Read - Egyptian Book of the Dead

Like most peoples, the Ancient Egyptians had a strong belief in the after-life.
The following pages take you on a journey through the Book of the Dead, as written on the walls of the tombs of the Kings, Queens and Priests, of one of the oldest civilisations on earth.

Stress of Poverty leave traces on DNA

University of British Columbia and the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, in a joint study showed that child poverty and stress, along with demographic characteristics - age, gender and ethnicity - leave an imprint in human genes. This track may play a role in our immune response.
The study was published in a special issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it is investigated how the experience gained at birth and in the first years of life, can influence the course of human life.
Study of changes in genes, also known as epigenetics, examines the process of DNA methylation, which are added to the DNA chemical molecules, "including" or "turn off" certain genes. The study found that experiences play a role in shaping the patterns of DNA methylation.
The scientists found that the socio-economic status of adult influence on heredity has not. But child poverty interferes with the methylation and imprinted genes.
"We found traces of biological life in a poor childhood - said Michael Kobori, Associate Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia. - This is clear evidence that the influence of the environment really is correlated with epigenetic models."
Amount of stress hormones produced by adults, is also associated with changes in the DNA. Kobori said it is a matter that was before - the chicken or the egg. It is not known whether the reserves in adults increased stress signs in the DNA or, on the contrary, DNA determines how much stress hormones will be released.
Kobori and his colleagues also found that methylation may help in the prediction of future immune responses, and therefore, the first experience of life sometime in the future will have an impact on the response to disease in adulthood.

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?Death: why we should be thankful

Death gets a bad press. Invariably uninvited guest who comes too soon. Her fear and hate. "The last enemy" - this speaks of her Bible.
However, poets and philosophers have repeatedly said that without death we would not be who we are. Bleak prospect makes us get up in the morning and inspires great things. Every form is finite, the philosophers say, and something can only arise due to the shape. This choir has recently began to join the social psychologists.It all begins with awareness of our mortality. Like all living things, we are fighting for survival. However, in contrast to other things (as far as we know), we live with the knowledge that this fight we have to lose. Our mighty brain, brilliantly building syllogisms, tells us that the worst will happen. We all live in the shadow of personal apocalypse.
It's hard. Indeed, this is a terrible idea that can paralyze. That's why we are working hard to push it as far as possible, or cancel them completely. This mad confrontation with the inevitable charge of our greatest achievements.
Perhaps the most obvious result - is material progress. For example, farming came to give us food, and the food needed to live. Clothing and buildings warm us, weapons allows you to hunt and defend medicine treats when we are sick. In short, the vast majority of discoveries prolong our lives.
Even science is motivated by fear of death. Francis Bacon, the father of empiricism considers achieving eternal life the noblest goal of the philosopher. For this he sacrificed his life, having been ill with pneumonia during the experiments on cryopreservation. Science - the lot of mortal gods are hardly economic hardship in biochemistry.
Despite all efforts, the terrible prospect of still there. Many thinkers, from Hegel to Heidegger believed that the actual material civilization and culture - it is a way to assure ourselves that we will be living after the death of the body. The same subject in 1973, raised the anthropologist Ernest Becker, whose book "Denial of Death" won the Pulitzer Prize. It is this work of social psychologists look inspired empirical evidence to support the speculation of philosophers.
These researchers were Jeff Greenberg of the University of Arizona, Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore College and Tom Pischinsky University of Colorado. They invented terror management theory, which postulates that the majority of our actions and beliefs due to fear of death. They suggested that we develop these views of the world that allow us to cope with the knowledge of his own mortality.
Most clearly manifested in the religion, so scientists reasoned, in the face of death, people often have to apply to the faith. Indeed, something like this be found. In one experiment, a group of Christian students were asked to rate the personality of the two people. These people are in all respects were very similar, except that one was a Christian, and the other - a Jew. Control subjects reacted favorably to both, and those students who have previously completed a questionnaire about their attitudes toward death, the more positively judged the Christian and negative - of Judea.
Religion, this effect is not limited to this. On the example of more than 400 studies, psychologists have shown that almost all aspects of our world are motivated by an attempt to come to terms with death. Nationalism, for example, allows us to believe that we will live forever as part of a larger whole: Mr. Greenberg and his colleagues found that American students who were reminded of their mortality, with particular fervor criticized anti-American writer. Next, Holly McGregor of the University of Arizona (USA) showed that students who were forced to think about death, not only do not approve of those who challenge their views of the world, but also ready to violence. In the experiment, it was expressed in the form of excessive servings of hot sauce.
These preliminary studies have confirmed suspicions Becker that the denial of death - the cause of all evil. That's what leads to the division of people into "us" and "not ours" promotes prejudice and aggression, war and terrorism feeds. For example, people who show the planes crash into the New York skyscrapers, most supported the invasion of Iraq. But then the terror management theorists were detected and the bright side of the fear of death.
For example, one of the most powerful factors in human culture - the desire to leave something behind. Hence, psychologists say, including the greatest works of art. On something like Socrates has said, noting that while the men are desperate to perpetuate his name, women are more simply - have children. Indeed, in one study of the Germans when they were reminded of death, expressed a desire to have more children, and the Chinese - a willingness to oppose the rule of one child.
Recently Kenneth Vale University of Missouri (USA) and his colleagues have made a catalog of things that we bestowed consciousness of mortality. For example, the desire for a healthy lifestyle. The researchers also identified a fine line between conscious and unconscious reminder of death. In the latter case we start mindlessly clinging to traditional social values. And well, if the number of these values ​​do not include the imposition of their aggressive neighbors with cannons and machine guns.
A conscious reminder of death, on the other hand, promotes more informed views on the re-evaluation of life. The more we contemplate their own mortality, the more actively reject externally imposed values ​​like wealth and fame, with a focus on personal development.
And judging by what is happening around, we think of death not much ...
Prepared according to NewScientist.

