation is actually being studied
scientifically. The research falls into three categories:

1. CHILDREN'S CLAIMS OF PAST LIFE MEMORIES

Some feel that persuasive evidence for reincarnation is found in the work of
psychiatrist Dr. Ian Stevenson, who recently retired from his post in the
Division of Personality Studies at the University of Virginia
(http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/personalitystudies/).
Stevenson spent four decades traveling the globe, following up on thousands
of cases of very young children who reported intricate memories of past
lives. According to Stevenson's documentation, these children spontaneously
recalled names, locations, and intimate details of people they could not
possibly know.

Sample case: A five-year-old Indian boy, Parmod Sharma, remembered specific
details about a man named Parmanand, including street directions in
Parmanand's city and the man's "special seat."  The boy also visited the
factory Parmanand owned and gave directions for repairing complicated
machinery in it. (A summary of his story is included below.)

Proponents say: Stevenson's work follows the scientific method; his
controlled studies rule out connections between the child's family and the
"past life" family. In 1975, in a review of Stevenson's "Cases of the
Reincarnation Type" in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr.
Lester S. King concluded that Stevenson had "painstakingly and unemotionally
collected a detailed series of cases in India, cases in which the evidence
for reincarnation is difficult to understand on any other grounds....[H]e
has placed on record a large amount of data that cannot be ignored."

Skeptics say: Most of Stevenson's cases occurred in countries where a belief
in reincarnation is a cultural given, such as Thailand or India. In such
cultures, children might be predisposed to make up stories about past lives
-- stories that are then positively reinforced or conditioned by family
members. Stevenson himself says his studies are merely "suggestive" of
reincarnation and declines to state positively whether reincarnation is
real.

An additional source of concern is the fact that few other researchers have
studied children's claims. A skeptic deconstructs several of Stevenson's
famous cases here:

http://www.skepticreport.com/psychics/stevenson-book.htm


MORE ABOUT CHILDREN'S PAST LIVES:

THE CASE OF SHANTI DEVI:
http://www.beliefnet.com/frameset.asp?pageLoc=/story/107/story_10748_1.html&
boardID=41410

"MY FIVE-YEAR-OLD REMEMBERS THE CIVIL WAR":
http://www.beliefnet.com/frameset.asp?pageLoc=/story/113/story_11395_1.html&
boardID=46116

STEVENSON'S WORK: ESSAYS, INTERVIEWS, AND MORE (PRO-REINCARNATION):
http://www.childpastlives.org/stevenson.htm

STEVENSON'S METHODS: INTERVIEW WITH STEVENSON'S COLLEAGUE:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/121/story_12134_1.html

DEBUNKING CHILDREN'S "PAST LIVES" (Indian Rationalist Association):
http://www.the-week.com/99may09/life7.htm

............

2. BIRTHMARK MATCHES

Dr. Stevenson has also pioneered the study of birthmarks as a possible
window into a person's past life. His work draws connections between
birthmarks and injuries from past lives. For example, one of his cases
refers to a pronounced birthmark on the  scalp of a Thai child; the child
remembers the life of a man who was killed by a knife wound to the head. In
some cases, Dr. Stevenson has collected medical records (such as X-rays)
from the person believed to have reincarnated.

Sample case: An Indian boy with an unusually patterned birthmark on his
chest says he remembers the life of a man, Maha Ram, who was killed with a
shotgun fired at close range. An autopsy report of Maha Ram showed the
principal shotgun wounds, which appear to be in a similar pattern.

Proponents say: It's statistically improbable that the birthmarks are
coincidences, given their location and patterns; in addition, in some cases
Stevenson has identified two separate birthmarks on one person,
corresponding to two different traumas undergone by the deceased person.
Stevenson documented the case of Necip Ünlütaskiran of Turkey, who had seven
birthmarks, six of which corresponded to wounds described in a medical
report. Necip also claimed that he had stabbed his wife of a previous life
in the leg; her scar was verified when she was identified.

Skeptics say: The location and pattern of birthmarks is simply a matter of
chance.


MORE ABOUT BIRTHMARK STUDIES:

THE MOST UNUSUAL BIRTHMARKS:
http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/bookreviews/12-4/stevenson.html

REVIEW OF STEVENSON'S "WHERE REINCARNATION AND BIOLOGY INTERSECT":
http://www.datadiwan.de/SciMedNet/library/reviews/9712142054.htm

............

3. PAST LIFE REGRESSION BY ADULTS

Some believe that memories which surface during hypnotherapy sessions offer
evidence of a person's past life. While hypnotized, adults have related
details about past lives as Middle Eastern warriors, European peasants, and
more.

Sample case: In one famous but oft-disputed case, a Colorado woman was
hypnotized and subsequently remembered the life of Bridey Murphy, a
19th-century woman from Cork, Ireland. While under hypnosis, she talked in
an Irish brogue, sang Irish songs, and remembered being held as she bent to
kiss the Blarney Stone. Recordings of the hypnotic sessions were made and
translated into more than a dozen languages.

In a more recent case, previously skeptical psychiatrist Dr. Brian Weiss had
been treating a young woman with traditional "talk therapy" for over a year.
Failing to identify the source of her chronic fears, he decided to use
hypnotherapy. While under hypnosis, his patient recalled her life in the
year 1863 B.C.E., when she was a 25-year-old named Aronda.

Proponents say: Some psychiatrists have found the level of detail and
plausibility in their patients' accounts very persuasive. In Dr. Weiss'
case, his patient had visited him for eighteen months before recalling the
past life. Weiss argues that if the patient had simply wanted to make the
memories up, she would not have waited so long to do so.

Skeptics say: One skeptics' study states that a belief in reincarnation is
the greatest predictor of whether a subject has a past-life memory while
undergoing hypnotherapy, and that therefore a subject's memories are most
likely self-fulfilling prophecies. Dr. Jim Tucker, who has continued Dr.
Stevenson's work at the University of Virginia, says: "In general, past-life
regression work has lacked the scientific rigor of Dr. Stevenson's work.  A
subject may describe a life in ancient times with great emotion,  but since
the statements cannot be verified as accurate for a particular individual
who actually lived, the evidenciary value of such a case is very limited at
best."


MORE ON PAST-LIFE REGRESSION:

WEBSITE OF DR. BRIAN WEISS (pro-PLR):
http://www.brianweiss.com/

THE CASE OF JENNY COCKELL (skeptics' website):
http://www.csicop.org/sb/9803/reincarnation.html

DEBUNKING BRIDEY MURPHY:
http://skepdic.com/bridey.html

------------

IS REINCARNATION REAL? THE CASE OF PARMOD SHARMA
By Christopher Bache
BeliefNet

The remarkable case of a 5-year-old boy who recalled detailed events from an
Indian man's life, as documented by Ian Stevenson.

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/121/story_12133.html

Parmod Sharma was born on October 11, 1944, in Bisauli, India.  When Parmod
was about two and a half, he began telling his mother not to cook his meals
for him any longer because he had a wife in Moradabad who could cook.
Moradabad was a town about a ninety miles northeast of Bisauli. Between the
ages of three and four, he began to speak in detail of his life there.  He
described several businesses he had owned and operated with other members of
his family.  He particularly spoke of a shop that manufactured and sold
biscuits (cookies) and soda water, calling it "Mohan Brothers."  He insisted
that he was one of the "Mohan Brothers" and that he also had a business in
Saharanpur, a town about a hundred miles north of Moradabad.

Parmod tended not to play with the other children in Bisauli but preferred
to play by himself, building models of shops complete with electrical
wiring.  He especially liked to make mud biscuits which he served his family
with tea or soda water.  During this time he provided many details about his
shop including its size and location in Moradabad, what was sold there, and
his activities connected to it, such as his business trips to Delhi.  He
even complained to his parents about the less prosperous financial condition
of their home compared to what he was used to as a successful merchant.

Parmod had a strong distaste for curd, which is quite unusual for an Indian
child, and on one occasion even advised his father against eating it, saying
that it was dangerous.  Parmod said that in his other life he had become
seriously ill after eating too much curd one day.  He had an equally strong
dislike for being submerged in water, which might relate to his report that
he had previously "died in a bathtub." Parmod said that he had been married
and had five children--four sons and one daughter.  He was anxious to see
his family again and frequently begged his parents to take him to back
Moradabad to visit them.  His family always refused his request, though his
mother did get him to begin school by promising to take him to Moradabad
when he had learned to read.

