Metaphysics, Folklore, Spirituality
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Read more: The Rise of Dark Christmas: Folklore, Mischief, and Pop Culture
On a crisp December night, under twinkling lights and candy cane stripes, a different kind of Christmas spirit stirs. Instead of sugarplum fairies, we glimpse horned silhouettes and skeletal grins peeking from the edges of our holiday cheer. A new generation has welcomed old ghosts and dark visitors into the season’s festivities. Figures like Krampus,…
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Read more: Holidays without Christmas: A Collection of Winter Festivals from Around the World
As a non-christian omnist, I have complicated feelings about the celebration of Christmas. Although we in the United States are often told that a “traditional” Christ-focused Christmas is central to the American identity, the truth is that Christmas was outlawed for several decades by a congress that was, arguably, made up of more practicing Christians.…
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Read more: Conscious Agents and the Simulation of Reality
Imagine sitting at your kitchen table, pressing a solid mug of coffee to your lips. It feels undeniably real… the cool ceramic against your skin, the bitter aroma of coffee in the air. But can you be certain the mug exists as you perceive it? Throughout history we’ve been prompted to doubt our senses. In…
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Read more: Could Our Consciousness Exist in Another Spatial Dimension?
Consciousness is the simple word for the complex processes of how we experience our world. Each of us has a vivid inner life that accompanies the firing of neurons in our brain. Yet the nature of consciousness remains one of the greatest mysteries in science. How does the soggy, electric tissue of the brain produce…
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Read more: A New Dawn for Psychedelics – Microdosing and the Road to Legalization
In the mid-20th century, psychedelic substances like LSD and psilocybin mushrooms went from scientific curiosities to symbols of the counterculture. In the 1950s and 60s, researchers explored LSD’s potential to treat mental illness, and some psychiatrists reported promising results. But by the late 1960s, these hallucinogens escaped the lab and exploded into popular use, sparking…
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Read more: The Gaia Hypothesis – Is Earth a Super Organism?
Picture Earth not as a rock with life scattered across its surface, but as a single, self-regulating organism. Its oceans act as blood, circulating nutrients. Its forests are lungs, exhaling oxygen and drawing in carbon. Its atmosphere is a thin skin, holding in warmth and filtering cosmic rays. This was the vision crystallized in the…
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Read more: Fact or Fiction? The UFO Abduction Mystery of Travis Walton
Travis Walton on an ordinary November night stood at the edge of an Arizona forest, under an inky black sky studded with stars. With the crunch of gravel under their truck’s tires and lantern light reflecting off pine needles, the six members of his logging crew watched in a mix of awe and dread. In…
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Read more: Lost Technology of the Indus Valley?
In the arid plains of the Indus Valley, nearly five millennia ago, a Bronze Age civilization built cities with straight streets, brick houses, and baths that rival modern pools. This ancient society – often referred to as the Harappan or Indus Valley Civilization – was remarkably advanced for its time. Yet in recent years, it…
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Read more: Modern Folklore: Exploring Miyazaki’s Fantasy World
Hayao Miyazaki’s animated films have transcended cultural boundaries to captivate audiences around the world. Often called Japan’s answer to Walt Disney, Miyazaki has created rich fantasy worlds steeped in Japanese folklore and mythology that nonetheless feel universally accessible. Children and adults from Los Angeles to London find themselves enchanted by forest spirits, witch’s charms, and…