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Your Spirit in Astrology Chart

From its original meaning as guardian, guide or higher self, the term "daemon" or "demon" gained a malevolent bent in the early books of the Old Testament. The demons of the Old Testament caused disease and plagues, and in the New Testament, they were considered to be angels who had fallen from grace and turned to the dark side.
For Plato, the daemon or guiding spirit was chosen by the soul before each incarnation. For most people the daemon was thought to be an unconscious guiding force, but the occasional enlightened beings were said to be able to communicate with their daemon. In ancient Egyptian astrology, the daemon was said to be symbolized by the Sun sign. Iamblicus, student and teacher of ancient mysteries (280-330 CE) wrote: "" For whether these arts are knowable or beyond comprehension, yet the aura or emanation from the stars brings the daemon to us, whether we ourselves are cognizant of it or not. "These ancient sages wrote before the age of monotheism limited the role of the divine in the lives of men and women, and offered a more personal concept of deity.
The question of fate versus free will is an ancient one, and astrology has been used for thousands of years to determine one's fate and thereby avoid the painful process of self-discovery. Until the emergence of the outer, or transpersonal planets over the past few centuries, Eastern and Western schools of astrology all taught that one's fate was preordained by the stars and that very few humans could escape their destiny. One's horoscope was beneficial or detrimental, and one's fortune in life was set in stone and easily predicted. Over time, beginning with the discovery of Uranus and its implementation in the astrological pantheon and continuing with Neptune and Pluto, the practice of astrology began to evolve in a way that offered a greater degree of self-determination to the querent.
The birthchart is given to us at the moment we take our first breath on Planet Earth, and will never change. To that extent our fate is predetermined; our basic identity and certain facets of our personality will never change. The planetary systems that form the basic web of the chart show psychological complexes that predispose us to certain modes of reaction and behavior that will remain with us throughout our lifetime. However, we are given free will which enables us to utilize these very complexes in order to maximizing our true potential and thereby create our own destiny. As a result, we can predict the climate of future events but not the events themselves.
For the modern astrologer and student of transformation, the concept of daemon as the "higher self" or guiding spirit is a significant one and resonates with the symbolism of the astrological chart. We are all familiar with having desired something which is refused us, only to discover later that the event which actually happened turns out to have been much more beneficial to us in the long run. We see this frequently in the work of the planet Pluto, which acts as the "will of the higher self" both in the natal birthchart and when it affects us by transit. In the midst of a Pluto event, when transiting Pluto hits a planet in our birthchart, we are forced to let go and surrender, often kicking and screaming, as our higher self removes from our life that which no longer serves us or keeps us from achieving personal empowerment.
Understanding the role of the daemon or guiding spirit in our evolution can facilitate the transformational process as we develop a sense of greater trust. As our awareness increases, we are able to more effectively distinguish between that which we can control, and that which is being guided.

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