Parmod's parents never investigated or tried to verify their son's claims,
perhaps because of the Indian folk custom that children who remembered a
previous life were fated to die early.  News of Parmod's statements,
however, eventually reached the ears of a family in Moradabad named Mehra
which fit many of the details of his story.  The brothers of this family
owned several businesses in Moradabad including a biscuit and soda water
shop named "Mohan Brothers."  The shop had been started and managed by
Parmanand Mehra until his untimely death on May 9, 1943, eighteen months
before Parmod was born.  Parmanand had gorged himself on curd, one of his
favorite foods, at a wedding feast, and had subsequently developed a chronic
gastrointestinal illness followed later by appendicitis and peritonitis from
which he died.  Two or three days before his death, he had insisted, against
his family's advice, on eating more curd saying that he might not have
another chance to enjoy it.  Parmanand had blamed his illness and impending
death on overeating curd.  As part of his therapy during his appendicitis,
Parmanand had tried a series of naturopathic bath treatments.  While he had
not in fact died in a bathtub, he had been given a bath immediately prior to
his death.  Parmanand left a widow and five children--four sons and one
daughter.

In the summer of 1949, the Mehra family decided to make the trip to Bisauli
to meet Parmod, who was a little under five years old at the time.  When
they arrived, however, Parmod was away with his family and no contact was
made.  Shortly thereafter, Parmod's father responded to an invitation from
the Mehra family and took him to Moradabad to explore his son's compelling
remembrances first hand.

Among those who met Parmod at the railway station was Parmanand's cousin,
Sri Karam Chand Mehra, who had been quite close to Parmanand.  Parmod threw
his arms around him weeping, calling him "older brother" and saying, "I am
Parmanand."  (It is common for Indians to call a cousin "brother" if the
relationship is a close one, as was the case for Parmanand and Karam.)
Parmod then proceeded to find his way to the "Mohan Brothers" shop on his
own, giving instructions to the driver of the carriage which brought them
from the station.  Entering the shop, he complained that "his" special seat
had been changed.  (It is customary in India for the owner of a business to
have an enclosed seat--a gaddi--located near the front of the store where he
can greet customers and direct business.)  The location of Parmanand's gaddi
had in fact been changed some time after his death.  Once inside Parmod
asked, "Who is looking after the bakery and soda water factory?"  This had
been Parmanand's responsibility.  The complicated machine which manufactured
the soda water had been secretly disabled in order to test Parmod.  When
shown it, however, Parmod knew exactly how it worked.  Without any
assistance, he located the disconnected hose and gave instructions in its
repair.

Later at Parmanand's home, Parmod recognized the room where Parmanand had
slept and commented on a room screen that he correctly observed had not been
there in Parmanand's day.  He also identified a particular cupboard that
Parmanand had kept his things in as well as a special low table which had
also been his.  "This is the one I used to use for my meals," he said.  When
Parmanand's mother entered the room, he immediately recognized her and
addressed her as "Mother" before anyone else present was able to say
anything.  He also correctly identified Parmanand's wife, acting somewhat
embarrassed in front of her.  She was, after all, a full grown woman and he
was only five, though apparently possessing at least some of the feelings of
an adult husband.  When they were alone he said to her, "I have come but you
have not fixed bindi," referring to the red dot worn on the forehead by
Hindu wives.  He also reproached her for wearing a white sari, the
appropriate dress for a Hindu widow, instead of the colored sari worn by
wives.

Parmod correctly recognized Parmanand's daughter and the one son who was at
the house when he had arrived.  When Parmanand's youngest son who had been
at school showed up later, Parmod correctly identified him as well, using
his familiar name, Gordhan.  In their conversation Parmod would not allow
the older Gordhan to address him by his first name but insisted that he call
him "father."  "I have only become small," he said.  During this visit
Parmod also correctly identified one of Parmanand's brothers and a nephew.

Parmod showed a striking knowledge for the details of Parmanand's world.
While touring the hotel the Mehra brothers owned in Moradabad, the Victory
Hotel, Parmod commented on the new sheds that had been built on the
property.  The Mehra family confirmed that these had indeed been added after
Parmanand's death.  Entering the hotel Parmod pointed to some cupboards and
said, "These are the almirahs I had constructed in Churchill House."
Churchill House was the name of a second hotel the Mehra brothers owned in
Saharanpur, a town about a hundred miles north of Moradabad.  Parmanand had,
in fact, had these cupboards constructed for Churchill house during his
life.  Shortly after Parmanand's death, however, the family had decided to
move these cupboards to the Victory Hotel.

On a visit to Saharanpur later that fall, Parmod spontaneously identified a
doctor known to Parmanand in that city.  "He is a doctor and an old friend
of mine," he said. During that visit he also recognized a man named Yasmin
whom he insisted owned him (Parmanand) money.  "I have to get some money
back from you," he said.  At first Yasmin was reluctant to acknowledge the
loan, but after being reassured that the Mehra family was not going to press
for repayment, he admitted that Parmod was quite right about the debt.

Stevenson reports that he has collected over 3,000 such cases, but has
published only a small percentage of the cases investigated.  He throws out
most of the cases because they do not meet the highest criteria of
credibility.  For example, he dismisses any cases where the family of the
second personality has profited in any way from contact with the family of
the first personality, either financially or in social prestige or
attention.  (Stevenson himself never pays his sources.)  He also throws out
cases where the two families are linked by a person who might have
inadvertently transmitted information from one family to the other.
Furthermore, some cases turn out to be explainable in terms of
cryptomnesia, or "hidden memories."  In these cases, someone acquires
information through entirely natural means, such as overhearing a
conversation or reading a novel, and then forgets the circumstances in which
they learned it.  Later something triggers the information which
subjectively appears to come "out of nowhere."  Perhaps from a former life,
we think.  Yet in hypnotic regression, the true source of the information is
revealed.  Case dismissed.  Cases where testimony is inconsistent, where
witnesses are of questionable character, or where there is even the
slightest indication of possible fraud are also immediately dropped.

Stevenson has published only the strongest cases, those involving no gain,
no evidence of ulterior motive, no previous connection between families,
generous recall of details which can be confirmed by associates of the
former personality, and ideally the opportunity to bring together the second
personality with persons known by the first personality.  His cautious
skepticism and critical methods have earned him the attention of even quite
conservative professional journals.  In 1977, the distinguished Journal of
Nervous and Mental Disease devoted almost an entire issue to his research.
In an editorial justifying this attention, Dr. Eugene Brody wrote: "Our
decision to publish this material recognizes the scientific and personal
credibility of the authors, the legitimacy of their research methods, and
the conformity of their reasoning to the usual canons of rational thought."
Two years earlier, in a review of the first volume of Cases of the
Reincarnation Type in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr.
Lester S. King concluded that Stevenson had "painstakingly and unemotionally
collected a detailed series of cases in India, cases in which the evidence
for reincarnation is difficult to understand on any other grounds....[H]e
has placed on record a large amount of data that cannot be ignored."

............

Reprinted from Life Cycles: Reincarnation and the Web of Life with
permission of the author:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1557783500/qid=1044994172/sr=1
-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-4858842-9348057?v=glance&s=books/beliefnet

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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February 2003: Most Important News List Stories
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FEBRUARY 2003: MOST IMPORTANT NEWS LIST STORIES

The following list contains the most important posts that were sent out to
NHNE's News List in February of 2003. Stories marked with an "*" are
especially important. For a complete list of all NHNE News List posts, you
can visit our database at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/messages

The NHNE News List is a HIGH VOLUME LIST that averages five to eight
messages a day.

To subscribe, send a message to:
nhnenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To review current posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/messages

-----------

* Perspective: When Compassion Becomes Dissent (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4336

* FAIR's Media Contact List (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4337

* Human Conflicts Rage Across The Globe (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4341

Natural World Gets Bleaker For Children (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4342

* The Power of Prayers & Candles (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4345

A Wanderer for Peace (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4346

* Huge Dust Cloud Threatens Asia (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4347

Perspective: We Lost Another Seven (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4349

Perspective: Boyle: Preemptive Impeachment (2/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4351

Expressing Anger May Protect Against Stroke & Heart Disease (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4354

* Common Pediatric Anesthesia Drugs Cause Brain Damage In Rats (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4355

Death Of A Child Can Shorten Life Of Their Parents (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4356

* 'Dormant' Volcanoes Found To Be Active (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4357

* Oceans & Global Warming Linked To Droughts (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4358

Internet Worm Took 10 Minutes To Create Global Chaos (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4360

Microsoft Security Gets An 'F' (2/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4361

Pentagon Pursues Earth-Penetrating, Bunker-Busting Nuclear Bombs (2/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4363

Saddam "Gassing His Own People" Story Challenged (2/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4365

* Human Rights Watch Says Saddam DID Gas His People (2/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4366

* Internet Sacred Text Library (2/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4367

Vatican Weighs In On New Age & Harry Potter (2/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4368

Bishops Seek Saint For Internet (2/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4369

Bush's Smallpox Boondoggle (2/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4370

State & Federal Laws Clash In Calif. Medical Marijuana Case (2/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4371

Followup 2: Rice For Peace (2/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4373

Powell Lays Out U.S. Case Against Iraq At U.N. (2/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4375

U.S. Chooses Saddam's Successor (2/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4377

* Google & A Nation of Voyeurs (2/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4378

* Book Review: "Love At Goon Park" (2/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4379

NASA Report On Hazard Asteroid Mitigation (2/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4380

Perspective & Resources: Atlee: Being Called Back To Peace Work (2/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4381

Millions Of Computers Join Forces To Find Smallpox Cure (2/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4384

* Catastrophic Die-Off Of Great Apes Reported (2/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4385

Perspective: The Choice Before Us (2/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4387

Turkish Truckers Tell Of Ragged Iraqi Troop Buildup (2/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4388

Britain's Iraq Dossier Was A Cut-And-Paste Job! (2/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4389

North Korea Threatens 'Total War' (2/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4391

Iraq 9: Update From Elias Amidon & Elizabeth Roberts (2/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4392

'Handshake Man' Delivers Bush 'Message From God' (2/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4393

* Scientists & Lamas Seek To Understand/Control Emotions (2/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4394

Japanese Scientist Invents 'Invisibility Cloak' (2/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4395

Female Foeticide Causing Crisis In Rural India (2/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4396

More On Blair's Plagiarized Intel Report (2/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4397

More On Low Smallpox Vaccination Turnout (2/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4398

Bush Orders Guidelines For Cyber-Warfare (2/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4399

Bin Laden To Libya? (2/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4400

The Terrible Dilemma Of Iraq's Rag-Tag Army (2/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4402

Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of Anti-Terrorism Act (2/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4403

Scholars Often Inspire/Empower Mass Violence (2/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4404

U.S. Military Developing 'Loitering' & 'Sleeping' Weapons (2/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4405

Prince Charles Against War With Iraq (2/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4406

New Technologies Emerge in Search for Alien Life (2/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4409

On The First Night Of The War Against Iraq... (2/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4410

Madonna Making Controversial Anti-War Video (2/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4411

Casualty Numbers From Previous Gulf War (2/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4413

Iraq 10: Update From Elias Amidon (2/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4414

DVD Rot Destroys Movie Collections (2/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4415

Spaceship Religions (2/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4416

Kasparov & Deep Junior End Chess Match Tied (2/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4417

World 'Needs Green Geneva Convention' (2/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4418

Documentary Forces Danes To Confront Past (2/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4420

As Broadband Gains, Dialup Declines (2/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4421

Broadband Over Power Lines? (2/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4422

Iraqi Scientists Threatened With Death (2/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4423

FAIR: A Failure Of Skepticism In Powell Coverage (2/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4424

Perspective: Fear-Mongering At Its Worst (2/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4425

Pregnant Celebrities Avoiding Natural Births (2/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4427

Women Are Better At Baby Talk Than Men (2/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4428

Powell's Flimsy Evidence (2/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4431

Independent News Sources (2/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4433

* Bush Believes He Has A Divine Mandate (2/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4435

Iraq 11: Update From Elizabeth Roberts (2/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4437

British Refusniks (2/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4439

Greenhouse Gases 'At Record Levels' (2/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4440

Putin Threatens $8 Trillion Gene Treasure (2/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4441

NASA Saves Universe From 'Big Crunch' (2/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4442

Best 'Baby Picture' Of The Universe Ever Taken (2/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4443

Underground Telescope Seeks Origins Of Universe (2/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4444

'King of Stonehenge' From the Alps (2/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4445

* Perspective: Reckless Administration May Reap Disastrous Consequence
(2/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4446

Perspective: House of Cards (2/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4447

Regimes Copy China & Cuba To Control Internet (2/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4451

February 15: A Global Uprising Against Bush's Push For War (2/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4452

U.S. General To Run Iraq (2/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4454

Air Strategy For Iraqi War 'Timid' (2/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4455

Transcript: Bin Laden 2/11/2003 Al-Jazeera Tape (2/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4456

New Enron "Eye-Popping" Revelations (2/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4457

One-Fifth Of U.S. Experiencing Severe Drought (2/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4458

Red Squirrels Evolving With Global Warming (2/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4459

Valentine's Day With A Conscience (2/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4460

CIA 'Sabotaged Inspections & Hid Weapons Details' (2/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4461

Terror Alert Partly Based On Fabricated Information (2/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4462

* Monsanto Meltdown (2/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4464

Children Face Cancer Risks From Wood Playsets (2/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4465

GPS Being Used To Spy On Spouses, Employees (2/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4466

Most People Right-Handed Kissers (2/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4467

Washington DC Journalists Escape Plans (2/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4468

The Fuzzy Ethics Of Nonlethal Weapons (2/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4469

NHNE's February 15-16, 2003 Global Peace Coverage (2/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4470

Iraq 12: Update From Elias Amidon (2/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4471

Open Letter From People In U.S. To The World (2/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4473

Millions Rally Worldwide For Peace (2/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4475

Iraq 13: Update From Elias Amidon (2/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4476

New Protests Planned To Bring Britain To A Standstill (2/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4477

False Memories Can Be Planted Under Interrogation (2/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4481

Alien 'Abductees' Show Real Symptoms (2/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4482

* Armageddon Asteroids 'Best Kept Secret' (2/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4483

Jedi Is "Religion" For Thousands Of People In Britain (2/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4484

David Berrian: Observations On Iraq (2/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4487

* Son of Saddam (2/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4488

* Computer Models Forecast Sharp Increase In Temperature (2/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4489

Wild Coal Fires Are A 'Global Catastrophe' (2/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4490

Kucinich Ready To Run For President (2/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4491

Kurdish Leaders Enraged By 'Undemocratic' American Plan (2/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4492

* Uranium Munitions: The War Against Ourselves (2/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4493

2003 Nobel Peace Prize Nominees (2/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4494

Carter Backs "Not In My Name Campaign" (2/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4495

Ebola outbreak confirmed in Congo (2/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4496

Iraqi Defense Minister 'Under House Arrest' (2/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4498

Spy Planes Add "Significant" Boost To Iraq Weapons Inspections (2/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4499

Climate Change To Hurt Financial Markets (2/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4500

Conference On "Revolutionary Environmentalism" (2/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4501

* The Case For & Against Reincarnation (2/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4502

Congress Undermines Organic Label (2/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4503

'Denim' Solar Panels To Clothe Future Buildings (2/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4504

The 2003 US Big Brother Awards (2/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4505

Saddam Plans To Create 'Ring of Death' Around Baghdad (2/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4506

U.S. Also Planning To Disarm Iran, Libya & Syria? (2/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4507

Operation Kuwaiti Field Chicken (KFC) (2/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4508

* U.S. Plan For New Nuclear Arsenal (2/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4509

'Ready Campaign' Unveiled (2/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4510

Antiwar Protests Fail to Sway Bush (2/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4511

North Korea: 'Nuclear War May Break Out At Any Moment' (2/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4512

DNA Test That Traces Family Roots Offered To Public (2/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4513

Diodes To Revolutionize Lighting Industry (2/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4514

Final Draft Of Human Genome (2/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4515

Poets Against The War (2/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4516

Update: February 15-16, 2003 Global Peace Coverage (2/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4517

Martin Sheen & 'The Virtual March On Washington' (2/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4518

* Chemical Weapons, Dirty Bomb Risk Minimal (2/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4519

1,700 U.S. Troops To Fight In Philippines (2/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4520

Inspectors Call U.S. Tips 'Garbage' (2/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4521

GAO: Justice Dept. Inflated Terror Cases (2/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4522

Woman Sues Over 'Alien' Stunt (2/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4523

K-Bot, The Robot Head (2/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4524

Snow Banks On Mars Could Have Nourished Life (2/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4525

* U.S. Troops Seriously Unprepared For Iraq (2/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4526

Sir Isaac Newton Predicted 2060 Apocalypse (2/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4527

How The Earth & Moon Were Created (2/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4528

'Shocking' Discovery Boosts Chance Of Life On Europa (2/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4529

Global Labor Rejects War (2/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4530

Scientists Warns Of Weakness In Bank Computer Systems (2/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4531

Decoding The "Language" Of Elephants (2/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4532

War Could Inspire 'Lone Terrorists' To Attack (2/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4533

Pope Calls for Fast Against War in Iraq (2/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4534

U.S. Ponders All Out War With North Korea (2/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4535

White House Advisors Looking For A 'Way Out' Of War With Iraq (2/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4536

U.S. Media Move Away From Bush (2/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4537

Nigerian Slain Over E-Mail Scam (2/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4538

Petabyte Disk Drives (2/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4539

* Age & Composition Of Universe Have Now Been Established (2/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4540

U.S. Deep-Sea Expedition Probes Earth's Final Frontier (2/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4541

Burying Carbon Dioxide In Underground Reservoirs (2/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4542

Perspective: Letter To An Unknown Iraqi (2/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4544

Massive Escalation Of Airstrikes In Iraq (2/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4545

* The Economic Consequences Of A War With Iraq (2/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4547

* Russia's Irksome Bioweapons Stock (2/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4548

Outlawing Russia's Sex Traders (2/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4549

U.K. Bets On Green Energy (2/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4550

* The Human Consequences Of A War With Iraq (2/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4551

Russians May Have Brokered A Face-Saving 'Out' (2/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4552   

Synthetic Trees Could Purify Air (2/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4553

Word 'Bursts' May Reveal Online Trends (2/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4554

Report From 'The Future of Life' Conference (2/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4555

Saddam Hussein Interviews Dan Rather (2/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4556

Swarm Intelligence (2/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4557

'Virtual' War Protest Jams Congressional Phones (2/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4558

Transcript: Dan Rather Interview With Saddam Hussein (2/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4559

Pioneer 10 Falls Silent After Nearly 31 Years (2/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4560

Perspective: War for Peace? It Worked in My Country (2/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4561

Chopra Wants To Send Pope, Dalai Lama, & Himself As Human Shields To Iraq
(2/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4562

Ambitious New Program To Explore 'Inner Space' (2/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4563

The 'Virtual Gramophone' (2/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4564

* Top 100 People of the Millennium (2/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4565

Star Witness on Iraq Said Weapons Were Destroyed (2/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4566

Former Senators Announce Opposition to Iraq Invasion (2/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4567

Perspective: A Non Local Universe, Falling Birds & The Rush to War
(2/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4568

Perspective: Censorship At White House Press Briefings (2/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4569

Romantic Love Put Under The Microscope (2/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4570

Sense Of Direction Linked To Sex Hormones (2/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4571

U.S. Labor Makes Historic Decision To Oppose War With Iraq (2/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4572

Secret, Scary Plans For North Korea (2/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4573

Oprah Joins Forbes List of Billionaires (2/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4574

The Affect Of Anti-Aging Drugs On Society (2/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4575

Maine Teachers Warned: Watch Anti-War Talk In Classroom (2/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4576

Iraqi Soldiers Defecting (2/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4577

Building the Great Pyramid (2/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4578

Top Five Bios On Biography.com (2/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4579

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

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This post has also been sent to NHNE's News List, so some of you will
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"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE: Taking Divine Dictation
Tuesday, March 4, 2003
Current Members: 1297

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EDITOR'S COMMENT:

The following article comes from D. Patrick Miller's new book, "News Of A
New Human Nature". The book is a collection of Patrick's best features and
interviews written over the past 20 years on alternative spirituality for
such magazines as YOGA JOURNAL, THE SUN, NATURAL HEALTH, and many others.
This particular article deals with the topic of inner voices and other forms
of inner communication.

Among other things, Patrick sites studies that indicate "at least fifteen
percent of the general population sooner or later 'hears' an inner voice
offering information or guidance". I've heard an inner voice on a couple
occasions. I wonder how many of you have? And if so, was it accurate and
helpful, or misguided and hurtful, or a mixture of both?

Patrick also discusses a few prominent historical figures (both good and
bad) who have experienced these kind of inner experiences and discusses how
the phenomena continues to inspire some of today's most well-known spiritual
movements.

What follows is an abridged version of "Taking Divine Dictation". The
complete article appears in Patrick's new book:

http://www.fearlessbooks.com/NHNPreview.htm

--- David Sunfellow

------------

TAKING DIVINE DICTATION...
OR, HOW CAN YOU TELL IF IT'S REALLY GOD ON THE LINE?
By D. Patrick Miller

http://www.fearlessbooks.com/NewHumanNature2.html

From the voluminous legacy of Edgar Cayce to the Pathwork, A Course in
Miracles, and the best-selling Conversations with God, the age-old
phenomenon of people hearing and forwarding special messages from
disembodied spirits -- including the Supreme Being -- just won't go away.

According to psychologist Arthur Hastings, author of a study of channeling
entitled With the Tongues of Men and Angels, at least fifteen percent of the
general population sooner or later "hears" an inner voice offering
information or guidance. "Regardless of the validity of the claims of
supernatural agency, the fact remains that mentally healthy individuals
experience these phenomena," he writes. "Moreover, a large number of these
messages contain meaningful information and exhibit knowledge and talents of
which the channeler is completely unaware."

The whole notion of channeling has an irreducible arguability to it: either
you find it credible or you don't. The lack of empirical validation for the
phenomenon is neatly counterbalanced by an impressive anecdotal record
throughout history. Writing in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology,
psychiatrist Mitchell Liester of Colorado Springs reports that people who
have reported inner voices include Socrates, Joan of Arc, George Washington
Carver, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Gen. George S. Patton, among many others.
While the realm of channeling clearly has a more diverse population than
credulous New Agers, it also has few if any tests or standards by which to
measure the validity of messages received from disembodied sources.

For instance, how can one distinguish between mystic messages from a
transcendent realm and the deep musings of one's own subconscious? What's
the qualitative difference between otherworldly insight and hallucinatory
delusion? If you begin to hear a mysterious inner voice, are there any
questions or challenges you can use to call out its source? And if you are
about to listen to -- or pay for -- the counsel of an alleged channeler, are
there any guidelines to keep in mind besides "let the buyer beware"?

The investigation of such inquiries turns up no hard and fast rules -- or at
least none without ready exceptions. But it does appear that the best
interpretation of extra-worldly messages follows the direction of spiritual
growth itself -- toward self-confrontation and humility, and away from
self-importance.

Helen Schucman, the Reluctant Scribe In 1965 a 56-year-old Columbia
University psychology professor named Helen Schucman experienced great
anxiety when she heard a "soundless Voice" in her head announcing, "This is
a course in miracles. Please take notes." For a check on her sanity she
turned to her boss William N. Thetford, then director of the Psychology
Department of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Thetford, who had
been listening avidly to Schucman's reports of mystical dreams and visions
in the months before the voice issued its simple directive, calmly replied,
"Why don't you take down the notes? We'll look them over and see if they
make any sense, and throw them out otherwise. No one has to know."

Thus began seven years of difficult extracurricular labor for Schucman as
she scribed the material that became A Course in Miracles (ACIM), now a
million-plus best-seller and a popular reference in transpersonal therapy.
Written in Christian terminology with many passages of striking literary
quality -- large portions of the prose adhere to the Shakespearean meter of
iambic pentameter -- the Course proposes a largely Eastern metaphysics laced
with contemporary psychological references to such concepts as "ego" and
"projection."

Bill Thetford, who typed up the shorthand notes recorded by Schucman, came
to refer to the Course as the "Christian Vedanta" and it has often been
cited as a modern summary of the so-called "perennial philosophy" common to
all religious traditions. ACIM students appear to be remarkably diverse,
including agnostics, scientists, and psychotherapists as well as veterans of
traditional religious paths. Two well-known popularizers of the teaching are
spiritual lecturer Marianne Williamson and psychiatrist Jerry Jampolsky,
both authors of best-selling books based on Course ideas.

As a channeling phenomenon, the inside story of Course scribe Helen Schucman
and her inner voice is particularly significant. While virtually every
prominent channel has claimed to be surprised by the initiation of his or
her exotic talent, Schucman appears to be unique in her unwillingness to
become a spokesperson for the voluminous message she recorded. She
participated in only one speaking tour about the Course, and generally
refused to provide interviews or other publicity before her death in 1981.

Part of Schucman's reluctance to be publicly identified with the Course no
doubt had to do with the professional identities that she and Thetford had
to protect throughout the secret transcription of the Course, which took
place during their last years at Columbia. As Bill Thetford related to me
about a year before his death in 1988, "Professors at Columbia didn't do
this kind of thing, particularly in the Department of Psychiatry. Can you
imagine? -- hearing voices, taking down material of this kind..."

But the religiously ambivalent Schucman (who described herself as a
hard-headed scientist while surreptitiously attending Catholic masses) was
also unnerved by what she called the "certainty, wisdom, gentleness, clarity
and patience that characterized the Voice" -- not to mention the fact that
the voice clearly identified itself as the historical Jesus Christ. In her
own writing about the Course, Schucman could never bring herself to affirm
the source's claimed identity, preferring to call it only "the Voice" -- or
the "Top Sergeant," as she once referred to it in personal correspondence.

Schucman may have further resisted identifying with the material she
channeled because she was unwilling to apply its central lessons of
forgiveness and ego-surrender. As she told a friend near the end of her
life, "I know the Course is true, but I don't believe it." Bill Thetford
often remarked on Schucman's pronounced tendency toward dissociation,
enabling her to receive the Course material without interference from her
own ego -- "very much as if she were tuning into an FM channel," Thetford
recalled -- and then revert to an everyday personality noted for its
insecurity and tendency toward sharp criticism.

Thus Schucman might be said to have inadvertently provided a model of
propriety for those who would be channels, exhibiting a near-total
detachment from the message she gave to the world. While everyone who knew
her agrees that she could have benefited from applying Course principles to
her own life, Schucman's detachment nonetheless kept ACIM uncontaminated by
any promotional agenda of its channel.. . .

Higher Wisdom or Hallucination?

If you happen to hear an inner voice, how can you determine whether it's
worth listening to? After all, the notorious "Son of Sam" killer David
Berkowitz heard voices that told him to kill people. And many diagnosed
schizophrenics hear seemingly disembodied voices that offer them anything
but higher wisdom.

"There's quite a difference between the contents of pathological
hallucinations and transcendent voices," explains Dr. Liester. "Delusory
voices tend to be very demanding, critical, or judgmental whereas
transcendent voices are uplifting, supportive, and encouraging." Liester
adds that the states of mind in which the two kinds of voices are heard are
also quite different. The sustained reception of a transcendent voice tends
to occur in "an altered state of consciousness that is profoundly
transpersonal. The channeler's sense of identity changes from that of an
individual to someone connected with something beyond themselves. There's an
altered perception of space and time that differs from hallucinations, in
which people lose track of time or are disoriented within time. Hearing
transpersonal voices, people transcend time; that is, they still know it's
there but they aren't trapped within it." Finally, delusory voices will tend
to have a divisive or negative message, issuing warnings or portents of doom
instead of instruction or insight. "Transcendent voices have a unitive
nature," comments Liester. "They come from a perspective that sees both
sides of paradoxes and integrates them into a larger whole. From the
perspective of the divine there is no doom and gloom; a divine voice will
guide us past the dualities of life and lift us into a transcendent
outlook."

That doesn't mean that tuning into a divine inner voice will necessarily
bring about positive changes in one's life, particularly in the short term.
Helen Schucman found her inner voice quite disturbing at times, and tried to
stall the recording of the Course on several occasions only to find herself
becoming physically ill or anxious until she resumed the work. "Some of
these transcendent voices can jolt people out of their everyday lives and
cause tremendous disruption," reports Liester. "In the long run the voice
may have a positive effect, but it can be pretty distressing at the time."

Helen Schucman did not settle for her voice's mere self-identification,
additionally putting it to tests of literary correctness. She once told her
colleague Bill Thetford that she had no concern about the message of the
Course, but that if the Voice began making errors of grammar and syntax she
would cut it off for good. In his history of the Course origins entitled
Absence from Felicity , Schucman's confidant Kenneth Wapnick relates a
telling excerpt of the scribe's recorded inner dialogue that did not appear
in the Course itself:

[Jesus] : Everyone experiences fear, and nobody enjoys it. Yet, it would
take very little right-thinking to know why it occurs. Neither you nor Bill
have [sic] thought about it very much, either.

[Helen]: I object to the use of a plural verb with a properly singular
subject, and remember that last time in a very similar sentence, He said it
correctly and I noted it with real pleasure. This real grammatical error
makes me suspicious of the genuineness of these notes.

[Jesus]: What it really shows is that you are not very receptive.... You
made the error, because you are not feeling loving, so you want me to sound
silly, so you won't have to pay attention.... You and Bill have been afraid
of God, of Me, of yourselves, and of practically everyone you know at one
time or another....


Channeling Through History

The role of channeling in religion, philosophy, the arts, science, and even
politics has been greater than many people may suspect. Roger Walsh, a
professor of philosophy of psychiatry and philosophy at the University of
California in Irvine, says that "it seems pretty clear that some of the
Bible was produced through channeling, as well as part of the Koran. In
Judaism there have been scores of mystics who produced works by the process
of inner dictation, and in Buddhism, many Indian and Tibetan texts were
produced this way. The Greek oracle of Delphi -- actually a series of
priestesses who supposedly spoke on behalf of the god Apollo -- stayed in
business for 900 years."

In With the Tongues of Men and Angels, channeling researcher Arthur Hastings
cites such examples as Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920), a major contributor
to modern number theory who claimed that he received many of his
mathematical concepts from the Indian goddess Namagiri; William Blake, the
acclaimed 18th century British visionary poet and artist who said that his
long poem Jerusalem came to him "from immediate Dictation, twelve or
sometimes twenty or thirty lines at a time, without Premeditation & even
against my Will"; and Edgar Cayce (1877-1943), the noted modern psychic who
became famous for giving thousands of readings, mostly on health matters,
while speaking in a trance state. Hastings also notes that the modern
spiritual community of Findhorn in northern Scotland was originally inspired
by the messages that its founders claimed to hear from "devas," or angels of
the forces of nature.

Even Sigmund Freud, the scientifically-minded founder of modern psychology,
related experiences of an inner voice: "During the days when I was living
alone in a foreign city -- I was a young man at the time -- I quite often
heard my name suddenly called by an unmistakable and beloved voice." The
contemporary Christian psychotherapist M. Scott Peck likewise reported a
youthful encounter with an unexpected advisor. During a struggle to choose
which school to attend during his adolescent years, Peck reported that "At
the moment of my greatest despair, from my unconscious there came a sequence
of words, like a strange disembodied oracle from a voice that was not mine:
'The only real security lies in relishing life's insecurity." Civil rights
leader Martin Luther King reported that an inner voice helped him stay the
course through protests, arrests and death threats: "In the midst of lonely
days and dreary nights I have heard an inner voice saying, 'Lo, I will be
with you.'"

Inner voices have apparently changed the course of history as well. During
World War II the British prime minister Winston Churchill was about to get
into a car in London during a German air raid. As he approached the side of
the car where he usually sat, he heard a disembodied voice clearly say
"Stop!" As Churchill would later recount, "It then appeared to me that I was
told I was meant to open the door on the other side and get in and sit there
-- and that's what I did." Moments later a bomb exploded near the car,
nearly causing it to turn over. Had Churchill been sitting in his accustomed
place, it certainly would have caused him serious or mortal injury.

But it cannot be concluded from such stories that inner voices always have
humanity's best interests at stake. During World War I a young soldier was
eating dinner with his comrades in a trench when a disembodied voice
commanded him to "Get up and go over there." Without thinking the soldier
picked up his tin-can dinner and moved twenty yards away. "Hardly had I done
so," the soldier later wrote, "when a flash and deafening report came from
the part of the trench I had just left. A stray shell had burst over the
group in which I had been sitting, and every member of it was killed." The
soldier -- who would rely heavily on the inner voice he called "Providence"
throughout his military career -- survived to become a major force in 20th
century history, and the arch-nemesis of Winston Churchill. His name was
Adolf Hitler.

.............

NEWS OF A NEW HUMAN NATURE
D. Patrick Miller
Fearless Press

http://www.fearlessbooks.com/NHNPreview.htm

INTRODUCTION

Part I: CHANGING THE SELF

1: Letting Go of Bad Habits
2. How to Do What You Love for a Living
3. Love Can Save Your Life: Talking with Dean Ornish
4. The Clear Path to Creativity: Talking with Dan Wakefield
5. The Yoga of Recovery
6. Nine Ways of Being: Introduction to the Enneagram
7. Who¹s Really Psychic? (Are You?)
8. The Truth About Psychics: Talking with Helen Palmer
9. Understanding Shamanism: Talking with Leslie Gray
10. Making Sense of Mysticism: Talking with Jacob Needleman
11. Altered States: Talking with Charles T.Tart
12. Ten Steps to Transformation: Talking with Ralph Metzner

Part II: CHANGING THE WORLD

13. Taking Divine Dictation: An Investigation of Channeling
14. Freedom vs. Devotion: An In-Depth Look at Cult Experience
15. Meeting the Shadow: Talking with John Sanford
16. Three Encounters with Malidoma Somé
17. The Hero with an African Face: Talking with Dr. Clyde W. Ford
18. Ending the War Within: Holistic Therapy for Victims of Torture
19. When Soldiers Meditate: Talking with Richard Strozzi Heckler
20. Can Prisons Become Houses of Healing? Talking with Robin Casarjian
21. Where Therapy Meets Ecology: Talking with Theodore Roszak
22. On the Way to Partnership: Talking with Riane Eisler
23. Get Ready for the Spiritual Machine: Talking with Ray Kurzweil

Part III: CHANGING JOURNALISM

24. News of the New Age
25. Notes Toward a Journalism of Consciousness

-----------

RELATED NHNE LINKS:

THE PATHWORK LECTURES OF EVA PIERRAKOS:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/srpathwork.html

EDGAR CAYCE: AN AMERICAN PROPHET:
http://www.nhne.com/misc/edgarcayce.html

EARTH CHANGES & MILLENNIUM FEVER:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/srmillenniumfever.html

A COURSE IN CONTROVERSY:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/srcoursehlcversion.html

D. PATRICK MILLER'S COURSE CONTROVERSY OVERVIEW:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/srcoursemiller.html

HUGH PRATHER ON "A COURSE IN MIRACLES":
http://www.nhne.com/misc/food0001.html

A COURSE IN MIRACLES:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/srcoursereport.html

GORDON-MICHAEL SCALLION:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/srscallion95review.html

EMISSARY OF LIGHT:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/sremissary.html

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>

Unsubscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhne-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com>

Review Current NHNE Mailing List Posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhne/messages/

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

March 2003: Most Important News List Stories
Saturday, April 5, 2003
Current Members: 1344

------------

To subscribe, send a blank email message to:
nhne-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, send a blank email message to:
nhne-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

MARCH 2003: MOST IMPORTANT NEWS LIST STORIES

The following list contains the most important posts that were sent out to
NHNE's News List in March of 2003. Stories marked with an "*" are especially
important. For a complete list of ALL NHNE News List posts, you can visit
our database at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/messages

The NHNE News List is a HIGH VOLUME LIST. It normally averages five to eight
messages a day. During the current Iraq War crisis the average has gone up
to over 10 messages a day!

To subscribe, send a message to:
nhnenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To review current posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/messages

-----------

MARCH 2003 NEWS LIST POSTS:

Taste Of Caesar's Life Rises From The Ashes (3/1/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4580

'Mister Rogers' Dies At Age 74 (3/1/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4581

Communist Theme Park To Open (3/1/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4583

Arab Leaders Oppose War In Iraq (3/1/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4584

Blair Likens Saddam To Hitler (3/1/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4585

Report On U.S. Arm-twisting Over Iraq War (3/1/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4586

Segway Creator Unveils Portable Water Purifier (3/1/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4587

Net Gurus Rally Anti-Spam Forces (3/1/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4588

Stupidity Is A Genetic Disease That Should Be Cured (3/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4590

Burns Girl To Have First Face Transplant (3/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4591

How To Offset Environmental Damage Caused By Planes (3/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4592

Iran Sues U.S. For Sending Chemicals To Baghdad In '80's (3/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4593

Revealed: U.S. Dirty Tricks To Win Vote On Iraq War (3/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4594

Court Lets Stand The Ban On 'God' In Pledge (3/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4596

Gather The Women (3/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4597

Terrorists Aim At Pearl Harbor (3/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4598

* Bush & God (3/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4599

Many 'Human Shields' Leaving Iraq (3/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4600

* Efforts To Create U.S. Department Of Peace (3/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4601

New Fossil Discovery Key To Human Origins (3/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4602

Lucy, The Robot Child (3/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4603

Fossil Plants & Insects Key To Understanding Global Change (3/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4604

Extreme Weather On The Rise (3/3/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4605

God, Satan & The Media (3/4/2003:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4606

* Taking Divine Dictation (3/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4607

Bush Says He Is At Peace With Decision On Iraq (3/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4610

China Plans Three-Phase Moon Exploration (3/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4612

Ebola Death Toll Keeps Climbing In Congo (3/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4613

Humans Not Responsible For Prehistoric Extinctions In North America
(3/4/2003:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4614

U.S. Still Plans To 'Shock & Awe' Iraq Into Surrendering (3/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4616

Pope Urges World To Avoid Conflict In Iraq (3/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4617

Man Arrested for Wearing Peace T-Shirt (3/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4619

How The U.S. Is Dealing With Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (3/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4620

Islamic Summit Rocked As Iraq Slams Kuwait (3/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4621

Martin Sheen: Being A Peacemaker Is Not A Role But A Calling (3/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4622

More On 'Peace T-Shirt' Arrest (3/5/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4623

* Perspective: The Unseen Gulf War (3/5/2003)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4626

Mainstream Iraq News Coverage Challenged By Alternative Voices (3/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4627

The Rise of 'Smart Mobs' (3/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4629

Perspective: Why Not Kill Dictators With Kindness? (3/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4630

Suit Challenges Bush's Authority To Wage War (3/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4632

Confidential Memo Exposes Bush's New Green Strategy (3/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4633

Green Groups Sue U.S. Government Over Forest Plan (3/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4634

* Perspective: Why We're Going To War; Why We'll Keep Going To War
(3/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4635

Catholics Debating: Back President or Pope on Iraq? (3/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4636

* Perspective: The Buck Stops With You & Me (3/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4637

Mall Wants To Drop Peace T-Shirt Charges (3/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4638

Peace Activist Implores Pope To Be 'Ultimate Human Shield' (3/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4641

Transcript: Bush 3/6/2003 Press Conference On Iraq (3/6/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4643

* Water Scarcity: The Biggest Crisis Of All? (3/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4644

New Alternative Energy Source: Kid Power (3/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4645

Octopus Learns To Unscrew Jar For Food (3/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4646

Rep. Nathan Deal's Sneaky Organic Provision Causes Uproar (3/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4648

Europeans Think America Does More Harm Than Good (3/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4649

Transcript: France, Russia & Germany Joint Declaration (3/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4650

Antismoking Measures Gain In Tobacco Country (3/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4652

U.S. Admits Suspects Died In Interrogations (3/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4653

* U.S. Abstains From War On Tobacco (3/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4654

N Korea 'Spokesman' Gives US Ominous Warning (3/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4655

U.N. Inspector Says Iraq Nuclear Documents Were Forged (3/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4656

* 13 Myths About The Case For War In Iraq (3/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4657

An Alternative to War for Defeating Saddam Hussein (3/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4658

* Startling Decline In Global Human Fertility Rates (3/8/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4659

Perspective: Just War - Or A Just War? (3/9/2003)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4660

Seas Could Rise 'Several Yards' (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4661

Con Artist Busted For Selling Lunar Real Estate (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4662

A Closer Look At Face Transplant Surgery (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4663

UN Launches Inquiry Into American Spying (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4664

Terrified Iraqi Soldiers Cross Into Kuwait To Surrender (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4665

N. Korea Could Torch New York, Washington, Chicago (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4666

Internet Speed Record Smashed (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4667

Blair To Get Gas-Proof Armoured Car (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4668

Women In Pink Take To Streets (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4669

Perspective: Drop Bombs On Saddam, Not His People (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4670

Bush Demands Standing Ovation Or No EU Speech (3/9/2003)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4671

Helen Thomas Receives First Presidential Snub (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4672

Nonpartisan Budget Report Predicts $1.8 trillion In Red Ink! (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4673

Bush Tells U.N. Human Rights Chief U.S. Not Using Torture (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4674

British Legal Experts Say 'War Would Be Illegal' (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4675

Networks Reject Anti-War Ad As Too Graphic (3/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4676

Officials Seek Smallpox Vaccine Compensation Fund (3/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4677

Oldest Human History Is At Risk In Iraq (3/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4678

Iraq 15: Update From Elias Amidon (3/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4679

Bush Sr. Warning Over Unilateral Action (3/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4680

Perspective: Losses, Before Bullets Fly (3/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4681

The 'Memory Wars' (3/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4682

Injunction Against Undeclared War (3/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4683

* Concerning Jimmy Twyman (3/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4684

A Realistic Opportunity To Avert War (3/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4685

U.S. Stocking Uranium-Rich Bombs? (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4687

It's Not About Oil Or Iraq; It's About World Economic Dominance (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4688

* A Revivified Sun Myung Moon (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4689

FAIR: Times, Networks Shun U.N. Spying Story (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4690

Pentagon Enlists Hollywood To Help Present Daily War Briefings (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4691

Libraries Posts Warning: FBI May Spy On You (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4692

Madonna Abandoning Ego-Driven Ways, Seeks To Bring Light To World
(3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4693

U.S. Attorneys Dispatched To Advise Military (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4694

Saddam Will Use Chemical Weapons If Attacked (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4695

What Will Happen To The Children Of Iraq? (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4696

Saddam Reportedly Opens Suicide Camp (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4697

Veterans' Letter to the President (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4698

Thousands Of Russians Volunteer To Defend Iraq (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4699

Chopra Foundation Seeks Solutions To War With Iraq (3/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4700

Quick Update On Efforts To Get Pope To Baghdad (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4701

Hugs Warm & Protect The Heart (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4705

TV Aggression Linked To More Violent Adults (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4706

Report Confirms Benefits Of Organic Food (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4707

Breast Implants Linked To Suicide (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4708

NYC Council Approves Anti-War Resolution (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4710

Iran's Nuclear Program Rapidly Expanding (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4711

Uncle Sam's Other War: Biotech vs. the European Union (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4712

How The U.N. Secretary General Can Stop the War (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4713

Pentagon Plans To Thwart Independent News Coverage Of Iraq War (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4714

* Perspective: 'Is The President Nuts?' (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4715

Ashcroft To Treat Security As Environmental Issue (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4716

Iraq Drones: Another U.S. Intelligence Embarrassment? (3/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4717

Rich Flee Baghdad As Panic Grips City's Poor (3/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4719

Pentagon Pledges 'No Global GPS Blackout' (3/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4720

Pope Trying To Broker Last Minute Deal With Saddam (3/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4721

Stepped-Up Air Campaign Marks 'Start' Of Iraq War (3/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4722

Second US Diplomat Quits Over War (3/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4723

U.S. A No-Show At 1st Global War Crimes Court (3/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4724

Fine-Tuning The Search For Alien Life (3/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4725

Bill Seeks To Create Day To Honor Space Aliens (3/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4726

Fundamentalists Believe The End Is Near (3/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4727

Transcript: Bush Sr. At Tufts University (3/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4728

Easter Bunny Arrested For Protesting Sale Of Military Easter Baskets
(3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4729

Cheney Still Paid By Pentagon Contractor (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4730

Unmarried Couples Surged In 2000 U.S. Census (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4731

Armored Cadillac Deville's & Lincoln Town Cars (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4732

National Guard Deployments: State By State (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4733

Anti-War Movement Amazes Its Adherents (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4734

MTV Interviews Hans Blix (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4735

Rising Flow Of Fearful Iraqi Kurds Leaves Kirkuk (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4736

State Dept. Report: Democracy In Iraq Doubtful (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4737

World's First Brain Prosthesis Revealed (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4738

Bizarre Dinosaurs Shed Light on Adaptation (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4739

* Climate Change Ended Maya Civilization (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4740

Military Moviemakers Head To Gulf (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4741

* Dr. Muller On Peace & War & The UN (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4742

* FAIR: Do Media Know That War Kills? (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4744

Perspective: Tony Blair in the Garden of Gethsemane (3/14/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4745

The Web's First Independent War Correspondent (3/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4746

Migrating Birds Could Fly Into War (3/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4747

Oscars Blacklists Anti-War Stars (3/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4748

* Perspective: Warmonger Explains War To Peacenik (3/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4749

Divine Revelation: Elizabeth Smart The First Of Seven Additional Wives
(3/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4750

Human Shields Brace For War (3/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4751

Fish Shouts Apocalyptic Warnings In Hebrew (3/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4752

U.S. Monitoring Deadly Pneumonia Outbreak (3/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4753

Iraqis Begin To Rebel Against Saddam (3/15/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4754

Summary Of Worldwide Demonstrations (3/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4755

Ex-CIA Accuse Bush of Manipulating Iraq Evidence (3/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4756

North Korea Warns U.S. Presence Increases Danger of Nuclear War (3/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4757

War Very Near As U.N. Is Given 24 Hours (3/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4758

U.S. Bombers Destroy Key Targets (3/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4759

War & Women (3/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4760

U.S. To Use Depleted Uranium Weapons In Iraq (3/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4762

Former Aide To Schwarzkopf Warns Iraq War Could Turn Into Somalia
(3/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4763

9 Seconds & Then You're Dead (3/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4764

Robert Fisk: U.N. Resolution 377 (3/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4765

Saddam Warns of World War if U.S. Strikes (3/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4767

The Death of Rachel Corrie (3/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4768

* The Arrogant Empire (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4769

Bush Has Audacious Plan to Rebuild Iraq Within Year (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4770

Report From Baghdad: Let There Be Life (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4771

Photos of Rachel Corey Being Killed By Israeli Bulldozer (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4772

Robert Fisk: The War Of Misinformation Has Begun (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4773

Follow Up: "Is The President Nuts?' (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4774

Putin: War On Iraq Would Be A Mistake (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4775

Antarctic Ice Collapse Began End of Ice Age? (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4776

Oldest Human Footprints Found (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4777

Male Sweat Brightens Women's Moods (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4778

Golf Helps Make U.S. The Most Wasteful Water User In The World (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4779

* Perspective: When Democracy Failed: The Warnings Of History (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4780

Transcript: Bush 3/17/2003 Speech (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4781

Perspective: See Men Shredded, Then Say You Don't Back War (3/17/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4782

Rachel Corrie's 'Letter from Palestine' (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4783

U.S. Seeks Surrender Of Iraqi Leaders (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4784

U.S. Citizens Turning To Foreign News Services (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4785

Relief Agencies Not Ready For Iraq War (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4786

* Perspective: Bush Speech A 'Credibility Bomb' (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4787

Vatican: US, Backers Responsible Before God on Iraq (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4788

Saddam Rejects Bush Ultimatum (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4789

Perspective: Thank You, President Bush (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4790

* Marriage Doesn't Make You Happy (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4791

Unveiling the Mystery of Machu Picchu (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4792

In Iraqi Capital, People Prepare for the Conflict (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4793

U.S. Public Approves of Bush Ultimatum By More Than 2-to-1 (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4794

Perspective: Flying Into The Iraq War (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4796

Perspective: Politicians Underestimate Iraq Force (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4797

* FAIR: Iraq Crisis, Networks Are Megaphones for Official Views (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4798

Perspective: There Will Absolutely Be No Dissension (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4799

The Coalition for the Immediate Disarmament of Iraq (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4800

* Email Overload (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4801

* Oprah & Friedman: Searching for the Roots of 9/11 (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4802

First Shots Fired At Sea As Allied Battle Plan Unfolds (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4803

World's View of America Worsens (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4804

Perspective: Pearl Harbor 2003? (3/18/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4805

Massive U.S. Air Power Poised To Be Unleashed (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4806

Sharon Accused Of Turning Territories Into Huge Prison (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4807

* Forgotten Countries Will Soon Begin To Starve To Death (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4808

'Weapons of Mass Persuasion' Hit Iraq Army (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4809

Millions Of Casualties If U.S. Chemical Plants Attacked (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4810

Red Alert: If You Go Outside, You Will Be Assumed The Enemy (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4811

Humanitarian Crisis May Greet British Army In Southern Iraq (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4813

Perspective: Sheryl Crow (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4814

Troops Poised To Attack Iraq (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4815

Bush Clings To Dubious Accusations (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4817

Wartime Pet Protection (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4818  

Bugging Devices Found In EU Headquarters  (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4819

Many Iraqi Loyalists Leave Posts (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4820

Kucinich Introduces Bill To Nullify War (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4821

U.S. Military: A Dangerous Reliance On Gadgetry (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4822

Transcript: Bush 3/19/2003 Iraq War Announcement (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4824

Top White House Anti-Terror Boss Resigns (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4825

Bush Launches War, U.S. Targets Iraqi Leaders (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4826

U.S. Troops Raid Afghanistan for al-Qaida (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4827

* Sen. Robert Byrd: 'Today I Weep for My Country' (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4828

Asian Muslims Denounce Attack on Iraq  (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4829

U.S. Reaps New Data On Iraq Weapons (3/19/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4830  

Gorbachev: Bush's War Big Political Mistake (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4831

Israeli Forces Disrupt Rachel Corrie's Memorial Service (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4832

* Creating a Nonviolent Culture (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4833

U.N. Nuclear Inspectors Reportedly Angry (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4834

Crack Troops Pursue Saddam (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4835

Four Eyewitnesses Describe How Rachel Corrie Died (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4836

The CIA Had Fix on Hussein (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4837

UN Food Agency Pleads for Funds to Feed Iraq (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4838  

'Senior Officials' Think Saddam May Not Have Survived (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4839  

Anti-War Demonstrations In U.S. & Around The World (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4840  

Top U.S. Officers Fear Wide Civil Unrest (3/20/2003):  
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4841

Comment From Around The World (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4842

Tools of War & U.S. Manufacturers (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4843   

Senate Rejects Oil Drilling In Alaska Wildlife Refuge (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4844

* Carter Celebrated As 'Man of Peace' (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4845   

U.S. Hunting For Saddam's Hidden Billions (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4846  

Green Party Declares Bush Indictable For War Crimes (3/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4847

Thermobaric Bombs, Grenades, and Guns (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4848  

U.S. Thinks Hussein, Sons Were In Bunker (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4849

BBC Airs 1:37 Minutes Of Bush Primping Before Speech (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4850

Eyewitnesses: Saddam Wounded, Carried From Compound (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4851  

Intense Sand, Dust Storms Due In Iraq Next Week (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4852    

* Poem: The House Is Burning Down (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4853  

Virus Writers & Malicious Hackers Take Advantage Of War (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4854   

U.S. War Orders To 'Embedded' Media (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4855    

U.S. Federal Deficit Soars (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4856

Web Deluged After Iraq Attack  (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4857  

The Origins of 'Shock and Awe' (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4858

'You're Late. What Took You So Long?' (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4859

Third Veteran U.S. Diplomat Quits Over Iraq War (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4860  

Times/CBS Poll: Most Americans Support Iraq Action (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4861  

Second Day Of Global Antiwar Demonstrations (3/21/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4862

The Iraq Body Count Project (3/22/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4863  

The Dalai Lama's Views On War & Iraq (3/22/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4864   

50 Dead In Basra, Arab Television Shows Casualties (3/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4865   

Desmond Tutu: Acknowledge Despair, Highlight Progress (3/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4866   

Blair Cabinet Told Saddam Seriously Injured (3/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4867  

Violent Protests In Arab World Increasing (3/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4868

Arab TV Shows Captured American Soldiers (3/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4869  

Perspective: Rimbaud Meets Rambo On The Eve Of Battle (3/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4870   

Academy Awards (3/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4871

U.S. Casualties Expose Risks, Raise Doubts About Strategy (3/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4872

Mother Pleads For Bush To Save P.O.W. Son (3/23/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4873  

* Bush First Strike Strategy Abandons U.S. Tradition (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4874

Russia Accuses U.S. of Seizing Iraqi Oil (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4875

War Could Be Big Business for Cheney's Halliburton (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4876

U.S. Protests Russian Arms Sales To Baghdad (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4877

Live TV War Cover Pulls In Viewers Worldwide (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4878

Robert Fisk: We Bomb. They Suffer. (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4879

Saddam Makes Second Appearance On Iraqi Television (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4880

Global Protest Summary (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4881   

Arab TV Massacre Claim: 50 Civilians Dead (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4882

U.S. Aging Spy Satellite Network May Go Dark (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4883   

Bush Sr. Comments On Bush Jr. Presidency (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4884   

The Blogger of Baghdad (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4885
  
Followup 3 : Rice For Peace Update (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4886    

New poll for nhnenews (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4887

* An NHNE News List Poll On The War With Iraq (& Related Issues)
(3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4888

More On Saddam's Second Televised Speech (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4889   

Aziz Saddam in 'full control' of Iraq (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4890  

Americans Stunned by U.S. Casualties, POWs in Iraq (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4891

Some Rules of War May Need Revising in Live TV Age (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4892  

Civilians Trying To "Surrender" To Get Food & Water (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4893  

Iraq News Depends Largely on Stance of Governments (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4894  

Iraq War Survey: Take Two (3/24/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4895

* Perspective: The World Pushes Back (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4896

War Casualty Stories (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4897   

Collateral Damage: Eye-Witness Reports From Baghdad (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4898

Putin Denies U.S. Accusations of Russian Arms Sales to Iraq (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4899   

Allies Risk 3000 Casualties in Baghdad (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4900   

Search at Najaf Yields No Sign of Chemical Weapons (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4901

Australian Pilot Refuses US Bombing Order (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4902

Cheney: No Daughters As Human Shields (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4903   

U.S. Enlists Dolphins to Aid War Effort (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4904

Protests Shift To Government & Businesses That Support War (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4905  

Perspective: Weaponizing The Media (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4906  

Pope Endorses Antiwar Movement (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4907

Save The Embedded Dolphins! (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4908 

* Sedonaforpeace.org (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4909  

U.S. Bombs Iraqi State TV (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4910  

Net Censorship Debate Rages As POW Pictures Pulled (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4911  

World & America Watching Different Wars (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4912    

Perspective: You Should Have Known We'd Fight (3/25/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4913

Pro-War Rallies Being Organized By Bush-Connected Radio Stations
(3/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4914   

More On 'The Blogger of Baghdad' (3/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4915

FAIR: Poor Reporting On Iraq Weapons Claims (3/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4916   

Perspective: Can We Find Unity In Our humanity? (3/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4917

Followup: The Iraq Body Count Project (3/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4919  

What Level Of Casualties Will American Public Tolerate? (3/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4920

US Calls Up 30,000 New Troops (3/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4921  

U.S. Treatment Of Afghan Prisoners Coming Back To Haunt It (3/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4922

Michael Moore, Fielding Questions, After The Oscars (3/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4923   

History Lesson: Past Mideast Invasions Faced Unexpected Perils (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4924   

Al-Jazeera Calls On U.S. To Ensure Free Press (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4925

Reporting The Truth About War (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4926  

Robert Fisk: 'It Was An Outrage, An Obscenity' (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4927  

Operation Iraqi Freedom Total Casualty Report (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4928

U.S. Admits '8,000 Iraqis Captured' Claim Was False (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4929

Arab Ministers Condemn Aggression Against Iraq (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4930   

'Holy Warriors' To Join Iraq War (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4931

Scott Ritter: U.S. Will Lose The Iraq War (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4932   

Russia: U.N. Inspectors Should Validate Potential WMD Claims (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4933    

Russia Says US & Britain Should Pay War Costs (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4934 

Preventive War Opens Way to New Rules on Conflict (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4935  

How Military Clergymen See The War With Iraq (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4936  

Arab Governments Struggle To Control Protests Against U.S. (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4937  

Al-Jazeera Website Experiencing Continued Hacker Attacks (3/27/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4938  

Perspective: How Anti-War Protesters Have Made The U.S. Stronger
(3/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4939

Canada & Mexico: Standing Up To Uncle Sam (3/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4940   

Following the Bombs (3/28/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4941

The Rebirth of Saddam Hussein as Arab Hero (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4942

Syria Threatens US with Military Retaliation (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4943

Kucinich Challenges Bush Tactics, Calls For War To End (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4944

U.S. Military Dolphin Goes AWOL (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4945   

New Moore Film To Claim Ties Between Bush, Bin Laden Clans (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4946   

More On 'The Iraq Body Count' Project (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4947

Perspective: 'Welcome To Hell' (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4948 

Covert CIA Teams Seek to Kill Iraqi Elite (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4949  

* News List Survey Results (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4950 

Rumsfeld Ignored Pentagon Advice on Iraq (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4951

Watching Iraq, North Korea Vows No Concessions (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4952  

More Than 135 Countries Demand End To Iraq War (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4953  

Mideast Protestors Urging Holy War Against Allies (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4954   

Dixie Chicks Being Blackballed For Bush Snub (3/29/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4955

Anti-War Anger Around The Globe (3/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4956 

'Military Families Speak Out' Against The War (3/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4957   

Iran & Syria Hit Back Over Rumsfeld Threat (3/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4958   

Robert Fisk: In Baghdad, Blood & Bandages For The Innocent 93/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4959  

Builder: Saddam's Bunkers Impenetrable (3/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4960  

Soldier 'Bloggers' Report From War (3/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4961

Iraqi Civilians Feed Hungry U.S. Marines (3/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4962

Iraq Says 4,000 Arabs in Iraq for 'Martyrdom' (3/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4963  

'Terrified of Saddam Hussein' (3/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4964

* Consultants Tell Radio, TV That Protest Coverage Drives Off Viewers
(3/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4965  

U.S. Soldiers In Iraq Asked To Pray For Bush (3/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4966  

U.S. Use Of Depleted Uranium Weapons Is 'illegal' (3/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4967

Antiwar Effort Emphasizes Civility Over Confrontation (3/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4968

Three British Soldiers Sent Home After Protesting Civilian Deaths
(3/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4969  

Shatra Iraqis Welcome U.S. Marines (3/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4970  

Fake "War Correspondent" Has Cover Blown (3/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4971  

* False Claims Litter Iraq Conflict (3/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4972  

Current Gallup Polls On Iraq War (3/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4973   

May 3: National Rally in Texas (3/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4974

Iraqi Troops Shoot At Fleeing Civilians (3/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4975

How To Win Iraq War: A Unique Solution (3/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4976

* Email Traffic Patterns Can Reveal Ringleaders (3/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4977  

May 3: The Works on Shirts Project (3/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4978

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NHNE MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION

The mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is the origin
and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or contemporary wisdom,
or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are building a global network of
seekers from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, lay people and
professionals alike, that can pool talents, experience, and resources to
unravel life's great mysteries.

We also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound change
and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded people that can
safely pass through whatever changes may come our way and help give birth to
a new way of life on our planet.

------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339

eMail: nhne@...
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
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